The blessing and curse of becoming friends with so many incredible bag makers over the last few years combined with my VIBES based desires for the aesthetics of my @omnium means that it’s been nearly impossible to conjure up the final piece of this chaotic puzzle…until this lucky @ride_finds construction sign appeared and I reached out to @southcitystitchworks to make the magic happen.
It’s tough to imagine a more perfectly crafted bag, both in the literal way that it fits the bike and my loadout within as well as my ethos of making treasure out of trash. The details are utterly delightful from how Zach utilized the little SLOW labels for the zipper keepers to the impossible to imitate drippy tags (goddamn I love graffiti) and the way it’s not quite a full frame bag leaving enough room for my favorite sticker. There’s been so many incremental changes to this bike over the last 50,000 miles, but after this it’s feeling close to the final form.
I’m getting a little misty eyed writing this thinking about where it’s been, where I’ve yet to go, and how much I smile every time I catch an accidental glimpse of it reflected in a window or the rare times I lock it up like DAMN this is a GOOD LOOKIN BIKE. Thank you @omnium for making my favorite bicycle. Thank you @ride_finds gods for sending me a literal sign. And thank you THANK YOU Zach at @southcitystitchworks for being sooo down for putting all this together.
She visit
As long as I keep posting up in a city that does Mexican food better than Canada, you’ll keep visiting me right @russetpeach??? ‘Twas a lovely break from my daily dead end grind to spend a week seeing if I still remembered how to make your coffee. We got in some noodley rambles, absurd ride finds, completed many quests, aaand I paid for food?! See you again 🔜 so we can make more jokes about family, argue about bug names, and🖕every cyber truck that we see.
Racing
You can get an immediate vibe check on how welcoming a bike event is going to be by paying attention to the types of people that show up to race. I’m disappointed in myself that it took more than 10 years of photographing bike races to end up at one where minorities becomes the majority and there isn’t a single middle-aged white guy in the lineup. Grassroots races like the weekly crit in LA by @allcitygrandprix hold some of the keys to what will support the future of bike racing heading in the right direction and I’m going to try my best to focus on more coverage of those types of events as I continue rambling around. Thanks y’all for putting together a welcoming space where anyone can roll up (let’s get some WTF people out there too though?) and have a good time. See y’all again soon!
Two Years On The Bike
Two years and one month ago (original post went up on December 20, 2024) I left Phoenix heading east with only the slightest clue of where I was headed. There was a definite weight of uncertainty in that first little bit rambling along the southern border around Florida and up the east coast stopping just long enough in cities along the way to get a taste of their various bike scenes. Feels impossible to know exactly when the switch was flipped in my head from a light “aw this is fun” to definitive “this is what I’m going to do with the rest of my life” but ain’t no way I’m going back.
There’s an infinite number of paths crossed, tips received, misfortunes overcome, detours to another to another detour, all nudging me in their own unique little ways towards where I am today. Thank you everyone for the last two years. Whether y’all know it or not, whether our bikes kissed or not, it all matters to me. I’ll never know which of the this and that lead to me rambling around LA with Traece for a hundred miles on a random Friday, but I’m grateful for every one of them.
Los Angeles Part 2
We both became SPORTS people thanks to our boys in blue hitting that tiny ball very far and good. It felt a very LA thing to have a production happening at the train station as we spent some moments together before Taryn got on the train back north. Finally #chillestrideever achievement unlocked. Freshened up my bottom bracket and cranks at @allezlabikeshop. Snapped one last pic of the fully loaded @omnium before it’s in city mode for the next few months. OH also saw a stolen AC1, snapped a pic and posted it, and three hours later it was scooped up and returned!
Josh Tree
Y’all ever been to Josh Tree? They got these weird bushes out there and it’s reaaaally gorgeous! Couple days of brutal hot climbs and then cruising downhills to a tour of the quirky that surrounds Salton Sea. Fuggin weird place out there y’all...but very much worth riding through but watch out for dogs. They’re especially chompy in Slab City. Accidentally took a picture of that comet everyone was talking about on maybe the last night we tented?
Los Angeles Part 1
Fast & Furious, also known as The Fast and the Furious, is a media franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with street racing, heists, spies, and family. It is the second movie series that Taryn and I vroomed our way through and obviously after riding to the Twilight house we had to come see the one where our favorite family lives. Getting back to biiig city riding took some adjusting but it was delightful to visit all our favorite bike shops, get some gooood like damn good tacos, and actually score at some bins. Got to see my best bro bearded cargo bike twin again while taking over the STREETS at cicLAvia. Y’all know you could have this every day right? Like just ride bikes instead of drive and you’d have this evvveryday!
Mid-CA
Second time going through Monterey as well and hot damn if the crew at Workhorse didn’t treat us to a fantastic camp out. Bacon wrapped filet mignon! World record 99.97 score best can stomp. Detour around Big Sur was honestly chill as heck. I’ll never be mad about some nice flat farm roads. After that though little bit of uhhh, heat exhaustion leading to an impromptu stay at a cuuute motel in Ohh Hi. One of the best circle K scores the morning after. Pitched our tent on the golf course at TCO after riding through beautifully terrible Malibu.
Little things I love, Silca ratchet multitool
While moving some cages around on the cargo last week I realized I haven’t spoken about one of the most essential parts of my kit, the incredible ratchet multi tool by Silca. It’s so damn good that one time I realized I had lost it on a ride (bitofa crash, fell out of my bag, gotta keep yr stuff secured ya kno) I ordered a replacement before I even got home. Compact and modular. Well made and fun to fidget with. Easily customizable by adding just the bits you may need for your particular build. It’ll fit into all those snug spots behind cables and bags nooo problem. There’s many moments on the tour during which this lil thing saved the day and I very much credit it with keeping me rolling.
Northern CA
North CA Report: BIG TREES ARE BIG like damn big. Muppet vest finally launched and we spent the evening with this cool slug Geoffrey. Eureka has some faaancy houses! Lots of good roads on the way into SF where we LOVED going up and down the hills, Ornot. New electronic kids to the family and new sticker design!
