Latest Posts

Page One

Video – Cycle Speedway

Emlyn Lewis
There's a lot of charm still in the cycloverse. For example, there's Cycle Speedway, which is maybe the simplest form of bike racing you're gonna find. A short, oval track. Four riders. Single-speed…
Op-Ed

TCI Friday – Dubious Hygiene

Emlyn Lewis
The fitter I get, the grosser I tend to be, and the greater my tolerance for being gross becomes. Before I go further, let me suggest that our modern standards for hygiene are perhaps warped by the…
Page One

Beer and Ribs

Padraig
We were minutes from closing time at the shop when a guy walked in, dragging a bike. This was in olden times, before mountain bikes had suspension or I had a modicum of good sense. He needed help…
Op-Ed

Work

Padraig
As four-letter words go, "work" is one that can make people grimace without ever being considered rude. It's a funny space to occupy—a word with largely negative connotations and very little to sell…
Talk

Revolting 166

Robot and Stevil
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…
Page One

Video – Balance

Emlyn Lewis
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…
Op-Ed

TCI Friday – Role Models

Emlyn Lewis
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…

Featured Posts

Uncategorized

For Los Angeles

Padraig
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…
Page One

Fat Pursuit 2025

Patria Vandermark
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…
Page One

The Bike Business for 2025

Emlyn Lewis
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…
Page One

Part of Me

Pat Navin
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,…
Page One

To Love and To Be In Love

Emlyn Lewis
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…
Op-Ed

The Perfect Sport

Padraig
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…
Op-Ed

The Corrections

Emlyn Lewis
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…
Page One

Crash Therapy

Maureen Gaffney
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…
Page One

Letter from the Editors

The Independents
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,…
Page One

Lost and Unlost

Julie Snyder
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…
Page One

The Shirt Off Our Backs

Emlyn Lewis
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…
Page One

Letter from the Editors

Emlyn Lewis
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…
Page One

Just To Be Alive

Fez Aswat
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…
Page One

The Crash Samaritan

Julie Snyder
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…
Page One

Non-Zero Sum Gains

Emlyn Lewis
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…
Op-Ed

A Year of Shelter

Padraig
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…
Op-Ed

What We Would Say

Padraig
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…
Page One

We Need You On This Ride

The Independents
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…
Op-Ed

Editor’s Letter

Mike Cushionbury
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…
Page One

New York to Provincetown

Richard Fries
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…
Op-Ed

Work

Padraig
As four-letter words go, "work" is one that can make people grimace without ever being considered rude. It's a funny space to occupy—a word with largely negative connotations and very little to sell…

Page One

Page One

Video – Cycle Speedway

Emlyn Lewis
There's a lot of charm still in the cycloverse. For example, there's Cycle Speedway, which is maybe the simplest form of bike racing you're gonna find. A short, oval track. Four riders. Single-speed…
Page One

Beer and Ribs

Padraig
We were minutes from closing time at the shop when a guy walked in, dragging a bike. This was in olden times, before mountain bikes had suspension or I had a modicum of good sense. He needed help…

Op-Ed

Op-Ed

TCI Friday – Dubious Hygiene

Emlyn Lewis
The fitter I get, the grosser I tend to be, and the greater my tolerance for being gross becomes. Before I go further, let me suggest that our modern standards for hygiene are perhaps warped by the…
Op-Ed

Work

Padraig
As four-letter words go, "work" is one that can make people grimace without ever being considered rude. It's a funny space to occupy—a word with largely negative connotations and very little to sell…
Op-Ed

TCI Friday – Role Models

Emlyn Lewis
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…

Classified

Classified

Road Tubeless: a Solution

Padraig
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

Talk

Revolting 166

Robot and Stevil
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…
Talk

Paceline Podcast 404

Padraig
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…
Talk

Revolting 165

Robot and Stevil
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…

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