LA to Fresno
Forms of Protest with True Marmalade
From Ope! Bikes:
In this episode, we’re venturing beyond the world of ultra distance racing and into something a little more poetic and a little more unconventional—with our guest, nomadic rider and storyteller, True Marmalade.
Erik Binggeser—better known by his rolling moniker, True Marmalade—has spent the past few years crisscrossing the U.S. by cargo bike, logging over 50,000 miles on a titanium Omnium as part of a slow, deliberate, and deeply intentional life on the road. Born and raised in Michigan, Erik’s journey winds through a former corporate career, a stretch of vanlife, and ultimately into a mode of travel that blends bikepacking, minimalism, food rescue, and a whole lot of human connection.
Last weekend I caught up with Erik right here in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was hunkered down for a bit—recharging, resupplying, and taking a short pause from the road. While in town, Erik joined a group ride with Matt and the crew over at HoboHubWorks, and showed up to soak in the action at Penrose Park Velodrome. It was a short stay, but a perfect opportunity to sit down and talk.
In this conversation, Erik and I talk about what it means to leave behind the idea of accumulation and lean into subtraction. We unpack his use of the Wandrer app, discuss life as a Type 1 diabetic on the road, and explore the mental and physical shifts that come with living from a bike. We also dig into the gear that keeps him moving—from custom bags by South City Stitchworks to a variety of collaborations with builders and bagmakers across the bike industry, turning his journey into a rolling canvas of creative partnerships.
And of course, we dive into Erik’s daily practice of dumpster diving and food rescue: how it began, why he continues to share it so openly, and what it’s revealed about waste, resourcefulness, and our connection to community.
There’s something gently radical about the way Erik moves through the world—what he’s doing feels like a form of protest, a kind of anarchist calisthenics, if you will. Erik challenges the status quo and invites us to rethink how we live, travel, and connect with others.
Listen to the interview here: https://opebikes.buzzsprout.com/2088510/episodes/17350817-forms-of-protest-with-true-marmalade
more of the best ones
Where to next? Honestly I need to know, gimme tips, where should I take this project next? It was one hellova grind rambling LA the way that I did so nearly aaanywhere else gotta be a breeze in comparison. Any city with 500k-1mil people should have enough dead ends to fill a month of rambling and raise a couple grand of fundraising for a new local org doing the same kinda great work that LABA does. All those donations y’all sent in have been put to use supporting their earn-a-bike program refurbing donations to get more kids out there riding, exploring their neighborhoods, and establishing a more empathetic POV than they’d get being ferried around in the back of a SUV eyes glued to an iPad instead of being a part of the world around them. Someone’s gotta know someone else doing good like this in a city and I’m hopeful that I can keep this everydeadend project going.
the best ones
I shot six thousand three hundred and ninety photos of dead ends while working on the LA project raising money for @labikeacademy. A LOT of them were boring copy paste repeats as most city sprawl ends up being, even in a city as varied as Los Angeles. Over the next SIX YEARS they will all be going up on @everydeadendproject (three per day, 9am noon and 3pm) but I’ve tried my best to narrow down some favorites. Some are simply very good lighting, others are lucky captures of small moments, but overall I hope these help illustrate a bit of what you can find if you ramble around your neighborhood a lil bit and poke around in places you normally wouldn’t.
can't stop won't stop
I’ve always tried my best to keep riding a bike from ever feeling like a job but this is the first time in years that I’d wake up and pull a “ughhh time to go to work...” before I get out of bed. The incredible support that y’all have thrown into this thing for @labikeacademy has done wonders, knowing that despite the insane capitalist world we live in I somehow managed to turn my DUMB way of riding a DUMB bike into a not-really-a-day-job that actually helps others. It feels impossible to go back to my life of career and house and stuff and XYZ whatever else I used to value. All I know to do now is this: keep riding bikes, keep helping people help people, and no matter what keep going.
paint isn't protection
Taken somewhere during @russetpeach and my tour down the west coast, never was there a better illustration of what it’s like to exist in 🇺🇸 outside of a 🚗. Yeah we’ll take a painted bike lane as wide as y’all are willing to give us but it doesn’t mean a goddamn when everyone is still rushing around in multi ton machines that can do zero to sixty in less time that it takes me to reach for my bidon.
SLOW
The blessing and curse of becoming friends with so many incredible bag makers over the last few years combined with my VIBES based desires for the aesthetics of my @omnium means that it’s been nearly impossible to conjure up the final piece of this chaotic puzzle…until this lucky @ride_finds construction sign appeared and I reached out to @southcitystitchworks to make the magic happen.
It’s tough to imagine a more perfectly crafted bag, both in the literal way that it fits the bike and my loadout within as well as my ethos of making treasure out of trash. The details are utterly delightful from how Zach utilized the little SLOW labels for the zipper keepers to the impossible to imitate drippy tags (goddamn I love graffiti) and the way it’s not quite a full frame bag leaving enough room for my favorite sticker. There’s been so many incremental changes to this bike over the last 50,000 miles, but after this it’s feeling close to the final form.
I’m getting a little misty eyed writing this thinking about where it’s been, where I’ve yet to go, and how much I smile every time I catch an accidental glimpse of it reflected in a window or the rare times I lock it up like DAMN this is a GOOD LOOKIN BIKE. Thank you @omnium for making my favorite bicycle. Thank you @ride_finds gods for sending me a literal sign. And thank you THANK YOU Zach at @southcitystitchworks for being sooo down for putting all this together.
She visit
As long as I keep posting up in a city that does Mexican food better than Canada, you’ll keep visiting me right @russetpeach??? ‘Twas a lovely break from my daily dead end grind to spend a week seeing if I still remembered how to make your coffee. We got in some noodley rambles, absurd ride finds, completed many quests, aaand I paid for food?! See you again 🔜 so we can make more jokes about family, argue about bug names, and🖕every cyber truck that we see.
Racing
You can get an immediate vibe check on how welcoming a bike event is going to be by paying attention to the types of people that show up to race. I’m disappointed in myself that it took more than 10 years of photographing bike races to end up at one where minorities becomes the majority and there isn’t a single middle-aged white guy in the lineup. Grassroots races like the weekly crit in LA by @allcitygrandprix hold some of the keys to what will support the future of bike racing heading in the right direction and I’m going to try my best to focus on more coverage of those types of events as I continue rambling around. Thanks y’all for putting together a welcoming space where anyone can roll up (let’s get some WTF people out there too though?) and have a good time. See y’all again soon!
