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WTF Bikexplorers’ latest work is an annual publication called Get Rad Be Radical. It’s a magazine that is about bikes but not about bikes, creating a platform where everyone can experience what it means to be a FTWN-B who loves bikes. This issue features 20 contributors, focusing on themes established at WTF Bikexplorers Summits from 2018-2019. Pick up a copy of Get Rad Be Radical today for $17 at WTF Bikexplorers. All proceeds from the sales go towards WTF BX programs.
WTF BX announces that the 2020 SJ Brooks Scholarship is now accepting applications!
The 2020 SJ Brooks Scholarships seek to increase access, reduce barriers, and center voices specifically for BIPOC cyclists who identify as femme, trans, woman, non-binary, intersex, two-spirit, or genderqueer. The application will close at 9pm (PST) on August 27, 2020. Those selected to receive one of the SJ Brooks Scholarships will be notified by the week of September 21, 2020.
**Applicants must self-identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, person of color) and FTWN-B (femme, transgender, woman, non-binary). All skill levels, abilities, and body sizes are encouraged to apply. All applicants who do not identify as BIPOC should spread the word to BIPOC cyclists in their community circles.
The cycling community and industry raised $20k for the scholarships. This financial donation will allow recipients to receive up to $2k to pursue a spirited endeavor and has helped support a committee to oversee the application process. WTF BX also received cycling and camping gear packages valued at $3k each and bikes for 9 recipients. These combined contributions will allow WTF BX to offer up to 18 scholarships specifically for BIPOC FTWN-B cyclists!
Thank you to the cycling community and the following cycling brands who helped make this happen: @eastoncycling, @iamspecialized, @evo, @konabikes, @surlybikes, @velocioapparel, @chrome_industries, @revelatedesigns, @ridewithgps, @gaiagps, @cnocoutdoors, @bedrocksandals, @topodesigns, @ombraz, @blackburndesign, @biketiresdirect, @boschebikesystems.us, @fernwehfoodco, @fix_that_bike, @planet_bike, @msr_gear, @microcosm_pub
See more and apply at the SJ Brooks Scholarship page.
WTF Bikexplorers launched the 2020 SJ Brooks Scholarship Fundraiser today. As part of their Black Lives Matter accountability actions, the WTF Bikexplorers 2020 scholarship seeks to expand funding to increase cycling opportunities specifically for BIPOC folks who identify as femme, trans, non-binary, and women.
“We recognize that the outside is not free. The freedom and access that many cyclists enjoy are not an experience equally shared by BIPOC, queer, and trans riders. This rings true, now just as ever with social inequality and systemic racism persisting against the backdrop of a pandemic. These injustices and inequalities have persisted so much longer than this current moment and we recognize that there is much work that can be done on our part to create more safe, accessible, and inclusive spaces and opportunities for these communities. The 2020 WTF Bikexplorers SJ Brooks Scholarship seeks to increase access to cycling opportunities specifically within Black, Indigenous, people of color, queer and transgender communities by reducing some of the financial and material barriers that are required to pursue a spirited bicycle endeavor. Spirited bicycle endeavors may include overnight or multi-day bike trips, community organizing, or attending a cycling event.
We need the cycling community’s help to make this happen. If you support our mission, please help us grow and support our community through this scholarship fundraiser. Your donation will go directly toward financial stipends for the scholarship recipients to use to help pursue a spirited bicycle endeavor on their terms.”
Please, if you can, donate to this fund to increase the diversity of cycling!
Thereabouts – Gus and Lachlan Morton – recently interviewed Sarah Swallow, one of the founding members of the WTF Bikexplorers and organizer of the Ruta del Jefe in Arizona, about life and the pursuit of all things rad. Check it out here and head to Thereabouts for their excellent write up about Sarah!
As the only media outlet to cover every single Grinduro California race, I’d say it’s safe to say we’re the official Grinduro coverage website! The proof is in the pudding. With that said, we’re stoked to announce that the 2020 registration for the Mt. Shasta event on September 12th is open tonight at 7pm PDT, with 210 registration spots saved for FTW (femme, trans, women) riders. We can’t wait to provide our exceptional coverage this year, yet again! Especially with this recent announcement. Read the entire press release below…
Got extra wall space in your office or bike shop? Or perhaps you would like to gift your LBS/IBD one of these posters as a reminder to the community?
Get a limited edition screen printed poster of the WTF Bikexplorers Guiding Principles as a daily reminder for yourself, friends, family, coworkers, boss, or anyone else who might want to know what WTF is all about.
Proceeds directly support the Cycling Industry Pledge and WTF Bikexplorers programs
Shipping: United States only
Size: 11 x 17”
Material: 100# paper, screenprint
Screenprinted by: Seizure Palace
Printed in: Portland OR
Designer: Molly Sugar
Pick one up at the WTF Bikexplorers webshop today!
Today, May 6th at 6pm PST, Martina Brimmer, co-founder and head honcho of Swift Industries is hosting a live talk with the WTF Gravel Team. If you’re free and would like to deep dive into what makes the team so unique, please tune in!
The idea for a WTF Bikexplorers Gravel Program sprouted in 2019 as I spun back into the gravel race scene. I saw the same deficit in diversity that bike-touring had (and still has) when five friends and I decided to organize the first WTF Bikexplorers Summit in 2018. Despite gravel racing as a rapidly growing sport within cycling, it is still very grassroots. It is not controlled by the UCI – yet – or any other sanctioning bodies and therefore it has the opportunity to mold and change to be the way we want it to be.
Jacinta, aka J, was on the hunt for a new bicycle. She had some money set aside and began looking at the options out there. There was always the option for custom, but J eventually grew a liking for Bearclaw Bicycle Co’s offerings. The Thunderhawk checked all the boxes but she wanted to make it her own. Enter the wizards at Black Magic Paint…
The outdoors can mean many different things to people. For those into bikes, especially mountain biking, the woods are a place to send and shred. We trade leads and follows, lines and trails. We might not admit it, but for a lot of us riding is a form of therapy. Instead of therapists invoices we sink our cash into new bikes and wheels for the same mental result, and a lot more sweat. Those of us who enjoy unrestricted access to outdoors might be unaware that not everyone experiences that same ease of access. As a result, the benefits one gets from riding through through the woods or in the mountains with friends are not evenly felt by all.
The WTF Bikexplorers Summit – part skill share, part retreat – is a forum for WTF folks that aims to change that imbalance. This year, the second annual summit (the first one was in Montana) featured a pre-summit camp out and ride from the Chris King Farm outside of Portland, OR to the summit in Vernonia.
WTF Bikexplorers announces the Cycling Industry Pledge to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the cycling community.
The grass grows steadily, towering over us until we can no longer see the San Pedro Trail. My partner and I hadn’t seen anyone else that day and it was peacefully quiet. We can only hear the bees buzzing, ignoring our presence among the thicket of yellow flowers growing wildly across the trail. It was still early in the afternoon and we already had an eventful morning – dodging thorny bushes cutting both our arms and legs, navigating muddy streams covered with overgrown grass, surprising a few jackrabbits from their homes, and getting startled by two rattlesnakes lying across the gravel path.
The WTF Bikexplorers have expanded their mission for the forthcoming 2020 calendar year. Within the list of new programs are a new Gravel Team and a fresh podcast, dubbed Within & Without. Check out the details below.
Sorry this has sold out!
Our friends at the WTF Bikexplorers just announced that tickets are now available for the Second Annual WTF Bikexplorers Summit. The Summit looks to bring people who identify as women, trans, or femme together for a weekend of bikepacking, seminars, workshops, and camaraderie. Check out the full press release below!
For 2019, the WTB Bikexplorers have a new Grassroots Ride Series launching. These rides are a movement toward creating a stronger, more connected WTF Bikexploring community. They are seeking ride leaders to organize multi-day self-supported adventure rides in their local communities and to register their 2019 rides, which are then listed on the Grassroots Ride Series page. Right now, there are rides in Colorado, Pennsylvania, DC, Vermont, TX, and more. If you are a WTF and would like to host a ride in your area – like LA for instance! – head to the Grassroots Ride Series to sign up by May 31st!
The WTF Bikexplorers have pulled together SJ Brooks Bikexplorers Scholarships for this year’s Summit. Here are the details:
We would like to recognize the WTF community & our allies who donated to the SJ Brooks Bikexplorers Scholarship last year. Thanks to these generous donations we are able to fund five individual scholarships to attend the 2019 WTF Bikexplorers Summit.
The second WTF Bikexplorers Summit will include four days of clinics, rides, discussions, campfires, and gear testing in Vernonia, OR. Our goal for this year’s Summit is to connect, celebrate and support the growing community of WTFnB cyclists who use their bicycles to explore the world in a way that feels empowering and healing. With these scholarships we hope to support those members of our community who encounter the structural inequalities that can get in the way of getting outside and exploring the world by bike.
We recognize that living the bike life isn’t as free and easy as the internet makes it seem. In an effort to make the Summit as diverse as the world we live we’re offering scholarships for FIVE folks who identify as women, trans, femme, and/or non-binary to attend this year’s summit.
Apply at WTF Bikexplorers!
Our friends at the WTF Bikexplorers are holding a fundraiser to help kick off their 2019:
“WTF Bikexplorers is building a movement for more gender inclusivity within bicycle adventure travel by facilitating spaces to connect and grow our community. We are 100% Women, Transgender, Femme, Non-Binary and Genderqueer gravel grinders, mountain bikers, bikepackers, day-ride explorers, long-distance road riders, bicycle tourers, backpackers converting to bikepacking, and individuals looking to incorporate camping with biking.
We are seeking support from our allies within the cycling and adventure travel industry to help make our 2019 Summit a resounding success. Specifically, we are raising $20,000 to ensure that we can lower the ticket cost for WTF Bikexplorers in your community. While the amount may seem significant, we know first hand the impact that can be made when we work together!
If our mission is the future you also want to see it realized, we invite you to please consider making a donation. The WTF Bikexplorers are grateful for whatever level of support you can offer – no donation is too small to make a difference! For donations of $500 or greater, we will include your business name, link on our website, and a shout out on social media (Instagram and Facebook). You will also receive a “We Support WTF Bikexplorers” decal for your business.”
Donations are kindly requested by April 1st.
Words by Tenzin Namdol, Molly Sugar, Sarah Swallow, Jocelyn Gaudi Quarrell, Whitney Ford-Terry, and Mary Lytle, Founders of WTF Bikexplorers
Summit Photos by Gritchelle Fallesgon
Illustrations by Tessa Hulls
Ride Series Photos by Rie Sawada (Instagram + Website)
A few weeks ago one hundred cyclists from all over the country identifying as women, transgender, femme, and non-binary gathered in Whitefish, Montana for the first ever WTF Bikexplorers Summit. The Summit was organized to support, celebrate, and connect the community of W/T/F/N-B who use their bicycles to explore and a collective effort for a movement away from patriarchy and toward a liberatory cycling culture.
“This Summit is about bikes, but it is not really about bikes.” -Tessa Hulls
