INSPIRED ON A JOURNEY
Dreaming of new journeys, one can spend endless hours pored over a map studying the elevations, the ridges and waterways figuring out a route. And don’t forget about the early explorers that set out into the unknown and traced the contours of the topography to make those charts. But perhaps most overlooked, is that maps can make us relive trips from the past. One glance can freshen the memories. A deeper look will revive the journey: the route, the places visited and the people met. It becomes an unsuspected journal to document a trip that others can retrace.
This special edition paint scheme was inspired by a solo eye-opening bikepacking trip in Colombia. One to get rekindled with cartography and cycling through a challenging gravel route, tests of self-reliance, an experience of aloneness, on a new route from the mountains to the valley and across the Magdalena river. Scarab wanted to embody the demands of exploration of the landscapes of the Colombian Andes, from the coast by the Caribbean Sea and into the heart of this land through its main waterway, the backbone of the country. Lines crisscross the design as the network of dirt tracks that branch away from the river. Once traversed by foot or mules during colonial times, the paths meander into the mountains where towns where settled after many struggles.
