Battle Born Clothing: Official Apparel Supplier for the 42nd and 43rd Annual Death Ride - Tour of the California Alps

RK Robert Krause Owner, Battle Born Clothing & Print · Yerington, Nevada · Screen Printing & Embroidery Since 2019

Official Apparel Supplier Death Ride — Tour of the California Alps 42nd Annual (2023) · 43rd Annual (2024) · Markleeville, California · 103 Miles · 14,000+ Feet of Climbing

Battle Born Clothing has been the proud official supplier of apparel and merchandise for the legendary Death Ride — Tour of the California Alps. We produced everything from screen printed tees and tie dye shirts to embroidered hats, branded polos, vinyl stickers, and custom coffee mugs for the 42nd annual event in 2023 and the 43rd in 2024 — gearing up riders, volunteers, and spectators for one of the toughest cycling challenges on the West Coast.

43rd Annual Death Ride tee — custom artwork by Sean Dawley of Hooligans Ink, screen printed on premium Next Level 6210 blanks.

About the Death Ride

The Death Ride isn't a casual spin. It started in 1978 when five riders decided to cycle the California Alps in a single day with nothing but friends following in a car. Nearly half a century later, it's grown into one of the most recognized endurance cycling events in the country — drawing thousands of riders from around the world every July to the small town of Markleeville in Alpine County, California.

The course is a 103-mile road cycling tour covering both sides of three High Sierra mountain passes — Monitor Pass (8,314'), Ebbetts Pass (8,730'), and the Pacific Grade (8,050') — for a total of six hors catégorie (HC) climbs and over 14,000 feet of elevation gain. Starting and finishing at Turtle Rock Park, nearly 90% of the course is closed to vehicle traffic. Riders have from sunrise to sunset to complete the full course, and those who conquer all six climbs earn the coveted "All Pass Finisher" status.

The event is the primary fundraiser for the Alpine County Chamber of Commerce and several local nonprofits that serve the communities of Markleeville, Woodfords, Bear Valley, and Kirkwood. It's not just a cycling challenge — it's what keeps Alpine County's economy alive and positions the region as a world-class destination for outdoor athletes. The 45th annual Death Ride is scheduled for July 11, 2026, with registration now open.

Multi-color sponsor list printed on the back — precise registration across 3,000+ pieces using our M&R Gauntlet GT-8 automatic press.

What We Produced: The Full Merch Lineup

As the official apparel supplier, we produced the full range of event merchandise — designed to commemorate the ride and hold up to the kind of abuse you'd expect from people who voluntarily climb 14,000 feet in a day.

Screen Printed Tees — Next Level 6210 & Bella+Canvas

The backbone of the merchandise table. We screen printed the event tees on Next Level 6210 CVC Crew and Bella+Canvas blanks — retail-quality fabrics with a soft hand-feel and modern fit. These aren't the stiff, cardboard-feeling giveaway shirts you forget in a drawer. The CVC blend takes ink beautifully, and the prints we run on our M&R Gauntlet GT-8 come out with vibrant color and a smooth, durable finish that survives wash after wash. Multi-color event graphics on the front, full sponsor list on the back — each shirt ran through our Workhorse PowerHouse Quartz conveyor dryer at the correct temperature to lock everything in permanently.

Want to know how event tee pricing works? We break it all down in our screen printing pricing guide — including quantity breaks that make large event runs extremely cost-effective.

Tie Dye Tees

The tie dye Death Ride tees were a standout — bold spiral patterns screen printed with the event artwork. Tie dye is a different animal from standard printing. The uneven dye patterns mean you need precise screen registration and the right ink opacity to make the design pop across every shirt's unique color field. We dialed in the press to deliver clean, opaque prints on every one — no two shirts are alike, but every print is consistent.

Tie dye Death Ride tee — screen printed with high-opacity ink to cut through the dye patterns. Every shirt is one of a kind.

Embroidered Hats — Yupoong 6606

We hand-digitized and embroidered the Death Ride logo on Yupoong 6606 Retro Trucker snapbacks — the same hats we run for clients across Alpine County and Northern Nevada. The 6606's structured front panel gives embroidery a clean, professional surface, and the breathable mesh back handles July heat at 8,000+ feet elevation. Every logo is hand-digitized in-house — no auto-digitize shortcuts — to ensure clean stitch paths and tight detail reproduction that holds up to sweat, sun, and summit winds.

Embroidered Polos — OGIO & Nike

For event organizers, volunteers, and sponsors who needed a more polished look, we produced embroidered OGIO performance polos and Nike polos with the Death Ride branding on the left chest. Performance moisture-wicking fabric handles alpine heat, and embroidery on a polo gives that elevated, professional finish that screen printing simply can't replicate on structured garments. This is exactly the use case where embroidery is the right call — small logo, premium garment, corporate presentation.

Vinyl Stickers — Substance Inc Premium Film

The Death Ride stickers were printed on Substance Inc ICON polymeric vinyl — a premium American-made film built for motorsports and demanding outdoor applications. This isn't the thin, curling vinyl you get from budget sticker shops. Substance's 100% polymeric construction resists shrinking, cracking, and UV fade, with adhesion that stays put on water bottles, bike frames, laptops, and car bumpers. High-adhesion, waterproof, and built to last years outdoors — because a sticker commemorating 14,000 feet of climbing deserves to survive more than one season.

Coffee Mugs

We also produced custom coffee mugs featuring Death Ride artwork — durable, insulated, and perfect for fueling post-ride recovery or early-morning motivation before a training ride.

Custom Death Ride coffee mug — because 14,000 feet of climbing demands serious caffeine.

The Artist: Sean Dawley of Hooligans Ink

The custom artwork that made the Death Ride merch stand out came from Sean Dawley — tattoo artist, custom illustrator, and owner of Hooligans Ink in Carson City, Nevada. Sean has been inking and illustrating for over 27 years, studying under tattoo legend Phil Sims at the world-famous Pike in Long Beach, California, before opening his own studio on Fairview Drive in Carson City in 2008.

For the Death Ride collaboration, Sean drew from the rugged Sierra Nevada landscapes — jagged peaks, winding mountain passes, symbolic skulls — to capture the raw, death-defying spirit of the event. His bold, intricate linework translates perfectly to screen printing, giving us artwork with clean separations and hard edges that produce sharp, vivid prints on press. When you're printing thousands of event tees, the quality of the original art matters as much as the quality of the ink.

Original artwork by Sean Dawley of Hooligans Ink, Carson City, NV — bold, print-ready illustration built for the screen.

Beyond tattoos, Sean is deeply rooted in Northern Nevada's creative community — he's organized charity events like "Tattooed for Good," a 24-hour tattoo marathon benefiting Austin's House children's home in Indian Hills. That same community-first mentality is exactly what drew us to collaborate. If you're in Carson City and need custom illustration work — or just want incredible ink — swing by Hooligans Ink at 1501 Fairview Drive.

Serving Alpine County and the Eastern Sierra

The Death Ride partnership is a direct extension of our commitment to serving Alpine County and the communities along the Eastern Sierra. Markleeville, Woodfords, Bear Valley, Kirkwood — these small mountain towns don't have a local print shop. But they do have events, businesses, nonprofits, and organizations that need quality branded merchandise. We're a short drive over the pass from Yerington, and we ship direct for everything we produce.

Whether it's a cycling event with 3,000 riders, a fishing tournament at Caples Lake, or a Bear Valley ski lodge that needs staff uniforms — we provide the same industrial-grade screen printing, embroidery, and custom sticker production to Alpine County that we deliver to mining companies in Elko and off-road teams nationwide. Need custom artwork designed from scratch? We handle that too.

Your Event. Your Merch. Built Right.

If you're organizing a cycling event, running race, music festival, fundraiser, or community gathering and need merchandise that people actually want to keep — not toss in a donation bin after one wear — we'd like to talk. We source premium blanks, print on industrial equipment, and work with artists to make sure your event merch represents your brand the way it deserves.

Check out our customizable products, explore our screen printing pricing guide, or just fill out the form below and tell us what you need. Same-day quotes. No runaround.

If you snagged any of our Death Ride gear at the event, tag us — @battlebornclothing on Instagram and Facebook, @clothing_born on X. We love seeing it in action out on the passes.

Stay Battle Born, and keep pedaling.

— Robert Krause, Battle Born Clothing & Print

Battle Born Clothing & Print is a custom screen printing, embroidery, and promotional products shop based in Yerington, Nevada. We serve Alpine County, CA, all of Northern Nevada, and ship nationwide. Have more questions? Visit our FAQ.