Shimano
Tern
Wolftooth
Argonaut
Brooks
State Bicycles
Paul
RiG'd Supply
Mission Workshop
Rivendell
SimWorks
Maxxis

#women

tag

Ride Along: Toronto’s Leah Hollinsworth – Chris Lee

Reportage By: John Watson

Ride Along: Toronto’s Leah Hollinsworth – Chris Lee

Ride Along: Leah Hollinsworth
Words and photos by Chris Lee

I first met Leah Hollinsworth a few years ago in Chicago, a couple days before the Stupor Bowl. I decided to meet her and a handful of other couriers in Chicago to ride the AmTrak to Minneapolis. What was supposed to be a 6-8 hour train ride turned into something like 14 hours because of winter blizzards and other mayhem that comes with obnoxious snow accumulation in the Midwest. Needless to say, I got to know Leah well during that train ride.

Fast forward to the first weekend of May, 2014: I just crossed over the border into Canada on my way to the 5th annual Mayday alleycat. Mayday is the biggest race that the Toronto courier community throws. It brings racers (courier or not) from all over Canada and even the United States. In addition and even more importantly, this race is a fundraiser for the Bike Messenger Emergency Fund, or BMEF for short. After the race and the parties were all said and done, I met up with Leah to talk a little about her involvement with the BMEF and the Mayday alleycat.

Early Morning Girlfriend MTB Shred

Reportage By: John Watson

Early Morning Girlfriend MTB Shred

Today, without an iota of hesitation, I loaded up two mountain bikes, some snacks, my Fuji X-T1 and took Lauren to McKinney Falls State Park. On the agenda: girlfriend (ok, fiancé) shred. Lauren had never, ever been on a mountain bike before and was eager to do so. She’s actually the one who recommended we take advantage of the overcast afternoon and get out on the trails. Anytime she wants to ride, I’m down and all I had to do was dissuade her from the Greenbelt, with its super technical, rocky terrain.

Instead, McKinney is where we do our Friday afternoon cross hustle loop. The trails are still fairly rocky, but filled with fast descents and narrow singletrack. It’s picturesque and this time of year, filled with wildflowers, birds and other animals.

Even with the relative ease of these trails, I have to say, I was a little nervous. After a 10 mile loop, she was grinning ear to ear and finished the afternoon saying “this was way more fun than road riding!” We ended the morning collecting flowers…

Side note: I had accidentally switched my camera to JPG from RAW, so I lost all the whites in these photos, hence the black and white. Although, I caught it before this photo.

Tenspeed Hero: Spring Products

Radar

Tenspeed Hero: Spring Products

Tenspeed Hero’s new spring line looks great. With products for men and women. Like, bibs designed specifically for women. Not just bibs made for men that women have to wear. Head over to Tenspeed Hero for bibs made for men, women and socks made for feet.

Outlier: Women’s Merino Racerback Tank

Radar

Outlier: Women’s Merino Racerback Tank

This ain’t your boyfriend’s tank top. This is a tailored garment, made from the finest merino wool and sewn in New York City. Outlier needs no introduction, but their women’s clothing does. Head over to Outlier to check out the latest garments.

It’s spring and when I go camping, I’m always bringing Outlier’s clothes with me!

Juliana Bicycles: My Roubion Contest

Radar

Juliana Bicycles: My Roubion Contest

Last week at Sea Otter, Juliana announced their new Roubion shred sled and now they want to give one away:

“The new Juliana Roubion is designed to handle anything an all mountain adventure may throw at you. Designed by the carbon fiber experts at Santa Cruz, the Roubion also sports 150mm travel, with all the pedaling benefits of the Virtual Pivot Point (VPP™) system. You could say it’s got all the brawn of the Bronson, in the spirit of Juliana. It’s certainly proven itself already as Anka Martin’s Trans-Provence winning race bike.

Offered in three sizes, the Roubion will make it’s way to the public in June, but is exclusively available now to the “Show Us Your Roubion” Contest Winner.”

See more details at Juliana and another flier below!

Team Dream Rizzle Dizzle Men’s and Women’s Kits

Reportage By: John Watson

Team Dream Rizzle Dizzle Men’s and Women’s Kits

As a consumer, I like to know the ways and means a company (especially in the cycling industry) came out. Regardless as to what my relationship is to Sean Talkington of Team Dream Bicycling Team, there was something about what he started doing last year that piqued my interest.

So, it’s a team, but it’s not a team. It’s a team for people who aren’t on teams, which makes it arguably one of the biggest teams in the world. That’s kind of like a dream team, right? Something like that.

When Sean began working on his Rizzle Dizzle kits, and his Mondrian Homage vest, we wanted to do a little something more than just post photos and send people over to his store. Below is a backstory, or a history as to what inspires Sean to continuously push Team Dream’s product line.

Rock Shox RS-1 in Action

Radar

Rock Shox RS-1 in Action


Photo by Adrian Marcoux

Here’s a feel good flick from Rock Shox, featuring that RS-1 inverted fork:

“They’re the future of XC mountain biking—in more ways than one. Kate Courtney and Russell Finsterwald are classic overachievers: She’s a NICA alumnus gone World Cup hopeful (and is a Stanford undergrad in her spare time), and he’s a former U23 National and Pan Am champ ready to compete in 2014 at the pinnacle of our sport. Stripped of team logos, and outside the boundaries of course-marking tape, however, both are simply mountain bikers with a passionate penchant for new trails and eye-opening adventures.”

Basically, this video makes me want to go ride some more desert.

Met Helmets: We Are Italian

Radar

Met Helmets: We Are Italian

This is perhaps one of the most beautiful cycling videos I’ve seen all year and it doesn’t hurt to have such great people in it! Juliet Elliott and Dave Noakes and got to ride in Talamona, a small town in the heart of the Italian Alps, where Met is based.

The Women’s Cycling Association – Join the Ride Photos

Radar

The Women’s Cycling Association – Join the Ride Photos

Photos by Nick Kova

Last weekend, Kelli from Ritte put on a ride in Calabasas, California with the help of Pedalers Fork. The ride took a group of ladies (and a few men) through the surrounding sweeping hills and mountains before returning to Pedalers Fork for food and drinks. Photographer Nick Kova was in attendance, shooting photos from the back of a moto, driven by Moi Medena. See more photos here!

I love seeing people organizing rides in their local scenes! Kudos Kelli!