Topanga Creek Outpost Adventure Field Log

We had an amazing time at the shop this past year. Filled with lots of new adventures…

We put together a little video series recapping all the fun we had and thought it would be nice to share.

January: We started the year with a whole slew of Surly bikes showing up plus Bubnut who worked for a few months, a friend’s son from Chris’s college days. We did a coffee video from 19 Oaks above Santa Barbara after bikepacking in to that super cool place. Max and Lucca went surfing in Hawaii and Crawford did the awesome video like Tom Cruise from Top Gun. We also did a lot of wheel builds and leather work.

February: After Lucca and Max got back from Hawaii we built even more Surly bikes and even more wheel builds. We received some templates for leather bags and had some very creative days for Rogue Journeymen. Bubnut learned belt making skills and we made some aprons, too.

March: We had a blast making some TikTok videos to test wheel sizes and have fun in March. Lucca discussed how many carrots can fit in straps by Surly and Voile on fork of a bikes. It was hilarious and Lucca is a math major so he really did do math. We did another bikepacking trip to Santa Barbara / 19 Oaks and some TikTok videos. Our TikTok username is @bikepacker Lots of people rented bikes and we worked on some leather guitar straps. Max did a bacon tier comparison. Fun stuff.

April: We took an amazing trip to the Carrizo Plain to see the flowers in bloom. Bubnut had his school bus and Crawford was stoked we showed up when we did driving out there because he had a flat moments before we were about to drive by him. We cooked out, had a campfire and lots of fun before riding the Caliente Ridge Trail. So good. We worked on some leather lacross carriers for Ripwood Sticks. We added a wooden phone to the shop and perhaps the highlight of the month was taking at-risk kids mountain biking for a day at Malibu Creek State Park. Stoked to get Nash and Hayes Grier on mountain bikes. They seem to love it and our Saturday rides were as fun as always. Lots of bacon in April. We also started our own clothing line. It was a really busy month.

May: May was a roller coaster. Just before Bubnut headed back to Pennsylvania in his school bus we sanded our wooden floor. We had a big order of 100 guitar straps for Big Thief. The bummer of the month was a fire that threatened the shop and Topanga and we had to be evacuated for a few days. That happened right after Chris’s mom passed away and the inventory shortage finally really started to affect us. But we made the best of it with fun, rides and good times. Chris Jung started working a lot to take some pressure off. Lots of rentals happened because of the pandemic. We had a going away party for Bubnut playing games outside.

June: We started the month with a Rogue Journeymen offsite leather bottle opener event at the Broken Spoke. A total success and got us thinking about mobility. Lots of bike rentals headed out and our first live concert at the shop. We hosted some local artist for Make Music Day (The summer solstice) The evening was amazing. Redbull rented out the shop for the day and Carson Stork was here riding with the Redbull executives. It was another great day hosting people. Max broke his hand unfortunately.

July: We immediately went bikepacking to Big Bear at the beginning of July. We rode up to a fun camping spot near the Skyline Trail. It is totally off grid. Camping, cooking great food and fun happened. We rode the trail up and back. Rover and Eric hiked in and everyone had fun. Chad of Chad Hagerman Studio (artist of amazement) joined in. We bikepacked allmost every week. In addition to Big Bear, we went to the Los Angeles Forest and Upper Oso. Lots of bacon and eggs. We rode/camped Chilao twice and a tree fell on Chris when he went to get Rover after camping from Eric.

August: We got up at 3 AM one morning and drove to Utah for the Big Gear Show and it was amazing. We drove through Vegas so stopped for breakfast and a little craps. After driving all day to Park City, we did a night ride from the top of the mountain that Lucca’s buddy brought us on. We had passes for the chair lift and really loved the riding. Plus the show was terrific and we met everyone from the Pacuare Outdoor Center in Costa Rica. After Utah we also went to Big Bear camping and a few people got passes for the chairlifts. We had another concert with Honeybee at the shop. Chris did a hilarious video because he couldn’t make the Utah trip. Naturally, we finished the month buying a fire truck and immediately loaded it with bikes and took it to the trails.

September: Cedar from Esker joined us for a bikepacking trip across Catalina Island. We camped at Two Harbors and again at Blackjack Campground in the middle of the island. We rode from Avalon an back. Lots of shop rides, a lot of rentals and we took the fire truck to Malibu and camped on it one night. We had a little less inventory to sell so we did some custom builds and built wheels to make up for the industry lack of wheels.

October: Chris really wanted to see if using the fire truck to make belts out in the forest was feasible and doable so we checked out with an amazing trip. First we headed to Sea Otter Classic (with new shop jerseys) where our very own Lucca Perretti came in third (silver medal) in the enduro against 73 other riders. Mr. Max Sever came in 6th out of 73. We are very happy for them and proud they did it and did so well. We camped at Sea Otter and raced cross country. Max and (big) Chris raced single speed and Lucca raced traditional on Sunday. After Sea Otter we headed to Yosemite, camped and made belts for the people working and then after an amazing night in Tonopah, Nevada where we stayed at the Clown Motel we headed to Utah. In Utah we camped for a couple days with Zach and the dudes from Velorution bikes before heading to see Red Bull Rampage. It was very surreal. We did a lot of riding in St George Utah and the Rogue Journeymen Belt Brigade was soundly a success. We made belts for everyone who camped.

November + December: We kept going with our fire truck and the belt brigade by randomly shouting out some coordinates and people found us in Griffith Park for a belt. We did some leather work for a collaboration chair with Hagerman Studio and went to the Big Boy Toy Show in Vegas with the fire truck for our first event. We planned the trip with Fat Chance Bikes for another collaboration. We have a stamp with their Yo Eddy logo for belts and future fun. A few trips with the fire truck to see what we can do kept happening during the last two months. Bicycle Nomad stopped by for a chat and we did some leather rewards for the No Name Bike Race. A lot of rain created the opportunity for Christ to jump on a raft and have a blast. We only had one evacuation from a fire threat in the fall. We had to evacuate for a few days but all was safe in the end. And although typing this makes it seem like a lot happened in the past couple months, we tried to hit the brakes and relax because the year was filled with some intensity, everyone needed a break and a reboot.

Lastly, we had so many friends wait patiently for months for a new ride. With everything going on in the world, we are overjoyed so many people are getting on bikes.

So many happy faces came through our shop. We feel lucky to have met them all!