Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another. The Angeles National Forest is a magical place, where ex-pro road cyclists learn to summon their inner powers of levitation by smoking pipes filled with sun scorched Poodle Dog Bush while drinking fermented Untapped Maple Syrup packs. Or something…

Ted King is technically still a pro, until January 1st but yesterday the two of us took off on a ride into the ANF. The last time Ted got to experience Highway 2 was in a peloton during the Amgen Tour of California, which as Ted so gracefully put it, was very, very painful. Luckily pain wasn’t on our agenda yesterday. Instead, we took a super casual pedal up to Mount Wilson and back down to Mount Disappointment.

NorthEast coasters should know better than to not bring gloves on a ride in the mountains, yet the sunny and warm temps on the streets of Echo Park fooled Ted into thinking it’d be warm, even around 6,000′ elevation. Bottom line, Ted was cold. I was cold. We were kinda cold.

While we took a break to bask at a warm and sunny switchback, I took the time to check out Ted’s new, yet temporary bike: the Cannondale SuperSix EVO Hi-Mod fit with Zipp 404s and SRAM’s new mountain magic eTap shifting system. Now, I didn’t see cables anywhere on those derailleurs, so I can only assume it’s more Poodle Dog Bush magic that makes it shift. Crazy huh? This bike just looks fast, sitting still. Yet, I know what you’re thinking: SLAM THAT STEM. Well, ya know what? When ex-pros leave the peloton, spacers magically appear under their stems, which also shrink in length, sometimes up to 3cm. I too was amazed at the transformation this bicycle seemed to go through. It’s like, life for Ted was about to get more fun.

There’s more to come here at some point, but for now enjoy some sleek, lightweight road bike photos with an epic backdrop straight out of a Lovecraft novella…