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This February 23-24th is Rez Gravel, an Indigenous-led Adventure Ride on O’odham Land in Casa Grande, Arizona. The event has three lengths and is open to all: Big Rez Gravel, 68 miles, Little Rez Gravel, 26 miles, and the Fun Ride 13 miles. You can register now at BikeReg.
Waaseyaa: it is bright, is light (as in the day), is radiant; it is sunny
It’s been a hard couple of years. Compounded self-doubt, emotional and physical abuse and income insecurity had me clinging to any bit of life I had within myself. I hadn’t really comprehended how I had gotten in that position in the first place. I remember years ago talking to someone who confided in me that she was in an abusive relationship. I’d been stone-cold in clarity when I told her to leave the fucker. She revealed that it was more complicated than that and, at that moment, I pitied her. Years later, I found myself in the same predicament; I was ashamed both for the lack of strength I had to leave my boyfriend and for my inability to listen to her. I’ve spent the last two years feeling like a swollen shell of myself.
This project has all the feels:
“Velocio Ambassador, Gregg Deal, found cycling first as a mountain bike racer growing up in Park City, Utah during the mountain bike boom of the 1990s. Today, the 46 year old father, husband, artist and activist lives in Colorado Springs and uses riding to inform and infuse his professional life.
To that end, we’re proud to collaborate with Gregg on a custom benefit jersey bearing his art and benefiting The Sovereign Bodies Institute for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2 Spirit and Illuminative, which aims to increase Indigenous representation in media. 100% of the profits from this jersey will be donated to these organizations.
We followed Gregg on a ride from Truckee, California to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation, a 742 square mile plot roughly 35 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada. What we saw was the unique connection to place, an intimate look at Indigenous culture and a tie to bike that is rarely seen.”
Check out the limited edition jersey and more photos from Greg’s ride at Velocio!
Kona Ambassador Gretchen Leggitt has created a niche for herself as a muralist of grandiose proportions. Her impeccable line work can be seen on buildings and walls in major cities across the west. She has transformed a plethora of blank walls in her hometown of Bellingham, Washington with paintings of landscapes, flora, portraits, and our personal favorite, the Kona Astrowhip. In her most recent project, Gretchen teamed up with Coast Salish artist Jason LaClair to create a gorgeous 720’ long piece paying homage to cultural roots of the region and the significance of the annual salmon run.
Check out more from this project at Kona.
Our friend Alexandera Houchin sent us over an exciting email yesterday, celebrating her making the cover of Freehub Magazine’s latest issue. Here’s Freehub’s description of this issue:
“An unprecedented number of people are riding mountain bikes as an outlet for exercise and exploration and, as a result, discovering a truth we all eventually come to know: Every ride is an adventure. Freehub’s 12.4 edition is a celebration of this truth and a meditation on how adventure leads to discovery, both of the outside world and within oneself. In our cover story, ultra-endurance racer Alexandera Houchin writes about how her relationship with the bike has instilled a deeper understanding of her identity as a Native woman—and how she’s come to realize the act of racing is a ceremonial expression of her Ojibwe spirit. Transformative adventure pervades this book, with feature stories on a life-changing family bikepacking journey in the Alaskan wilderness and the existential reckonings of a rider attempting to clear a long-neglected trail in central Nevada’s remote Toiyabe Range. Welcome to Issue 12.4—a tribute to self-discovery and embracing the unknown.”
Read on below for Alexandera’s thoughts on this experience…
Our friends Nadine and John from Dzil Ta’ah Adventures have been receiving a lot of press lately and the latest in the torrent is the Singletracks podcast. Give it a listen to hear the motivations behind Dzil Ta’ah Adventures, and what they’re doing within the Navajo Nation to enable their community to ride bikes.
Check out our Related archives below for the work we’ve done with Dzil Ta’ah Adventures in the past, including this year’s Yellow Dirt Route Reportage.
Chumba Cycles has been supporting ultra-endurance and all-around badass athlete Alexandera Houchin for some time now, outfitting her with a variety of bikes for her endeavors. Yet with the announcement of Chumba’s in-house titanium manufacturing earlier this year, Mark and Vince, the owners of Chumba, wanted to get Alexandera on some new frames. You might recall our coverage of the Sendero Titanium from this year’s ENVE Builder Round Up. After the show, I reached out to Chumba to see if they’d share some photos of Alexandera’s new bikes, so let’s check them out below…
Things are moving a bit slow over here this morning after I spent the weekend in Arizona with the Silver Stallion team riding trails with kids and documenting a very busy Sunday in Fort Defiance at the Silver Stallion mobile bike shop pop-up in the Navajo Nation. Being present while this team worked all day in the sun and wind on its community’s bikes was a wonderful thing to witness, so expect some Reportage coming up next week. For now, I just wanted to say thank you to the entire Silver Stallion team for being such great hosts.
Our friends at Easton worked on a beautiful project:
“An avid cyclist, artist, and designer, Ariel conceived of The Full Circle Cycling Land Acknowledgement Project to raise funds and awareness of the land that we use every day as cyclists up in Marin County, the birthplace of modern mountain and gravel riding. This land was once home to the Coast Miwok, but their existence is seldom acknowledged.
In support of the Coast Miwok’s work to share and preserve their culture, the Full Circle Cycling Project aims to sell artwork inspired by the land, cycling, and community. Funds raised will go towards current and forthcoming projects that the Coast Miwok have established (you can find further details on their cultural learning center, and land acknowledgment statue at the link) as well as funding to assist Trips for Kids Marin to continue to make cycling accessible for all. Ariel’s ultimate goal is to help all people experience nature through cycling by supporting local programs that help bring cycling to underserved communities.
Please head to the Full Circle fundraiser page to learn more about the artwork, and to purchase a Tunitas Carryall musette, handkerchief, or print of the artwork. Easton Cycling is excited to support the work Ariel has put in to develop these connections through art, and we are proud to provide financial assistance in bringing this project to fruition so that all proceeds can benefit the community. Special thanks to the Coast Miwok Tribal Council for their support of this project.”
Head to the Full Circle Project to purchase a poster, musette, or bandana.
Coming off a week of downtime after one of the most tumultuous years of our lives has brought clarity to this annual retrospective. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect as Covid-19 gripped the global community and changed life as we know it. We looked to our new home in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the surrounding areas for inspiration, pinged our good friends for their penmanship, and listened to communities that have been underrepresented in cycling. What resulted were a lot of articles that tackled some big issues and the realization that we still have a lot of work to do.
I’ve spent the past few weeks mulling over our content and have compiled a list of some of the most meaningful and fun pieces from the past twelve months. Read on below for a selection of memorable moments from 2020, in chronological order…
PEARL iZUMi‘s Go Connection series features stories from all over and this Dig Episode two takes us to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee in North Carolina:
“Cherokee, North Carolina, is home to the people of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. The Tribe took advantage of their land’s beauty to generate an eco-tourism economy and improve their people’s health through an active lifestyle. They have created a network of trails to enjoy the beauty of their land while riding, hiking and running. The Fire Mountain Trails is a little over 10 miles of trail purpose-built by Trail Dynamics. With wooden features, berms and jumps, any rider of any ability can get out to get connected to their natural world.
These trails have opened the door to the world of mountain biking many only thought about or didn’t know. For some, riding Fire Mountain keeps them focused on progression and improvement not only on the trail tread but in their daily lives. These trails have been a catalyst for reconnecting to generations of stories and harmony with the land.”
This is the first installment of what we hope to be a series chronicling our efforts to develop sustainable tourism on the Navajo nation through the establishment of meaningful bikepacking routes and accessible singletrack. In addition, we hope to build a bikepacking community starting with the youth and eventually extending to interested community members. Our first foray in this ongoing project will be a Fall bikepacking series with local Navajo youth NICA riders. This series consists of three trips; the first two being on Navajoland and the last with Four Corners Guides, out of Mancos, CO, to include packrafts.
The first in this series begins in Kayenta on Sept 26th and ends Oct 31st in Lake Powell, Utah. The planning started back in July and continues every chance I can meet up with the participants.
Here is the first of a journal I hope to keep, documenting this event.
Patagonia tackles a big discussion about outdoor recreation and indigenous people. It’s a great sign that a big brand like this is aiding in the conversation, so take a few minutes (9 is all you need) and give this one a read!
“Outdoor recreation can be a lifeline for rural economies, but the industry has also benefited from the erasure of Indigenous peoples from their lands.”
Much of the land in the US is named after its Indigenous owners, resulting in lakes, mountains, rivers, and even cities holding First Nations names. When Swift Industries began to develop their line, this is something they didn’t consider, so in a step towards being better, they decided to re-name some of the products in their lineup:
“Today, we are changing the names of our Elwha Pack and the Ozette Randonneur Bags from Indigenous names to those of birds of the Cascade region that are intrinsic to the ecology, histories, and cultures of the Pacific Northwest. The Elwha Pack is being renamed the Ardea Pack, in ode to the Great Blue Heron, the Ozette Randonneur Bag will be called the Peregrine Randonneur Bag for the Peregrine Falcon, and the Ozette V2 Randonneur Bag is changing to the Merlin Randonneur Bag. “
If this interests you, head to the Swift Industries blog to read more. Good on y’all for doing this.
I can tell you one thing; whenever someone tells me what I should do, I almost always do the opposite. I have been that way for as long as I can remember. In some psychology class years back, I learned about the theory of psychological reactance. It all boils down to an idea that people believe that they possess freedoms and the ability to participate in those free-behaviors. When those behaviors are threatened, something within us is sparked and we react. I find myself pretty apprehensive when it comes to telling anyone what they should be doing. For that matter, I mostly, don’t care what anyone else is doing. A person’s true character comes out regardless. You are what you do.
“See that rock formation over there, and the other skinnier one in the distance?” Jon Yazzie says, “they represent the story and fate of Big Snake and Owl Maiden. Big Snake came from what is called Sugar Loaf near Mexican Hat, Utah slithering its way down, and eventually ending up coiled around Agathla Peak or (what Kit Carson called) “El Capitan.” The Owl promised to look over Big Snake until he came back to life again. Owl is frozen in sandstone looking right at big snake on Agathla Peak.” Having passed through Kayenta countless times, driving from the southwest US to Moab, or further into Colorado, these prominent volcanic plugs and sandstone towers rising iconically out of a sea of sandy fields and sandstone mesas have always caught my eye. As we rested there just a few miles into the ride, legs slung overloaded bikes attempting to absorb everything Jon was telling us about the surrounding landscape, I knew this was going to be a special weekend.
The University of Minnesota – Duluth has pulled together an exceptional profile video on Alexandera Houchin, the SS TDR record holder. Check it out!
“After living thousands of miles away and spending time zig-zagging down the Continental Divide on bike, Alexandera Houchin’s homecoming is extra meaningful. Growing up, she never saw a Native American dentist or doctor, and decided to counter that with plans to practice dentistry on her reservation. Through her example, Alexandera envisions empowering the next generation to take care of its citizens. “If you can’t see it, how can you believe it?””
