The Radavist

Like most towns, ours is full of sprint segments. 

They’re those little spots on the road that only a place’s cadre of cyclists know about, invisible to the untrained eye; from this driveway to that mailbox, this street sign to that intersection, this rise to that tar snake. 

The best group ride leaders will try to organize her or his group before they reach those starting spots, asking anyone who’s not planning to sprint that day to give way in the paceline to those who are. They remind their riders to stay right of the yellow lines, that straying into the oncoming lane, even when there’s no traffic is not worth winning a sprint that is essentially meaningless. 

In 2021, parts and bikes are hard to come by and that’s why fundraising and conservation projects like this are all the more relevant these days. A handful of bike companies, Cane Creek Cycling Components, Industry Nine, Thomson Bike Products, Continental Tires, fizik, and Crank Brothers, came together to put on a fundraiser for The Pisgah Conservancy. Read on below for how you can win the 2021 Pisgah Project Bike Raffle…

Matt Moosa from Moosepacks dropped us a line with an introduction to his new line of made in North Carolina bags, including handlebar and seat bags, as well as custom half-frame bags. All bags come in a variety of colors with custom options available. Head on over to Moosepacks to see more.

Today’s Readers’ Rides coincides with John’s review of the Kona Sutra ULTD. This build was done for the owner, Jason, of Back Alley Bikes in Carrboro, North Carolina. This build was documented by Jared Harber, so you know it’s going to be good! Let’s jump right in!

PEARL iZUMi‘s Go Connection series features stories from all over and this Dig Episode two takes us to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee in North Carolina:

“Cherokee, North Carolina, is home to the people of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. The Tribe took advantage of their land’s beauty to generate an eco-tourism economy and improve their people’s health through an active lifestyle. They have created a network of trails to enjoy the beauty of their land while riding, hiking and running. The Fire Mountain Trails is a little over 10 miles of trail purpose-built by Trail Dynamics. With wooden features, berms and jumps, any rider of any ability can get out to get connected to their natural world.

These trails have opened the door to the world of mountain biking many only thought about or didn’t know. For some, riding Fire Mountain keeps them focused on progression and improvement not only on the trail tread but in their daily lives. These trails have been a catalyst for reconnecting to generations of stories and harmony with the land.”

As part of this year’s Small Batch special edition project, Cane Creek announced their “IPA” collection, inspired by the pale ales that the breweries around Asheville, NC makes in house. Cane Creek took their products and coated them in a deep, rich brown anodizing, including their Hellbender bottom brackets, headsets and Helm MKii. Head to Cane Creek to see more and your local dealer to order but you better act fast, these will sell out quickly!

There is no shortage of wheel manufacturers in the United States, which is a good thing, but there are very few carbon wheel manufacturers here so when a new one pops up, we have to share it. Gulo Composites is from Western North Carolina and make their wheels – road, MTB, gravel – in-house. Their GRX-SL is an Allpavé wheel meant for road, gravel, trail, and everything in between. These superlight, 22mm internal width rims were designed with a 2mm spoke hole offset which helps create a very balanced wheel and the spoke hole angles were optimized at each point to work in perfect conjunction with Gulo’s ETI hubs and their unique GIS – Gulo Integrated System – spoke system. Let’s look at this system in detail below.

Want to ride in the Pisgah National Forest with the team from Industry Nine? Well, mark your calendars for September 13th. Loose Gravel is a weekend of camping, group rides, beer, music and more, all sponsored and thrown by Industry Nine. The weekend is $60, so buy tickets now and check out more details below.