Good Times in SoCal with the Los Angeles Crew!
As I'm sure you noticed, Nick and I headed out Southern California a few weeks back to celebrate the launch of the new Mr. Pink with our good friends at Golden Saddle Cyclery and the Radavist. We spent a few days going on group rides, eating pizza, and living the good life in the California sun and 50-70 degree temps. Journey along and we'll show you what we got up to. As you'll see, we packed in a tremendous amount of activity into a very short period of time.
Day 1: The Sunset Party to Launch a Thousand Road Bikes
We woke up way too early for my tastes (the ungodly hour of 7am) to meet up with a bunch of Golden Saddle Cyclery regulars to take a brief tour of Elysian park before starting the work day. We had a solid crew of about fifteen show up to hit the short-cuts and bandit trails.
This is Dermy, who's pretty much become the shop's little brother of the moment. He's young and hungry to prove and improve himself as a rider, all agree that the dude's got great potential if he sticks with it, so befitting his lil' bro status he is often chided into trying lines that perhaps maybe he doesn't really want to. Lest you think he's just being thrown down whatever trail for our own amusement, both John and I cleared this prior to suggesting he attempt it. John on an mtb, and myself on a cross bike. You can see in the photo above that all looked good upon entry, but then went terribly awry. I post this now because the above photo got a ton of love on Instagram and befitting the time honored bike shop tradition of razzing the young kids, I needed to now post the crash shot so that he doesn't get too big for his britches. He also did the road ride up the two the next day on his brakeless track bike, which I thought was a real class move.
Coffee shot of our forthcoming collaboration cap with Team Dream
It's Official!
After the morning ride we kicked back for a few hours, put down some breakfast burritos from the always on point Tacos Delta and started prepping for the party that evening.
Folks were set to start arriving around 3pm for a nice lesiurely climb up to the black-top (aka the Helipad) in Grifith Park for some sunset beers. Unfortunately there was a fillm crew hogging the spot with a whole bunch of security (imbibing alcohoholic beverages in the park is frowned upon by the local constabulary) so we walked up a dirt path (riding off-road in Grifith is also frowned upon) to a nice little lookout.
Heading up to join the crew for Sunset
Photo of the Mr. Pink in Grifith park by the Radavist
Of course we had snacks
Kyle B. Kelley proprietor of Golden Saddle Cyclery
Two handsome men wearing two of our forthcoming caps
Sunset behind the Observatory
Day 2: Heading up Highway 2
Los Angeles in the background
As you have heard, the plan for our second day was a nice little road ride up Highway 2. Everything was going according to plan as we headed up Chevy Chase and then climbed up towards Clear Creek, but as we neared the crest of the mountain the wind started picking up fierce. We had a group of about 30 and not knowing everyone's capabilities decided that the best option was to head back down the way we came rather than press forward and deal with 50mph gusts. The ride ended back at the Team Dream Cub House just in time for their swap meet to begin. If you're wondering why there are no photos of the group, well, this Mid-Western boy was just trying to hold onto the wheel in front of him, we don't have "mountains" back home in Minnesota.
The Rest of the Time
Having completed the toils of the product launch, it was time for a little recreation in the desert around Joshua Tree. We loaded up John's Land Cruiser and headed out to the desert for a little time out of the city. Here are a few favorites from those days. It was my first time at Joshua Tree so it was a must to hit all the classic notes: some Gram Parsons songs, a huge campfire, and of course a mind expanding sunset hike.
Photo by Radavist
As always California treated us just right!
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