Mission Crit 6 is just days away and we’re getting really hyped to head back up to San Francisco for it. The planets are going to align this year as the race falls on 420.(A sacred holiday in the bike community) It basically a be there or be there type of situation this year so start making those arrangements and we’ll see you there. Until then, enjoy this video of our ride before heading over to watch the start of Mission Crit 5.
What up fellow Riders! Spencer here, the newest contributor to Wheel Talk. I wanted to introduce myself, go over my love(s) for riding, and provide a scoop on what you can expect to see from me in what’s shaping up to be frickin’ awesome year for bike riding. So let’s get into it.
I’ve been riding bikes for well over 12 years now, with the past 9 years residing in San Francisco, California. I was fully convinced I’d be able to push my limits and grow as a rider after diving straight into a truly fast paced topographically-rich city. And… I was right.
My first bike love was (and remains in many ways) forged on the urban track bike. I specifically say ‘urban track’ because I am not a velodrome track racer or possess (much of any) traditional track hardware on my current fixed rig. I always found myself firmly split between doing tricks and charging down hills, slashing thru car traffic to be my own personal bread n’ butter.
If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right. Filmed on 05.20.2017 this is a video that almost slipped through the cracks. We just never got around to chopping it together. Until last night that is. There will be an even longer SF track bike video with more riders coming out in the next month. So keep your eyes peeled for that and until then enjoy this. Shout out to MASHSF for always giving us a place to hang and for constantly throwing gas on the fire.
420 is a special time of year in San Francisco. It’s celebrated as a national Holiday in The City. We celebrated in our own way by meeting up at the Island (as usual) and riding around until the 420 Alley Cat that they held the day before Mission Crit. Check out that video HERE. Chris “Thrasher” is outta control with those triangle stands downhill. Enough to make your palms sweat just watching the man. Andy sparks stays in the mix and Keo Kid is way too good with those back pedals. It was great having a bunch of people from outta town here for the big crit in The City. Mission Crit is going to be on 420 this year (2019) so mark your calendar and we’ll see you there.
The day after 420 I hopped on my bike and headed downtown to meet up with the gang who were all in town for Mission Crit 5. I took the usual route, but right before I dropped down the hill I strapped on the chest cam and hit record. That 13 minute clip turned into this 4:20 edit you see before you. This was perhaps the my first attempt at filming with this GoPro I picked up. Definitely learned a lot since and even more after chopping this together. Either way, press play and enjoy.
In light of the recent release “Bring Something Back”, we figured we’d make a post of some of the photos from that day. It’s not often that Devon, Jaoa and I are all together these days, so we thought we’d make the most of it while the planets were aligned. We met up in the Pan Handle and made our way through downtown and into Hunter’s Point. It’s always fun seeing what areas you can get into without causing anybody any grief. The City is growing pretty rapidly and a lot of those places are disappearing, but luckily for us there’s still plenty of places left to explore.
Last month I was in San Francisco riding bikes for a couple weeks. I brought with me the usual slough of camera gear as well as the GoPro / Gimbal setup. It’s really fun to ride around and film without worrying about what you’re framing up. It’s basically a point and shoot video camera. Similarly to the trial and errors of shooting film, I was bummed when I realized I didn’t format the card correctly and subsequently corrupted the rest of the footage we shot that day. Oh well, at least this one clip made it out unscaved so we could chop together this little jammer. Enjoy.
Last Saturday Ramon Antonio hosted the “Still Pourland” premiere here in San Francisco, and all the usual suspects came out of the woodwork for the event. Valentin Racho showed up as well as Jeff Dempler, Alex Blanco and many others. We met up at Soma West Skatepark and rode there for a few hours. Stacking clips, cracking cans, and hanging out until the video premiere at Chrome Industries in the Mission. I brought a pizza to the jam so you know it was a party. I’m sure Mon will make a video from this at some point, but here are some photos from the day until then. The scene needs more meetups like this.