About a month ago, I read this piece about Colin Strickland in the New Yorker. And I got my shorts in a twist. The story unpacked Strickland’s indirect role in Moriah Wilson’s murder, then spent the bulk of 8,000 words tying his hostility, dishonesty and narcissism to professional gravel racing as a whole. I wrote … More The Big Grapple: The New Yorker and Bicycling duel over gravel’s true story

If you like to read about bikes because you don’t like to read about politics, this essay might not be the one for you. Because my second trip down Utah’s White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park has me rethinking our precarious political moment. And I need to talk about it. I struggled on my … More Notes from the Cliff’s Edge

I haven’t written in this blog for a long while. It’s been hard for the writer in me to think much about bikes as we watch our country ride this crazy line between the world’s oldest democracy and a frightening new authoritarianism. It has often felt to me as though we’re careening down a deeply … More The Road out

I used to have this happy little theory that time on a bicycle bestowed special powers. Like some radioactive spider bite, biking could magically flatten our tummies, deepen our lungs and beef our hearts and quads. And (most significantly) biking could sharpen our eyes. Riding gravel improved our perception, I believed, by making it cool … More Bike Focals: How do we correct cycling’s vision problem?

As kids, we’re taught to trust that little voice in our heads that runs the brakes. That voice that says, “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.” That voice keeps us from getting hurt and doing wrong. But as endurance athletes, we learn there are plenty of times we need to tell that voice to … More A Fitter Norm

I didn’t know it until just days ago, but Nebraska-native, elite racer and “Maximum Enthusiasm” podcaster Megan Hottman (aka, the Cyclist Lawyer) was struck and injured by a careless driver back in May. She was riding in an Arvada, Colo., bike lane when she was hit by a 19-year-old woman. Hottman’s Golden, Colo., law office … More Community Disservice: Should we care what happens to careless drivers?