Last year, my friends Tammy, Allison, Carissa, and I started a tradition of a yearly long-weekend mountain bike trip, ladies only. All of us ride with the guys all the time, which is awesome (I'm usually not really one for girls-only stuff anyway), but we thought it would be fun to do our own trip …
Summer evenings are my favorite. The heat fades, the sun becomes less intense, and, my favorite piece of all, it's light until 9pm (or later, around the solstice). I love daylight. When I was in Alaska in the summer and it was light almost all the time, it was heaven. I know they make lights …
I taught Evan this word as we were doing an impromptu hike along the Mid-State Trail yesterday. Basically it describes body awareness while in motion, such as knowing where to place your feet while running through rough terrain. Having good proprioception means not tripping on a rock and falling on your face. An essential skill for …
Evan and I have three days off together, in a row. This is a rare occasion. We had originally planned to go on a touring trip on our tandem, but the week snuck up on us and we failed to make some important arrangements, like finding someone who would take care of our very needy dog …
Last weekend, I was in Georgia, where I spent 4 days riding mountain bikes and hanging out with a lot of cool people who also work in the industry. The significance of this trip was not only that it was a lot of fun. It was also one of my first expenses-paid "work" trips as a writer. This …
Continue reading "Georgia has hills, and other things I learned at the #MaxxisSummit"
A couple weeks ago, we had a taste of spring. Not a rainy, sort of chilly spring, but full-on sun and warmth. More like summer, really. Tank top weather. It's been a weird winter. One week we'd get a foot of snow, the next, it would be all gone. Temperatures fluctuated between zero and seventy. …
I rode the Advocate Watchman fat bike the winter of 2016. It was my first bike review for Singletracks.com and my second bike review ever. I almost bought it, but didn't because I decided to go with a carbon fat bike (Salsa Beargrease) instead to save some weight. Photo: Jarrod Bunk From the review: Over …
This past weekend, our friend Jeff hosted his annual winter party. I had planned to ride my bike there, as it's a really nice ride that usually takes about an hour or so. Perfect. Then early last week I looked at the weather forecast. The high on Saturday was supposed to be 10 degrees. By …
I like running across pictures from the past that I never really had much of a chance to do anything with or look at much. Right after an event or trip, sometimes many of the photos get glossed over, because the memories are still so fresh and perhaps the images don't do the experience justice. …
"Slush day" doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but it was, surprisingly so. Last weekend we got 2 feet of snow. This past weekend, temperatures jumped into the 50s. We weren't too sure how conditions would be for riding, if there would just be deep slush everywhere that would make for a miserable, …
helena kotala 