TCI Friday
I feel certain I've asked this one before, but it's been a while and my memory isn't what it used to be. I went for an MTB ride with some friends the other day. There were four of us. I love each one…
Latest Posts Page One Op-Ed Classified Talk
Video – The Last Rider
Between this and the coming Tour de France docu-series, I think someone in entertainment land has finally understood what my very specific and small niche is looking for in our viewing product. I…
Paceline Podcast 333
Following his segment on how bikes are on sale due to a glut in the market, John takes a look at another segment that has seen its share of over-supply and resulting sales: wheels. Patrick looks at…
Video – Life of a Privateer
You know who's charming as all hell? Zoe Cuthbert, that's who. Here's another production by TCI sponsor Shimano, and this one highlights the joys and challenges of competing on the World Tour without…
A Useful Review – The Giro DnD Glove
This time of year, I don't wear gloves on a road ride, but every trail ride needs them. And many readers will know that one of my enduring gear preoccupations is with gloves. I am still not exactly…
Robot’s Useless Reviews – Gains
Gains! Who doesn't want 'em? No one. That's who. No one doesn't want to gain something. On the bike, that might mean endurance or power or skills or I don't know what else. Honestly, I'm not that…
Hey, Just Ride 32
Fat knobbies crunch the sun-baked gravel to the rhythm of my gasps for air, the beat set by my elevated heart-rate that I can feel pounding in my temples covered by a river of sweat.
I round…
You Should Buy a New Bike Right Now
ICYMI on The Paceline last week.
I am not an economist. You know that, but I’m saying it now, because I’m going to remind you I said it in just a minute. This is what is known, in the rhetorical…
Revolting 80
How to Avoid the Bummer Life. Deep down you know you’re lame, and it’s because you sit around feeling sorry for yourself or get too wrapped up with trying to be a good adult, when you should be…
Featured Posts
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 – Life of a Privateer
You know who's charming as all hell? Zoe Cuthbert, that's who. Here's another production by TCI sponsor Shimano, and this one highlights the joys and challenges of competing on the World Tour without…
Page One
Video – The Last Rider
Between this and the coming Tour de France docu-series, I think someone in entertainment land has finally understood what my very specific and small niche is looking for in our viewing product. I…
Video – Life of a Privateer
You know who's charming as all hell? Zoe Cuthbert, that's who. Here's another production by TCI sponsor Shimano, and this one highlights the joys and challenges of competing on the World Tour without…
Hey, Just Ride 32
Fat knobbies crunch the sun-baked gravel to the rhythm of my gasps for air, the beat set by my elevated heart-rate that I can feel pounding in my temples covered by a river of sweat.
I round…
Op-Ed
TCI Friday
I feel certain I've asked this one before, but it's been a while and my memory isn't what it used to be. I went for an MTB ride with some friends the other day. There were four of us. I love each one…
TCI Friday
We'd been climbing this hillside in gradual, swooping switchbacks when Koop's chain popped. There at the ridgeline was a boulder with a wooden ladder granting entry to its height and another leading…
TCI Friday
Gravel! Gravel! Gravel!
Today's standard road bikes have 28mm tires and disc brakes. That would have been a gravel bike ten years ago. There is a new sub-category called All-Road, which is the…
Classified
A Useful Review – The Giro DnD Glove
This time of year, I don't wear gloves on a road ride, but every trail ride needs them. And many readers will know that one of my enduring gear preoccupations is with gloves. I am still not exactly…
Robot’s Useless Reviews – Gains
Gains! Who doesn't want 'em? No one. That's who. No one doesn't want to gain something. On the bike, that might mean endurance or power or skills or I don't know what else. Honestly, I'm not that…
A Useful Review – The RaceFace Chester Pedal
In a continuing effort to get more of you fuddy-duddy mountain bikers off clipless pedals and onto flats, I bring you the RaceFace Chester flat pedal. It’s nylon. It has a large platform and 8…
Talk
Paceline Podcast 333
Following his segment on how bikes are on sale due to a glut in the market, John takes a look at another segment that has seen its share of over-supply and resulting sales: wheels. Patrick looks at…
Revolting 80
How to Avoid the Bummer Life. Deep down you know you’re lame, and it’s because you sit around feeling sorry for yourself or get too wrapped up with trying to be a good adult, when you should be…
Paceline Podcast 332
John insists he's not an economist, but he talks about the economy as it affects the bike industry. After several years of not enough supply to meet demand, it seems that there is more supply than…