An Unpredicted Journey

Chris Kelly’s Road to Retail Success

- Nicole Formosa

CHRIS KELLY RUSHES OVER TO UNLOCK the wide-swinging wooden gate that separates Topanga Creek Outpost from the winding, southern California canyon road that serves as his shop’s namesake, just as the clock ticks past 11 a.m.

Kelly has good reason for being a few minutes late: He spent the night before camped on an island off the coast of Los Angeles, guiding a crew of riders through the most mundane part of the week as part of his regular Wednesday, close-to-home adventure. Early that morning, he boarded a ferry, traveled 26 miles back to the mainland and battled Thursday morning gridlock that might have caused him to boil over had he not just come off two days of bike packing punctuated by beach side camping, $1 tacos and stunning views of the Pacific Ocean seemingly around every desolate dirt corner. Even the unexpected overnight rainstorm that sent the under-sheltered crew scrambling for cover left him re-energized.

Kelly started these weekly micro-adventures, dubbed ‘Unpredict Your Wednesday,’ about three years ago, after a rafting trip down the Grand Canyon got him thinking about the power of truly disconnecting, about how unplanned experiences feed the soul and the importance of breaking up life’s monotony.

“That night at camp, I watched people. Everybody who fell in (one of the Colorado River rapids) was a little full of life, and, like, a little full of their inventor,” Kelly says. He started thinking about how he could translate that into his daily life.

‘Unpredict Your Journey’ became Topanga Creek’s mantra, with the weekly Wednesday escape as its cornerstone.