One of the more significant perspective changing occurrences from this year on the road has been the hospitality that has been thrown my way by all manner of people. Sometimes it's randos on the side of the road giving me food or tips on a safe place to sleep, but more often it's the national treasure that is the LBS. Countless times I've rolled this big dumb rig through the front door of a classic grassroots co-op or a balleur #nothingbutcarbon studio and everything in between.
The magic of bike touring (and touring on a cargo bike, even more so) somehow makes every bike person lean into helping out, take a break from patching tubes or lacing wheels, to be a part of my journey even if just for an afternoon. Their good will pushes me forward. Metaphorically and actually forward no matter if it's me just borrowing some tools or them tearing apart my entire drivetrain to find a new creak that showed up a few days ago.
It's likely that none of y’all would be where you are without a LBS and it's a goddamn fact that I certainly wouldn't have even started this trip without the ones that let me loiter and learn after hours. Here's some photos of my favs from the trip.
