The Radavist

American Classic recently relaunched as a tire company, offering a variety of sizes for road, gravel, and e-bikes at an approachable price point. Coinciding with the relaunch, American Classic has established an ambassador program and is currently seeking applicants.

All types of riders and racers are encouraged to complete the application form to be considered. American Classic will then follow up and provide tires to those selected in exchange for feedback, fun content, and the charge of spreading the joy of cycling.

Bikepacking Roots’ latest route – the Northwoods Route – is a ~600-mile-long circumnavigation of the western half of Lake Superior, primarily following gravel roads, relatively smooth two-tracks, rail trails, and short sections of pavement through thick forests and along countless lakes of all sizes. This loop has been created to be inviting to riders on both mountain or gravel bikes, and riders will find that resupply options are relatively frequent along the way. Singletrack alternates and trail networks along the way offer options for riders looking for more technical riding opportunities – loaded or unloaded – and to experience the many unique trail systems built near communities along the way.

Head to Bikepacking Roots for the full breakdown of this epic route!

Perhaps you read our announcement last month about The Radavist merging with The Pro’s Closet?

These are exciting times, and we’re excited about many new initiatives. One of those includes hiring an editor to help take some workload off my shoulders.

After running this platform solo for 15+ years, I think it’s safe to say it’s time for a right-hand editor to help out. Well, we put out a call for applications for this position, had some great interviews, and were pleasantly surprised to find one of our endemic contributors fit the role perfectly.

Josh Weinberg has penned and photographed some wonderful pieces for The Radavist over the years and his contributions will help with our vision for 2022 and beyond. For the past few years, he’s spent his time working for Arizona State University where he used SEO and other web tactics to grow its online degree programs. We’ll be tapping into Josh’s knowledge for growing The Radavist while leaning heavily on his photography and organizational skills to continue our pursuit of documenting cycling’s Radical Atavists.

We compiled a list of some of the stories Josh has shared with The Radavist over the years below in our Related Archives, so take a few minutes to check those out!

I’d like to personally thank Josh for being such a solid companion over the years and look forward to seeing him grow his role here at The Radavist! I might add, he’s got a stellar eye for medium format photography, so be sure to give him a follow on Instagram!

– John Watson, founder, and director at The Radavist

Bikepacking Roots has been searching for a new Executive Director all year and today the announcement came that Ally Johnson will be taking over the organization from its co-founder Kurt Refsnider. To introduce Ally, BPR has a great interview with her, so head on over to give it a read!

We really value Bikepacking Roots’ community-driven, across-the-aisle collaborations over the years and are excited to see where Ally will be taking the organization and how The Radavist can continue to support the company’s efforts.

As part of Bikes or Death’s Dangerbird coverage, Patrick sat down with Cjell from Moné Bikes to chat about framebuilding, Silver City, and more! Give it a listen at Bikes or Death. Also, related to the Dangerbird is a new Monumental Loop Patreon, where you can support New Mexico bicycle touring and bikepacking by subscribing.

One of the things that caught my eye at this weekend’s NM Bikepacking Summit was Mike, the owner of Broken Spoke in Santa Fe’s custom-built O’Leary rack for his Karate Monkey. Mike really wanted a better way of carrying his essentials, rather than a bikepacking saddle pack. His goal for the rack was to have it be multi-purpose, both designed to carry traditional panniers or as a framework to strap Nalgene bottles to, while allowing for a bedroll or tent to be strapped to the rack’s platform. Depending on how you’re traveling, this opens up the use of a dropper post as well.

Mike went to O’Leary, a custom builder here in Santa Fe, to hash out the design and he whipped it up in a matter of hours. Minimal racks like this offer a simple solution to a very common problem and I thought the readership would be intrigued by this. Check out a few more photos below!

We’re down in Las Cruces for the Dangerbird and NM Bikepacking Summit. That means you can expect a few galleries from the events this weekend and more. Be sure to say hello if you find yourself at the event this weekend and to everyone participating remember to Leave No Trace and obey all Wilderness boundaries! :-)

When we lost our image bucket from 2014-2015 a few years back, a bunch of really great content went blank. Over the years, I’ve been slowly re-upping our archives when I want to add a back-link to a current post or story. That happened last week when writing about the Buckhorn Bags Panniers. I remembered our “Escaping Black Friday” Reportage and tracked down the film scans, allowing me to re-up the fun. I also added the RideWithGPS route to the archive as well. If you’re in the Austin, Texas area and are looking for a good (and difficult) road tour, don’t miss this one!

Archive Re-Up: Escaping Black Friday with Bicycle Camping, Bourbon, and Black Coffee

If there’s a story you remember and really would like to see re-posted, drop it in the comments!

We’ve been working behind the scenes to send our goods to The Pro’s Closet’s facilities and so we’re closing the Web Shop for a few weeks while we shuffle things around and receive our Holiday product. In the meantime, you can still buy our current stock over at The Pro’s Closet.

We’re hoping to relaunch our webshop with new merch in mid-November. Thanks for your patience!

What a cool project for a great cause, initiated by a truly inspirational individual! Lachlan rode for 17 days, totalling 5,500 km, and raised more than £500,000 for World Bicycle Relief during this year’s Alt Tour! Check out the World Bicycle Relief’s fundraiser:

“Enter to win Lachlan Morton’s SuperSix EVO bike straight from his 2021 Alt Tour!

In celebration of the historic ride, Cannondale, in partnership with EF Education-NIPPO, Rapha and World Bicycle Relief, is offering a chance to win his team-issue SuperSix EVO. Built to Lachlan’s exact measurements and ready for a lucky winner to love this bike as much as he did for his 5,500-km tour, the 54-cm SuperSix EVO features a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrain, team Vision wheels and Cannondale HollowGram crankset. The prize winner will also receive a signed EF Education-NIPPO Pro Cycling 2021 jersey for display.

There are four additional prizes of display-edition EF Education-NIPPO Pro Cycling 2021 jerseys, signed by Lachlan. There will be a total of five winners.

The Prize Draw will run from Monday 11 October 0:01 (BST) through Monday 1 November 23:59 (GMT) 2021. Entry is £25, with all money raised from the prize draw benefitting World Bicycle Relief’s work to mobilise people in need around the world with life-changing bicycles!”

Enter now to win at World Bicycle Relief.

This summer has been a torrent of visitors rolling through Santa Fe either on road trips or bike tours and this week, we had a full house with two guests spending the night before rolling south. Andy and Kevin are from the DC area and returned to New Mexico to travel south to Las Cruces over the next nine days. On their way out of town, I took some quick photos of their setups, fully loaded with water, their gear, and some extra pizza from our dinner the night before. I know how much people love to see bikes all rigged out, so check out some quick “Fully Loaded” detail photos below, along with a portrait shot with our other special guest this week…

As promised in our announcement post on Monday, our Editor position is live on The Pro’s Closet’s hiring platform. If you know your way around a camera, have writing skills, experience, and understand the ecosystem of The Radavist, then be sure to check out all of the details below and see more information this job listing.

… speaking of TPC, check out this immaculate Bruce Gordon tourer that just popped up in their stock!

Last week we received news that the founder of the Oregon Timber Trail was stepping down from leadership to pursue other life goals:

“Since 2015, when the Oregon Timber Trail was just a sketched line on a map, a concept to bring long-distance backcountry mountain biking to Oregon, Gabe Tiller has been there.

With his thirst for adventure and breathtaking photos, he crafted a story, a promise that with a dream and a bit of teamwork, we could all take the path less traveled, from one rural town to the next, The OTT was born. Gabe has been one of the key visionaries, along with Harry Daalgard and Chris Bernhart, to develop the specific alignment of the Timber Trail.”

Read the full story at the Oregon Timber Trail and we’d like to wish Gabe smooth trails for his future endeavors.

Earlier this year, Lael and Jan set out to FKT on the Oregon Outback. Things didn’t work out for Jan on that run, so he returned before the season ended and it worked out in his favor:

Jan set a new FKT (Fastest Known Time) on the epic Oregon Outback course. Riding unsupported and alone, he covered the 585 km (363 miles) of rough gravel (and some pavement) in 26:13 hours, taking more than an hour off the previous best. Jan averaged 13.8 mph (22.3 km/h) – stops included. It was a beautiful ride, traversing some of the country’s most spectacular scenery. It was also a great test for the concept of the all-road bike – a bike that can travel on rough gravel with road bike speed and road bike fun. Jan was riding a custom-built Rene Herse steel bike, equipped with 26” x 2.3” Rene Herse Rat Trap Pass Extralight tires. Flexible fork blades helped with comfort and speed on the notoriously rough surfaces of the Oregon Outback. Wind tunnel-tested aero fenders helped tackle the infamous winds on the approach to the Columbia Gorge. Jan observed at the finish: “The gravel roads of eastern Oregon will always be rough, but this is as good as it gets. It was fun!”

A full track of the FKT ride is at Trackleaders.

The 2021 SJ Brooks Scholarships seeks to increase access, reduce barriers, and center voices specifically for BIPOC cyclists who are trans, woman, non-binary, intersex, two-spirit, and/or genderqueer. The application will close at 9 pm (PST) on September 30, 2021.

Applicants must be BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) and TWIG (Trans, Women, Intersex, & Genderqueer). All applicants who are not BIPOC should spread the word to BIPOC cyclists in their community circles.

Apply today at the Radical Adventure Riders.

Why Cycles and Revel Bikes, one of the quickest growing bike companies in the US, are hiring for full-time work in its Carbondale, Colorado facility. This is one of the coolest companies we’ve profiled over the years, run by people who enjoy the outdoor opportunities the Western Slope of Colorado offers. Current positions they’re hiring for are:
-bike assembler
-design engineer
-order pick/packer
-inventory clerk
-customer service
-inventory/purchasing manager

Check out our Inside/Out Shop Visit at Revel and Why in our Related Archives below and email Revel/Why for more information.

On Saturday morning, bright and early, I dropped Bailey and Erik off at Cumbres Pass, on the Colorado/New Mexico border. These two are riding the length of New Mexico on the Continental Divide Trail, bypassing Wilderness areas along the way. Not many people have ridden the length of this segment of the CDT, as it traverses the most remote stretches of the New Mexico back country. I’m not sure how much these two will be updating their Instagram accounts along the way, but give them a follow if you’re into this kind of thing. Oh, and they’re riding it singlespeed (32x22t). Hopefully, we’ll have a story from them when they’re done.

Tailwinds and cold water, you two!

Check out their bikes in our Reportage Archives below…

With fires raging across the American West, one fire, in particular, the Dixie fire has taken a mountain we’ve spent a lot of time on. Our friends at the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship began cutting trails in preparation for the original Grinduro race which took place in 2015. It was a real achievement at the time, putting Quincy, California on the map for gravel, mountain biking, and even moto tourism. Mount Hough was the backdrop for a lot of memories over the years and it pains me to see the communities in the Lost Sierra (and everywhere, really) real with fires year-round.

This isn’t meant to be anything other than a note, extending some positive vibes out to the people who have been affected by the fires, the communities reeling from the reality, and to the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship.

We’re thinking about you all… see some of our memories in the Related archives below.