The Radavist

The 2014 Langtown “Cross Race”
Photos by Matt Irwin, words by Sean Talkington

What is Langtown? This is Langtown! This backyard venue was made famous when it used to facilitate motocross races in the late 90’s. If you like to party, then Langtown is easily Southern California’s best race.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to take part this year because of a stupid wedding (just kidding Jesse/Ariel and congratulations!) so I asked Matt Irwin to shoot “a few” images for the Team Dream Tumblr page. The gallery he created looked so fun and was larger then a Tumblr can facilatate so we thought it would be better suited here on The Radavist. Primarily because Matt’s images are awesome and realistically only my mother views the Team Dream site (I know this because I now have Google analytics).

Anyway, it’s a party. Or it’s a race. Actually, it’s both. It’s Langtown….
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Follow Sean on Instagram and Matt on Instagram.

The desert is a destination for many, who seek its healing potential and spiritual homeostasis. For us, we just wanted the red sands of Sedona, Arizona to cleanse us from Las Vegas and Interbike.

When I mentioned to Ty that Sean and I were driving back to Texas after the tradeshow, he was stoked for us. Then, when I said “yeah, I’m thinking we’ll head through Sedona for a quick ride”, he immediately wanted in.

That’s why I love Ty so much. Hell, that’s why I love my friends so much. They’re willing to go 7 hours out of their way to ride bikes for 3 hours. Ok, ride bikes for 2 hours and shoot photos, fuck off, play with snakes for an hour.

We rolled into town and couldn’t find an open camp site, so we set up at a hotel next to the Bike and Bean, a local MTB establishment at the trailhead. The guys were super friendly and then, out of the blue, a local named Duff asked us if he could join us. Uh, sure!

It turned out to be a short, but sweet trek through the desert and I’ll definitely be returning!

The Sequoias. If you’ve ever been to the Redwoods, then you know how humbling of a sensation it is, walking, driving or riding through them. Now, imagine trees of that size, growing at 8,000′ elevation.

On our ride to Interbike with Acre and Mission Workshop, we found ourselves in proximity to Camp Nelson, smack in the midst of the Sequoia Nat’l Forest. Ty had ridden a few trails here before, so he pushed for us to spend the afternoon picking lines in the pine needles.

MTB mileage is nothing to note, but Bear Creek is a great climb!

It was insane. Insanely steep, insanely loose and insanely fun. I don’t think I’ve had that much fun on a MTB in a long, long, time. Until Kyle hurt himself…

Here we go again. This morning’s hangover is acute, but I’m back at it. Interbike is almost impossible to cover as one person, so if you want to see something, holler at me, @JohnProlly or leave a note in the comments!

Cross Vegas is the official kick-off for American cyclocross season, in my opinion anyway. It’s raucous, rowdy and best of all, FUN! The highlight of the evening for me is the Wheelers and Dealers event where industry reps and shop peeps battle head to head for a place on the podium next to Craig Etheridge – who wins every year.

The crowd loves it. Everyone’s doing handups, toss ups, spraying beer, hecking and this year, like it does every year, it carried on well into the UCI race. This year’s event drew big names like Lars van der Haar and Sven Nys – maybe you’ve heard of them? At any rate, these pros had an introduction to the party time that is Cross Vegas and yes, things got out of hand.

Thanks to everyone who hung out and made the evening an enjoyable one!

Interbike. The necessary evil of the industry and the culmination of the year’s energy for me. 48 hours ago and we were in the Sequoias, now, we’re in the towering landscapes of Las Vegas, navigating the halls of the convention, seeing new and interesting products and longtime friends.

In an attempt to make my Interbike coverage as easy to digest as possible, I’ll be doing things a little different. Each day, I’ll upload around 80 photos, with the company’s name in the captions. If you have any questions, ask below and I’ll answer.

Keep in mind, these are products I like and do not necessarily represent everything to see at the show. If you’ve seen something elsewhere that’s worth sharing, holler at me on Twitter, Instagram (@JohnProlly) or in the comments!

This time of year, as warm days are fading, timing is crucial for road trips. As Interbike approached, Mission Workshop / Acre had discussed doing a bit of a photo story with Golden Saddle Cyclery, myself and Sean from Team Dream, who would bring his 1970 VW bus along. We’d shoot instant film from the Impossible Project and document the journey.

Like all trips, things don’t adhere to any schedule, or plan, or route. We knew what we wanted to do and ensured we’d get in at least one ride – more on that later. Since the van was going into the Mission / Acre booth, we had to be in town this morning. After a few hiccups, we made it and most importantly, so did the van with all our stuff!

I’ll have photos from us shredding in the Sequoias shortly, but for now, let’s look at some end of summer car camping photos. Road tripping with three of your friends is the best.

Sky at Velo Cult has the full scoop on how this bike came to be, but I’ll do my best at paraphrasing.

Back in 1988, Chris Kostman was in the throes of the Race Across America, when his mechanics stopped at a little shop called Sore Saddle Cyclery in Steamboat Springs, CO. Inside, there was a frame builder named Kent Eriksen who spent his time crafting Moots bicycles.

Later, Eriksen made Kostman this 1989 Moots Zerkel – originally in a zebra stripe paint, which Chris didn’t like, so he recoated it in a crazy “rasta” paint job. It was built for Chris to race Iditabike and later, to take a crack at the first-ever 24 Hour Mountain Bike World Record.

Built with full Ritchey Logic components and American Classic hubs, it’s like a specimen from an almost forgotten age. The double fork ends, “gator jaw” gussets, custom stem and insane chainstays make this a truly unique shred sled. Look, this thing is insane and if you’re into the full, in-depth story, you should head to Velo Cult to read it all!

I went over the top documenting this one…

Austin, Texas has changed so much in the past four years since I found myself living here and I’m not talking about the constant construction. Every time I come back from a trip, or a month on the road, there are new people here, with newer bikes and I’m always thrilled to see people riding made in the USA frames, like Al’s new Signal Cycles road bike.

Ride Along: Garrett Kautz from Strawfoot
Words and photos by John Watson

Strawfoot is one of those companies that has gained a lot of momentum over the past year in the cycling industry because of social media and word of mouth. While Strawfoot is a bag company, they’re most known for their socks. I was first introduced to Garrett from Brian Vernor last year, when I visited his small shop in Santa Cruz.

Over the past few months, Strawfoot has grown. They’ve moved to a bigger shop, are sponsoring a cross team and yes, he’s continued making socks, which sell out almost immediately…

You’ve seen this bike before, you just thought it was a one-off paint job. Back when Erik rode the Transcontinental Race, he used a Poler Camera Cooler for a bar bag, prompting Benji from Poler to reach out to Erik – Benji pays attention to what’s going on in the cycling world… For instance, these panniers have been in the works for a while.

After a quick visit to Portland, Erik and Benji schemed on something for the AWOL project for Poler. The great thing about these AWOL bikes is their versatility. 1-trakk rippers, around-town, bar bike, touring bike, dirt touring bike, dirt-drop brap machine. They do it all, including the 370 mile trek across Oregon for the Oregon Outback.

We knew we wanted to do a big ride to *shoot the bike, but weren’t sure where, when or how we’d do it.

When the Oregon Outback was announced, Erik reached out to me and I said yes, not knowing what I was getting myself into. It was a hell of a ride and afterwards, we stayed with Benji and began discussing the bike’s launch.

Next week, these bikes hit dealers. On the 6th of September to be exact. MSRP, availability and other information is on the way, or you can just call your local Specialized shop. Prior to the launch, on September 5th, I’ll be having a gallery show at Poler’s new storefront in Portland with an opening reception. Aka, a party. More info on that to come…

For now, check out some details in the Gallery!

*Believe it or not, this is the same bike that Erik rode during the Oregon Outback. I had to painstakingly photoshop out all of the Poler insignia. Front lamp and saddle bag not included! Comes with panniers and front pannier rack.

The grass is good and dead here in Austin. That means cyclocross season is nigh. Jonathan recently relocated from Omaha to Austin, at the height of the summer heat, to replace the wrench of my buddy Chris at Mellow Johnny’s.

Even though it’s well over 100 degrees here, Jonathan’s Falconer cross bike scorches the ground it traverses. This thing is molten lava and the paint even matches the dried, dead grass. I think this might be one of my favorite bikes I’ve shot this year.

Accent points are the Chris King Mango bits, orange PAUL Minimoto brakes and a nice sparkle clear coat. My favorite detail however are the seat stays and Solid’s tapered head tube to match the ENVE fork.

I can’t wait to see this thing at the races this season!

Waking Up for Topanga Creek Cycles’ Saturday Morning Ride
Photos and words by Sean Talkington

Its official. I have now packed my bags (and bikes…and cats) and made my way to South Pasadena. 3 years is a pretty good run for most anything. 3 years is longer then I lasted in college! It was one hell of a party in Topanga but the time has come.

I’m writing this now in my new living space w/ boxes piled high and internet freshly installed. It feels good to start fresh in another town, and there is still killer bike riding in every direction out on the east side of LA, but I will always have a soft spot for “Topanga Life” & the people I was lucky enough to meet there…