The Radavist

‘Grenzerfahrungen’ (Borderline Experiences) documents a self-supported cycling journey along the European Green Belt. Born and bred in Germany, Markus Stitz traveled 700km along the former Iron Curtain on a gravel bike through the federal states of Thuringia, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Bavaria, and Saxony in October 2020, shortly after the 30th anniversary of the German reunification. The film launches the Iron Curtain Gravel Trail, a new bikepacking route mapped by the round the world cyclist, which is available to download for free at Bikepacking Germany.

Remember all those wild Reportage reports from bikerafting in Colorado and Utah with Four Courners Guides we’ve posted over the years? Well, Doom and Lizzy have launched a fantastic project born from those endeavors and more:

“We launched the IndieGoGo Campaign December 21st (soft, unofficial for all our fans and followers). You can start pre-ordering the book now through January 29! What is The Bikeraft Guide? It’s a community multi-media storytelling project that will ultimately result in a comprehensive book on bikerafting. It will be the definitive guide on the sport, and includes a comprehensive history section, “The Pirates of Bikerafting” Anthology (a collection of stories from 15 of the world’s best bikerafters) and a how-to section, mostly by Steve “Doom” Fassbinder, but also including interviews with various experts. It will also have a safety section by the “packraft safety guy” and author of the Packraft Handbook, Luc Mehl, a repairs section by Alpacka Raft repairs manager, Ben Phillips, and a Positive Impact Ethos section contributed by Bikepacking Roots.

In addition, this project includes our new The Bikeraft Guide Podcast, and short films in the The Bikeraft Guide enewsletter, on the IndieGoGo Campaign page, on @TheBikeraftGuide Instagram page and on the Four Corners Guides blog.

Our goal with the IndieGoGo Campaign is to raise $20-$30K through pre-sales of the book and “Perks” donated by our sponsors. This will pay for printing, distribution, contributors and editing. We’re really relying on you – aspiring bikerafters and people who love great adventure stories – to help us make this dream a reality.”

Head to the IndieGoGo to support this project!

With four build tiers, Focus’ new gravel bike, the Atlas rolls on an aluminum chassis with a carbon fork, outfitted with cargo bosses to fit racks, fenders, and other accouterments.

This video showcases the Atlas’ possibilities but to see the build kits in detail, head to Focus.

A few weeks ago, Porcelain Rocket announced they were selling their bag designs and technology to the Ashville, NC brand Rockgeist. Over the weekend, Porcelain Rocket and Rockgeist posted on their Instagram that they now have two Porcelain Rocket designs for sale, the Nigel bar bag and the Meanwhile Wald Basket Bag. Both of these bags use welded seam technology, resulting in a waterproof portage option from a small company. Head to Rockgeist to see more.

After we featured various Lael Rides Alaska stories last year, PEARL iZUMi has sponsored this wonderful video project by Rue!

Lael Wilcox is a 4th generation Alaskan and an ultra-distance cyclist. In 2014, she began pushing her limits in her home state and dreamed that one day, she’d ride all of the major roads in Alaska– connecting the dots and traveling under her own steam to places she’d heard of but never seen. In 2017, after her first year running Anchorage GRIT, Lael spent the summer riding all of the roads, some 4,500 miles. She had the time of her life but rode mostly solo, and that experience was all her own. In reflection, she wanted to share more–to show people the beauty and truth of Alaska and inspire more people to ride there. The global pandemic of 2020 provided a unique opportunity to revisit this project–ride from home, spend time with her family, bring them along, and encourage others to pursue their own adventures.

This project is in support of the Anchorage GRIT project and the “Lael Ride Alaska Women’s Scholarship Program.”

Northern New Mexico is home to a lot of cyclists, so it should come as no surprise that many of these cyclists are also makers. From framebuilders, manufacturers of MTB bars, and yes, bag makers. Down in Albuquerque, a new company just launched. Buckhorn Bags makes custom frame bags, hip bags, and more, using lightweight materials. There isn’t much on them online, so check out their Instagram account for all the tidbits and if you’d like one of their hip bags, Sincere Cycles has some in stock.

A group of familiar faces embarked on a 100-mile bikepacking trip up the Sonoma Coast in a collaboration between Monster Children and Giro.

Join Manon Carpenter and Christian Stenvall on a four day bike-packing trip to the highest point in Finland – Halti (1324 m) – in the very north of the country, up above the Arctic Circle.

Ted King might be familiar with road and gravel racing but ultra-endurance bikepacking is new to him. Follow along as he takes off on a 1,000+ mile adventure across the NWA, Northwest Arkansas. From Fayetteville and deep into the Ozarks in just under five days.

The latest video from Bombtrack has all the vibes!

“Matty has bikepacked plenty of times in Europe and Australia and has passionately shared his infatuation for riding with me. I was fairly new to this way of life and adventure but excited to share this experience on my first bike-packing trip overseas. More than a year of travel ahead and a one-way flight to Oslo, Norway was the beginning of the unknown. The trepidation of leaving our family, friends and jobs behind was tempered by the excitement of the new challenges we would soon be facing. Add to this a strong emotional link to Matty’s Grandfather, Bob, who had cycle toured Scandinavia in the 1950’s, we felt a powerful draw to this mountainous country to mark the beginning of our world trip. There was also the challenge of tracking down the same locations Bob had captured on an old film camera, recently uncovered in a dusty photo album.

The film documents our daily trials and tribulations, from strong headwinds, torrential rain, the odd argument and uncontrollable happiness as we attempted to re-trace the pedal strokes of Matty’s Grandfather. Maybe, we dared to think, even recreate one of his images and come to find his ‘Lost Captures’…” – Clare Nattress

Who says you can’t do-it-all, or at least most, on drop bars? Industry Nine‘s newest video blends in multiple disciples all on drop bar bikes…