The Radavist

… no matter where you’re riding.

Here’s a few photos from this morning’s TGIFGSC Free Coffee Friday ride. Remember, if you’re in Los Angeles, these rides leave every Friday morning from Intelligentsia coffee on Sunset avenue at 7:30am sharp. Follow Golden Saddle on Instagram for which bike to bring, as they announce each Thursday.

Every Friday, Golden Saddle Cyclery leads a group ride leaving from Intelligentsia Coffee in Silver Lake that heads into the surrounding hills. Sometimes it’s dirty, sometimes it’s road but it always ends at Mission Workshop LA for Bicycle Coffee LA‘s Free Coffee Friday. If by the end of this jaunt, you’re not fully caffeinated, then you’d better check your pulse. For this most recent TGIF GSC ride, our group rolled into a hillside park called Cherry Canyon and rode a mix of fire road climbs and singletrack descents before heading back. If you’d like to join in on the fun. Meet up at Intelli for a 7am ride each Friday. The shop will announce the route and terrain Thursday on their Instagram.

Check out a few more sunny, blue-skied photos below!

Spring is on the way!

With the advent of Grinduro, a new format of dirt road races was born. Another event to adopt the part enduro and part “gravel” race is the Cascadia Super G. Taking place on February 4th, yes, it’s soon, in the Capital Forest of Olympia, Washington, the Super G takes place on a 56 mile loop on some of the most scenic roads in the area. Entry to the event is $65 and on-site camping is available. For more information, including registration, head to the Cascadia Super G website.

… to go play in the desert with Jeff from All-City while he’s in town! Hope you’re enjoying this long weekend and we’ll be back on Tuesday.

Coffee, friends and stoked faces. Thanks for the morning ride, guys! If you live in LA, and can make it out on a 2-4 hour ride each Friday morning, follow @GoldenSaddleCyclery for the meetup time and location each Thursday. The ride begins at Intelligentsia Coffee in Silver Lake and ends at Free Coffee Friday at Mission Workshop, to ensure you’re good and caffeinated all day.

We’ll see you at the All-City GSC Happy Hour Ride this afternoon. Enjoy the weekend!

The weather here in California has been on one lately and I can’t say we’re complaining! Today Vernor and I took to some of my favorite roads in LA to watch the spectacle and partake in some grippy dirt.

… and we did our best to keep up.

Like many professional cyclists, Taylor Phinney heads to warmer climates in the off-season to train. It just so happens that his locale of choice is Los Angeles. Last year, he rode from LA to Joshua Tree “just cuz” and this year, he’s staying in the neighborhood, exploring the climbs throughout Los Angeles County. Yesterday, Kyle from GSC texted me a cryptic message “Cross Town Ride 11am – meet at Intelli.” Around 10 minutes prior to the meet-up, he included an additional note “I’m running late, but Taylor will be there at 11.” Meaning, Taylor Phinney.

Yesterday, Golden Saddle and Rapha led a ride up through the Hollywood hills and onto Dirt Mulholland, in the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s the classic East to West ride in LA, with a bit of everything, for everyone. We had about 40 people show up and the group’s dynamic was perfect. Everyone waited to regroup at the turns and to finish off the day, we stopped for fish tacos and margaritas.

Thanks to GSC and Rapha for putting this together and to everyone who came out! If you’re interested in doing this exact ride, check out the related stories in the sidebar on the left and see more photos below.

Have you ever thought about riding your bicycle through the vintage backroads of Slovenia and Northern Italy? Of course. But it hasn’t happened yet, right? I’m not going to pry, we all have our reasons. However, I wanted to let you know that the folks at Dust Lust are trying to make it easier to turn those thoughts into action.

They put this video together to show you just how much fun you’ve been missing and to get you hyped on their events for 2017, of which we are told there will be three. While some of the dates are still unknown–how thrilling how exciting–we’ve been assured that the last Saturday in October will be a major dust up! If you’re keen then keep checking their site.

XPDTN3 takes on the dirt roads and plentiful wine of La Rioja.

If you’re keen on gravel and dirt rides or races like the DK or Almanzo, then check out the Dirty Reiver event in the UK:

“The Dirty Reiver 200 (200km) and Dirty One Thirty (130km) are off road cycling challenges based on the Gravel Grinder format found predominantly in the mid west of America.
Riders will traverse gravel forest access roads that service the vast areas of forest covering the border region of England and Scotland. The events will take riders through remote areas providing outstanding viewpoints across this spectacular part of the UK.”

I just wanted to extend a warm thank you to the readers, supporters and those who inspire this website. We couldn’t do it without you. Now go ride your bike this weekend!

Hopefully you’re seeking this sound…