RESISTANCE RACING BAY AREA TRACKLOCROSS FINALS 2018

May 28, 2018

Categories: News

Somewhere in Rome Froome is spraying champagne with a dark shadow of doping hanging over the crowd, but not here. Not in Golden Gate Park. On Sunday May 27th Resistance Racing organized the final from their spring tracklocross series. Underground racing on brakeless track bikes in the dirt. makes total sense and that is why we are here. Jean and Nick just wanted to host some fun races with friends, and although still very small, they have helped a global community replicate the format, ending in an international main event coming up in Minnesota. The park is beginning to get loose and sandy, with some racers not swapping from their 23’s and street gears, making it all the more challenging. Men and women lined up together, and battled it out through the trees and overgrown single track, finished with a log podium and bbq. Enclosed are details from what has become one of our favorite races.Photos: Mike Martin

RED HOOK CRITERIUM BROOKLYN 2018

May 24, 2018

Categories: criterium, MASH Frames, Redhook Crit

0 Comment

Fixed gear racers and fans from around the world converge on Brooklyn each year for the Red Hook Criterium. This year felt different then years past. Rumors circled the race pits questioning if this was the last Red Hook Crit. With no future dates announced this well oiled machine’s future felt unclear. Maybe in the back of some racers minds they wanted a win because what if this was the last RHC? For the past 7 years we have enjoyed this series as MASH and hope the future is bright for this microscopic subculture. It is exciting racing, Fast, Brakeless, Large fields of skilled riders, but the unknowns can show their face in crashes, and podiums. These variables make for some very fast racing for the athletes and the fans. Enclosed are a series photographs recorded on April 28th 2018 at the RHC.

The weather was great for most of the day. This event used to be scheduled in March/April, but May has proven to be quite nice.

Photos: Mike Martin for MASH 2018

MASH AC-1 GAMMA

May 13, 2018

Categories: MASH, STORE

0 Comment

Evan has a few races under his belt racing our new frameset, and we had a chance to share his build while in New York for Red Hook 2018. This is our first aluminum/carbon design under our own name, and we are excited to share some details of what’s to come in 2018.

We launched our first design intent with the Bolt frameset in 2008. Ten years later, we are sharing an update to a geo we first showed in 2014 known as the Parallax. Our hearts are in the streets, so we wanted to continue that tradition with the new AC1, and we could not be more excited with the end result. The design process has been invigorating as we grow as a manufacture. This new design shows what is to come as MASH. With eight years working closely with Columbus, we had the opportunity to develop new tube specs to create a light modern frame that is stiffer then our past designs. The stainless steel plates on the rear dropout are detailed with millimeter markers.It is common for bike brands to use OEM forks, but we chose to open a new mold to create our own monocoque carbon fork. We wanted to create a full carbon fork with a 30mm rake and nothing existed. Working with Al Nelson, we developed and tested this new stiffer shape that weighs nearly half of what our carbon forks have in the past. In 2008 we developed the first drill-able carbon fork, and we have kept that tradition alive today. This is a small detail as purists do not want brake holes, while some parts of the world require running brakes on the street.Phil Wood X ENVE 20/24 race wheels built for Evan by John Bennet at MASH. Look for a fun collaboration with Phil later this summer.Design + Paintwork for this finish was developed by Al Nelson. We named this graphic Gamma. The greek word has a broad meaning, but we found inspiration in the process of darkening and lightening hues in photo/video processes. The inside fork and rear stays illustrate stepped gradations of the same tone. This effect is reminiscent of creating test strips in the darkroom. Nerdy we know, but that is who we are.Framesets will include a low rise headset, compression plug and seat collar. This is the first time we have used the smooth welding process. It was too expensive in the past, so we are happy to be able to finish clean welds without using any filler. Both the fork and now the rear brake bridge are drill-able so a rider may choose to run a single or full brake option.

We made 150 pieces for this first delivery. Fifty will be offered in Japan through Blue Lug, and a few shops will share the remaining 100 pieces. Look for pre-orders opening in July, and shipping in August 2018.

More details including geo and sizing soon!

MISSION CRIT 2018 BY EVAN MURPHY

May 11, 2018

Categories: criterium

0 Comment

Three weeks ago I was personally transported to my own version of a past place and time that I no longer felt existed. You see, my personal trajectory through the sport of cycling has been thoroughly defined by fixed gear crits. The first criterium I ever actually competed in was in Providence Rhode Island, took place after an alleycat, footdown competition and longest skid event, and was about 8 laps around a bike shop on track bikes. I have been vocal about my disappointment that Red Hook Crits have become too fast for friends and family to even qualify for, and too dangerous for me to consider racing once my road cycling career took over.

You can maybe empathize then, how I felt personally transported back to past years when buddies were showing up after beers the night before to smash a crit on track bikes. It had been a while since I had literally seen some of the faces I saw racing Mission Crit. It’s maybe not well known that my own brother, Kyle, won the first edition of Mission Crit. I’m pretty sure he rode over after finishing some school work and I recall him mentioning it being pitch black, scary, and fun as shit. Mission Crit V reminded me of the years just after the explosion of the RHC scene, with people unloading their messenger bags on the ground and swapping street gears for racing. There were high school kids with bikes covered in stickers of their favorite brands, people getting sunburned while screaming for their friends before their own races and an atmosphere of party and hangout that I haven’t felt in while, (it could just be me of course!) However, I will say that the pressure to do well in a bike race can be offset by the presence of familiar faces goofing off while sitting on the curb. It also helped my nostalgia that I was racing better than I had in years as well, and knew a few people ringing the course.

One of the most beautiful parts of Mission Crit is the course. Set up on open streets, the serpentine loop is dotted with some serious potholes, and utilizes natural features of the streets to create one of the more technical courses out there. Replete with simple yellow tape strung between trees, the course also had fully barricaded technical sections adorned with the glitzy sponsor boards that have come to define a PRO race. When James Grady himself wasn’t on the mic, a comedic duo of (hopefully? maybe?) day-drinker/race announcers alternately teased competitors or simply said ‘hi’ to friends over the loudspeaker. The course is incredibly stop-and-go, and to those who thought the chicane was “so awesome!” I can definitively say you are a better bike rider than me because I was white-knuckling through that section and barely keeping my shorts on.

When was the last time you walked through a literal cloud of marijuana smoke? On your way to staging? The mixture of substances represented the mixture of people who also defined the Mission Crit experience for me. The diversity of people who showed up to watch or simply hang out after work was inspiring and certainly surprising compared to most of my recent big-race experiences. The biggest and loudest crowds of dred-locked punks still made room for kids to run by or well-dressed couples pushing their Uppababy into Gus’s for some oat milk. Of course the candid drug use and relaxed police signal the worse issues San Francisco has going for it right now, but I couldn’t help feeling proud that the gut of the track-bikes-on-the-street scene is still a little bit dirty and scary.I feel so lucky that the San Francisco bicycle scene has adopted me into its family. The epicenter of a unconventional bike trend that became an international racing sensation has brought track bikes back to their home streets and the event and community surrounding Mission Crit deserves all the success and joy it has, and will continue to have. I felt so proud to chase down riders wearing my MASH kit and though I missed a podium I hope SF knows I gave it all I had.