The Radavist

Mornings with a two year old begin bright and early. For Garrett from Strawfoot and his wife, their schedules allow them to split the weekdays with their daughter Olive. For Garrett, that usually means breakfast duties around 6 or 7am, followed by a quick jaunt in their Frances Cycles cargo bike to Companion Bakeshop to “get sconed.”

I’m lucky to know so many makers. People who take a raw material and manipulate it to fit a specific use and aesthetic. Like frame builders, bag makers are able to look at a table full of parts and visualize the whole.

Garrett and Vince are Strawfoot Handmade. They’re two guys working out of a garage in Santa Cruz making everything from Dopp bags to totes for everyday use and kit bags, riding wallets or saddle bags for cycling. It seems like an obvious or easy job for someone who can sew but there’s a lot to the production process and that’s not even counting the development of new goods.

NOAA predicts this year’s El Niño will be one for the record books. While Los Angeles is in dire need of rain, it doesn’t mean our trails are happy when the sky does open its glands and weeps onto our mountains. Last week, the 5 got hit with mudslides, cars were washed away, property damaged, etc. If this is a vignette into the future, we’re in for a bloody muddy winter.

Holy shit. Where do I even begin here? First off, we just saw where Rick Hunter builds his frames in Bonny Doon, just outside of Santa Cruz so we have context. Second off, the name of this bike is one of the deadliest vipers on Earth, the Bushmaster. These snakes are capable of multiple strikes in milliseconds and will deliver a fatal amount of venom without blinking an eye *snakes don’t have eyelids.*

Multiple strikes, multiple gears. No, wait. This is a singlespeed, right? Look again.

Kit builds aren’t Rick Hunter’s thing. You won’t find derailleur hangers ordered from a catalog in drawers, or your every day, run of the mill 44mm head tube waiting en queue for assemblage. Not at Hunter Cycles.

Rick Hunter is one of those builders that makes what I like to call utilitarian art. Utilitarian because each of his bikes are made to tackle one or many jobs efficiently and with a dash of fun. Or the other way around. Art because each bike is unique. Or rather, each run of production frames are unique. Be it a WoodRat, a Cyclo-Cross disc bike or a road frame. Rick will design, fabricate and finish his own cable stops, derailleur hangers and head tubes. There are a lotta hours put into each bike. More recently he’s been working on some feats of engineering and reverse practicality however with his completely insane Bushmaster bikes…

Cycling is an experience that should continue to mature overtime. I’m weary of people who stand firm in their ideologies, rest on laurels and refuse to embrace the “new,” especially when it comes to riding bikes. Look, it’s not that hard to have fun. Opinions can change with experience, its normal. Embrace it.

For the past two years, I’ve been planning both financially and functionally for this bike. Something I’d encourage everyone to do with a custom machine. Don’t just jump in head first without doing research and saving your money. The last thing you want to do is to take a financial hit once the final invoice comes in.

You see, I knew I wanted a Firefly. I kind of felt like that brand and my own brand have grown together over the years. When Jamie, Tyler and Kevin started the company, it had a breath of energy, creativity and their final products all expressed experimentation. Those guys can make anyone a dream bike but deciding what kind of bike is a challenge. Part of my apprehension was not only where I felt like cycling’s technology was heading, but where my own riding would be taking me over the next few years.

‘Cross bikes, ‘cross bikes, ‘cross bikes…

Look. I love cyclocross bikes but I was beginning to get a little Grinduro’d out. After a weekend of shooting, talking, riding and basically living bikes at the event, I wanted a recovery day. Decompression. Detachment. Whatever you want to call it. I needed a vacation. Ok, not really. I just wanted to ride mountain bikes and be out of cell reception for 24 hours.

Luckily, we were already in the midst of some incredible mountains, so it was literally a no-brainer to hop on the road and book it up to Downieville. That place has always carried such a mystique for me. I’d never been before, for various reasons, but had ridden all over California so I was familiar with the terrain. But still. There’s something about that trail network that had been beckoning me for years.

It was my friend Andrea‘s birthday on Monday and she too wanted to ride there one last time before the season ended. She’s been numerous times, so it worked out perfectly. Sunday morning after Grindruo, we would leave Quincy, drive an hour or so, get to town, pass out, wake up for a morning shuttle, take it super chill, shoot photos, eat gummy worms, sip the flask and barrel along the downhill line, ending at the river…

There was one detail we were missing: bikes. ‘Drea and I were on Grinduro-ready rigs, not 6″ trail bikes.

Luckily Yuba Expeditions had rental bikes for around $100 a day. I scooped up a Ibis Mojo, Andrea got a Santa Cruz Nomad and we were good to go. Oh and tubes. Oh and I needed knee pads. Now we’re good to go.

When Joe Parkin approached Giro’s Dain Zaffke about a new race format a few years back, the initial reaction the two had was more than a chuckle, rather than any degree of seriousness but the seed had been planted…

Why not make a new race format? Part gravel grind and part enduro. Grinduro. You get the best of both worlds, competition and socializing on bicycles. A few segments would be timed: a fire road climb, a fire road descent, a road time trail and a singletrack descent. The event would prove to bring about a rather interesting dialog: what is the most diverse bicycle in your stable?

“Il Faut Toujours Souffrir.”

That’s what’s painted on the top tube of Barry’s Stinner disc all-road frame. Roughly translating to “we must always suffer,” this saying acts as not only a motivation for Barry on rides, but as a reminder as to what cycling means to him in relation to life. Nothing good comes easy.

Barry‘s an illustrator, a typographer, a graphic designer and in Los Angeles, that means freelance. It takes a certain soul to be a freelancer in LA. You’ve got to hustle, be on your game at all times and yes, sometimes suffer the ups and downs of the creative economy. That means some weeks, months, years, you’re on your game and others you’re not. It all takes sacrifice.

Mark’s Black Cat Gatto Disc All-Road
Photos by Derek Yarra, words by John Watson

Grinduro, the timed segment gravel race in the Sierra Nevada mountains approaches (10.10.2015) and for people like Mark Riedy, it’s the perfect opportunity to get a California builder to construct a dream bike for the event. An race like Grinduro will bring about polarizing opinions regarding what the ideal equipment might be. Some would say a hardtail or a rigid mountain bike, since the descents are technical and the last 12 miles of the course is singletrack.

Others would say a disc “all-road” or ‘cross bike because of the timed road segments and the 20-mile climb. Mark Riedy, Giro’s longtime PR guy, is clearly in the drop bar camp, so he looked to Santa Cruz’s Black Cat Bicycles to build him a bike.

Now, for those of you who know Mark, you can attest to his love of the Gios Torino road frames. They’re classics and Mark is always on the lookout for one in his size. Perhaps this was his motivation when contacting frame painter Keith Anderson, or perhaps he just wanted to have the word “Gato” on his head tube.

I reached out to Mark and asked him what he was trying to accomplish on Grinduro weekend. To which he replied, “I’m riding Grindruo just for fun and to be able to get in a weekend of camping with my family, so it doesn’t matter to me if I win or finish last, but I do want to have the most fun.”

SRAM 1x, Zipp and yes, white bar tape with a white saddle topped off this very modern bike inspired by an iconic classic. A guy who spends most days riding the dry, gravel fire roads of Marin County, Riedy wanted a bike that handled exactly like a performance road bike, but featured clearance for up to 38c tires and disc brakes. For most rides, Riedy runs Continental 28C Gatorskin Hardshell rubber, but for Grinduro he’ll definitely go with something bigger, like a Conti CycloXKing.

See you at Grinduro, Mark! I’ll be on my rigid…

Grinduro still has spots available, so head over to check it out.

Thanks to Above Category‘s Derek Yarra for the photos!

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The Official Get Sick Day Worldwide Recap
Photos from a whole lotta folks and words by Sean Talkington

Think about what we use our personal or sick days for? Dumb stuff. Staying home sick (or if you have kids you stay home when they get sick), going to the doctor, going to the DMV, jury duty, visiting in-laws, funerals, etc. Question: What do all of these things have in common? The Answer: None of them are fun. Sure, you can schedule your vacation time around whatever events you want but what if you really just want or need a single day to get your head right? Can you just tell your boss “I think I am going to skip tomorrow and ride my bike locally all day with some buddies. Might do a little swimming too. Fuck it. Maybe even grab tacos after and watch the sunset.” Some of you have awesome bosses but the majority of us are afraid to take a day off for ourselves…

Futurism and the Specialized Enduro Expert Carbon 29
Words by Kyle Von Hoetzendorff, photos by Ethan Furniss

Before we begin let me give you a little background about who I am and how I found myself writing this review. I grew up in Bishop, CA. I raced mountain bikes there as a kid. Then I stopped, the reason is a tired story, and one that you have most likely heard before, it has to do with hormones, cars, beers, and girls. When I moved to Santa Barbara, CA to attend college and I started working at a shop called Velo Pro. This is where I started riding downhill bikes. Then I stopped, did some rock climbing, school, babe chasing, etc. A decade ago I moved to Portland, OR and once again I found myself at a shop, working at the Fat Tire Farm and riding downhill bikes. This is where it gets interesting. First came seat droppers and with it a yearn to explore more trails. I started riding trail bikes, then picked up riding road bikes and cross bikes. For the past three years I worked for Chris King, and my job gave me the chance to ride a wide variety of bikes. Through mutual friends and shared adventures John and I became friends and I have been lucky to post a couple rides and adventurers all the while sharing with him some of my favorite MTB videos and articles from around the web. It turned out that John needed a bike reviewed, so here I am. Lets get started.

Niner’s ROS 9+ One Hell of a Good Time
Words and photos by Kyle Kelley

The White Rim Trail in Utah’s Canyonlands NP has been on my radar for awhile. I imagined I would do it on a cross bike, carrying only the necessary food and water, one small camera and riding from the early morning to early evening. The reality ended up being quite a bit different. I rolled out on a Mid-Fat outfitted with custom bike bags, carrying 7 liters of water and enough food to feed a kindergarten class for two days! Shit… I even brought an abnormally large camera (at least for me) in addition to my standard point and shoot just because there was still room in the bags. I was rolling in luxury and the bike that made that possible was the Niner ROS 9+!

Todd from Black Cat Bicycles knows a thing or two about mountain bikes. Living in Santa Cruz provides a more than ideal testing ground for everything related to dirt. Over the years, he’s dialed in the geometry on his hardtails and recently, this process culminated in what he’s dubbed the Thunder Monkey.

A few months back, Todd emailed me asking if I wanted to review a production bike he was making. His description was right up my alley “slack and low 29r with a tight rear end.” Some time passed and this incredible frame showed up at Mellow Johnny’s to be built up with various SRAM and RockShox products.

Since then, I’ve been putting this bike through the hell that is Central Texas limestone. How does a bike designed to conquer Santa Cruz bide in Texas? Damn well. Check out more below.