The Radavist

Raven is a 13-year-old retired trail dog from Squamish, British Columbia who’s spent countless days frolicking on loamy singletrack beneath towering spruces. Old age has slowed her down, and now Raven happily lies in the driveway, watching dog after dog, and their human, head for the hills.

Kona Ambassador Henry Cruickshank created this beautiful short animation:

“It’s all too easy to be disheartened by not having anything to look forward to, no events or races or group rides. But maybe we need to look to our canine friends, who need no reason to be fit and will run for the sheer love of it. We worry about our fitness, our training or lack of it, our pacing… dogs don’t care what size or shape they are, never worry about keeping up with their faster friends and will attack every hill with gusto, not caring if they have enough energy to make to the top.

Dogs are always ready: a simple play bow is all the invitation they need to race around.

Be more dog.”

Emily Batty takes to the trails with her pup Buddy as she works on her MTB skills…

I wonder what our pets think of all this?

The thing about Instagram is while sometimes you end up with these great one-off shots, that have very little story behind them, they end up living on this low-res platform which most people interact with solely on a cell phone screen. Last Saturday, Kyle, Caché, and I headed down to the LA River to take a photo Caché had previously shot with his cell phone. I wanted to get a nice, high res, professional photo because Caché’s eye for urban lines have resulted in many awe-inspiring takes on what it means to ride a MTB within the Los Angeles city limits. The resulting photos made quite the splash on our Instagram but I wanted to share them here as well.

For Caché, he looks at the MTB as a tool for exploration within and on the outskirts of this sprawling mega-metropolis. In the newest print-edition of Bike Mag, Caché gets a full spread of his riding and art as a mural painter with graffiti roots in LA’s scene.

Give him a follow on Instagram and check out some more randoms from our morning in the LA River drainage network. The last shot is my favorite. Which is yours?

Los Angeles has some incredibly diverse riding. For those wanting to see the sights and sounds of the city, or to find solitude in the mountains, there’s something for everyone. Portland Design Work‘s new video showcases just that.

Trail dogs are the best! This morning our friend Mason Griffin went neck and neck with Tulip, the trail running puppers, as we careened down the Leverich trail.

Addie is from Colorado, where the trails are good and dusty!

Hopefully you’re able to get out, away from it all with your best friend this weekend!

… make every video better!

Unite! Looks to be a Black Mouth Cur!

Here comes the weekend again… make like Morgan and Denver and give someone a high five!

An early photo of Radavist contributor Morgan Taylor’s trail dog, Denver, has just been featured over at Bicycling Mag’s Instagram on the last day of their Raddest Dogs photo contest. We submitted our own rad shot of Golden Saddle Cyclery shop dog, Stella – which you can vote for until 11:59 p.m. ET, tonight! For the full story behind this photo, head over to the Bicycling feed, and follow the life and times of Morgan and Denver on Instagram.

Stella is the official shop dog of Golden Saddle Cyclery and it just so happens Bicycling is running a Bicycling Dogs contest. We told Stella if she wins, we’ll give her whatever she wants and shoot a video of her eating it.

Please vote for Stella at Bicycling Magazine!

Words by Morgan Taylor

There’s nothing like getting rubber side up in the woods with your buds, two legs or four. My dog Denver shreds just as hard, if not harder than me, and will stay 6″ off my wheel even in the dustiest conditions. All with a smile on his face. Here’s to the loam eating, corner shredding, stick chasing dogs of the trail! (PS: the Ice Cream Truck is now 27.5+… update soon!)

Life’s tough when your day-to-day routine consists of a few behaviors, both innate and learned. For Stella, the resident shop dog at Golden Saddle Cyclery in Los Angeles, her mornings usually start out with a nap in the morning sun, followed by the inevitable first run to the corner store snack begging session, a quick piss in the alley, then more begging before greeting the afternoon clientele’s ascension to the back alley bench.

From there, it’s beg relentlessly for food to no avail, back to napping (this time in the middle of the doorway), maybe a sniff or a scoff here or there when you try to pet her, before finally scoring an avocado chip or a loose pepperoni. Yeah, for Stella, it’s all about sniffing messenger bags, licking sweaty legs and cold lamping on a chilly Los Angeles springtime afternoon… Until the next pair of unsuspecting legs waltz through the door of the shop.

Here’s to the cold lampin’ shop dogs.