The Radavist

Enter day 05 of nothing but Alpine mountain biking with Mission Workshop. My body is still sore, almost a week later and all I can think about is how much fun we all had. The morning was cold, damp and silent, save for the cow bells that somehow echoed through the valley all night, barely being muted by the drunken Swiss wine-tasting party that erupted outside my open hotel window.

Lyle and I awoke at 7am and ate breakfast with Stefan (owner of Stilrad Zurich) and Alberto. 7:30am we rolled out into the misty mountains. From the onset, today was supposed to be quite easy, with a few technical sections and one nasty, nasty climb. At this point, the extra rain clothes and merino base layers I brought became a burden. Every ounce of extra weight in my backpack seemed to pull me back down each climb. Not to mention the 5Dmkii and 24-70mm lens… But hey, that’s my job right?

We made it out just fine, save for a few spills, a few flats and loose legs. All I could think of was drinking a sparkling water and a Radler… 30 miles and 4,000′ of climbing at altitude, on a MTB is no joke.

Check out more narrated photos in the Gallery!

Side note: I want to thank everyone who made this trip possible. Stefan, Alberto, Mission Workshop, Santa Cruz Bicycles and anyone else who helped us out along the way. THANK YOU!

In the world of high-end, performance mountain bikes, Santa Cruz wears a crown. Maybe not as a ruler of all, but most certainly the world of the 29’r. When the Tallboy was first released, it was widely praised as the first 29’r that actually exceeded expectations.

I’m not a jealous person, but I must say, Lyle’s Tallboy LTC is one balleur bicycle. With a component list like Chris King, SRAM XX1, Rock Shox 150mm Pike and even that stubby Thomson MTB stem, this bike has seen it all. Well, as far as the Trans-Provence, Swiss Alps, Chamonix and riding in Åre, Sweden for the whole summer shooting the Acre line is concerned. The dude and this bike are living the dream.

After quite a few emails, requesting detail shots of this bike, I took a few minutes to shoot some photos prior to our ride in Glarus… Check out more in the Gallery!

For the past seven years, Scott and Dickon from Santa Cruz have spent their post-Eurobike recovery in the hills and mountains of the Black Forest, just outside of Freiburg, Germany. Coincidentally, when Lyle from Mission Workshop and myself had a few extra days laying around before our Alps tour began, they invited us to join them.

That meant traveling from Glarus to Freiburg, before heading back to Zurich on Wednesday. That meant a lot of driving but surely it would be worth it. All the details and accommodations were made. Scott and Dickon knew were to stay, where to eat and were mostly familiar with the trails… What other reasons did we need? Back to Germany we go!

Yesterday morning, we engorged ourselves with one of the best hotel breakfasts I’ve had before beginning our journey. I suited up in the new Acre gear, tuned my bike and hopped off through town before we all found ourselves in a tower of switchbacks up and out of the valley.

The Black Forest is a sacred place, filled with lore and mythology. While we saw no Slender Man, or nymphs, I could feel the presence of something the whole day and it wasn’t the eggs from breakfast… Nature still owns the forest. The trees hummed and resonated with the wind. If you break yourself off here, there’s no telling what would happen to you once the sun settled in for the evening.

After a mild case of “lostness” and bordering on bonking, the whim to “take the other trail” turned our planned 3-hour jaunt into an 8-hour expedition through the absolutely stunning trail system. Some were extremely technical and steep, while others were fast and smooth. Then we hit the backside of Kandel with its fast, steep and rocky descents. We all wished we had pads…

We got a taste of everything and for me, the technical, rocky terrain was just a teaser for what awaits in the Alps. The total for the day was about 35 miles and 4,900′ and today, my legs are thanking me.

Check out some narrated photos in the Gallery!

Ever have one of those rides where a crazed redneck kicks you off “his mountain” and you end up somewhat lost, having to re-route yourself? Yeah. This was one of those rides. Not that I’m complaining. If Santa Cruz is dirt heaven, then surely the roads are worth a mention.

During the ATOC this year, a few of us got together and rode from Santa Cruz to San Jose. Leading the way was Garrett Chow on his FEA Venge. He promised a big climb, some poaching, a little dirt and heat, heat, heat. All of which were delivered. Then our route was truncated short by the above-mentioned, real king of the mountain…

60 miles and 4,000′ later and we were in San Jose, just in time to watch the last TT and drink a few beers. It’s a bummer we missed the stage, but so it goes. Check out some narrated photos in the Gallery!

Tools of the trade:
Yashica T4
Fuji Pro400H

If you enjoy riding up and down ranges in the ‘wood, or tearing down fire roads, then Santa Cruz is heaven. There’s even great road riding but this trip, we stuck to the trails. USCSC has a ton of trails on its campus, all of which cross, zig zag, ascend and descend around neighboring systems. When I initially headed down from SF with Brian Vernor, my cross bike was in the car, which would have been a fine vehicle for the day but I made a few phone calls and ended up demo’ing an Ibis Ripley instead. Let’s just say the day was probably a lot more enjoyable (hopefully I’ll be able to review that bike extensively in the future).

Garrett from Strawfoot, Vernor and I did a series of loops, ranging from relatively technical, loose and sandy descents to wide-open, no fucks given blast-fests down through Wilder. None of us had a Garmin on our bikes, so I have no idea how long we were out there, or how far we traveled, but my legs told me around 30 ish miles and in trails, that’s a long afternoon, especially when Santa Cruz was spiking into the 90’s and no, that’s not a reference to the vernacular style of the town.

Santa Cruz was heaven for those few hours and people often ask why I don’t shoot photos of the more technical, beautiful singletrack when I ride MTB. It’s because we’re going too fast and no one wants to stop! Except when someone wrecks…

Since Brian introduced me to Black Cat‘s work a few years ago, I’ve slowly fallen in love with Todd’s craftsmanship. In fact, this bike was my first introduction to the Black Cat moniker. As Brian puts it “I really love that bike” and it’s easy to see why.

Most mountain bikes, well, hardtails anyway, can be documented in ten photos. This one in particular would fall in that category, save for the amazing dropouts and stays. That and the paint job. I had the opportunity to rip through some of Santa Cruz’s trails with Brian last week and aside from one spill, this bike flowed amazingly well through the off-camber, technical descents as well as it scaled up some steep sections.

Even in the few minutes I spent rolling this bike around the block, looking for a photo location, I could see why Mr. Vernor loves it so much. See for yourself in the Gallery!

Santa Cruz, I think I’m in love and while it may be an infatuation with the trails, the wood or just the people, every time I go there, my heart palpitates. On Wednesday, Vernor scooped me up and we headed south from SF, along the coastal roads. We met up with Garrett from Strawfoot and it was a pleasant surprise.

Strawfoot is one of those companies that I never would have known about if it weren’t for Vernor, so to finally see the operation and bags in person, solidified my expectations. More on that to come but for now, a little on Garrett’s new Hunter disc cross bike.

Bicycle camping in Santa Cruz is something I’ve yet to experience but with its endless amount of fire, frontage and park roads, any weekend can turn into some solitary time in the ‘wood. When Garrett approached Rick Hunter about a bike, Rick wanted to try something a little different.

Discs, a rather unique cable routing style and Sim Works by Nitto components are simply accents to Rick’s excellent craftsmanship and engineering prowess. Ok, I’m done sugar coating the work of Mr. Hunter. This bike rules. It’s going to look better with age, after chips and dings but right now, it’s so easy on the eyes…

These days, I rarely put up A Day in 10 Photos posts anymore and to be completely honest, it’s not intentional. The way I choose to document for the site has changed in the past few years, focusing more on Shop Visits, Beautiful Bicycles and other randomness. Today however just fit right in perfectly with the old ADi10P format.

The stage: a fraction of the many trails in Santa Cruz. With the idea of an early start out the window, we settled for an early afternoon shred fest. The people, Ibis Cycles, Strawfoot and Brian Vernor. Check out 10 narrated photos below and don’t worry, I shot plenty of photos of that Hunter…