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With the Belgian Waffle Ride this weekend, Spy Optic made a video showcasing the 2014 ride. If you’re heading out to the event this weekend, best of luck. If you’re not, here’s what you’re missing.
You can still register the day of at the event. Here’s the BikeReg page. Registration is full…
These days, I’m spending a lot of time riding and lugging around my DSLR. While I’d much rather do a ride with close friends and leave the camera at home, I couldn’t pass up yet another year of the Blackburn Ranger Camp. Last year’s ride / popsicle hammock experience was too good, so when Robin from Blackburn invited me along for a second time, I accepted the invitation without hesitation, only picking up on keywords: “camping, Big Basin, Redwoods, bourbon, BB guns, beach, Sea Otter, Niner bikes.”
The logistics of my past few weeks went something like this: Giro Grinduro shoot in Sierra Nevada, home for two days, back to Cali for Eroica, ride 130 miles on a 1982 7-speed crit bike, drive immediately to San Jose, arrive at airport hotel at 1am, work for 3 hours, sleep for 3 hours, cab it to the San Jose Airport, pack up my Niner RLT9 Steel cross bike with three day’s supplies, clear CF cards, and commence the herding of cats…
WARNING! This is going to make you HATE that today is Monday. 100 images await you…
The cycling industry is a competitive place. With mountain bikers clamoring over Enduro, the road and dirt industry has its sights on gravel grinder races. As the name implies, the Grinduro is a mix of the two. A mix, but a whole lot more…
Giro’s Grinduro is an entire weekend event that unfolds in the town of Quincy, California. A place that can get quite warm in the summer, so luckily, the event takes place in October. Participants will be able to camp at the fabled Quincy Campground, be fed by Chris King’s Gourmet Century, enjoy beer from Sierra Nevada brewery and enjoy music from live bands.
The format of the race includes timed climb segments, timed descent segments and a ripping 12-mile long singletrack ender. The intent is to chat leisurely in between segments, get to know your fellow racers, enjoy delicious food along the way and then give your all during the timed sections. Once you’re done, finish up the night at the campsites with a massive shindig.
The following Gallery was taken on the Giro Grinduro course, a 65 mile long mixed terrain route with approximately 9,000′ of elevation. These roads are some of the most beautiful in the area and as you will see, will not disappoint… Will you Grinduro?
Registration is open now, so head to the Grinduro site for more information.
Like many people, we decided to make a weekend of the Eroica California. Rather than fly or drive in for the ride itself. The city of Paso Robles hosted the event this year and since it’s smack dab in wine country, there were numerous places to eat good food and plenty cheap wine to go around. Luckily, my friends at Giro had rented a house, so a few of us camped out in the yard, atop a bluff overlooking town, rather than have to spring on a hotel.
… and I’ll be out of technology’s reach for a few days. Fear not, I’ve got some really great content scheduled, so enjoy.
After another early morning flight and a three hour drive, I’ve arrived in Paso Robles for the Eroica California. The stories have only just begun, so stay tuned throughout the weekend for updates on Instagram…
Also, shouts to American Cyclery for the Nuovo Record levers and Campy straps. Wait til you see the rest of the photos from that shop!
Going Just Because: Three Months of the Sierra Nevada
Photos and words by Ryan Wilson
Every year fall rolls around and the itch hits me. I know the days of many of the high mountain passes throughout California’s Sierra Nevada mountains are numbered. If we’re lucky they’d be buried in feet of snow for almost half of the year. It turned out this year was yet another unlucky one, but still I feel that push to go and explore the roads in my favorite mountain range while I know I can…
The guys from Limberlost visited one of the most epic MTB locations in the Pacific Northwest: Mount Saint Helens. There’s a quick photo story up on Limberlost right now, so head over and check it out if you like mountainous epicness.
“John, let’s just ride bikes, don’t bring your camera.”
I’ve heard it countless times and history has proven that no matter what, if I don’t bring my camera, I end up wishing I had. Especially when it comes to new trails. Extra especially when it comes to new trails in the Pacific Northwest.
On my last day in Portland, Ira and Tony from Breadwinner Cycles invited me on a Sunday afternoon trail ride, about an hour outside of Portland in the Brown’s Camp trail network. Up until that point, all I had ridden in the PDX area was Sandy Ridge and a few trails in Forest Park. Not exactly a sampling of the land.
This is the fourth layout of the Radavist 2015 Calendar, entitled “Log Jammin’”. The camera and location are noted on the bottom left of the document.
While trees shoot to the sky, Matt rides a fallen giant as part of a bonus line in the Brown’s Camp trail network, just an hour drive outside of Portland.
For a high-res JPG, suitable for print and desktop wallpaper*, right click and save link as – The Radavist 2015 Calendar – April. Please, this photo is for personal use only!
(*set background to white and center for optimal coverage)
The latest from Yonder Journal is quite possibly (actually, it just is) the largest project the team has ever undertaken. Here’s the synopsis:
“In 2015, Yonder Journal will investigate, ascertain, and document the peripheries and possibilities of exploration by bicycle. We call this project Dead Reckoning*. At it’s core we will apply the technologies and methodologies of adventure biking, bike-packing, and ultra-lightweight touring, to multi-day expeditions with a focus on going Over Mountain, the concept of Over Mountain being the the most essential and transformative form of human exploration.
The first of our Dead Reckoning expeditions took us to New Zealand’s South Island where we would attempt to cross the island from east to west, traveling across roads, trails, and unmarked land that has seldom if ever seen bike traffic. The crux of our route would be a Broderick Pass, a seldom traveled route hidden deep in the Southern Alps. It was quite an adventure.”
Check out some samples below and the full, massive photo story at Yonder Journal.
No Thanks, but Thanks
Photos and words by Kyle Von Hoetzendorff
I have made the decision to believe that that yes, global warming is happening. There is a ton of heavy shit that goes along with that, I know, I get it; superstorms, biblical droughts, floods, famine, plague, strife, real estate devaluations, shorter ski seasons, etc. A truckload, boatload, superfund, Yucca Mountain amount of issues right? Mega fusion/fission, black hole singularities, end-of-days issues.
But that’s all in the future right? I mean we’re good for a little while anyway. Us humans, as a social species, as a global community, we have never really been good at preventative care, especially if that means making things harder on ourselves. You could say that human evolution has really just been one long march towards the Lazy Boyz, on-demand, and a multi-stage high and low compression and rebound damping. By and large, we are a “wait and see” bunch…
Looking for a fun 50 mile “all-road” ride in Moots’ backyard? Check out their Ranch Rally. Head over to Moots for details but HURRY, there are only 150 spots!
This morning we had a solid group of riders show up for an easy spin to start the day off. Tomorrow, let’s do the same but on dirt.
Let’s meet up at Flat Track Coffee on Cesar Chavez at 9am (please be on time – we’ll leave at 9:15) for a super chill trail ride. The forecast is calling for rain, but these trails drain quick, so show up regardless. Bring a few tubes, because it’s thorny. Don’t feel pressured to kit up, shorts and a t-shirt will be fine.
Bring some cash for coffee and we’ll finish up at a bar for some food and a beer or two.
Down and Dirty in Santa Cruz
Photos by Ryan Wilson and Sean Talkington. Words by Sean Talkington
Ty, Ryan, Jackie and myself were recently invited up to Santa Cruz to meet with some of our fellow Instagram bike brethren (aka nerds). We were brought up to test out the new Roubaix Di2 disk outerspace/starwars bikes by Specialized. I was getting over a cold so Ty and I decided to carpool up a day later. We showed up a little late but arrived just in time to partake in what we hoped to be four straight days of great riding with or without torrential rainfall. Regardless of the forecast, we were optimistic. Each day was scheduled to be wetter than the previous, but the terrain was going to be so good that the weather wouldn’t be a factor.
Everything was pretty awesome. Things couldn’t be better! That is, until the start of day 3. That’s when it happened. When I got the feeling in my stomach. You know the feeling?! The feeling when your stomach drops, like REALLY “droooooooops” (30 minutes into the ride) and you start sweating profusely (even though its 51 degrees outside). Then you realize you’ve caught the stomach bug that has been going around the house (Rudy from The 5th Floor had it the day before and a European journalist before him).
I would now like for you to put yourself in my shoes for a minute (or better yet my bibs). You are now officially going to turn your insides out. The probability of you holding it in for more than a single minute is extremely low and while the rest of the group keeps on riding, you start to fall off the back. Then you realize you left your phone at the house because you didn’t want it to get wet. So you have absolutely no idea where you are or how to get back to the house and of course you don’t know the address/location where you are staying.
Pardon the short notice. I didn’t want to make this a huge event, but I know some of you are in Austin for SxSW and you might have brought your road or cross bikes.
Let’s meet up at Flat Track Coffee at 9am for a casual, slow ride into some of Austin’s scenic hills just west of downtown. Anticipate around 15 miles and 2,000′ of climbing, so plan accordingly. This is a no-drop, no jock ride. Let’s spin those legs and sweat out that booze.
Also, If anyone wants to do a MTB or a cross ride, mention it in the comments and we’ll make it happen.
While I was in the throughs of NAHBS and the Rouge Roubaix, this one slipped past me. See more at Rapha.
Here’s the latest video from Mike Cotty and the Col Collective in which he tackles the Passo Gavia. This climb lives in infamy, fist appearing in the Giro back in 1960 and frequently surprising racers with inclement weather. Make sure you check this one out and apologies for any wanderlust that arises…
