RHC MILANO 2015 Sep 15, 2014 Categories: Cinelli, criterium, Redhook Crit 0 Comment We will be heading to Milano for the last stop of the 2015 Red Hook Criterium Look for updates along the way!
2015 Sep 14, 2014 Categories: Cinelli 0 Comment We had a great time at Interbike, seeing friends, meeting shops and riders, racing bikes, and sharing our 2015 offering with Cinelli. The response has been overwhelming and we are excited. Look for more updates in the coming weeks!
2015 Cinelli MASH Histogram Sep 11, 2014 Categories: Cinelli 0 Comment While at Interbike, we introduced US riders to the 2015 Cinelli MASH Histogram Frameset. This year the histogram gained a tapered head tube, like our Parallax frame. This offers a stiffer, more stable front end of the bike. This year’s finish shows high-polished details under the gloss black finish. Inside the fork and rear stays are details from our first-ever Histogram frame, only four pieces were ever produced of that model. It has been a pleasure to celebrate that first artist series in a full-production run with Cinelli. Available in six sizes. We have a pre-order open now, with frames coming in October 2014. We look forward to getting these out on the street, and seeing how you use this machine.
2015 CINELLI MASH PARALLAX Sep 10, 2014 Categories: Cinelli, MASH Frames 0 Comment Being from the US, we love saving some new projects to premiere at Interbike each year. We’re pleased to introduce the new Metallic Black/Charcoal Parallax colorway for 2015. For model year 2015 we will offer both the original White/Charcoal and the new darker version shown in these photos. We invested a lot of time developing this bike and finishing these efforts with new colors and graphics is exciting for us. We hope they inspire you to get out and create your own adventure.
CINELLI MASH COLUMBUS FRAME SET Sep 10, 2014 Categories: Cinelli 0 Comment We are pleased to share a special project we have been working on with Chas Christiansen and the team at Columbus/Cinelli. Enclosed are some details of our first Columbus steel frame set. This unique platform is intended to solve for a broad range of needs with one bike. Chas travels heavily—racing alley cats, working as a messenger, racing cyclocross—so this bike was born from those diverse needs. The geo has a high bottom bracket and is aggressive in nature, but allows for weight to be carried on the front rack while feeling stable. The frame and fork have removable canti brake bosses, so the bike can be ridden as a clean fixed gear, or single speed cyclocross frame set including internal cable routing for the rear brake. Both the frame and fork will clear 35c tires for dirt, or a smooth street tire. We kept a raw look that preserves the weld heat markings by adding a clear coat to the steel. This treatment celebrates Columbus, whom we are proud to call family. Garrett Chow drew on the historical Cinelli and Columbus art archive to detail this frame set in a timeless manner. Look for more updates this week on this new frame set, as well as the Parallax and Histogram models.
2015 Cinelli MASH Histogram Pre-Order Sep 7, 2014 Categories: Cinelli, STORE 0 Comment Enclosed is a preview of our 2015 collaboration with Cinelli. The 2015 model gains a tapered head tube, Columbus fork and headset. Garrett Chow updated the artwork on the new model and we could not be more excited for this new release. The Histogram frame set will be available next month in the US and we are accepting pre-orders now. Stop by the Cinelli booth (#8101) at Interbike and see more 2015 models coming soon!
RED HOOK CRITERIUM BCN 2014 Sep 6, 2014 Categories: criterium, Redhook Crit 0 Comment Last weekend, Walton and I met up with Kyle in Barcelona for the second stop of the Red Hook Criterium. This is, by far, our favorite stop of the series, with weather being one of the factors rating the event trip. Kyle and Walton are living on opposite sides of the United States currently, so the opportunity to meet in Spain to train, beach, explore, eat, and see friends quickly filled up the calendar. 8-30-2014 Over the past few years traveling with the Red Hook Crit series, we have watched the event grow, on all fronts. On this day, entry was capped at 250 riders to qualify for the the main race. Qualification breaks the riders up into smaller groups, who have 20 minutes on course to set their personal fastest lap. All the riders have timing chips on their bikes which record the lap times as well as update the app with riders’ positions during the main race. The 85 fastest qualifying laps earn riders the corresponding slot on the start grid. Dave held a race following the last qualifier round to let a number of the fastest racers who didn’t qualify to compete in a “last chance race” which places the top ten finishers in the last ten slots on the main race’s start grid. More international awareness of the event brings more crashes. The level of competition has risen, peppered with first-timers, some national and pro level racers, who are finding themselves for the first time racing a brakeless track bike in a criterium-formatted event The Red Hook Crit is a spectator sport, both on, and off the pavement. Dave Trimble The RHC courses are all intentionally very technical to keep the races spread out, which makes them ultimately safer. It also makes choosing your gear very important since you have to factor in course speed, finishing speed and length, as well as course features like hairpins where you have to slow down and repeatedly sprint back up to speed every lap. Marc Marino had a top 20 result at RCH Barcelona after building up for US Track Nationals a couple weeks before. DSC wasn’t able to make it to Spain for RHC in person this year, but SheOne was on hand to hold it down. Andrea Schiliro always brings the PMA. Neil Bezdek is the road captain of Foundation Cycling, Kyle’s local road team in New York. This means he decides on the race plan and keeps the team organized and updated on tactics to execute throughout each race. Neil has gained the knowledge to do this through his years as a domestic pro. When he comes to the RHC, Kyle gets to use everything Neil has taught him against Neil. Stefan Vis TAOf our four-racer roster, only Kyle and Walton could make this stop in the series. They wanted to make the guys back home proud. Although both Walton and Kyle have spent time on the podium in this criterium series, it is worth noting both racers’ strengths are long-distance road races with climbing being part of the topography. The RHC is 45 minutes of flat, fast, crit laps. Their experience with track bikes on the street, as well as time spent on most types of bikes has helped them develop a well-rounded cycling base. All these tools and experiences come together, making the RHC special for this reason.Walton and Kyle made it to the event just 15 minutes before the group 1 qualifier. This delay caused a bit of a scramble and timing chips got crossed, so Walton’s second row qualifying time went to Kyle in the end. Walton carries a unique posture that is easy to spot in the field. Working together, they put in top 20 qualifying times out of the 250 entries.As the Red Hook grows, so does the results board. With several qualifiers, a running race, women’s crit, and a last chance race all before the main event.This race community was born from outsiders. This still shows through the expression of custom cycles and self expression.All racers feel lucky to go home with no injuries at these events. There is not enough luck for everyone. Dave, at the start of the Men’s final.Kyle, calm before the storm.There are two motorcycles at these events. One leads the first wheel or group and the second sweeps racers off the course who are about to be lapped by the lead group.The lead group forms quickly, often assembled of faces from past series podiums.No matter the growing budget for the series, there is always darkness to be found.Kyle, fighting back to the lead group, after going down with 10 laps to go.Walton stayed top 10 (the app showed Kyle’s name due to the timing chip error) On the last lap, sitting 4th wheel, he was swarmed in the second hairpin, pushing his line outside and getting involved with one of the mentioned racers. This is what the RHC feels like for many, with luck playing a massive role in your end result.What a fighter. Happy with his effort, it is time to celebrate.This moment, Kyle happy on the podium, says a great deal to me. No matter what outsiders may perceive MASH to be, we are a small bike shop and network of friends in San Francisco. With larger corporations getting into the fixed crit racing, and buying teams, this photo reminds me why we are here—friends having fun racing bikes together. It is really simple. It may end up being a chapter in the bigger story, but these times will never be forgotten. By now, he should know how to open Champagne. Or maybe saving it for the sweet, sweet end.After months of preparation, and the race day complete, Dave finally takes a shower. He must know at that moment, it always comes together. All efforts are worth it in the end. Congratulations to this stop’s racers/winners. Thank you for pushing what is possible on these bikes. Thank you to the city of Barcelona and its community that supports swarms of visitors traveling to race and cheer for one night in August, 2014. Thank you to all of the infrastructure that makes the Red Hook Criterium possible. Until Milano, have a fun ride.
2014 RHC BCN RACE REPORT: KYLE MURPHY Sep 6, 2014 Categories: Redhook Crit 0 Comment Walton and I were having way too much fun bothering the young and talented pro tour rider from Garmin, Lachlan Morton, before the start of the second Red Hook Crit in Barcelona to get anything right. We accidentally swapped our timing chips, we were late to the bike check in, and then ticked off Dave Trimble when we showed up to the start without getting our bikes checked. We topped it all off by riding too big of a gear for the qualifier. Eventually, we got everything sorted. But it was a good reminder that this event, which used to feel more like an underground alley cat than a professional calibre criterium, has grown and matured in many ways. It felt more serious then some of the national level criteriums I have raced in the states on my road bike. I think this is good—the hype of this race has finally been matched by the organization and there is a lot on the line in terms of blood, cash and glory. So, thanks to Walton setting a scorching fast qualifier with my timing chip, I had a good second-row starting position. But before you cry foul, I totally biffed my start, missing my pedal and smashing my nuts on my saddle. Great. I finally got my shit together and was probably 40th wheel of 95 for the first lap. I start moving up and I am feeling okay. Then I can see there is a rider off the front. I start freaking out a little, as I know Walton and I wanted to be the ones attacking. So I start taking risks to move up. I was still riding safe—leaving plenty of room between me and other riders as I had already maneuvered through multiple crashes at this point, but I was taking corners inside and fast. Eventually, I reached my limit around 10 to go and washed out on the second u-turn on the course. I got up, shoved the GoPro into my skin suit, and started to ride. At this point I had to make a decision. Do I chase, with the possibility that I may have damaged my bicycle or body in a way that could endanger me or other riders? Or do I say fuck it, rally hard, and chase like a maniac? After confirming that the rattling on my bike was just from the broken GoPro mount and not the result of a broken spoke or anything serious, I chased like a goddamn maniac. It was rad. There was blood making my bars warm and slippery and I could take the corners as fast as iI wanted because I was alone. It was the most fun part of the race for me. MASH is a small project, made up of a hardcore, tight-knit group of dedicated people. It wasn’t about letting down some abstract corporate sponsor if I dropped out of the race. It wasn’t about letting anyone down. It was about keeping the stoke high, rallying for my friends, and making this shit happen. Around 5 to go, I caught back on. At this point it was kind of bunching because no one wanted to commit to chasing the rider up front, making it a little tricky to move up. Finally, it strung out and I started moving up. In the last u-turn, the same one I crashed on, guys went ballistic, sprinting all out. I felt a little uncomfortable, for obvious reasons. I went in probably 12th wheel, and then boom, bang, bummer. Walton, who was around 4th wheel, gets pushed wide by some dangus who can’t corner on a track bike. Walton, the rider who biffed it, and another rider got shafted, and I was lucky enough to be on the inside, safe and pissed off. I came around one other rider who faded in the finishing sprint to end up 5th. It sucked to see Walton get crashed out. He had a fantastic qualifier, he hadn’t crashed earlier, and he was within the top 10 for the whole race. He did everything right and I did everything wrong. It just goes to show how dangerous and unpredictable this format of racing is. You have to be lucky and willing to take any opportunity that presents itself. Kyle Murphy
NEW BOTTLES Sep 5, 2014 Categories: STORE 0 Comment Some new Specialized bottles in the shop this week!