The Radavist

Horizon is our fall/winter jersey line, inspired by the tonality of the deserts, forests, and plains. For this drop, we worked exclusively with Endo Customs who selected a quick-drying Italian fabric with built-in SPF and the uncanny ability to maintain vibrant colors after heavy use. We’re currently holding stock of a unisex MTB jersey, as well our exclusive design in women’s and men’s road jerseys. The mountain jersey is made from an ultralight Italian fabric, with long sleeves for cooler rides and built-in sun protection during the summer months. We’ve put these through hell over the past few months, dialing in the fit and testing their durability. For our road jerseys, we worked with Endo to design a two-fabric design, offering more flexibility and breathability in the side paneling, for a more comfortable on and off-the-bike fit.

The Horizon road features our Rune Amulet, Pack it In Pack it Out reminder, and Jackal on the jersey pockets, while the MTB jersey uses the RADAVIST Rune text across the tail.

The Horizon jerseys were designed by color enthusiast Cari Carmean and made here in Los Angeles by Endo Customs. For sizing reference, I’m 6’2″ and 190lbs wearing the size large.

When these sell out, we’ll be taking pre-orders for an early January 2020 delivery, so act fast if you want one this year! All jerseys are in stock now at our Web Shop.

Wearable tech doesn’t have to be techy. Apple, Garmin, and many others make watches that can be linked to various ride tracking apps, yet I found myself drawn to the Suunto line, a lesser-known GPS watch brand. Part of my interest in Suunto was due to that they design and manufacture their watches in Finland, a country that seems to specialize in GPS watches and devices. For me, switching a computer from bike to bike, and managing the mounts for each, was too big of a pain in the ass. Convenience is king when your life revolves around riding, reviewing, and documenting bikes and bike rides. I’ve been making moves with the Suunto Traverse for three years now and truly believe these watches are worth their hefty price tag.

Some people will think this image looks like hell, others heaven, and for them, this winter’s content here on the site has a high bar to reach after last year’s desert exploits. Regardless of the outcome, I’m looking forward to it! Out of curiosity, has anyone taken on this loop after seeing our post from December? Over the next few weeks, the temps will be dropping even more!

Anyway, ENJOY THE WEEKEND!

When you need all the water you can haul, products like the Widefoot LiterCage really come in handy. These steel bottle cages utilize the same mounting hole pattern as an “Anything” mount or traditional bottle cage boss spacing and are designed to carry larger bottles like Nalgene’s products in a unique 5-hole bolt pattern. Their sturdy construction (each cage weighs 168g) will hold a bottle in place inside the front triangle of your bike, while fork-mounted, or a third location like under your downtube greatly benefits from the use of a Voile ski strap, especially when using the 1.5 liter Nalgene bottles, especially when the going gets rough.

I’ve been using Nalgene bottles of various sizes with the LiterCage, mostly in the desert over the past few months, but have migrated this platform onto my bikes when bigger day rides require maximum water carrying capacity. For me, it’s nice having the bulk of the water weight as low as possible on the bike and off my back, where I usually carry my camera. Transferring the weight to under the downtube, or on the fork blades makes for a more stable riding experience.

The LiterCage is made in Nebraska, comes in two finishes; silver and black, and are in stock now at Widefoot Design, as well as select retailers. If you want your shop to carry Widefoot, ask them politely!

Bicycles. They’re a work in progress, especially ones that are derivative of a particular activity which in itself is evolving. Take bikepacking and touring for example. It seems just about every month, a company makes a new product which therein makes the act of touring eaiser or at least more enjoyable. When I first began talks with Kris Henry of 44 Bikes for this rigid mountain tourer, which I’ve come to call my “Ute” – an Aussie term, short for a utility vehicle – I had a vision for what touring meant and means to me. Leaving pavement and accessing trail, both in double and single track variety, means a fully loaded bike needs to be stable, comfortable and still maneuverable. Since this bikes inception, I’ve been sold on the Jones Bar, mostly due to the amazing leverage, riding position and varying riding positions. The thing, however, that didn’t work so well for me was the very thing that makes the Jones so unique: the hoop design and lack of rise. Also, the Jones bar has proven to be problematic with bikepacking and touring bags, which was slightly evident on my Death Valley tour. That Fabio’s Chest wanted to sag a bit too much with that setup.

Check out more below.

I’ve got much love for our National Parks and while some have become overrun with excessive tourists, there are still many out there that offer a true wilderness experience from the safety of your car, or in our case, your bicycle. We’ve almost had our fill of desert exploration this year, but I’m always looking for ways to support our National Parks. That can come in many forms, from sharing stories or photos taken within the park boundaries – as long as you’re not using a drone! they’re like the e-bikes of cameras, and are illegal in all National Parks – to buying a yearly parks pass, or even unique collaborations like this, between J Crew and New Balance.

These limited edition, made in the USA 998 New Balances are inspired by the tonality of Death Valley’s Mojave desert, both low and high. They’re in stock now at J Crew for $180 and yes, you can ride a bicycle in them just fine. Oh and they even have an all-blue 998 model inspired by Crater Lake, but I’m not a fan of mosquitos…

For over a hundred years, Death Valley has had its minerals extracted by machine and mule. Not just for gold and silver, either. Prospectors scoured the mountains for antimony, copper, lead, zinc, and tungsten, packing out their load by mule. We are modern day Prospectors, however, we are not seeking riches, yet experiences, of which will be beaten into our soul by miles of washboarded and rocky roads. Our mules are our bicycles and we’ll take only photos, leaving no trace, taking nothing from this land. It’s given enough over the decades and its scars are still visible on the surface.

There’s no death in this valley, but life, at a micro scale, so nuanced that without the pace of the bicycle, might be passed over, unnoticed. These next ten days, I’ll be embarking on a series of rides in Death Valley National Park, with a varying cast of characters, with one thing on the agenda: sharing this natural beauty with you and documenting these routes for the next prospectors to mine memories.

Last night, the trip began with caching water and wood for our first expedition… Stay tuned.

If you’ve seen the newest issue of Bike Mag, then maybe you noticed the large-format poster featuring the above artwork by Chris McNally – which you can coincidentally pick up at Yonder Journal in a nice, flat poster for your wall. But what exactly is it? Who are these strange men and what are those bigfoots (bigfeet?) doing with those rocks?

Last summer, Yonder Journal got the hair-brained idea to follow mule tracks from the Mythical State of Jefferson to the coast on packed-out mountain bikes and using the new Acre Hauser packs.

When excerpts from a ride report begin with:

“It was decided early on that Daniel would be the first one we would eat. He is a fleshy nutrient-packed individual with a penchant for sweets and he was, by being the organizer and de facto Captain of this expedition, the reason why we were all here. So it only made sense that if the fate of our group lead to cannibalism, he would be the first to go. We had come to Northern California to attempt bikepacking.

More specifically we had come to ride to the sea. All of us had backpacked before and all of us were cyclists, but how the integration of the two would work was based on assumption. Most of us could only think about it, like we were trying to imagine orange when our experience had been strictly limited to yellow and red. Fortunately Daniel had selected a group of people who, for this adventure at least, were able to rein in a modicum of our typical hubris, to the point that important questions were deferred to the couple of group members who had prior bikepacking experience.” -Kyle von Hoetzendorff

Then you know it’s gonna be good. See the whole (it’s a big one) MSOJ MTB shit-show (MSOJMTBSS) at Yonder Journal and check out some sample photos below!

If you follow my Flickr, this might look vaguely familiar. Back in October, I visited an antique shop here in Austin with my ladyfriend. Inside a glass case were a bunch of Masonic amulets and other imagery. Since the Masons are riddled with architectural history in the US, I’ve always been a fan of their imagery. When I returned to Austin yesterday, this was sitting on my desk in a neatly-packaged box. Quite a surprise! Anyone have a back-story on it that won’t get you kidnapped?