Elevation and plenty of inclines made for a particularly surly combination on Stage 1.
The churning in my stomach is roughly equivalent to the wake of a paddleboat steaming down the Mississippi.
10-percent grades normally don’t exactly feel great, but on the slopes of the second KOM climb featured in the opening stage this year’s USA Pro Challenge, I’m ready to pull over and part with my morning’s crowning achievement—a big ol’ plate of downright delctable huevos rancheros. Continue reading
Photography by Wil Matthews
Christian Vande Velde, last year’s winner, heads towards the Stage One sign-in in downtown Aspen in his campaign to retake the top step.
Portland Design Works was formed in 2008, by a few individuals who scraped together everything to form a bicycle accessories company that would focus on the details—efficiency, aesthetics, durability, and, of course, fun. Taking into account existing designs in addition to their knowledge gleaned from their Portland, Oregon, testing grounds, their products are exactly what you would expect from a team of dedicated riders.
The Full Metal Fenders are PDW’s stylish, yet functional at keeping foul elements at bay, and PDW Co-Founder, Dan Powell, explained that with the FMF, they really tried to create a fender that would work in situations where most other fenders run into clearance or fitment issues.
After seeing production use under the likes of Boo Bicycles, Calfee Design and a handful of other custom builders for years now, bamboo has more than established itself as a viable bike-building material. Affordable, however, has never been a descriptor of the finished products.
Fully-custom, built-and-sized to order, bamboo has traditionally been a strictly high-dollar affair.
With Aluboo, however, a company formed at the behest of Boo Bicycle pioneers Nick Frey and James Wolf as well as Drew Haugen, the trio looks to completely uproot the the traditional bamboo status quo. Continue reading
By Taj Mihelich | Photography by Sandy Carson
My head was full of second guesses as I watched the luggage handlers toss my bike box onto the conveyer. Had I packed the right stuff? Was my bike set up properly? Could I actually ride more than 800 miles with absolutely no training?
I had to laugh at how far over my head I was about to be. I’d spent my entire life on bicycles, but they had been an entirely different kind of bike: BMX had been my living for nearly 20 years. It wasn’t racing, but rather the body-busting, jumping-off-ramps-and-stairs kind of BMX. A spine surgery two years ago had forced my early retirement.
Without BMX, I had fallen to simply riding for transportation, but I feared my occasional mile-long ride to the grocery store had done little to prepare me for what my friends had planned. Continue reading
“No carbon fibre or shiny lycra here boys. These dudes are tough…”
By: Kevin Rouse
To anyone who’s owned, or even aspired to own a custom-tailored road bike, the experience is definitely special. The Custom Road Bike by Guy Andrews does a noble job of embodying this feeling, and serves as a great resource for anyone interested in curating their custom dream bike.
Andrews serves as the editor of Roleur, and has been writing about cycling for 15 years, so it comes as little surprise that The Custom Road Bike is imbued with the same elegant feel one gets from the journal. Capable writing and first-rate photography deliver a look into a realm of cycling that is becoming increasingly rarefied in today’s ever-more commercialized and marketing-driven bike industry. Andrews deftly guides the reader through the artful craft of constructing a custom bicycle, explaining the finer points of geometry, materials, and component choice, and clearly delivers upon the benefits of taking the artisan approach to bike selection. Continue reading
Words || Gary J Boulanger
American cyclocross racer Katie Compton has repeatedly defied the odds of European tradition by winning ginormous UCI Elite World Cup races on European soil. In fact, she’s the only American to win the cyclocross World Cup series, a feat accomplished for the second time earlier this year prior to the world championships in Louisville. Continue reading
Photography by Wil Matthews
All-American strongman, Ted King, drives the break in a day that would see Tom Danielson climb into the final yellow Jersey of the Tour of Utah.
