Last week I would have been writing with a glass of ice water on my desk, but with the recent drop in temps, there’s a mug of hot chocolate instead. Fall is finally here. We’ve got some refreshing stories and gear to share to celebrate the changing of the seasons. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading as always!
200 miles on $200 Bikes
Two weekends ago Tucson celebrated another Cyclovia where thousands of pedestrians, cyclists, and other folks on wheels shared the joy of movement on safe, closed streets. What I love most about this event is the variety of people, and for the purposes of the blog, bikes that gather together for one event. There were folks on tricycles, e-cargo bikes, roadies in kits, jorts on basket bikes, tall bikes, balance bikes – all the bikes. It was wonderful and fun.
But week to week, all these folks go their separate ways, and like rides with like. The bicycle soup is dispersed. Things get serious or insular, and the camaraderie of folks on bikes having fun can start to fade a little.
Last June, Stephen Fitzgerald – founder of Rodeo Labs – and two friends rode the Unbound 200 on Wal-Mart bikes for fun. Those bikes probably cost less than the amount of miles they were ridden. For a serious event where tires alone go for that amount, well, you can imagine that they turned a few heads that day. Some of these heads were upset.
If you’ve spent enough time on the internet reading and living vicariously through other peoples’ adventures, you’ve surely come to do that thing we all do from time to time: pass judgment. It’s easy to do, and it’s a human tendency. Snap judgments have historically kept us safe by parsing out when to fight or flight, but it’s also become one of the worst things about how we spend our free time on the internet.
The response to Fitzgerald’s ride was largely positive, though there were detractors who called the ride a stunt and a rolling ad. Stunts can happen in some spaces and are often celebrated, but when creativity comes to one of the most serious, competitive gravel races in the world, there’s suddenly – tragically – no room for it.
“Cruisers” recounts the leadup to their ride and race day itself, and the accompanying article in BIKEPACKING.COM provides a wholesome reminder that, in the end, all you can do is authentically share what interests you. Lord help you if you can’t enjoy a rattle can-painted cruiser bike doing things it wasn’t meant to do.
More news!
- Bedrock Mountain Clog Re-soul Program: Their sandal repair program has been a staple of the company for years, and it’s now been extended to the Mountain Clog.
- The Baja Divide Revamp: One of the classic winter routes has recently been given a route update, including a section by section breakdown and a PDF download.
- Help Rockgeist Rebuild: Hurricane Helene destroyed the Asheville-based workshop. Donating to their fundraiser or purchasing gear will help them rebuild and restore employee livelihoods. I have several bags from them circa 2018 that have seen thousands of miles with hardly a stitch out of place.
- Tailfin in the USA: The leading photo in this press release from BIKEPACKING is enough to make me wanna pick up a bag.
- Cycling through Mexico Solito: We’ve been including Greg’s videos for a while, and after a break from pedaling, he’s back on the bike heading south.
- San Util Mini Panniers: Haven’t tried these myself, but my half framebag from Adam is still going strong even after a raccoon attack.
- Cycling During Apple Harvest+An Apple History Lesson: A mid-harvest tour and reflection on apples, apple history, and how it all connects.
Leaving you with a scene from a wet, refreshing Fall ride this time last year.
