The Radavist

This just in from our friends at Rivendell…

Starting October 12, Rivendell Bicycle Works, the 26-year-old San Francisco Bay Area bicycle company, is rolling out reparations pricing for Black customers.

Rivendell’s CEO, Grant Petersen says, “The American bicycle industry has been racist, often overtly racist, since 1878, and Rivendell has been obliviously—not “obviously”— racist ever since 1994. We say this not to scold the industry, not to scold other bicycle businesses, and not to be on-trend.

For the last two years, Rivendell Bicycle Works has offered a 45 percent discount to Black customers who shopped in person. COVID has curtailed that. They are going national with the same plan, but now with a name and an acronym: Black Reparations Pricing (BRP).

Ten percent of Rivendell’s bikes and frames will be allocated for BRP. In the 12-month period beginning October 2020, they’ll make about 850 bikes, 85 of which will be set aside for the discount program.

In its BRP plan, Rivendell adds, “Racism doesn’t respond to inaction or self-proclamation. In other words, it doesn’t go away when you know, even in your bones, that all people are created equal. It responds to anti-racist action. Reparations are an example. Not because Reparations are “a nice thing to do,” but because they’re owed.

Reparations acknowledge that, in this country, white wealth—recent or inherited/generational, has been ‘earned’ by the labor of Black people, who, even after slavery, were never given a leg up. Your non-Black tycoon great-grampa may have been born poor, may have been a sharp and clever go-getter at the top of his class, but he wasn’t born Black.”

Rivendell is also offering its customers the opportunity to contribute to the BRP fund with every purchase they make.

For further information about BRP, please follow this link:
https://www.rivbike.com/pages/black-reparations-pricing

To contact Rivendell regarding this story, please email john@rivbike.com

Photo (cropped) by S J Hockett

Yesterday during the Giro d’Italia team presentation, EF Pro Cyling unveiled their collaboration with London-based skate brand Palace skateboards. Yes, this collab is insane. Yes, that’s a duck. Yes, there’s more information to come, so sit tight, but for now, check out some high res shots of the Cannondale Super Six EVO and System Six bikes below…

Bicycle Nomad, that handsome cyclist from the California Golde project and beyond, has teamed up with Blackburn to become a brand ambassador. As someone who has played a small role in Blackburn’s bicycle touring lineup, this makes me excited. Erick Cedeño (Bicycle Nomad) is a beautiful human and I’m personally looking forward to seeing where this goes. I think Erick’s quote sums up the importance of this partnership:

“The cycling industry needs to have more representation in its marketing, so adults and, more importantly, children, can see themselves on a bike exploring their city, their country and their world,”

If you’re interested, the full press-release is below…

Since 2017 the Oregon Timber Trail‘s ambitious stewardship initiative has been valued at over $80,000 annually and as a result, hundreds of miles of fallow trails have been reopened for access to all. Due to Covid-19, all of their stewardship events have been canceled, leaving hundreds of logs down, blocking the trail. If you’ve ever been riding and have come across downed trees, you know how much of a bummer that can be and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Like a lot of trail organizations, most of the OTT’s humble budget is funded with government grants and many of these grants require a match in the form of volunteer labor. Which means their grant funding is in jeopardy as well.

Furthermore, it’s been a bad year for wildfires. The trail has been torched by at least six(!) separate fires in 2020, which will undoubtedly require extensive rehabilitation work in addition to the 3,000+ hours we’ve already committed to the Watson Fire Rehab project in 2021.

Not only do they have an $80,000 budget shortfall, but they also have a backlog of maintenance compounded by multiple actively-burning wildfires. The Oregon Timber Trail needs your help. The trail needs your help. If you’ve had the pleasure of riding any section of this trail, please consider donating something, anything, if you can and have the means. Consider it a usage fee ;-)

Donate now and ADOPT A TRAIL ➜

It’s Labor Day in the States and today, we’re taking advantage of this national day of remembrance to hang with friends, disconnect from the online world, and get in some bike riding. I hope you’re able to do the same and we’ll see ya tomorrow, bright and early!

Growing up, I had an obsession with all things cold-blooded. Perhaps it sprung from a childhood love for dinosaurs? Who knows. I had lots of reptile pets over the years, many of which are native species to the American West. Growing up on the East Coast, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to see a Whiptail, Fence Lizard, Chuckwalla, Horned Lizard, or a Gila Monster in the wild. Our Eastern Blue Tailed Skinks, Broad Headed Skinks, and Anoles were the extend of our four-legged, local herpetofauna…

Patagonia tackles a big discussion about outdoor recreation and indigenous people. It’s a great sign that a big brand like this is aiding in the conversation, so take a few minutes (9 is all you need) and give this one a read!

“Outdoor recreation can be a lifeline for rural economies, but the industry has also benefited from the erasure of Indigenous peoples from their lands.”

Patagonia: The Myth of the Great Bike Savior

John recently sat down with the team of the Adventure Audio Podcast to talk about the genesis of this very website. If you’ve got an hour to kill, it’s worth the listen for some background information on not only the intent of the Radavist but its place in the larger cycling industry.

Bikepacking Roots is expanding and diversifying their Board of Directors and are welcoming applications from individuals looking to be a positive influence for and within the bikepacking community. The Board of Directors is made up of passionate volunteers who act as representatives of the organization and as advocates for the bikepacking community, the experiences we collectively seek, and the landscapes through which we ride. Read on below…

Check fire.airnow.gov for AQI and smoke in your area

We’re at a loss for words over here. At this point, I don’t think anyone thought 2020 could get any worse. The American West is burning. Friends have lost their homes. The smoke plume is spreading throughout the continent and even here in New Mexico, our favorite trails are burning. This post isn’t going to be a long-winded discourse in climate change, or forest management, rather this post will give condolences to everyone affected by these fires. To all who have lost their homes, lost their backyards, we’re thinking of you. Also, as a reminder, be mindful of who or what you donate to. There are lots of scam GoFundMe accounts popping up.

This weekend was depressing. Seeing loved ones losing everything and smelling the charred forests in our own home is a reminder that this is the new normal. Please be safe out there and reach out to your friends in need.

Also, check your local AQI before embarking on a ride. Excercise in high AQI can result in permanent respiratory damage. Not what you want during a respiratory pandemic.

xo from everyone here at the Radavist.

Chuck Teixeira’s lifelong passion for riding is equaled only by what he has done to advance the sport. He embodies the ingenuity, craftsmanship, and dedication that we strive to achieve, and he has been instrumental in making cycling better for all of us.

And now Chuck needs our help; his home is gone. The CZU August Lightning Complex fire has ripped through the Santa Cruz mountains, destroying dozens of buildings, incinerating tens of thousands of acres and displacing tens of thousands of people. Chuck’s home was one of those that burned to the ground, only ashes remain. The sweat and blood he poured into building his mountain refuge is gone – reduced to smoke and embers. His scores of rare and vintage bicycles – a rolling museum of cycling’s evolution and a living archive of his inventions and innovations – reduced to melted metal and plastic. His hand-build hotrods – each representing thousands of hours of meditative hard work – charred beyond recognition. Beyond the tangible, and all the more devastating, Chuck and his wife Debbie lost the dream of spending the rest of their lives together in the sanctuary they built.

Much of the land in the US is named after its Indigenous owners, resulting in lakes, mountains, rivers, and even cities holding First Nations names. When Swift Industries began to develop their line, this is something they didn’t consider, so in a step towards being better, they decided to re-name some of the products in their lineup:

“Today, we are changing the names of our Elwha Pack and the Ozette Randonneur Bags from Indigenous names to those of birds of the Cascade region that are intrinsic to the ecology, histories, and cultures of the Pacific Northwest. The Elwha Pack is being renamed the Ardea Pack, in ode to the Great Blue Heron, the Ozette Randonneur Bag will be called the Peregrine Randonneur Bag for the Peregrine Falcon, and the Ozette V2 Randonneur Bag is changing to the Merlin Randonneur Bag. “

If this interests you, head to the Swift Industries blog to read more. Good on y’all for doing this.

Putting yourself out there and writing about polarizing topics is not easy. We’ve hosted a lot of great writing over the years, many of which inspired some great commentary and yes, change within the industry. Cinthia‘s piece on white privilege and bike racing during a pandemic really ruffled some feathers in her local racing community. For their latest episode, Bikes or Death interviews Cinthia about these effects and it’s highly worth the listen! Check it out at Bikes or Death.

WTF BX announces that the 2020 SJ Brooks Scholarship is now accepting applications!

The 2020 SJ Brooks Scholarships seek to increase access, reduce barriers, and center voices specifically for BIPOC cyclists who identify as femme, trans, woman, non-binary, intersex, two-spirit, or genderqueer. The application will close at 9pm (PST) on August 27, 2020. Those selected to receive one of the SJ Brooks Scholarships will be notified by the week of September 21, 2020.

**Applicants must self-identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) and FTWN-B (femme, transgender, woman, non-binary). All skill levels, abilities, and body sizes are encouraged to apply. All applicants who do not identify as BIPOC should spread the word to BIPOC cyclists in their community circles.

The cycling community and industry raised $20k for the scholarships. This financial donation will allow recipients to receive up to $2k to pursue a spirited endeavor and has helped support a committee to oversee the application process. WTF BX also received cycling and camping gear packages valued at $3k each and bikes for 9 recipients. These combined contributions will allow WTF BX to offer up to 18 scholarships specifically for BIPOC FTWN-B cyclists!

Thank you to the cycling community and the following cycling brands who helped make this happen: @eastoncycling, @iamspecialized, @evo, @konabikes, @surlybikes, @velocioapparel, @chrome_industries, @revelatedesigns, @ridewithgps, @gaiagps, @cnocoutdoors, @bedrocksandals, @topodesigns, @ombraz, @blackburndesign, @biketiresdirect, @boschebikesystems.us, @fernwehfoodco, @fix_that_bike, @planet_bike, @msr_gear, @microcosm_pub

See more and apply at the SJ Brooks Scholarship page.