The Radavist

Unfortunately, my bourbon-drinking ass didn’t make it to the 2013 UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Louisville this year. I know, I know. I should have gone but truth be told, I don’t think I would have survived the trip to my Distillery Mecca. Instead, I asked my good friend and past-contributor, Andrew Franciosa to submit a Guest Gallery showcasing the snowy mayhem. I still wish I could have attended the event but I’ll give my liver a break until NAHBS this month!

If you follow @thevanillaworkshop on Instagram, chances are you’ve already seen this project unfolding. Over the years, Speedvagen has been working with ENVE on their Integrated Cross Stem. This stem’s unique integrated front brake routing replaces the traditional cable hanger and the associated flex, weight, chatter and unsightly lines that come with it. Personally, I kinda liked my Funky Monkey but I’ll go with the Speedvagen mantra on this one: “Take away everything that isn’t essential and refine what’s left”.

I just installed the CX Worlds 2013 Commemorative stem on my already dialed Geekhouse Mudville and it instantly feels more patriotic. Unfortunately, I won’t be attending the CX Worlds but at least I can ride the shit out of this stem. Although, I will be missing the bourbon!

Pick up one of the CX Worlds 2013 Commemorative Speedvagen Integrated Cross stems here and the standard Integrated Cross Stem here.

Check out the technical info below and more shots in the Gallery.

“Cross racing is deceptively painful and surprisingly fun.” This sentence best sums up what cyclocross is and at the 2013 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, the conditions were both painful and fun. The following Guest Gallery was compiled by photographers Dave Schlabowske, Peter DiAntoni, Darren Hauck and Jeffrey Phelps for a forthcoming project book on the ‘cross nats. See the full description below.

Many thanks to Peter from COG for setting this up!

Last weekend was the Texas Cyclocross State Championships in Fredericksburg, Texas. Unlike the last cross races I’ve shot, it was bright and sunny outside, so I decided to shoot with my new Leica M7 and Hasselblad, rather than the 5D. I’m digging a lot of these, check them out yourself!

A few months back, some friends decided to start up a cycling club called Beat the Clock Cycling. It was started by Jon, the owner of Beat the Clock Messengers. The idea was to create a club that would throw local events, with one thing in mind: fun. Group rides, parties, goof-off races and everything in between.

So far, it’s pretty low-key but on New Years Day, a couple dozen people got together for a little impromptu Alley Cross race on the East Side of Austin. I slept in and missed the actual race, but took my Hasselblad out for a quick roll of film at the finish. Check it out in the Gallery!

November and December have been a lot busier than I anticipated. Usually, it’s my time to get back into a daily routine of riding, riding, riding but I found myself traveling more and more these past few weeks. This Recent Roll is a series of snapshots taken in Portland, Austin and Los Angeles during that time. Shot with my Contax G2 and Kodak E100VS. Enjoy.

If you grew up adoring the Ritchey P20 bikes and later found yourself running your own bicycle company, there’s a good chance you’d wanna adopt their livery. Jeff’s Nature Boy Zona prototype is an homage to the MTBs of the 1980’s and with a paint job like that, who can deny the randess?

I was way stoked on Jeff’s second place finish at the SoCalCross C race during the SSCXWC in LA, so I gave his bike a little bit of attention the next morning. He’s got all the GSC guys racing singlespeed on these bikes, so they’ve gotta be good! Word on the street is that this will be the paint job on the limited Zona this year, so stay tuned.

I returned to Austin after a week-long trip in Los Angeles to find two back-to-back days of cross racing on the local schedule. Having just raced my first sanction cross event in LA, I was eager to give the local circuit a try, so Saturday I headed out for some fast, dusty and humid fun. Since I didn’t have any season points, I started in the back of the 4’s, in a field of about 40 racers. Over 3, ten minute laps, I held onto my position, coming in 4th, which was good enough for me. I learned a lot (watch out for sandbaggers on MTBs) and had a blast (most importantly). I even managed to get a bit of air on a nice bump on the course.

Sunday, I decided to rest up and take photos. It was Chris‘ birthday, so I wanted to get some good shots of him racing and of course, we had to douse him with beer… Thanks to Andrew Franciosa for shooting photos on Saturday. It’s not every day I have photos of myself up on the blog, so be kind!

Single speed cross in SoCal is big, with 30-40 racers in the A field each weekend. A lot of the elite-class racers have found a new love for the single speed A’s, which is where Gareth races his US-built Ritte Blue Ribbon Steel CX belt drive. Belt drive cross bikes are still in their infancy, but this one looked great getting in the SoCal mud (yes, mud exists in SoCal). Before the race, I gave this beauty some lens love…