While most review bikes go back into a company’s demo fleet pretty quickly, the Fairlight Secan that Morgan Taylor reviewed back in 2022 has gone on to live an illustrious life of ultra-distance riding, mostly of the randonneuring variety, with their friend Andrew. In this re-review, Morgan and Andrew consider the Secan’s updated build and speak to the easy wins and marginal gains of preparing both bike and rider for very long days in the saddle.
#ultra-endurance
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Reportage
Checkpoint 4: Stories From the Finish at the 2023 Silk Road Mountain Race
Held in the high mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the Silk Road Mountain Race is known as one of the toughest ultra-endurance competitions in the bikepacking world. It earns its demanding reputation as riders not only have to deal with a very tough course profile and terrain conditions, but they also have to overcome other obstacles such as high altitude, scarce and basic resupply points, sickness, unforgiving weather patterns, river crossings, and remoteness.
Tristan Bogaard was among the starting group in this year’s edition and his partner, Belén Castelló, decided to wait for him at the finish line while volunteering at the last checkpoint. Going into the event, Belén had no reference for what to expect and below she shares her experience dot-watching and soaking in all the first-hand stories.
Radar
Congrats to McKenzie Barney on Completing Her Cycle the World Project
We’re a little late to the congratulatory party but we want to congratulate writer, filmmaker, endurance-rider, and Radavist contributor, McKenzie Barney on the completion of her Cycle the World Project! McKenzie has shared several stories from her 18,000-mile journey that spanned five continents, and four years, and we can’t wait to see more stories from this impressive journey.
Reportage
No Sleep ‘Til Ísafjörður: The 2023 Arna Westfjords Way Challenge
The Arna Westfjords Way Challenge is an ultra-endurance cycling race that traverses the seaside perimeter of Iceland’s Westfjords region in four stages over five days with 600 miles of mixed surface riding and 37,000+ feet of elevation gain. The route was originally established by accomplished endurance cyclists Lael Wilcox, Chris Burkard, Payson McElveen, Nichole Baker, and Rugile Kaladyte and formatted into a stage race by the team at Cycling Westfjords in 2021. Now in its second year, the event features a variety of innovative aspects that make it unique in the world of ultra cycling, which benefits the local communities and also the riders’ experiences. Josh Weinberg was on the ground covering this year’s event and, below, shares an insightful event recap and massive image gallery from this strikingly beautiful part of the world.
Reportage
Sarah Sturm: The Traka
Traveling overseas to race 360 kilometers in the midst of the demanding schedule of the Lifetime Grand Prix might not sound like the best strategy from a strict performance standpoint. Sarah Sturm writes about what else fed her motivation to line up for Europe’s most popular gravel race and why toeing the line at The Traka in Girona was, actually, exactly what she needed. Read on for Sarah’s reflections, a film by Benjamin Kraushaar and Dylan Stucki, and photos by Alex Roszko from her very long day.
Reportage
The Traka: Europe’s Biggest Gravel Event with Rwanda Beyond
This past April, Ryan le Garrec was at The Traka in Girona, Spain which has recently, and very quickly, become the biggest gravel race event in Europe. It is also part of the Gravel Earth Series, which includes such long-distance races as the Migration Gravel Race and The Rift Iceland. Ryan was there to follow Rwandan racers Violette and Innocent of the Rwanda Beyond Team, in what was their first-ever race in Europe. Follow them in the article below and enjoy the large gallery of other riders and the race’s magnetic ambiance…
Reportage
The Bikepacking Super Bowl: 2023 East Texas Showdown
Dennis Lastochkin walks, or rather rides, us through his win at the East Texas Showdown. Brainchild of Patrick Farnsworth from the Bikes or Death podcast, the early March event feels like a season opener of sorts for the multi-day endurance crowd and traverses 400 miles through southeastern Texas. Check out this from-the-saddle tale of bikepacking’s “Super Bowl.”
Reportage
Ultra Distance Plastic Resistance: An Open Pledge for the Ultra Community
We all know about FKTs and ITTs but there’s a new acronym on the ultra scene: PFT. The brainchild of Taylor Doyle, PFT stands for “plastic free time,” and was an ultra-racing style she undertook last year on the 2,600km Pan Celtic Race. The effort was so eye-opening about the amount of single-use plastics that are thrown out during most ultra distance cycling events that she’s back now with a new kind of challenge for would-be ultra racers: the Ultra Distance Plastic Resistance pledge. Read on for the full deets about this inspiring challenge!
Reportage
FAIL 12: Tomorrow Comes Too Soon at Gravel Birds Ultracycling Challenge
For FAIL 12 Ryan le Garrec raced the first edition of Gravel Birds, a 750km bikepacking race in Portugal’s largest region, Alentejo. For Ryan, it was initially more about the idea of fast touring a well-curated route than properly racing the course. The region is characterized by a beautiful mix of rough hills, coastlines and small deserts inland. Its arid section, down South and just over the more famous Algarve, is often ignored by tourism yet hosts some of the most incredible hidden gems of Portugal and probably its best gravel tracks too!
Reportage
Zero Plastic Ultra Distance at the Pan Celtic Race
Taylor Doyle (she/her) is an ultra racer and founder of the Ultra Distance Scholarship, an initiative increasing diversity and representation within ultra distance cycling and racing. She is a self-proclaimed ‘make-things-happen’ person at the socially conscious bike-builder Stayer Cycles, and always riding her beloved UG. Taylor is passionate about sharing the joys of ultra distance cycling with as many folks as humanly possible and is particularly invested in encouraging and supporting more women/non-binary folks and people of colour to try the sport. Taylor is a Canadian writer and photographer currently loose in the UK, living nomadically and turning up at most UK-based bikepacking events and happenings. After getting frustrated by the amount of single-use plastic she was generating during her first ultra race, she decided to come back the following year and try things differently…
Reportage
The Bird Was a Butterfly: Ana Orenz on Recovering from Injury
About one year ago, Ana Orenz had a crash going downhill during the first night of the Trans Pyrénées. Her accident ended in nerve damage, spinal injury, and facial reconstruction. But Ana never backs down.
Continue reading below for Ryan le Garrec’s multimedia profile of endurance cyclist Ana Orenz…
Reportage
Into the Mind: Catching Up with Ultra-Endurance Cyclist Theo Kelsey
I honestly can’t remember the first time I thought about racing bikes or the fact that people might be motivated to race them. I had some inkling that there were professional road cyclists out there, a la Tour de France, but any notion was vague. For me racing was seeped in the nostalgia of a sticky summer day, riding a green BMX bike with a dysfunctional coaster brake. Most likely hurtling at an irresponsible speed, chasing friends down a hill in the hot and dusty interior of BC. Later in life, a university roommate and great pal, clued me into gravel riding, the Tour Divide Race, and so on. Call it bike pack racing, call it ultra-endurance riding, call it solo-soul-searching, or call it some sort of competition of human versus wheels.
Radar
Freehub Magazine: Stronger Together Identity and Endurance with Alexandera Houchin
It has taken time for Alexandera Houchin to weave layers of her identity together. First and foremost, Alexandera is an Ojibwe woman. She’s also an artist, a farmer, a mechanic, a cyclist and a person who cares deeply about her community on the Fond Du Lac reservation near Cloquet, Minnesota. “Stronger Together” takes an intimate look into Alexandera’s life while examining concepts of identity, forgiveness and what it means to merge seemingly different aspects of your soul in order to continue moving forward, one pedal stroke at a time.
See more at Freehub!
Radar
Sink Into The Earth Video
Coinciding with our Reportage today, here’s our standalone video showcasing Lael‘s time on the AZT.
On April 12, 2022, Lael Wilcox set out to ride the 827-mile Arizona Trail faster than anyone had before. She completed her ride 9 days, 8 hours, and 23 minutes later on April 21. This is her story.
Note: Lael’s time is not recognized by the AZT Race administration which prohibits media coverage. The current official records: Men’s – Nate Ginzton – 9:10:44 Women’s – Chase Edwards – 10:18:59
Reportage
An Exercise in Agency: Hailey Moore Reflects After Her Ozark Gravel Doom Route ITT
My mom worries about me when I’m out riding my bike, for multiple days at a time, alone. By the way, I turned 30 in March. She says it’s not that she doesn’t trust me, it’s other people she’s worried about. And while she’s never outlined this explicitly, I’m sure the fact that I’m an only daughter—not an only son—also plays a role. But, to her credit, she’s getting more comfortable (or, better at hiding her discomfort) with the idea of me pursuing solo endeavors. This time around, when I called her from the car to let her know I was en route to the Ozarks to attempt an Individual Time Trial on the 380-mile Ozark Gravel Doom route, instead of a flat-lined, “…what?” I heard her pause, then—on the tail-end of an exhale—say, “Okay.”
Radar
Radar Roundup: Ritchey 50th Anniversary Road Logic, Roval Rapide Tubeless, FARR Bolt On, Rainbow Mullet, 6-Bit Hex Wrench, and Désertus Bikus
Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…
Radar
Lael Wilcox Establishes New FKT* for the 800-Mile Arizona Trail
We are beyond excited to report that after 9 days, 8 hours, and 23 minutes our dear friend Lael Wilcox has established a new overall fastest known time for the 800-mile Arizona Trail Individual Time Trial*!
Tackling the Arizona Trail at a record-setting pace, from the Mexico border to the Utah state line, is one of the most grueling cycling challenges in the world and we couldn’t be more excited for Lael’s accomplishment. In the coming weeks, we’ll be featuring a full report from Lael’s time on the trail in addition to a short film from Rue Kaladyte. In the meantime, head over to Lael’s Instagram and send her a virtual high-five!
Edited on 4.23.2022 for clarity: We have correspondences with John Schilling, the organizer of the AZTR, where he reached out to Rue, the videographer and Lael’s wife about the media rule. Lael and Rue accept the * by their time for breaking the media coverage rule implemented in 2019. Previous records still stand.
Radar
Crossing Iceland
Payson McElveen makes an attempt at being the first person in history to cross Iceland from coast-to-coast in a single push under human power.