Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

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Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
Howdy! This one is for the photogs! We want to see your adventurous spirit and creativity on display. Document and distill the best vibes of your Swift Campout experience into a 10-slide carousel post on your Instagram main page during the week of June 27th. Check out how you can win below!
It’s pretty clear that I really like bikes, and I really like camping. A lot of us are here because we like combining the two. I’m also very lucky that my partner also likes bikes and camping, and we live in a place where it’s fairly easily accessible to do both. However, For whatever reason, I’ve never managed to actually do a trip over the Swift Campout weekend, and, it looked like the same thing might happen this year! So, we decided that we might cheat a little, and do a close-to-home, Thursday night camp and take advantage of some beautiful weather. All the while still getting our respective work, and school days in. Ideally leaving the rest of the weekend open to *maybe* sneak another ride and camp night in, you never know.
Hannah from Queercyclist won the #SwiftCampout Grand Giveaway contest and she sent over an in-depth unboxing video showcasing all the swag she walked away with. What an insane product grab! Thanks for the love, Hannah and keep doing your thing. Give Queercyclist a follow on Youtube!
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!
As an introvert, the idea of hanging out with a group of strangers for the night doesn’t rank too high. But when those strangers are into bikepacking and (possibly) cameras, I’m down. So Eric, Brandon, and I headed to Santa Fe to meet up with the cadre of cyclists that would be participating in the summer solstice Swift Campout.
If you’re planning on heading out to a Swift Campout this weekend and want to share your outing with the world, drop us a line as we’d love to host your photos and stories. All you gotta do is shoot enough photos for a Gallery (20-40) and write as much as you’d like. Shoot the photos (sized at 2000px wide) and words over to ReadersRides@theRadavist.com and we’ll be sure to share as many as we can. :-)
I feel like I’ve known Martina and Jason from Swift Industries since the brand’s inception. It must have been the 2010 Philly Bike Expo where we first met. Later, I bought an Ozette bag for my Geekhouse touring bike in 2011, and for a number of years, we’ve stayed in close contact. Both the Radavist and Swift Industries grew at parallel trajectories. It’s now 2021 and I realized I’ve never interviewed Martina about the Swift Campout, so today we’re pleased to host a quick interview to stoke the flames for the 2021 Swift Campout, which is coming up fast, on June 19th-20th! So read on below for some insight into this wonderful event!
The Swift Campout is a global call to go bike-camping on June 19th and 20th, 2021. For the seventh year in a row thousands of adventurous spirits will load camping gear on their bikes for a weekend adventure. In the words of Martina Brimmer, Swift Industries head honcho and the visionary behind Swift Campout, “Here at Swift, we believe that there’s little better than spending the longest day of the year on a bicycle and the shortest night of the year sleeping under the stars. The entire Swift crew, from our stitchers to our coin-counters, is driven to delight our communities toward bicycle adventure.
This year’s featured artist is none other than bike industry mainstay Chris McNally, whose signature watercolor style conjures a dreamscape of fantasy environments with cuddly critters to explore on two wheels. The scavenger hunt theme of the new Campout microsite invites digital exploration, too! Campers are encouraged to lose themselves in Chris’s wonderland, discovering fun and informative hidden gems as they “pedal” through. In its 7th year, the Campout recipe of partnering with like-minded outdoor brands to amplify the encouragement for cyclists of all experience levels and abilities to take to the trails for a weekend of bike-camping is a timely and relevant invitation to re-engage with the community in cherished outdoor spaces. Swift continues to push the envelope as a gear brand that has put roots in a unique space between the cycling and outdoor industries–two marketplaces whose cultures did not overlap when Swift Industries entered the arena in 2008.
Swift keeps nurturing their culture by gathering a unique blend of cycling and outdoor brands such as Bedrock Sandals, Black Coffee Roasters, Kitsbow, Nocs Provisions, Ombraz, The Radavist, Rapha, Reyr Gear, Six Moon Designs, Snow Peak, and Swift Adventure Co.
Head to Swift Campout to read all the details!
Recently, as I was telling the story of this trip, and this moment when, after a hard day of hill climbing in the rain and a miserable night of freezing cold sleep, we finally saw Klickitat punched out against a clear blue sky – Someone responded – “don’t you mean Mt. Adams?”
Since I’ve committed to learning the precolonial names of the outdoor spaces I explore, some understandings have begun to emerge about how we as human beings interact with the natural world. Indeed, Klickitat itself was also named Pahto by the tribes of the region. Later named for a U.S. president who was born and died in Massachusetts. Only the mountain knows what other names it’s been called. ‘Intelligent’ (I’m skeptical of anthropocentric definitions of virtue) hominids may have lived in the area for 15,000 years. What did they call the mountain in 13,000 BC, if anything at all?
It’s no secret we’re fans of the desert here at the Radavist and so we really wanted to give the 2020 Swift Campout product design a shoutout due to the spectacular illustration work of artist Skyler Elzy. This desert landscape with the Swift fox just melts our hearts.
Check out the full 2020 Swift Campout lineup at Swift Industries and we hope everyone got out on the Autumnal Solstice.
Our friends at Swift Industries are putting on a fall equinox campout this year in lieu of the normal summer solstice campout. This year, they’re offering dozens of overnighter routes, all over the globe and are like always, pairing this outing with lots of information and product. Due to the Covid19 pandemic, Swift Industries is encouraging everyone to take care when bicycle touring. Check out WTF BX for 8 guidelines to consider.
Head to Swift Industries to learn more!
It’s coming! June 22nd is rapidly approaching. Do you know where you’re going for the 2019 Swift Campout? Head to Swift Industries to see who is hosting a Summer Solstice Campout in your city. We’ll be in Bozeman with Alter Cycles and Sklar Bikes. We’ll be doing around 20 miles of dirt road climbing up to Mystic Lake to camp under the Big Sky!
Share your local ride details in the comments and check out some inspirational photos below!
Swift Campout returns this year, with communities all over the world preparing bicycle tours, s24o, bikepacking trips, and other activities intended to get you and your camping gear out on your bike and into the woods. Head to Swift Industries to see the details and how you can setup a Campout in your city! Don’t miss out on their killer merch too.
A Solstice Ballad for My Hometown
Words by Tenzin Namdol, photos by Ultra Romance and Thomas Hassler.
While the God-fearing Christians of the lower Connecticut River valley ended their day cleaning off their lawn care equipment, a small group of Wiccan-observing, season-worshipping heathens rolled their tires through the forested glades of the Nutmeg Country triangle in honor of the Swift Campout. We smell of essential oils and the crystals around my neck jingles at each pedal stroke. The leaves on the trees have matured from their Spring-emerged highlighter green to a darker, more robust hue, properly at the ready for the next summer storm. The back-to-back Nor’easters these trails have endured in recent months have left branches and huge fallen trees in the path as we head for the lean to’s in Cockaponsett State Forest- a mouthful, I know, especially paired with the Pattaconk Lake that nests inside. This area is full of names like that: Hammonasset Beach is a rock throw away from Benedict’s home, the Quinnipiac flows into New Haven harbor several miles away. Connecticut is a colonized spelling of the Native Algonquian, Quinnehtukqut, which translates to “place of the long river”.
Solo Swift Campout in the Tushar Mountains
Photos and words by Spencer Harding
Ok, so to start, I missed the actual date of the Swift Campout by a day. I was finishing up work in St George, Utah and after a week of playing adult daycare as a tour guide I was exhausted. Sitting in a Starbucks in Cedar City, I spied a small glacial lake about an hour north in the Fishlake National Forest that promised some relief from the 110+ heat. I had every intention of actually riding out Saturday night, but then I got lazy and slept for 13 hours instead. So now its noon on Sunday, still time for redemption right?
Down by the River with Golden Saddle Cyclery and the Swift Campout
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley
We wanted to do something very different for this year’s Swift Campout. For the last three years, we’ve been dragging people up the steepest fire roads in the Angeles Forest on their fully-loaded touring bikes, carrying gallons of water. With each year getting hotter and hotter, we wanted to find water for people to cool down in. At first, we thought the beach, but after looking into it, we discovered that we’d have better odds of winning the lottery than getting a camping spot for 30 plus people at the beach.
These bottle openers were made in Chico, California by Paul Component just for this year’s Swift Campout. And, you can get one for free if you buy $100 or more of Swift Campout merch (such as the custom Oveja Negra frame bags, Swift Campout Sidekick bags, and bottles seen below) using the code “paulcomp” at checkout. Grab yours at Swift Industries!