Ever thought of naming your riding group after a thingy from chemistry? The Molecular Masses maybe? Well the Free Radicals got there first and have been doing mountain biking a bit differently since.
If you haven’t heard of The Free Radicals, they’re a couple of chaps who spent quite a while living in a van, riding glorious trails and taking film photos. They have just updated their website (lived in a van but have a website, ahh the 21st century) with a few collections containing these images.
To me these guys capture the essence of riding a bike. Yes we all like going fast and doing snazzy stunts, but if I had to choose between that and exploring new trails with friends, it would be no contest. I’m such a fan that I actually copied there idea, road tripping around Vancouver Island a year or so ago.
Our version of the trip involved a lot more rain, but all the other elements where there. Driving our hired 30ft RV up a logging road, fuelled on cement like porridge (that I had cooked) and sleeping in car parks, we had a whale of a time and even found some fantastic trails.
Ah those were the days. Lockdowns were things from films and high fiving was a normal activity.
-HG