Our name is where questions often begin: “What exactly is As Far As I’m Concerned?” 

In truth, we’re still exploring our own definition - and really, the best answer is not a simple one.

We tend to push against the borders of all that we resemble. AFAIC exists as the abstract amalgam of cycling team, creative studio, and built community. What began as a small group of friends has grown into a team shaped by the creative expression found in endurance and the belief that shared motion carries us further than individual effort.

For us, we find the truest story is often the quiet struggle in the middle, the messy affair of learning how to suffer together. AFAIC is founded on the kind of rides that matter only to those in them, the shared feeling of transcending our personal limits, the collective rhythmic breathing against fading light.

As a team, AFAIC is built around the sacrificial effort you make for your teammate. It was built atop seeing how many miles you could squeeze into a window of daylight, and the feeling of being in a never-ending breakaway. There doesn’t need to be any set goal in mind, just the feeling of channeling one’s own power toward a shared goal. 

Each rider on the team has felt the nervous thrill of trying to fight others for our own glory, but that's not what kept us turning pedals. What kept us coming back was the devotional aspects, the sacrifices we made for each other to thrive in unison, to forget ourselves and cross the imaginary finish line collectively.

“Distress Is Information,” the tenet that guides the physical pain we endure together, is a form of divine teaching; a moment of pain teaches us when we should flick the elbow, reveals each other’s grimaces - letting us know who we must dedicate our power to. We carry these as mantras on every ride, seeking to share in our combined potential, helping each other venture into unknown territories of endurance in the process. 

Creatively, As Far as I’m Concerned is an imaginative space, an ode to the underrepresented ethos of teamwork in endurance sports. Every team member has a shared vision for how we want cycling to look, feel, and operate. Our team’s platform has become our studio, our way of conveying what doesn’t get translated on cycling’s billboards.

AFAIC emerged outside the world's viewfinder, in the East Bay town of Oakland, California, an often-overlooked pulse-point of creativity and social movements in California. Our motto, “No Love for the East Bay” pays homage to Oakland's influence on our team's exhibition of sidelined values, expression, and community. 

As a community space, AFAIC strives to push beyond the conventions of competitive cycling, focusing on exploring the expressive and existential recesses of our collective humanity. We believe in imparting a new definition of Ego Death, where loss-of-self becomes transformation, placing people in moments on the bike where leaning on one another is the only means of getting home. It's in these spaces where progress only happens through devoting energy to each other.

AFAIC is where people forge bonds through endurance, where shared suffering becomes shared strength, and where the values that define us as a platform for self-discovery, growth, and exploration are truly on display.

The endurance community is slowly moving away from the myth of the lone competitor, toward a model based around shared effort. It's a movement that values cohesion and connection over isolated achievement. As a team, we consider ourselves as part of this shift, linking with others who believe that endurance is not only a personal test but a unified art form and act of resistance. 

Our path through the spheres of endurance, and our overall creative language continues to resemble an unmarked trail; It's our step away from official boundaries, a track worn in by shared footsteps and trust in each other for navigation. Each meandering turn breeds excitement and intrigue as we intersect and join the trails of others in our realm of athleticism. 

There's no short way to describe who we are or what we are as a team. Just like the phrase it takes after; our name must be open to interpretation.

As Far As I’m Concerned, we wouldn’t have it any other way.