Rider & Rig

In this Rider and Rig, we catch up with Tucson’s Monique Laraway, bike mechanic, artist, and bikepacking enthusiast, to talk local desert campouts, getting more WTF on bikes, and why she loves her jet black Soma Wolverine. Plus, Mo gives us the lowdown on her Sonoran Desert overnight packlist…

Up in the rolling landscapes of France’s magnificent Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, we chat with Yorkshireman Mike Howarth about all things bikepacking: big trips, small trips, fat bikes, thin bikes, n+1, his take on the Great British Bivvy, and his Singular Rooster…

We caught up with Joe Tonsager, founder and proprietor of JPaks, to check out his bedecked All-City Gorilla Monsoon. We also asked Joe some questions about how he started JPaks and where it’s headed. Learn more about his bike and his business here…

Mortimer (Mo) just wrapped up an 11-country, 9,500 kilometer trip from Berlin to Tokyo, all on a fixed gear bike. Here’s a little about Mo and his trip, including details about the bike and gear he brought along, and some photos from the 22 rolls of film he shot along the way…

As the writer and photographer behind Tales on Tyres, Franzi Wernsing has spent the last few years wandering the world on two wheels. After following her popular Instagram feed, Cass Gilbert finally got the chance to catch up with her in person on the Trans Alp bikepacking route, to get the full lowdown on her Bombtrack Beyond+, dig deeper into her passion for photography, and find out how she and her partner Jona juggle life on the road…

In this edition of Rider and Rig, we spend a few days bikepacking with Ryan Carruth after bumping into him in Bend, Oregon. Ryan has been pedaling throughout California and Oregon for the last three months, and he shares some of the routes he’s ridden, thoughts on traveling with purpose, and surprisingly little about his trusty Surly Pugsley…

In this edition of Rider and Rig, we chat with Mike Hayes from Cornwall, UK. As a former road racer and seasoned long-distance bikepacker, Mike talks us through his distinct Brother Cycles Big Bro build, and shares some insight into his experiences with cycling as a form of therapy for depression…

In today’s Rider and Rig, we chat with Ryan Santoski at Totem Cyclery, his small, service-oriented bike shop in Denver, and check out his dreamy Kona Rove commuter/light tourer. He walks us through the build, describes what it means to run a Bonsai-Style shop, and offers some thoughts on the importance of trimming away the unessential things in life…

The Trans North Georgia (TNGA) is one of the premier ultra-endurance bikepacking events in the southeastern United States. With the race kicking off this weekend, here are the Rigs of The 2018 TNGA, featuring 47 bikes along with kit details and information about the riders…

Miles and Ben completed the Oregon Timber Trail earlier this month, and by the looks of it they both had their rigs dialed in for plenty of singletrack riding and the challenging hike-a-bike sections along the route. Read on to learn more about Ben’s Why Cycles S7, Miles’ Surly Karate Monkey, and their two-person Oregon Timber Trail packing list…

In our latest Rider and Rig, Skyler shows off his DaamBuilt No. 5 custom hardtail and digs deep into the nitty gritty of its angles, measurements, cable routing placement, and other intricate details that make it his near-perfect backcountry trail bikepacking rig…

The third annual BC Epic 1000 grand depart took off Saturday morning from Merritt, British Columbia. With the help of the riders, we’ve put together a list of over 60 rigs for you to drool over, plus a sneak peek behind the event and some thoughts on why it’s attracting so many riders from all over Canada and the US…