Cycling is more than just a sport—it’s a way of life, a passion that connects people through adventure, endurance, and the freedom of the open road. Whether you’re a seasoned cyclist or just beginning your journey, the Cycling Independent is here to bring you insights, stories, and the latest updates from the cycling world. Stay inspired, explore new trails, and embrace the cycling lifestyle. For those looking for a different kind of thrill, check out nine casino.
Latest Posts Page One Op-Ed Classified Talk
Hey, Just Ride 114: Jackalope Hunt
By the time I had a chance to take out the video camera and record some of my encounter with Olin on tape, I missed the really good stuff. Well, not totally missed it. I listened pretty well up to…
Revolting 166
Saloons, Saloonery, and Saloonacy. Humans love a bar. They love to drink. They love to talk. They love to shoot pool, and some of them even love to get thrown out. Today we’re mulling the universal…
Video – Balance
This little video is a meditation on what the bike does for us, and there are a few things I really like about it. First of all, it's brief. The filmmaker isn't packing shots in, just to make it…
TCI Friday – Role Models
I'm not sure I ever learned anything from watching pro cycling, at least nothing I could apply to my own riding. The race tactics the pros employ to put pressure on their rivals are fascinating, but…
Ebullition/Doubt 15: See Your Mind
Hey y’all! I hope the winter doldrums or whatever yuck might may come your way hastily abates. It is always a matter perspective, and we’ll get into that and more blather following. January was…
Paceline Podcast 404
Tariffs have been in the news a bunch of late. They have made a substantial impact on the bike biz in the last year. John takes a look at what that is already doing to the bike world. Patrick…
Unconditional
Last fall I returned to Memphis to look after my mom following surgery to repair her tricuspid heart valve. Aging, I can say, is not for the faint of heart. And because she's my mom, well, I see a…
Hey, Just Ride 113: Lost in Wildflowers
I’ve never met a mountain bike map that wasn’t worth more as kindling than finding my way, a tough confession from someone who minored in Geography in college.
Then again, it’s probably karma…
Featured Posts
For Los Angeles
The wildfires in Southern California will go down as the most expensive natural disaster in the state's history. Combined, the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Auto fires, have burned more than 40,000…
Fat Pursuit 2025
Fat Pursuit is far more than an ultra-endurance winter fat bike race in Idaho, in its 12th year. It’s a platform constructed by Jay Petervary to challenge everyone who arrives at the start line due…
The Bike Business for 2025
It’s crystal ball time. The 2024 retail season is over, and lots of people in my world are wondering aloud what 2025 is going to be like on planet bike.
A quick recap on 2024. It was bad. The…
Becoming a Cyclist on the Long Way Home
“When did you get into cycling?” he asked invitingly. Our wheels hummed side-by-side down a quiet rural highway somewhere in Wyoming, or maybe Nebraska, it’s all a blur. I privately hazarded a guess…
A Good Time at the Dollar Store
I spent several hours in Rustee's yard, organizing myself in the rain-slush-snow. My bike bags kept filling up with water as I packed them, but I happened to have a large sea sponge in my car so I…
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…
Video – Balance
This little video is a meditation on what the bike does for us, and there are a few things I really like about it. First of all, it's brief. The filmmaker isn't packing shots in, just to make it…
Page One
Hey, Just Ride 114: Jackalope Hunt
By the time I had a chance to take out the video camera and record some of my encounter with Olin on tape, I missed the really good stuff. Well, not totally missed it. I listened pretty well up to…
Video – Balance
This little video is a meditation on what the bike does for us, and there are a few things I really like about it. First of all, it's brief. The filmmaker isn't packing shots in, just to make it…
Ebullition/Doubt 15: See Your Mind
Hey y’all! I hope the winter doldrums or whatever yuck might may come your way hastily abates. It is always a matter perspective, and we’ll get into that and more blather following. January was…
Op-Ed
TCI Friday – Role Models
I'm not sure I ever learned anything from watching pro cycling, at least nothing I could apply to my own riding. The race tactics the pros employ to put pressure on their rivals are fascinating, but…
Unconditional
Last fall I returned to Memphis to look after my mom following surgery to repair her tricuspid heart valve. Aging, I can say, is not for the faint of heart. And because she's my mom, well, I see a…
Classified
A Useful Review: the Topeak Smartgauge D2X
The advent of tubeless tires has allowed us to run tire pressures I was unable to contemplate, let alone willingly try, 20 years ago. If I was on one of my road bikes, I could guarantee you that both…
A Useful Review: Crank Bros. Cigar Plug Tool Kit
I’ve got a couple of devices for installing tubeless plugs, but one of my favorites is the Cigar Tool Plug Kit and CO2 Head from Crank Bros.
The kit comes with a knurled aluminum cap into which…
Road Tubeless: a Solution
I suspect many people who have any experience with road tubeless have concluded that term is an oxymoron, like postal service or jumbo shrimp, and I can’t blame them.
A few weeks back I had three…
Talk
Revolting 166
Saloons, Saloonery, and Saloonacy. Humans love a bar. They love to drink. They love to talk. They love to shoot pool, and some of them even love to get thrown out. Today we’re mulling the universal…
Paceline Podcast 404
Tariffs have been in the news a bunch of late. They have made a substantial impact on the bike biz in the last year. John takes a look at what that is already doing to the bike world. Patrick…
Revolting 165
Never Ever Pay the Artist. Your eyeballs have been under assault since you were born. Other people really are desperate for you to see what they want you to see. You’d think you’d place a higher…