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From the Bontrager Vaults

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From the Bontrager Vaults

Last year, I had the opportunity to photograph Keith Bontrager both at a Q&A session at Mission Workshop and his home in Santa Cruz. Between those two events, I was commissioned by Bontrager / Trek to document some of, as they described, Keith’s Relics.

Everything from early integrated bars to the first rolled rim, jerseys, musettes, hubs and yes, complete bikes. Normally, this would be a job any photo and bike geek would take their sweet time with, but my window was two hours, including studio calibration.

It was a blur but I got to spend some quality time with these products and I did my best to document their details and nuances. Remember, at this stage in the game, Keith was making these frames in a tiny garage in Santa Cruz…

Check out some of my favorite selections in the Gallery and please, feel free to add anything you’d like in the comments!

Scott’s Rock Lobster Cyclocross Race Bike

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Scott’s Rock Lobster Cyclocross Race Bike

If I were to ever want an aluminum cross bike, I would go to one man: Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster. His signature mint green frames are iconic and every time I see one, I can’t help but stop the owner and ask them about their bike. Everyone builds these differently, there’s no official Rock Lobster build group. While many prefer the “team issue” golden Paul touring cantis, Scott went the way of the black MiniMoto, matched with SRAM’s Red cross group and White Industries hubs. My favorite little detail, however, are the Paul quick releases.

At this weekend’s races, I snatched this bike from Scott’s team, Embros’ tent and took it out for some photos. It was remarkably the same size I’d ride so I got a feel for what it’s like to ride one of these iconic bikes.

Best of luck this season, Scott and remember, Rubber Side UP!

Setting the Hook at the 2014 Cyclocross Scuffle in Elgin

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Setting the Hook at the 2014 Cyclocross Scuffle in Elgin

While this is a gallery showcasing the 2014 Cyclocross Scuffle in Elgin, Texas, it’s also a tale of what I believe is one of the best cross courses of the season thus far. Let me preface this by saying most courses in the Austin area are jokingly called “grass crits.” That means, a lot of straight ways, usually 4 – 6, which gives a lot of riders who might not have bike control the upper hand over those who aren’t in prime fitness coming off road season.

As someone who doesn’t race road, but rides a lot of trails on his cross bike, I hate these courses. Even with recent weight loss, I still huff and puff on all the straight aways and tear apart the technical “features.” Meanwhile, it’s the opposite for the fellas who raced road all season and didn’t touch their cross bike all summer…

I Hope Everyone Had a Great Weekend of Racing!

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I Hope Everyone Had a Great Weekend of Racing!

Well, it’s Sunday night and that means everyone that races ‘cross probably has at least one day in their legs from the weekend. We had a great time in Austin and you can expect a full gallery tomorrow, but for now, I’m just stoked that ‘cross is here!

I Love Visiting Framebuilders in Austin

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I Love Visiting Framebuilders in Austin

Since moving all of their production from Oregon to Austin, Chumba‘s been cranking out their mountain bike frames in house. Today after a quick trail ride with Vince from Chumba, he took me out to their facilities so I could see their office and fabrication shop.

All I have to say is I’m stoked to see this going down in Austin, just 30 minutes from my home.

More to come!

Chasing Peaks In The Cascade Range: Part 2 – Ryan Wilson

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Chasing Peaks In The Cascade Range: Part 2 – Ryan Wilson

Chasing Peaks In The Cascade Range: Part 2
Photos and words by Ryan Wilson

I woke up on day four in Bend, Oregon at 6am, in what is likely the shittiest motel the (otherwise quite nice) city has to offer. Next door I could hear the muffled sounds of what seemed like an escalating argument over who stole whose bag of weed. Rather than stick around for the thrilling conclusion to this one, I quickly packed up and headed straight to Smith Rock State Park just a few miles north.

Free Fun at Urbocross – Gideon Tsang

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Free Fun at Urbocross – Gideon Tsang

Free Fun at Urbocross
Photos and words by Gideon Tsang

Cycling is usually fun, often not free and occasionally funny.

Racing a criterium is not free, usually fun and funny only when an armadillo crosses the road during the race. (True story and a problem isolated to racing in Texas.)

A deep tissue massage is not free or fun but funny as fuck when your Kiwi masseuse tells you farting stories. (Also a true story).

Bike camping is alarmingly fun and almost free. Insert naked cliff jumping and/or mushrooms for funny…

Urbocross is a free and fun four week cyclocross series on the urban trails of Austin, TX thrown by Beat the Clock Cycling Club and CycleEast bike shop. The series ended last week straddling the end of our road racing season and the beginning cross season.

How Did You Spend Your Columbus Day?

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How Did You Spend Your Columbus Day?

It should come as no surprise that I don’t really get a “day off”, especially for national holidays like Columbus Day and since the celebration is slightly politically incorrect (IMO), I like to think of the other Columbus…

So, how did you spend your other Columbus day? Did you ride a Columbus tubing bike?

Jolene’s All-City Space Horse Commuter

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Jolene’s All-City Space Horse Commuter

All-City’s entire lineup is incredibly versatile and the Space Horse is a prime example. The frame’s paint is so classy that just about any component group or build kit will look great on it, especially silver parts. Jolene’s All-City Space Horse is one of my favorite to date. Little details like the blue nipples, Brooks Cambium, PDW Bird Cage, Balloon tires and the interesting 1x for commuting simplicity really make this production frame unique.

If she ever wants to do a tour, she’ll add rings, a shifter and appropriate cables but for now, this bike pedals her to work at Brew & Brew each day just fine…

2014 East Coast Messenger Stage Race – Chris Lee

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2014 East Coast Messenger Stage Race – Chris Lee

2014 East Coast Messenger Stage Race
Words and photos by Chris Lee

It was a warm, sunny day in Washington, DC. Observe the scene at the most southern tip of Hains Point park and you’ll start to see a group of rag tag racers gather near an enormous matte black camper truck. As the racers arrive, they each greet each other with warm hand shakes or even the occasional hug. This is where this year’s East Coast Messenger Stage Race would begin…

Chumba USA’s Made in Texas Stella 29’r Hardtail is a Ripper!

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Chumba USA’s Made in Texas Stella 29’r Hardtail is a Ripper!

The history of Chumba is one with a somewhat rocky past but it appears the brand has finally hit smooth trails with its recent rebranding and relaunch. When a couple of guys from Austin, Texas took over, they had one thing on their minds: steel. That and making mountain bikes in Texas, designed to thrash our local trails and still perform in the mountains of Colorado.

Earlier this year, we looked at their 29+ Ursa model and yesterday, I met the Chumba team out at Pace Bend Park, a 45 minute drive from Austin, to shred their new made in Texas Stella 29’r hard tail.

We are Here to Win Fucking Races – Dylan VanWeelden and Kyle Von Hoetzendorff

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We are Here to Win Fucking Races – Dylan VanWeelden and Kyle Von Hoetzendorff

We are Here to Win Fucking Races
Photos by Dylan VanWeelden, words by Kyle Von Hoetzendorff

Charlie and Alex arrive at a bar. They’re friends, they met through bike racing, they’re both good at it, they’re both tall. Charlie, usually big on words with questionable substance and unquestionable humor is noticeably quiet. Something is troubling him. Wit isn’t lacking in Alex however, he powers the conversation, something he has never had a problem with, throwing out easy jabs, blockable shots, lazy passes, hoping to get his friend into the game.

Alex knows they’re competitors, that, while he leaves himself open for body blows, Charlie, in his current state of discontent, is vulnerable and it would be easy to land a couple of devastating hits, but this isn’t where they compete, and that isn’t how you play the game. In their field time is the perpetrator, the villain.

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Between the Eyes with Grant Robinson

Being a fan of Grant Robinson‘s photography is easy. What’s not to love about framebuilders and mountain bikes?

Here’s another video from the Between the Eyes project:

“While many action sport photographers create beautiful, pixel-perfect photos, Grant is one of the few who doesn’t just document the act but the emotion and feeling of the moment. He doesn’t often attempt to stage perfectly choreographed action sequences. While some photographers and their subject work tirelessly to manipulate the surroundings and reproduce The Moment, Grant is more than happy to snap and move on, avoiding recreating a synthetic representation of The Moment.

Rather than trying to capture the action he lets it wildly dance all across the image. Rather than freeze-framing a millisecond, wrangling and seizing it forcefully, he allows the motion of the moment, the many moments, to truly show themselves. The result is what some people consider imperfect images and perhaps sloppy technique, but a closer look reveals a story about the warmth of the act, the adrenaline of being on the edge, and the dance of skill and chance, both for the subject and the shooter. Life isn’t perfect so why should every image be so?

Some of Grant’s photos are far from some people’s categorization of excellence, but by being imperfect they display feeling or emotion that is much harder to place deliberately.”

Colorado Road Trippin’ – Jeff Frane

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Colorado Road Trippin’ – Jeff Frane

Colorado Road Trippin’
Words and photos by Jeff Frane

Hello, it’s me Jeffrey Gene Frane of Bike Jerks and All-City. This is the first time John’s let me infiltrate the Radavist with my ramblings and photos, although he insisted that I let him edit the photos, something about dropping out the cyan or some such. It stung at first, but I can see how my iPhoto skillz may not be up to par for such a fine site as this…

Merckx Mondays

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Merckx Mondays

Vintage, black and white photos of Eddy Merckx will always be my favorite. Here’s one from 1969, Eddy racing in the TDF time trial race Revel-Revel. On his yellow jersey is the number 51, a marveled pairing of numbers in the Tour’s history.

Back then, “Champions are born with the back number 51” was a common saying in the Peloton and with good reason. Many legends were adorned by these digits: Eddy Merckx, Louison Bobet, Bernard Thèvenet and Luis Ocana. All of which exceeded a simple win and elevated themselves into cycling’s history.

Thanks to the Flickr stream of Walter Vermeulen for this week’s Merckx Mondays!