Ride and Rewild

Art Collaboration IRIS & GRAVGRAV

Ride and Rewild

What do you know about the Lynx? It turns out that these wild cats have a lot in common with a rider who wants to journey far and wide. Traveling light, covering long distances, eating what they can find (although no sightings have been confirmed in supermarket filling up an IRIS snack attack musette). Lynx are resilient, silent and often solitary, living in connection with the wild forest. These animals leave no trace of their passage other than their tracks which is a good rule for us bikepackers too.

The connection was immediate for Max Riese (professional outdoor enthousiast and founder of GravGrav.cc), Chiara Terraneo (artist) and Iris Slappendel (founder of IRIS). An idea was born and a jersey design followed soon. But it’s not just an illustration showing lynx on a jersey. It’s flashy, it’s colourful. It is a bold message. If you buy this jersey you are carrying a message. You are engaging in protecting wildlife. You show that you care.

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The Lynx is also an endangered species and their habitat is threatened. We believe that as a community we could do something, by riding our bikes to raise awareness and help protect this enigmatic animal.

We all benefit from protecting nature. By protecting natural habitat and wild lands, taking care of the environment that we love to ride, camp and explore in.

All proceedings of this jersey will be used to raise awareness about the Dinaric lynx population, which is facing another extinction. We will collaborate with the LIFE Lynx project in Slovenia (the Dinaric Mountains and Southeastern Alps), who’s primary objective is rescuing the Dinaric-SE Alpine lynx population from extinction and to preserve it in the long term.

Ride and Rewild is the slogan we go after and isn’t it funny that ‘Ris’ in Slovenian means Lynx? Can’t be a coincidence.

We couldn’t be more excited about this project we do together with LIFE Lynx, especially as it took us a lot of time to find the right partner! We will share more on the project soon, however first let’s talk about LIFE Lynx and what they are doing. And most important: What can you as a cyclist do?

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What is LIFE Lynx and how can you help?

Max Riese spoke to Vedran Slijepcevic as our expert on this topic. He has seen and worked with a lot of lynx, is a senior lecturer at the university and part of the LIFE Lynx team. Vendran is excellent in explaining how cyclists can actively protect wildlife and save the lynx!

You can read the interview with Vendran on Gravgrav.cc.

GravGrav Escape Technical T-shirt

Ready to escape the roads and explore the trails and dirt? This technical t-shirt is designed for summer adventures, both on and off the bike. The GravGrav print is designed by Chiara Terraneo and a collaboration with GravGrav.cc. All profits from selling the jersey will be used to create a cycling related project for protecting lynx with LIFE Lynx.

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