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Jeff’s All-City 853 Macho King Hydro Disc Cross

Reportage By: John Watson

Jeff’s All-City 853 Macho King Hydro Disc Cross

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!

Keep Cross Weird Photos!

Reportage By: John Watson

Keep Cross Weird Photos!

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.

Keeping Cross Bikes Weird

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Keeping Cross Bikes Weird

After finally slowing down, and slipping into my routine back home, I got bombarded with out of town company. Austin’s a city that fairs well with guests. Typically, all I have to do is take my friends to my local spots and they have a blast.

Unlike previous trips, I rode around without a camera, but as the saying goes: the best camera is the one you have on you. Here are two iPhone photos from this past week that embodies how I like to ride my cross bike in Austin.

Well That Was Weird

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Well That Was Weird

Photos by Gideon Tsang

Last night’s Keep Cross Weird race was a huge success. 50 racers registered and a great spectator crowd formed. There was a lot of mud, even more running and the fine folks at Yellow Jacket Social Club kept the drinks coming all night.

I’m still playing host to a group of people, so the site will be kinda quiet today. Oh and I didn’t even take a camera to the race with me. Which is very weird. Gideon did however, so check out his photos on the Beat the Clock Facebook!

If you shot photos, please email them to me!

Andre’s Stoemper Cross

Reportage By: John Watson

Andre’s Stoemper Cross

I fucking love Stoemper and it’s not just because of the Godzilla headbadge. Ok, maybe it has a little to do with my infatuation. Whatever the reason is, it’s easy to see why these bikes rule. Aluminum, tapered head tube, light, mean, race-ready machines. When Andre picked this one up for a steal here in Austin, I had to shoot photos of it.

Check out more in the Gallery!

The Official Keep Cross Weird Race Course Preview!

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The Official Keep Cross Weird Race Course Preview!

This Thursday is the All-City and PiNP Keep Cross Weird race here in Austin. Surprisingly, there will be a good amount of people coming in from out of town to race, hang out and get in on some local riding over the weekend.

One of the main questions I keep receiving over Instagram, Twitter and Facebook is “what kind of tires / bike / gearing should I be running?”… Now that’s all a matter of preference, but let me offer up a preview to course and let you decide for yourself.

Check out more below!

All-City: Retseck Collection

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All-City: Retseck Collection

All of you Bridgestone fans need no introduction to George Retseck. His work is most recognized from the early 90’s catalogs he illustrated for the American division of Bridgestone. This notoriety has kept Retseck working for various cycling brands over the past two decades, most recently All-City.

To commemorate this bad-ass illustration of a Macho Man Disc Cross, Jeff got these shirts and posters printed up.

Not bad at all! Pick one up at your local All-City dealer and don’t miss the post at All-City, or that pint glass!

Two Total Babes

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Two Total Babes

Photos by Dylan VanWeelden

… and two rad kits!

Ty was up in Portland to race a Cross Crusades and hang out (that dude lives the dream) with the lovely couple behind the Athletic. Speaking of the Athletic, you’ve gotta pop over to see more photos from the event and of that killer kit. Seriously, sign me up for one!

I Just Got Home and I Already Miss It

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I Just Got Home and I Already Miss It

Photo by Andy White

… Literally. Just walked in the door after 24+ hours of traveling and all I can think is how for the first time all year, I finally felt like this last trip to Australia was truly a vacation. I rode four times total, aside from pedaling around town each day, ate without guilt, drank without worry, my camera barely left my bag, I shot maybe half a roll of 35mm film and we didn’t do one of those big big rides. Oh and I ate a lot of meat pies.

It’s weird how a place across the globe can feel like home, and in a lot of ways, can make travel there somewhat lazy. The weather was shit 95% of the days, cold, windy, rainy. We had two sunny days, luckily, both of which were spent on good rides. I just felt, kind of like doing nothing. This year’s been really tough and before you chastise me with some “boo hoo, I have to travel all the time and ride my bike” remark, trust me, it gets exhausting!

Luckily, I’ve got some good friends down in Melbourne and I was perfectly content keeping Dan and Malachi company all day. Maybe it’s the jetlag talking but this trip down under was a sobering one and yet, I kinda wanna go back once it warms up…

Paul Paul
Mondraker Mondraker
Wolf Tooth Wolf Tooth
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Silca Silca
State Bicycle Co State Bicycle Co
Bikeflights Bikeflights
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The Radavist The Radavist