As an anchor for the NorCal cyclocross scene, the Rock Lobster team and their eclectic band of racers, builders, horn players, writers, photographers, and dreamers take you a journey into the heart of Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships 2023. From riding the tiger to fording the pool of plunder, this story captures cyclocross glory and heartbreak at its finest. From the desk of the award winning SSCXWCTV investigative news team, please enjoy “You can’t buy money with happiness”.
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Reportage
You Can’t Buy Money With Happiness: 2023 Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships
As an anchor for the NorCal cyclocross scene, the Rock Lobster team and their eclectic band of racers, builders, horn players, writers, photographers, and dreamers are here to take you on a journey into the heart of Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships 2023. From riding the tiger to fording the pool of plunder, this story captures cyclocross glory and heartbreak at its finest. From the desk of the award winning SSCXWCTV investigative news team, please enjoy “You Can’t Buy Money With Happiness,” a mixed-media Reportage with weekend narration from Matt Miller, along with photos and video from Josh Becker and Mike Thomas.
Reportage
Capturing the Magic of the UCSC Bike Co-op
Nestled between giant trees and the surrounding University of California Santa Cruz campus, the UCSC Bike Co-op is a haven for students and community members. There are few things more satisfying than rummaging through a parts bin and learning how to wrench on your own bike. As with any good bike shop, co-operative or not, the community is paramount as many of the UCSC co-op volunteers can attest. Continue reading below as Finn Cunningham and Matt Miller, in addition to a collection of their friends and fellow co-opers, capture the magic of UCSC’s Bike Co-op…
Radar
Radar Roundup: TRP Evo 12 Groupset, Kool Stop AT Pads, Ripton Snap Shirt, Fierce Hazel True Grit Handlebar Bag, 2023 SSCXWC Santa Cruz, Bike Jerks Rough Stuff Rally, and The Engine Inside
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
Radar
Radar Roundup: MADE Handmade Bike Show, Wizard Works in the US, August Trees, Velo Orange Granola Moose, Goodday + Curiosity Spacer Cradle Rack, Brother Cycles Mr Wooden, Ortleib Repair Week, Santa Cruz Suspension, Charlie and Jacquie
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
Reportage
Inside Caletti Cycles: Bikes Made In Santa Cruz From Ti and Steel
Santa Cruz, California, is home to many wonderful framebuilders and many of which we’ve documented here on The Radavist over the years. From Rock Lobster to Black Cat, and Hunter Cycles, there’s no shortage of Shop Visits from the area to browse. However, one shop I’ve long wanted to document is Caletti Cycles, so when the Chris King Guest House event happened earlier this month, based out of the Caletti Cycles shop, I made sure to photograph this wonderful space along with one of John Caletti’s recent personal builds.
Let’s check out what goes on Inside Caletti Cycles below!
Reportage
Brendan’s Onko Rinkus Tall Bike with the FOX 32 Taper-Cast Gravel Fork
Tall bikes were spawned by bike punk cultures like NYC’s Bike Kill and other DIY groups and have been used in everything from bike jousting tournaments to full-on cross-country tours. When I see a tall bike, there’s this atavistic urge to jump on board and take it for a spin. So as you can imagine when I feasted my eyes upon Brendan’s Onko Rinkus tall bike while visiting Rock Lobster Cycles, I had to document it…
Reportage
Rock Lobster Has a New Cobble and a Look at The Chris King SSMTB 29er!
Lobsters don’t have a home, per se. Rather, they move across the rocky ocean floors searching for a cobble or den. In many ways, Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster Cycles has been looking for a new cobble for the past few years, bouncing to and fro various shop spaces, all within a mile of each other. His new space, however, might just be the best yet.
On my recent trip out to Sea Otter, I swung through to catch up with Paul. It’d been over two years since the last time I saw him and as he’s one of my favorite builders to hang out with, I was looking forward to spending some time talkin’ tubes with him. Read on below for a Shop Visit as well as a look at the Rock Lobster singlespeed 29er from the Chris King Guest House event…
Radar
Radar Roundup: Made in CO Bladder, Sqweeb V4, Ned Gravel, Full Metal Fenders, New Cotic, e-Danny, and Astana Rap
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
Reportage
GRAVEL IS DEAD: Dain Zaffke’s Evil Chamois Hagar
Am I the only one here that cringes every time I hear the word gravel? It’s been a common word in my world for a few years now, and believe me, I hear the word a lot… but I just can’t embrace it. The word gravel still brings to mind all-day slogs across flat/windblown prairies on the type of surface that’s devoid of traction yet still slowly and steadily saps your spirit. In other words: somehow, somewhere it firmly lodged in my brain that “gravel” is the antithesis of “fun.”
Radar
Out Of the Ashes: Rebuilding Santa Cruz Mountains Trails
Out of the Ashes is BACK! You can support @santacruztrails as they raise funds to help repair charred California State Parks trails. For just a $5 contribution, you could win your choice of bike from Caletti (outfitted with components from Fox / Easton Cycling / Race Face) or a hand-crafted walnut coffee table from @joeykochlacs_furnituremaker.
The trails throughout parks like Big Basin, Butano, and Fall Creek State Parks are a constant source of exercise and inspiration for me. It’s been nearly a year since the CZU wildfires, and there’s still a tremendous amount of work needed to restore these areas back to their former glory.
Head over to Santa Cruz Trails to get your entries! This giveaway is only live through August 9.
Reportage
Amanda’s Custom Flashpoint MVMNT Canyon Grizl Gravel Bike
Drop bars have always had a special place in my heart. Don’t get me wrong, I love mountain bikes. That feeling of flying down swoopy singletrack and rowdy trails on a mountain bike is truly hard to beat. But there is one thing that can beat it… Flying down flowy singletrack and rowdy trails on a drop-bar bike. Now that can get exciting!
Radar
Ripping Ruts and Cyclocross Poetry
A project in which a poem is disguised as a bicycle video, that you read with your ears…
I love to ride my bike. I also love to write poetry. The only problem is, people pay more attention to the riding than the writing.
Maybe that’s because folks are perplexed by a sweaty, 32-year-old man in tights grunting around in circles on the beach. Maybe it’s because I only write limericks that will get me in trouble if anyone sees them besides my dog…
Regardless, in an attempt to bring some joy to these most topsy turvey of times, and to bring some purpose to my own disrupted life, I wanted to share my love of sandy cyclocross rides and poetry.
The sandy cyclocross ride is inspired by the hallowed dunes of the Koksijde World Cup in Belgium. Even though the event was canceled this year, I can still chase a similar feeling closer to home. And those rides close to home inspire the words you are about to absorb. And hopefully, those words inspire you to go find your own bicycle happy place wherever that may be. And from there, we can all enjoy what we have right in front of us. And be inspired for something anew. And so the cycle will roll, on and on and on…..
Or for a more traditional poetry consumptive experience, the full text is below:
Tides
Dream.
I, Dream.
Of distant lands,
Where lore dug deep
‘Cross windswept dunes
Reportage
We Are Not Whole Until We Are All Whole
We have all been on rides that, at some point, require us to dig deep. But we still find a way to get that last bit of energy out of our bodies. We fight, we endure. And on the other side of these rides, we emerge stronger. We need to make the same commitment to anti-racism that we do to become stronger on the bike.
Reportage
Haute Neanderthal: Inside Rock Lobster Cycles
Just before Covid hit the US and races were canceled indefinitely, I had a conversation on a ride with good friend Brendan Lehman (who is sometimes, more often than not, known as the official unofficial mis-manager of the Rock Lobster race team) about joining the risk of Lobsters and racing on a custom frame built by Paul Sadoff himself. I’d been riding with the Rock Lobster crew here in Santa Cruz for several years and we all seemed to share a common bond in doing remarkably stupid endurance rides, putting mental and physical limits to the test for fun and adventure. Since I first laid eyes on one, there has always been something alluring to me about a classic, team issue, seafoam green Rock Lobster. Not only will I get to ride and race on this custom bike built for my body dimensions, but I also get the pleasure to ride it with the builder himself. As a photographer, I figured it would be great to capture the build of my custom frame from start to finish and get to know Paul a little better in the process.
Radar
Bonny Doon Strong Merch Background: Building Community, Supporting Recovery
The CZU Complex Fire has done irreparable damage to many’s homes and decimated the small community of Bonny Doon. So far 82,000+ acres have burnt, 799 structures have been destroyed, and the fire is only at 26% containment.
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz member Emma Ussat created a merch fundraiser directly supporting Community Foundation’s Bonny Doon Fund. The Community Foundation Santa Cruz County (CFSCC) is a trusted nonprofit that actually formed in 1982 to meet the needs of such disasters as this (at the time a major flood had just hit Santa Cruz). MBOSC have worked in partnership with CFSCC on other campaigns and they are a great partner. The Bonny Doon Fund will go directly to those in need. @cfsantacruzco
More information on this Instagram post.
For now, you can help out by buying one of these two shirt designs.
Red and Blue combo: https://www.bonfire.
Yellow and Green combo: https://www.bonfire.
Reportage
Trailblazers: Uncovering the Roots of Mountain Biking in Santa Cruz – A 24 Hour History Lesson
We’d like to add a note sending our love and support to all those affected by the fires in the Santa Cruz region. You’re in our thoughts…
Back in February, before the whole world was turned upside down, Jimmy Rosas and I took a quick trip up to Santa Cruz. We wanted to ride mountain bikes and eat deep fried zucchini burritos, but most importantly we wanted to visit the Whitney Ford-Terry curated show at the MAH, Trailblazers: Uncovering the Roots of Mountain Biking in Santa Cruz. The show had just opened, and originally this piece was going to be all about driving traffic to the show, but now it’s turned into more of a closing statement. A fare thee well to one of the best mountain bike exhibitions that no one will ever see. A true comprehensive look at the history of mountain biking in Santa Cruz, a place that has now become a mountain bike mecca for hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, a place where residents who don’t mountain bike are the weird ones.
Reportage
Keeping it Neat: a Custom Caletti Ti MTB with Chris King Bourbon
We’re big fans of rigid bikes over here at the Radavist, especially made with titanium. Chris Corona, aka Dirt Drops, has one slick custom Caletti titanium MTB frame, best served neat with Chris King Bourbon.