MASH riding the Tour of California

Our good friends at MASH SF are going big and riding the TOC on their fixies. Yep you heard me right the TOC on a fixed gear. It should be quite and adventure based on the pure terrain alone and now given the current weather conditions it should be a crazy. Their plan is to start three to four hours before the actual race starts and finish either ahead or just behind the TOC riders. As many of you know we are tight with the MASH crew and are thus super psyched for them. For more on their adventure check out their blog here MASH Blog.

One of our Wrench Science riders Blake Vonknopka is joining Garrett, Andy, Rainier and the rest of the crew for the journey. At 40 years old Blake is the most psyched bike rider i know followed closely by Garrett and Freddie. We are super psyched for these guys and wish them the best of luck. I will be watching them closely and I hope everyone else out there supports them along the way. Venga, Venga, Venga!!!

Garrett and MASH ride with Lance

As some of you know Garrett and I have been tight like brothers since college. It all started 18 years ago with our obsession for rock climbing but the bond went much deeper than touching rock. Garrett has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to trends and this comes from being a world-class designer that is in tune with street cultures from around the globe. He has traveled extensively doing design work for some of the worlds largest companies. We have been very lucky here at Wrench Science because he is the reason we look as good as we do graphically. So it came as no surprise that his obsession with fixed gear bikes in 2005 has now captured the cycling industry by storm. Garrett started riding track bikes in Europe when he lived in Holland and would send pictures of his bike in crazy spaces like the one below.




















Another classic from Garrett's stable.


Anyway a couple years ago Garrett decided to move back to SF much to my delight and instantly got hooked up with the MASH SF crew. Two long time skateboarders Mike Martin and Gabe Morford were filming footage for a movie on fixed gear riding that would eventually become MASH the movie. Garrett would bring over short video footage of them riding their fixed gear bikes through SF in traffic like skilled mountain bikers descending a technical trail except without brakes and in ever changing traffic conditions. This footage blew me away! This is coming from someone that has been in the cycling industry for 20 years and I don’t want to sound callus but there isn’t much that surprises me any longer. Needless to say MASH the movie was a huge success, which took the crew traveling to Asia and most recently to Austin Texas to ride with none other than Lance Armstrong himself. Check out the videos on their website for some great riding footage (Austin and Garrett) and if you are psyched buy the DVD you will not be disappointed.

http://mashsf.com/videos.php


Here are the YouTube posts.








Here is good article on MASH.

Cheers, TM