The Radavist

Tandemonium at Grinduro / Her Version of the Story
Words by Amanda Schaper, photos by John Watson

Editor’s intro: to commemorate both the 2016 Grinduro happening this weekend in Quincy, California and more importantly, Amanda’s birthday (happy birthdayyyyy!!!!), Kyle and I dug up an old Reportage that Amanda had written after last year’s event… Also, we’d all like to thank Salsa for throwing down a Powderkeg. It’s been one of my favorite photo-generators over the past year!

This whole hairbrained idea for tandem Grinduro came about because I royally busted my shoulder at the Downieville Classic in late July. Major dislocation, fractured humeral head, weeks of immobilization, the works. Initially I hoped I’d be good to go in time for Grinduro, but as the reality of my injury set in, I realized that doing such a big ride only a couple months later was going to be a no-go. But for me, not riding was simply not an option.

That’s when the wheels started turning. Riding my own bike might not work, but stoking a tandem would be totally doable since I wouldn’t have to use my shoulder/arm to control the bike. All I needed to do was pedal. And find a captain. And a tandem.

When your bikes are made by Sherwood Gibson of Ventana, who’s been constructing frames since 1988, you can spend all your time on marketing, designing and applying their paint jobs. For Squid Bikes co-owner Emily Kachorek, paint design and implementation happens in a whimsical way. All it takes is some inspiration, a precedent and she’s out in her paint booth with spray cans blazing. For her latest race bike, she chose the childhood game Barrel of Monkeys to be the theme. Then, to up the ante, she gave the monkeys neon pink sunglasses, save for one, who has black shades on.

This bike was at the WD-40 Interbike booth, built up with Zipp components, wheels and a fresh SRAM gruppo with a TRP fork. It’ll be thrashed in various UCI ‘cross races around the US this season and as with any cross bike, it’ll look so much better all muddy.

Thanks to Emily and Squid Bikes for making bicycle paint design look easy and fun! If you’d like a Squid of your own, check out their offerings at SquidBikes.com.

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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Designing and building frames for shorter riders, particularly women can be quite challenging. You’ve got to ensure there is enough standover and leg extension without compromising the feel of the geometry too much. There aren’t a lot of production frames out there for 5′ tall women either, forcing many people to look to the custom market.

Rick from Hunter Cycles has had a long relationship with Sim Works, a component brand in Nagoya, Japan. So when Rie from Sim Works moved to Portland to open their US-distribution, Rick wanted to surprise her with a new mountain bike. There are, after all, a plethora of trails to be ridden in Oregon and California.

While visiting Santa Cruz en route to Los Angeles, Rick surprised Rie with this Japanese curry-colored Woodrat 27.5″ hardtail. Santa Cruz locals, X-Fusion sent over their Sweep fork and dropper post to offer all the squish needed for this rowdy hardtail. WTB’s KOM rims, laced to XT hubs with Trail Boss 2.4″ tires would give Rie plenty of confidence while cornering. The Praxis works Turn 1x MTB cranks with a SRAM GX derailleur keep those wheels turnin’. The SRAM Level TL brakes and GX shifters round out the build with the Sim Works Ronda Stem with the Smooth Booth Hunter bars would give her the control she needs.

Overall, this is a jammin’ bike and Rie has been loving it here in Los Angeles on our dusty trails! Don’t worry Rick, we’re taking care of her down here!

Bicycles. They’re only as great as their owners, and custom bikes, being as special as they are, still follow this rule. I’m sure every framebuilder has completed a project like this at some point. Specific, yet versatile, made for multi-surfaces and designed for a short in stature, big in personality owner.

Rick Hunter of Hunter Cycles takes on projects like this frequently. Or at least it appears that way. I don’t know what it is about some of Rick’s bikes, but they seem to be an exercise in problem solving, while delivering upon their specific use with confidence. A master of the touring bike, custom racks and creative designs, Rick’s finished products are some of the most unique in the industry.

Chari means bike in Japanese.

Rie’s “Super Coffee Bike Tourer” came to be when she decided to tour Europe, after her friend Mortimer from Keirin Berlin urged her to do so. Rie decided she wanted to attend various bike events, make new friends and pour coffee from her bike, something she had been doing since 2010 at her job while working for Circles and Sim Works in Nagoya from a singlespeed city bike. This trip however, would require something more capable, so she contacted Hunter Cycles and began to plan for her trip.

She started her journey on July 15, 2013 at Keirin Berlin and finished on October 28, 2013 for her birthday in Portugal at Cabo de São Vicente, aka “the end of the world”, the Southwesternmost point of European Continent. A bike’s use doesn’t die once its job has been completed though. For the past few years, Rie has tackled singletrack in Santa Cruz and various other bike tours, including our recent trip to Mount Fuji and Izu Oshima.

My job surrounds me with Beautiful Bicycles, of all shapes and sizes, sometimes desensitizing me to just how insane they can be, yet I can’t get over how rad this bike is… See more from Rie’s trip or her bike at her blog and be sure to check out her Instagram for more photos from her life of bikes!

Yattaaaaa!

Komorebi (木漏れ日) is a Japanese word that roughly translates to “sunlight shining through the leaves of trees.”

Jocelyn, aka “Jocey” Gaudi found herself in Los Angeles this past weekend to lead the latest ladies-only Golden Saddle Sunday Social on bikepacking. Over the years, Jocelyn has undertaken extensive bikepacking trips and has learned a lot about not only the ins and outs of backcountry exploration, but how to lead groups of women, of various experience levels along the way. Her leadership skills landed her on the Komorebi Bicycling Team, a group of women who explore the wilderness by bike, organize trips and inspire others to venture into the woods.

The team is sponsored by Breadwinner Cycles, Portland Design Works, Phil Wood & Co., Velocity USA, and White Industries. This group of ladies ride the Breadwinner Komorebi rigid mountain bikes, specifically designed with off-road touring in mind. I’ve always loved the look of this bike and it was great seeing Jocelyn’s all dirty from recent expeditions.

Look closely and you’ll see a prototype Phil Wood headset and those beautiful Phil Wood disc hubs, Ti Cycles Double S titanium bars, along with the PDW Bindle Rack…

Many thanks to Jocelyn for venturing down the coast to sunny Los Angeles and helping grow the love of the sport with women everywhere.