Memories of LA Invitational
Hey, Sub the YouTube editor here.
Los Angeles Invitational 2025 is officially happening.
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I had the opportunity to attend last year’s event with Wentz. At the ride event, I experienced my second bonk.
It was a tough ride, but I also have great memories of the event, so I thought of sharing a few stories from my perspective.
Sean from The Cub House had invited us to the 2024 event-
back when we met at the MADE Bike Show 2023, that was held in Portland Oregon. It was the first time seeing the Beach Cub bikes as well.
Sean was like a best friend from when we first met. He’s such a sweet heart and I get why many people follow him and the projects he works on, such as The Cub House, and TeamDream.
Sean is very good friends with the two from Ultradynamico, and they took us on a morning ride during our 2023 trip.
I did not think that I was gonna hit a wall in the mountains of LA back when I was having the best time of my life in Portland.
Fast forward to 2024. Sean invited us to the LA Invitational, so we flew to attend the event for the first time.
For those who are not familiar with the event, the LA Invitational is a two day event that consists group rides, car show and a huge swap meet.
The event is held in the neighborhood that The Cub House is located.
The Cub House is located in an area away from downtown. The neighborhood was nice and quiet.
Here’s a photo I shot of Wentz showing how wide the streets are, compared to Tokyo.
Now let’s focus on my experience of the ride, not jut a ride, the best bike ride I had ever had.
The ride had 3 different difficulties.
Single Scoop
distance : 27 miles (43.5 km)
elevation : 4,100 feet (1,250 m)
Double Scoop
distance : 38 miles (61.2 km)
elevation : 6,300 feet (1,920 m)
Triple scoop
distance : 62 miles (99.8 km)
elevation : 10,000 feet (3,050 m)
I have only seen the beautiful photos of the event on the internet, but I had a very small amount of information about the ride, so Wentz and I decided to go with the Single Scoop ride.
Wentz brought his own Beach Club bike, but I was going to rent a bike from The Cub House, so I wasn’t too focused on riding fast. I was more focused on documenting the whole event.
Our plan was to ride the Single Scoop, take some good photos, and come back. We thought the day would be nice and easy.
Still, the ride is mainly climbing a hill of dirt for 40km. We wanted to get some water and snacks!
Wentz and I didn’t even know where the starting line was, but thankfully Matty from The Cub House was going to ride with us.
We told him that we haven’t prepared for the ride, but he mentioned that there will be an aid station in the rout.
Soon, a ton of people started to gather around the starting line and the ride was on, with one bottle of water and no snacks.
We rushed out to keep up with others
“Oh, we’re already starting?”
“It should be fine if we ride slow!”
Wentz and I convinced ourselves and rode with all the cool riders on cool bikes.
We rode on paved road for a while til we reached the mountain.
There were people on Rivendells to full carbon bikes. Some were wearing kits, some were wearing a t-shirt with a pair of shorts. It was cool to see 500 plus people ride in different styles.
Wentz had a kit on and I had a long sleeve tee with a pair of shorts. I really wish I had worn bib short!
This was not a competitive race, so everyone was riding with a smile and chatting with each other the whole time.
There’s a prize patch for people who rode through the whole race, and for the 2024 patches, they made the Japanese version which was cool.
After a few moments into the ride, we start to see some incline.
Here we go…
We were still taking photos in the beginning of the hill climb.
“Holy cow, we climbed a lot.” We were pretty impressed, as we begin to run out of drinks. We headed to the aid station.
Snapped some more flicks and arrived at the fist aid station.
We thought we were able to refill our bottles, but the tank was already empty by the time we arrived. We got a small bottle of coke and an apple that was left. We chugged them down and headed out.
Now that I think of it, this station might have actually been the finish line for the Single Scoop race. I mean, one bottle was enough to get here.
Of course, we did not know the fact by then, so we kept on riding.
I don’t fully understand English, but I think the guys at The Cub House were saying that they’d pick us up by a car, once we completed the race and would take us to a great location for more photos, so we thought that we would see their car at some point and the race. I could have been completely wrong though.
Anyhow, we kept on riding.
It started to get foggy, as we gained elevation.
We kept on climbing up, but there were no signs of any vehicles to pick us up. On top of that, there were no phone signals, so we could not call Sean or Wakako, our translator to see what’s going on.
“This is not what we signed up for!!”
We accepted our situation and shifted to “Ride the whole thing mode”.
The dirt hill climb begins. We climbed, A LOT.
Shoutout to Matty who supported us the whole way though!
The blue sky appeared out of nowhere as we kept pedaling. Could this be the photo spot they were talking about?
I don’t know, but it feels amazing!
That said, we are still climbing a hill, so it’s still tough. I honestly had no room in my mind to take in the view. I also noticed that the fog we rode through earlier was actually clouds. We were so high up in the mountain, we rode in clouds. The blue sky that suddenly appeared made total sense.
Being above the cloud was amazing, but my life point was near zero at this point. I got knocked down after a few meters. This was the second time I ever hit a wall in my life.
My vision was blurry and felt like I was about to pass out. I could not pedal anymore, so I sat down. I had experienced the same thing in the past and I knew what food to eat to fix it, so I wasn’t scared, but there are no food around.
However, we get help from a few legends.
These gentlemen were on their way back from the top of the mountain and provided us food and drinks. Thank you so much!
I was so out of it, so I could not ask their names and thank them enough, but I did manage to shoot these two photos. I would love to thank them personally, so PLEASE let me know if you’re seeing this!
Now that I felt better, it was time to move!
Sorry, the only photos I was able to take were when we were resting.
More things that happened during the way to the aid station, but I’m just gonna fast forward to when we arrived to the aid station that was located above the clouds.
Can you see the booth in the picture? That is the halfway point of the Double Scoop. Isn’t it crazy that we climbed passed those clouds on the right side of the picture?
Thus, this photo was taken, which we’ve used in a few articles or web pages. I’m very proud of this photo.
Yes, I had a very tough time. Yes, I almost passed out, but the weather was wonderful, good music, spectacular view and the vibes around the aid station made me really happy. I felt very good about myself!
I ate a ton of snacks and started the descend.
Can you spot Matty and Wentz?
Matty and his father. Love the Team Dream Jersey!
Bombing a hill above the clouds is something that a few people get to experience. A very memorable moment of this trip!
Now I’m starting to gain energy to shoot photos.
It wasn’t an easy downhill. Wentz had three flats and the hydraulic brakes on the bike I was riding overheated, so I was riding down with one brake, almost half of the time.
We descended for 30 minutes straight and got back in town. Oh it feels good to be back!!
Saying Cheese with the Patches!
Sorry, my shorts are rolled up like that. I told you I should’ve worn bib shorts. The fabric flapping on the shorts I wore while pedaling was very annoying.
Yattaze! (I did it!)
Last but not least, I don’t want you to get the idea that the LA Invitational is a hard event. We would have been totally okay if we were prepared. The event is filled with smiles and laughter, so I highly recommend going!
Go check out the video of the event too.
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