Night goggles activated. I’ve been shooting a ton of black-and-white film lately and keep a Contax T2 strapped to my messenger bag. Here are some of the film photos to accompany their digital counterparts from the post below. I’m looking forward to seeing the footage that Jake Ricker and Mike Martin from MASH SF captured on the moto while we ripped around SF after dark. Stay tuned for more, and until then, enjoy these behind-the-scenes snapshots.
After the recent SMC competition in Southern California, a bunch of the dudes traveling from different corners of the globe came to San Francisco for a few days. I was lucky enough to meet them near sunset to ride, film, and hang out. I knew the sun was going down, so at the last second, I decided to throw a flash and stand in my camera bag. I’m glad I did, because we wouldn’t have been able to get any of these photos without it.
I met up with everyone in San Francisco’s Mission District, where they were already filming with MASH SF. We rode this bank in an old theatre parking lot, then made our way towards downtown. We didn’t get far before Mike and Jake needed to run back to MASH to clear SD cards, so we killed some time at Soma West Skatepark and captured some of my favorite photos from the night. Youri is incredible. He’s easily one of the best FGFS riders out there right now. You can see him flying overhead and clicking table tops in some of the photos above. What impresses me most is that he does all of it without straps. If you’ve ever ridden FGFS, you know how difficult it can be to ride these bikes without foot retention.
Afterwards, we linked back up with MASH and ripped around downtown/Chinatown before making our way to our last spot of the night. SF’s Federal banks. Max caught a bunch of clips on the steep portion of the bank, and I coordinated with him to capture this wall ride photo, which is more difficult than it looks. Both because the bank is steep/abrupt and because it was Max’s opposite side. When all was said and done, Mike shot this group photo of all of us posing for a family photo. I’m looking forward to the next time some of these dudes come to town, and need to remind myself to bring the flash out more often. Be good, have fun, and we’ll see you next time.
CLICK HERE to see more photos from this night.
Wheel Talk’s very own Jake Lanich gives us an update on his MASH AC-3 Frameset (Black Scopes) fixed gear build. It had been 4 years since I last filmed a bike check with Jake and surprisingly enough, he’s still riding a lot of the same parts. There are interview moments peppered throughout this video which are my personal favorite parts of the edit. I added a full parts rundown as well as the gear I used to film this video below.
San Francisco’s legendary Mission Crit popped off over the weekend with 6 days packed full of track bike racing & mayhem. The event tee’d off on Wednesday at Hellyer Velodrome, then moved back up to The City on Thursday with an alleycat + registration. Things then heated up on Friday night with a short circuit race held at an indoor go-kart track. This event brought to life the term “rubbing is racing” as riders were sent over the knee high barricades more than a handful of times (Video evidence HERE).
All of which brought us to Saturday’s main event, the Mission Criterium. Riders from around the globe came to partake in what has become the largest fixed gear race on the planet. With that being said, I’d like to take a moment and give huge shoutout to James Grady, the countless volunteers and everyone who helped to bring the fixed gear community together for this incredibly memorable moment. Things wouldn’t be the same without all of your continuous efforts. (More info on Mission Crit + the Fixed Gear Triple Crown can be found HERE)
After all was said and done there wasn’t a single person without a smile on their face. The course was cleared and the streets that were shutdown for the race were graciously given back to the city until we could do it all over again next year. If racers weren’t tired yet they could look forward to the Tracklocross race on Sunday followed by the “Giro di San Francisco” on Monday. If you raced all 6 days or even showed up to all 6 events, then go ahead and give yourself a massive pat on the back. It’s probably a good time to take it easy as we hopefully exit out of this mind numbing heat wave here in California. š„µ š
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Brotha Lanich. Live and direct in San Francisco. This welcome to the team video is long overdue, but itās better late than never. Shout out to Jake for being the amazing human being he is and for putting the scene on to the āSUUUUPER SLIDERRRRā. Anyways, press play, have fun and weāll see you out there.
Steel is real. Matt “SLUMWORM” Reyes for MASH SF. I’ve been riding the MASH Steel frame for a couple years now and it’s my every day, all in one, dream machine. I’ve traveled the world with this bike, logged thousands of miles on it, and have used it in every way imaginable. It’s by and far the most versatile bike I’ve ever ridden and continues to put a smile on my face every time I get on that saddle.
I miss San Francisco. We move where the wind takes us and word on the street is there’s a strong wind blowing North. Anyways, I was doing some spring cleaning and stumbled across this batch of photos that were never shared on here, so I figured I’d take the time to put this post together. I hope everyone is doing well out there and I’ll see/talk to you soon.
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Narrated by Jake (Brotha) Lanich in front of MASH SF. Jake runs through 3 different yet similar MASH AC1 builds in just over 2 minutes. He breaks them down all at once without putting them down or even breaking a sweat. I’m not sure if that’s a testimony to Jake’s strength or the lightweight nature of these frame sets. MASH has a new batch of frames coming this fall. I’m looking forward to seeing the AC2. Stay tuned.
