Neil and Xan MTB Road Trip: Part 1 - California to Colorado

I left for a two week trip to Colorado in mid-May to pick up our youngest monkey, Xan, from college and do some epic riding along the way. The plan was for me to drive to Colorado Springs solo, meet up with Xan at Colorado College and ride the Front Range area for a few days, then road trip to through the mountain bike meccas of Colorado and Utah. I took my Oxide Cycles Battleaxe, and Xan would be riding his Ventana Zeus, both Rohloff SPEEDHUB equipped.

On the first day of the trip, I left Berkeley in the morning heading east in Interstate 80. My first stop was in Sacramento to provide some follow-up service for a customer. Afterwords, I continued on to the Boreal ski area exit to ride Hole in the Ground, a fun trail that flows through evergreen forest and over classic Sierra Nevada granite. Unfortunately, spring conditions meant snow was still present in places, and I ended up spending about an hour alternating between walking and riding through intermittent snow patches as I attempted to reach the trailhead. By the time I was at the trailhead, there was far too much snow to make riding worthwhile, so I bailed on the ride and hit the road, getting to Elko, NV for the night.

Customer Interviews: Adventure Racer Shane Hagerman

From time to time our customers tell us about impressive rides they’ve done, but few live up to Shane Hagerman’s tales. Shane is a member of Team Odyssey Adventure racing, a race team that competes in multi-day endurance races throughout the world. The four members of Team Odyssey work together to cover hundreds of miles over the course of a few days, sleeping just a few hours a time to give them an advantage over other teams. 

The backcountry routes that the courses follow are often rough and obstacle strewn, meaning their bikes must be as durable yet as light as possible. A few Team Odyssey members ride Rohloff SPEEDHUBs for this reason, including a teammate of Shane’s that we recently built this lightweight titanium Vassago Optimus Ti for. 

Read on to learn more about Shane, adventure racing, and why the SPEEDHUB is his drivetrain of choice.

Mount Diablo Bikepacking Trip

Mount Diablo is known among Bay Area cyclists for being a long, punishing, and oftentimes intensely hot climb. While the team here at Cycle Monkey knew the reputation the mountain had, we experienced the pain it can dish out firsthand on our recent weekend bikepacking trip on the fireroads and singletrack that wind up the mountain. While we got our fair share of the flowing singletrack, sweeping views, and triumphant peaks that we had come for, our ride was also marked by steep climbs, brutal heat, and bushwhacking through overgrown trails. Regardless, the mountain delivered a fun and adventurous weekend that lit a fire under us to go on an extended offroad tour.

Sea Otter Trail Ride Video

Neil and Phil headed down to Sea Otter Classic earlier this month to have a look at some of the most exciting new product releases in the bike industry. Sea Otter, held in Monterey, California, is one of the largest bike festivals in the world, offering races, product demos, and amazing trails. We showed off Neil's Oxide Battleaxe and Surly Krampus to customers at the festival, and afterwards went for a trail ride at the neighboring Fort Ord National Monument. Neil rode his suspension-equipped Surly Krampus and Phil rode his rigid Krampus.

Neil and Phil Head to Monterey for Sea Otter Classic and a Trail Ride

Last Friday, Neil and Phil were joined by Cycle Monkey friend Charlie for a day in Monterey at Sea Otter Classic, one of the bicycle industry's largest festivals. Sea Otter is the event at which most companies debut their most anticipated new products, so our trip to Laguna Seca raceway, where the festival is held, gave us a chance to do some important product research. After a long day at the festival seeing old friends and checking out new products, we got a chance to get an evening ride in at the neighboring Fort Ord National Monument.

Northwest Trails Trip Video

On their drive north to the Seattle Bicycle Expo, Neil and Phil stopped along the way to ride a few of the Pacific Northwest's most renowned trails. Although the weather wasn't always cooperative, they rode their newly built Rohloff-equipped Surly Krampuses in Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and Redding, California. Watch our video above from some of the best singletrack in the country.

Cycle Monkey Attends the North American Handmade Bicycle Show

Katie, Neil, and Aaron at our booth

A week after the Seattle Bike Expo, some of the Cycle Monkey team headed east to Charlotte, North Carolina for the ever-impressive North American Handmade Bicycle Show, also known as NAHBS. The show is a chance for small and mid-size framebuilders to showcase their artistry and craft to consumers and fellow bike builders. The show is full of the most exciting customized bikes you’ll ever see, where no cost is spared in producing beautiful and functional works of art. Cycle Monkey has been exhibiting at the show for the last five years, and this year we were excited to have a larger booth space to showcase some of our most popular builds from the Monkey Lab.