The Radavist

Steel Wül is a club in Santa Cruz, founded by Jake Hess, a local fire chief. He started the club to give people a super chill platform to explore the many roads in the area. I got to ride with Jake during the Giro #SantaCruzEffect event and his Caletti steel road bike looked so damn good the whole time.

Some of my favorite details are the custom-painted Ritchey stem, his family’s names on the stem cap, his battalion number on the NDS top tube, Steel Wül branding and the paint. When we rolled out of the Giro offices, the morning light made the frame just pop.

Granted, it looked even better after descending down that gnar gnar gravel on Gazos Creek…

I finally had the chance to actually ride bikes with Todd from Black Cat this week, rather than just talk about them at a trade show. There’s something to be said about a frame builder who makes time to ride his own bikes and Todd definitely does that.

Two of my favorite bikes that I’ve featured on the site came from Todd’s workshop at Black Cat Bicycles – and they just so happen to be owned by two great people. There’s something about Brian Vernor’s Hardtail MTB and Eric’s MAX disc road that just do it for me.

Watching a frame builder rip on his own bike is something else and midway through our ride yesterday, I had to take the time to shoot his bike.

Funny side story: Todd was inspired to build this bike by the titanium Campagnolo seat post he came across after seeing what they fetch on eBay… He couldn’t just sell it, he needed a new bike for it!

It’s the week leading up to Sea Otter and each year, Giro invites a group of media heads to come out to Santa Cruz, ride bikes, talk product and soak in the #SantaCruzEffect. That means it’ll be slow for the next few days while we’re out riding, exploring the local roads and sleeping in cabins.

After our intro ride this afternoon, I scooped up this special Rock Lobster for some very quick photos – I literally had a few minutes with this awesome machine. Eli is the lead visual designer at Giro and he’s got a thing for punk rock, prompting him to add a few custom logos to his Rock Lobster. Many of which you should recognize.

The thing I like about this bike is its no-nonsense build, the simple color palette with matching stem and one of a kind graphics. Those Rock Lobster logo treatments look so good!

Ever since I started following Ryan Wilson on Instagram, I knew he had an incredible eye for roadscapes. Landscapes are one thing, but roads speak to us as cyclists. We look at the bend, the bank and the angle differently than other travelers. Being able to capture those traits isn’t easy, especially while being completely overwhelmed in a place like the Sierras. I’ve never ridden there, yet suddenly I really want to, in the Summer of course…

Ty is just one of those guys. One minute, he’s posting photos of his dog, or his fiancé on Instagram and the next, he’s in the middle of the Mojave Desert on his trusty Pugsley, doing what many would consider a really, really, really tough ride – except most people do this ride in a Jeep or an ATV. To say that he’s spontaneous isn’t entirely accurate however, because he always plans out what to bring, how to bring it and how he’ll use it. What happens once he’s there is a whole different story. One that only Ty can tell in his own words…

Flashback to July. I was in considerably good shape, coming off a lot of base miles in the early spring with China and Australia, back to back. After those two countries, I kept pushing myself to be a more fit cyclist. Why? Because I knew this Brovet was coming up and I had something to prove. Both to myself and my friends, who had heckled me incessantly since my bonking in Pittsburgh. Let’s just say, I was ready.

My equipment was dialed, my fitness was in-line and aside from a MTB wreck the week before, I was in tip top shape. The initial talks of the route had numbers like 250 miles and over 30,000′ of climbing. After we completed the route, it turned out to be around 235 miles and 18,000′. Still, no small feat.

Look, it was hot, tough and with around 10 people in our group, it was the largest Brovet ride yet. Was it fun? You bet your ass! It’s amazing how enjoyable rides like this can be when you’ve got the fitness. You’ve already read Yonder’s report, so here are my photos from the ride, in as accurate of an order as I can recall.

As cyclists, we look at roads, paths and tracks a little differently. We notice the nuances of undulation, the tipping point of turns and with each climb, we relish the descent. Some individuals can evoke emotions with a single photograph.

Instagram is great for many reasons, but one of which is sharing your environments with users all over the world. I travel quite frequently, but one man’s photographs always give me road envy. Known on the app as @RMDUB, Ryan Wilson is, by all means, a roadscape photographer.

Ryan works in Hollywood as a sound designer. He’s lived in Los Angeles for over 6 years and only recently ventured into the surrounding mountains, upon buying a road bike. For the past 3 years, he’s been exploring all the various veins of asphalt that trickle down the faces and flow into the valleys.

In August 2012, Ryan loaded his road bike into his car while on assignment and drove north to the Sierras, from that point on, he always travels with his bike and has been to some of the most majestic roadways on the west coast.

So what kind of camera does Ryan use to capture these breathtaking vignettes? The pocket-sized Sony RX100M2 with Carl Zeiss optics. Or his iPhone.