The Radavist

I love seeing frame builders gain notoriety through supporting grassroots cycling teams. Not to say that Aaron Stinner wouldn’t be as popular today without building the Mudfoot racing cyclocross frames, but it certainly helped.

During my visit to Santa Barbara during the ATOC, Jeremy Dunn and I spent the afternoon with Aaron, riding bikes, photographing bikes and making a mess at his house.

Aaron is lucky enough to have a decent sized workspace set up in his garage and he’s even luckier to have a great ride just seconds from his front door. As his queue stacks up, Aaron continues to crank out road, cross and MTB frames for customers, who happen to be mostly from California. Many of which are looking to race on a steel frame, made in their home state, rather than buy overseas production.

Stinner Frameworks is still new in the grand scheme of things, but if Aaron continues at the current momentum, he could vary well be the next big thing…

During the Amgen Tour of California, I spent eight hours in Santa Barbara with Aaron Stinner. His framebuilding company, Stinner Frameworks has been on fire lately. From building the Mudfoot Elite cross bikes, to speaking at Mission Workshop and unveiling his newest model: the Fundero MTB.

Available in both 27.5 and 29’r these semi-custom frames are meant to take you to the trail and home again in (mostly) one piece, depending on how much you enjoy ripping. For this build, Aaron went with SRAM XO, Stan’s wheels, XT brakes and a White Brothers Loop 120mm fork but build kits are available in any group.

These frames are lightweight, come with a powdercoat, replaceable derailleur hanger and a tapered head tube. If you’re looking for a straight up, made in the USA shred sled, holler at Aaron!

After I shot photos of his workshop, I grabbed Aaron and his 29’r Fundero for a quick photoshoot at a trailhead down the block from his house… Next time, I need to actually shred this thing!

Last year was a bad year for Jon from Skratch Labs. Not related to the company, which grew exponentially since the last year’s Tour of California. No, 2013 was a bad year for Jon personally.

First, he and his wife were in the Boston Marathon bombing, then he got hit by a car in July coming down Boulder canyon, leaving his MCL torn and surgeries followed, unable to ride for a while. Two life-threatening events that gave him some perspective.

As a “life reward”, post-accident, Jon contacted Kevin at Mosaic to build a custom titanium RT-1 road with ENVE and Ultegra Di2. The inverted 2013 serves as a reminder and motivator to Jon as he pedals his way into recovery.

Right now, this bike is setup to accomodate his injuries. The saddle is slightly tilted back and the steerer remains uncut, to make the riding position a little more upright. Jon’s intentions are to slowly progress back to his normal riding position, but with all things, it will take time.

Time that Jon’s more than happy to spend riding this machine, like to the top of Rock Store during the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California, where I had, literally 5 minutes to shoot this bike!

I wish the best to Jon, his family and Skratch in 2014. Thanks to Mosaic for being so kind to him as well. See you guys in Boulder!

It should come as no surprise that when David Wilcox plans a Rapha group ride, it’s going to be tough. When he showed me the route we’d take for Stage 03 of the Amgen Tour of California, I knew we were in for a big, bad day…

I’ve known Brett Clever since his days at NYC Velo back when I lived in Brooklyn. Since then, he’s moved out to California like so many New Yorkers in search of sunny weather and mountains. While he helps out with Ritte, Brett also runs a small water bottle / jersey company under his guise DJ Clever.

Bumping into him and Ben at Stage 08 of the Amgen Tour of California was not that big of a surprise, those Ritttayyyyy boyz are everywhere at once it seems. But seeing Brett on his Indy Fab SSR Rapha edition totally caught me off guard. I’ve always loved these bikes.

The build it pretty straight forward, minus the custom MMFG bars, which really tie the build together.

I’ve known Ben for years. He was a mechanic at Affinity Cycles in Brooklyn and I could always count on him for some solid commentary when I rolled through the shop. Since driving cross country with his BMX and road bike, Ben landed himself in SoCal, where he’s now racing for RITTTTAYYYYYYYYY!

Today at the Amgen Tour of California – yes, I’m still here – I shot photos of him, his Ritte / Clever donuts kit – with matching bottles – and his Ritte Vlaanderen road. I kinda like the owner holding up the expensive road bike theme going on here…

This is by no means a “secret”. Plenty of other sources have covered SRAM’s new prototype wireless shifting. All I’m doing here is showcasing a PRO bike that just happens to be using this new technology…

When a company goes through years of PR&D, in house testing and thorough engineering, the next phase is getting said product out on the bikes of PRO cyclists. This year at the Amgen Tour of California, SRAM unveiled a new piece of technology on the Trek Bissell Cycling Team: wireless shifting.

All I can do is show you Clement Chevrier’s Trek Madone team bike, you can make any assessments yourself. If, for example you wanted to guess what it’s like to ride it, go for it. If for example, you wanted to guess how it shifts or sets up, go for it. If for example, you think it’s “dumb” or “stupid”, by all means, you’re entitled to your opinion, but remember, you’re not PRO!

One thing I will say is that you’re in for a surprise… Thanks to Criag, the Bissell mechanic for hooking this one up!

If you watched the first stage of the 2014 Amgen Tour of California, then hopefully you watched the women’s circuit race. Zipping through the corners, tight in the front group there were a grouping of red and white jerseys: the girls of Stan’s NoTubes p/b enduranceWERX.

One of these ladies, I’ve known for years and watched her grow in the sport. BrittLee Bowman races road for Stan’s and crushes cross for Richard Sachs. She’s a total babe and is one of the most humble, friendly people you’ll meet on a bike.

Right after the women finished their race, I shot some quick photos of BrittLee and her Rosko steel road bike… I love the “muscle” photo!

Ride Along: Hot Boyz of Cycling – Marc Marino
Words and photos by John Watson

Marc Marino is the nicest guy ever. He’s also super hot. Ladies, take note. He’s got it all: tattoos, tan lines and a track bike. On a serious note, Marc’s a good friend and I always enjoy spending time with him, especially at the Amgen Tour of California.

Today, I forced Marc out into the course to shoot some photos before he woofed down his lunch: a donut with almond butter smeared on the top… Check out a Ride Along interview below!

I saw so many LOW track bikes at the first stage of the 2014 Amgen Tour of California – but only had time to shoot one: Benny’s. Looking at this bike, I could tell this dude takes riding and racing at least somewhat seriously. The setup was dialed.

Turns out, the owner, Benny, races for a BMW development team on the road and works at Mike’s Bikes in SF. He’s also a super nice dude, kinda like his bike, super nice…

While I was in California last month, I worked on a few pieces for the Rapha blog, loosely-related to the Amgen Tour of California, with emphasis on loosely. You’re not going to see any pain face pros, just Regular Riders who we met along our trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco. There’s more on the way, but here’s the first edition of Cali is Not California™!

I’m not the best raconteur but Jeremy Dunn is and he did an exceptional job at profiling some of the people we surveyed, so do yourself a favor and check it out at the Rapha Blog!

Tools of the trade:
Mamiya 7ii / 80mm
Kodak Portra 400