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Jermell Akins Recovery Fund

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Jermell Akins Recovery Fund

A few readers have sent this over, including our good friend Bailey here in Santa Fe. Bailey first met Jermell when he was a 16-year-old kid working at @blackstonebikes, a community and youth-focused non-profit bike shop in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood. As an adult, he’s continued to work within the bicycle industry, most recently working for Divvy, Chicago’s bike-share program. He also lent a helping hand here in New Mexico in the start-up of @silverstallionbicyclecoffee in Gallup.

On November 30th, Jermell was shot 3 times while taking groceries from his car to his mother’s apartment. After time in the hospital, he has staggering bills. I know this time of year is tight for everyone, but if you’re able to, kick some extra dollars his way at Jermell’s GoFundMe.

Halo Wheels Designs Gravel Tires: RXR, GXR, GXC

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Halo Wheels Designs Gravel Tires: RXR, GXR, GXC

Halo, makers of various wheels and components, have entered the gravel market with three new models of tires. Their RXR (650b x 47mm) is an all-road/hardpack tire, GXR (650b x 47mm) is an all-surface tire, and the GXC (650b x 47mm or 700 x 38mm) is a gravel tire with lots of grip for the roughest days out on backcountry roads. Each tire comes in black or gumwall and you can find out more at Halo Wheels.

“The Riddle Was the Mountains” – F. Kafka

Radar By: Kyle von Hoetzendorff

“The Riddle Was the Mountains” – F. Kafka

Photo by Ryan Vannoy

We’re riding along with the bikes in the bed of a truck eating the fat end of a wedge of dust as it explodes from the back of the vehicle ahead. This is before the Blade Runner light, before that blood rich red captured the sun, and after, no during, the airborne everywhere terror. The most recent one, the one that I’m worried there are not enough of us who believe in it.

The Readers Write: Listening and Resisting

Radar By: Sasha Schellenberg

The Readers Write: Listening and Resisting

These past few weeks have been a time for action, introspection, listening, and resisting. Radavist reader Sasha Schellenberg sent in this submission to us for a Readers Write, reflecting on their own perspective of what’s going on in the world right now with the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests. Without further adieu, here are Sasha’s words…

I do a lot of listening while I ride my bike. I listen for traffic and the odd redneck that will try to drive their diesel truck within a hairsbreadth of my handlebars (an unfortunate reality of cycling in parts of rural Alberta), I listen to my bike, always alert for unusual sounds (a result of seeing firsthand how small mechanical discrepancies can turn colossal if they go unnoticed for a time), and I listen for birds and wildlife (the upside of cycling in rural Alberta that makes it worth putting up with smelly trucks). Riding alone, cycling becomes a sensory experience, and it’s on those long gravel climbs, that half of me hates and the other half loves, that sounds seem to resonate clear as a bell.

L39ION of Los Angeles: Pride of the People – Raised Over $50k to Help Bring Diversity to Cycling

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L39ION of Los Angeles: Pride of the People – Raised Over $50k to Help Bring Diversity to Cycling

We’ve been reading, watching, and listening, as the world’s largest push for civil rights has unfolded in front of us this week and in that time, fundraisers have smashed expectations, surpassing their goals. L39ION, a road racing team, based in Los Angeles, and founded by Justin Williams has raised over $50k to help bring diversity to cycling in LA and beyond. This fundraiser is still going, so let’s do our best to keep pushing it! Donate to their GoFundMe if you have the means and give the team a follow on Instagram!

A Moment of Silence for the BIPOC Community

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A Moment of Silence for the BIPOC Community

We are pausing today’s content to make a statement. As a community of people who share the love of cycling and the outdoors, we need to listen to the voices of the oppressed and I feel that we can respectfully put the day-to-day content on hold to encourage each and every one of you to reach out to your communities, reach out to your BIPOC friends, and listen.

Without putting aside our daily distractions, we cannot do this.

The injustice being documented on social media right now is heart-breaking. Protests pave the way for reform. Or at least they have in the past. From the civil rights movement to the Vietnam War, this country has bound together in the past to fight for the voices unheard.

George Floyd was the tipping point for what has happened to the Black American community since slavery. His face has become the icon for Black freedom. Breonna Taylor’s brutal killing by police and Ahmaud Arbery lynching by members of his community all paint the grim reality our country needs to overcome. These names are added to the hundreds of Black Americans killed by cops.

Black Lives Matter. Say it. Say their names. No Justice, no peace.

This is a pattern that has arisen in this country and what we’re seeing today represents the last straw for our BIPOC brothers and sisters. We need to demand accountability for the police, our legislature, our city officials, our national officials, and our own communities.

The following organizations need your eyes and support:
–Campaign Zero
–Reclaim the Block
-Please read their  petition
-George Floyd’s family has a GoFundMe
–Minnesota Freedom Fund
–Brooklyn Bail Fund
-ActBlue allows you to make multiple donations between 38 community bail funds
–The Bail Project
–National Bail Fund Network
–Black Visions Collective
–Gas Mask Fund
–NAACP Legal Defense Fund
–Communities United Against Police Brutality
–Northstar Health Collective
–Free Them All for Public Health
–The Atlanta Solidarity Fund
–Know Your Rights Camp
–Fair Fight

The Radavist has donated money from its funding to support a number of these organizations this week. If you have the means to do so, we’d like to encourage you to do the same. If you don’t have the means to, don’t feel pressured. Do what you can within your community.

To make a difference within the cycling community, Bikepacking Roots has just announced a new grant program to help address racial inequalities related to access to outdoor experiences. The BIPOC Bike Adventure Grant will provide funding to recipients for an empowering bike adventure of their choosing and will help elevate the recipients’ voices. It’s a small step forward, but seeing as most of the outdoor industry has remained silent, we’re hoping that this will spur additional action.

The comments are closed for a few reasons, most importantly, you should be reading, learning, and listening elsewhere today. We’ll be back with content but right now, this needs to be addressed.

And as always join a protest if you feel that it is safe. Walk with your BIPOC community. Listen.

Crust Clydesdale Fork-Equipped Fuji Sundance: by Spencer Harding

Reportage By: Spencer Harding

Crust Clydesdale Fork-Equipped Fuji Sundance: by Spencer Harding

Ya ever wondered if you could keep only one of your bikes, which would it be?  At this point in my life I’d have to say my Fuji Sundance with a Crust Bikes Clydesdale fork up front.  This is my “daily driver” that serves for commuting, errand running, Costco runs, carrying coworkers home, or just taking the dog out for a spin. Vintage 26” rigid bikes are the bikes that just wont die and continue to show themselves as being so damn useful, and nothing compliments that better than the Clydesdale fork.

Trade in Your Old Carbon Wheels for Credit to a New ENVE Wheelset

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Trade in Your Old Carbon Wheels for Credit to a New ENVE Wheelset

Starting today, cyclists can trade in their old carbon wheels for a credit towards the purchase of a new ENVE wheelset.  Non-ENVE carbon wheel trade in’s will receive a $600 credit, while old ENVE carbon trade in’s receive a $900 credit.

The process is as follows:
-Customers interested in trading in their old carbon wheels will fill out the required fields on the landing page.  There will be navigation to this page from ENVE’s homepage tomorrow morning.
-Once completed, ENVE will provide the customer with a unique coupon code towards the purchase of their new wheelset
-At the time of purchase, an authorization for the trade-in credit will be placed on the customer’s credit card at checkout. These funds will be released back to the customer when their trade-in wheels are received by ENVE

See more at ENVE

A Brief History of our Federal Public Lands

Reportage By: Kurt Refsnider

A Brief History of our Federal Public Lands

In the United States, federally-owned public lands form the tapestry upon which so many recreationalists depend, as do agricultural, extractive, tourism, and hunting industries that support local economies. Beyond that, these lands have unquantifiable cultural, scientific, ecological, and scenic value. As cyclists, public lands offer literally endless miles of trails, 4×4 tracks, and gravel roads that can carry us off the pavement, away from crowds, and into landscapes as quiet and remote as we may desire. The United States is globally unique with respect to the vast tracts of lands still remaining in the public domain, lands that are managed for a broad array of uses by various agencies and beneath a dizzying array of special designations and associated acronyms. However, political efforts to eliminate some, or all, of these public lands serve to highlight how we as recreationalists cannot take these lands for granted.

Kurt Refsnider is here to provide a brief history of the vast expanse of America’s public lands that were set aside over two centuries ago to serve the national interest. Read on for a better understanding of the places where we most love to recreate! 

Shimano
Tern
Wolftooth
Argonaut
Brooks
State Bicycles
Paul
RiG'd Supply
Mission Workshop
Rivendell
SimWorks
Maxxis