The Radavist

Gravel Bike California pulled together a video recap from the LA Tourist Race, showcasing the monster climbs during this event!

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

Ryan le Garrec, one of our contributors here at the Radavist, followed cyclist Josh Ibbett during his 2019 Tour Divide attempt. This is his story. Watch this documentary here and be on the lookout for a photo gallery later this week.

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!

Here’s a fun recap video from USA Cycling’s Cyclocross National Championships at Fort Steilacoom Park…

Credit: 906 Adventure Team. Cable, age 9, carving out his legacy.

(It’s a good day; it’s a bad day)

Shakespeare insisted that a name held nothing significant; in fact, a name is but an arbitrary designator. A rose,  “by any other name would smell as sweet.” If the rose weren’t called a rose, we would still swoon over the sweet smell. Poor Juliet, the owner of a smitten young heart, failed to see everything that exists in a name. In my case, at thirty years old, I still carry my maiden name. Instead, I like to say it’s the name I’ve made for myself; I don’t see that changing any time soon. I grew up in the trailer park across the street from the General Motors Factory in Janesville, Wisconsin, and attended Jackson Elementary school. It was there I celebrated Andrew Jackson as a glorious president; Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. What’s in that name? A legacy of brutality*, I say.

*Yes, this is a reference to the 1985 album by the Misfits. Hybrid moments is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Last year’s LA Tourist Race brought challenging courses on familiar trails and this year’s event is looking to up, up, up the ante in the Angeles Crest!

This weekend (1.11.2020 at 7:30am) is the first round for 2020 and here are the details.

“Ok folks. These are your checkpoints. If you’re entering these into google, remove the N and W when searching. Start/Finish is @goldensaddlecyclery The points are numbered but you can do them in any order you want. This has also been emailed to all registered riders
Stock route is live on Strava .
If you live local and do not want to wait until Saturday morning to get your race plate, feel free to come by this week and pick it up @goldensaddlecyclery Starting Thursday morning. .
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If you have not registered online you can still race but you will need to fill out paperwork in person to receive your race plate. Videos of the books are in our stories & FB page. Good luck with your routes. And be aware there are down trees and snow. Weather seems to be staying sunny for us but it is cold and wet on the ground.”

You can register now at BikeReg and see the checkpoints at the LA Tourist Race Instagram!

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.

Minneapolis’ infamous bike race is back for its 23rd year. The Stupor Bowl returns February 1st, 2020, so get ready! Head to the Facebook page for more information.

My favorite event last year returns for 2020 with a plethora of new activities. The Ruta Del Jefe weekend will include a 55-mile gravel ride, bikepacking tour, 12-mile run/ride…

Ruta Del Jefe is a 125-mile self supported adventure race following dirt roads around the Santa Rita Mountains, the lair of one of the only North American Jaguars to live in the U.S., El Jefe. Rural Del Jefe takes place on Tohono O’odham and Hohokam lands, in the Sky Islands region of the Sonoran Desert and the US/Mexico borderlands in Southern Arizona. The race follows remote and rugged dirt roads through one of the most biodiverse and beautiful places in the world yet, the region is plagued with many environmental threats and a humanitarian crisis that need our attention and action.

Want to learn more? Well, head to the Ruta Del Jefe website and be sure to check out our Reportage from last year’s race! Remember, registration opens December 13th at 7:00 am mountain time and is limited to 100 racers, so jump on Bikereg to set a reminder.

Bombtrack accompanied their pro racer Gosse van der Meer to the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Bern to gain insight into the grits and guts it takes to compete at this level.

The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship knows how to throw races. There’s a reason we cover each and every one, year after year! The proof is in the puddin’. Every year, 1000+ racers show up for Lost & Found, even more for the Downieville Classic and with Grinduro leaving Quincy, the SBTS decided to up the ante and continue throwing a weekend event of racing and partying, dubbed Mountains to Meadows. The location is too good to not pick up where Grinduro left off. Mark your calendars for September 24-27, 2020 and read on below.