The Radavist

Adam from Stanridge Speed is most known for his Highstreet low pro track frames but his new passion lies in cyclocross bikes and this year, he’s got a special someone racing for him. Tim Rugg is an experienced road racer, at the PRO level but has yet to try his hand at ‘cross. Adam reached out to him, before his maiden season to see if he wanted to race a Stanridge Speed. Once he obliged, Adam got to work, fabricating this beaut. Since the bike wasn’t built up when I visited Adam, I simply asked him to hold the frame under a massive skylight in his warehouse.

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I was absolutely blown away at the number of Eddy Merckx bikes I saw while in Jakarta but the owner whose collection took the cake was Eppy. You’ll see more, later today in Merckx Mondays but for now, I wanted to showcase his immaculate Eddy Merckx SL Pista. I don’t know about you, but when I see a red Merckx Pista, I think of Andy’s MAX Merckx (which I don’t think I ever posted my photos of?). While SL is no MAX, this bike is strikingly beautiful. See more below.

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This past week has been insanity. I can’t even describe how much fun we all had. Without rubbing it in too much, I’ll do my best to hit the main points. We got put up in an amazing villa, at the top of a range, surrounding Bali. We rented scooters, Ryan and I got lost. Really lost. Like 35km outside of town lost. Then we spent our days, kicking around town and finally, we visited the Monkey Forest. Tyler got bit on the thumb, sending him to a clinic, while the rest of us perused the local shops.

Our last day was spent at Dreamland Beach, where I almost drowned (long story) and now, we’re back in Jakarta for a few hours before I leave to head back to the States.

This trip would not have been possible without Rocket Company and their hospitality. For that, I am truly grateful and I cannot thank them enough. While I’m flying, enjoy the Bali Randomness below…

In the time I have been running this blog, I have never been to an event like Fixed Fest in Jakarta. It’s not just the scale of the event, it’s the overall execution. Each event started on time and went smoothly, as planned. But that’s how it has to be with 100’s of people waiting for their chance to compete. The day began bright and early, 7am to be exact, with an alleycat. The out of towners would normally be screwed racing in a city like Jakarta but as with all foreign alleycats, they stuck to the locals and snaked their way through the crowded streets.

Then, there was the mini-races, the bunny hop contest, track stand, freestyle, polo and countless other side events. As the day went on, more and more people showed up and it didn’t dwindle until after the awards ceremony. Out of all the foreigners, it was Tyler Johnson who surprised everyone with a meter-high bunnyhop, a solid run in the freestyle and the best time in the mini-race, beating the competition by over 10 seconds. MASH SF repped hard as well, bringing in 5 medals and Sean Martin even won the alleycat (was that his first?).

Bottom line is, Fixed Fest was a blast. I have never signed so many autographs on bags, hats, shirts, jerseys, rims, bikes and anything else the attendees could get their hands on. I met some incredible people, who did nothing but smile and welcomed me to their city. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun and today we leave for a 4-day trip to Bali for some much-needed relaxation.

I would like to thank Rocket Company, Woof, and everyone who made this possible. Fixed Fest was the best event I’ve ever been to!

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When Neil walked through the doors of GSC one afternoon with this bike, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. There were so many little details that drew me to scope it out. It had a substantially higher bottom-bracket than you’d normally see on a MTB, especially a Cannondale. There was a Death Spray Custom sticker on the downtube, and a rare one at that. And it was covered with team sponsorship logos.

While some would say it’s not a MTB if there are road tires on it, I would disagree. It’s the frame and the frame’s geometry that decide the nomenclature and this is most definitely a mountain bike, albeit with its flip flops on…

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Well, after two weeks in sunny SoCal, I’m back in even sunnier and hotter Austin. I cannot express with words how much fun I had this round in LA. We rode and rode and rode, all the while I tried to document the daily happenings going on around me. There’s much more to come but these photos didn’t really fit in with any of the future photosets, so I’m dumping them into a Randomness gallery. Enjoy!

If you have questions about any of these photos, hit me up in the comments. And thanks to everyone who made this trip such a blast for Lauren and me.

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Steel road bikes will never die. They can be taken off road, ridden in all conditions, dropped, wrecked and anything else life will toss at you. Aaron Edge is the art director for Southern Lord and as a recent Seattle to Los Angeles transplant, his Milani road bike has become his staple transportation. He took this bike off road for the first time last week and we were there together, sweating it out together.

The other morning before getting to drone out at the Southern Lord offices, I took some photos of this Beautiful Bicycle.

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The last time we saw Ty’s Geekhouse Mudville, it was in the middle of cross season. So what do cross racers do in the “off season”? Some choose to ride their cross bikes on singletrack, over fire roads and through the woods. While most people hang them up in their sheds or garages, Ty and a lot of other riders prefer to ride theirs year-round.

When he decided he would try to travel as much as he could this year, he comissioned Megan from Moth Attack to add S&S couplers to this already versatile bike. Gotta love that Geekhouse team livery all torched up! He left with Moi this morning on a week-long trip and the bike was looking great yesterday, so I had to photograph it.

I wish these two dudes the best of luck. Have a blast!

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