The Radavist

After thirty-five days spent bikepacking from Bolivia to Peru across three sub mountain ranges of the Cordillera de los Andes, Leo Brasil finds himself with the unique opportunity to explore a completely different part of South America with a much lighter bike. Read on for his race reflections from the 2023 Across Andes 

The Karoo is not flat, both in personality and profile. The Road to Desolation gravel race seeks to capture the essence of the Karoo—the idiosyncratic small towns, the solitude of its expanse, and the way the bicycle represents the ideal vehicle for navigating the internal and external challenges of the terrain. Simon Pocock photographed the inaugural edition of the event in 2023 and writes about the Karoo’s imposing appeal.

Brett Rothmeyer transports us from our desks, our computers, or phones this morning and whisks us away to the 2023 Cyclocross National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, for an action-packed medium format and 35 mm film gallery full of moments so vivid you can hear them…

In September, Emil Carr-Ross became the first and only woman to finish the second edition of L’Esperit de Girona, the solo unsupported off-road bikepacking event held in Catalonia. She completed the 800km course in 8 days, 11 hours and 10 minutes. It was her first-ever ultra-distance event. Carr-Ross is also one of the few trans athletes competing in ultra-cycling. A few weeks after the event, she talked through her ride, her work for a refugee cycling charity in Glasgow, and her experiences as a trans athlete in the sport. Read all about it below…

Don’t be alarmed by the name! Frigid Bitch is an event in Pittsburgh meant to bring together a community in the coldest, darkest time of year. Last year, Jarrod Bunk was on site, camera in hand to document the fun! We’ve got a wonderful story, penned by event promoter, Anna-Lena Kempen. Let’s check it out…

As an anchor for the NorCal cyclocross scene, the Rock Lobster team and their eclectic band of racers, builders, horn players, writers, photographers, and dreamers are here to take you on a journey into the heart of Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships 2023. From riding the tiger to fording the pool of plunder, this story captures cyclocross glory and heartbreak at its finest. From the desk of the award winning SSCXWCTV investigative news team, please enjoy “You Can’t Buy Money With Happiness,” a mixed-media Reportage with weekend narration from Matt Miller, along with photos and video from Josh Becker and Mike Thomas. 

The Athens Divide is proof that you don’t have to lose a night of sleep to experience the full range of adventure racing. Billed as a “micro adventure,” this point-to-point race hosted by Donhou Bicycles takes riders over Athens’ urban ridgelines where, no matter the bike, everyone’s hiking somewhere. Read on for Tom Donhou’s recap of the first Athens Divide, with photos from Maliakos Nikos.

A little weird, a lot welcoming RodeoCross is cyclocross…but only kind of. At the end of this year’s Sacramento season, Kate Rose pays tributes to this rowdy and irreverent subculture of cycling category. Read on for her entertaining recap and sound bytes from racers who try to explain this “disguise for a party on bikes,” along with photos from Sydney Lewis.

Picture an island 42 degrees south of the equator deep in the middle of winter. Surrounded by great oceans, it is battered by cold rain, snow, and wind. The Roaring Forties haunt the island like the growls of a Devil. Born out of these challenging conditions, The Devils Cardigan seemed the only name fit to describe the Australian Gravel National Championships. 

Read on for Scott Mattern’s recap of Tasmania’s annual off-road rite of passage and how he made it devilishly difficult by combing both the 50km and 100km distances…

Spencer Harding and Chris”Dirty” Reichel went down the southern border of Mexico and Arizona for the start of the 2023 Arizona Trail Race. The race taverse the whole of Arizona for racers who elect the 800 mile route or the abbreviated and nonetheless daunting 300-mile option. Summer hasn’t relinquished its grasp on Southern Arizona with temperatures in the 100s for the early days of the race…

On September 14th, a group of cyclists gathered around a table for dinner in Puy-Saint-Vincent, a small mountain village in the French Alps. Among them were an Italian, a Spaniard, a handful of Dutch, a British couple, a French couple, and a Costa Rican. They were meeting for the first time and were strangers to one another. However, they shared a common passion: mountains, food, people, and bikes – and that’s what brought them together for the inaugural Le Pilgrimage, a brevet-style gravel event…

Held in the high mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the Silk Road Mountain Race is known as one of the toughest ultra-endurance competitions in the bikepacking world. It earns its demanding reputation as riders not only have to deal with a very tough course profile and terrain conditions, but they also have to overcome other obstacles such as high altitude, scarce and basic resupply points, sickness, unforgiving weather patterns, river crossings, and remoteness.

Tristan Bogaard was among the starting group in this year’s edition and his partner, Belén Castelló, decided to wait for him at the finish line while volunteering at the last checkpoint. Going into the event, Belén had no reference for what to expect and below she shares her experience dot-watching and soaking in all the first-hand stories.

“I walked off the Alaska Airlines jet and into the tiny Kodiak, Alaska airport on a classically rainy day in May with a wide grin on my face. For as transient as I’ve been over the past five years—calling Maine, Alaska, Hawaii and Vermont all home—there is something both bittersweet and utterly lovely about landing at an airport that imbues that nostalgic feeling. As I waited in the cluttered baggage claim area I giggled to myself at the familiarity of all manner of luggage rolling out on the baggage carousel. Everything from rifle bags and tackle boxes, to coolers with red and white stickers emblazoned with “FROZEN” stickers to standard-issued Coast Guard bags arrived before my REI duffle and bike bag. I wheeled them out to my friend’s waiting truck thinking to myself: ‘Now the adventure starts.'”

Continue reading for the rest of Gretchen Powers‘ recap about her experience riding in Kodiak Crab Festival‘s Pasagshak to Kodiak Bike Race, which is quite possibly the smallest organized bike race in the US…

The Arna Westfjords Way Challenge is an ultra-endurance cycling race that traverses the seaside perimeter of Iceland’s Westfjords region in four stages over five days with 600 miles of mixed surface riding and 37,000+ feet of elevation gain. The route was originally established by accomplished endurance cyclists Lael Wilcox, Chris Burkard, Payson McElveen, Nichole Baker, and Rugile Kaladyte and formatted into a stage race by the team at Cycling Westfjords in 2021. Now in its second year, the event features a variety of innovative aspects that make it unique in the world of ultra cycling, which benefits the local communities and also the riders’ experiences. Josh Weinberg was on the ground covering this year’s event and, below, shares an insightful event recap and massive image gallery from this strikingly beautiful part of the world.

In many places, June is Pride Month, or simply “Pride”. What started as a series of civil rights riots in June of 1969 after a police raid of a gay bar in lower Manhattan called “The Stonewall Inn” has become much more. It is now a worldwide celebration of LGBTQ+ culture and the continued demands for basic human rights. For context, it was against the law in the ‘60s to serve alcohol to gays or lesbians in New York City. Legal or civil protections for any part of gay life were essentially non-existent worldwide. Being openly gay was an invitation for discrimination, abuse, or worse.

This past April, Ryan le Garrec was at The Traka in Girona, Spain which has recently, and very quickly, become the biggest gravel race event in Europe. It is also part of the Gravel Earth Series, which includes such long-distance races as the Migration Gravel Race and The Rift Iceland. Ryan was there to follow Rwandan racers Violette and Innocent of the Rwanda Beyond Team, in what was their first-ever race in Europe. Follow them in the article below and enjoy the large gallery of other riders and the race’s magnetic ambiance…