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“If you could spend like an hour a day mountain biking every day for the rest of your life, you’d be a pretty happy person.” – Lachlan Morton
The EF Pro Cycling adventure duo, Alex Howes & Lachlan Morton recently put the Scalpel HT through its paces – racing and rallying through the Colorado backcountry.
The Long Traverse is about learning from, and loving, the landscapes we ride in. Through the story of an iconic 80-mile, 11,000-foot ride, @Christopherblevs, and @dillon.osleger consider the history of a landscape and our place within it, grappling with the realities of forest fires and extraction while letting the bike show us all we can appreciate and learn as people on the land.
The Los Padres national forest spans the Central Coast of California, from the Pacific Ocean to the fringe of the Mojave Desert. This land of many uses hosts world-class biodiversity, the endangered California Condor, 350+ miles of trail, and a multitude of Chumash cultural sites. The Los Padres Traverse route is not only an incredible ride, but it highlights the intersection of recreation, conservation, and climate. Through the trail stewardship and advocacy work of Dillon’s nonprofit Sage Trail Alliance, Christopher established the fastest known time (FKT) along the route. And throughout this process, Christopher learned more about caring for the places he gets to ride in and the communities along the way. Whether you’re trying to complete the traverse in six hours or taking three days to bike pack it with friends, the Los Padres is a place to visit. Likewise, whether you’re a World Cup racer or a Weekend Warrior, we can use the bike to understand our responsibility to take action to better our planet, and we can all dig during trail restoration days.
I’m not sure what got into me this year but I’ve been on the hunt for some vintage bikes. A few months back we looked at an Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra I built up with Dura-Ace 7400, an arguably pretty bike yet it’s nothing special per se. Now this project will be even cooler. It’s a 1984 Mountain Goat Whiskeytown racer I just picked up from Second Spin Cycles…
“You can never go home again.” Martin O Blank’s defining line from the film Grosse Pointe Blank has stuck with me since I first heard it in the late ‘90s. It stuck with me because I thought, until recently, that it was bullshit. I moved away from Grand Rapids, MI for work and school in Colorado in 2004 but would go back to visit at least every year. And nothing seemed to change. My friends and the city itself seemed perfectly preserved in time. It always felt like home. But after a big move to Arizona and a pandemic, nearly five years passed without a visit. Then, after that time away, when my family and I road tripped Michigan this past July, I realized that Blank might have actually been onto something. My friends and the city had changed. In exciting ways to be sure, but things were markedly different and the area felt less homey for the first time in my life.
Sour Bicycles‘ latest video is a teaser for what’s to come from the brand… Be sure to check out our review of the Past Party SS29er!
Vivid, a short film by Montanus, explores the memories created by the most meaningful experiences found on two wheels. For Montanus the most vivid memory was their first bikepacking trip together back in 2013. Riding bikes with 26” wheels and carrying big, heavy backpacks, Francesco D’Alessio and Giorgio Frattale set out to bikepack before bikepacking was a thing. It was in the spirit of adventure that they took themselves 1900 meters above sea level to sleep in a little hut, because…why not? Eight years later they find themselves aptly equipped with the right gear and the right bikes-the Kona Hei Hei CRs. Easy on the climbs and fun on the way down, we’re sure they’re going to continue to create the most vivid memories from their experiences in the wild.
Today we’re continuing our coverage of the 2021 Bespoked UK framebuilder showcase with words and photos by Petor Georgallou…
There aren’t many MTB jerseys that pique our interests but anytime Smooth Jazz Lines puts one out, the vibes really resonate over here. This morning SJL just released its Spectral High Jersey in both short ($75) and long sleeves ($85) for men and women. This jersey has a message, of which you can see at Smooth Jazz Lines.
7Mesh is taking its women’s MTB series to new heights in the Chilcotins:
“In the parlance of our times, the Chilcotins, if you are to believe social media, have been done. Ridden, rated, reviewed and photographed to no end. They’re an awesome place to ride bikes, but some would say documented to death. But don’t believe all you read – there’s still a lot more to discover.
So in the spirit of adventure, we made some calls to local 7mesh ambassadors Laura Battista, Megan O’Brien and Angie McKirdy, mapped out a route and headed up to the often overlooked Shulaps Range for one last adventure before the alpine shut down.”
Today we’ve got another bike that was displayed at the French constructeur event, Concours de Machine. Built by Jolie Rouge Cycles, this all-mountain steel full suspension is outrigged with bags, racks, and more. As someone who owns a steel full suspension, it’s amazing to see the ante upped in this manner but that’s just the half of the weirdness that’s about to unfold for you so read on below for the builder of this bike, Julien Fritsch’s words and photos!
The outdoor industry has historically lacked diversity. Brooke Goudy is working to change that. A Space For All is a short film about representation, community, and the work that Brooke is doing to get more people of color to experience the joy of bikes.
Arya and Ronnie, the two cuties that are at the front of our bike bag sponsor Ron’s Bikes, invited my partner Karla and me to come over to their event, the Nutmeg Nor’Easter. Described as “the non-competitive alt cycling world championship” and running its fifth edition, this would be the first Nor’Easter after a time where reunions were discouraged, but the organizers still took care of delivering an event 100% outdoors and only for vaccinated people, although no vaccination cards were verified. Because you see, this is the type of gathering where you are trusted to care for yourself and those around you, but in a non-coercive way. For Karla and me this would be our first time not only in Connecticut, but also east of the Rocky Mountains; the first impressions, provided by our Uber trip from the airport at 1 am, made us think we were in a good scenario for which stories, and local tales revealed we weren’t wrong.
Today we’re pleased to showcase framebuilder operation Quirk Cycles and its new model, the SUPERCHUB. Let’s take a look at this new bike, guided by Robert Quirk’s words and photographer’s Nikoo Hamzavi documentation of this stunning machine.
The Scalpel is, as the name implies, a precision blade for cutting precise lines in singletrack. It’s an unapologetic, thoroughbred race machine that has stuck to its roots in the Cannondale lineup for over a decade. For 2022, the Scalpel returns with a fresh new design – look at that paint! – and new geometry with a slacker front end of 66.5º across all sizes. Complete with HollowGram cranks and a mix of high-end Shimano components, the new Scalpel HT Hi-MOD 1 as pictured here has a retail of $5000. Head to Cannondale to see more.
If you want to see a sick custom Scalpel we documented a few years back, check out The Cub House’s own build-up!
This one really resonates:
“You can buy just about anything in this world but time, and Craig Bierly is a man who truly understands the sacred and finite gift of time. After dedicating 26 years of his life to the aerospace industry, he could have comfortably retired to a sedentary life in a big house, but he opted instead for a nomadic life in his van—long before #vanlife became a hipster trend and hashtag. More than a decade after his retirement, Bierly is still on the road, chasing his dream of riding as much United States singletrack as he possibly can until his own time on the Earth runs out.”
Great job on this, Freehub!
The latest 36 Hours in Kitsbow follows a family looking to get out for a weekend singletrack rip:
“When your mom is an RN in a critical care unit and your dad owns a whitewater rafting company, you might be predisposed to be ready to face anything. Being game to ride 20+ miles of flowy, singletrack riding is baked in, right? Yet, what if you’re only three years old? Bear With Us follows Dave and Katie Crawford to one of the best single track locations in the South with a 3-year-old. It’s not what you would expect!”
The Big Iron is Why Cycles’ flagship fat bike, built around 27.5×4.5” or 26×5” wheels and a titanium chassis. The newly-updated V2 sees some updates to a slightly more progressive geometry and a new UDH hanger to future-proof this bike even more. Named after the famous Marty Robbins song, the Big Iron was developed to take on everything from quick rips on the local groomed single track or an epic 1100 mile journey across Alaska. These new updates, along with a lifetime warranty really sweeten the Big Iron this winter! Head to Why Cycles for more.
AUZANGATE is the third Shared Territory film, which debuted this week. We recently caught up with Director, Justin Balog, for a brief Q&A about the project, which you can find below, along with a link to the beautiful film and incredible gallery of images from photographer Ian Matteson.
