It's been a while since we had a winter with a much uninterrupted cold than we have this year. While we haven't had a big dumping of snow (yet), there has been some amount on the ground almost continuously since December. Until today, I hadn't ridden anything other than a fat bike since New Years …
It began to rain before we'd even left the house. It's not going to last, I said. The forecast called for a high chance later in the day, but only a minimal chance until 3 pm. We were heading north to park at Hyner Run State Park and ride up to Wellsboro, stay in a …
Continue reading "Rain can’t spoil the fun: A leaf-peeping overnighter to Wellsboro."
Cover photo by Ben Carpenter. Nestled against the North Carolina and Tennessee borders just east of Damascus, Grayson County, Virginia is flanked by Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area and George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, Grayson Highlands State Park, the Virginia Creeper Trail, and the New River Trail State Park. The terrain is rugged, there …
This story was getting long, so I broke it into multiple posts. The first part discusses my impetus for this ride as well as my bike and gear. The second details Day 1 of my ride. I needed coffee. I had made the decision to go light and forego bringing a stove or coffee setup, …
Continue reading "The Trans-Allegheny Traverse — Day 2 (Dilltown to Home)"
This story was getting long, so I broke it into multiple parts. Part 1 discusses my impetus for this ride as well as my bike and gear. Read it here if you missed it, and here's my route. The sun had come out just in time for me to start riding. Surely this was a …
Continue reading "The Trans-Allegheny Traverse — Day 1 (Pittsburgh to Dilltown)"
I can't remember exactly when the idea to ride home from Pittsburgh took hold, but it seems like it's been marinating in my brain for the better part of 4 years. I'd done the ride from home to Philly a couple times, and I wanted to check off the other half of the state. Then …
Continue reading "The Trans-Allegheny Traverse — The Route & The Bike"
At some point last summer, probably on one of our early morning pre-chemo rides, I asked Whitney if she would have any interest in taking a bike trip with me in the spring. It was a hopeful thought, optimism that I'd be in remission and have regained enough fitness by then to be able to …
Mammoth Endurance Gravel had been on my radar all winter, so when Evan mentioned that he'd volunteered to sweep part of the course, I decided that would be my big spring ride. 140 miles and almost 15,000 feet of climbing -- not the longest ride I've ever done, but the most elevation gain in a …
You don’t think it’s cancer, do you? I asked my brand new primary care doctor after she’d examined the swollen lymph node I'd come in about. No, she answered, but we need to do all the tests just to make sure. I felt a little silly calling a doctor about the small lump that had …
That was the theme for most of February. See-sawing temps and storms that dropped more sleet and ice than powder kept convincing me that conditions would be terrible for skiing, fat biking or just about any other activity in the woods, but every time I was (delightedly) proven wrong. February 14: Single digits sunrise at …
helena kotala 