Welcome!

Lima, Montana, Great Divide Mountain Bike Route

Who am I?

Mostly, just a guy who likes bikes!

I do my best to get out and ride as often as I can, and try to encourage other people to get out in whatever way serves them as well. For me? I love bikepacking, whether it’s a multi week tour, or just an overnighter in your backyard!

When I’m out riding, either close to home or far afield, I like to stop and read plaques and such about local history, to gain a better sense of the space I’m travelling through. It is my opinion that the pace of bicycle travel is IDEAL for seeing a place. You can experience a lot with more distance, and you are all the while seeing the sights of mountains, hearing the wind in the trees or the birdsong, smelling the cool dampness of a creek alongside you.

Gallocanta, Aragon, Spain, Of Resilience and Hope

I got started in cycling while at college, in Duluth, Minnesota, where I call home today.

I wanted to get into triathlon, so I bought a road bike, which I then raced for my school team. The team had more mountain bikers than roadies, so I borrowed a bike and joined them, and had some wild times learning on the stellar Duluth trails.

Observation Hill, Duluth, Minnesota. Go Bulldogs!

I got deeper and deeper into the culture and community, and found it was where I felt most myself.

When I graduated college in 2017 I did my first tour, from house to house, staying with friends and family, and eating as many donuts as I could along the way! I was hooked. I started planning bigger trips, more frequently. I commuted more often, bikes bikes bikes. I raced in all sorts of environments, time trials to fat bike ultras. I was inspired.

Tower, Minnesota, The Arrowhead 135

My biggest undertaking among so many others was the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The planning was immense, and as prepared as I felt, I still got into plenty of trouble along the way, but figured it out and felt stronger and more confident as I went. I met wonderful people, some now good friends. I was helped by strangers, and saw the true joy that cycling can bring to the rider and those around them. This is when I discovered what I call “reciprocal vulnerability”: when bicycle touring you are really putting yourself out there, and I think that because people see that, they feel more open to giving more of themselves, to connecting deeper, to being more vulnerable with you. And the world is a better place for it.

Yampa, Colorado, Great Divide Mountain Bike Route

Later, I went back to a different part of the Great Divide, and realized I am so often taking time to stop and and read plaques, that maybe other people would be interested in what I’m learning, or maybe inspired for them to learn about the spaces they travel in, whether it is around their corner, or in a far flung place. So I started this blog.

I hope you find it fun to follow along, and think a bit about how you move through your spaces, and how you connect to the place and the people around you. Let me know what you think, or what adventure you get up to, big or small.

Onwards,

Alec

Jasper, Alberta, Canada, Icefields Parkway