The Radavist

The Hawes Trail System, located in Phoenix, Arizona’s East Valley, is quickly becoming one of metro Phoenix’s more popular mountain biking destinations for both tourists and locals. Situated in the Mesa Ranger District of the Tonto National Forest, the zone is known for spectacular views and around 25 miles of designated trails that range from easy to very difficult; featuring bermed corners, steep climbs, and chunky rock drops.

This just in from Sea Otter. It seems the event has been rescheduled due to the Coronavirus scare, yet the organization has not listed new dates…

Sea Otter Classic Supporters,

Frank Yohannan
President & CEO
Sea Otter Classic, Inc.

Don Walker sent out an email announcing the postponement of this year’s North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Read the full details below…

From the shadow of mount Tam to the coastal plains of Santa Barbara exists a quilt of broken earth. An underlying structure of torn apart geology transported hundreds of miles from where it was originally emplaced. A Mediterranean climate of warm summers and cool wet winters that becomes progressively drier towards the equator. A diverse floral assemblage stemming from the eroded remains of rocks past and present harboring condors, salmon and mountain lions. From North America’s largest estuary reflecting pastel sunrise to the sandstone peaks of the east/west transverse ranges gleaming pink and orange as the sun sets over the pacific.

This is exciting news for fans of Serotta!

“After spending the past six years traveling the world as a bike designer and supply-chain consultant, Ben Serotta will relaunch his iconic bike brand this spring. In the coming months, Serotta’s refocus is on building metal bikes in steel, aluminum and titanium offerings. Steel and aluminum models will be available in March, with titanium beginning in early summer.”

Continue reading at Bicycle Retailer!

This is exciting! Jan Bennett and Bikepacking Roots have been working on a few new routes, including the Pony Express. This past summer, Jan became the first person to pedal the old mailing route, officially and now they’re working on making it an official route but they need your help. Read on for more…

To coincide with a story that Kyle wrote for TokyoBike’s blog, the MiniVelo featured is being auctioned off today through February 16th with all the proceeds going to RadShare, an organization that aims to bring cycling accessibility and safety to kids. This is a great bike, being auctioned off for a great cause, so spend a few minutes soaking this one in!

Kristin Carpenter’s latest guest on the Channel Mastery podcast is Jenn Kriske from Machines for Freedom. Give this one a listen as Jenn talks about the motivational forces behind her successful apparel brand.

This just in from our friends at the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship:

Sierra Nevada Conservancy awards $360,525 planning grant linking 15 communities by trail

To fulfill the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship (SBTS) mission of building sustainable, recreation-based communities, Connected Communities will change the economic future of Sierra, Plumas, Lassen and Butte County forever. Linking 15 California mountain communities across four economically disadvantaged counties by approximately 300 miles of new motorized and non-motorized trails, the Lost Sierra Master Trails Plan and Connected Communities project will be a historic collaboration between federal land managers, regional government, local businesses and concerned citizens.

Velocio recently sat down with Rebecca Rusch, the pro cyclist turned bicycle adventurer about her life, her career, and her aspirations in a 5-question format interview.

You’re an icon in the culture of riding and you have a committed following. How does the bike community inform your life and what are your goals for contributing to it in the future?

The bike community has become my tribe and provided more gifts in my life than I can list here. Through the bike, I’ve found the tool to fuel my curiosity, my wanderlust, my motivation, to form human connections and build a meaningful career. The bike is an iconic tool for exploration that is understood and embraced worldwide. I found my husband through the bike, my family, myself and my purpose.

There are some gems in there, so be sure to check it out at Velocio!

WTF Bikexplorers announces the Cycling Industry Pledge to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the cycling community.

… to ride our bikes but we’ll see you first thing tomorrow morning!

We cover a lot of gravel races here at the Radavist and while most of them are in the Western United States, we’ll be returning to the Mid South this year for an in-depth look at Stillwater, District Bicycles, the new race, and a look at the racer’s bikes. As you can imagine, it’s a lot of work to cover races and it costs a lot of money out of our pocket to fly out, document, edit, and post these events. While as a whole, we’re less interested in roadie 2.0 races like the DK and more interested in races with a unique format, which is why we’ve covered Grinduro so much in the past. It’s a really fun environment to be working your ass off in.

So I wanted to ask, what races would you like seen covered here on the site? We’ve already got SSAZ, the Mid South, Grinduro, and a few others on the calendar, but I’m interested in hearing your thoughts. If you could, leave them in the comments, with a link to the race’s website, that would be helpful.

We want to spend our time covering the things you want to see, so these posts are VERY helpful!

xo

We’ve got Reportage on the way from this past weekend’s LA Tourist Race but I just wanted to personally thank everyone that turned up at 7am on a Saturday morning to race 80 miles and climb over 10k in elevation!

There was snow, beautiful weather, and lots of elevation to be had. Over 130 racers started with Kent winning yet again for the men and Erica Schwanke coming first place for the women.

Keep an eye here on the Radavist for the full report, written by Erin Lamb and Jen Whalen!

This read is one hell of a way to kick in the New Year. Got plans to do a bike tour? Don’t monetize it!

“In a race for your life from a belligerent madman, there is no worse getaway vehicle than a recumbent bicycle. Particularly on any sort of climb. At least that’s what Alan* and I discovered as we crept up a desolate stretch of Arizona highway, necks craning behind us to see if the knife-wielding drunkard was gaining any ground.”

Continue reading at Outside Online.

The history of the Land Run is a sordid one, which you can read all about it our earlier Reportage from the 2018 event. This question comes up a lot these days: if we know better, are we supposed to do better? While local vernacular influences the discussion, the Land Run wasn’t exactly something you want to build a community upon in the modern age. There is a much larger discussion to be had about this and the Land Run founder Bobby Wintle did such a great job on the official announcement, that I’d prefer to let him explain it below.