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Some people will think this image looks like hell, others heaven, and for them, this winter’s content here on the site has a high bar to reach after last year’s desert exploits. Regardless of the outcome, I’m looking forward to it! Out of curiosity, has anyone taken on this loop after seeing our post from December? Over the next few weeks, the temps will be dropping even more!
Anyway, ENJOY THE WEEKEND!
Intent. In my design school education, we were taught that design without intent was vapid, lifeless, disposable, “junk space.” Yet, in the same breath, we were taught that intent should be interpreted without excessive explanation. That the work itself should stand on its own and most importantly, have meaning. Now, that’s design school and this is the real world. I look at college as highly concentrated cold brew coffee. Sure, you can drink it, but it’s going to wreak havoc on your day, or you can water it down a bit and enjoy the soft, edgeless buzz of caffeine. Not that I’m implying intent should be watered down, I’m just saying this is the real world and in a digital era, I’ve come to terms with the fact that people just want to look at pretty photos. Mostly…
Deserted’s definition means a place void of people and that’s good and all, but in this age, that’s almost impossible to achieve and in fact, many people don’t like solitude, instead, they organize caravans of their friends or like-minded individuals to explore with them. Spend enough time in the desert and you’re sure to see trains of 4×4 vehicles slowly careening through the landscape, HAM radios buzzing in the still air. There’s a lot to be said about the inherent safety of such a weekend trip. If someone gets stuck, or something breaks, it’s nice to have other people around to help. But the tedium of slow-moving exploration isn’t for everyone. In fact, having an agenda greatly alters the Lovecraftian intent of exploration; the unknown, the unplanned, and the inevitable “oh shit” moment. The latter keeps us feeling alive, as it strikes a balance between the “what if,” the “what it could have been,” and the denial of either potential outcome. Go explore, but be prepared for the inevitable.
When you need all the water you can haul, products like the Widefoot LiterCage really come in handy. These steel bottle cages utilize the same mounting hole pattern as an “Anything” mount or traditional bottle cage boss spacing and are designed to carry larger bottles like Nalgene’s products in a unique 5-hole bolt pattern. Their sturdy construction (each cage weighs 168g) will hold a bottle in place inside the front triangle of your bike, while fork-mounted, or a third location like under your downtube greatly benefits from the use of a Voile ski strap, especially when using the 1.5 liter Nalgene bottles, especially when the going gets rough.
I’ve been using Nalgene bottles of various sizes with the LiterCage, mostly in the desert over the past few months, but have migrated this platform onto my bikes when bigger day rides require maximum water carrying capacity. For me, it’s nice having the bulk of the water weight as low as possible on the bike and off my back, where I usually carry my camera. Transferring the weight to under the downtube, or on the fork blades makes for a more stable riding experience.
The LiterCage is made in Nebraska, comes in two finishes; silver and black, and are in stock now at Widefoot Design, as well as select retailers. If you want your shop to carry Widefoot, ask them politely!
Bicycles. They’re a work in progress, especially ones that are derivative of a particular activity which in itself is evolving. Take bikepacking and touring for example. It seems just about every month, a company makes a new product which therein makes the act of touring eaiser or at least more enjoyable. When I first began talks with Kris Henry of 44 Bikes for this rigid mountain tourer, which I’ve come to call my “Ute” – an Aussie term, short for a utility vehicle – I had a vision for what touring meant and means to me. Leaving pavement and accessing trail, both in double and single track variety, means a fully loaded bike needs to be stable, comfortable and still maneuverable. Since this bikes inception, I’ve been sold on the Jones Bar, mostly due to the amazing leverage, riding position and varying riding positions. The thing, however, that didn’t work so well for me was the very thing that makes the Jones so unique: the hoop design and lack of rise. Also, the Jones bar has proven to be problematic with bikepacking and touring bags, which was slightly evident on my Death Valley tour. That Fabio’s Chest wanted to sag a bit too much with that setup.
Check out more below.
Tristan Rawlence’s Loaded Santa Cruz Highball for the 2018 Tour Aotearoa Brevet
Photos and Audio captured by Sven Martin, intro by John Watson
The preparation for ultra-endurance bikepacking events is of mind, body, and bicycle. The latter of which there is no shortage of interest in, both in terms of this website’s audience and my own curiosity. I’ve seen a lot of various gear setups over the years, from Trans America winners taking on 1000 mile road rides, Baja Divide rigs, Stagecoach hardtails, Tour Divide and everything in between. There’s something magical about a fully loaded bike, especially when the owner has put so much thought into every detail, specifically, gear selection.
Photographer and all-around badass Sven Martin caught up with Tristan Rawlence, prior to his departure for the 2018 Tour Aotearoa Brevet, a 3000km brevet which traverses from Cape Reinga at the Northern tip, to the Bluff at the Southern tip in New Zealand. Not only did Sven bring a camera to document Tristan’s setup, but some great audio equipment, which makes for an extremely interactive experience and quite frankly, something entirely new and exciting for the Radavist.
I’ve got much love for our National Parks and while some have become overrun with excessive tourists, there are still many out there that offer a true wilderness experience from the safety of your car, or in our case, your bicycle. We’ve almost had our fill of desert exploration this year, but I’m always looking for ways to support our National Parks. That can come in many forms, from sharing stories or photos taken within the park boundaries – as long as you’re not using a drone! they’re like the e-bikes of cameras, and are illegal in all National Parks – to buying a yearly parks pass, or even unique collaborations like this, between J Crew and New Balance.
These limited edition, made in the USA 998 New Balances are inspired by the tonality of Death Valley’s Mojave desert, both low and high. They’re in stock now at J Crew for $180 and yes, you can ride a bicycle in them just fine. Oh and they even have an all-blue 998 model inspired by Crater Lake, but I’m not a fan of mosquitos…
For many, a New Year means time for reflection, and time for prospectives. For cyclists, this often includes planning out a build for a planned ride or perhaps updating your favorite bike with new gear. Perhaps that’s the motivation for many of you to visit this site. For us at the Radavist, we look at all the data from the past year’s content and begin to understand more what you, the readers, love to see here on the site.
Every bicycle on this list should come as no surprise. It was one of the most difficult selections in the history of this site, as almost all of these Beautiful Bicycles delivered similar metrics. We pulled these from the archives based on traffic, social media chatter and commentary. They’re displayed in no particular order. Omitted are bicycle reviews and completely bone stock production models – like the Jim Merz Sequoia and All-City Cosmic Stallion.
Thrown in, making it a baker’s dozen, is our top 2017 NAHBS pick as well. Without further adieu, here’ the Lucky 13 Beautiful Bicycles of 2017!
For over a hundred years, Death Valley has had its minerals extracted by machine and mule. Not just for gold and silver, either. Prospectors scoured the mountains for antimony, copper, lead, zinc, and tungsten, packing out their load by mule. We are modern day Prospectors, however, we are not seeking riches, yet experiences, of which will be beaten into our soul by miles of washboarded and rocky roads. Our mules are our bicycles and we’ll take only photos, leaving no trace, taking nothing from this land. It’s given enough over the decades and its scars are still visible on the surface.
There’s no death in this valley, but life, at a micro scale, so nuanced that without the pace of the bicycle, might be passed over, unnoticed. These next ten days, I’ll be embarking on a series of rides in Death Valley National Park, with a varying cast of characters, with one thing on the agenda: sharing this natural beauty with you and documenting these routes for the next prospectors to mine memories.
Last night, the trip began with caching water and wood for our first expedition… Stay tuned.
After South Africa, I realized two things. The first being my knee injury will have me off the bike for a few weeks and the second; it’s finally the perfect time for the desert. Rather than stewing at home, unable to ride and constantly being surrounded by the thing that I can’t do right now – riding bikes – I decided that a trip to the Mojave was in order. A nonprofit artist organization, the High Desert Test Sites, was doing their annual symposium in the Joshua Tree area. Cari has worked with them in the past, so I thought it’d be an awesome excuse to get out to the Mojave for a short trip.
The problem is, Joshua Tree this time of year is a zoo, so finding a camping spot on the weekend is a challenge. My rough plan was to drive out to the Cady Mountains, camp, wake up to look for Big Horn sheep and explore the slot canyons, then drive to Joshua Tree for the festivities. We’d then bail out back to the Mojave and explore some more areas I’ve got saved for just such an occasion.
Springtime Siestas on the Black Canyon Trail
Photos and words by Locke Hassett
A month or so ago, a friend and I decided to use a long weekend to explore the treasure that is the Black Canyon Trail (BCT). This flowing ribbon of almost all singletrack brings riders through distinct desert ecosystems bordering the eastern edge of the Bradshaw mountains between Mayer and just north of Phoenix. Being able to flow through prickly pear and ocotillo into the Sonoran desert, packed with Saguaros is an amazing experience, and to be able to do it over fantastic quality singletrack is icing on the spiny cake. We rode this trail in March, but it was still incredibly hot (90+ degrees at noon) especially for my Montana bones. We had the fortune of having plenty of water, while still having safe river crossings. To avoid the heat, we took siestas in shade near water sources and made trailside margaritas.
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!
If you follow my Flickr, this might look vaguely familiar. Back in October, I visited an antique shop here in Austin with my ladyfriend. Inside a glass case were a bunch of Masonic amulets and other imagery. Since the Masons are riddled with architectural history in the US, I’ve always been a fan of their imagery. When I returned to Austin yesterday, this was sitting on my desk in a neatly-packaged box. Quite a surprise! Anyone have a back-story on it that won’t get you kidnapped?
