Tag Archives: bikepacking

Episode 7 – Lael Wilcox Is A Bikepacking Badass

Posted on July 6, 2016 by josh| Leave a comment

Lael Wilcox may not yet be a household name in the cycling world, but with wins and records in super long distance, self-supported bikepacking races such as TransAmerica and the Tour Divide, she will be soon. In this special episode of The Bicycle Story podcast, I interviewed Lael about her victory at TransAm, what it’s like to race across the country in 18 days, her roots as a dirtbag world adventurer, breaking into the mainstream, and more.

For more on Lael’s world travels, check out The Bicycle Story’s 2014 interview with her partner Nick Carman.

Music:
“Intractable”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Posted in Adventure, Bike Touring, Interviews, Racing, The Podcast

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The Caucasus Mountains Will Fire Up Your Wanderlust

Posted on December 15, 2015 by josh| 1 Comment

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Riding in Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains. Photo by Ross Measures.

Joey Schusler is a pro mountain biker, skier, and filmmaker who’s made films about bikepacking and backcountry ski adventures in Peru, Mexico, Colorado, and elsewhere. His latest short The Trail to Kazbegi, documents a bikepacking trip through the Caucasus Mountains in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. It is pure adventure porn filled with amazing trails and even more amazing mountains. Give it a watch.

The Trail To Kazbegi from Joey Schusler on Vimeo.

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Posted in Adventure, Cycling Media, Everything Else, Mountain Biking

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Eszter Horanyi: The Power and Goodness of Bikepacking

Posted on June 17, 2015 by josh| 1 Comment

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Eszter Horanyi and Scott Morris at the start of their 4,000 mile Continental Divide Trail ride. Photo via topofusion.com.

The Tour Divide is a 2,745 bikepacking race from Banff, Canada to the Mexican border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico along the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. When Eszter Horanyi set the women’s course record of 19 days, 3 hours in 2012, she did so by averaging over 140 miles each day and sleeping just a few hours each night. Doing so on repeat for the better part of a month is a brutal challenge that pushes athletes to their mental and physical limits. It turns out Horanyi is really good at it. Over her years of bikepacking racing, she’s held or still holds records on the Tour Divide, Arizona Trail Race 300, Colorado Trail Race, Arrowhead 135, and plenty more. She stopped racing in 2013, but continues to explore mountains and valleys and remote roads by bike. I spoke to Horanyi about her entry into mountain bike racing, her bikepacking racing “career,” the self-empowerment the comes from adventuring alone, the growth of bikepacking, and more.

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Posted in Adventure, Bike Touring, Interviews, Mountain Biking, Racing

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Erick Cedeño: The Nomadic Life of a Bicycle Traveler

Posted on April 8, 2015 by josh| 1 Comment

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Bicycle Nomad Erick Cedeño in Puerto Rico. Photo courtesy Erick Cedeño.

Whether one night or one week, the end of a bike tour always leaves me wanting more. It’s something I’ve heard from other bike travelers as well, including ones who’ve done far longer trips than I’ve yet managed. A tour’s end is anti-climactic. You might celebrate the arrival at your final destination or your return home, but the rhythm of life on the road–eat, pedal, sight see, pedal, eat, sleep, repeat–fades with shocking speed as you go back to normal life. For some, the solution is to just start planning next year’s trip. For others, such as Erick Cedeño, the solution is to maximize bike travel and make it an integral part of their life and career.

Known to some as the Bicycle Nomad, Cedeño fell in love with bike travel five years ago and parlayed his passion into a business of speaking gigs and merchandise that support his trips. We spoke about his evolution from one night trips around Miami to multi-month adventures around North America, what drives his passion for bike travel, the Bicycle Nomad business, and much more.

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Posted in Bike Touring, Interviews

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Jim Sayer: The Big Money Business of Bike Touring

Posted on March 12, 2015 by josh| 3 Comments

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Adventure Cycling Association’s Executive Director Jim Sayer.

As winter turns to spring and the weather starts airing on the side of nice, cyclists give in to powerful daydreams of summer adventures to come. Staff meeting bullet points are lost to fantasies about dry singletrack in remote forests. Dreadful morning commutes in the pouring rain are rationalized as preparation for that big ride marked on a distant page of the calendar. And now, more than ever, those summer cycling trips are taking the form of bike tours. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but the cycling world is experiencing an undeniable bike travel boom, from fully supported luxury rides to self-supported cross-country tours to family bike rides out to the local park for a night of camping. Nonprofit Adventure Cycling Association has played a role in that growth. For the past 43 years, ACA’s been mapping routes, leading tours, and advocating for better bike touring conditions in North America. Executive Director Jim Sayer has been at the helm for the past 10 years. I spoke to Sayers about ACA’s work, his love for cycling and bike travel, bike tourism advocacy, the huge economic impact of bike travel, and more.

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Posted in Advocacy, Bike Touring, Interviews

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