The Radavist

Being the brand manager for a company like All-City certainly has its perks. One of which being you get to cook up ideas for new bikes, ride said bikes and have your buddies Instagram and photograph these bikes. My job, although the later is already understood, was to make said bike plenty dirty for the photo shoot.

Since Jeff from All-City got into town for the Keep Cross Weird race, we’ve been riding everyday and aside from one MTB session, it’s all been on the local roads, trails and tracks here in Austin. Rocks, mud, river crossings, sand, limestone and more, the whole time Jeff was so stoked to be riding this bike. Why? Because it’s unlike anything All-City has cooked up before.

Hydraulic disc brakes, courtesy of SRAM, a disc Whisky parts fork, Reynolds 853 tubing and a mix of other spare parts Jeff had lying around, certainly put this bike in the well used category. When I asked if Jeff wanted to wait for his new cranks, seatpost and saddle to come in prior to shooting the bike, he replied “this is how I ride my bikes!”. Honesty that matters.

The All City 853 Macho King is a prototype and whether it goes to production or not, depends on the people’s demands. If you like this bike and want to see it go to production, holler at Jeff in the comments!

Check out more #lightbro shots in the Gallery!

What an event! For the past year, I’ve been putting in intense laps on this little piece of singletrack over on the east side of Austin. It’s not much, but for me, it got me in mode for cross season. When I casually mentioned the idea about doing a race here in Austin to Jeff from All-City, he was so down. The only question was: is it gonna be weird?

I never thought making an event weird was the key ingredient. I was just reminded of the cheesy tie-dye “Keep Austin Weird” shirts but when Kyle and Jeff got into town, they wanted to know how the race was going to be weird.

Honestly, I did very little, other than make a tough, technical and different race go down. 50 people registered, twice as many spectated and about 30 finished. There were glow-sticks marking off the treachery, log hops, muddy run ups, a 200-foot sand sprint, fast, twisty singletrack, a long wooden staircase run-up and a creek crossing.

One guy raced it on a BMC track bike, another on a fixed gear, there were three mountain bikes, a bunch of cross bikes and a basket bike. Oh and Tucker showed up on his neon pedicab.

The fastest lap was 9 minutes and the winner did an extra because he didn’t believe me that the race was done.

So in the end, this race was pretty fucking weird and no one was hurt! We ended the night at Yellow Jacket Social Club where I threw all the race money back at the participants with a keg of beer and cash prized for the top 3 and 1st lady.

There were a bunch of photographers on hand, but I chose to post Nick Cantrell‘s and Gideon Tsang‘s photos from the Yellow Jacket.

Check out Erik Binggeser’s photos here, Dirt Drops’ here and J.A. Hicks’ very pro photos here!

Austin, you surprise me every time.

The Fulton Brewery Racing Team is a Minneapolis-based cross team that All-City sponsors and this year, Jeff decided to do something extra special for them. He took a batch of Nature Boy Zonas (before they all sold out) and painted them in the Fulton Brewery livery. That means they fly under the green, black and white colors (and get discounted beer). Win / win.

Then, Jeff did something very un-Jeff. He put a carbon fork on a bike that wasn’t engineered for one. Oh noes! Joking aside, Jeff and I always get into this debate. Personally, I think it looks rad! The Whisky Parts No7 forks are something to desire, especially when painted to match the rest of the bike.

I love what All-City is doing with the Fulton Brewery Racing Team and it makes me want to drink a Lonely Blonde right now. Check out more photos in the Gallery, including a shot of the new All-City Crossing Guard and rings.

I really, really had a blast in Minneapolis. As a by-product of running this site, I always have a camera on me. Unfortunately for some people, that means I am usually catching them doing something idiotic. Fortunately for you, it’s quite funny to see some of that behavior unfold.

What you’ll fine within this narrated Gallery is only part of some of the stories to be told here on the site at a later date. Most of these photos involve the following: bros, babes, Baroo, beaches, bikes, beer and bourbon. Simple enough right? Check out more in the Gallery!

Let me preface this post by saying that I haven’t been to an out of town alleycat in a long time. With all the radness happening this past weekend at the All City Championship, the main event was sure to deliver. Did it? Being Minneapolis, of course! Most of my day was spent at the start and finish, shooting portraits, documenting the racers and their bikes before heading out to the start.

A large, grassy hill stood between the racers and their rides, causing a mad dash in the beginning. After about 32 miles, everyone piled back into the parking lot at One on One and Handsome Cycles for the after party. The night moved on, as the party grew and before we knew it, we were back at a lake swimming at 2am.

Head over to Bike Jerks for the full standings from the event.

Minneapolis, you rule! Check out some portraits, bikes and other random photos from the event in the Gallery!

Track bike crits have become all the rage at local city events. These high-speed, high-tension races are enjoyed by all and offer up a taste of what it’s like to not only race in a road criterium, but also track racing. For the 2013 All City Championship, Jeff put on a track crit, to replace his normal match sprints. 50 or so racers entered, over a hundred were there to spectate and it was a great time. I haven’t had that much fun at a bike event in a while!

Check out some narrated photos in the Gallery!