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Escaping the City Lights for a Night

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Escaping the City Lights for a Night

With all the time I spend away from my new home base of Los Angeles, you’d think I’d want to stay put in between traveling. Well, at least sleep in my bed. This time of year, we’re on the precipice between the cool, early spring days and scorching, on-coming summer days. It’s hit or miss, but when the city of LA spikes to 90º this early in the season, there’s but one refuge from the heat: 5,500′ and up.

Chilao is an all-time campsite in the Angeles National Forest and knowing its popularity, it’s a crap-shoot trying to stay there on the weekends. Especially this time of year where aforementioned weather pushes the outdoorsy city dwellers en masse up Highway 2 and to the campsites surrounding some of our favorite singletrack and fire roads in LA.

Last week I slept outdoors more than in and having the week crescendo into a tent just high enough from Downtown LA to block out the ambient light and noise, yet far away enough to open up the sky to the stars was an unexpected treat. All this from only a 45 minute drive from my comfortable, yet still indoors bed. Check out some more photos below.

The 2016 Swift Campout!

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The 2016 Swift Campout!

Another year, another spring and another Swift Campout. Last year, bicycle campers, bikepackers and touring enthusiasts alike took to the hills, roads and mountains to explore their local forests and discover new camp sites. This year, Swift already has a website up, promoting this FREE event. Head on over to Swift to see all the details!

Big Bend Bike Camping – Jolene Holland

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Big Bend Bike Camping – Jolene Holland

Big Bend Bike Camping
Words by Jolene Holland, photos by Tyler Nutter, Spencer Brown and Jonathan Neve

Big Bend National Park may be one of the last remaining corners of the untouched West. While booming city sprawl or flat oil country paints most of the modern Texas landscape, Big Bend is nestled in the far southwestern corner of the state within the beautiful Chihuahuan Desert and the Chisos Mountain range.

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OLOW

Who’d ever think that bicycle touring could be so, I dunno, handsome?

Graduating Skid University on Fallen Angel Island – Erik Nohlin

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Graduating Skid University on Fallen Angel Island – Erik Nohlin

Graduating Skid University on Fallen Angel Island
Words by Erik Nohlin, photos by Erik Nohlin and Dylan Buffington

Fallen Angel Island is a Bay Area gem tucked away in a hard to get to corner of northern bay just of the Tiburon shore. In fact, it’s not hard to get to but getting one the seven official camp spots is way harder than just jumping on the ferry to get there.

Fallen Angel Island is a stealth campers paradise but with a locust like ranger infested entrance and exit point with the ferry, it’s difficult, almost impossible to enter the island unnoticed and not being asked for a permit when you first enter the dock. Our friend Nick from Pedal Inn had booked the best site on the island about 6 months in advance so we didn’t have to act like we weren’t going to glamp the shit out of campsite 4 with our first time SF visitor from The Warhead Courier Copenhagen chapter – The legendary Simon Busk.

48 Hours Away

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48 Hours Away

It’s that time of year when I can rationalize escaping to the wilderness for two days. Everyone needs a break, right? We’ll be back, full throttle on Wednesday.

Hope your weekend has been jammin’!

Do You Like My Halloween Costume?

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Do You Like My Halloween Costume?

Black and orange. Candy. Costumes. Excessive partying. Pick two. We opted for the first and the last in the list as a hasty jaunt into the Angeles National Forest became our most enticing opportunity on Halloween. Ty and myself would ride mountain bikes the following morning (today), Liz and Kyle were going trail running since Kyle’s hand is still messed up from the tandemonium crash on Lukens. Others were planning on joining, but succumbed to the body numb of alcohol and parties.

Later, SF!

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Later, SF!

San Francisco, you’re always so much fun. Thanks to everyone who made this trip particularly exceptional. Now it’s time to head down the coast to Los Angeles but there’s much more to come from my stay here, so stay tuned!

Saturday Night Hillside Special

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Saturday Night Hillside Special

I was long overdue for a work-related trip…

After packing my bags and my bike into a box, I boarded a plane for one of my favorite cycling destination cities in the US: San Francisco. Let’s backtrack a bit first though. In SF, it’s essential to stay with friends, if you have any that live there. Luckily, I have a few and one couple has been my go-to host home in recent trips: Erik and Sofia from the Great Escape.

When I asked Erik if I could crash with him while I was in town, he obliged and then invited me on a impromptu camping trip the Saturday I arrived into town. My flight got in late, so as I was packing my bike, I loaded my Porcelain Rocket bags with the gear I’d need for a sub-24 hour jaunt into some Marin hills.

Yonder Journal and Ultra Romance Take You to Club Macho

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Yonder Journal and Ultra Romance Take You to Club Macho

I had no idea this was even a thing! Benedict, aka Ultra Romance has a feature on Yonder Journal entitled “Club Macho” where he lays down the law on what it takes to be a Bike Hobo in contemporary society. Episode 01 takes you to New Zealand, somewhere that might not be super obtainable for you Northern Hemispherites, yet Episode 02 takes place in Shredona, Arizona…

I’ll take full creative direction on that bottle of Rosé in Bene’s Iris King Cage tho’…

Summer Solstice on the Swift Campout with Beat the Clock in Austin

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Summer Solstice on the Swift Campout with Beat the Clock in Austin

Summer Solstice on the Swift Campout with Beat the Clock in Austin
Words by Gideon Tsang, photos by Gideon Tsang and Spencer Brown

On the morning of the Summer Solstice, Beat the Clock hosted a Swift Campout in honor of the longest day of the year. We awoke to the familiar cloud cover that has come with Texas’ rainiest year on record. Swampy barely beats the scorching summer sun but beggars can’t be choosers, eh?

13 of us rolled out from Sa-Ten Coffee and Eats onto the desolate roads of central Texas towards Bastrop State Park. The protagonist of the route is Old Sayers, a 10 mile gravel road filled with rolling hills and handsome oak trees. It always feels like we’re riding into a Terrence Malick film. If the storybook setting weren’t enough, we pulled over for a nature break at a tree swing. We swung with giggles and ‘Grams.

As we arrived in Bastrop early in the afternoon, the rain gods welcomed us by opening the heavens. The remainder of the evening was spent fashioning coyote scarves, camp coffee and of course, whiskey. If all days could be spent bike camping with friends, make them days longer!

____

Follow Gideon on Instagram and follow Spencer on Instagram.

Get Pitted, So Pitted on the White Rim! – Kyle Kelley

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Get Pitted, So Pitted on the White Rim! – Kyle Kelley

Get pitted, so pitted on the White Rim!
Photos by Kyle Kelley and Liz Browne, words by Kyle Kelley

Before I begin to tell you about my trip along the White Rim Trail, I’d like talk about the rising popularity of bike packing and other two-wheeled exploration. With the current events surrounding “The Death of The Oregon Outback” I feel the responsibility to say a little something about wilderness etiquette. It might seem like common sense, but we have an ever-growing responsibility to this earth and the wild places we’d like to keep wild. Be it car camping, back packing, or bike packing – please always clean up after yourself and even the visitors who came before you. Do not leave campsites as you found them, leave them cleaner! I’d also suggest taking the same approach on rides as well. Take care of your own trash, but go a step farther and pick up everything you see. And always stay on designated roads and trails. Fragile ecosystems don’t need you making things any harder.

When Golden Saddle Cyclery first opened one of our customers told me about a 100 mile bike ride in the Island In The Sky portion of Canyonlands National Park. I had just been in the park a week before, but without a bike so I was especially interested in hearing about the ride. As a big fan of the area, and the desert in general, I returned for a handful of visits before finally bringing along a bike this past March. And let me tell you, it wasn’t until riding the White Rim Trail that I felt like I had really experienced this magnificent place.

Golden Saddle Cyclery’s Swift Campout Ride!

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Golden Saddle Cyclery’s Swift Campout Ride!

I know a lot of you live in LA but have you camped up on Mt Lowe? Now’s your chance…

“On June 20th Golden Saddle Cyclery and Errin from Frontage Roads will be hosting a Swift Campout!!!

The ride to historic Mt Lowe is no cakewalk(About 5,000 feet elevation gain), there will be two routes(one paved/one dirty) heading up to camp. This is BYOEverything!!! Pack food and water for the ride and night! It’s going to be a scorcher!!!

If you have any questions about this Saturday please call the shop and ask for David or Kyle.”

You should definitely do this!

Sub 24 Sunset Chasing

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Sub 24 Sunset Chasing

Lauren and I have done plenty of camping and she’s done her share of cycling around town, but we’ve never gone on a bicycle camping trip together. Yesterday morning, I was surprised to hear her ask if I wanted to get in some tent time before I headed out on the road again on Friday.

So last night, I packed up some bags, a tent, my trusty Lodge cast iron skillet and food for two meals. We headed out to the closest state park in the area: McKinney Falls. The route there is pretty easy, even loaded down with a bunch of gourmet food, wine, a hatchet and a skillet. I took it slow and coached Lauren through the climbs, we stopped for photos and tried our best to ignore the impatient rush-hour traffic zipping past. The weather looked nice, with bright blue sunny skies. It didn’t rain this go-round, but it was still quite enjoyable…

I didn’t think this mandated a whole gallery, so check out a scrolling story below.