The Radavist

Remember all those wild Reportage reports from bikerafting in Colorado and Utah with Four Courners Guides we’ve posted over the years? Well, Doom and Lizzy have launched a fantastic project born from those endeavors and more:

“We launched the IndieGoGo Campaign December 21st (soft, unofficial for all our fans and followers). You can start pre-ordering the book now through January 29! What is The Bikeraft Guide? It’s a community multi-media storytelling project that will ultimately result in a comprehensive book on bikerafting. It will be the definitive guide on the sport, and includes a comprehensive history section, “The Pirates of Bikerafting” Anthology (a collection of stories from 15 of the world’s best bikerafters) and a how-to section, mostly by Steve “Doom” Fassbinder, but also including interviews with various experts. It will also have a safety section by the “packraft safety guy” and author of the Packraft Handbook, Luc Mehl, a repairs section by Alpacka Raft repairs manager, Ben Phillips, and a Positive Impact Ethos section contributed by Bikepacking Roots.

In addition, this project includes our new The Bikeraft Guide Podcast, and short films in the The Bikeraft Guide enewsletter, on the IndieGoGo Campaign page, on @TheBikeraftGuide Instagram page and on the Four Corners Guides blog.

Our goal with the IndieGoGo Campaign is to raise $20-$30K through pre-sales of the book and “Perks” donated by our sponsors. This will pay for printing, distribution, contributors and editing. We’re really relying on you – aspiring bikerafters and people who love great adventure stories – to help us make this dream a reality.”

Head to the IndieGoGo to support this project!

With four build tiers, Focus’ new gravel bike, the Atlas rolls on an aluminum chassis with a carbon fork, outfitted with cargo bosses to fit racks, fenders, and other accouterments.

This video showcases the Atlas’ possibilities but to see the build kits in detail, head to Focus.

Cody Townsend and Michelle Parker took on a very unique challenge with The FIFTY:

“The goal was simple, ride bikes, loaded down with 100 pounds of climbing, skiing and camping equipment, over 1000 miles to ski three of The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America. A tiring adventure and a sufferfest of course, but in the context of an ongoing global pandemic, a nation divided by chaos and a populace on the brink, a simple adventure throws the simple act of adventure into question. Why purposely suffer? Why selfishly pursue adventure? Why go into the mountains at all? All questions that a month long adventure begins to throw into your mind. Starring Cody Townsend and Michelle Parker, “The Mountain Why” is a ski adventure unlike any normal escape to the wild.”

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.”

This film from 1945 looks at the design and manufacture of Raleigh bicycles. You can see more at the British Council.

Wahoo looks at Austin, Texas’ Colin Strickland in their latest Frontiers video. Watch as Colin explains what motivates him to race bikes: “World tour racing is the dream for some and may even be the dream for most cyclists but it was not my dream.”

Danny and Duncan head down to the shore for some trials riding which is always inspiring to watch.

A group of familiar faces embarked on a 100-mile bikepacking trip up the Sonoma Coast in a collaboration between Monster Children and Giro.

Join Manon Carpenter and Christian Stenvall on a four day bike-packing trip to the highest point in Finland – Halti (1324 m) – in the very north of the country, up above the Arctic Circle.

Kona Ambassador Henry Cruickshank created this beautiful short animation:

“It’s all too easy to be disheartened by not having anything to look forward to, no events or races or group rides. But maybe we need to look to our canine friends, who need no reason to be fit and will run for the sheer love of it. We worry about our fitness, our training or lack of it, our pacing… dogs don’t care what size or shape they are, never worry about keeping up with their faster friends and will attack every hill with gusto, not caring if they have enough energy to make to the top.

Dogs are always ready: a simple play bow is all the invitation they need to race around.

Be more dog.”

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.”

The Helmet Kids Youtube channel pulled together an edit from the Ron’s Bikes Nutmeg Nor’Easter this year and it’s got all the vibes we need for a Monday morning.

Please excuse this Sunday afternoon ping but we have the fourth chapter – and perhaps the shreddiest – of the Crust Bikes saga by videographer Tin to share. Don’t miss this one!

Ted King might be familiar with road and gravel racing but ultra-endurance bikepacking is new to him. Follow along as he takes off on a 1,000+ mile adventure across the NWA, Northwest Arkansas. From Fayetteville and deep into the Ozarks in just under five days.

Giant Bicycles pinged our friend Chris Milliman for a new video featuring Adam Craig riding and building trails in Maine.

Shimano takes a look at gravel riding in their latest video, the Path Less Paved.

The latest from Montanus is generating quite the buzz!

“Sometimes your bike leads you to discover new and wild places, other times it can give you more. We explored the process that brought us closer to Nature finding out how bikepacking and beekeeping played a significant role in our environmental consciousness. ‘Bee Wild Bee Free’ is the small contribution of Montanus to raising awareness about the importance of honey bees for mankind and for the planet’s ecosystems.”