The Radavist

I haven’t spent this much time in Austin since last summer, and it’s got me out and about every day with the Hasselblad, shooting rider portraits for the Rapha Survey. Here’s a group of a few recents that I thought turned out great.

Previously;
Recent Roll: Regular Riders 01

At first glance, Ross’ custom Nagasawa track bike looks very similar to how it did two years ago. In the time that he’s had it, the bike has lightened up considerably due to the various titanium upgrades. A Ti seatpost, Ti stem, Ti Chris King, complete Phil Wood titanium kit and new wheels definately wasn’t cheap but it changed the overall feel of the bike. Since Ross commutes, he opted for front and rear brakes and I think that adds to the radness, especially on a custom built Nagasawa! Check out more in the Gallery!

When I buy a new camera, I like to use the weeks spent here in Austin to work out its nuances and familiarize myself with its basic operations. There’s nothing worse than missing a shot because you’re fumbling with the lens, or trying to be sharp with focus. A rangefinder is still new to me, having used SLRs more, I’m used to seeing through the lens for focus. You set up your shot, make focus and what you see is what you get. But not with a rangefinder.

I’m much faster this way and yet there’s something about the ergonomics of the smaller, rangefinder body that makes the learning curve very shallow. After two rolls, the camera feels better in my hands. The lenses move with ease and I don’t second guess myself. I’m planning a big trip in March and this will be my primary camera of choice, along with the Hasselblad.

But first, I have to get this camera’s use dialed in. So I shoot what I know. Faces, favorite places and subjects that I’m comfortable with. Because when you shoot a photo of even the simplest thing with a Leica, it just looks so good. Now if I can just get some decent panning shots!

See more in the gallery.

Last weekend was the Texas Cyclocross State Championships in Fredericksburg, Texas. Unlike the last cross races I’ve shot, it was bright and sunny outside, so I decided to shoot with my new Leica M7 and Hasselblad, rather than the 5D. I’m digging a lot of these, check them out yourself!

A few months back, some friends decided to start up a cycling club called Beat the Clock Cycling. It was started by Jon, the owner of Beat the Clock Messengers. The idea was to create a club that would throw local events, with one thing in mind: fun. Group rides, parties, goof-off races and everything in between.

So far, it’s pretty low-key but on New Years Day, a couple dozen people got together for a little impromptu Alley Cross race on the East Side of Austin. I slept in and missed the actual race, but took my Hasselblad out for a quick roll of film at the finish. Check it out in the Gallery!

Caleb and Chris are active cyclists, runners and climbers who a few years back, began to focus on their diet. Fueling an active lifestyle isn’t easy. When they started looking for healthy energy bars, they quickly realized that very few are organic, gluten free and vegan, while still tasting great. Within months, they decided to start Bearded Brothers, an organic snackfood company, here in Austin. Most of their handmade energy bars are 100% organic, mostly raw, gluten free, vegan friendly and yes, they taste great.

I stopped by their work space on the east side of Austin last week to check out their operation and of course, to taste their offerings. Check out more below, including a PiNP discount code for your online purchases.

November and December have been a lot busier than I anticipated. Usually, it’s my time to get back into a daily routine of riding, riding, riding but I found myself traveling more and more these past few weeks. This Recent Roll is a series of snapshots taken in Portland, Austin and Los Angeles during that time. Shot with my Contax G2 and Kodak E100VS. Enjoy.

I returned to Austin after a week-long trip in Los Angeles to find two back-to-back days of cross racing on the local schedule. Having just raced my first sanction cross event in LA, I was eager to give the local circuit a try, so Saturday I headed out for some fast, dusty and humid fun. Since I didn’t have any season points, I started in the back of the 4’s, in a field of about 40 racers. Over 3, ten minute laps, I held onto my position, coming in 4th, which was good enough for me. I learned a lot (watch out for sandbaggers on MTBs) and had a blast (most importantly). I even managed to get a bit of air on a nice bump on the course.

Sunday, I decided to rest up and take photos. It was Chris‘ birthday, so I wanted to get some good shots of him racing and of course, we had to douse him with beer… Thanks to Andrew Franciosa for shooting photos on Saturday. It’s not every day I have photos of myself up on the blog, so be kind!

It’s hard to deny the impact that the original Ritchey Swiss Cross had on American cyclocross. Any cycling history buff will note Thomas Frischknecht’s many victories in the early 90’s while riding the original, so it had to be a perfect choice for Ritchey to re-introduce the mighty red machine for 2012. Having only seen the bike at Interbike, I was stoked to hear Chris’ choice in picking one up when he wrecked his previous cross bike. Built with mostly matching Ritchey components, this build turned out perfect. Last Sunday, after a Walnut Creek singletrack session, I got some photos of this race-ready machine.

Some of my favorite details are the integrated head tube and that wicked cable routing at the seat tube cluster. Check out more in the Gallery.