There it was, carved into the side of the mountain like a serpentine scar, slithering its way up toward a sky riddled with barren peaks; their toothy prominences ripping through the leading edge of a building storm. A keen eye and a pointed finger could trace its path, lurching upward from where we stood at the western edge of the Great Basin Desert, zigzagging all the way up through Pinyon/Juniper woodland, wandering between stands of Ponderosa and getting steeper as the Foxtail pines got shorter. Miles away it could still just barely be seen, emerging atop an alpine ridgeline some four thousand feet above.
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Radar
The Radavist 2021 Calendar: August
“Northern Argentina” is the seventh layout of the Radavist 2021 Calendar. It was shot with a Sony A7RII and the Sony 24-70/2.8 GM lens in Argentina.
“Ryan Wilson once again graces our monthly calendar with two photos from his travels to Argentina.”
For a high-res JPG, suitable for print and desktop wallpaper*, right-click and save link as – The Radavist 2021 – August. Please, this photo is for personal use only!
(*set background to white and center for optimal coverage)
The mobile background this month is also from the same tour. Click here to download August’s Mobile Wallpaper.
Radar
36 Hours in Kitsbow: Out West
Directed by Jay Melena, this film captures the adventure of four friends, Everett Ó Cillín, Silas Littlefield, Scottie Junker, and Melena, who set out on bikes to retrace the route of an infamous stagecoach driver, Charley Parkhurst, while reflecting on the importance of community and honoring an often misremembered queer and transhistorical figure.
The film gives you insight into the life of this infamous whiskey-drinking,
whip-cracking stagecoach driver who ran passengers and cargo during the California gold rush of the 1800’s. Charley was an orphan and runaway who escaped into a new life by taking the reins and heading out west to start a new life on their own terms. Quiet and rugged, Charley spent most of their time alone in nature, seeking comfort in solitude and physical labor.
Film director, Jay Melena, names that queer narratives in the outdoors are hard to find. Out West is a story of finding yourself by trusting your intuition, talent and desire to live in and make a better world. It’s also about isolation, loss, and making do with the circumstances in which you exist.
Their journey takes them to places where Charley’s history is alive across Santa Cruz County. Scope out their route at Kitsbow!
Radar
Singletracks Podcast Interviews Jon from Dzil Ta’ah Adventures
Our friends Nadine and John from Dzil Ta’ah Adventures have been receiving a lot of press lately and the latest in the torrent is the Singletracks podcast. Give it a listen to hear the motivations behind Dzil Ta’ah Adventures, and what they’re doing within the Navajo Nation to enable their community to ride bikes.
Check out our Related archives below for the work we’ve done with Dzil Ta’ah Adventures in the past, including this year’s Yellow Dirt Route Reportage.
Radar
Bikepacking the Forgotten Peninsula
This is the story of 10 Wisconsin guys heading to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a 4-day bikepacking trip in the summer of 2021.
Reportage
Photographic Observations While Bicycle Touring Along the Tuscany Trail
I don’t consider myself an avid bikepacker. Yet, neither I think nor talk about riding my enduro bike (which I don’t have). Terminology in general has lost meaning for me in the past years in the bike world. I guess at the same time as many of us, I got overwhelmed with all the new kinds of everything, and the speed of development and diversity the market has achieved in such a short time. I tried to back off a little and find a short of safe place from where I can observe it all. And at the same time, the kind of biking I try to practice more is also quite determined by the act of observing.
Radar
Bikepacking Into a Creek on Opening Day For Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout
Tenkara Rod Co takes advantage of the bicycle to access areas hard to get to by car or foot for Cutty opening day on the Yellowstone River…
A note: Western American rivers are uncharacteristically warm this summer, please check with local agencies for fishing restrictions before wetting a line…
Reportage
Serendipity on the TVA: 550 Miles and a Roll of Superia X-tra 400 Film
I like to shoot the first frame on a roll of film no matter how carefully I load the roll I always end up getting something kinda strange and wonderful out of that first exposure – an effect yielded by the film’s interaction with light coming from two separate moments in time and space – the exposure of the film through the camera’s shutter, but also the light leaked onto the frame during the loading of the roll. One of my favorite photos ever is of my 17-year-old beagle/spaniel mix, Bucky, where he looks like he’s peeking out from behind a cascading sheet of liquid sun. The first exposure on this roll is of my friend, podcast co-host, and riding partner, Sarah rifling through overstuffed bikepacking bags outside of a country store in Damascus, Virginia about 15 miles into our 550-mile bikepacking trip through the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia. The image of her trying to squeeze a snack bar into a nonexistent empty space in the top tube bag is itself neatly constrained into the 2/3rds of the frame not devoured by light exposure obtained while the roll was being loaded.
Reportage
Seeking Adventure In My Own Backyard: Tour Costa de Hermosillo
La Costa de Hermosillo is the name for a vast expanse of land that covers from the west of the city of Hermosillo all the way to the coast of the Gulf of California, 100 km (60 miles) away. Once part of the territory where the Comca’ac Natives thrived, nowadays it’s mainly used for agriculture; during the 19th century, the Comca’ac, most frequently called “Seri” which means “people of the sand” in Yaqui language, were persecuted and almost wiped out completely by the Mexican army and ranchers who had interest in this territory, and the few survivors of the already dispersed Comca’ac Nation were progressively displaced further and further towards the coast till they reached the land they occupy today, where water is scarce and life conditions are harsh. Rain is not often seen around here, and agriculture is only possible via drilling wells and bringing water from other parts. La Costa de Hermosillo is flat as it is possible for land to be, so making long distances by bike in this region is a matter of keeping your bars straight and moving early, because it’s usually around noon that the wind picks up.
Reportage
The Goat Road to Göğeri: Bikepacking Turkey
I woke up to the sounds of a struggling motorcycle engine. When I set up my tent the previous night I’d pushed my bike up a tiny double-track offshoot road that steeply climbed to an isolated hilltop. I was perched above the primary road that already gets very little traffic and totally out of sight, but with the sound of that engine, I knew the motorcycle wasn’t simply cruising by on the road below, it was making its way up toward me.
Radar
Apidura Innovation Lab: 1.5L Hydration Bladder for Bikepacking Frame Bags
One of the most difficult problems to solve on extended bicycle tours, particularly in the desert, is carrying enough water. Sure, hydration bladders work, as well as “soft” canteens, bladders, Nalgene bottles, and standard cycling bottles, yet a bladder that is integrated into a framebag would be ideal. A few small companies have toyed with this concept but none have brought it to fruition, until now. Apidura just announced their new roll-top 1.5L bladder, specifically designed for full-frame bags thanks to its tapered design. This puts the water weight as close to the bottom bracket as possible, in an area that is often underutilized.
Apidura has a full compatibility chart on their website but from the looks of things, the bladder will fit just about any full frame pack. Retail for this bladder is $51 and they’re in stock now at Apidura and your local dealer.
See more at Apidura.
Radar
Twenty-One Twelve: A Human Powered Adventure Across Australia
We all know that a bicycle can do a lot – grocery runs, pick your kids up from school, group rides, casual commuting – and now we have the bicycle as a support vehicle. In 2019 Katie Visco ran across Australia (her second transcontinental run) with her husband Henley Phillips as support crew pedaling a Surly Troll+Ted trailer. Their route followed the rough Outback tracks from Darwin through the Tanami Desert, into Alice Springs, through South Australia on the infamous Oodnadatta Track, finally ending in Adelaide 4 months later. The two filmed the journey entirely on smartphones and cut together a short documentary with the help of Yellow Tent Nomads.
Presented by: Bedrock Sandals.
Radar
Hyperlite Interviews Geoff McFetridge
Do you recall the video Going Without Knowing we posted a few weeks back? Well, Hyperlite Mountain Gear just posted a follow-up interview with artist Geoff McFetridge on their blog and I think you all will find it interesting:
What parallels can you draw between your artistic style and how you travel and engage in your preferred pastimes outside?
I think I get pretty deep into things. Deep and fringe-y. I first raced my bike as cyclocross, and I became more engaged with skiing when I learned to telemark. I didn’t get interested in fishing until I saw Tenkara. I don’t run road races, only trail runs. You can see a pattern here. I am not embarrassed to go directly into the deepest (trendiest?) zone of the margin—the single-speed of EVERYTHING.
Read more at Hyperlite!
Reportage
Tour Divide Bikes: Arya’s Tour Divide 2021 Crust Bikes Romanceür Tourer
This bicycle named Lil Romeo was chosen for my first attempt at the Tour Divide based on trust built over the years of adventuring together. A Reynolds 853 steel Crust Romanceür that I’ve ridden for 4 years in 4 different United Nations recognized countries. The custom frame bag that held food, 3 liters of water, and often a can of nitro coffee has the Tibetan national flag that is not recognized by the United Nations. I love this flag almost as much as I love this bike. Not for the sake of Nationalism, but for the sake of Beauty. Lots of parts on this bike were selected for beauty, practicality, and nostalgia.
Reportage
Movigo, Human Propelled Freedom: Bike Bags and Accessories From Tijuana, México
I have been internet friends with Irlanda for so long that I don’t even remember how we started communicating. What I do remember is that she told me she had the dream of making bicycle bags and accessories but at the moment, sewing fancy dresses are what paid her bills. Settled in the México-USA border city of Tijuana, she has been dressing brides and quinceañeras for over twenty years and it was around fourteen years ago that she started riding a bike to get around. As she took part in organizing group rides, she sewed hip bags and gave them away as an incentive to attract more people to ride, and that’s how sewing bike bags became a hobby. Along those two decades, she started growing tired of the high fashion world while at the same time she made more bicycle accessories, but still, the money flowed mainly from the people who came to her from either side of the border to get their dresses made.
Reportage
Lael Wilcox Bike Setup: Trans Alaska Pipeline Time Trial Gear List and Introduction
I was born in Anchorage, Alaska, as was my mother. My grandfather was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, as was his father.
Alaska became a state in 1959. It’s a complicated and very beautiful place. It’s home.
In 2017, I rode all of the major roads in the state— about 4,500 miles, a mix of gravel and pavement. By land, Alaska is huge— twice the size of Texas. The road system is very limited, many places are isolated. I wanted to ride my bike to connect as much as I could. I set out in a series of trips— riding for a week or two at a time and hitching back to town to work at The Bicycle Shop to fund the next leg. For the most part, I rode alone. It was a lot of freedom and I had the time of my life.
Reflecting on my rides later, I wanted to go back to share my experience. Both with Rue, the love of my life, and with the public through photos and videos. This is something I have thought about since the fall of 2017.
Radar
Jon and Nadine’s Dzil Ta’ah Adventures Are in Condé Nast Travel
Our friends Jon and Nadine’s cyclo-tourism company, Dzil Ta’ah Adventures, based in the Navajo Nation town of Kayenta made it to the travel segment of Condé Nast. We’ve done a few stories with Dzil Ta’ah Adventures over the years, so after you check this out, be sure to visit our archives in the Related footer below…
“It’s important for Navajo Nation to be in charge of this story, because more often than not, that story has been told for, not by, Navajo people,” says Navajo Nation member Donovan Hanley, a legislative staff assistant spearheading tourism development for Navajo Nation Council’s Office of the Speaker. “Jon’s push to tell stories on bikes, the push for adventure, responsible tourism, and sustainable tourism—it really aligns with the Navajo way of life.”
Read the full piece at Condé Nast Travel!
Radar
2021 Swift Campout Video Challenge Finalist – Wira Samudra
This year, the Swift Campout Video Challenge brought in dozens of submissions from all over the world but one stood out above the rest: Wira Samudra’s submission from Jakarta, Indonesia’s Psychloop. Give it a watch here!