The Radavist

At the Rock Lobster Cup Strikes Back, there were so many flashy Rock Lobster ‘cross bikes rolling around the bumpy course but I wanted to shoot one in particular as an homage to everything Paul is doing with the team. Campbell Steers took a very impressive win home on Saturday, beating the highly competitive women’s field on her trusty Rock Lobster. In a world where disc brakes and 1x drivetrains dominate the field, Campbell’s on a v-brake bike with a 2x Ultegra drivetrain with Easton wheels and Dugast 33 tubulars.

It’s not the kit that makes this bike so interesting to me. Sure, the WTB test saddle is a nice touch, but this bike has some history. Campbell bought it from a Santa Cruz local. A woman who raced a bit, but ended up selling the frame after a few years. At that point, Campbell was just getting into racing, so she jumped on the deal. The fact that it was a Rock Lobster had to have been some strange premonition of the cycling gods. After a few impressive wins, Paul Sadoff asked Campbell to join the crustacean crushers, aka the Rock Lobster CX Team.

Every time Campbell asks Paul to build her a new frame, he scoffs and says “That one’s fine! Just keep racing…” As for Campbell, check out her artwork at Buda Burrito!

Last year at Grinduro, Adam Sklar took to the mountains outside Quincy on a singlespeed ‘cross bike. While most of the climbing was achievable, the notorious China Grade took a toll on Adam’s legs as he pretty much hiked the entire climb. You’d think he would have learned his lesson, yet up until the day prior to the event, he was considering taking to the course once again on a singlespeed. Luckily for Adam, and his legs, he rode his geared ‘cross bike, but I couldn’t let this beauty go undocumented.

The swoopy curves, in-house shaped top tube and ombré fade of this elegant machine blew my mind, as I’m sure it’ll blow yours too. Sklar, baby, this is one stunning machine!

Way back before Instagram, there was a cycling team in Austin called Team Wooly Mammoth. Known for their completely ridiculous web videos and loud cycling kits, this rag tag group of racers were rumored to even go to tanning beds in their kits to get the crispiest lines. They even donned an all-white kit, which upon placing the order, the apparel company warned of the finished product being “see-through.” To which the two founding members of Wooly Mammoth, Patrick @UltraTradition and Benedict @UltraRomance responded with “… annnnnd?”

Their sense of humor intact, Wooly Mammoth continued to race and look good, while making more videos. Six years ago, “I Am Romancer” struck the internet like lightening on a windmill in West Texas. While future Wooly videos would embrace black metal and nonsensical battle scenes, “I Am Romancer” spoke about the soul of a bicycle and the machismo surrounding the romanticism of the bicycle. Warning: some of those videos might be NSFW, depending on your work environment.

Fast forward to 2016. Ultra Romance is a cult-hero of bicycle nomads and Ultra Tradition has moved to Portland, Oregon, where he’s working with Jeremy and Julie Dunn of the Athletic to help grow Wooly Mammoth into not only a race team, but a brand. When the Athletic contacted VYNL Bikes to make a modern day Romancer ‘cross bike, painted to match the newest Wooly Mammoth designs, they jumped right on it. The completed bike, as shown here, brand spankin’ new, would be Jeremy’s Grinduro bike…

While it looks good all clean with its Zipp and SRAM parts, the bike looked much, much better, dusty and dirty on course. Oh and that North Street Bar Bag ain’t too shabby either!

After a few days on the road hitting hot springs, camping and riding, we’re back here in Quincy, California for this weekend’s Grinduro. The event is literally twice the size as last year in terms of attendance, and there are a few new products to help support the Sierra Buttes Foundation. One of which is Charge, the UK bicycle company and this limited edition Plug ‘cross bike. This aluminum frameset comes built as a singlespeed with TRP Hylex and features Grinduro branding.

Unlike a lot of special edition products, this one’s available online for anyone to purchase for $999.99. Head to Competitive Cyclist now to see the full specs.

All the Action from the Women’s Elite Trek CXC Cup
Photos and words by Kevin Sparrow

To me, the Trek CXC Cup is the official start of the midwest cyclocross season. The best of the best show up and battle it out on the Trek Factory grounds. This year was huge. World Champion, Wout Van Aert and a bunch of Belgians, showed up and, as expected, destroyed the rest of Men’s field. It was impressive, and it goes to show that they are (still) on a totally different level than the US. Although this seemed more like a training ride for Wout, a shout out to Stephen Hyde, the top US finisher, seems deserving.

I’m sure, by now you have read about (or watched) the results and highlights from this past weekend on all the typical media outlets. Yeah, having a world champion race in front of you was pretty rad, but when it comes to good ol’ fashioned racin’ the Women’s Elite race was where all the action was happening.

Most of the Women’s Elite raced both days, unlike the Men’s field who were saving their precious legs for C1 points. That alone says a lot about the Women’s field and about Women’s CX racing in general. It’s positive, healthy competition that seems to be based around the love for racing. The way it should be. I heard many words of encouragement and solidarity at the start, during the race, and at the finish line.

I could go on and give a play by play but that seems sort of boring. Instead, just enjoy some photos of some real rippers from this past weekend. Read the captions for a better feel for the course.

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Holy. Shit. This. Bike.

HSTB. The Crema Duo changed Los Angeles’ riding for me. In fact, it changed how I feel about the potential for ‘cross bikes to be the most versatile bike in your stable. Take everything you love about your bike and turn it up to 11. Big tires, disc brakes, lightweight, snappy geometry and the ability to hold your own in a pace-line, while still being able to crush singletrack and fire roads all in a tight package.

These days, with bicycles being so specified in their usage and design, it’s easy to forget that literally any bike can become a touring bike. Now bear with me, I’m not insinuating that your carbon race bike will suddenly sprout rack or fender braze-ons and grow in its tire clearance, or your 6″ enduro mtb will grow calcium deposits, rendering its suspension moot, but every bike has capabilities for multiple day, long distance riding. It’s just a matter of what you’re willing to compromise or cope with.

Aaron wanted a Rosko ‘cross bike. He was living in Brooklyn at the time and was enamored with the idea of a dude making bikes in his garage. Much like the surfing world he grew up in, Aaron liked makers and the idea that a person can make a vehicle for fun, by hand, really resonated with him. So he placed an order for a ‘cross bike from Seth Rosko and waited for the frame.

Jordan Hufnagel is one of my favorite framebuilders. Or I should say, was one my favorites. After he decided to lay down the torch, he and close friend James Crowe began West America. Together they rode motorcycles to Patagonia and documented the whole journey with 35mm film. Upon returning after a year on the road, the two began fabricating everything from more motos to furniture and eventually, Jordan began his own metal working business. Sometime prior to taking off for Patagonia, Jordan made this frame for Kyle of Golden Saddle Cyclery. Now, I don’t know if the frame was made to specifically pair with this Death Spray Custom fork that Kyle has had hanging on the shop wall, or if it was the plan all along, but soon enough, the two were mated and awaited parts.

Fast forward for literally two years and Kyle was ready to build the bike up, as a result of his Mudfoot Stinner getting side-swiped by a car. Kyle poached some parts and built it up, ready to rip the trails in Los Angeles and up until his Red, White and Blue Stinner 27.5 ‘cross bike, it’d been his go to bike for dirt riding. With a prototype 44RN ‘cross ring, SRAM Force 1x, Paul Minimotos, Chris King and ENVE bits, it’s a pretty tricked out build, but the last piece of the puzzle just landed from Japan.

Sim Works‘ Pop Up at Golden Saddle Cyclery this weekend will have literally everything from the brand’s catalog in stock and in person, including these Homage tires in Michelin green. Made by Panaracer, these tires measure 43mm on a rim like the H+Son Archtypes and even wider on a more modern carbon disc rim. They set up easily tubeless, on a tubeless rim and with the center file tread pattern, roll fast on pavement with the side knobs adding extra traction on loose corners. They are available in 650b or 700 diameters.

This bike has had a long life in the build racks at Golden Saddle Cyclery but in its short time being built up, has lived a pretty exciting life, as evident by the dirty fork crown.

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Visit Golden Saddle Cyclery in Silverlake, Los Angeles and follow them on Instagram.