Riding around the planet is one of those monumental sort of ideas that feels impossible to wrap your head around. For obvious reasons it may be on a lot of y’alls radar recently but yet again I preach the gospel of taking time moving through a place vs putting another FKT on the belt. It feels a particularly special significance getting to meet Robbie (https://youtube.com/@dirtdroprobbie) at the beginning of what will surely be the journey of a lifetime for them as well as a world record for being the first transgender person to cycle around the world. This is an adventure that deserves your attention and I highly recommend jumping on board in these early days to see how Robbie evolves over the next year or two or three. Thank you for crossing paths with me in Vancouver, having a chinwag for a couple hours, and letting me add a spokey-doke to your rig.
Ride 200km in these pants, Ornot
Ornot asked if I had a quote for the launch of their new Mission Lite Pants and after spending a decent bit of time with google thesaurus trying to find more eloquent words to replace durable, refined, comfy, etc...the easiest way to say it is this: in the month since Sea Otter I’ve put about a thousand miles [1600km] of riding in these pants (including multiple back to back century [160km] days) as well as slept in them a couple dozen nights, all while looking like I’m on my way to the office. These things are an impossible combo of being strong enough to survive my abuse yet soft enough to cuddle in. Y’all made some damn good trousers and I’m excited to see when they eventually fall apart, Ornot.
Posedla Saddle Review
It all started with my cocky ass commenting something like “bet I could break this 😏” on the @posedla.cc IG, but surprisingly they came back with a #challengeaccepted and we were off to the races! I received the Joyseat imprint kit when I was in Tampa in December and used it to generate a 3D model of this butt that all y’all on close friends know so very well. A few months later the saddle arrives, I mount it on the cargo, head out for the inaugural ride of a seat made 💯 for my curves, and then...confusion. It didn’t feel as comfortable compared other stock saddles I’ve ridden and certainly did not feel intimately familiar in the way I expected it to after the in depth customization process.
The initial commitment to giving it a proper thousand mile test before returning to my Brooks C19 went right out the window as I couldn’t seem to last even a couple hours without constant fidgeting to find the right position. Maybe it’s a saddle for a much more aggressive rider? Maybe it’s a saddle for bibs only? Maybe if you have problems finding the right seat for your booty this can be the solution?
If you know what you like and you like what you know, maybe it’s best to stick with that instead of going with what the science says. I’ll be saving this (granted, an impossibly lightweight beautifully constructed little thing) for one of my other bikes and will update if my feelings change. If you’re having saddle problems I feel bad for ya son, I usually only have 3-4 problems on any given day but thankfully my saddle wasn’t one.
Wolf Tooth
I’m not gonna say this works every time for getting free bike parts BUT if you put 17,000 miles on a Wolf Tooth chainring while riding it across a continent and then go meet them in person at Sea Otter...turns out they’ll likely be really stoked about it, say you’re insane for not replacing it earlier, and then ask to trade a new one for the old so they can have it for their wall of shame back at HQ. This perfect little piece of aluminum held on and kept me moving through allllll that I put it through and probably could’ve kept going for another 2-3k miles despite how worn those teeth are. Thank you Wolf Tooth for making such solid stuff and being a part of my rambling. I’ll rock this new 28t for as long as I can and hopefully cross paths again somewhere down the road.
Robert Axle Project
Attending my first Sea Otter was an incredibly overwhelming experience in all the best sorts of ways. I was fortunate enough to turn sooo many of my internet acquaintances into real life friends as well as making a handful of brand new buddies with companies that I’d been admiring for a while. Robert Axle Project is one of those that I’d seen come across my various feeds for years and always had a 🤔 but how different can it be, it’s just a big bolt right? Turns out...okay yeah it’s just a big bolt BUT it’s a big bolt made in the US by highly skilled people to solve specific problems. Also they’re just genuinely rad folks! I was lucky enough to connect with them again when I rode through Bend, got a tour of the warehouse (also slept in the warehouse), and now they’re coming with me on the rest of my ramble around the world. Thanks y’all for everything you do and making something so good that I’ll never have to think about my axles ever again.
Interview with Barry LaChapelle at Bike Gear Database
Erik Binggeser: The Art of Resourceful Living & Adaptable Adventure
“Erik Binggeser (aka @truemarmalade) has cargo bikepacked over 50,000 KMs across North America, embracing a resourceful and adaptable lifestyle. From his beginnings in Michigan to his fearless culinary and bikepacking adventures, Erik’s journey is one of ingenuity and exploration.”
For the full interview click here: https://www.bikegeardatabase.com/stories/erik-binggeser-truemarmalade
Fresno
Ohh y’all thought I forgot about you Fresno?? IMPOSSIBLE!!! Granted, plain ol’ pneumonia is what initially got me stuck here BUT then met all the very best people and did all of the very best things with them. Rambled around with Jesse exploring gardens, picking fruit, and letting our Omnium cargo bikes get nice and friendly. Ripped it on the Tuesday ride setting some power PB’s, splitting traffic with the wheelie kids, and ended the night with a great rescue at Whole Foods. AND ALLLLL of the gratitude to my Warmshowers hosts who let me crash for two weeks and quickly became good friends. It’s a 👌 sign when I purposely don’t try and fill in all of a city so I’ll have something to do when I return, and you bet I’ll definitely be back to Fresno.
San Francisco
Even with the cruel absurdity that is the Bay Area ratio, riding in San Francisco was an absolute blast. This is where ripping the cargo around unloaded REALLY felt like I was piloting a speeder through some trench runs and even more so on the Ornot Tuesday #aftercakeornot ride. I’ve had this on my todo list for long enough that expectations were quite high and damn if y’all didn’t live up to them and then some. The route is just a flawless chefs kiss of city climbs, zoomzoom road descents, sneaky tourist appeal for riding under the GG, and all with bits of flowy singletrack interspersed. Oh plus coffee n donuts afterwards at the shop parklet! If you’re lucky enough and show up on a cargo bike they might even let you take home the leftovers.
Los Angeles
Some people say that #lasucksforcycling but uhhh the 350 miles that I noodled around in the week I was there there I would have to disagree. Even with the 7.8 million cars (half of which seem to have vanity plates) I kept rambling upon plenty of what felt like random bike lanes and pathways and roads that simply felt kinda chill. Loads of shops scattered around the city too and while GSC had been top of my quest marker list, Allez La feels like a perfect scaled down improvement upon the original. Oh ohhh and their group ride was the most fun I’d had jamming around on my Omnium in ages. Big climbs, fire roads, group pics at the tippy top, and then a lovely noodle of singletrack back down that cargo barely managed to squeeze through. Followed by a ripping road descent back into the city with post ride hangs at Collage Coffee. Thanks to Kyle for leading us along on a damn good time!
San Diego
"What's your favorite city that you've been to??" has become one of the frequent questions tossed my way after I got a year into this new life and at this point I should probably work on figuring out an answer? Whoops it turns out every city with even a few scraps of a bike scene is an absolute blast and I'll never get tired of getting stuck somewhere for a week and rambling around with the locals. San Diego was the first major city after getting back in the US and hoooh boy it was interesting flipping my brain back into track bike in traffic mode. I stayed in town long enough for a couple group rides and an alleycat, and daaamn vibes were good! Thank you to everyone at bikingis.fun, Nice n Easy, and SD Bicycle Coalition for making the SD bike scene a very good one.
