Happy New Year and welcome to our first news roundup for 2023! The end of the year can be a little slow at times, but we’ve managed to put together a solid collection of events, stories, and bits of gear from the world of bikes that we came across in the last couple of months. Excited to share these with you and hope everyone is off to a wonderful year wherever you’re reading.
REANIMATOR Tour 2023
It’s easy to be drawn into and inundated by the amount of new gear, gadgets and updates to the same in the cycling world. Just when you’ve really started to love a bag and it’s earned a little patina or fade, it seems that a newer, better, or perhaps, simply another color option, is made available. Same thing with cranks, bells, GPS devices, clothes, racks, bottles… The list goes on, and I find it overwhelming to be second-guessing the things that have served me so well over time. Some of my favorite items have earned a fair amount of “beausage” (beauty from usage), and at times I wish there was more marketing around MYOG (Maintain Your Own Gear) in the bike world. Enter the REANIMATOR Tour.
Throughout their 1,000+ mile tour from Salt Lake City to Albuquerque, REANIMATOR will host a series of free events to “[raise] awareness of cycling and sewing as tools for self
sufficiency.” Topics include gear repair, garment modification and reinforcement, and DIY book-making. The combination of bike tour + community workshops is a fresh, creative approach to highlight some of the beauties of traveling by bike, namely self-sufficiency. REANIMATOR is currently fundraising for the event and also accepting applications for two Repair Technician Residency positions. You can learn more here. Sadly, they won’t be passing through Arizona, but perhaps you can catch them if you’re reading from somewhere along their route.
More news that caught our attention…
- Singlespeed Arizona 2023: This one’s coming up quick (February3-5th), so if you’re into riding just one gear, you better hop on it quick.
- Ruta del Jefe: Another local event and one that we supported last year, RDJ is migrating south of the border this year to Cuenca Los Ojos (Sonora, México). Education, advocacy and quality riding are still highlights of the event.
- Dark Divide 300: Olympia to Portland. Unmaintained and forgotten forest roads. Scenic byways. Limited resupply. Cell phones useless. Sign me up.
- Safety Pizza: Availability of these come and go, but they’re currently stocked. The slice is classic, but avocados and hot dogs are options too. Hands down the best, friendliest bike accessory you can own.
- Other Means Magazine, Volume 1: Sharing the human side of cycling via a beautiful print magazine. Coffee drinkin’ material.
- Cycling to Argentina: Episodes 4 and 5 are out now. I find myself really looking forward to each new video. Simple and joyful.
- Cycling and booze: No knocks against alcohol per se, but a pretty intriguing article raising concern with the culture of sport and drinking.
- The Distance I’ve Travelled: A short, powerful video series done by Brett Hite of the band Frenship with Cannondale. “Becoming is better than being.”