The Radavist

Yonder Journal‘s Brovets have both broken me and proved to be an ideal testing ground for products. Long, 200-400k rides will take their toll on equipment, especially when there’s dirt involved.

Ty is part-owner of Golden Saddle Cyclery, a shop in Los Angeles that was the starting point for Yonder’s Brovet 01. Back then, Raleigh didn’t have any real all-road options, but promised something ideal was on the way.

In 2014, Raleigh released the Tamland 2.0, an all-Reynolds 631 steel, disc-equipped “all-road” bike that comes stock with Shimano Ultegra. These bikes offer a burly, yet lively ride, loaded or unloaded.

When the road gets rough for long miles, Ty opted for the Ergon CF3 Pro Carbon seatpost to dampen the ride a bit and Bruce Gordon Rock n Road tires.

For the past few Brovets, Ty, Cole, Kelli, Daniel, Hahn and Moi all rode the Tamland 2.0 with a front SON Edelux upgrade. I like photographing bikes like this, because they show how a super simple upgrade can add a new level of functionality to a stock bike.

Pace Sportswear has been around longer than any other cycling cap manufacturer in the United States. So long that even Italian brands like Campagnolo used them back in the early 80’s. The day I arrived in Los Angeles, Sean from Team Dream took me by Pace to see their operations.

I know cycling caps aren’t exactly saving the world, but when you think of domestic production, employee people and keeping an industry alive, it directly affects the US cycling industry.

If and when I ever do caps, Pace will be my choice.

Orange and red are two colors that often clash, but sometimes they work. Case in point, Patrick’s LOW track bike. If this one looks familiar, it’s because Kyle shot photos of it at the black top in LA a few months back.

To Patrick, this bike is the result of intense financial planning. It took him almost a year to save up for this bike, but the end result is one of his favorite moments of the day. As he describes, when he hops on the bike “it rides like a razor blade of butter.” Super stiff, but smooth…

Campagnolo Record drivetrain, H+Son rims, Thomson and Chris King. This bike is laced with top of the line, yet durable components and it adds a bit of subtlety to the flashy paint job. As I was photographing this bike, a pedestrian walked by and said “damnnnn that’s like a Testarossa!”

I love Andrew Low’s bikes, they’re a testament that made in the USA aluminum track bikes will always have a place in the world, whether the street or the track. Enjoy the ride, Patrick!

Riding in Sweden’s Sverigetempot Brevet
Words and photos by Johan Björklund

In 2012 I thought about riding the Sverigetempot for the first time. I had never done it before and so I didn’t know what I was getting into…

You know what? I had never been to a Wolfpack event before last night. I know, I know, I suck… Luckily, it just so happened that I was in Los Angeles and was able to pedal down Sunset Blvd to the Los Angeles Civic Center to watch the 2014 Wolfpack Hustle Civic Center Crit…

Western Recreation Photos – Week 01: Words and photos by Yonder Journal

THIS IS A SURVEY OF RECREATION IN THE AMERICAN WEST. The primary purpose of this project is to explore, document, and publish a permanent, voluminous, wide-sweeping, and studied record of the State of Recreation in the summer of 2014.

The Mavic 125ans Project came about to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the company. After the release of the Ksyrium 125 wheel in France earlier this spring, Chad Moore of Mavic USA reached out to a select group of frame builders who they felt were standouts in the industry.

Argonaut Cycles – working with designer Garrett Chow, Lynskey Performance, Mosaic Cycles – working with designer Zach Lee on their paint design, Ritte Cycles and Seven Cycles were contacted directly by Mavic.

Each builder was given a timeline and other than that, full artistic reign over their project bike. Looking to the Ksyrium 125 wheel for inspiration, each builder approached this unique collaboration in a way that represented what Mavic means to them and their brands.

These bikes will be released at Mavic’s brand communications center and Service Course in Los Angeles on 10 July, but I got a special sneak peek at the bikes yesterday, as I shot each in detail within the Mavic mechanics area. Both the Ritte and the Seven 125ans bikes will be auctioned off at the Pros Closet later this fall.

See this project in its entirety in the Gallery and there will be more to come, including interviews from some of the builders and an extensive look at Garrett Chow’s inspiration for the Argonaut Cycles road.

There’s something magical about waking up to the call of the Magpie, in a dingy hotel room, with holes in the walls (wall paper peeling off) and to the stench of post-parma flatulence mixed with dirty bib shorts. Now, I know that was grotesque, but it’ll paint a vivid picture for ya.

Personally, I was stoked on our accommodations. For $30 Aussie notes, we slept like logs on a windless summer night. The sunrise looked good and best of all: it wasn’t raining. At all. Yet.

After scarfing down a “scroll” – Australian for cinnamon roll, two tangerines, a pie (meat pie), another pie (meat pie) and a breakfast croissant (ham and cheese), we were ready for mediocre coffee and yellow-tinted water for our bidons. The sun was still shining, so we went off, rain jackets strapped to our bags.

The winter in Victoria can be unforgiving. One minute, it’ll be sunny and the next, a monsoon. After losing a 5D Mkiii body to the Roobaix (R.I.P. baby), I was hesitant to shoot in the rain, so a sunny morning meant more photos and more photos means more “recovery stops.” Even, in the end, that means for hurterer legs. Bugga!

Our day would be packed with hardpack. Lots of climbing, up steep hills, over the range and back down into Healesville. On paper, it looked easy, on the legs, not so much. 65ish miles and 7,000′ of almost all dirt meant we were in for a long day and even longer descents. BRAPPPPP!

Thankfully, the morning light and afternoon landscapes kept my mind off the lactic acid fermentation forming in my quads… See for yourself in the Gallery!

At this year’s NAHBS, I knew something. Deep down inside, amidst all the insane custom bicycles, I know that Cielo was onto something with their new Road Racer Di2. The custom market is amazing, don’t get me wrong, but the domestic production market is far too overlooked.

A few years back, Andy from FYXO and Dan from Shifter took a 220lb blogger from America on a ride in the Yarra Ranges to which the bloke barely came out alive. That ride broke me and in the process, jump-started my path to personal fitness. If I was going to keep documenting rides like that, I needed to be in shape.

Each time I visit OZ, we do another ride and while they’re not necessarily as difficult, they end up being special in their own regards.

This trip, UpDave planned a route that would take us from Healesville to Alexandra, skirting along the Yarra Ranges and through the Cathedral mountains. There were going to be eight of us in total but as the ride neared, one by one, the riders dropped out, including Dave, leaving Andy, Tom from Rapha, Daniel from Soigneur and myself.

From eight to four? Sounds good to me. I looked forward to the peace, the sun, the solitude, the gum trees, the wildlife and that silence you find in the ‘bush. You know, the only noise you’ll hear all day is the cyclocross tires spitting sand off as you ride along and eventually the word “cunnnnnnt” echoing as the pitch steepened.

That and the cockatoos… Even the giant black red-tailed beauties!

Since it was winter, we had very little daylight and totaled only 66 miles and 5,600′ after Andy’s morning mechanical set us back a few hours. Fine with me. More time to shoot photos… Read on in the Gallery!

Andy White of FYXO has a pretty decent bicycle collection, ranging from some Australian pedigree, to classic Italian, carbon madness and bikes like this immaculate Concorde Squadra with a mix of Campagnolo.

Most of Andy’s bikes are obvious choices but this one stood out as being a bit different…

So I asked him why, out of all the bikes on this Earth, did he spend so much time building up a Concorde Squadra PDM? Nothing against these frames, they’re immaculate! His answer “Because I wanted to do Concorde PDM FYXO bidons.”

That’s dedication to the cause…

The 2013 All City Championships in Polaroids
Words by John Watson and photos by Kyle Kelley

Parties. That’s what Minneapolis is all about come the summer months and I’m not talking about the “take over the bar with 20 of your friends and sing happy birthday” kind of celebration. What partying is, to me anyway, is grabbing a case of beer or a bottle, booking around town, hitting trails, sitting in a park and taking a dive in a body of water, nude, after the sun has gone down.

In the midwest, that’s the way of life come the Summer Solstice and in Minneapolis, the All City Championships mark the height of such activities…