TCI Friday – Idaho Stop
When you spend as much time tooling around town on your bike like most of us do, well, you get bike brained.
I never really thought about a concept that much until I found myself trying to snap…
Latest Posts Page One Op-Ed Classified Talk
The Marshmallow Test
The Marshmallow Test is said to be predictive of a person's lifelong success, an indicator of self-discipline, forward thinking, and common sense. The basic principle of the original experiment was…
Paceline Tandem: Andy McGrath on Frank Vandenbroucke
Andy McGrath's book God Is Dead, The Rise and Fall of Frank Vandenbroucke, Cycling's Great Wasted Talent, chronicles the chaotic life and early death of one of the doping era's true superstars. Today…
The Best of the Sea Otter Classic, 2024
Of the 200+ photos I took at the Sea Otter Classic, some stand out to me. These were the products that bored me, the ones that wowed me and then there was stuff that stopped me. The biggest draw with…
Undergarments
You are on your bike and the weather is amazing. Just the two of you in a new and unfamiliar area. It is nice. You are riding with a person of the opposite gender. You do not know that person well as…
Hug an Advocate
(but ask first..)
I’ve been a bike advocate for more years than I’d care to admit. It started in the normal way—riding bikes, thinking it was nifty. Someone must have flattered me into writing…
Revolting 124
The Internet Stole My Mind and My Wallet. Sometimes you marvel at how much easier things are, because you can email your grandmother and pay your debts online, but then you realize you don’t seem to…
Video – Road Cycling Tips – Nobody talks about this.
I stumbled upon Juergen Beneke's YouTube channel the way I stumble on most things, by having the supreme-lord-algorithm pipe it directly into my eyeballs. Fortunately, Juergen has good things to say,…
TCI Friday
Overcast mornings with a pinch of dew on the ground, just enough to soak through sliver thin running shorts, withstand the test of time.
Small talk typically recounting the previous evening’s…
Featured Posts
Part of Me
In my dream, I am riding up a steep climb on a narrow road winding through redwoods, barely able to turn the pedals. But I am happy. Ecstatic, really. I am one with my bike, an extension of my body,…
To Love and To Be In Love
I met my wife on a college camping trip in 1992. At the time I was trying not to spend the week drunk beyond imagining. A friend convinced me to sign up for this trip through the community service…
The Perfect Sport
I've been a cyclist most of my life. My life has had little permanence, but cycling has been as close to permanent as anything short of my parents. Cycling didn't care whether I rode or not. My bike…
The Corrections
A thing I wrote years ago for Red Kite Prayer. On this Monday, when the words are all stuck in between my ears, refusing to find my fingertips, a good reminder that sometimes it helps not to try so…
Crash Therapy
The conversation in my head while riding Bull Run last weekend in Moab was dawdling along something like this:
“I’m riding really well. I’m gonna try to keep it mellow, keep from redlining cause…
When You’re Uncool – Riding with Dave Stoller
Back in 2016 my friend James Winchester pulled together an incredible number of people, bikes and machines to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the venerated Italian brand, Masi Bicycles.
…
Letter from the Editors
The year draws to a close, whether you're done with it or not, and 2022 was a banger here at TCI. Readership grew throughout the year. More people listened to our podcasts. Subscribers subscribed,…
Lost and Unlost
Crater Lake. The Pacific Coast. Ghost towns in the high desert. That's cool, but how can you do so much riding alone? This question is usually followed by a comment like "you're so courageous." I…
The Shirt Off Our Backs
A call to commerce! An unsubtle, attention-grabbing shout out! A gentle plea.
Please witness the arrival of the brand-new, classic Cycling Independent Black t-shirt.
Excuse the smirking…
Letter from the Editors
Hello Friends,
Just us, checking in from the end of summer (unless you're one of our Southern Hemisphere readers...we're not trying to be hemispherist). It's been a busy time for us, Padraig…
Just To Be Alive
I know just enough about bikes to know that I don’t know s#*$ about bikes. And I don’t want the mountain of what I don’t know to ruin the truth of what I do know … which is I f*@%ing love riding my…
The Crash Samaritan
You open your eyes. Disoriented. Dirty. Details are sharp but nonsensical. Rising dust motes. The tick of a spinning freewheel. A dog with five white whiskers licking your arm. The smell of Christmas…
Introducing: Turtle Wandering
A good friend of The Cycling Independent, Elizabeth Allen, has started a really cool new video blog series called Turtle Wandering. In her words, this is the description:
"It is about the places…
Non-Zero Sum Gains
I have been thinking an awful lot about cycling advocacy and inclusivity. Why? Because I dream of a self-powered world, one in which all citizens glide around on a bicycle of one flavor or another. I…
A Year of Shelter
Life changed for us 365 days ago. I doubt you or anyone you know would have been willing to guess that the life you're living today was even possible. It was certainly beyond my imagination, and I…
What We Would Say
I chose cycling because it's the only time I don't feel like a klutz.I chose cycling because I can't stick the ball. I chose cycling because I didn't play team sports.I chose cycling because I'm…
We Need You On This Ride
I'll be brief.
Our primary goal at The Cycling Independent is to make our community as large as we possibly can. Part of that is selfish. We can't continue without your financial support. This is…
Editor’s Letter
Right now you might be thinking, "How can this be an editor’s letter on a website? This isn't print!"
You very well should be thinking that because we’re not just another website with a bunch of…
The Cycling Independent: a Statement of Purpose
The way I tell the story, my love of magazines, of periodic publications, began with Skateboarder Magazine in 1977, but that’s not actually true. I can trace it further back, to Boy’s…
New York to Provincetown
A single day can feel like a month. Processing a massive ride afterwards is like staring at a Salvador Dali painting. Fifty miles dissolves into a blurry moment.
Turns out it took a village…
The Best of the Sea Otter Classic, 2024
Of the 200+ photos I took at the Sea Otter Classic, some stand out to me. These were the products that bored me, the ones that wowed me and then there was stuff that stopped me. The biggest draw with…
Page One
The Marshmallow Test
The Marshmallow Test is said to be predictive of a person's lifelong success, an indicator of self-discipline, forward thinking, and common sense. The basic principle of the original experiment was…
Undergarments
You are on your bike and the weather is amazing. Just the two of you in a new and unfamiliar area. It is nice. You are riding with a person of the opposite gender. You do not know that person well as…
Hug an Advocate
(but ask first..)
I’ve been a bike advocate for more years than I’d care to admit. It started in the normal way—riding bikes, thinking it was nifty. Someone must have flattered me into writing…
Op-Ed
TCI Friday – Idaho Stop
When you spend as much time tooling around town on your bike like most of us do, well, you get bike brained.
I never really thought about a concept that much until I found myself trying to snap…
TCI Friday
Overcast mornings with a pinch of dew on the ground, just enough to soak through sliver thin running shorts, withstand the test of time.
Small talk typically recounting the previous evening’s…
TCI Friday
As a kid was there anything as fun and fulfilling as riding around with no hands on the handlebars?
In the earliest days of riding it provided the best way to freak out your parents: Always a…
Classified
The Best of the Sea Otter Classic, 2024
Of the 200+ photos I took at the Sea Otter Classic, some stand out to me. These were the products that bored me, the ones that wowed me and then there was stuff that stopped me. The biggest draw with…
A Useful Review: Lazer Chase Kineticore Helmet
A couple of years ago at the Sea Otter Classic I spoke with Jacob Rheuban the founder/owner/CEO of Prevelo Cycles. Prevelo, in case you've missed our mentions, makes kids bikes that don't weigh as…
A Quick Guide to How Different Cycling Brands Fit
it's spring and this is the time of year where, if you want to have the pick of both the colors and the sizes, you're doing your shopping now, whether you're in shape or not. I'm often asked who…
Talk
Paceline Tandem: Andy McGrath on Frank Vandenbroucke
Andy McGrath's book God Is Dead, The Rise and Fall of Frank Vandenbroucke, Cycling's Great Wasted Talent, chronicles the chaotic life and early death of one of the doping era's true superstars. Today…
Revolting 124
The Internet Stole My Mind and My Wallet. Sometimes you marvel at how much easier things are, because you can email your grandmother and pay your debts online, but then you realize you don’t seem to…
Paceline Podcast 369
Are trail running and mountain biking the same thing? Well, no, but maybe also yes. Patrick watches his son careen off a cliff toward a creek, and we sift through some recent pro race results. That…