The Radavist

Brian Vernor has been asking me to come to Santa Cruz for over a year now, so when we rolled through his home town for the #ATOC, we hit him up. Initially we just wanted to grab a beer and a burger but then he muttered a word that piqued our interests: RIDE. How can you pass up a ride? Even with just an hour left of sunlight, Brian took Simon, Jeremy and me on a kick-ass ride in Santa Cruz. A lil bit of climbing, a lil bit of gravel and a lotta fun. Followed by a drink and a burger, naturally.

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My absolute favorite day of the #ATOC was the Mt. Baldy stage. We woke up, rode to the first KOM and hung out all afternoon in the blazing sun. After shouting and being utter jackasses all day, we took off down the descent. What a day!

While I was shooting on the top of the Rapha Mobile Cycle Club, I passed my T4 off to Jeremy Dunn, who assisted in the KOM shots. Thanks to Jeremy for getting some of the action and thanks to everyone who made that day so rad.

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned to cope with over the years, it’s the inevitable hungover road ride. You’re up drinking the night before and chances are, you’ve only had a few hours sleep. What I wasn’t expecting however, during our recent stay in Bakersfield during the ATOC, was to roll out of bed without coffee or breakfast, only to be hammering in a 20+ mph paceline for 10 miles. We stayed with Gareth Feldstein, a local racer, who promised an early morning ride through the oil fields and hills.

The temperature in Bakersfield, much like Austin, requires you to get out on the road bright and early to beat the upper 90’s. We did just that. At 5:30am we rolled out and reeled in 60 miles, around 3,800′ of elevation with an 18mph average. Oh and I ran over a squirrel…

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As Garrett and Walton were packing their car up to head back to SF from the Golden Saddle Cyclery Champagne Brunch, I grabbed his Specialized S-Works road bike and took a few photos of it. I don’t think you can get anymore balleur than this. Slammed, drop stem, murdered out paint and coming in around 13lbs, this bike is a beast!

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Keeping with the ladies theme, here’s the lovely Jen and her gorgeous Moots Vamoots road. Jen was kind enough to let Jeremy, Simon and me crash at her place while we were in LA. She road to Baldy with us and managed to keep sane while we all partied it up. She’s a total badass and her bike ain’t too shabby either. As a side note, if you’re in LA and looking for that special something for your special someone, hit up her shop, Panty Raid in Los Feliz! Now, back to her and her bike…

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Mr. Save the Track Bike has quite a few nice geared bikes in his stable. As co-owner of Golden Saddle Cyclery, Kyle’s spent a lot of time pulling together a classic vibe for the shop. Sitting in the racks is this gorgeous 3Rensho road bike, built with Campy Ergo. When it comes to classic lines and Italian-influence, 3Rensho road bikes are some of the nicest vintage steeds available, which is why I was surprised to hear that he’s thinking of selling it…

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The closer we got to Los Angeles during the AMGEN Tour of California, the more fun the days became. We woke up bright and early in LA and drove out to Azusa. From there, we parked and rode up towards Baldy. Words cannot express how much fun this ride was. We climbed as high as we could before the course started to get closed down, totaling around 35 miles and 4,600′ of elevation.

Hennie, the Rapha Mobile Cycle Club was parked at the first KOM, so our group arrived and the party had already been raging. I can’t describe the afternoon, so I’ll let the photos do the talking!

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Edit: I’ve added the Previous posts for the #ATOC below…

After covering the AMGEN Tour of California, for almost a week now, the last thing I wanted to do was get back to work. Waking up, bright and early, gets harder and harder each morning. Yesterday was no exception to this either. We ended up rolling out of our luxurious suite at the Motel 6 a few hours later than anticipated. As we scrambled to find the second KOM, we quickly realized that the peloton had already blown through the gate there. The tailwind was no joke apparently…

What was left to check out before the finish was the feed zone. This is where the racers and support vehicles can re-up on food and water, via their musettes. Once they’ve finished stuffing the treats into their jersey pockets, the bags and bottles are discarded on the road. Let’s see, free stuff and cool photos? Sure.

After some re-routing through the desert, we found ourselves at the base of the climb up to refueling station. The action came and left within minutes, sending us on a sprint to the finish in our vehicle. The 20 mile drive up to Big Bear Lake is breathtaking. Winding roads with little or no shoulder makes it less than ideal for cyclists but the views are stunning out across the range.

Once you make it up the mountain a ways, the roads widen and we found ourselves passing cyclists (and other attractions) every other bend. Meanwhile, a Frenchman had broken away from the peloton. But would he make it?

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