The Radavist

This week’s Readers’ Rides comes from Theo and his custom finished Cannondale CAADX ‘cross bike. Read on below for Theo’s words and photos…

This week really flew by and for today’s Readers’ Rides, we look at Sam’s Moné La Roca hardtail… Check out a full build list, with words by Sam below!

It’s not often you get photos like James’ in the Readers’ Rides email box. It’s not the bike shots I’m talking about either, check out that rider portrait! So good. Let’s let James describe his Temple prototype in his own words for this week’s Readers’ Rides…

The latest story from Salsa is not to be missed:

“For years now, I have had an idea percolating in the deep recesses of my adventure mind. Living in the picturesque mountain town of Durango, Colorado, I am lucky to have access to one of the world’s most stunning mountain ranges, the San Juans. Encompassing more than 17,000 square miles, the range is a playground for all mountain enthusiasts. I have hiked, climbed, skied, kayaked, and biked much of the range. For most, an exploration of the range begins in the towns of Durango, Pagosa Springs, Telluride, Ouray, or Silverton. The scenic byways of 550 and 160 provide quick and easy access to high alpine lakes, trout streams, rocky summits, and deep gorges. Additionally, because of the bisection of the range from the Durango-Silverton railway and the presence of the famed Colorado Trail, a north-to-south (or vice versa) traverse of the area is common. Few ever think of crossing the range from the other cardinal points of east and west.”

Check out the full story at Salsa!

This week’s Readers’ Rides is one wild rig! Timothy‘s Diamondback is a great example of how vintage bikes can keep rolling for decades and can be quite fun to build out, much less ride!

If you need a rugged machine look no further then the Diamondback bicycle family from the ’90s. Overall great construction, pretty strong and made from USA True Temper tubes. This example was customized by Jeffson Bikes around 2004 and has an adjustable BB and disc tab welded on. The paint is my own doing after I could not stop looking at a Cooks Bros cruiser with a sunset fade. I did this with spray cans, and the homie made me some custom stickers that represent my bad back I had while building this bike.

Salsa‘s latest video follows Sarah Hornby, a rider in mourning for her late husband. She would attempt all 10 routes he created while researching his Bikepacking in the Canadian Rockies guidebook, in a single year. Like life, her plans changed along the way…

So as you can imagine, the contributors to the Radavist are all sitting on a bit more free time these days, myself included. While personally, I still have a few bikes to review, which will be rolling out over the next few weeks, we’d all like to queue up a few more. Over the years, the readership has provided outstanding feedback, and with those opinions, we’ve reviewed various bikes from big brands to small. We’re all collectively wondering which bikes you’d like to see reviewed here on the Radavist? Drop your preference in the comments and we’ll take note!

Originally published in 2015 thanks to Salsa Cycles, Bikepacking Roots has just announced this 90-page field guide is now available for digital download after you donate $5 to the non-profit. This guide was written by Kaitlyn Boyle and Kurt Refsnider and was created to help incite a love for those looking to get into bikepacking by providing helpful information and various pointers to get your bike loaded up and pointed down the trail.

Head to Bikepacking Roots to check it out!

For 2020, Grinduro is continuing to expand throughout the globe, bringing the mixed-terrain event to California, as well as Wales, Switzerland, Japan, Quebec, and Australia. Its global support network brands, Giro, Fabric, Maxxis, and Rapha will team up with each event’s hosting brands, Cannondale, Canyon, Devinci, and Salsa.

Now, for the biggest change announcement. The inaugural event’s location of Quincy, California has been part of the weekend’s charm and this year, Grinduro will be leaving Quincy and the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship for the Mt. Shasta area, where they will work with the Siskiyou Outdoor Alliance.

Keep in mind that while Grinduro might be a weekend of partying and racing, it also raises money for local trail organizations, totaling $500,000 for trail organizations backing the event.

As someone who has put in a ton of effort into this event over the years, I’m glad to see it expanding!

Our Grinduro 2019 Event Recaps:
–Scotland
–Japan
–California

Where did you ride? With whom? Did you get caught in some snow? We’d like to open up the comment section to any photos you took of your long weekend rides and we’ll pick some winners to send some care packages to. You’ve got all week to do so! We’ll look at the number of “up votes” each post gets to decide on some winners.