The Radavist

Spencer Harding is up next and below, joins our team of contributors and editors in sharing a list of favorite products and albums of 2023. A few of his picks are things he’s had for a while and have withstood the test of time and extended use. Others include some new gadgets as well as one non-bike-related product for good measure. He also put together a list of album and podcast recommendations. Let’s get right into it below!

It’s been a wild year around these parts. In addition to the organizational changes we experienced with this website, I feel fortunate to have met and collaborated with many amazing people in addition to traveling to some truly remarkable places. My list of favorite products ended up being rather eclectic, but I think it reflects the wide range of material we get to cover here. Of course, music was an integral backdrop to my work – on rides, traveling abroad, and with my family at home – so I have joined some of our other contributors in offering a selection of favorite tunes, alongside a handful of products, below.

Continuing with our editors’ Favorite Products of 2023, we look at Morgan‘s list, which breaks down into the following categories: carrying stuff, community, self-sufficiency, and pieces of flair. Let’s check out what Morgan enjoyed using this year!

It’s Travis Engel’s turn to go through the gear that made his year. Somehow, he managed to resist the urge to fill his list with movie podcasts and carbon full-suspension bikes (though there are a couple movie podcasts down in his Playlist). Instead, he’s got an eclectic collection of on- and off-bike goodies. None of them actually came out in 2023, but each played a uniquely pivotal role for him this year.

As 2023 comes to a close, Hailey Moore shares the gear that she turned to again and again this year. Read on for the products that have become indispensable in her bike-touring setup, a couple of apparel recommendations, an off-the-bike surprise, and her 2023 Ride Playlist. 

We’ve had a busy year over here at The Radavist. From the return to being 100% independent, launching our Group Ride subscription service, our Rad Bazaar marketplace, and adjusting to being a small business owner again, my free time has been limited. Yet, I can thank a few products for making my job and life easier this year, along with the albums that became the backdrop for my rides, so let’s check out my Favorite Products of 2023!

Is it possible for a bike to be too good for its own good? Where it’s so capable that it pulls you into terrain and features beyond the category its predecessors lived in? That’s the question Morgan Taylor poses in this review of the 2023 Rocky Mountain Element. Read on to see if swapping out parts ruins this bike’s character, or if it transcends categorization while Morgan rediscovers backyard singletrack…

Greetings and good tidings from Nutmeg Country, or welcome to the world of love, kindness, friendship, and joy. Maybe you’ve felt it all year long, or maybe you’ve been yearning to finally make the pilgrimage to the largest gathering of wool and steel on the East Coast. Either way, Jarrod Bunk has no doubt that stories of the soft times had in Nutmeg Country have reached your ears. The allure has been written about many times in this corner of the internet. The annual Nutmeg Nor’easter masquerades as the best alt-cycling weekend but Jarrod’s here to tell you that what you’ll find when you arrive is the biggest group hug you could ever hope for. This is a cycling festival that’s more about the people and the riding is just the reason to gather. Read on for Jarrod’s recap of the 2023 edition of the Nutmeg Nor’Easter.

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. 

With its mixed-surface riding through four distinct sections of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument that surrounds Las Cruces, New Mexico, the Monumental Loop has plenty of spice—and not just from the chile you’ll find in Hatch. Every fall, the Loop’s organizers extend an open invitation for cyclo-tourists to come experience the 250-mile desert figure eight as part of the Dangerbird group ride event. This year’s rolling extravaganza was a coupled with the Bikepacking Summit, which Daniel Zaid attended and reports on below… 

First held in 1976, the annual Pearl Pass Tour continues to take riders on one of the earliest organized mountain bike challenges: riding (and pushing) bikes to the top of Pearl Pass (12,705′) from Crested Butte, Colorado. Inspired to ride new terrain and get to know the burgeoning mountain biking community in Crested Butte, Wende Cragg and a band of Californians loaded up their klunkers and made the trip out to take part in several early editions of the now-iconic event.

Following a forty-two year hiatus, Wende Cragg returned to Crested Butte for this year’s ride. Read on for her tales from Pearl Pass, past and present…

Some bikes just hit differently. They grow with an audience, transform the paradigm, and go against the grain. The Santa Cruz Stigmata is one of those bikes for me. 

These days, mountain bike brands are all about gravel bikes, but one company started its foray into drop bars way back in 2007. Santa Cruz Bicycles first launched its quirky and fun ‘cross bike, dubbed the Stigmata, back before disc brakes proliferated the drop-bar bike phenotype. It was made from Easton EA6X aluminum in the USA and had cantilever brakes. It was weird. Funky. Cool. 

Then, in 2015, the brand brought back the Stigmata but in carbon with disc brakes. I spent some time in New Zealand on the bike and logged many miles in Los Angeles. I loved it. So much so that I copied its geometry for my custom Firefly in 2016. Later, the Stiggy got another refresh and the 2019 iteration sported 27.5 x 2″ tires and was a carbon monster truck. I posted that review the day we refreshed our web design of The Radavist.

So when Santa Cruz announced its 2023 model, with the full SRAM AXS kit, including the RockShox Rudy suspension fork, I had to try it out, too. I’ve been ripping around on this lightweight and capable bike here in Santa Fe through the remnants of a dry and dusty El Niño year and have some thoughts on what makes the Stigmata so magical. Check it out below!