The Radavist

If my Geekhouse Team Mudville was a little too subdued for your taste, maybe Brad’s team bike is more up your alley. Brad’s bike was the only one in the Geekhouse Philly Bike Expo stable but the bright purple powder attracted crowds all weekend.

This purple race machine has yet to see the mud but if you follow Geekhouse on Instagram (@GeekhouseBikes), you’ll see it covered next weekend. Til then, check out more photos below.

This Rock Lobster was one of my favorite bikes at Interbike this year. As it sat, all alone in the Easton booth, I only hoped that its owner would be putting in miles on it. So you can imagine my surprise when I came across it shortly after arriving at our Ranch last week for the Giro New Road shoot. Owned by Katie, an employee at Giro, this aluminum Rock Lobster has a prototype Easton cross fork, Easton wheels and Easton post, stem. It’s freakingly-light and drop dead gorgeous. See more below.

Let me just preface this post by saying I wish I could show you more photos from the Giro New Road photo shoot. Even getting clearance for posting up these took a little bit of eye-batting and begging. But man, am I ever glad I got to share them.

Day 03 began as Ty, Jordan and I took off for the hills adjacent to our ranch. Super steep gravel climbs and windy singletrack was no challenge for Ty and Jordan as the sunlight broke through the trees. They just flowed through the rocky gravel as videographers and photographers tried to capture the essence of New Road. Later on, the afternoon was spent out on HWY 1 at the mouth of the Navarro River. Climbing up and down the hills, before grabbing lunch, and finally dinner.

Some of the photos shown here give you an idea of what Giro is going for in the New Road. But keep in mind, the details that make this line different from any other will be under wraps for now. Till then, enjoy these photos and don’t miss Ty’s crossie wall ride sequence!

We started our day at a reasonable hour and after breakfast, the team got an intro to Giro‘s new cycling apparel line, the New Road. I can’t say a whole lot about it but what I will say is this is far from “commuter wear” and a completely different approach to your typical road wear.  The most appealing aspect of the line is that it’s all made in the USA.

Our day began leaving the ranch where we’re staying, down a gravel road and out, along the 128 to the 1. At mile 45, we stopped for lunch and to my surprise, had only climbed around 1,000’. Then, jokingly Mark said “oh, there’s a climb”, a Cat 2 trek awaited us off the 1 and it hurt but the 1,000′ descent in 3 miles was exhilarating. At mile 70, we tacked in around 5,000′. Once back at the ranch, we soaked in the waining sunlight, drank some beer and sat in the hot tub, ready to tackle another day on the bike…

Expect a little more riding photos tomorrow, as well as some more teaser shots of the New Road line.

Truth be told, I put a deposit down for a 2012 Geekhouse Team Mudville cross bike before my Woodville touring bike was stolen. While I’m planning on racing here in Austin when there are local events, I’m also just stoked to finally have a cross bike to travel with. Over this past year, I’ve come to determine that a cross bike is an ideal travel bike.

You can do just about everything on them: singletrack, off-roading, gravel, road rides and even light touring. Because this bike will be 60% all that and 40% racing, I built it up initially to respond to riding in Northern California and a brevet I’ll be riding later on this month. Hence the double cages, clinchers and Ramblin’ Roll. In fact, I’m heading to Cali right now to partake in some dirt rides.

Enough of the intent, how about the bike? A few things are new on the 2012 Team Mudville models. For one, the ENVE tapered fork and headtube. It’s so big and yes, it really offers a noticeable difference in handling. The tubing selection is a little different on mine than the other bikes. Columbus Life stays ensure my big ass won’t tweak the rear end riding like an asshole or casing barriers.

I honestly don’t have tubular race wheels, so I’ll be using my trusty Profile Elite road hubs to HED Belgiums. The SRAM Force group, ENVE stem, Thomson Elite post, 3T bars all compliment the brightly anodized Chris King InSet Mango headset and matching bottom bracket. A Paul Components Funky Monkey drops the front cable a bit lower and stopping power is provided by Paul touring cantis. After getting everything dialed in, I can say that I’m really enjoying the ride.

Many thanks to Geekhouse bikes for the stellar frame and Ben’s Cycle for the parts!

Enough copy, check out the photos!