The Radavist

This is the nineth layout of the Radavist 2014 Calendar, entitled “Ascension”. The camera and location are noted on the bottom left of the document.

The Pacific Coast is a cycling Utopia. Minus the RVs and tourists who are unable to operate their rental cars. Still, in one of the heaviest traveled scenic highways in the US, solitude can be found, even amongst looming giants like the Redwoods.

For a high-res JPG, suitable for print and desktop wallpaper*, right click and save link as – The Radavist 2014 Calendar – September. Please, this photo is for personal use only!

(*set background to white and center for optimal coverage)

This project was so rad…

“To celebrate the launch of the S2R performance jersey, Search and State commissioned Joseph Holway to deliver the first garment sewn from New York to Golden Saddle Cyclery in Los Angeles. Joseph completed the 3,000 mile journey in 21 days, alone and unsupported.”

Go, go, go Search and State!

If you ever need motivation to just get out on your bike and do something really meaningful, just watch this video. ACA documented one man’s journey along the Great Divide and it’s got me aching to get back out into the wilderness.

On the subject of the Great Divide, Nat Cobb, a 63-year old advocate of growing the wild wolf population is raising money for Wild Earth Guardians to ride the Great Divide. See more at WildEarth Gaurdians.

So I haven’t made a big deal about this for a few reasons. First, I don’t want to jinx myself or my teammate on this ride and second, it’s part of a project that won’t see the light of day for a few months.

That said, I’m doing / racing / riding / surviving the Oregon Outback, a 360 miles MTB trek from Southern Oregon to Northern Oregon. Our plan is to do it in three days. Unsupported. That’s 120 miles a day on dirt.

I do rides like this often enough, maybe not to this degree, but essentially bikepacking or touring. So I thought I’d let you in on my packing list, via knolling. Check out a break-down below.

Up until last week, I hadn’t heard anything about this movie, Slow is Fast. If you’re thinking of touring the California coast, this is a must-watch!

“In September 2012, Dan Malloy, Kanoa Zimmerman and Kellen Keene rode bikes down the California coast hoping to see their home state in a new slower-paced light — surfing, camping, staying with friends and lending a hand wherever they could to earn their keep. The result of the trip is a beautifully crafted book and DVD.”

Pick up the DVD and book at Patagonia.

A group of friends attempted to cross Iceland on fixed gears. All I can think is how awesome all this looks and how much fun it’d be. Granted, type 3 fun… Read more about it at Fix the Iceland. Thanks for sharing this video Kryštof!

Oh yeah… there’s a video for this project too!

Is it wrong to think that there aren’t many pros who would do something like this? Or at least, we wouldn’t read about it. This story is so good:

“It’s easy to get wrapped up in the details when it comes to cycling. Distances, wattages, victories and other measures often lead us to forget the simply joy of riding a bike. Brothers Gus and Lachlan Morton (yes, the one who races with WorldTour team Garmin-Sharp), got back to basics in an attempt to recover the lost magic of the sport. This is their story about the 2500km journey from Port Macquarie to Uluru in just twelve days.”

Check out a full gallery and more at Cycling Tips!

I’ve been stoked on this project since first posting about it! Now you can rent or buy the 11-minute documentary Hunting for Monsters at Vimeo!

“Lake Iliamna, Alaska’s largest lake, is home to many native communities, the worlds largest sockeye salmon run, potential site of the controversial Pebble Mine and the elusive Lake Monster – Illie. On a hot mid-July, Bjørn and Brent were deposited to the far shore of Cook Inlet in a landing craft cargo ship and began their human powered journey through Iliamna country to Bristol Bay, hoping to catch a glimpse of the illusive creature and slice of Alaska where monsters can still roam free.”

Photo by Tom Robertson

Thanks for sharing, Jeff. Rubber side up!

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!

Photos by Brian Vernor

This morning, Brian Vernor left for a week long bike tour with these three companions. Where they are going, what they will be doing and why they’re doing this is still a mystery. A mystery that you can follow along with the Blackburn Designs Instagram.

That Santa Cruz is hot!!!! But not as hot as Brian’s Team Dream Hat!

This morning, the AWOL team and myself left San Francisco for a three day ride through Henry W. Coe state park down to Morgan Hill. While we have a general idea of how we’ll get down there (i.e. excessive speculation), we’re leaving a lot of room for error. Because, let’s face it, no big ride can go down without something going wrong. At least that’s my track record as of late.

I’ll be riding one of the new hydraulic disc, belt drive AWOL Transcontinental limited edition bikes and shooting photos of the ride for a few features on PiNP.

Come Monday, we’ll be showing my photos from the ride at the premier of the Transcontinental AWOL video at Specialized HQ.

Follow Hellhommus and me on Instagram this weekend for updates!

This looks like a rad project. Follow the Path Less Pedaled here. Thanks for the heads up Kyle.

“This is a short film based on the photography and writings of Rob Lutter.

His project, The LifeCycle, is a global cycling tour from London to London and has so far taken him 2 years and 15,000km to Hong Kong – his half way point.

Struggling with OCD and failing to find creativity at home, Rob left his home in England in 2011 alone by bicycle to find new life and meaning out on the open road.”

Nice find Tracko!