The Radavist

This June, Meaghan Hackinen set out to compete in the Tour Divide. While no stranger to big rides or bikepacking races, this would be Meaghan’s longest off-pavement adventure yet. After a neck-and-neck race with Ana Jager, Meaghan reached Antelope Wells in a time of 15 days and 23 hours, winning the 2024 women’s division (7th overall) and setting the fastest women’s time for a grand depart.

In this reflective essay, Meaghan weaves together snapshots from her experience while exploring the invaluable but less visible support network that helped her achieve this Tour Divide win. 

Supporting photographs from Seth DuBois, Alexandera Houchin, and Megan Dunn

Stacked on a foundation of building strong minds, bodies, characters, and communities, The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) has been getting more kids on bikes through mountain bike racing, adventure riding, trail building, community outreach, and scholarship programs since being officially established in 2009.

Katie Sox spills the beans on her experience photographing for the Oregon League and how NICA continues to expand its offerings while cultivating a healthier and more equitable approach to youth sports.

Today, we present a recap of the 2024 LA Invitational put on by all the lovely folks over at The Cub House in Los Angeles, CA. In a slightly different format than our typical event Reportage, the team gathered stories from various participants, who recounted harrowing and ecstatic experiences while out riding the event routes. Then, they conclude with a gallery of drool-worthy two- and four-wheeled machines from the bike and car show portion. Let’s check it out below!

The Ibis Ripmo may be the perfect bike. And how could Ibis update the perfect bike? Well, Travis got a couple short weeks on the new 2025 Ibis Ripmo V3,  and it turns out you can do a lot more than just straighten the top tube.

Arcouzan bikepacking route is a mixed-terrain, circular cycling track around the wild and remote (but surprisingly accessible) Ariège region of the French Pyrénées. Arcouzan is not a race; it’s about finding connection through adventure. It’s designed as an immersive journey for cyclists, a bike-packing route encouraging you to travel slowly and embrace everything you encounter.

Continue reading below as Claire Frecknall and Tomas Montes document their reconnaissance mission on the new Arcouzan bikepacking route…

Do event photos tell the true story? Do they just remind us of a cool day on the bike that we can show off on social media? Or can they tell a different story, one we might not even know was taking place? Within the context of the Lu Lacka Wyco Hundo gravel cycling event, photographer Abe Landes wonders what role event photos play in telling the true story of the ride. Cyclist Brian Biggs has some thoughts…

 Last summer, Kurt Refsnider rode the length of the Continental Divide Trail (the bike-legal sections, that is) over the course of three months and documented the journey in a series of articles here on The Radavist. You can find those here. This article is the first of a two-part Q&A series about Kurt’s gear choices and bike setup. The subsequent second part will be all about food planning and eating on a 3,000-mile singletrack adventure. 

As Ryan Wilson continues his bike tour south from Colombia to Chile, he runs into the beginning of Peru’s infamous storm season.  Follow along as Ryan has a few close calls in a region that was home to one of the earliest civilizations in the Peruvian Andes.

The Redlands Strada Rossa celebrated its tenth anniversary in the spring of 2024. While the ride has changed over the years, the spirit of the event has remained much the same. Below, Brandon Pfaff dives into the history of the ride, this year’s route, and what makes the Strada Rossa a distinctive cycling event.

John likes to review a carbon full-suspension bike at least once a year to challenge his opinions on his preference of chassis material, and this summer’s bike is the 2024 Rocky Mountain Instinct. Thanks to new geometry, details, and a simplified RIDE-4 adjustment, the Instinct proved to be a very capable 140/150 trail bike. Perhaps the bigger picture of this review is John’s ever-questioning of his quasi-religious, cult-like zealotry for metal bikes…

After an extended hiatus from riding a dedicated road bike, Hailey Moore dips back into the category with a review of UK-based Temple Cycles Road 2. Read on for Hailey’s thoughts on this neo-classic with future vintage ambitions…

Launching today, the Hoot Ti from Otso Cycles is the brand’s first foray into designing a truly modern and progressive hardtail mountain bike. Built around 140 mm of front suspension with short 425mm chainstays across all sizes, the Hoot is meant for demanding trail riding yet is playful enough for riders who like to get airborne. It’s an evolution of where the brand, which has been innovating since day one, is going while also showcasing its ability to deploy new technologies to solve challenging design problems.

Josh has put considerable mileage on the new Hoot over the past few weeks, both in his usual testing grounds of southern Arizona and a big week in the steep mountains of northern New Mexico. Continue reading below for Josh’s review of the Hoot and a peek inside Otso’s Minneapolis, MN-based operations.

Over the last eight years, Ryan Wilson has been traveling all over the world by bike on an extended tour and has learned plenty of lessons planning trips along the way.  Below, Ryan dives into some of the most frequent questions that people ask when they’re looking to plan their first bike tour.