R.I.P. The Bicycle Story

compose Logan Watts
time Dec 27, 2016
comment 0

We were bummed to hear that The Bicycle Story came to a bittersweet end earlier this month… a victim of lack of industry and public support, and falling ad revenues, I presume. Josh Henzler launched the project on November 1, 2010 with a simple and great idea, to interview fascinating personalities in the bike world, a cast of characters including racers, adventurers, advocates, makers, and all sorts of other dirt bags. Oddly enough, the storied list of interviews were bookended with ‘Steves’; Josh’s first published interview was with Stevil Kinevil and the last — in podcast form — was with Steve “Doom” Fassbinder. There is still a lot of great content on the site — much of which should interest adventurers and bikepackers — so we thought we’d compile a list of relevant links, starting with three podcasts from Josh’s more recent efforts:

Episode 13: Steve “Doom” Fassbinder

Steve “Doom” Fassbinder is a bad-ass adventurer who combines mountain biking, rock climbing, and pack rafting to explore deep into desert, mountain, and coastal wilds. His trips require the sort of endurance and suffering that tend to either leave you in awe or scratching your head wondering why. Steve and I talked about his motivations to keep pushing his personal limits, as well as how he got into this sort of adventuring in the first place, his proudest moments, balancing risk and reward, teaching the next generation of adventurers, and a whole lot more. See the full episode entry.

Podcast Episode 7: Lael Wilcox

Lael Wilcox may not yet be a household name in the cycling world, but with wins and records in super long distance, self-supported bikepacking races such as TransAmerica and the Tour Divide, she will be soon. In this special episode of The Bicycle Story podcast, I interviewed Lael about her victory at TransAm, what it’s like to race across the country in 18 days, her roots as a dirtbag world adventurer, breaking into the mainstream, and more. See the full episode entry.

Podcast Episode 3: Ditch Your Car, Climb a Mountain

Matt Alford has been a rock climber and mountaineer for most of his life. For the better part of three decades now, he’s been exploring the mountains near his home in Seattle and far beyond. Doing so has required logging countless hours and miles in a car. When that fact started weighing on Matt’s mind 10 years ago, he decided the solution was to start putting together Front Door Adventures: climbing and skiing trips accessed completely by bike and mass transit. See the full episode entry here.

Additional written interviews — in chronological order, most recent first — that may be of interest to the bikepacking community include:

• Henry Gold: founder Tour D’Afrique / Read Interview
• Eszter Horanyi: The Power and Goodness of Bikepacking / Read Interview
• Jim Sayer: The Big Money Business of Bike Touring / Read Interview
• Jan Heine: A Randonneur’s Long Rides and Strong Words / Read Interview
• Erick Cedeño: The Nomadic Life of a Bicycle Traveler / Read Interview
• Luc Mehl: Life, Death, and Philosophy in the Alaskan Wilderness / Read Interview
• Mike Curiak: Finding the Edge of Human Endurance / Read Interview
• Alastair Humphreys: Epic Adventures are for Ordinary People / Read Interview
• Dan Malloy: Slow is Fast When You’re Surfing by Bike / Read Interview
• Casey Greene: Mapping the Future of Bike Touring / Read Interview
• Nicholas Carman: Pedaling the World as a Gypsy by Trade / Read Interview
• Ellee Thalheimer: Oregon’s Bike Touring Authority / Read Interview
• Donnie Kolb: Bikepacking the Oregon Backcountry with VeloDirt / Read Interview
• Martina Brimmer: Swift Industries and the Empowerment of Adventures by Bike / Read Interview
• Kyle Dempster: A Climber’s Ride on the Backroads of Kyrgyzstan / Read Interview
• Jill Homer Ultra Endurance Racing Around the World / Read Interview
• Gregg Bleakney: From Software Sales to Cycling Adventures / Read Interview
• Lowell Smoger: the Mechanical Engineer’s 5,000-Mile Job Hunt / Read Interview
• PJ Park: The Long Ride To Maya Pedal / Read Interview
• Laura Crawford and Russ Roca: Touring America On The Path Less Pedaled / Read Interview
• Tara Alan and Tyler Kellen: Going Slowly Round The World / Read Interview
• Kent Peterson: Issaquah’s Favorite Car-Free, Ultra Long-Distance Racing, Techie-Turned Mechanic / Read Interview

Though there won’t be any new interviews or episodes on The Bicycle Story, the site will remain online. You can help Josh offset hosting costs by picking up a Bicycle Story T-shirt from the shop. They’re deeply discounted right now and shipping is free anywhere in the U.S.

Main photo by Andrew Burr