Video – Brandon Semenuk RAW 100 Compilation
I watch a lot of slopestyle highlights videos, and so many of them are beautiful and inspiring. In my mind, though, no one rides a line like Brandon Semenuk. No one else combines flow, style and…
Latest Posts Page One Op-Ed Classified Talk
TCI Friday
I've been to bike events where 100 or so willing riders show up to a bar in the morning, get a short speech and set out on a circuitous route, with no real rest stops, ending up back at the bar. The…
TCI Book Club – The Order of Time
As a runner and cyclist and hiker, I think about time a lot. I am forever doing math, calculating times to destination or distance, estimating how long I’ll be away from home for my wife, etc. But I…
Paceline Podcast 291
This week John talks about faith, but not the religious variety. For those who battle episodic depression, faith is expressed in relating to others. Patrick is just back from Memphis and made some…
The Bucket of Truth
The first thing to know is that the bucket leaks. That's the first truth. Pour yourself into it. Give it everything you've got. It won't stay long. Evaporation is an issue. Sure. But there's a leak,…
A Useful Review – The Chrome Folsom 2.0 Short
I have a real problem with cycling shorts, which is not to say bibs or chamois-equipped shorts, but what some people might refer to as "baggies." They don’t work for me. First, they’re baggy, and so…
Robot’s Useless Reviews – GOJO
I am not one of those people who pulls on a pair of latex gloves to work on their bike. I admire those people, in a way. They've got that pro vibe, and likely they know what they're doing at a level…
To Burn Off the Madness
I'd been full of piss and vinegar the night before, but when I woke up, I felt as flat as a train track penny. The couch drew me in, and two cups of coffee did little to raise my spirits. This is how…
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…
Featured Posts
Letter From the Editors
This might get a little long, and it isn't, strictly speaking, about bikes, but if you're interested in what we do and how we're trying to do it. Read on.
We have been looking for a good way to…
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…
Enter the Deuce 1
Back in 2013 when my youngest son was born he almost died less than three minutes after his birth. He had a condition that would have been terminal when I was born. He was moved to a neonatal…
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…
Paceline Podcast 291
This week John talks about faith, but not the religious variety. For those who battle episodic depression, faith is expressed in relating to others. Patrick is just back from Memphis and made some…
Page One
Video – Brandon Semenuk RAW 100 Compilation
I watch a lot of slopestyle highlights videos, and so many of them are beautiful and inspiring. In my mind, though, no one rides a line like Brandon Semenuk. No one else combines flow, style and…
The Bucket of Truth
The first thing to know is that the bucket leaks. That's the first truth. Pour yourself into it. Give it everything you've got. It won't stay long. Evaporation is an issue. Sure. But there's a leak,…
To Burn Off the Madness
I'd been full of piss and vinegar the night before, but when I woke up, I felt as flat as a train track penny. The couch drew me in, and two cups of coffee did little to raise my spirits. This is how…
Op-Ed
TCI Friday
I've been to bike events where 100 or so willing riders show up to a bar in the morning, get a short speech and set out on a circuitous route, with no real rest stops, ending up back at the bar. The…
TCI Friday
TCI Friday works best when you participate. Read. Then weigh in. Otherwise, I'm just a weird dude howling into the abyss (still). Thanks.
Yesterday on the Paceline we had a discussion (read:…
TCI Friday
TCI Friday works best when you weigh in. This is a discussion topic, not a manifesto.
Last weekend Emporia KS staged the Unbound Gravel race, an event that has become the biggest on the gravel…
Classified
TCI Book Club – The Order of Time
As a runner and cyclist and hiker, I think about time a lot. I am forever doing math, calculating times to destination or distance, estimating how long I’ll be away from home for my wife, etc. But I…
A Useful Review – The Chrome Folsom 2.0 Short
I have a real problem with cycling shorts, which is not to say bibs or chamois-equipped shorts, but what some people might refer to as "baggies." They don’t work for me. First, they’re baggy, and so…
Robot’s Useless Reviews – GOJO
I am not one of those people who pulls on a pair of latex gloves to work on their bike. I admire those people, in a way. They've got that pro vibe, and likely they know what they're doing at a level…
Talk
Paceline Podcast 291
This week John talks about faith, but not the religious variety. For those who battle episodic depression, faith is expressed in relating to others. Patrick is just back from Memphis and made some…
Revolting 31
Internet Friends. This episode is about people we know really well, but probably never met, because the internet made effort in friendships obsolete. There's some pretty trenchant analysis of…
Paceline Podcast 290
This week we check in on the current State of the Bike Industry, specifically how supply chain and pandemic challenges are manifesting in the 2022 season. Padraig addresses a reader question about…