The Radavist

The Sequoia and Kings Canyon Loop
Photos by Sean Talkington and Ryan Wilson words by Sean Talkington, photo captions by Ryan Wilson.

About a month ago I received an email invite from Ryan Wilson to join in with a small group riding Kings Canyon Loop. I had never really ridden with Ryan and had no idea what Kings Canyon was, but seeing so many of his bitchin photos in the Western Sierra on Instagram was more then enough to lure me into a day of riding. What I didn’t know was that this guy goes out on some REALLY HUGE days to take these shots of scenic wonder and most of the time he does it alone.

“Fun” on Mt Pinos – 1.5 hours north of Los Angeles
Words and Photos by Sean Talkington

The term “Mountain Biker” is used to describe a person who rides a bicycle in the dirt.  This term, although correct is also very broad.  For example,  a RedBull drinking, flat bill hat-sporting, goggle-wearing downhill rider in futuristic board shorts has very little in common with a spandex toting, gram (and calorie) counting, leg shaving XC mountain biker.  I personally find myself (way) more on the side of the calorie counter but can still find pleasure in watching my friends get “sick” or “pitted” while I “walk” or “slowly walk” across big gaps and technical drops.

The word “fun” is often used to describe bike trails by all parties of mtb’er who ride them but this word “fun” is subjective. I have grown to find that some of the trails I find “fun” are often refereed to as “miserable” or “way too much climbing” or “hella boring” when you ask certain friends.  I have also found that these same friends call trails “super fun” that I find “super terrifying”.  We all have our favorite rides, routes, trails etc. but it is rare that you find trails that make the whole of mountain biking happy.

My friends in Los Angeles have pretty exceptional talents and taste. Speaking of the latter, Mr. Sean Talkington took advantage of Cielo’s industry pricing at Interbike and put down a deposit on one of their snazzy Cross Racer models. Sean’s new to cross bikes but he couldn’t pass up the deal! After a few months of waiting, his bike showed up and the capable hands at Golden Saddle Cyclery built it up for him.

Sean also works at Golden Saddle part time and is hoping that more customers will look to Cielo for an option when it comes to a MTB, road, touring or cross bike. Since he promotes made in the USA products through Team Dream, he felt like it was time to support US frame builders like Cielo.

Back to this build: You can have a completely dialed bike, but even underneath all that Chris King and SRAM components, bad photos will never do a good bike justice. Luckily for Sean, he’s good friends with Jesse Carmody, an exceptional photographer. Man, Sean really is living the Team Dream Team Dream.

As the sun was setting, these two went out into the woods and the result is in the Gallery!