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ADV NewsREV’IT! Rider Spotlight Video Series Launches Ep. 3: Kris Fant

REV’IT! Rider Spotlight Video Series Launches Ep. 3: Kris Fant

New 5-part video series puts the spotlight on REV’IT! Women’s ADV Team.

Published on 03.16.2021

REV’IT! Women’s ADV Team member Kris Fant and her husband Nathan made the most of the pandemic lockdowns by creating their own micro BDR, or “Backyard Discovery Route,” on their property near Portland, Oregon. 

The route wasn’t long or difficult, but there were fruit trees and beverage stops, and it was always therapeutic, especially in those first months of the pandemic when non-essential travel in their state was restricted. Kris, who works as a mental health counselor, found the chance to get on her KTM 690 Enduro for even the shortest of rides especially rewarding during those difficult days. “It was pretty intense,” she says of supporting her clients as they struggled with the unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety-provoking isolation. 

Kris Fant and her husband Nathan made the most of the pandemic lockdowns by creating their own micro BDR, or “Backyard Discovery Route,” on their property.

Adventures In Your Own Backyard

But as restrictions slowly eased, Kris and Nathan, along with a few close friends, started making socially-distanced forays into their larger backyard: the lush, mountainous green of Western Oregon. During a normal year the Fants would have been traveling to different states in search of adventure, but 2020 allowed them to dive deep into local routes and trails they’d always been too busy to explore. 


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“It is so diverse,” says Kris about her home state. “You get everything from the easy gravel roads to the most gnarly single track.” And while there are plenty of famously twisty paved roads in the Mt. Hood region of the Cascade Range, it’s riding the dirt tracks and the concentration it requires that Kris finds most therapeutic. “I love off-road riding because it totally takes all my attention,” she says. “I’m 100-percent focused and can let everything else that’s happened that week fall away.” 

Though Kris had dreamed of riding since watching Johnny Lawrence and his gang tearing around on Honda XL600Rs in the movie Karate Kid, she didn’t get the chance until she met Nathan in 2011. Dates riding as a passenger turned into solo dirt rides on a Honda CRF80, followed by sojourns on pavement piloting a Kawasaki Ninja 250. 

Fast forward to today and Kris has more street and dirt miles under her belt than many longtime riders, many of those spent on her 690 Enduro, which has been lowered two inches and sprinkled with mods like heated grips, Wings exhaust, Mr. Ed’s Moto custom seat, DoubleTake mirrors, a Vanasche gas cap, case saver and kickstand foot, Perun Moto luggage racks and a windscreen from Screens for Bikes. To date, the couple has completed the Washington and Southern California Backcountry Discovery Routes multiple times, plus most of the Utah BDR, and can’t wait to explore more regions.

BDR Ambassador

Like many of us, Kris works full time and has a limited amount of vacation days, so really appreciates how the BDR format takes a lot of the guesswork out of route planning, leaving her to enjoy what’s happening in the moment, be it a stunning view, challenging section, special camp spot or a home-cooked meal in a unique small town. In fact, the couple enjoyed the program so much they both became ambassadors, Nathan as a scout and Kris as a volunteer at events.

Photo by @fortheloveofknobs

An even deeper level of participation in the moto community came in 2019 when Kris was chosen to be a member of gear manufacturer REV’IT!’s Women’s ADV Team. Sure, she loves the brand’s apparel, but more importantly, she says being on the team is a way to share her passion for riding with other women who might need a leg-up. 

“When I started riding, I struggled, and wondered if it was because I was a woman,” she says. But then Kris found RTW-rider Steph Jeavons on Thumper Talk, which reassured her it wasn’t about gender.  “I am passionate about balancing the scale,” she says. “I want our media to portray women as strong and capable riders, so other women can see themselves in these role models.”

As if working full-time, riding as much as possible, contributing stories to Women ADV Riders, supporting BDR events and carrying the torch for female riders on REV’IT!’s Women’s ADV Team weren’t enough, Kris and Nathan also work as ride leaders at the Touratech Rally West each year and host their own informal skills clinics for their local riding community in Oregon. “We’ll set up a series of training activities and then a challenge course to allow people to practice their skills while navigating obstacles. I love giving back to my local community in this way.”

Like many of us, becoming a motorcyclist not only enhanced Kris’s life, it became a fundamental part of who she is. And like the other REV’IT! Women’s ADV Team members we’ve featured here in recent weeks —  passionate riders like Amelia Nunn and Katelyn Barnecut — Kris is adamant that riding, and sharing her passion for riding with others, is essential to her own well-being. 

“For me, motorcycling is about becoming centered, mentally focused and finding my people,” she says. “Plus those occasional shots of heart-pumping adrenaline!”

REV’IT! Women’s Adventure Team Video Series

Each of the REV’IT! Women’s ADV Team riders is currently being celebrated in a #weADV video that shows us where each woman lives and rides, and how they came up with unique ways to foster their passion for riding during pandemic restrictions. Below is a schedule of release dates so you and any aspiring female riders in your life can keep up with the fun. 

  • Episode 1: Amelia Nunn, produced by Niki Murphy, available now
  • Episode 2: Katelyn Barnecut, produced by Kasen Schamuan, available now
  • Episode 3: Kris Fant, produced by Flewid Films, available now 
  • Episode 4: Jenna West, Bayonet Media, coming 3/23
  • Episode 5: Erika Tango Bean, produced by Roberto Serrini, coming 3/30

To follow Kris Fant’s adventures, find her @freespiritpixie on Instagram. For more information about REV’IT!’s gear and its programs, visit www.revitsport.com. And don’t forget, if you have a story to share about how access to adventure riding helped you survive during these socially restrictive times, please share by tagging @revit_adventure and using #WeADV in your post. 

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.

Author: Jamie Elvidge
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REV’IT! Rider Spotlight Video Series Launches Ep. 3: Kris Fant - ADVENTURE & OVERLAND MOTORCYCLE TRAVEL
March 16, 2021 9:50 am

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