Wahoo‘s Why I Roam series features our buddy Dillon Osleger. Dillon “gets it” and this short video showcases some of the major shortcomings we feel that the bike industry overlooks. Education on the land, its geology, biology, and human history is so important but it’s up to the individual to embark on those journeys. Check out some words by Dillon and photos below!

Below is a paragraph of my thoughts on the project (short and sweet), but more than anything I think of the film as an opportunity to glance at what lies below the surfaces we recreate on, even beyond those stewards who take care of them in the here and now.

I care a lot more about the figurative layers beneath a trails surface than I do any race result these days, and I find a lot of the motivation for my work as a trail steward to be as much a historian or ethnogeographer as it is to swinging tools of any kind.

I think the same can be said for how we approach riding bikes. If a trail ride can turn into a visit to the historical society, local museum, old dive bar, hunting lodge, or antique shop – I’d say this sport will have turned a good corner.

While most of my rides originate from my little studio or cabin homes, quite a few follow lines on the map that don’t show heat signatures, don’t have trail forks reviews, or don’t show up on maps at all. Restoring historic trails is as much a practice in efficient recycling of Sisyphean efforts before me as it is an opportunity to delve into the past, to consider what preceded us and how that has shaped who we’ve become.

It’s hard to tell from any angle, but for each trail i work on, I read a half dozen books, micro film scanned newspapers, old crumbling maps, or archival postcards. It’s from these that I find a purpose in all of this, and from that a purpose in the bike.