Pedaling Nowhere

This year’s Colorado Trail Race starts early tomorrow morning from Waterton Canyon in Denver, with a group of around 80 newcomers and returning riders lining up to pedal and push more than 500 miles along the singletrack-heavy route through the Rockies. Finisher Alan Jacoby wrote a detailed race preview outlining all the essentials and who and what to watch as you follow the race. See it here…

This week’s Debrief features new White Industries hubs, a fresh alt-biking podcast, VHS-inspired graphics, Silca’s new chain lube, tales from the Abyss, cardboard bike box wheels, a fancy bar-end mirror, recently released bags and gear, your weirdest bikepacking experiences, a couple of events to follow live, and more. Find it all here…

Our Reader’s Rig of the week comes from Noah in British Columbia, who shares the first bike he ever built under the Serious Bicycles name. Meet Noah and learn more about his one-of-a-kind rigid ripper here…

The 2026 Colorado Trail Race follows a challenging 514-mile route winding through the Rocky Mountains between Denver and Durango. Riders in this year’s grand depart are set to take off early Sunday morning, and with their help, we gathered details on more than 40 loaded rigs tackling the trail. Explore the full gallery here…

We recently happened upon a 2019 “How It’s Made” video from the Science Channel that offers a fascinating inside look at the process of making mountain bike tires. Watch the oddly satisfying five-minute video here…

With the onset of hotter, drier, more unstable conditions across the globe, Neil’s latest video explores how wildfires are affecting bikepacking. Drawing on his experience from a recent trip on the Colorado Trail, Neil shares tips and resources to help you stay better informed in an emergency. Dive into his latest insight-packed piece below…

The Curve Big Kev V2 is a titanium gravel bike built around progressive geometry and 29 x 2.4” tires. Having long preferred underbiking on carbon gravel bikes with skinnier tires, Jeff Bartlett spent the last few months testing the Big Kev V2 on Vancouver Island, riding his favorite forest service roads, ripping backyard singletrack, and racing along the Tree to Sea route to find out whether the bike could open his mind. Dive into his Curve Big Kev V2 review here…

For our latest Collective Reward, we teamed up with Fizik to give two site supporters a pair of Ergolace Flat 2 shoes, which were recently redesigned from the ground up. Find the details here…

Following the release of the refreshed brand’s first model earlier this year, the DRIFT Minna is a fully waterproof, SPD-compatible mountain bike shoe. Built with a grippy gum outsole, this could be a solid silhouette for those looking to keep their feet dry…

After teasing a rear-opening rack-top bag earlier this summer, Rogue Panda went back to the drawing board and returned with a clever harness-style system with a tapered dry bag and dropper-friendly design. Find Miles’s first look after testing the new Elden Rack-Top Harness on a week-long bikepacking trip here…

Legendary cyclist Heinz Stücke, who spent more than 50 years pedaling around the planet, passed away last week at age 86. Find photos, a tribute, and more about the extraordinary German bicycle traveler here…

In this unique edition of Rider’s Lens, we present a blend of images and illustrations from mountain guide, photographer, and filmmaker Sergi Ricart’s 9,000-kilometer solo bikepacking journey along the Andes Mountains. Spanning the Caribbean to Tierra del Fuego in Patagonia, discover a selection of Sergi’s work from remote 5,000-meter peaks and isolated dirt roads throughout the continent here…