SHOP ANNIVERSARY RACE 2015 May 27, 2015 Categories: Redhook Crit, STORE 0 Comment A few weeks back we hosted our 5th Shop race, and Dylan organized this one, and shot some details of racers coming and going. Check his site for more details from the day. Thank you all for coming out, racing, cheering, and celebrating with us!
31 photos #2 RHC BK 2015 May 1, 2015 Categories: Redhook Crit 0 Comment Last year I bought a roll of expired film in Columbia and a week later shot all of it in 36 hours, documenting the infamous wet and wild RHC BK 2014. This year my good friend Wilis of Deluxe Cycles gave me a T4 to “try out” upon my arrival to NY for RHC BK 2015, it came loaded with a roll of Portra 400. Here is RHC BK 2015 in 31 photos. Just like last year in, chronological order. RHC BK 2015 was so rad!! The new course was more technical, pushing riders to the limit as we squeezed through two new narrow chicanes. The Athlete area was also on point, arriving to your designated stall to find a case of water, bike rack and rollers was a nice touch. The racing was fast and loose from the start, we averaged something like 30 MPH during the race. I felt OK, ready but not all that hyped, very mellow. Then we started, and I felt the fire, I chased down almost every attack, put my face in the wind, yelled, screamed, pushed, I was FEELING IT, in a way I had not since Milan 2012. I my head I said “just push as hard as you can until you crack, fuck it” But I didn’t crack, even after a 4 lap flyer with Zach from Heavy Pedal (thanks for going with me dude!!) with 10 to go I felt great. Slotted back into the lead pack with 5 to go and recovered, this was gonna be my race!!! Then an Iride rider sitting 2nd wheel slide out in the last turn with 2 laps to go. I tried to wiggle out, but myself and 5 others smashed into the rail at 30 MPH. First off sorry to the people I hit, I heard tell of a black eye! Second, thank you to Crihs Thorman, all I head as I dug my way out of the pile up was him yelling “GET UP GET UP YOU CAN FINSIH THIS!!!” So I did, with bars askew I hopped back on my bike and finished the last 2 laps, never getting caught by the chase group. Crashing is bike racing, such is the life we lead. I think I could have been up there had I survived till the last lap. Surprise!! I made it up on the podium anyways! Top Antagonist award! A fancy new doorstop for the shop and some cash for the after party! Stoked! A huge thanks to Wilis – my dude Dylan- my teammate, there’s always London dude! Dave- the man with the plan Crihs/JT – my favorite scumbags Erica/Marc – radio road forever MASH – for the drive Everyone else, especially that person who caught me like a baby as I flew into the barriers!
Portraits from the road to Red Hook Apr 24, 2015 Categories: Redhook Crit 0 Comment A friend, and racer, Derek Yarra took time to circle the city as locals packed bikes to head to New York for this weekend’s RHC. Check his site for tons of new moments.
RED HOOK MILANO 2014 Oct 31, 2014 Categories: Cinelli, criterium, Redhook Crit 0 Comment With the 2014 Red Hook Criterium season behind us, we wanted to share some details from the Milano stop. As a shop and team, our goal has always been to help our friends race bikes and see how far they can take it. For 2015, three members out of our five-racer Crit team are signed with professional road teams. Walton, Kyle, and Evan will all race pro next year. We do not know what the future of MASH at Red Hook events will bring, but we are completely happy about seeing our friends go from riding on the street, to racing alleycats, to racing road, cyclocross, fixed crits, and ultimately taking it to the next level as professional athletes. SO STOKED FOR THESE GUYS! As we look back at the Milano photos, they mean a little more to me now. This group of friends would be riding together, on or off a team, so to put them on a plane and go to the other side of the planet for a few days is all the more special. Chas has inspired these guys on the street for years. Rainier was the first of the group to make it as a Category 1 road racer. This is the fuel that pushes each other to take risks and make progress toward personal goals. Enclosed are some details from the Red Hook Milano earlier this month and some behind the scenes notes from the trip. Rainier warming up before qualifiers. Traveling internationally for these events makes it impossible to have many of the amenities that help a racer prepare. We are thankful to San Marco for the use of their tent and Cinelli for a few sets of rollers. We always scrap something together, so thanks for this support.This was the first race that we could celebrate Kyle and Evan racing on the same team at a Red Hook event. The Cinelli family was excited about this bond as well. Evan and Kyle work with Tom Sachs. Get your wheel, or seat stolen once and you create a system that helps you in future situations. Serial numbering everything.PinningChas qualifying in the team CX skin suit. Was awesome to see this suit on the road.As a testament to these races getting faster each year, the course lap time was three seconds faster than the same course raced in 2013.Chas did not race in Barcelona, so was required to qualify with group 2. This ended up working in his favor, setting a strong start for the main men’s race.Garrett understands MASH completely and for this reason he helps the team feel pro on the bike. The 2015 Cinelli Parallax with the theme throughout the Castelli Skinsuit and Giro Synthe helmets. Feel fast=go fast.Dave leading the neutral lap.The crowd at this race was one of the largest so far. It made it difficult to get to vantage points for shooting, but that was made up by the excitement of the masses.
RHC BCN BY VOLATA Oct 28, 2014 Categories: Redhook Crit, Video 0 Comment Volata Magazine was out at the Red Hook Criterium Barcelona earlier this year, and posted a video from their POV. I see Kyle on the podium at the end of this edit.
TEAMWORK Oct 12, 2014 Categories: Redhook Crit 0 Comment 2014 marks our third year competing at the Red Hook Criterium as a team, and Chas’ fourth time to Milano for this event. Through these years, the event has grown leaps and bounds in every way. From the professionalism of it’s production, to the level of it’s competitors The race course this year was the same as 2013, but the lap times cut three seconds faster. With this format of racing growing in popularity in Europe, the the skill level of the racers has matured at the same pace. There is no question these races are fast and dangerous, there is just no other way to put it. In Barcelona there must have been 25 riders involved in crashes in the 45 minute main race. With that said, the Milano stop saw some terrible crashes in qualifying, but no major crashes in the men’s main event. Riders kept it safe, often single file in the corners, and passing in the straights. As a bike shop, we never tried to build a team. We liked our friends, and wanted to help them by providing some of the resources needed to race at a local, national, and sometimes international level. What came from that natural direction was a group of friends, that at the core, have respect, and trust in one another. Walton and Rainier met during an 850 mile stage ride that followed the Tour of California in 2009. Portland connects Walton, Chas, and Kyle, where they all knew one another on some level, then re-locating to San Francisco. Kyle’s brother Evan has traveled with us to Red Hook events, and he has always been part of our family. He has had an open invite to race with us for a long time, and the trip to Milano this year was a natural step to suit up, and smash some faces in on the bike. Garrett, not pictured here, embodies this friendship, and he bleeds artwork for the bikes, and raceware. His efforts are a visual solve for what MASH feels like. When I look at these photos (missing Walton, who is home with a broken clavicle) When i look at these photos, I am so so stoked. These are our friends, who turn out to be very competitive racers, with different strengths, with the same end goals. Show up, go fast, have fun. We like to keep things simple, and that is how we came to be friends.
RHC BCN 2014 VIDEO Oct 8, 2014 Categories: Redhook Crit 0 Comment As we are leaving for Milan tomorrow, Red Hook released a video edit for the Barcelona Stop. This should get a ton of racers pumped to the final stop for 2014, and will better inform new racers and cycling fans as to what makes these events unique.
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!
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