red bulletin july 2016 - us
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BEYOND THE ORDINARY
U.S. EDITION
Runner’s RevoltA TRACK AND
FIELD STAR TAKES ON THE
OLYMPICS
BATTLE ANYBODYThe world’s oldest sport has a brash new face
BIKE BETTER Our summer cycling gear lineup
DON’T STOP ME
NOWT he jet-set life
a n d times of golf ’s R ick ie Fow ler
S U B S C R I B E
NOWD E TA I L SINSIDE
$ 4 . 5 0 J U LY 2 0 1 6
WE MADE XR EXTREMELY FORGIVING. BOEING MADE IT BLAZINGLY FAST.
Kevin Kisner, Callaway Staff Professional
We worked with Boeing to re-engineer the size, shape and exact placement of the Speed Step. This resulted in a high head speed, low
drag design that saves weight and increases ball speed across the face.
Forgiveness is faster ball speeds across the face. So we started with a lighter and larger head. We stretched the shape, lowered the CG and then added a thinner,
lighter and stronger R•MOTO face. XR is fast at every impact location.
2016 Callaway Golf Company. Callaway, the Chevron Device, R•MOTO and XR are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Callaway Golf Company. Kevin Kisner plays the Great Big Bertha Driver in competition. *Claim based on comparison of
2016 XR Driver vs. 2015 XR Driver. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
TOMASZ FURMANEKPhoto by: Tomasz Furmanek
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NORTH SHOREAn insider’s look at the region outside of Vancouver where freeride mountain biking was born.
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THE FIGHTERS Corporate sponsors pay handsomely for the privilege of partnering with the world’s most recognized amateur athletics competition. But where does that leave the athlete? For as long as he’s been America’s top 800m runner, Nick Symmonds (p. 36) has been an advocate of better financial compensation for amateurs, and a thorn in the side of USA Track & Field and its sponsorship guidelines. We traveled to Seattle to profile the rebel athlete and savvy businessman as a court case looms. Also on tap in this Olympics issue is the tattooed gentleman to your right: part-time model and full-time face of fencing. If there’s anyone who can revamp the image of the elite pursuit, it’s Miles Chamley-Watson, shot in action by Thomas Prior (p. 68).
“I am trying to put a new face
on the sport.”FENCER MILES CHAMLEY-
WATSON, PAGE 68
THE WORLD OF RED BULL
06 THE RED BULLETIN
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RICKIE FOWLERGolfer and playboy-in- training, the former motocross rider is one to watch in these Olympics.
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AT A GLANCE
GALLERY
12 GOOD SHOTS! Photos of the month
BULLEVARD
21 INSPIRATIONS Ones to watch
FEATURES
28 Rickie FowlerGolf’s most colorful and fun-to-watch player is ready for his close-up
36 Nick SymmondsThe 800-meter runner thinks it’s vital to bite the hand that feeds you
42 Rio RivalsNot-to-be-missed Olympic matchups
54 Sacred GroundThe mountain-biking trails in British Columbia are unlike any you’ve seen
62 Heroes of the monthActor Charlie Cox, mountain climber Mike O’Shea, Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne, inventor Brent Bushnell
68 Miles Chamley-WatsonThe champion fencer is here to change the world’s oldest sport
ACTION!
75 SEE IT. GET IT. DO IT. The best travel, gadgets, entertainment and more. Plus, how to be a competitive eater
93 BIKING GUIDE The gear you need98 FLASHBACK Man overboard
LOCKING HORNSThe fierce rivalries between nations and individuals are what make the Olympics so gripping. Our Rio 2016 preview.
SLIPPERY WHEN WETCrossing a frozen Siberian lake by WWII- era bike and sidecar on the Ice Run is a racer’s dream. Until you try to brake.
REBEL ON THE RUN Track and field star Nick Symmonds is fighting the sport’s governing bodies for better rights for underfunded athletes.
CRUEL TO BE KINDBritish actor Charlie Cox reveals the challenges of playing a super-fit—and blind—superhero on Daredevil.
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JULY 2016
THE RED BULLETIN 07
STERLING LORENCEThe Vancouver-based photographer shoots action sports in British Columbia for brands like National Geographic and Outside magazine. His story on mountain biking the city’s North Shore begins on page 54.
WHO’S ONBOARD
IN FOCUSBEHIND THE LENS
PETE DANKOAmerican track and field fans argue over whether Nick Symmonds is the sport’s biggest huckster or its bravest freedom fighter. But Pete Danko found him an engaging and savvy entrepreneur. See page 36.
Avoiding planes and helicopters presented so much of a challenge on Giardino’s shoot with Rickie Fowler, he was happy his subject presented none. “He liked the idea of not doing the typical golf shoot,” says the photographer. More on page 28.
“He was easy to shoot and had charisma.”PATRIK GIARDINO
CONTRIBUTORS INSIDE THIS ISSUEJULY 2016
Private jet provided by Fowler’s sponsor, Wheels Up.
Shooting a man wielding a sword was a first-time experience for Brooklyn-based photographer Thomas Prior, but his subject, Olympic fencer Miles Chamley-Watson, a part-time model at Paris and London Fashion Week, was up for anything. “He’s very tall and athletic,” Prior says. “I would frame up a shot and he would lunge out of frame with his long legs and arms. He didn’t seem to mind repeating things over and over, which gave me the pictures I needed.” The results are on page 68.
Miles Chamley-Watson at the Fencers Club in NYC.
A model fencer tough to contain
THE RED BULLETIN AROUND THE WORLDThe Red Bulletin is available in 10 countries. This cover, featuring soccer player Ricardo Rodriguez, is from this month’s Swiss edition.
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08 THE RED BULLETIN
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10 THE RED BULLETIN
FREE YOUR SKIN®
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The new Schick Hydro® is designed like no other razor to knock outirritation. Its protective gel reservoir delivers 40% less friction thana lube strip. So leave your face undefeated with Schick Hydro.
A S H O W D O W N F O R S K I N S U P R E M A C Y
GALLERY
HOT PROPERTY
SOCHI, RUSSIAPHOTOGRAPHY: PETER FOX
In his last grand prix for Scuderia Toro Rosso, Max Verstappen’s tires weren’t the only things
that got heated, and after the race he found himself promoted to the Red Bull Racing team.
Seems it was a wise move: Two weeks later in Spain, the 18-year-old became the youngest-
ever Formula One race victor and the first Dutchman in history to win a grand prix.
Max on tour: instagram.com/maxverstappen1
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JUMP STARTKAMLOOPS, CANADAPHOTOGRAPHY: MARK MACKAYThis is English dirt-biker Joe Aldridge on a trip to Kamloops Bike Ranch, British Columbia’s top bike park. Thanks to the XXL landing airbags, tricks can be practiced without testing the qualities of the Canadian health system. And in case it takes a few more hours than expected to get that next-level backflip combo down pat, at night the dirt track is lit up like a stadium.Bike news: redbull.com/bike
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HIGH TIMESMOAB, UTAHPHOTOGRAPHY: KRYSTLE WRIGHTSteph Davis is a climbing icon. The American was the first woman to climb all seven main peaks of the Fitz Roy range in Patagonia; she was also the second female ever to freeclimb the summit of Yosemite’s El Capitan in one day. Here, Davis makes use of the mild spring weather for a session on her home turf of Moab. In summer it’s not quite so comfortable, as temperatures in the state of Utah can reach 110°F, and the red rocks store the heat perfectly.Davis’s climbing blog: instagram.com/highsteph
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SKATE EXPECTATIONS BEERSHEBA, ISRAELPHOTOGRAPHY: DAVY VAN LAEREWhen local hero Boaz Aquino invited four international pro skateboarders to Israel to show them his home country’s best spots, they were a little apprehensive. However, they discovered a fascinating country and friendly people. One of the places they visited as part of the Red Bull Shekel Me Not tour was the desert town Beersheba, where street specialist Felipe Gustavo from Brazil (pictured) worked off all the hummus and falafel he’d consumed.Video blog: redbull.com/skateboarding
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THE BEST FESTIVALS LIVE. STARTING JUNE 2ND.
THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR SUMMER
BULLEVARDTHE HOME OF PEOPLE WHO INSPIRE, ENTERTAIN, EDUCATE, INNOVATE
Being down to earth isn’t always a quality that makes a man stand out. But when it comes to Ethan Hawke, it’s impossible to ignore: Child actor, friend to the late River Phoenix, star of film classic Dead Poets Society at 18, numerous awards, a marriage to Uma Thurman—not exactly the kind of life experience that keeps one grounded. Yet the father of four is refreshingly ego-free. “So often you meet people who are successful and they seem miserable,” the 45-year-old Texan once said. “I’ve always tried to chase the attitude and stance of an amateur.” It’s why he’s dabbled with music and written books. But, as evidenced by this fall’s star-studded Magnificent Seven, he’s still a master of the acting game.
R EAL D EALETHAN HAWKE HASN’T LET FAME CHANGE HIM. AND REMAINING AN AMATEUR HAS MADE HIM MAGNIFICENT.
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1 9 9 6After his dream career fizzles out, Johnson tries out the family business as a secondary path to success. Coached by his dad and renamed “Flex Kavana,” he wins a second-tier tag-team title in June. Five months later he’s mixing it up with the big boys in the WWF with a new moniker— Rocky Maivia, nicknamed “the Blue Chipper.”
2 0 1 1Following a tough time in Hollywood—including a Worst Actor nomination at the 2006 Razzies for Doom —The Rock’s well-received turn in Fast Five helps make it a global hit. The key to success when entering a new area of life, he said, is to “be quiet and open your ears. Let everybody else talk.”
1 9 7 2Dwayne Douglas Johnson —son and grandson of pro wrestlers Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia—is born in Hayward, California, on May 2. Grandpa Peter, who fought Sean Connery in Bond movie You Only Live Twice, inspires Dwayne to live right. “To this day,” The Rock said last year, “he’s the most beloved and respected man I’ve ever known.”
BULLEVARD
H O W I G O T H E R E
WRESTLER, ACTOR, RAPPER, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR AND—ACCORDING TO HIS CATCHPHRASE
—A WIZARD IN THE KITCHEN, DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO FAIL.
BUT HE WAS NEVER AFRAID TO EITHER.
2 0 0 2The Rock is paid a reported $5.5 million to star in The Scorpion King—a record fee for a debut leading role. The pressure is huge, but he wins over the doubters. Showbiz bible Variety says, “He’s already leagues ahead of many prior athlete-actors in terms of screen charisma and hinted intelligence.”
1 9 9 5Johnson’s senior year playing football at the University of Miami is cut short by a back injury. After graduation he switches to the Canadian Football League, playing for the Calgary Stampeders, but lasts just two months, leaving with only a handful of dollars in his pocket. He would later name his production company Seven Bucks as a reminder of his rise from nothing.
2 0 1 6 Now everyone can smell what The Rock is cooking. His recipe for success? “I was smart enough to know I certainly didn’t have all the answers. I [had to be] willing to take risks, and be willing to fail.” A crowd-pleasing Wrestlemania appearance in April is followed by Central Intelligence, a buddy action comedy with Kevin Hart, in theaters June 17.
2 0 1 3Robert Downey Who-nior? Forbes magazine crowns Johnson the year’s top-grossing actor after his movies, including GI Joe: Retaliation and Fast & Furious 6, take in $1.3 billion at the global box office. He also wins his first WWE championship in 11 years.
1 9 9 8The Rock, as Johnson now insists on being known, wins his first world wrestling championship, at the Survivor Series. His signature move is the People’s Elbow, though it becomes clear that the ability to work hard, which he learned as a kid, is The Rock’s greatest asset. “You gotta get up in the morning, you gotta get after it, you gotta put in the work, you gotta sweat,” he said.
2 0 0 0Wrestling sees a rise in popularity, but its leading
man doesn’t limit himself to the ring. The Rock grows his brand via music (a guest rap for Wyclef Jean), TV and movies, appearing as an alien fighter in Star Trek: Voyager and filming The Mummy Returns. He also earns that time-honored seal of approval: a hosting gig on Saturday Night Live.
22 THE RED BULLETIN
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It’s the ride that matt ers. When the sun meets the horizon and there’s nothing in front of you except the open trail. That’s the only way to live.
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ST R E N GT H I N N U M B E RS
SA M O L D H A M
BULLEVARD
F I T N E S S T R AC K E R
THE HOTTEST THINGS IN
HEALTH
THE TIME IN THE MORNING OLDHAM GETS UP
“I’ve got into the habit of setting my alarm to this exact time,” he says.
“Sleep is a massive part of my training. I have to have nine hours’
sleep to feel really good, as recovery is essential after time in the gym. I have a pint of milk before I go to
bed, too. The protein helps my muscles recover overnight.”
VITAL STATISTICS
Discipline: GymnasticsAge: 23 Height: 5'6" Weight: 143 lbs
Achievements: Olympic team bronze medal,
Commonwealth team gold medal, European Championships silver medal
THE NUMBER OF MINUTES PER DAY OLDHAM SPENDS IN A HANDSTAND POSITION“You have to be tight from your toes all the way through your quads, lower back, midsection, shoulders, triceps, forearms and hands in order to balance,” he says, “so it’s a great full-body workout. I need to know during practice that I can hold each position for a lot longer than is needed in competition.”
THE DISTANCE IN METERS OLDHAM COVERS EVERY WEEK IN THE POOL “I do 20 lengths of front crawl at top speed, with a 30-second pause between each one,” says Oldham. “It helps with my breathing control, so that I don’t tighten up and breathe faster toward the end of a routine. If soccer or running are your thing, this will help you, too.”
THE BRITISH GYMNAST AND 2016 OLYMPIC HOPEFUL KEEPS HIMSELF COMPETITION-READY IN NUMEROUS WAYS. HERE ARE HIS TOP TOTALS.
THE NUMBER OF BEETROOT JUICE SHOTS
OLDHAM DRINKS BEFORE A BIG TRAINING SESSION
“I have 70 ml of the stuff,” he says. “I hate the taste, but it’s
really effective. It contains nitrates, which increase
oxygen flow in the blood and give you an endurance boost. It’s a necessary evil ahead of
any big workout.”
THE WORKOUTLUDOSPORT
INTERNATIONAL LIGHT SABER COMBAT ACADEMY
Learn to fight with the Force at one of the growing number of
light saber academies worldwide. There are seven combat styles to choose from, and
10 rules to obey, with this muscle-building
cardio workout. ludosport.net
THE FUELBOWL FOOD
Yep, healthy food in a bowl is big news.
A one-dish wonder—from Power Bowl to
Banzai Bowl and even dessert soup—is now the only acceptable post-workout meal.
foodfornet.com/ 31-recipes-trend-food-power-bowl
THE APPCALM
This anti-stress app plays nature sounds to soothe your mind, and the desktop site, calm.com, offers nine calming scenes. Try it
before sending that angry email. Available
for iOS and Android
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S U R E TH I N GLIZZY CAPLAN THE 33-YEAR-OLD HAS NEVER PLAYED IT SAFE, PROVING THAT SINGLE-MINDEDNESS PAYS.
California girl Lizzy Caplan was just 13 when she decided she wanted to become an actress. It’s a decision she hasn’t questioned in the two decades since, despite forgoing college and—even after her breakthrough in hit movie Mean Girls in 2004—spending long periods out of work. Caplan’s persistence has proved worthwhile, though: Among her rewards have been an Emmy nomination for her performance in TV drama series Masters of Sex and film roles such as Lula in this month’s Now You See Me 2, which have elevated her to A-list status.
“ T HER E A R E SOME OF US W HO A R E JUST BOR N
W IT H A MOR E A DV EN T UROUS SPIR IT T H A N OT HERS.”
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S AY W H AT ?WANT TO ADD A LITTLE RISK TO YOUR DAILY ROUTINE? THESE VETERANS OF ADVENTURE HAVE SOME WISE WORDS TO GET YOU STARTED.
FOLLOW, LIKE AND RETWEET
YOUR WAY TO A STRONGER
MONTH
EXPAND YOUR NETWORK
H A N N I B A LB U R E S S
twitter.com/hannibalburess
He’s funny, he’s topical (thanks to the hit
comedy Broad City and a recent Judd Apatow-
produced doc about him making it in the world of stand-up) and, well, his
name is Hannibal. Enough reasons to click “follow” and bring this
comedian (and plenty of laughs) into your life.
S L I N K A C H Uinstagram.com/
slinkachu_officialA tough day at the
office will always be improved with a
new perspective, and this London-based
artist’s tiny creations certainly offer that. In
his painstakingly constructed miniature world, tiny kitesurfers ride along shop walls
while a mini Spider-Man tries to save the city.
R A FA E L N A D A L facebook.com/NadalHe may not be number
one in the world rankings, but on social
media the Spaniard rules all, with almost
15 million likes on Facebook alone. For
the start of this year’s Wimbledon,
incidentally the most popular grand-slam
event on social media, add some tennis to
your feed.
BULLEVARD
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a ride!’ ”
HUNTER S. THOMPSON4
“If you don’t take risks,
you’ll have a wasted soul.” DREW BARRYMORE6
“Many will call me an adventurer, and that I am . . . only one of a different sort: one who risks his skin to prove his truths.”CHE GUEVARA8
“For me the adventure begins when things start to go wrong. I’m not one of these meticulous people who loves the preparation and the planning. A lot of the great adventurers are. But I like having to work things out as I go, improvising, being caught out.”BEAR GRYLLS5
“You can’t call it an adventure unless it’s tinged with danger.
The greatest danger in life, though, is not taking the
adventure at all. To have the objective of a life of ease is
death. I think we’ve all got to go after our own Everest.”
BRIAN BLESSED2
“Say yes, and you’ll figure
it out afterwards.”
TINA FEY3
“Once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected for the rest of my life.”MICHAEL PALIN7
“If you go around being afraid, you’re never going to enjoy life. You have only one chance, so you’ve got to have fun.”LINDSEY VONN1
1 Lindsey Vonn: Self.com 2 Brian Blessed: Metro.co.uk 3 Tina Fey: Oprah.com 4 Hunter S. Thompson The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman 5 Bear Grylls: Bigissue.com 6 Drew Barrymore: My Date with Drew documentary 7 Michael Palin: Palinstravels.co.uk 8 Che Guevara: Last Letter to His Parents (1965)
26 THE RED BULLETIN
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CRUISING
GOLF RETURNS TO THE OLYMPICS, JUST AS RICKIE FOWLER HITS HIS STRIDE. TALKING PRIVATE JETS, MOTOCROSS AND THE LURE OF A GOLD MEDAL WITH THE SPORT’S MOST COLORFUL PERSONALITY.
WORDS: KEVIN COOK PHOTOGRAPHY: PATRIK GIARDINO
ALTITUDE
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he fifth-ranked golfer in the world is also, according to his fans, the best dressed, best looking, most colorful and most fun to watch. One of the smallest PGA Tour stars by height and weight but one of the biggest by social media presence, Rickie Yutaka Fowler has six pro-tour victories, a slew of near misses in the game’s major championships, 1.1 million Twitter followers (including Rory McIlroy and Usain Bolt) and $25 million in career earnings. And he’s just 27 years old.
Fowler grew up riding dirt bikes in Murietta, California. Self-taught as a golfer, he thumped country-club phenoms at Murietta Valley High School and Oklahoma State University, then turned pro in 2009. He reached the world’s top
“I GREW UP HITTING BALLS ON A PUBLIC DRIVING RANGE, WEARING SHORTS AND A T-SHIRT.”
10 in the sport in 2014. Since then his youth, bright orange Sunday outfits, quick smile and balls-out style have made him a favorite among younger fans who wouldn’t watch golf if not for him.
Sunday-afternoon pressure? “Bring it on,” he says. Bunkers to the left? Water hazard to the right? Another golfer might poke a 2-iron down the middle; Fowler’s more likely to use a driver and take his chances.
Risk is part of that equation, as is failure. Last year alone he won three tournaments, but this year has brought new challenges.
the red bulletin: You make pro golf look like fun. rickie fowler: It’s not an act. I’ve got
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30 THE RED BULLETIN
a different background from almost any golfer out there. You don’t see many guys coming from action sports into golf, but coming out of Supercross, the stadium life, I like to push the limits. I like noise. That’s why I love the tournament in Phoenix—that’s a loud golf tournament. Coming down the stretch with this huge rowdy crowd yelling their heads off—to me, that’s a good time.Golf’s a lot safer than bike racing. True. When I was 15 I went riding with some guys in the desert. We set up a makeshift track and took off. They came over the back side of a jump and I didn’t see them till we were all in the air. At that point I ditch my bike so it won’t hit them, but I’m still moving pretty good when we crash, and it’s like hitting a wall. Broke my foot in three places and my knee blew up like a balloon.Is that why you switched to golf?No, but it sped up the decision.
Compared to that, golf’s a walk in the park. In golf you get repetition stress. In 2012 and ’13 I got stress fractures in my backbone thanks to my golf swing. I had to tone down the violent change of direction at the top of my swing. There’s little stuff, too. A paper cut on your fingertip can throw you off all day. Pro golfers swing so hard, we get splits in the skin on our hands, like open sores. I’ve used Super Glue on those. You glue your hand up and play. Is it weird to succeed in a country-club sport? I grew up hitting balls on a public driving range, wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Murietta’s more of a dirt-bike town. Casual. So it’s not like I had to attend any full-on country-club balls. Later on there were functions where I put on a jacket and tie. Fine. It’s not my favorite attire, but you get through it. Maybe I’ll go from
“IT SUCKS TO LOSE, BUT I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG. I DIDN’T FAIL. THE OUTCOME WASN’T WHAT I WANTED IT TO BE.”
Fowler got his first endorsement deal in 2009
with Puma. As his star rises, premium lifestyle
brands like private-jet company Wheels Up have
got on board.
THE RED BULLETIN 31
“I DEFINITELY WANT MY GOLF GAME TO SPEAK MORE THAN WHATEVER IT IS I MIGHT BE WEARING.“
there to In-N-Out Burger for a double-double with cheese, finish the evening with some Rice Krispies Treats.Your heritage is as different as your driving-range background. Yeah, my grandpa’s Japanese. His name’s Yutaka Tanaka—I’ve got it tattooed on my arm. And my grandmother’s Navajo. I was raised with both cultures, with a sort of common-sense approach that has to do with being positive. Treating people the way you want to be treated. Don’t talk bad about people or wish bad things on them. Try to live happy. That can be tough when you’re playing professional golf, where most guys don’t win even once a year, but I’m working on it. And when people talk about immigration,
I feel pretty Navajo. “Yeah, I was here first! Except for us Native Americans, everybody’s an immigrant.”In early February at Phoenix, you were leading by two shots with two holes to play. Your whole family was there, your dad and grandpa walking down the fairway with you. Then you hit two balls in a pond. What did you learn? It sucks to lose. But you know what? I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t fail. I hit the ball like I wanted to, but the outcome wasn’t what I wanted. The outcome was in the water. Fine—it wasn’t my turn to win. But I can make it fuel for the next time I’m in contention and shoot for a better result. Do you think it was nerves?
Any golfer who says he doesn’t get nervous is lying. But I don’t get scared. I did a study for Red Bull a few years ago, me and some amateur players. They hooked us up to monitors, and the amateurs’ pulse went up before they hit a shot. They were nervous. My heart rate stayed constant and then spiked after I hit the ball. That adrenaline rush when the ball’s in the air and you’re waiting to see how it lands, that’s a cool feeling.How much does focus play into it? You don’t want to focus for four and a half hours. That’s virtually impossible. You’ve got to shut it off and turn it back on; relax and enjoy the walk between shots, then click back in. You don’t wander mentally, but you don’t want to grind yourself down with constant intense focus. That drains you and it’s not healthy. I’m like a lot of top players: I need weeks off. You can’t play three to four weeks in a row. Physically you can play every day no problem; I’ll play 36 a day if it’s for fun. But competitive rounds? No, your head, your emotions can’t take it. Once you get out on tour you find your limitations. It’s a learning process. You’ll rarely see me play more than three weeks in a row. My weeks off I might still play 36 a day. I’m always working on something but
“HOW COOL WOULD IT BE TO WIN A GOLD MEDAL? I’VE BEEN CLOSE IN THE MAJORS, BUT WINNING ONE IS THE NEXT STEP.”
Changes Fowler made to his swing with a new coach in late 2013 have started paying dividends in the past year and transitioned him from most colorful man in golf to serious contender.
not with the same intensity. Talk about what’s on tap this year.It’s a huge year for golf! We’ve got the majors, the Olympics and the Ryder Cup. I’ve been on two Ryder Cup teams, so I’ve played for my country. That’s a different sort of golf. And the Olympics—there hasn’t been golf in the Olympics for 100 years. How cool would it be to win a gold medal and hear the national anthem? I’ve been close in the majors. Winning one, that’s the next step for me. It’s a real, true, attainable goal, and hopefully I won’t stop at one. You’re one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour despite being one of the smallest at 5’9” and 150.Yeah, but I’ve got these. [He makes a muscle.] They’re little ones, popguns. I’ve always been long for my size. It’s all about efficiency—timing—making all the parts of your swing work together at impact. You’ve toned down the outfits. Is that a conscious decision or is it you growing up and getting older?It’s a little bit of growing up. I don’t want to go too crazy out there. I definitely want my golf game to speak more than whatever it is I might be wearing. I feel like we’ve still got a bit of fun with the clothing, like the tribute to Payne Stewart, wearing the knickers at the U.S. Open last year. I try to keep it fun in a way, but I don’t want people to know what I’m going to be wearing. I don’t want them to expect a certain thing. I want to keep them guessing a bit.Is there a balance between your brand and yourself as a pro golfer?I’ve got to be able to separate personal life from professional life and the brand side of things, but I don’t ever want it to be completely different. I want to be genuine in any of the settings. I don’t want to be a different person off the golf course. There has to be that separation between brand and professional, and then the personal life, but it all has to tie together. I definitely want to be just who I am..Noah Davis contributed to this story.
33
Fowler was a talent on the motocross bike before the owner of his local driving range helped hone his promising skill set into PGA Tour material.
MAY 2008 Wins the Ben Hogan Award as the top collegiate golfer while at Oklahoma State University
FALL 2009 Turns pro and signs with Puma Golf; debuts on PGA Tour; starts wearing head-to-toe orange on the final day of tournaments as a tribute to his college team
FALL 2010 Becomes first PGA Tour rookie ever picked to the U.S. Ryder Cup team; voted PGA Rookie of the Year
MAY 2012 Defeats Rory McIlroy at Wells Fargo Championship for his first PGA win
AUGUST 2014 Becomes first player since Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus to finish in the top five in all major tournaments
MAY 2015 Voted most overrated golfer in a poll; answers by winning the high-stakes Players Championship with a come-from-behind streak on the last six holes
JULY 2015 Comes from behind at Scottish Open for his first European Tour win; aces a hole-in-one in first round of Quicken Loans National
SEPTEMBER 2015 Wins Deutsche Bank Championship over Henrik Stenson from one shot back
JANUARY 2016 Wins Abu Dhabi Championship on European Tour
MAY 2016 Ranks in top five for Olympic qualification, as of press time
FROM PRODIGY TO CONTENDER
THE RED BULLETIN 35
Words: Pete Danko Photography: Matt D’Annunzio
Champion of underfunded Olympians or loudmouthed punk? N I C K S Y M M O N D S is one of America’s brightest running talents and a thorn in the side of his sport’s governing bodies. He’s also a man of deep conviction who believes that not only is it good to bite the hand that feeds you—it’s vital.
A REBEL ATHLETE
36
Symmonds grew up in a family that liked
to debate. He’s carried that tendency
into his pro career.
orty seconds and less than a lap from another championship, Nick Symmonds was way off the pace—as in dead last.
The fans at his adopted-hometown track in Eugene, Oregon, hadn’t given up hope, however. Symmonds had a habit of charging from behind to win, and they knew the leader, Duane Solomon, had gone out ridiculously fast and was likely to crumble. And just like that, out of the first turn on the second and final lap, Symmonds had surged into fifth place. He did so not using long, beautiful strides like Kenyan demigod David Rudisha, but by cranking up the turnover of his comparatively stubby legs. His style is often likened to a bulldog, but his strength and composure are something to behold. While 800-meter races appear to end with a sprint to the finish, the winner is actually the guy who dies the least, and Symmonds calmly feasts on that truth.
“Three hundred meters to go, it was then a matter of just picking people off,” Symmonds would say later. “If I can be on the leader’s shoulder with 100 meters to go, I like my chances.”
It took until 70 or 80 meters to go to get there, but get there he did. Competitors fell away—Solomon literally came to a halt—and Symmonds kept his form and powered to the line, a U.S. title winner by a couple of meters. After overcoming a year of injury and doubt, and this fierce fight to the finish, Symmonds would be competing at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing in August.
It was a race he never ran.
An important thing to know about Nick Symmonds: He’s a “D3 guy” and will always see himself that way. Division III is the lowest rung in college sports, where there are no athletic scholarships and the term student-athlete isn’t used with a wink. So Symmonds came out of little Willamette University, in Oregon, intent on proving he belonged, and that attitude has paid off. His win at Eugene last year earned him a sixth U.S. title, to go along with the silver he took at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
He’s done it with personality, too, engaging tens of thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram with posts showing him pulling fish out of Pacific Northwest rivers, sampling the region’s legendary craft beers and generally enjoying the hell out of life.
But if Nick Symmonds sounds like a dream come true for the folks who run USA Track & Field, it hasn’t quite worked out that way. As frequently as he’s earned headlines for winning races, Symmonds has been in the news for his saber-rattling for athlete rights. More than a medal in Rio, his biggest achievement might be to push track and field out of its lingering, gauzy days of amateur virtue and into thriving 21st-century professionalism.
“The fights that I’m fighting as a runner, they help all athletes,” says Symmonds. “When people say I’m fighting for my own interest, I say ‘Hell, yes.’ But every victory I can win is a victory for our sport.”
Sometimes it’s necessary to bite the hand that feeds you. And in terms of exposure, there’s no time like the present.
As the world’s best athletes gather in Rio for the Summer Olympic Games, the media is on high alert to celebrate heroes, and plenty will be found at the track stadium. Outside of the Games, however, most of those athletes recede from view, and many face financial hardship.
They make almost all their income from sponsorships, shoe companies. Prize money is scant—an Olympic medal comes with no direct cash at all. And there’s been little innovation in organizing seasons or meets to make the sport more compelling in the age of televised riches. So you end up with a megastar like Usain Bolt pulling in $20 million in a year, world and national leaders earning generally between $100,000 and $500,000 (keep in mind, the NBA minimum salary is
$525,093), and more than half of the top 10 nationally ranked U.S. track and field athletes making less than $15,000 from their sport.
It’s a world in which sponsors hold sway, and one that Symmonds understands well. He sees it as an athlete and he sees it as the entrepreneur he became early in his career, when he was desperate to put his whirring brain to work between training sessions.
“After I’d read all the books I’d wanted to read and seen all the movies, those three or four hours in the middle of the afternoon were no longer pleasurable,” he says. “Some athletes love those empty hours. To me, they were torture.”
So he dove into business with his friend and mentor, Sam Lapray, opening several tanning salons. After a few years they sold the salons to start up Run Gum, a caffeinated gum aimed at athletes. Now Run Gum is at the heart of Symmonds’ latest conflict with his sport’s governing bodies, coming just months after the extraordinary events that unfolded in the wake of his win at Eugene.
One hundred and thirty U.S. athletes had qualified to compete in Beijing, and in short order one hundred and twenty-nine signed a document that committed them to wear Nike-
branded team gear at “official team functions.” Symmonds, who in 2014 left Nike after seven years for a three-year deal with Brooks Running Company, balked.
In what the New York Times called “an extreme form of marketing brinkmanship,” he demanded that USA Track & Field clarify the meaning of “team functions” so he could know what to wear, when. It wasn’t an anti-Nike move, Symmonds insists: “I just have a huge sense of responsibility to make sure Brooks gets a return on their investment.”
Phone calls and emails and no small amount of sniping in the media ensued, but in the end, neither side would back down. Shockingly, America’s best 800-meter runner was left off the Beijing team.
Disaster? Not entirely. For weeks, Symmonds was the one track and field athlete in the headlines, the one runner with a hot Twitter hashtag (#letnickrun), the only American standing up to the
38 THE RED BULLETIN
“ T H E F I G H T S T H AT I ’ M F I G H T I N G H E L P
A L L AT H L E T E S . E V E RY V I C TO RY
I W I N I S A V I C TO RY F O R M Y S P O R T. ”
Born in Idaho but thriving in the Pacific Northwest, Symmonds has made Seattle his base.
tyranny of the governing bodies. He was bigger than ever.
Officialdom chafes at his incessant poking and lecturing, critiquing and objecting, which this year morphed into litigation, a lawsuit by Run Gum against the U.S. Olympic Committee and USATF for alleged antitrust violations in limiting the brands athletes can display at the Olympic Trials—cutting out Run Gum, among others. And while many athletes cheer Symmonds on, support among his peers isn’t unanimous.
His pal and former teammate Will Leer, flirting with sacrilege in invoking the immortal Pre, says Symmonds has “done more for American running than probably anyone since Steve Prefontaine.” Yet, he adds, “There are some people who see Nick as a loudmouthed punk.” Dwight Phillips, chair of the USATF Athletes Advisory Committee, says he “can sometimes come off as self-serving.”
Symmonds makes no apologies. Others might be comfortable waiting for USATF, the USOC or the International Olympic Committee “to toss them scraps,” as he put it, but not Symmonds. His loyalties are to his fans, sponsors and his own brand. But he also sees his efforts as a proxy for every athlete. A rising Nick Symmonds LLC tide lifts all boats.
So when he’s got a beef with the governing elite, he’ll find the cameras and microphones, or the folks with notepads, or take to Twitter and air his grievances.
“You have to remember this about Nick: He has a moral conviction to do what is right,” says Lapray. “When he’s wrong, he’ll acknowledge it, but you need to be ready for an argument. He’s not just going to accept someone saying, ‘This is the way it is.’ ”
It’s been that way his whole life. In a 2014 autobiography, Symmonds tells of struggling to understand the “three-in-one idea” of the Holy Trinity as taught at Catholic school in Boise, Idaho. “At home, whenever I was confused about something my parents encouraged me to ask questions,” he writes. That didn’t go over so well with the clergy, but his mom backed him up, telling off the priest who’d threatened to stop giving Nick communion.
All grown up, he continues to cut his own path. He rejects the dietary asceticism of most runners, believing that not only will a beer or two not kill him, it keeps him sane. He could afford to, but
The New York Times called Symmonds’ standoff with USATF an “extreme form of marketing brinkmanship.”
40 THE RED BULLETIN
he’s not interested in filling big houses with stuff. He lives in a small apartment in Seattle and drives a 2007 Nissan Frontier, though not much in the city, where he mostly gets around on a Cannondale SuperSix.
If he’s driving, it’s to go fishing, a passion since boyhood. When he left Nike and the Oregon Track Club, people speculated how he’d do with a new coach and team; Symmonds wondered about the fishing up in Seattle. The verdict: awesome. He’s out the door at 6 in the morning, on the Olympic Peninsula by 7 and has a line in the water by 7:30. Seattle has also rekindled the Eagle Scout’s passion for mountain climbing. He wants to marry and have kids, after he conquers the Seven Summits—the highest peaks on each of the continents.
There’s a driven quality to Symmonds that can look like the usual quest for money or attention, or both, but below the surface is a burning desire to be in charge of his life and shape his future—and to help give his fellow track and field athletes that same power.
“We’d all like to be billionaires one day, right?” he says. “But the reasons I want the billions are probably a lot different than another person’s. I want it for what it allows me to do. To change the world, to make it the world I want to live in and that I want my kids to live in. In the world of track and field, that’s really what money does.”
Last September, USATF said it would begin distributing roughly $10,000 apiece to national team members. Symmonds initially called that a step in the right direction, even if the sum represents a small portion of the $20 million a year Nike agreed to pay as Team USA outfitter. But now he’s “very worried about what strings will be attached.” Anyway, it’s peanuts compared to what ought to come to athletes from the Olympic governing bodies, “the biggest thieves of all,” he says.
To Symmonds, the solution is simple.“You need to create a for-profit
professional organization that can manage the professional side of track and field,” he says. “It’s what tennis did. It’s what golf did. It’s what every professional sport has, an entity to manage the professional side of the business.”
To make that happen would require track and field athletes organizing in a way they never have. They need a Marvin
Miller, the union man who brought baseball out of the dark ages, but Symmonds said that’s not him.
“I’ll speak my mind and I won’t sign things that I think are bullshit, and I’ll raise hell through my corporations, but I’m not a union organizer,” he says. “I wish I was, but I’m not that guy.”
Where he sees himself, instead, is on the management side, working with the athletes to build a product-focused professional track structure that can become a money-making machine like the other big-time sports:
“I want to be the guy that says I love women’s hammer, and we need you at the Olympics, but I don’t know that you’re going to be a part of the for-profit entity that track and field needs to become. Hell, the men’s 800 meters might not even fit the criteria. I understand that. You have the 100, you have the mile, pole vault—you’ve got a couple of events that pay the bills, and if you’re going to make a really great, thrilling meeting, some of the things are going to get left behind.”
But even as he envisions a different future for track, Symmonds is far from done on the track. He’s intent on wringing as much as he can out of his running career—in Rio, at the Olympics.
Symmonds has his U.S. titles and his World Championship silvers, but he knows that for most people, you aren’t a runner worth paying attention to until you’ve won an Olympic medal. In 2012 at London, Symmonds ran a personal record 1:42.95, becoming the third-fastest American ever at the distance, but it was only good for fifth, as the Kenyan Rudisha pulled the field through the greatest 800-meter race ever and set an astonishing world record of 1:40.91.
Symmonds aches for another shot and as summer neared was zeroing in on his training—balanced with just the right amount of grenade throwing.
“I can’t train without speaking my mind and saying USATF and USOC didn’t get me here,” he says. “Brooks got me here. [Coach] Danny Mackey got me here. Soleus Running got me here. Run Gum got me here. And when I stand on that podium in Rio, I’m going to make sure the world knows who got me there.”He’s got something to say @NickSymmonds
“ I ’ L L S P E A K M Y M I N D A N D I W O N ’ T S I G N T H I N G S T H AT I T H I N K A R E B U L L S H I T. ”
THE RED BULLETIN 41
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MICHAEL PHELPS VS SUN YANG. RICO FREIMUTH VS ASHTON EATON. SERENA WILLIAMS VS EVERYONE. THE DUELS THAT SET THE OLYMPICS ON FIRE.WORDS: MUHAMED BEGANOVIĆ AND FLORIAN WÖRGÖTTER
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USA VSCHN
There’s always a touch of risk in the air when the USA faces off against China at the Olympics. It’s about power and dominance, influence and money, and no one can really tell where elite sport stops and international relations begin. For the first time since the disintegration of the United States’ eternal rival, the Soviet Union, in the early ’90s, the nation finally has another serious opponent in the battle for top spot in the medals table.
China is now reaping the rewards of years of development work in top-level sports. Athlete training is relentlessly success-focused; only the best of the best are supported by the state. And success is assessed in Olympic medal wins. China got its nose in front at its home games in Beijing in 2008, finishing top for the first time ever. Then, in 2012, the U.S. fought its way back to the summit.
The swimming pool promises to be a particularly intense battleground in the struggle for supremacy this time around. The superpowers’ two champions are American Michael Phelps and China’s Sun Yang. Sporting icon Phelps, 31, has already secured his place in the history books as the most decorated Olympian of all time. His 18 gold medals—plus four of another color—make for an incredible record at the Games. Phelps temporarily retired from professional sports in 2012, but he’s gambling on an Olympic comeback in Rio.
Sun Yang is China’s great swimming phenomenon —and not only because he stands two inches taller than his American rival at 6-foot-6. The 24-year-old Sun won two golds (400m and 1,500m freestyle) at the 2012 Games and flies to Brazil as reigning world champion in the 400m and 800m freestyle, following triumphs in Kazan, Russia, last year. As Phelps has chosen to focus on shorter distances in Rio, the two are only really likely to face off in a few events. But these are the battles that will decide which country conquers the Olympic pool.
Michael Phelps against Sun Yang: The Olympic comeback
kid takes on China’s golden boy.
MEDALSHAUL 2012 USA CHN
Gold 46 38
Silver 28 28
Bronze 29 22
103 88
KAROLÍNA PLÍŠKOVÁStrength: serve
SIMONA HALEPStrength: natural talent
MARTINA HINGISStrength: net play
VICTORIA AZARENKAStrength: groundstroke
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SERENA WILLIAMSVS THE REST OF THE WORLD
This relentless champion is
on course for gold. For all the strengths of her rivals, Williams reigns supreme.
How many sets did Serena Williams lose en route to Olympic gold in 2012? We’ll save you a search: not one. Williams wins games in less time than it would have taken you to Google that. With such a winning track record, we’re sure to see her in the ladies’ singles tennis final in Rio. The question on everybody’s lips is: Who will she be playing? Not that it’ll make much difference, unless the WTA manages to find a secret weapon who combines the strengths of all her opponents. We won’t hold our breath. Long live Queen Serena.
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RICO FREIMUTH VS ASHTON EATON
57,000TWITTER FOLLOWERSFor proof that Eaton really is a science geek, go to twitter.com/ashtonjeaton
Does Germany’s best decathlete have a chance
against the U.S. world record holder? We break it down.
4,000INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERSHow do you climb a rope, butt first? Find out at instagram.com/ricofreimuth
BULK FACTORThe German may be bigger and stronger, but 203 lbs. don’t move as quickly as 185.
HEIGHT
SOCIAL MEDIA
6’5”
6’1”
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1979 2012
9,045POINTS
Eaton’s haul at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing—a six-
point improvement on his own world record.
8,561POINTS
Freimuth’s personal best, also set in Beijing last year.
SPORTING FAMILY
YEARSBoth sportsmen are 28, but Eaton won his first major international medal at the 2011 World Championships
in Daegu, four years earlier than Freimuth.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Both men know what the inside of a classroom looks like, but Eaton was quicker, graduating in psychology in 2010; Freimuth is still working on his business studies major.
Freimuth’s father was a decathlete, his mother a heptathlete, his uncle a high-jumper, and his sister plays volleyball.
Eaton’s heptathlete wife has won silver twice at the
World Championships, and his grandpa played football.
DECATHLON PERSONAL BEST
FIRST MEDAL
MEDALS
Eaton is the hot favorite in Rio. He has had seven medals—Olympic, World Championship or World Indoor Championship
—draped around his neck; Freimuth has had just one.
Freimuth’s coach, Wolfgang Kühne, is a former East German decathlon
medalist. Harry Marra was voted Coach of the Year for 2012 by
USA Track & Field.
TRAINER
LOVE
150 STALKERSWhen Freimuth joined Facebook, he amassed 150 explicit proposals. His response? A firm “no thanks.”
1 WIFEEaton and heptathlete Brianne Theisen have been the perfect track-and-field couple since 2013.
1
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZE MONEY
160,000Eaton’s winnings at Beijing 2015: $60,000 for his gold, and an additional $100,000 for taking the world record.
20,000The amount awarded to Freimuth by the IAAF for his bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships.
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BRONZE GOLD SILVER
1 16
The Olympic and world title holder
faces off against the new European champ.
NIKOLA KARABATIĆ VS
ANDREAS WOLFF
HANDBALLMEDALS1936 - 2012 FRA GER
Gold 2 2
Silver 0 3
Bronze 1 1
3 6
France vs. Germany: If everything goes according to plan, the two favorites for gold in handball are sure to meet somewhere along the line at Rio 2016, in the final at the latest.
When France’s Nikola Karabatić, viewed by many as the best attacking player in the world, gets his hulking body into position and shapes up to let loose, normal goalkeepers can only pray for divine intervention. But Andreas Wolff is no ordinary goalie. The 25-year-old from the Rhineland became the star of the German team at January’s European Championship when he drove the Spanish players to distraction in the final, saving an incredibly high 48 percent of all shots.
Shooting star Wolff and his uncanny Bruce Lee-like reflexes are stoking the flames of the old rivalry between the favorites, yet he has never played against France. The last meeting between the two countries was three years ago, when Germany prevailed in a tight match at the 2013 World Championship, winning 32:30. The leading scorer was a certain Nikola Karabatić.
RUGBY MEDALS1924Gold USA
Silver FRA
Bronze ROM
After a hiatus of 92 years, rugby is an Olympic sport
again in its quickest form—Rugby Sevens.
It’s sure to be one of the high points of the Olympics: Twelve rugby teams battling it out for glory over two days. Played on a normal-sized pitch, but with teams of just seven, the matches will be quicker, more exciting and, most importantly, much shorter than in 15-a-side rugby. The 2013 World Champions New Zealand are favorites to win, alongside Fiji. Their main challengers are the Blitzboks of South Africa, who have one of the quickest men at Rio 2016 in Seabelo Senatla—and speed is doubly important in Rugby Sevens.
NZL VS RSA
GILLIES KAKA
SEABELO SENATLA
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Who will grab gold in rugby at
the Olympics for the first time
since 1924: Kaka (left) or Senatla?
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MEDALS HAUL 2012 GBR AUS
Gold 29 7
Silver 17 16
Bronze 19 12
65 35
AUSVS GBR
the red bulletin: You have the highest personal best of any athlete competing in the high jump today: 2.43m [almost 8 feet]. Who’s your fiercest challenger for gold? mutaz barshim: There are five high jumpers in the Olympics lineup [including myself] who have exceeded 2.40m, so we are probably the hot favorites. But the high jump is a sport where you’re very focused on yourself. If I can prevail over myself, then I can beat all the others, too. Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi is one of your longstanding rivals. Could he win gold in Rio?Gianmarco is a friend of mine—we’ve known each other for years. I really like his jumping style, and I think he could go all the
way in Rio. At the Olympic Games, it’s athlete against athlete, and once you’ve made it to the final, anything is possible. The only thing that really matters is what happens on the day, and Gianmarco is one of those who could win a medal.Can rival high jumpers such as you and Tamberi learn from each other?No, because I have my style and Gianmarco has his. I wouldn’t learn anything by watching him; it’d only throw me off my stride. We can only work on ourselves.You grew up in a family that was sports crazy, and your younger brother, Muamer, is also a high jumper. Has sibling rivalry helped your career?I’m sure it has been a decisive factor. My parents have always supported us in our sporting careers as best they could. And naturally each of us always wanted to be the best in the family —though obviously no one is better than me. [Laughs.]Might Muamer be better than you in the future? Maybe, yes. But that isn’t what’s important. Sports isn’t really about who is the best; it belongs to no man. No sportsperson is at the top forever. Yes, rivalry is important, but you’re always your own greatest rival.So you don’t view Cuba’s [now retired] Javier Sotomayor, who has held the world record since 1993, as your biggest rival, even indirectly? No, I don’t think of Sotomayor as a rival. He’s a legend. When I was small, he was my great idol. It was seeing him that sparked my love of the high jump. Of course all of us are always eyeing his record of 2.45m, but he’s more of an idol than a rival.
Mutaz Barshim is chasing the world
high jump record, but holder Javier Sotomayor isn’t his greatest rival.
ITA VSQAT
HIGH JUMPMEDALS 1896-2012 ITA QAT
Gold 1 0
Silver 2 0
Bronze 0 1
3 1
BROOKE STRATTON
KATARINA JOHNSON-THOMPSON
Olympic flame: The U.K. goes head-to-head for
gold and honor against its former colony.
The U.K. and Australia have one of the bitterest rivalries in the history of sports. But what makes the competition between the two nations even more exciting than the medals battle between the USA and China is that both countries excel at the same sports, so it’s one head-to-head after the other. The most thrilling contest this time around should be in track and field: Team GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson (left) isn’t only competing in the heptathlon; she’ll be gunning for glory in the individual long jump, too. And that’s where she’ll go stride for stride with Brooke Stratton, Australia’s hot gold-medal favorite. The Queen can cross fingers on both hands.
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South Korea’s Yang Hak-seon vaulted his
way to gymnastics gold in 2012, and now the North wants to steal his crown.
PRK VSKOR
MEDALSHAUL 1896 - 2012 KOR PRK
Gold 81 14
Silver 82 12
Bronze 80 21
243 47
NORTH VS SOUTH
It was a handspring front layout with a triple twist. With this somersaulting vault at the 2012 Games in London, Yang Hak-seon won South Korea its first-ever Olympic gold medal in gymnastics. No gymnast had ever before created such an airborne work of art.
The young star, just 19 at the time, soaked up the applause, and the sport had a new move: “the Yang Hak-seon.” Unsurprisingly, he won gold again the next year at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. But then the tide began to turn. At the following year’s event, Yang blew his landing on his last two attempts and was dethroned—by a North Korean, no less.
The new world champion and superstar of vaulting is Ri Se-gwang. The experienced Ri is having something of a second gymnastic spring at the age of 31. Unlike fine technician Yang, the North Korean scores highly thanks to speed and power as he twists his body in the air. But in Rio, Yang hopes to strike back. There’s no way he wants his Olympic crown ripped from his head by a North Korean, and for history to be rewritten a second time.
Regime poster boys: Yang Hak-seon (above) and Ri Se-gwang (below) leap for gold.
52 THE RED BULLETIN
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One—Czech runner Emil Zátopek—was known as the Locomotive. The other —France’s Alain Mimoun—also had a nickname: Zátopek’s Shadow.
In long-distance running, no athlete ran as evenly at high speed as Emil Zátopek. He was inimitable. And there was no one more exasperated by this than his closest challenger, Frenchman Alain Mimoun. At the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, Mimoun chased eventual winner Zátopek and took silver in no fewer than three
long-distance races. The two became firm friends over the years, but they remained bitter rivals on the track. The winds of change arrived in Melbourne in 1956, when Mimoun competed in his debut marathon—and ran away with it. Zátopek was left in the shade for the first time ever.
1952EMIL ZÁTOPEK
VS ALAIN MIMOUN
SACRED GROUNDIT’S WET, SLIPPERY AND THERE ARE CHICKEN LADDERS EVERYWHERE. BUT ANY HONEST MOUNTAIN BIKER SHOULD PLAN A PILGRIMAGE TO BRITISH COLUMBIA, WHERE THE SPORT OF FREERIDING WAS BORN.WORDS: WERNER JESSNER PHOTOGRAPHY: STERLING LORENCE
54
The North Shore of the fjord by Vancouver,
Canada, is where freeriding was invented.
Uncultivated forests, steep slopes and the
ever-moist ground underfoot have given
rise to a new form of biking.
Bikers, once outlaws, are now of economic interest. And the hikers have survived too.
The network of trails on the North Shore now covers 298 different tracks and around 156 miles. Not all of them are typical North Shore, with chicken-ladder-type bridges in the forest. There are also totally normal trails, which any technically nimble biker can negotiate.
More difficult are the speed features with jumps that lead dangerously close to the fir trees typical of the region. Helmets are therefore a great idea.
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Typical weather on the Shore: The
atmosphere in the forest is unique, and so is the light. But it
smells putrid. The fir trees distract from
that—mostly.
“Why would you want a fat, low bridge when you can build a high, skinny one?” LOCAL DAN SEDLACEK IN THE CULT MOVIE KRANKED 2
Locals first made the woods negotiable, for the elite, at least, in the late 1990s with bridges they built over obstacles themselves. This riding style would go on to affect the whole sport and produce stars and movies.
58
The North Shore is not a bike park. Anyone looking for quick, banked turns and long jumps would be better served in nearby Whistler. There are no elevators on the North Shore and there are roots everywhere. The local bike shops act as information hubs. They have trail maps and can tell you which of the trails—which go by good old names like Pipeline, Old Buck and Bridal Path—are currently in good condition.
60 THE RED BULLETIN
“Mountain biking in the damp woods on the Shore is what made me want to become a photographer in the first place more than 15 years ago.” STERLING LORENCE
Sterling Lorence, the man we have to thank for these pictures, is from the North Shore and grew up with the scene. He has worked with all the greats, befriending them in the process.
Daredevil is on Netflix now. netflix.com
into the street with a blindfold on. But that doesn’t make you a hero. A real hero can be cruel to the people he cares about most. Daredevil does that.What does that mean?It means sometimes there are more important factors, higher reasons for your behavior. A hero shouldn’t be a people pleaser. Can you give an example of when being cruel is the true hero response?When you have children, which I don’t, you want to protect them so that they don’t hurt themselves. Or sometimes
you let them make mistakes, so that they can learn from the negative experience. You’re being cruel to be kind.What about adults? Are you cruel to them too? You know that conundrum; you don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings. You’re afraid they might feel bad if you’re honest with them. But don’t agonize over other people’s emotions. You need to tell them exactly how you feel.That’s brave.
British actor Charlie Cox has built up an enviable résumé over the years, including films such as Stardust, The Merchant of
Venice and The Theory of Everything and the hit TV series Boardwalk Empire. But taking on the role of Marvel’s Daredevil, a blind lawyer who fights Manhattan crime by night, required a little more than just the usual memorizing of lines. For one thing, Cox, who had never so much as signed up to a gym before, had to reach and maintain a superheroic level of physical fitness. He also had to master the art of playing a blind man, which he’s managed with natural grace. With the success of Season 2 of Daredevil, we speak to Cox about heroes, both on and off the small screen.
the red bulletin: What makes someone a hero? Is it a blind man fighting bad guys? charlie cox: Not being able to see does heighten your senses. I got my own small taste of that when I walked
Yes, it requires a lot of courage. So blunt honesty is a must. Is there another essential hero characteristic? I find it very heroic when, in the face of adversity, someone manages to operate from a place of kindness rather than aggression or anger. It may sound cheesy, but forgiveness is probably the best example of everyday heroism I can imagine.What do you mean by that?Imagine someone has caused your family unnecessary harm and you feel resentment toward them. Having the courage to forgive that wholeheartedly and move on is in many ways one of the most heroic actions you can display.
Do you manage to do that?Sometimes, yes. So it’s difficult situations that make the hero . . .Yes.Has your mettle been tested by adversity?I had periods of unemployment, which are particularly difficult because you don’t know if they’re ever going to end. You wonder whether the door will ever open for you again and you start to question whether it’s all worth it.
How did you cope?I didn’t lounge around in bed in a bad mood. I spent as much time as I could with my friends and family. And I stayed active mentally; I wrote plays and scripts and prepared even harder for any auditions. And if I did ever get stuck in a down mood, I would take my motorbike out for a spin and ride off into the sunset.So now you’re prepared if faced with that again.Yes. Of course there are a lot of worse things than being unemployed. Your job is to enjoy the good times and not let the bad times get you down too much. Most of the best moments in my life had nothing to do with money or success.
For example?Once I went via bus from Cape Town to Nairobi. By Lake Malawi I watched a soccer game between two local towns on a dirt pitch. Only three or four of the players had shoes; the goals didn’t have nets. To see that teaches you humility. And it was also a truly magical experience.Rüdiger Sturm
CHARLIE COX The thoughtful Londoner plays Marvel’s superhero lawyer, Daredevil, and he knows what it takes to win battles in real life.
BLIND JUSTICE
“IT MAY SOUND CHEESY, BUT FORGIVENESS IS PROBABLY THE BEST EXAMPLE OF EVERYDAY HEROISM I CAN IMAGINE.”
HEROES
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takes to be a hero: a healthy mix of
kindness and cruelty.
Osborne, 52: “I’ve consciously avoided belonging to any particular scene.”
New album: Basses Loaded; themelvins.net
For 33 years, Buzz Osborne—aka King Buzzo—and his band the Melvins have been making extreme guitar music that places the toughest
demands on listeners. Osborne may not fill stadiums, but he does have the highest-grade fans: Dave Grohl, Trent Reznor and Yoko Ono all admire his ingenuity. So how did he become the rock stars’ rock star? By always giving free rein to his inner freak. And he recommends that others do the same.
the red bulletin: You’ve been hugely successful in your career—what will being weird do for me?buzz osborne: People will remember you. Nobody would have been interested in Alice Cooper if he’d looked like a children’s TV host. There’s nothing more boring than doing things the same way that someone else has done.But doing things differently doesn’t automatically mean that you’re better.You have to be good at what you’re doing. And not care what other people say. You’ve got to have that attitude if you want to be successful.Is that the same beyond the music world, too?I would guess so. Take the stock market. Never buy shares that everyone else is banking on. By the time you find out about something, then it’s already past its prime. You’ve got to be more adventurous than that. Be as weird as you can be.
Doesn’t this being-different attitude isolate you?I’m with Groucho Marx on this. “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” Why would you want to be like somebody else anyway? Ever since the start of my career, I’ve consciously avoided belonging to any particular scene.But many people call you the father of the grunge movement . . .No thank you.You introduced Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl to each other. The world has you to thank for Nirvana.To be honest, Nirvana weren’t as revolutionary a rock band as people today like to claim they were.A lot of people would disagree with you on that. Well, they looked a little different. And their attitude was certainly somewhat different. But if you look at the drugs they were taking, at their divorces and their management, they were really no different from ordinary rock bands.But every young musician wants to be successful. It depends on how you define success.For musicians, I’d have thought that was huge stadium shows . . .Firstly, music doesn’t belong in sports venues; it belongs in bars and clubs. Secondly, success for me means artistic freedom, and no one telling me what my music should sound like. Florian Obkircher
DADDY GRUNGEBUZZ OSBORNE is the rock star the rock stars look up to. Here, the Melvins frontman explains the strange secret of his success.
the red bulletin: How has adventuring changed?mike o’shea: When we went to the Himalayas 25 years ago, it took two years to plan it. Today, it’s a couple of months. There’s an expectation to experience everything automatically, afforded by adventure companies. That’s the big change—people don’t need to learn the skills anymore. You’re an adventurer, but you’re also a safety consultant.People look at the stuff I do and suppose I’m reckless, but I’m very calculated. If I’m going ice climbing, I’ll learn with people who are really good at it. I’ve been involved in rescue for over 30 years and rarely had to save a climber who’s professional.So you’d consider yourself sensible?I’ve got a spontaneous streak. Paragliding one day, I landed at Connor Pass parking lot in Ireland. It has a 650-foot drop I’d always wanted to jump off. When we got there it was perfect, so I jumped. But I’d done that flight 50 times in my head. Tom Guise
“RECKLESSNESS NEEDS PLANNING”MIKE O’SHEA scaled the Himalayas at just 21, but today’s extreme tourism terrifies the Irish adventurer more than leaping off a cliff.
mikeoshea.ie
O’Shea, 46, became a mountain rescuer at 14.
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Bushnell, the CEO of Two Bit Circus, wants to rebrand what it means to be a nerd and show you that learning about science can be fun.
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In those early entrepreneurship days, my dad would always say, “I don’t care about how big this could possibly be. How do you make one dollar this weekend?” That idea of engage early and often, test, iterate and trial quickly was something that stuck with me through my whole life. It’s something that we apply intensely here at Two Bit. We will come up with something in the morning and have a working version ready by the afternoon. That’s a really powerful approach because you don’t always know what’s
going to be fun. Eric and I joke that the things we’re often most excited about end up being terrible. Sometimes the random stuff we just throw up against the wall ends up being the best.So how did it come about?We didn’t wake up one morning and declare, “We need to do a circus!” We didn’t have everything scripted out. We just knew the things that were working and we were able to iterate and develop
Growing up, Brent Bushnell was the kid on the block with the best toys. As one of the sons of Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, Brent
learned early on the joy of invention and the thrill of entrepreneurship. “Making my own games,” Brent says, “that was my dream.” But sometimes childhood dreams get pushed aside. After stints working in web hosting and DNA synthesis, Brent rediscovered the fun of making games when he met fellow engineer Eric Gradman. Together, the two founded Two Bit Circus, a Los Angeles company that infuses science and technology into the spectacle of a carnival.
the red bulletin: Your dad founded Atari. What was that like growing up? My dad is an engineer and an entrepreneur, and we were raised doing both of those things. We didn’t just have a lemonade stand—we had an entire convenience store! What was the number one thing that you took from your childhood?
from there. There’s something to be said for keeping your ear close to the ground, iterating quickly and trialing. We always joke that the best test subjects are kids and drunks because they both have no tolerance for instructions, they want immediate gratification and they’re totally violent. They will put your stuff through the ringer. And you’re teaching them that science can be fun.One of the big failures of our current education system is how siloed it is. It’s not inspiring to have to take Calculus I, and the only reason is so you can go to Calculus II. That’s not relevant. Why do I need
to know this? Because I’m trying to solve this particular problem. That’s the way we approach problems in our real lives, so why should we expect kids to do it differently in school? One way I think you can get really engaged is to have meaning to what you’re doing. One of the reasons why we love inspiring inventors is because inventors solve problems. They’re doing a real thing. Even if you’re just building a game, then you’re
solving boredom or social problems by getting people to play together. So science has a branding problem. When people think of engineers, they think of pencil ties, lab coats and boring stuff. But we get to play with lasers and robots all day! We felt we had a special opportunity to share the fun we were having as a way to get other kids excited. After doing hundreds of other people’s events, we decided to do our own event and use it as a platform to rebrand what it means to be a nerd. Let’s get kids excited about creativity and invention but use games, fun and play as the hook.
Your STEAM carnival brings high tech to the circus. The kids are excited, but what about the adults? It’s our goal at STEAM to pull back the curtain and show people that they can invent, too. Adults can be just as intimidated by electronics. And socially, it’s a nice way to break down barriers and get people off their screens.Nora O’Donnell
BRENT BUSHNELL The 37-year-old CEO of Two Bit Circus taps into his inner child to create a new form of entertainment.
“YOU DON’T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO BE FUN”
“ENGAGE EARLY AND OFTEN, TEST, ITERATE AND TRIAL QUICKLY. SOMETIMES THE RANDOM STUFF ENDS UP BEING THE BEST.”
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T H E FAC E : M I L ES C H A M L E Y-WATS O N is brash, tattooed and unlike anything the rarefied the London-born American is the country’s best hope of winning its first individual gold medal in men’s
Words: Andreas TzortzisPhotography: Thomas Prior
68 THE RED BULLETIN
sport of fencing has ever seen. A cauldron of energy and intensity and the inventor of a signature move, fencing. But Chamley-Watson has his sights set higher—if only he can keep his emotions in check.
Chamley-Watson, photographed at the Fencers
Club in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood.
THE RED BULLETIN 69
MILES CHAMLEY-WATSON grew up believing that the best-laid plans could eventually be torn up. His biological father left when he was 4, shattering his home life. When his mother moved the family from London to New York City four years later, he faced a start in a new country. So maybe it’s no surprise that when a gifted young Chamley-Watson began taking fencing seriously, he bucked convention.
With boundless energy, the 6-foot-4 Chamley-Watson introduces a new brand of athleticism to the 500-year-old sport. He whips his foil between his legs and uses his long reach to score touches over his opponents’ lunges. Once, in a fit of inspiration, he reached behind his back to score while in close combat with an opponent. The move is now called “the Chamley-Watson.” After disappointment at the 2012 Olympics, he became the first American man crowned world champion a year later. Now he’s ready to go for gold in Rio this summer.
Words tumble out of the 26-year-old in an accent that floats somewhere between Midtown Manhattan and London’s East End. Irrepressible and irreverent, he speaks in short bursts of half sentences and non sequiturs along the way to making his point: He is the new face of fencing—and the best chance the Sport of Kings has to enter the mainstream.
the red bulletin: You said once that fencing is “intimate, aggressive and emotional, so if you love those things in sport, you’ll fit right in.”miles chamley-watson: That’s what draws me to it. When people come to watch fencing, they say the same. It’s one-on-one combat, and you can see the emotions on their face, and how they’re feeling, through the mask. (On my mask, you can’t—because it’s got a sick American flag and a Red Bull logo on the side.) But you can feed off the emotions of the opponent. When I’m on the strip, I hate everyone. After we’re done we can all hang out and have a drink at the bar. But honestly, I hate every single person when I’m on the strip. And most people don’t have that.
Where does the anger come from? From 4 to 9 my mom pretty much raised me. Most people have both parents growing up. I didn’t have that until I was like 8 or 9, until my stepdad joined us. I had that anger from that time. I think that’s what fuels me. Most people don’t know that about me. I haven’t talked to my father in 10 or 11 years. If I ever refer to my dad, it’s my stepdad. How do you temper that?Even in practice I’m yelling and screaming. I take training like it’s a competition. I think training should be 10 times harder than a competition. I think you should train with hard opponents and put yourself in situations in training that happen in competition. I don’t think competitions are all that tough. If you’re in the top 16 in the world, you don’t fence the first day. You’re going to fence six matches, maximum 12 minutes a match, so a little over an hour in all. In training, I’m fencing for three hours. When you arrived at the London Olympics in 2012, you were 22 and ranked number two in the world, but you lost in the second round. What was your reaction?Afterwards, I was sitting on my apartment balcony in the Olympic village with my teammate. I just thought, this feeling sucks. You come here and now you’re done. But my balcony was sick. It was across from the Italian women’s swim team, so—I started to get some inspiration. And then I told my teammate I’m going to win the world championships next year. And you did win the world championship in 2013. But what went wrong in London?Before London I wasn’t having fun. I took a year off of college just to train in New York City. I was training every day, going home, waking up at 6 a.m. and doing it again. There’s no blueprint for how you should train. And it was the worst idea I ever had in my life. You need to have a healthy balance. The next year, in 2013, I trained hard, but I had fun with my friends, too—going on hikes, traveling, road trips and enjoying myself. That August I was the first American to win the world
70 THE RED BULLETIN
Chamley-Watson started fencing
after school when he was 10—initially
as a form of punishment for
misbehaving.
“ I WA L K I N T O T H E R O O M A N D I T T U R N S S O M E H E A D S . ”
THE RED BULLETIN 71
Though he could’ve fenced for the U.K., Chamley-Watson chose to fight for the U.S.A. and his beloved New York City.
“ T H E B E ST AT H L E T E S H AV E
T H E S H O R T E ST M E M O RY. ”
72 THE RED BULLETIN
championships. And I thought, now I think I have a blueprint of how I need to train. The best athletes have the shortest memory. So if you win, it’s over. If you lose, it’s over. Now I’m starting to find this pattern of going out there and not giving a shit. If you lose, what’s the worst that’s going to happen? Beyond having more fun, have you changed other methods?I used to watch video of opponents and now I’ve stopped. If I’m doing what I need to do, I’ll beat anyone in the world. Having a little bit of a game plan is good, too. But if they change, then what are you going to do? If you have what you need to do in your mind, then you can beat everyone. Finding balance in your training style is one thing, but how do you do that while trying to finance it? I thought, I’m going to make myself a living. You’ve got to just want it more than anyone else. Now I’ve got all of these sponsors, and I am trying to put a different face on the sport. It’s only a niche in America, but it’s not niche in Europe and Asia. How do you get these sponsorships? When you first imagine a fencer, it’s not me. And I walk into a room and I think that turns some heads. I think people can see the growth and the potential in the sport, but talking face-to-face is where I’m most successful. How else would you make money, anyway? Why shouldn’t Olympic athletes get paid? Why shouldn’t college athletes get paid? They wake up at 5 a.m. to train, and they do press conferences. They’re putting in four times the normal work of a student. As an Olympic athlete, every four years there’s your ticket. And during those other three years, what do you do? I don’t think the USOC [United States Olympic Committee] does a very good job when [athletes] are not in their season. Most Olympic athletes, that’s all they have. The Olympics is once every four years, so what am I going to do when I’m done? I have to push myself. I have to find ways to better myself. There are people who are working several jobs just to compete. And if the
USOC can’t help them out, why should they represent America? Are you promoting yourself—or your sport? I naturally just promote myself, but it goes right to fencing. I can’t promote my sport without promoting myself first because the sport needs a new face. I think I’m charismatic. I think I’m relatable and accessible.How did the Chamley-Watson move come about? In 2009, I was fencing in Turkey against an Austrian guy. We were fencing in the preliminary rounds, and I was ahead 4-3. He ran at me and I parried him. Normally you’d pull back and hit him after parrying him. Me, being [snorts] a genius, I whipped my foil back over my head and hit him in the middle of his chest. For a good two minutes the referee was like, what happened? Then I watched the playback and thought, what did you just do? That’s the sickest thing I’ve ever seen. And I did it! I get surprised at what I do sometimes. It’s not me being cocky. Now I’m doing other moves, like hitting between my legs. The only reason I can do these moves is because my arms are so long. These things are also bringing fencing to a different level—and kids love seeing this stuff. They don’t want to see the normal touches. They want to see this cool stuff. Your track record has been up and down since your win at the world championships. What approach do you have going into Rio?Now is the time to peak. I want to be in the Olympics as the guy to beat. I want to win everything from now on. I’d rather go in as the champion to beat than the underdog with something to prove. Having a chip on your shoulder is great, but I have that no matter what. I want to peak now and sustain it. Do you have butterflies thinking about it? Yes. I get them before every competition. I think they’re amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever competed without butterflies, even if I have nothing on the line. And if they go away, I’ll probably hang it up. They’re fuel. More championship form on Instagram: @mchamleywatson
“ I G E T S U R P R I S E D AT W H AT I C A N D O
S O M E T I M E S . ”
THE RED BULLETIN 73
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Big Sur. ridefree.com
Siberia’s Lake Baikal is the world’s largest freshwater lake by volume. With a surface area
around 12,250 square miles, it plumbs to a mile at its deepest point. But in winter, temperatures plummet to below zero degrees Fahrenheit, freezing its surface into a unique topography of glass-like plains and crevasse-strewn ridges. Perfect for riding across on a heavy, unwieldy, antique Russian sidecar motorcycle.
That’s the Ice Run—a 2,500-mile adventure through taiga forests, along winding ice roads and across Lake Baikal’s surface. Two-man crews take on the elements, with the help of a dependable local—that rickety old bike. The Ural is a brutalist classic of Soviet design. Seemingly assembled from military-grade Lego, with handling somewhere between an oil tanker and a brick house, it was ordered into mass production by Stalin during World War II, having been reverse-engineered from a BMW the Red Army had acquired. Clearly, something got lost in translation.
“Their simplicity and sturdiness is what makes them suitable,” says Katy Willings, one of the Ice Run’s organizers. “They’re built like tanks or tractors, designed to be fixed in the field during battle with a hammer and an elastic band or whatever was at hand. The materials are shockingly mediocre, but they’re also kind of indestructible, often sick but never dead—it takes a lot to screw your Ural so that it never runs again.” This is good to know, because there’s a lot that could screw your Ural on Lake Baikal.
“There’s ice of every kind of flavor and character,” says Willings. “Some that looks innocuous is lethal. Some looks like hell, but amazingly, you can aim a Ural at it, give it some gas and smash your way through.”
The most important thing when riding a Ural on ice is to be aware of hazards well in advance. “When you put the brakes on, not
much happens except the bike pulls really hard to the right,” says Willings. “Then the steering goes funny, the brakes lock up and you skid at a strange angle, usually straight into whatever it is you’re trying to avoid.”
During a three-day orientation, tour guide Dmitry Yaskin trains riders in the finer points of navigating surface ice, including testing the thickness of the frozen crust with a spear to ensure it can withstand a 475 lb sidecar. Or jumping treacherous sections. This involves looking for natural ice ramps—or constructing one with a chain saw—and smashing down rough ice on the other side to avoid a crash landing. It’s an experience that Richard Fleming, who rode the route in 2015, knows only too well.
“Our first day on the ice, we decided there was a crack we needed to jump, and in hindsight we probably didn’t need to,” he says. “It was quite a heavy landing, which sheared the bolts of our luggage rack.”
With Ice Runners expected to camp out in subzero temperatures, losing your luggage is a literal matter of life and death. Still, riders are not entirely without support; the organizers plot a GPS route around the lake, placing fuel drops in handy locations. Plus, everyone is connected by radio in case of emergency, and also to share navigation tips and mechanical knowledge. But the risks are very real. Two of last year’s riders were lucky to escape with a warped front wheel after narrowly avoiding a plunge on their rolling Ural.
“We made some rash decisions,” says Fleming. “I remember going across one crack and not really thinking about stopping. The back wheel went through the ice. We had enough momentum to pull through, but it was a bit of an eye-opener.”
Moscow
Siberia,RUSSIA
Cool about being shipped to Siberia? Sign up at theadventurists.com/ice-run
T R AV E LAC T I O N
THE INSIDER“It’s kind of like scar tissue,” says Willings of the ice. “You often get a thick ridge pushing up like the back of a stegosaurus.” This can hide deep cracks in the ice. “Misread one of those and you can sink a mile into one of the world’s deepest lakes.”
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SPORTING GREATSWhether on the pavement or the greens, smartphone-directed technology is giving us more control than ever over play time.
Trefecta DRT Off-road Unlimited
This military-grade aluminum e-bike uses motor assistance to help you pedal over mixed terrain.
Open up the throttle and it can reach a top speed of 43 mph. It’s also foldable. trefectamobility.com
Nike Anti-Clog Traction BootThe beautiful game just got prettier and a lot more
playable, thanks to a sole plate made from an adaptive polymer that prevents mud from
sticking to the studs. nike.com
TomTom Golfer 2TomTom brings its sat-nav expertise to the golf course: The GPS golf watch accesses a library of
over 40,000 courses to serve up data on each hole and feedback on your swing. tomtom.com
Adidas miCoach Smart BallThe German sporting giant has come up with a
ball that relays speed, spin, impact and trajectory info to a smartphone app for analysis, all via
internal sensors. adidas.com
Solos Performance EyewearAdd a fighter-pilot-style heads-up display to your
bike ride, with real-time ride and performance data streamed from your smartphone to these practical eye protectors. solos-wearables.com
Adjust torque to the rear wheel on the fly, or engage “wheelie
mode” with a maximum angle to
prevent it from flipping over on you.
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AC T I O N
THE IDEAS MENCameron Robertson, 30, & Todd Reichert (left), 34In 2015, the aerospace engineers took their speedbike, Eta, to Nevada State Route 305. Inside was the engine that had powered the first flights by a flapping-wing aircraft and human-powered helicopter—Reichert. That week, he broke the human-powered land speed record. aerovelo.com
INNOVATIONS: THE FASTEST BIKE ON EARTHBy definition, that makes its rider the fastest self-propelled person on land. On your left, Usain.
G E A R
Camera-vision screens in place of a windshield mean increased aerodynamics.
Four gears efficiently transfer
human-pedaled energy to two low-resistance wheels.
Laminar flow shell delivers 100 times
less drag than a modern car.
Why did you chase a human-powered record?Robertson: “A human has the power of a small electric drill, about three-quarters of a horsepower maximum. This means you really need to think differently as a designer, and the solution you end up with is mind-blowing. Not only is there the person at the heart of the vehicle, but it’s a helicopter the size of a commercial aircraft, or an airplane that flaps
wheel components to ease acceleration, a stiff frame for efficient power transmission from pilot to vehicle. It’s more aerodynamic than a regular bike in every way.”
So you’re now the best bike builders in the world . . .Robertson: “We couldn’t build a regular bike and make it nearly as good as those by Trek or Cannondale. They’re super-smart people with all of the data and tools for the problem they’re trying to solve. This bike is designed for a human going at mind-numbingly high speeds using their own power. By virtue of holding the record, it’s the best available vehicle for this particular challenge.”
Surely the human inside is a big factor.Reichert: “I’d say it’s 100 percent both bike and rider. You can have the best bike, but if you don’t have a national-level athlete, it won’t go
fast enough to break a record. But it would be difficult to throw any professional cyclist inside. To ride recumbent in an enclosed cell with a couple of millimeters steering in each direction, beneath a video screen . . . that’s quite a learning curve.”
What was it like the day you broke the record?Reichert: “I was nervous, because in previous years the bikes weren’t ready and could fly off the road. The shell is very durable and you typically slide, maybe even roll a few times, but it’s pretty safe. The run takes maybe four and a half minutes to cover a 4.9-mile stretch. In that first mile you’re almost at 62 mph. With less than a mile to go, it was obvious we were going to smoke the record.”
How long before your record of 86.7 mph is broken?Robertson: “We plan to go back this September and hit 88 mph—our Back to the Future goal. After that, you can speculate about what might bring the next leap, like actively controlling the surface air on the bike to reduce drag, or riding a railroad track—rolling resistance of steel on steel is substantially lower than rubber on the road. These things could deliver a new speed record.”
its wings. It changes people’s perception of what’s possible.”
Eta is certainly mind-blowing. Did you break the land speed record in an egg?Robertson: “It’s an aerodynamically refined, human-powered vehicle. With Eta, everything is designed for higher speed, increased efficiency and reduced power: low rolling resistance, lightweight rotating
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AC T I O N G E A R
Fossil Q WanderThe smartest feature here is the
fashionable range of interchangeable straps and multifinish cases that add Fossil’s keen eye for style to a 44mm
touchscreen face powered by Google’s Android Wear.
fossil.com
Tissot Smart-TouchReal quartz-powered hands ticking
beneath the sapphire glass make it hard to believe there are more than 30 smart functions here. But activate the GPS and
the red minute hand points you in the right direction, while a digital display
gives weather and activity data. It even recharges in sunlight. tissotwatches.com
Frédérique Constant Horological Smartwatch
This smartwatch conceals its cleverness beneath a Swiss-made analog face with real hands that sync the time from your phone. It measures sleep patterns and activity, displaying the latter on the dial
at 6 o’clock. frederiqueconstant.com
BRAIN TRUST More watches with genius-level IQs
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Casio Smart Outdoor Watch In 1969, the first quartz wristwatch came
out on the market, changing the watch industry forever. The smartwatch has
been promising the same for years, but it’s a revolution waiting for a cause. Casio,
with its deep history in timepieces and technology, believes it has the word that
will start the fire: outdoor. The Smart Outdoor Watch runs Android Wear, but look beyond the regular apps and you’ll
find a rugged reimagining of the smartwatch. With a compass, pressure
sensor and accelerometer, you can call up altitude, weather and your activity data via
a physical button, meaning you can operate it wearing gloves—essential in the
environments this watch is built for. It’s also U.S. military standard 810G compliant,
meaning it can withstand everything from dust and extreme temperatures to rust,
fungus and gunfire vibration. Switch from full-color display to monochrome watch
face and a day’s battery life becomes a month, outlasting all other, more easily
exhausted, smartwatches. That’s the real revolution. casio.com
WATCHESEdited by Gisbert L. Brunner
If the orange edition doesn’t float your boat, the Casio Smart Outdoor Watch
also comes in red, green and black.
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AC T I O NW H E E LS
Jacket required
Because dressing to match your supercar is essential, Bugatti has a clothing line to go with
its new Chiron. The pièce de résistance is a calf-leather jacket
with quilting identical to your Chiron’s seats.
bugatti.com
Birthday suit
Richa—manufacturer of awesome things to
wear on a motorcycle—is celebrating its 60th anniversary. Five new
jackets have been released, all with D30
armor at the shoulders and elbows, plus a
back protector. richa.eu
Catwalk continentalBentley’s latest
dalliance with racing made the Motorsport Collection inevitable.
The overall look is clean and refined for this—surprisingly—
garage-friendly attire. bentleymotors.com
MOTOR MERCH
Dress up and drive on
The Jaguar D-Type won the 24 Heures Du Mans in 1955, ’56 and ’57, at which point Jaguar decided to retire from racing as a factory team. In a more austere age, it chose to repurpose unfinished D-Type chassis for road use and thus, the Jaguar XKSS sports car was born. Twenty-five cars were initially planned, but only 16 were shipped before a fire at the Jaguar factory destroyed the final nine. Don’t worry—this isn’t a history lesson. Jaguar has announced that now, 59 years later, it intends to complete the run.
The market for classic-car rebuilds and reproductions is vibrant, but this isn’t that.
At least not in the accepted sense. Jaguar is calling it a “continuation model,” and if the nine new XKSSs are produced by the original manufacturer to the original specs, it can probably get away with that designation. The Jaguar Classic team will be building the revived XKSS models by hand in Jaguar’s Experimental Shop, using the skills developed in the production of last year’s lightweight E-Types. While technology has moved on, time will stand still for the XKSS, with only materials and techniques that would have been used in 1957 being employed. Deliveries will start early next year.
QUICKY MARTThe sportiest way to run errands in town
Abarth, Fiat’s performance arm, returned to the rally circuit this year, but if you want to run some errands rather than drive up a mountain, they have you covered, too. The Italian carmaker’s take on Fiat’s 124 Spider is for those who want a racier roadster. A 1.4-liter MultiAir turbo engine ups the power from 140 hp to 170. With a weight of only 2,400 pounds, the Spider boasts an impressive power-to-weight ratio that serves up zero to 62 mph in 6.8 seconds, with a top speed of 143 mph. Abarth has crammed the engine in behind the front axle for a performance-enhancing near-50:50 weight distribution that further boosts the Spider’s sports-car credentials. A stiffer suspension, racing shocks and tightly set anti-roll bars suggest recreating scenes from The Italian Job on your way to the store. abarth.it
The Jaguar XKSS will have a 3.4-liter, straight-6 engine.
THE COMEBACK KIDJaguar is about to complete its unfinished symphony
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AC T I O N
SPOOK CENTRAL Bustin’ make you feel good? Here’s more . . .The Frighteners (1996)Peter Jackson directs Michael J. Fox as a conman who sends ghosts into people’s homes and bills them for a fake exorcism. Fine until he encounters an evil spirit played by Jake Busey. Toothy grins ensue.
Poltergeist (1982)Written by Steven Spielberg and directed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre creator Tobe Hooper, this classic chiller mixes Close Encounters with The Amityville Horror. The clown scene endures as one of Hollywood’s all-time great scares.
Beetlejuice (1988)Tim Burton turns the haunted- house theme on its head as Michael Keaton’s titular “bio-exorcist” (below) is summoned by troubled ghosts Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin to rid their home of unwanted living people.
FILM
WHO YOU GONNA CALL?The Ghostbusters reboot and The Conjuring 2 both hit theaters this summer, but which one is a more accurate account of spook-hunting?
COMING ATTRACTIONS
The best new entertainment
to binge on
C U LT U R E
FILMThe Legend of Tarzan
In this sequel to the origin story, Tarzan (True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgård) is
living in London as Lord Greystoke with wife Jane (Margot Robbie) when he’s
lured back to the jungle by evil Captain Rom (Christoph Waltz). In theaters
July 1. legendoftarzan.com
BOOKDazeworld
The work of graffiti artist Chris “Daze” Ellis was a common sight on the NYC
subway in the 1970s. Today, one of the few ways to see it is in books like this, taking us from his early indiscretions
to pieces displayed in the world’s most respected galleries. dazeworld.com
One of them is a true story . . .The Conjuring 2 is based on the case of the Enfield Poltergeist, a 1970s London haunting widely believed to have been a hoax. But the inspiration for Ghostbusters is co-creator Dan Aykroyd’s own great-grandfather, a real-life psychic investigator. Aykroyd’s dad, Peter, who documented his grandfather’s work in the book A History of Ghosts, endorses the 1984 film’s opening library scene as authentic. “It was a pure poltergeist phenomenon and absolutely true to form,” he said in 2009.One has believable technology . . .Real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in the Conjuring films) used microphones, cameras, motion detectors and thermal-imaging devices. The Ghostbusters, however, have psychokinetic energy meters, ghost traps and particle-accelerating proton packs, which reboot director Paul Feig got former MIT prof James Maxwell to “science the shit” out of. “They asked me how it would work,” he said. “The particle accelerators and super-conducting magnets are real—the big leaps of faith are doing it in the space allowed.”One has realistic apparitions . . .The Conjuring films serve up plenty of manifestations in jump scares. But only Ghostbusters gets it right with copious helpings of ectoplasm, the slimy residue that helps spirits take form. “I’d like to see physicists analyze what’s going on,” Dan Aykroyd said. “Are oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen molecules coalescing to produce these visions in front of people?” Someone should tell him that when Bill Murray got slimed, it was actually Chinese food starch. The Conjuring 2 is in theaters June 10; theconjuring2.comGhostbusters is in theaters July 15; ghostbusters.com
FILMSwiss Army Man
When this surreal comedy premiered at Sundance in January, half the
audience walked out. The controversy? A farting corpse. In the film, Paul Dano plays a suicidal castaway who meets
a cadaver (Daniel Radcliffe) with special powers. In wide release July 1.
swissarmyman.com
The new Ghostbusters: They ain’t afraid of no ghosts.
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THISMONTHON TV
PRODIGY Commissary Kitchen: My
Infamous Prison Cookbook
In October, Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy releases this inspiring cookbook, in which
he reflects on meal times during his three years in jail,
and how to survive on a limited, low-quality diet.
COOLIO Cookin’ With . . .In 2009, the Gangsta’s
Paradise rapper-turned-YouTube-chef published a hilarious guide on how to be a ghetto gourmet,
filled with budget-friendly recipes such as “Bro-ghetti”
and “Soul Rolls.”
THE PLAYLIST MODERATWhen electronic music veterans Modeselektor and Apparat collaborated on their first joint album as Moderat in 2009, it caused quite a stir. Back then, Modeselektor’s Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary were known for their bass-laden dancehall and techno stompers—fans include Radiohead—while Sascha Ring, aka Apparat, was producing fragile ambient anthems. As a supergroup, they’ve created a melancholic electro-pop hybrid that has earned them top-10 chart positions and sold-out shows in Europe. To celebrate the release of third album III, Szary talks us through five songs that have had an impact on his career. moderat.fm
WHAT’S COOKIN’?Rapper Action Bronson is currently working on
his debut cookbook. But he’s not the first hip-hop
star to document his passion for food . . .
AC T I O N
2 CHAINZ #MEALTIME
To promote his 2013 album, B.O.A.T.S. II: #ME TIME, the rapper released a cookbook,
which he wrote on his tour bus. #MEALTIME features 14 recipes, plus style tips for the kitchen, including this gem:
When making teriyaki salmon, “put on your Versace apron.”
C U LT U R E
The Beach Boys’Til I Die (Alternate Mix) (from Endless Harmony Soundtrack)
Laurie SpiegelDrums (from the album The Expanding Universe)
“I was searching online for exciting electronic music from the ’70s when I came across Laurie Spiegel. She’s a fascinating character: still active at 70 years old, but very reclusive. This gem was recorded in the year I was born— 1975—but it sounds more modern than a lot of current techno tracks.
Spiegel was using special sequencers back then that made her music sound very precise and futuristic.”
“I discovered this version of the Beach Boys classic in a TV adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler. The vibraphone intro on the track is incredible. Obviously, like most of the Beach Boys’ songs, it has a clever melody, but I was also impressed by the instrument’s floating, metallic
sound—so much so that I bought myself a vibraphone. I’m still an amateur, but I used it on a few tracks on our new album.”
“This techno classic from 1991 changed my life. It takes me back to Tresor, the club in Berlin where some of the city’s earliest techno parties took place. If you managed to get past the strict bouncer on the door, you’d enter a new world where strobe lighting, dry ice and heavy beats were the only things
that really mattered. It was a completely new way of partying. I was 16 years old at the time and I loved it.”
Speedy JEvolution
“The [illustrated] cover of Halo’s debut album, Quarantine, shows schoolgirls killing themselves, which says a lot about her radical approach. This tune is a great example. The lyrics are unsettling and very personal, and the music is so dense, with weird rhythms. Halo is one of the most interesting
personalities in music at the moment, because she disregards conventions and explores new territory with every new record.”
Laurel HaloThaw (from the album Quarantine)
“This is a song all three of us love dearly—especially the live version that appears on 101. When we work on set lists for our tours, we usually take a look at Depeche Mode’s for inspiration. Not that we have nearly as many hits, but their shows are perfectly structured, which we witnessed for ourselves a few years
ago when they played in Berlin. [Singer] Dave Gahan’s scream at the beginning of the song is my personal highlight.”
Depeche ModeNever Let Me Down Again (from the live album 101)
This matchbox-sized clip-on device is geared toward runners who want to listen to streamed music but are tired of jogging with a bulky smartphone in their pocket. Mighty is the first dedicated audio player to let users listen to their Spotify playlists offline, storing 48 hours of music while delivering at least five hours of continuous playback. mighty.audio
THE GADGETMighty
86 THE RED BULLETIN
Futurama: Game of Drones
Everyone’s favorite animated sci-fi sitcom
enters the world of mobile gaming, mixing 3D action with puzzle challenges and plenty of references for fans
of the series.
THE FIRST GAME I WORKED ON TWISTED METAL: BLACK“As a game tester, my first game was Barbie Adventure Riding Club; as a game designer, it was Twisted Metal: Black. Both had a profound effect on how I saw the industry and helped me understand how the disciplines of game development worked together. I’m proud to have worked on both.”
MiitomoIf you must stare
at social media all day, you might as well make it fun. Nintendo’s first smartphone game lets
you take your Mii character, dress it up
and, well, chat with your friends. Charming
in the extreme.
PLAY AWAY
The sun’s out, but don’t stop gaming—here are a few you can take to the beach
THE FIRST GAME I PLAYED SPACE INVADERS“During a family vacation, my brother and I found a Space Invaders cabinet in the game room and were transfixed by the magic on screen. It was set to unlimited play and we spent a rainy summer’s day trying to master it. That unforgettable moment really captured my imagination and got me hooked on video games forever.”
THE GAME THAT MOST INSPIRED ME METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER“One of my favorite games of all time, and the best in the series in my opinion. From the setting to game mechanics to boss fights, it’s a brilliant piece of art that still stands up today. I play it at least once a year.”MY CURRENT GAME
ADR1FT“I’m super-excited for people to check our weird little space game. We tried to do something unique with ADR1FT. There’s an interesting dynamic between the struggle to survive and the beautiful moments found within the destruction of the environment. And then you add VR to the equation. We feel we’ve got the game to a really special place, and we’re really proud of it. We can’t wait for people to get lost in space.”
THE GAME I’D TAKE TO A DESERT ISLAND NO MAN’S SKY“It’s not released yet and I haven’t played a single second, but based on what’s been promised, this is a game that will keep on giving. The potential of an entire universe to fly around and countless worlds to explore is incredible, and on a desert island you’d have nothing but time to do that. It’s basically the perfect game for me. It has everything and it’s my most anticipated release of the year.”
MY LIFE IN GAMES ADAM ORTHCut loose from Microsoft in 2013, Orth channeled the experience into his first game, ADR1FT, about being lost in space. Here, he reveals his other inspirations.
C U LT U R EAC T I O N
TOP TIP “In ADR1FT, it’s important to trust your oxygen meter; there’s plenty in your suit and scattered around. Complete a level and you’ll unlock an unlimited oxygen mode that allows you to go back to the stage and explore it freely.”
Disney Crossy Road
Crossy Road reimagined classic
Frogger. Now Disney has reimagined Crossy
Road with its own characters. Play as
Mickey, Donald, Woody, Simba . . . even
Wreck-It Ralph.
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July 12 Major League Baseball All-Star Game San Diego, CA
Take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd, buy me beers and some weiner dogs, I don’t care if I snort like a hog, let me root, root, root for some All-Stars, if they don’t win then —who cares? Let’s be real: This is a chance to see the top players in the American and National Leagues show off their flashy skills and crush homers at Petco Park. And what better way to celebrate summer than catching a baseball game in sunny San Diego? Grab a local craft beer, spit out sunflower shells and soak it up. mlb.com
Ride FestivalWhen deciding which
concerts to hit this summer, consider this:
location, location, location. This two-day
festival in Telluride, Colorado, has a
gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains, a
perfect backdrop for listening to some Pearl Jam. ridefestival.com
9July
Panorama NYC
The folks behind Coachella bring this
brand-new three-day fest to the Big Apple.
Acts include Kendrick Lamar, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Alabama Shakes
and many more. panorama.nyc
22July
SAVE THE DATE
More events you don’t want to
miss this month
July 16 Red Bull Reign Finals Chicago, IL
Are you ready for the ultimate 3-on-3 basketball tournament? After six local qualifying events from New Orleans to Detroit, 16 teams head to the Windy City to test their endurance for the North American finals. Each team must go multiple rounds, fighting tooth and nail for a chance to win. Hometown kid and NBA star Anthony Davis returns to host the event. redbull.com
CultivationThe second season of
this eSports web series follows the story
of Leffen, a Swedish gamer who’s fighting
for a chance to compete in Super
Smash Bros. Melee tournaments in the
United States. rbtv.com
25July
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Kings of the court at Red Bull Reign Finals in Chicago.
July 15-17 Pitchfork Festival Chicago, IL
Bring a blanket and some sunscreen and sneak in a sixer of PBR for this festival curated by the best music snobs in the biz. This year’s lineup is dreamy and ethereal, thanks to multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens (pictured), Beach House and Broken Social Scene. pitchfork.com
July 25-31 PGA ChampionshipSpringfield, NJ
How will Rickie Fowler, our 27-year-old cover star, fare at the golf season’s final major tournament? Hard to say, but Fowler likes his chances. Whatever the outcome, this peacock on the green makes a normally subdued sport fun to watch. pga.com
Will Mike Trout be MVP for a third
year in a row?
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AC T I O N H OW TO
BECOME A MAJOR LEAGUE EATERSeen Man v. Food and think you’ve got the guts for a challenge? The steaks may be huge, but those stakes are too low. Instead of shooting for a free feed, follow Matt Stonie’s lead. Six years ago, the California teenager entered a local lobster-roll-eating contest and won. “I pocketed $1,000 for 10 minutes’ work,” recalls the now-23-year-old reigning world champion. Yes, Major League Eating is a recognized sport. Last July at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, Stonie beat eight-time winner Joey Chestnut 62 hot dogs to 60 in a brutal 10-minute dogfight, cheered on by a live crowd of 40,000 and televised to the world on ESPN. As “Megatoad” warms up for this year’s Fourth of July rematch, he reveals the secrets to becoming pro-eating number one. youtube.com/megatoadstonie
2Always be picky “People ask what
my favorite food is. I say it depends on what contest I’m training for. When it’s more enjoyable, you can eat more. That’s why a lot of pro eaters do a range of contests —there are a lot of good sponsors out there with great contest food. Sometimes it’s hard not to enjoy it when you’re up on stage, but you’ve got to focus. If you enjoy the food, you’ll slow down and lose.”
3Prep is everything“Exercise burns
off calories and improves endurance, but I tone it down in heavy season. Combining competition eating and the gym is hard on the body. It’s about keeping a strict and healthy diet. I eat fruit and veg, lots of water, low-sodium food like nuts. It’s very boring. Then 24 hours before a comp, it’s liquid calories like protein shakes to flush my system. It’s mental, too. You need to get psyched for the event.”
4Get a unique technique
“Hot dogs are technically difficult; the skin is tough to break down. I chew minimally, just enough not to choke, but without tiring out my muscles. Don’t eat it like a conventional hot dog—separate the meat from the bun, eat the dog and dunk the bun in water, because bread’s dry. A lot of people eat one at a time; I eat two. I like to move. It helps push the food down to the stomach. Shaking your body also releases pressure.”
5Your body knows best“I’m not going to do
anything to hurt myself, but at the same time you can’t be throwing up food, because you’ve got to take care of your throat muscles. Usually I let it go through the system. In a few cases, especially sweet contests, your stomach contains pure sugar and you start getting the jitters. Sometimes you’ve got to take care of yourself—get rid of the food. It’s about recovery.”
1 Remember it’s a sport “To be a professional
swimmer, you swim laps,” says Stonie. “As a pro eater, I practice technique, speed and endurance with whatever food is in the next contest. If it’s a 10-minute hot dog contest, then I do 12-minute practices once every four days to push my limits, starting weeks ahead, and adding two or three hot dogs each session. It’s dehydrating and bloating; you’re drinking a lot of water, taking a lot of naps . . . But come the day, I’m ready to eat 50-plus hot dogs.”
THE RED BULLETIN 91
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THE RED BULLETIN BIKE SPECIAL
I AM IRONMAN There are triathlon bikes and
then there’s the triathlon bike engineered to be the world’s
fastest. More than 250 frame variations were tested with lab
tech and human expertise (from Ironman Tim van Berkel)
before the Giant Trinity Advanced Pro 0 was born.
giant-bicycles.com
R O A D
T H E G R E AT E S T I N V EN T IO N S I N CE T H E W H EEL IS T WO W H EEL S. F RO M CI T Y CRU IS ER S T O FAT B I K E S, T H IS IS T H E Y E A R T O G E T B ACK I N T H E SA D D L E.
THE RED BULLETIN 93
VICTORY LAPThe Cube Stereo 160 C:68 is quick, but that’s not all: This replica enduro winner also has ingenious shocks you can operate from the handlebars, a super-light carbon frame and aggressive geometry that blends climbing prowess with downhill freeriding nimbleness.
chainreactioncycles.com
CUT THE FATThe Lauf Carbonara fork is a lean option for fat bikes: The tires already absorb plenty of shock, so its 2.4 inches of travel is said to be enough. Military-grade glass-fiber leaf springs give toughness and lightness.
laufforks.com
M O U N TA I N
HEAD STRONGWhether the Kask Rex 3 trail-style helmet looks cool is a matter of taste. That it delivers great protection and comfort is a matter of fact, thanks to secure Octo Fit tech and an occipital-bone-protecting rear section.
backcountry.com
THICK AND THINAll mountain bikes are built for tours through tough terrain, but the YT Jeffsy CF Pro from Germany is designed to love it. The carbon frame uses gravity-oriented geometry to deliver drive and traction while staying light and agile on Fox suspension and 29-inch carbon wheels.
yt-industries.com
94
THE ALL-AROUNDER
As off-roaders go, trail bikes are the ones with the
greatest range of uses. Their low weight (about
30 pounds, depending on gear) is a delight on long tours, while fat springs (6 inches, give or take)
and robust parts allow you the odd trip to the bike park. The Scott Genius LT 700 Tuned Plus is a prime example of this all-around capability—the carbon frame with
integrated cable routing, hydraulically retractable
seat post and 11 gears (with additional front
chain guide) are all state of the art, while 27.5-
inch wheels deliver that Goldilocks sweet spot of traction and nimbleness.
scott-sports.com
HAPPY KNEESBloody knees stopped being cool when you left school, so take proper protection with you when heading off-road. G-Form PRO-X Knee Pads are light, breathable and machine washable, and they provide greater flexibility than Batman’s neck.
g-form.com
95
C I T Y
STYLISH AND SUSTAINABLEThere are plenty of jerseys out there that don’t scream “cyclist” the moment you put them on. But it’s the fabric that separates the Café Jersey by Chapeau!—it’s made from 64 percent bamboo fiber.
chapeau.cc
FIRST-CLASS DELIVERYPractical, stylish, durable—Mission Workshop clearly got the memo when it came to messenger bags. The weatherproof flap of The Rummy rolls up to reveal enough pockets to house two laptops, and the bag even comes with a lifetime warranty.
missionworkshop.com
SPEED KINGWith a 200-watt motor
powering the rear wheel, the Specialized
Turbo can achieve distances your puny
leg muscles can only dream of. The battery,
integrated into the down tube, is nearly invisible,
and a low center of gravity ensures safer handling. The rest of the features
are an embarrassment of riches —aluminum frame,
10-speed gears, Rock Shox suspension forks
for rough terrain, super-stable wheels, large disc
brakes and an illuminated thumb button on the
handlebars for controlling the level of pedal-assist
you need on the go.specialized.com
ITALIAN STALLIONIn its single-speed rocket, the Gazzetta, traditional Italian bike manufacturer Cinelli has fused steel expertly to make a whole greater than the sum of its parts, perfectly designed for both track racing and modern city life. You’ll be overtaking bike messengers on this one.
cinelli-usa.com
96 THE RED BULLETIN
SHOCK JOCKEYCarbon may be lighter, but the shock-absorbing characteristics of titanium make for a smoother ride. Few bike manufacturers use this metal so skillfully as Moots, as is demonstrated by the 35th Anniversary Vamoots RSL-LE, precision-built from premium Pi Tech 3/2.5 titanium tubing. It’s durable, too, which is why Skynet chose it for its Terminator endoskeletons.
moots.com
LOOK SHARPIf you thought unobtanium was only available on Avatar’s planet of Pandora, think again—Oakley EVZero Range PRIZM Road performance sunglasses use it for increased nose and ear grip. Lens quality is out of this world, too.
oakley.com
DRY RUNOutwit the unpredictable weather with the Showers Pass Spring Classic Jacket. Its super-light, waterproof fabric keeps you dry in the worst of it, while staying breathable under any conditions. Four-way stretch panels, elasticized cuffs and a silicone grip inside the drop-tail hem provide flexibility at any moisture level.
showerspass.com
A DIFFERENT FERRARI
Colnago has been creating high-end racing bikes for
decades, but with the V1-r Limited Edition, the Italian
luxury bike maker has pedaled the extra mile,
teaming up with its local motorsports counterpart, Ferrari. This has resulted
in a super-charge of F1 engineering to Colnago’s already advanced carbon
manufacturing—the frame geometry has
been tuned up and every tube shape-optimized
via wind-tunnel testing. Add Mavic Ksyrium 125th
Anniversary wheels and you’ve got a limited-
edition bike that’s anything but limited in
performance. colnago.com
R O A D
COOLANGATTA, AUSTRALIAMarch 10, 2016“When I’m in the water, I forget about the rest of the world,” says Hawaiian surfer Sebastian Zietz, though the world rudely makes its presence felt when a wave knocks him off his feet on Australia’s Gold Coast. At least his trusty leash ensures his board won’t be forgotten. For more surfing action, go to instagram.com/seabassz
MAKES YOU FLY
“It was a day thatI won’t forget in a hurry.”Pro surfer Sebastian Zietz, 28, performs the ultimate stress test for a leash.
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