Argonaut at the Cascade Cycling Classic Criterium
Saturday hit different in downtown Bend. The Cascade Cycling Classic Criterium transformed familiar streets into a blur of carbon and adrenaline, and honestly? We never get tired of watching our hometown turn into a proper race course. Being a sponsor again felt right, not just for the spectacle, but because we believe in what the Horner Cycling Foundation is building: more kids discovering that bikes aren't just transportation, they're freedom.
The day stretched from amateur heats at midday to the elite twilight battles that had the whole crowd on their feet. You know that moment when the peloton screams past at full tilt, and you can feel the draft from twenty feet away? Yeah, that happened about fifty times. Our senior bike nerd Ben Farver snagged 3rd in Masters aboard his Supernaut RM3—a result that had us whooping from the sidelines like proud parents. That bike was made for moments like this: tight corners at incredulous speeds, the kind of precision that separates the wheat from the chaff.
Here's what gets us fired up about events like this: they're conversion machines. Kids who show up thinking bikes are just for getting to school leave understanding that bikes can make you feel like you're flying. Parents who've never seen a criterium suddenly get why we spend our weekends chasing pain up mountains. Racing isn't just our heritage, it's our way of paying it forward, right here where we call home.
The Midsummer Challenge: Solstice, Suffering, and Big Smiles
Some rides you do for training. Others for the views. The Midsummer Challenge in partnership with Pas Normal Studios? That one's for the story you'll tell for years.
This Saturday, we're rolling 200 kilometers of Central Oregon's most honest terrain, the kind that doesn't lie to you about what it's going to demand. Bend to McKenzie Pass via a loop by Camp Polk then all the way back to Bend via Sisemore Road. No finishing times, no podiums, just you versus the longest day of the year and everything the Cascades want to throw at you. The volcanic climbs will test your legs, the descents will test your nerve, and somewhere around kilometer 150, you'll test your character.
We'll gather at our Lolo Drive headquarters for a relaxed start but still before most reasonable folks are stirring on a Saturday, coffee in hand, legs feeling surprisingly good (they always do at the start). Whether you're driving over from Portland, rolling up from the Willamette valley, or you're one of our Bend locals, the invitation is the same: let's see what we're made of when the day gets long and the road gets real.
This isn't about who's fastest—it's about who shows up, who pushes their boundaries, and who remembers that the solstice only comes once a year.
RSVP now on Strava to join the challenge.
Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder: Grit, Gravel, and Character
The countdown is on. In just a few short days, the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder will sprawl across Oregon's high country like a five-day fever dream, and we're going in deep. This isn't just another gravel race—it's the one that made gravel racing cool before gravel racing was cool, the original sufferfest that starts and ends in our backyard.
With Gravel Earth Series involvement and an international field that reads like a who's who of dirt road demons, this year's edition promises the kind of chaos that legends are made of. We're talking volcanic moonscapes, descents that make your fillings rattle, and climbs that'll have you questioning your life choices—in the best possible way.
Our full squad will be out there every single day, Argonaut colors flying across ridgelines that look like they belong on Mars. We'll be trackside too, wrenching, cheering, and probably consuming unhealthy amounts of coffee while we watch grown adults willingly suffer through some of the most beautiful terrain on earth.
Follow our team during the OTGG on Instagram for daily updates, behind-the-scenes stories, and rider profiles that'll make you want to quit your job and become a gravel nomad.
Meet the Team: 🧱 The Architect from San Francisco
Meet Matt Wiebe, and yes, the nickname fits like a custom frame. In San Francisco, he drafts buildings that'll outlast us all. On the bike? He drafts lines up impossible pitches with the same methodical precision, except instead of blueprints, his tools are a GR3 and an alarming tolerance for suffering.
Matt's the kind of rider who sees a 20% grade and thinks "finally, something interesting." Mountain bike roots run deep, but it's those endless gravel epics—the 24-hour odysseys that blur the line between riding and surviving—where he truly comes alive. His GR3 isn't just transportation; it's the key to unlocking places and experiences that only exist when you're willing to ride past reasonable and straight into legendary.
From the endless fireroads threading through the Cascades to ultracycling adventures like The Speed Project, Matt maps his suffering with the same attention to detail he brings to his day job. The difference? Instead of steel and concrete, he's building something you can't blueprint: the kind of memories that only come from pushing beyond what you thought possible.
Precision on the drafting table, power on the pedals. That's The Architect.
More squad introductions coming soon—trust us, this crew is something special.
