Winter has finally arrived in the Bay Area. Mt. Hamilton, benign and warm on New Year’s Day, has been socked with snow and shrouded by cloud most of the week. Down in the valley, the commuting miles have been cold, damp and miserable, despite an additional layer or two of clothing.

Today I tested a pair [...]

4,000 Road Miles and Counting on my Favorite Specialized Cycling Shoes
I’ll admit I liked the look of the Specialized Trail 120 shoes the minute I first saw them. True to their brand name, they’ve really turned out to be something special.

The rare 3/4 height offers great ankle support throughout the entire pedal stroke and [...]

Yes we suffer on our bikes, occasionally experiencing a Sapim worth of what cycling’s hardmen, the half-frozen damned, go through grinding out mile after mile in the horrific trials of races like Paris Roubaix. What many outside of cycling don’t see, and what I didn’t appreciate until I became truly velodramatic was the gentler side [...]

I’ve often asserted that a brand has truly arrived when its customers create their own tributes. Shaving a logo into your hair or bolder still, tattooing it on your body, is a definite sign you believe in the message. Since the Rapha script is too complex for my stylist and I don’t watch Miami ink [...]

After six months of carbon bliss on the Cervelo I had to venture elsewhere on the periodic table for a suitable stablemate. Oh, the Soloist isn’t going anywhere – EVER – but I’m excited at the prospect of a titanium Eulogy from U.K.-based Enigma joining it.

Right now it’s early in the custom frame process but [...]

I planned to write about my experience with the Competitive Cyclist (CC) demo program sooner or later. The latest news out of Little Rock, where CC is based, prompted me to get to it today. It comes as no surprise to this satisfied customer that they’ve announced plans to expand the demo offering with more [...]

Up with the sun. What better way to begin the new year and this new journal than with a climb up Mt. Hamilton – a perennial celebration of form and commitment for cyclists in the South Bay. I’d planned to take on the mountain with my good friend Brendan and his Soulcraft, but an [...]