The Radavist

The accompanying gallery includes photos from a few of the areas in Arizona burned by wildfire in just the past 15 months. 

My friend Joe and I stood atop Spruce Mountain just below the fire tower one last time this past Friday, admiring the surrounding peaks and forests of the Bradshaw Mountains. We both live just a few miles from this summit, and we share a love for big rides in the chunky, challenging backcountry trails deeper in the range. But today’s ride was a short one, first thing in the morning. Up on that vista, my eyes hopped from one patch of brown to the next, each a cluster of dead pines and firs. The ongoing drought is having a devasting impact on these forests. To the north, smoke from the nearby 40,000+ acre Rafael Fire filled Verde Valley with an impenetrable brown haze.

Chuck Teixeira’s lifelong passion for riding is equaled only by what he has done to advance the sport. He embodies the ingenuity, craftsmanship, and dedication that we strive to achieve, and he has been instrumental in making cycling better for all of us.

And now Chuck needs our help; his home is gone. The CZU August Lightning Complex fire has ripped through the Santa Cruz mountains, destroying dozens of buildings, incinerating tens of thousands of acres and displacing tens of thousands of people. Chuck’s home was one of those that burned to the ground, only ashes remain. The sweat and blood he poured into building his mountain refuge is gone – reduced to smoke and embers. His scores of rare and vintage bicycles – a rolling museum of cycling’s evolution and a living archive of his inventions and innovations – reduced to melted metal and plastic. His hand-build hotrods – each representing thousands of hours of meditative hard work – charred beyond recognition. Beyond the tangible, and all the more devastating, Chuck and his wife Debbie lost the dream of spending the rest of their lives together in the sanctuary they built.

The fires in Australia have decimated this ecologically diverse country and with them, 500 million animals have perished. A few more brands are working to raise money to help support the relief aid.

– Kumo Cycles and Simon Riviere have teamed up on these great Purist bottles. You can pre-order these at Kumo Cycles. If he sells 50, he’ll be able to set up a water station behind his house.

–FYXO is selling their calenders with 100% of the proceeds going to the Red Cross Bushfire Relief.

-Want to win a Crust frame? Head over to @wireswildliferescue, @redcrossau or any other Australian fire relief, donate $25usd or more, screenshot your donation and email it to Crust at info@crustbikes.com with fire relief in the subject line. Crust will draw a name out of a hat this coming Friday. Free shipping worldwide.

Robin Sansom, Brian Vernor, Jeremy Dunn, and Barry Wicks worked on a project for Bike Mag, covering the aftermath of the fires California endured and what those blazes did to many NorCal trails.

Head to Bike Mag to read the full piece, Burned Lines, to gain a better insight into how these communities are bouncing back after a summer of blazes.