The Radavist

In its first year, Dead Man Gravel is the newest race to join the gravel racing circuit. Today, the DMG registration is open for women and BIPOC participants – and general registration opening on March 23rd for everyone else. The event is scheduled for July 31, 2021 in Nederland, Colorado. This unique event strives to be both inclusive – as organizers believe everyone should feel welcome, regardless of experience, race, gender, or sexual identity/orientation – and challenging – as very few other races have as much climbing, technical sections, and sustained elevation.

To strike a balance between challenging and inclusive, Dead Man Gravel will feature three courses: the 66 mile Tungsten loop, the 41 mile Gold loop, and the 25 mile Silver loop, providing three distinct experiences for riders of all levels. 

DMG is also partnering with Ride for Racial Justice and Shark Tooth Cycling, two non-profits doing incredible work in bringing new, and typically disadvantaged, athletes into the sport by helping to increase awareness and reduce barriers to entry.

Register today if you’re BIPOC, or female at Dead Man Gravel.

Hallie Silva is taking on the Tour de Los Padres this year and is running a fundraiser to help raise awareness for the area. Hallie reached out with some details of her effort, including some organizations she’s currently fundraising for:

“I’m a teacher in Santa Barbara riding the Tour de Los Padres this year as to bring awareness to, and fundraise for the San Marcos Foothills Preserve. This public space is the ancestral home of the Chumash and one of the last remaining access points for front-country wilderness in Santa Barbara, and right across the street from the junior high I teach at. This access point is being currently threatened by corporate luxury home development. 

I’m currently collecting donations that will go directly to two local organizations:

Seeds to Forest Defense, an autonomous group of Chumash, BIPOC and white allies protecting the land who center Indigenous ecological knowledge. They also work to provide resources such as lawyer fees for the indigenous folks who were arrested in ceremony while protecting our public lands. 

The second organization is Save the San Marcos Foothills Preserve, led by Channel Islands Restoration, whose mission is to purchase the undeveloped property next to the San Marcos Foothills Preserve at fair market value, to protect it forever as public open space, and to restore the native habitat. You can learn more at their website, https://www.savesanmarcosfoothills.org  “

If you can and would like to help out Hallie’s efforts, you can donate to her cause. Right now, she’s $1,000 into her $3,000 goal. Expect more to come from Hallie in the near future.

Our good friend Rue was recently featured in a mini-docu put together by René Herse Cycles. Give this one a watch for a great profile on an extraordinary documentary photographer!

Grav.Elle, a gravel cycling resource site for women, by women, has launched today and one of their first stories features our friend Sarah Sturm:

“Ever since I was a little kid growing up in Albuquerque, I remember always wanting to do things differently. That same mentality has morphed into my adult life for better or worse, and when I started my journey into the world of cycling I felt real friction. I got into cycling, specifically racing road and cross when I was in college. I remember seeing and learning from my peers all of these ways to be an athlete. Eat this, do this, don’t do this. And for years I subscribed to that; I wore what I was supposed to wear, I limited what I ate, I trained, I raced and I wasn’t really having that much fun.

So I quit.”

Head to Grav.elle to read the full story.

SRAM is hosting four stories by a few of its sponsored athletes including Ayesha McGowan, Renee Hutchens, Lael Wilcox, and Isabeau Courduier over at their website. If you have a few minutes this week, we highly suggest reading one, two, or all of these stories.

It’s 2021 and women’s cycling is still fighting for their equal piece of the pie, as illustrated here by artist Thomas Slater. The InternationElles have had enough. These ten female cyclists and three crews from across the globe, are united in the fight for equality. Their hope is through activism, that they can boost women’s cycling. Right now, they have a GoFundMe to raise €5,000 as equal prize money to the top 5 women’s podium for the upcoming 2021 Strade Bianche. The above illustration might seem like an exaggeration but the payout at the recent Omloop Het Nieuwsblad paints a clear and concise picture…

Hopefully, the UCI, USAC, and other organizations will get with the times.

We’re very pleased to sponsor Swift Industries’ Stoked Spoke series and tonight is episode 02, featuring an evening of FTW Nb folks sharing their stories. Femme, Trans, Women, and Non-binary Nite (FTW Nb for short) is a dedicated space for our FTW Nb friends to tell their tales of adventure like single speeding in West Virginia, misadventures in Utah, and much more. Tune in here, tonight, February 24th, 2021 5:30PST/8:30EST for the live stream!

See Episode 01 here to give you a good primer for the series. :-)

Wednesday, February 3rd is National Girls & Women in Sports Day. As a woman-founded and run company, Robert Axle Project wanted to give a voice to the riders on a women’s road team they sponsor and hopefully give a boost of encouragement to other girls and women out there. Below and attached are a few words from the RAP founder, Katy Bryce. Enjoy this youtube video with five of the riders on the team giving words of encouragement to other cyclists!

Rapha is growing their support for women and not just professional cyclists. Today the brand announced its sponsorship of two charismatic personalities, Sarah Sturm and Lael Wilcox. Both of these women are great representatives of the gravel/adventure/touring market and we couldn’t be more stoked for them. Rapha also launched a women’s Instagram, so keep an eye on that for more updates as events warrant.

This week’s Readers’ Rides comes from Katherine in Colorado with her do-it-all Orbea hardtail. Check out more details and the history of this unique submission below…

To compliment today’s Reportage from Sami, here’s the full-length video project, “Finding Myself.”

This is the first layout of the Radavist 2021 Calendar, entitled “Snow Way, Santa Fe” shot with a Sony A9ii and a Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 di iii rxd lens in the Santa Fe National Forest, NM.

“Living in a mountain town means when the snow hits, the ski hill is packed but the trails will be wide open for fun…”

For a high-res JPG, suitable for print and desktop wallpaper*, right-click and save link as – The Radavist 2021 – January. Please, this photo is for personal use only!
(*set background to white and center for optimal coverage)

The mobile background this month is from a Chihuahuan Desert canyon road Click here to download January’s Mobile Wallpaper.

In the summer of 2017, Lael Wilcox rode all of the major roads in Alaska, totaling 4,500 miles on mixed pavement and gravel. Lael is fourth-generation Alaskan. This is where she began endurance riding and her goal to get to know her home state.

In 2020, Lael went back to Alaska with her girlfriend Rue, a photojournalist, to ride together and document her project of riding all of the roads.

This scholarship is intended to enable another woman to design and ride her own 1,000 mile Alaskan adventure in the summer of 2021. This scholarship is open to a woman (including femme, trans and non-binary) of any age with any level of bicycle touring experience. We are looking for positive energy and a strong desire to experience the remote roads of Alaska and have some fun.

The recipient of the scholarship will receive a Specialized Diverge bicycle, Revelate Designs bikepacking bags, PEARL iZUMi apparel, a premium subscription to Komoot, Easton wheels, a Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM GPS, Big Agnes camping equipment, Rene Herse tires, a year subscription to Bicycle Quarterly, Trail Butter, and a $1,500 travel stipend provided by Easton.

Prepare a digital application based upon the questions on the following page and send to Lael Wilcox and the selection team at laelridesalaska@gmail.com no later than February 6, 2021. Provide your responses as the text of an email. The recipient of the scholarship will be announced April 5, 2021.

The scholarship selection team includes Lael Wilcox, previous scholarship recipients Kailey Kornhauser and Brooke Larsen, Abigale Wilson from PEARL iZUMi, Cari Carmean from The Radavist, and Natsuko Hirose from Bicycle Quarterly.

Head to LaelWilcox.com to apply for this scholarship!

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.”

Kialani Hines knows while there is always space for a shreddy edit, focusing on her riding, she decided to take “Validation” in another direction:

“My goal with the short video is to share something I’ve been passionate about, help welcome all to something that has created a safe space for me, and to encourage new faces to fall in love with what makes them happy (hopefully that is mountain biking!). It’s been an incredible experience and privilege creating my vision with Heather Young and Grow Cycling Foundation. I hope that it inspires all to follow whatever path they envision for themselves.”