In the Wash
I am stained, between the ears. It's a god-awful mess. There is ego everywhere and ego's terrible counterweights, self-doubt, fear, and insecurity. It's like someone's made a smoothie out of my…
Latest Posts Page One Op-Ed Classified Talk
Revolting 45
The Perfect Bike Day. This episode is about our idea of the perfect bike day, from sunup to sundown. How does it start? How does it end? How many burritos do we eat? What kinds of bikes do we ride?…
TCI Friday
TCI Friday is an open forum. The topic is here, but it's waiting for your input below.
Even churning uphill on a Saturday morning, side-by-side, out-of-breath, my bike friends and I are talking…
Video – Annemiek van Vleuten: This Rider
There is something irresistible about Ammiek van Vleuten, by which I mean, there are top riders and top teams working very hard to keep her from winning things, but she keeps on winning things…
Paceline Podcast 301
Photo: Breezer #6 (for Wende Cragg) 1978. See more here.
This week we talk about the proliferation, convergence and overlap of bike categories and try to see where it's all headed. Padraig…
Speaking with Karen
Let me start by saying I don't know Karen's real name. I didn't ask. Our interaction started out polite, became fraught, and ended up polite again. The right and wrong of what happened between us…
A Useful Review – The Crank Bros. Highline Dropper Post
I've gotten a few requests for a recommendation for dropper posts for gravel bikes. For anyone who has looked into this, there aren’t many choices out there because the great majority are made for…
In the Space of a Pedal Stroke
Here's a thing I wrote some years ago that I happened across the other day. I hope you like it.
In the languid summer, in the rise of the hill, as we work our way up and up and up, time suddenly…
Robot’s Useless Reviews – Jan Ullrich’s Big Gold Earring
As my buddy Stevil is wont to point out, cycling can be painfully linear and steadfastly non-creative in many of its professionalized facets. He's not wrong either. Pro road racing is literally a…
Featured Posts
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 – Annemiek van Vleuten: This Rider
There is something irresistible about Ammiek van Vleuten, by which I mean, there are top riders and top teams working very hard to keep her from winning things, but she keeps on winning things…
Page One
In the Wash
I am stained, between the ears. It's a god-awful mess. There is ego everywhere and ego's terrible counterweights, self-doubt, fear, and insecurity. It's like someone's made a smoothie out of my…
Video – Annemiek van Vleuten: This Rider
There is something irresistible about Ammiek van Vleuten, by which I mean, there are top riders and top teams working very hard to keep her from winning things, but she keeps on winning things…
Speaking with Karen
Let me start by saying I don't know Karen's real name. I didn't ask. Our interaction started out polite, became fraught, and ended up polite again. The right and wrong of what happened between us…
Op-Ed
TCI Friday
TCI Friday is an open forum. The topic is here, but it's waiting for your input below.
Even churning uphill on a Saturday morning, side-by-side, out-of-breath, my bike friends and I are talking…
TCI Friday
TCI Friday works best when you read and weigh in. Please comment below, so we can get a conversation going. For my sake, please save me from the echo chamber of my own thoughts and ideas. Thanks.
…
TCI Friday
TCI Friday works best when you join the conversation. Say what you think. Disagree. It's all good.
I'm worried about you. I thought of a lot of other ways to open this week's TCIF, but at root, I…
Classified
A Useful Review – The Crank Bros. Highline Dropper Post
I've gotten a few requests for a recommendation for dropper posts for gravel bikes. For anyone who has looked into this, there aren’t many choices out there because the great majority are made for…
Robot’s Useless Reviews – Jan Ullrich’s Big Gold Earring
As my buddy Stevil is wont to point out, cycling can be painfully linear and steadfastly non-creative in many of its professionalized facets. He's not wrong either. Pro road racing is literally a…
A Useful Review – The Osprey Raptor 10
I spent last weekend at Kingdom Trails in Vermont riding with friends. We arrived Friday afternoon, dumped our stuff and got in 2-and-a-half hours on the trail before dinner. Then we did another…
Talk
Revolting 45
The Perfect Bike Day. This episode is about our idea of the perfect bike day, from sunup to sundown. How does it start? How does it end? How many burritos do we eat? What kinds of bikes do we ride?…
Paceline Podcast 301
Photo: Breezer #6 (for Wende Cragg) 1978. See more here.
This week we talk about the proliferation, convergence and overlap of bike categories and try to see where it's all headed. Padraig…
Revolting 44
Stuff We Find on Rides. This episode is about all the stuff we’ve found while out riding bikes. Not gonna lie, we get pretty deep in this one. We also get pretty stupid. It's real roller-coaster…