Joe Cruz

GORE’s fabrics have undoubtedly transformed the outdoor industry and anyone who spends any time outside has probably used their products. In addition to licensing its technologies to other companies, GORE has for many years produced its own line of technical garments that have by now reached elite status for thoughtfully designed outerwear. Joe Cruz spent the last six months rotating through three of their jackets and reports back on their limits and successes…

In 2019 Joe pedaled in Bosnia, on dirt roads from Munich to Marseille, and on a folding bike in Portugal. Closer to home he rode along the Mexico/Arizona border and was part of the Arkansas scouting mission for the No Place Like Oz loop. Not to mention a 50th birthday party of three days of massive gravel rides in Vermont with a few dozen close friends. Along the way he put plenty of new things to the test. Find his favorites here…

Joe Cruz sets out on El Camino del Diablo and beyond to test the Sierra Designs High Side 1, a relatively affordable one-person tent that claims to be lightweight, highly packable, and fully functional for backpacking and bikepacking alike. Here’s the full review…

Joe spent a few weeks with Trek’s Checkpoint SL6 to run it through challenges ranging from the weekly fast roadie coffee shop ride to a ten-hour dirt randonee to local gravel and singletrack explorations. Is this go-fast bike the bridge between a svelte carbon road machine and a lumbering gravel tourer?

For the past six months, Joe has worn Shimano’s XC5s on everything from fast group road rides to gravel explorations to extended bikepacking trips. Can a single pair of shoes—especially one at such an attractive price point—rise to all of these challenges? Read on to find out…

The Search Brigade took on Tasmania during a 1,100-kilometer dirt road zig-zag from Hobart to Devonport. Here’s Joe’s short film from the trip as well as a nice collection of his photos…

There are only a handful of bikes that suitably blend drop handlebars with 29er mountain bike tires. And just a couple that do it well. Joe Cruz tested the Curve GMX while on a 10-day bikepacking trip through Tasmania to see if it was one of them…

At the end of last season and now into the early weeks of this winter’s snow, we tested Bontrager’s vaunted OMW boots in New England’s cold and wet conditions.

Thermarest’s Corus HD Quilt and NeoAir Xlite Max SV mattress promise lightweight, packable, luxurious comfort. For six months, we put them to the test…

In the summer of 2016, four of us pedaled across Kyrgyzstan from Lake Issyk Kul to Bishkek. Our several weeks in the Tian Shan —the celestial mountains — gave us much. This movie is about inspiration and the hope of returning the sustenance we receive from a place by putting beauty back into the world. Watch and find Joe’s thoughts on the film here, plus a new photo gallery and more on the route…

Search and State makes all of their cycling apparel in New York City’s Garment District. Their early focus was racewear, but adventurous off-the-grid cycling was always in their DNA. They’ve just introduced a jacket conceived specifically for expedition style bikepacking, designed with Joe Cruz as a consultant. Read on to see how he got involved and his eye-opening introduction to made-in-the-USA small batch technical wear.