Patrick from the Bikes or Death Podcast and His Chumba Stella Ti Drop Bar 29er

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Patrick from the Bikes or Death Podcast and His Chumba Stella Ti Drop Bar 29er

A little while back, Patrick from Bikes or Death reached out, saying he was going to be in Santa Fe and was hoping we could sit down for a podcast interview. Naturally, I obliged, and last night we hung out at our office here in Santa Fe and talked about bikes, photography, other randomness related to this website. I won’t give too much away but I was really stoked on how it went. Doing interviews is a great way to bond with a person and afterward, I just had to shoot Patrick’s Chumba Cycles Stella Ti. While the podcast episode won’t be out for a few weeks, I wanted to feature this rad build while it was all still fresh on my mind, so enjoy!

Waaseyaa: It is Bright – Alexandera Houchin, Her Life, and Her Chumba Cycles Stella MTB

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Waaseyaa: It is Bright – Alexandera Houchin, Her Life, and Her Chumba Cycles Stella MTB

Waaseyaa: it is bright, is light (as in the day), is radiant; it is sunny

It’s been a hard couple of years. Compounded self-doubt, emotional and physical abuse and income insecurity had me clinging to any bit of life I had within myself. I hadn’t really comprehended how I had gotten in that position in the first place. I remember years ago talking to someone who confided in me that she was in an abusive relationship. I’d been stone-cold in clarity when I told her to leave the fucker. She revealed that it was more complicated than that and, at that moment, I pitied her. Years later, I found myself in the same predicament; I was ashamed both for the lack of strength I had to leave my boyfriend and for my inability to listen to her. I’ve spent the last two years feeling like a swollen shell of myself.

Chumba Cycles: Alexandera’s DKXL, TDR, CT Singlespeed Stella Titanium 29er

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Chumba Cycles: Alexandera’s DKXL, TDR, CT Singlespeed Stella Titanium 29er

Thanks to Chumba, Industry Nine, Kogel Bearings, Wanderlust Gear and MRP, Alexandera is outfitted properly for a season of ultra-endurance racing this year. After an amazing DKXL story, she’s on her Stella Titanium in the throes of the Tour Divide. Perhaps you’ve recognized her in Spencer and Rue’s galleries? At any rate, Vince from Chumba sent over some photos of Alexandera’s bike, which you can check out below and please, if you have time, give her blog a visit and read her DKXL story. Personally, I can’t wait to read her Tour Divide tale!

Chumba USA’s Made in Texas Stella 29’r Hardtail is a Ripper!

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Chumba USA’s Made in Texas Stella 29’r Hardtail is a Ripper!

The history of Chumba is one with a somewhat rocky past but it appears the brand has finally hit smooth trails with its recent rebranding and relaunch. When a couple of guys from Austin, Texas took over, they had one thing on their minds: steel. That and making mountain bikes in Texas, designed to thrash our local trails and still perform in the mountains of Colorado.

Earlier this year, we looked at their 29+ Ursa model and yesterday, I met the Chumba team out at Pace Bend Park, a 45 minute drive from Austin, to shred their new made in Texas Stella 29’r hard tail.

Alexandera Houchin Has Left Chumba Cycles

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Alexandera Houchin Has Left Chumba Cycles

Our good friend Alexandera Houchin has parted ways with Austin, TX framebuilders Chumba Cycles after five years of being a sponsored athlete, as announced on the brand’s Instagram. We’re not at liberty to talk about her new sponsor quite yet but wanted to alert the readership and direct them to Chumba Cycles’ Instagram for a heartfelt photo collage and official statement.

You can also read Alexandera’s extended thoughts by subscribing to her Substack

Check out John and Alexandera’s Chumba Beautiful Bicycles gallery in our archives:

Waaseyaa: It is Bright; Alexandera Houchin, Her Life, and Her Chumba Cycles Stella MTB

Developing a Craft: A 35mm Look into Chumba Cycles Production

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Developing a Craft: A 35mm Look into Chumba Cycles Production

It has been a little over a year since we relocated Chumba Bikes to our new, bigger, and brighter shop space in South Austin. We have yet to host an open house here due to COVID and trying to keep our staff as safe as possible. I approached Vince about doing a 35mm photography project to share our new shop space along with the hands that have moved Chumba forward. To showcase our new shop I shot a month’s worth of photos and compiled this gallery. I’m excited to give you a peep into our world at Chumba!

Chunder and Chamisa on the Chumba Sendero 29er Hardtail

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Chunder and Chamisa on the Chumba Sendero 29er Hardtail

Over the past few years, I’ve found myself only riding 150mm travel hardtails and full suspensions with slackened front ends and steep seat tubes. In my mind, why would you want anything else? Then I moved to Santa Fe, where we have even bigger backcountry loops, steep climbs, and long, rocky descents. Yet, we also have sweeping, undulating XC trails. Suddenly, all those 150mm bikes are a little too much for a lot of the trails here, most of which are in my neighborhood. Then Chumba came to the rescue, sending along their Sendero 130mm 29er hardtail for me to review and I fell in love with XC bikes once again.

Read on for how this beauty of a bike handles our chunder and Chamisa-lined trails here in Santa Fe…

Tigged in Texas: Checking in with Austin Framebuilders Chumba Cycles

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Tigged in Texas: Checking in with Austin Framebuilders Chumba Cycles

My friends at Chumba Cycles have had a truly inspirational story since re-launching the brand in early 2014. While the name Chumba Cycles has been around for some time in the mountain bike world, this is an entirely different company when compared to the brand that launched in California during the early ’90s. Without going into the details too much, Vince and Mark purchased the brand a few years back and began making their tig-welded steel bikes in-house in Austin, TX. Around that same time, they moved shops, and on a recent trip to the Lonestar State, I swung through to check out their new digs and see some of the bikes they were building up for customers.

Falling for Fat Biking on the Front Range: Josh’s 2014 Surly Moonlander

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Falling for Fat Biking on the Front Range: Josh’s 2014 Surly Moonlander

The first time I laid eyes on a fat bike was in 2011. I was picking up my race bib for the American Birkebeiner 50K, the famed cross-country ski race in Hayward, Wisconsin. Surly had an expo booth outside with their demo fleet of fat bikes prominently positioned so they’d be the first thing you saw. You couldn’t miss the line-up of jumbo-rubbered Pugsleys kitted out with 26 x 3.8″ tires, ready for a test ride. I made my way to the booth and asked about these foreign looking monster bikes. I was promptly told that I should ride one and find out for myself. As I looked down the row, I saw one with much larger tires than all the rest. It was a Moonlander, there to show off Surly’s recently announced expedition fat bike.

The Radavist’s Top 10 Beautiful Bicycles of 2021

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The Radavist’s Top 10 Beautiful Bicycles of 2021

I hope your winter break was refreshing and that you got some miles in over the Holidaze. We’re back in 2022 with the first of our 2021 year-end recaps, beginning with everyone’s favorite: the Top 10 Beautiful Bicycles of 2021. Like years prior, I compiled this list by traffic, comments, and social media/backlink chatter, also omitting bikes from Open House/Expo style showcases. There are some real gems in here, so let’s get to it!

Josh Uhl’s 2019 Triple Crown Attempt: A Personal Journey

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Josh Uhl’s 2019 Triple Crown Attempt: A Personal Journey

The beauty of bikes is in the people who ride them—and how they all have a story. I have little doubt that everyone—serious riders, aeroed and grimaced, and carefree cruisers alike—have experienced that epiphanous fresh-air feeling of freedom that accompanies spinning your legs astride two wheels. Sometimes we just enjoy it at the moment—letting the short-lived wave of release and clarity wash over us during a weeknight burrito run, or a trip to the coffee shop. Other times we chase that feeling down with the hope that, somehow, it might change our life.

What first intrigued me about Josh Uhl was, however, not his history with bikes but his podcast Here For Now, which he started in February of 2021. Josh uses this platform to have intentional and intimate conversations with his guests about motivation, struggle, and the big whys of life. Listening to an early episode with Peter Hogan, where the recovering addict asserts that “Bikes aren’t God,” and to a later episode where the writer Zoe Röm reflects on the delusion of “authenticity” on social media, I found myself frequently nodding along. Yes, exactly.

Bikes or Death Sat Down in Santa Fe with John Watson from the Radavist for Episode 69

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Bikes or Death Sat Down in Santa Fe with John Watson from the Radavist for Episode 69

Episode 69? On 4.20? Three days before my 40th birthday? Why not? lol

A few weeks ago, Patrick from Bikes or Death swung through Santa Fe after hanging with Matt from the Monumental Loop in Las Cruces. We sat down in our new office here in town and chatted about the beginnings of the Radavist, photography, land acknowledgment, and other topics relevant to many of your interests. Patrick is a great guy and spending my Sunday afternoon with him was a real treat. As someone who tries to stay behind the scenes here as much as possible on the site, it’s a great insight into what makes me tick. Check out my ramblings in Episode 69 at Bikes or Death.

If you have questions or comments after the interview, drop them in the comments and I’ll answer them today.

Side note: we’re getting our second shots today! Woooohoooo!