Author Archives: josh

Ira Ryan: A Portland Builder Talks Bikes, Gravel Grinding, and the Overuse of Epic

Posted on January 20, 2011 by josh| 5 Comments


Ira at the Seattle Bike Expo 2010. (Photo by Charlie Clay)

I first met Ira Ryan while reporting on the Seattle Bike Expo for a Seattle news website. Appropriately enough given that Ira is a high-end custom frame builder, we were both listening to a panel at the time on frame building featuring legendary builders Ken Taylor, Bill Davidson, and Glenn Erikson. I noticed Ira standing nearby and stuck up a conversation. Rather than bolting for the door to escape my barrage of questions, Ira happily engaged me in conversation about the frame building industry, randonneuring and racing, and the Portland bike scene. That conversation continues today with Ira discussing his foray into frame building, his love of adventure racing, and his participation in Rapha’s admittedly-impressive, but purple-prosed marketing scheme, the Continental Project.

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Posted in Bike Industry, Frame Builders, Interviews, Messengers

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Brian “Sally” Fornes: Drinking, Single Speed Racing, and Repping One of America’s Largest Bike Companies

Posted on January 12, 2011 by josh| Leave a comment


Sally (left) in uniform.

Sally Fornes is exactly the kind of guy you want to have at a cyclocross race. He’s there with the beer hand-ups for the crack-of-dawn Cat 4 races, he’ll heckle you mercilessly through a megaphone while you’re racing, then he’ll invite you back to his team tent to hang out for a post-race recovery drink. He’s also been known to hold his own at the front of the single speed race, was the lead organizer of the latest Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships, and, in his spare time, is Raleigh USA’s main marketing guy.

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Posted in Bike Industry, Cyclocross, Interviews, Mountain Biking

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Elly Blue: Advocacy, Women and Cycling, and the Shortcomings of Portland

Posted on December 30, 2010 by josh| 3 Comments


Photo by Jim Parsons from cycleandstyle.com

Elly Blue is a bike activist. She also writes a column for Grist, contributes to BikePortland, writes and edits a zine she started called Taking the Lane (the first issue of which I reviewed for PubliCola this summer), went on a nationwide speaking tour, and organizes bike events, meetings, and conferences. She paused for a moment to tell me about her foray into bike activism, some of the barriers women face in cycling (and in life), and why Portland isn’t always the biketopia it’s cracked up to be.

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Posted in Advocacy, Interviews

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Tara Alan and Tyler Kellen: Going Slowly Round The World

Posted on December 24, 2010 by josh| Leave a comment


Jetlagged in Glasgow at the very start.

A few years ago, Tyler Kellen had the sort of hair-brained scheme that many cyclists have: set off on a tour around the world. He started asking his then-girlfriend now-wife Tara Alan if she would join him and eventually she said yes. Flash forward to April 2009. The Minnesota duo flew to Scotland and set off on a trip that’s taken them all over Europe, into northern Africa, across Russia, and into South East Asia where they’re currently riding and exploring. Tara and Tyler have thoroughly documented their trip with journals, photography, and audio recordings on their website Going Slowly (to which they link extensively throughout the interview). I spoke to them about the experience of undertaking such an immense journey, their reception abroad, and how a tour like this has influenced their life plans.

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Posted in Bike Touring, Interviews

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Zach McDonald: Cyclocross, Mountain Bikes, and the Future of his Sport

Posted on November 23, 2010 by josh| 5 Comments


Photo by Wil Matthews. Source: Rapha Focus.

Zach McDonald is a cyclocross phenom. The 19-year-old from Bainbridge Island, WA has only been racing for a few years, but already has two national titles, has podiumed at a world cup in Europe, and is racing as a professional for the new Rapha Focus team. I talked to Zach about balancing the demands of life, school, and professional-level racing and his experiences racing in Europe and America.

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Posted in Cyclocross, Interviews, Mountain Biking

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