Our friend and local photographer Chris Stricklen is a fixture of the cycling scene in Marin. If you’ve ever been north of the bridge, chances are you’ve seen him cruising down the backroads of Tam, or running around Point Reyes with his camera in hand.

We recently caught up with him as part of our new interview series, to ask him a few questions about cycling, art, music, and more.

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— What’s your favorite trail in the bay area? What do you love about it? Do you have any in particular that you make a point to try and hit weekly?

This might actually open the door for judgment but I really like going up Old Railroad Grade out of Mill Valley, CA. Funny enough what made me fall in love with it was the time that I showed up to the ride with a dead Di2 battery and I had to do the whole ride 27miles and 2700ft in my 42-15 or whatever my second hardest gear was at the time. The trail itself is moderate with nothing necessarily crazy steep but there are some noticeable pitches mixed into the climb. Once you get to West Point Inn you have the option to continue up to East Peak or you have the option to descend towards Pantoll. If you choose to descend there is the option to descend road via Panoramic Hwy or to descend dirt if you want to take Deer Park down to Muir Woods. The options and the views are why I get excited to start my ride with ORRG.

— What have you been listening to lately?

I binge the same albums over and over and over again. Right now I’ve been listening to Camp because of a recommendation from a friend and I knew nothing about Childish Gambino. Generally when riding I actually listen to podcasts more: The Breakfast Club, The Daily, Golden Hour - anything about photography and news. I turn music on when I start descending.

— What’s your earliest memory of bike riding? Was there anyone who played an important role in introducing it to you?

My old baseball teammate from high school talked me into riding in 2013. He thought I might like it and ultimately he was 100% correct

One of my earliest memories was my first winter as a cyclist and my buddy, Brian, had also just started riding. First of all, he earned his cyclists stripes in the parking lot of Safeway due to the dreaded 0mph crash because he just started clipping in. Mainly, it was December or January, it was 30° and neither of us had any cold weather gear. We rode for 20-something miles with an average of 31°, a low of 27° and when we returned it was probably about 40-something degrees.

— Is there somewhere you’d love to ride someday? (could be a country, a trail, a particular competition etc.)

Spain looks like an incredible place to ride. However I don’t necessarily glorify going to Europe simply for the sake of traveling. There are plenty of places that I may never see in the United States and there are places vastly different geographically than Northern California and California on the whole that are not too far from me. So, if I could never make it to Europe, I could be happy by riding in every state in the country. That could be a really cool experience.

— We love your photography. What’s your setup look like when you’re on your bike? What do you bring along with you? How would you describe what you're looking to capture while you're out on the road?

I ride with a full DSLR set up. If I’m on the road I try and figure out which lens works best for my situation: Canon 5DSr with either a 35mm, 85mm or 135mm. I also own a 24-70 but I’m new to zoom lenses and it’s not a very inspiring tool for storytelling - I just use that to get work done efficiently. On dirt I’ve been known to bring almost my entire kit with me because I can fit two lenses in my bar bag if I need to and I always ride with my camera on my back.

— How would you say you first found a community through cycling? Was it ever intimidating or did you face any challenges?

Finding a true community actually started with a client I had when I worked for Nordstrom in Marin. His name was Ross. I had been on one group ride before that went terribly wrong because I wasn’t strong enough to hang at the time. Ross told me about a no-drop group ride that rolled on Sundays and it was just early enough for me to do before work and so happened to start and end right around the corner from work. From there I met my main mechanic,Tim. A great friend, Colette, that introduced me to my favorite race-ride of all time. From there I met all the people I love seeing on the bike and my entire bike community came full circle. Because of Ross, and the people he introduced me to, meeting people and finding a community was never intimidating. Funny how just one person can make that big of an impact on an entire experience. In this case it’s a lifelong experience.

— Have you done much racing? Is that something that interests you or do you enjoy cruising more? What do you think it is that draws you to biking?

After I started riding I essentially started racing the following season. Racing only interests me because I had a very competitive upbringing. However, at the moment, I’m able to contain the urge to race. I was extremely fit as a racer, which I took for granted but I was never willing to take the risks that the sport requires to get across the line first. There are still some races in my future, I’m sure, but I really enjoy riding just to ride. I still ride hard, but maybe a couple of clicks slower than when I raced.

Now that I tend to make photographs when I go for a ride, cycling has taken on a whole new form for me. I have really nice equipment for cycling and for photography. So, imagine owning a Ferrari 488 Pista Spider and ripping down the coast of California on Highway 1 with a camera nestled in the passenger seat an hour or two before sunset. The wind is in your face, the sun is on your skin and every time you want to document a moment you pull off onto a sandy, gravely shoulder over looking jagged rocks getting swallowed by the white foam of the Pacific Ocean. That’s what I like to do, only on a bike and with the camera on my back… but if I had a Ferrari 488 Spider I’d be ok with that too. That experience can't exist when you’re trying to get KOMs or podiums.

Photo Credits: @creedub and @rj.agc of Photo Pace

Interview: Christopher Stricklen