Bikes or Death

At the Bikepacking Summit I had the honor of sitting down with Lael Wilcox and Rugile Kaladyte (Rue) in their first interview together. After they found themselves in the middle of drama on the Tour Divide this year it was nice to chat with both of them to hear their thoughts on riding and documents bikepacking events. Personally, I'm grateful for what they are trying to do through documenting this great sport that we love. Inspired to Ride spurred a new generation of bikepackers and Tour Divide participants, myself included. I am grateful for the efforts they have been making to tell the stories of events like the Tour Divide or the Navidad 1000. Those stories inspire and inspiration leads to more people on bikes and that's something we should all be rallied around. Having been fortunate enough to spend time riding, socializing, and interviewing both Lael and Rue I have seen first hand their love for this sport, the community, and their desire to share these stories in the most respectful way possible. Yesterday Pearl Izumi launch Rue's new film I Just Want to Ride documenting Tour Divide 2019. It is worth a watch and then a rewatch. How cool is it to be able to watch the dots, see some social media post from time to time, and then watch a film about the event and see first hand some of the conditions and challenges that the riders were facing only five months ago!? Thank you Lael and Rue for keeping the course in the face of adversary. As you will hear on this episode there is nothing easy about documenting an event like this and to do it under such scrutiny from the community you love added a whole new level of difficulty. The new film is a beautiful look into the lives of the ultra endurance riders we love and the routes we aspire to ride. I look forward to future projects and more content like this. Maybe in the future people will put down their keyboards and go ride their damn bikes!

Kate Gates is one of the owners of Mulberry Gap Mountain Bike Getaway in Ellijay, GA, the venue for this year's Bikepacking Summit. Their property is located in the southern Appalachian Mountains of northwest Georgia and is surrounded by National Forest, gravel roads, and cycling friendly trails. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that their facility is an oasis for cyclists and outdoors people. The proprietors of this family owned and operated business are a large part of what makes Mulberry Gap so special. This is very much a family business. Grandmas are LITERALLY in the kitchen whipping up some of the best homemade southern comfort food your hungry little heart desires. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the coffee and cold beer as both are a necessity to most. Their hospitality neither starts nor ends with the food, but it's a good place to get your attention. The true magic of the place comes from the top down. Everyone who runs this facility loves what they do, the community they do it for, and the people involved on an individual level. Just add awesome cyclists and hot damn you've got yourself a party! Thank you Kate and Andrew Gates (and their families) for hosting such a great event and making each of us feel welcome in your home.

Joe Cruz is a powerful and incredibly insightful person, which surely stems from his background as a professor of philosophy at Williams College and his decades of bikepacking and bike traveling all over the world. Additionally, he is an editor at large for Bikepacking.com. Joe was the opening presenter on Friday morning at the Bikepacking Summit this year. What we as the audience experienced was a powerful lesson in fear, our understanding of it, and our relationship to it. Joe's understanding and relationship with fear is probably deeper than most of our own. It's the kind of relationship you have after spending three decades traveling the world via bicycle. He would tell you, any moments of fear he experienced are greatly outnumbered by the good, positive, and wonderful experiences. So how do we look at fear in contrast to these amazing experiences? I'll let Joe tell you in his own words. This interview was very impromptu. I had just finished recording with Greg Hardy and had a small window before my next interview. Joe's stellar presentation had put him on my radar for a possible interview. So when I looked around and saw him chatting with some fellow attendees I took the opportunity to have him share some of this presentation with you. I wish you could have been there on Friday morning to hear his presentation, to see the emotion in his eyes, and to feel that emotion reverberate through the room. If you weren't able to be there I hope you will get a taste of what we all experienced through this podcast.

On Oct. 27th 2018 I sat down with Greg Hardy of Rockgeist in his shop in Asheville, NC to record the first ever Bikes or Death podcast. What has transpired since that day can only be described as a whirlwind. On that day I started a journey that has taken me further than I realized possible or likely. However, here we are a year later and I'm sitting down with my friend Greg again. On this new episode we share some thoughts about the Bikepacking Summit, catch up, I ask some follow up questions to our first episode, and of course we talk shop! And he's got some juicy stuff to share!! Greg is offering a 10% DISCOUNT CODE to all BoD listeners. Use the promo code BIKESORDEATH at check out on Rockgeist.com and watch those dollars just fade away.

Like most modern friendships, I linked up with Miles Arbour through Instagram. Miles is the one responsible for putting together a Q&A article that appeared on BIKEPACKING.com after my first six episodes here at Bikes or Death, sending a surge of new listeners my way… an article I'm still stoked about. Miles is a writer and editor at BIKEPACKING.com, reviewing products and bikes, managing the events calendar, and working directly with the small team that handles the site's daily tasks. He's also a funny dude who is just as goofy in person as he is on Instagram. On this episode, we sit down at the 2019 Bikepacking Summit to learn more about him, van life, and his work with BIKEPACKING.com. As an added bonus, shortly after the summit Miles came to visit me in College Station, Texas to record the intro and outro for this episode, and we debrief the Summit a little further. We both hope you'll get a good laugh during this episode. We sure did.

Getting to talk to Kurt Refsnider was a true pleasure. His achievements on and off the bike are quite impressive and my conversation with him left me feeling inspired, hopeful for the future of our public lands, and also a little like I could be doing more! I caught up with Kurt after his win at the Colorado Trail Race. This is a race that he hasn't had good luck with in the past, but this year everything came together for him to claim first place. In doing so, he became the first person to achieve the Triple Crown of Bikepacking, which means that he is the first person to win the Tour Divide, AZT, and CTR. Let that sink in for a second. In addition to his accomplishments on the bike he is also running Bikepacking Roots, a non-profit focusing on important issues that can and will impact land use and access among other things. The work he and his team are doing is invaluable to us as a community and I encourage you to listen to the podcast and then go to BikepackingRoots.org to become a member and take action on the items they present to the members. Kurt is a leader on and off the bike and I truly enjoyed his time and what he was able to share.

Rebecca Vader set off on her bike a little over two months ago on what she called The Freedom Tour. She didn't have a destination in mind, just a bike and her adventurous spirit. On this episode we learn where that combination leads. She has a unique approach to life that is refreshing on some level and intimidating on the other. Our conversation had me looking inward to check in with myself at different times during the chat. I didn't know anything about her (except what I saw on instagram) before our interview. However, I quickly realized I was talking to a different type of human, one that finds her own path in her own way. As you'll hear that doesn't mean life is perfect or easy, but you already knew that. You will hear some great quotes like, "Wait! You are telling me there is a bike I can ride anywhere I want?!?!" and "I just went to fucking life school"! After our talk Rebecca sent some great pictures that really give a sense of what her tour was like. If you want to put visuals to the words in this interview, check out some of Rebecca's pictures here. I love talking to all the different personalities that make up this great sport. There are so many ways to recreate and participate and they are all good. It's up to you to find our own path....maybe you can steal some ideas from Rebecca....

Kerry Staite is the owner and founder of kLite. I've been a customer of his for a couple of years and have followed him on social media (@klite_dynamo_power on Instagram) with growing curiosity. It was this post that made me reach out to him immediately: "This is ME, I am kLite I wear no shirt of social conformity. I wear no hat to hide my hairless shame I am flesh and blood, I am free to be me. I am kLite" ~ Kerry Staite I pictured him as a mad scientist inventing cool electronic gadgets that are beyond my ability to comprehend. While I do still see him as a mad scientist type, he does an excellent job of explaining his products and how they work. After interviewing him for two hours I can confirm the statement he made in that Instagram post, "I am free to be me." He shared his ideas and perspectives without hesitation or fear of any backlash. It was refreshing. It was also informative. He is a wealth of bike and life knowledge that has come through a lifetime of experiences. I learned a lot and truly enjoyed our conversation. My favorite quote from the podcast was, "I don't give a shit if all I have is a bag of rice. As long as I get to do something I love that makes me happy." We will be recording another episode in the near future. If you have some questions for Kerry drop them in the comment section below and I'll get you answers!

On this episode I chat with Anna Claire Beasley and Beckie Irvin, creators of Grit Fest: a women's mountain bike festival going down this November in Arkansas. The three day festival is open to womxn (cis, trans, and non-binary) riders of ALL levels and will focus on skill development, community building, outdoor advocacy and education. The schedule is packed with workshops and clinics, speakers, social events, a gear swap, camping, beer, and more. Bikes or Death is proud to support Grit Fest as a sponsor, and I'm excited to have these two awesome women on the show to tell us what it's all about. Beckie and Anna Claire share a passion for mountain biking and a commitment to inclusivity that really shine through in this interview. I couldn't agree more with their philosophy that it doesn't matter what bike you have, what you wear when you ride, or whether your gear is basic or fancy. As their website says: "It's not about the gear, the kit, or the bike. It's about the ride + where it takes you." In addition to Grit Fest, we also touch on plenty of other interesting topics: the psychology of how different genders learn in sports, the importance of inclusivity in the world of cycling ("If you have a bike, and you ride it, you're a cyclist"), and the unexpected popularity of women's ultra-endurance cycling races back in the early 1900's. If that caught your interest, here's a link to the book we talked about: Women on the Move, the Forgotten Era of Women's Bicycle Racing. Grit MTB Festival details: Nov. 15-17th, 2019 Tickets go on sale Aug. 19th at 9am CST Spots are still available for sponsors, vendors, and presenters. To learn more, visit www.gritfestival.com or check out gritmtbfestival on Instagram. "Grit Fest is a 3-day grassroots festival designed to bring womxn (cis, trans, and non-binary) together around the sport of mountain biking. Regardless of skill level, every woman is welcome. In addition to helping you develop your skill set, Grit Fest will focus on building community, outdoor advocacy, and education."

On this episode I meet up with Vince Colvin, co-owner of Chumba USA, at his home in Austin, TX. Before recording the podcast he built up a couple of his bikes SS and we went out to shred some trails and eat tacos. We had a great convo and it was cool to ride bikes and talk bikes with the owner of this rad company. www.chumbausa.com Photo by Cass Gilbert @whileoutriding in Ecuador