Scrolling through interesting content on Instagram is fun, but riding bikes in the wildest mountains in America with the most exceptional people in the world is something that really brings me to life. Continue reading All Good Rides Must Come to an End: Riding in Alaska During the Summer of 2020
It was on mile 49 cresting 5,000 feet of climbing in triple digit heats that we began to ponder if we were potentially in over our heads with this whole bikepacking thing. What had we gotten ourselves into? Continue reading Idaho Haute Springs Lobster Fest
It’s Friday, July 1st and my Waheela C is loaded down with half a pizza in the wedge bag, a handful of cheesy sticks in the top tube bag, and enough gear and clothing to dance my way through the mountains from Fort Collins down to Trinidad. Continue reading Andrew Onermaa, His Waheela C, and Winning North South Colorado 2022
I was on a short backpacking trip with my wife and some visiting college friends on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. We were connecting Resurrection Pass from Hope, down to Devil’s Pass, and spent 3 days covering the 35 or so miles. I lost count on day one of all the bikers and bikepackers flying by us both up and down the trail and, for the first time in my life, thought to myself why am I walking this trail?! Continue reading Bikepacking on Prince of Wales Island
Bikepacking always feels like a reset for me. Or maybe it’s just sleeping outside and being away from the noise. Either way, it’s something I need every so often, especially to commemorate a new chapter. Continue reading Sky Island Birthday Ramble
Sounds2Sounds is the latest event on the increasingly well appointed New Zealand bikepacking calendar. Conceived by the Kennett Brothers (New Zealand’s mountain bike race and brevet pioneers and prolific route and guidebook editors) it connects Totaranui/Queen Charlotte Sound at the top of Te Waipounamu/South Island with Piopiotahi/Milford Sound in Fiordland. Continue reading Sounds2Sounds 2022 Recap
The Tuscobia Winter Ultra is a 160 or 80 mile race along the Tuscobia and Wild River Trails that takes place in December or January. The 80 mile course is one way, this year from Northern Pines Resort on Butternut Lake to Rice Lake, Wisconsin. The 160 mile course starts in Rice Lake; at Butternut Lake racers turn around and go back the way they came. In 2019 I completed the 80 mile race on bike, it was warm (for winter), rainy and icy. This year I was wishing for cold and my wish was granted, and then some. Continue reading Tuscobia Winter Ultra Race Report
Spring 2021 rolled around and I found myself itching to get back on my bike for a little tour. The ongoing pandemic had all but smashed my plans (like everyone else’s) for long tours outside of my home state. Continue reading Sonoran Desert Scouting
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Idaho Hot Springs bikepacking loop. It’s a multi-day bikepacking trip that weaves along gold-medal trout streams, flower-dotted meadows, self-made towns, and of course, hot springs. Unfortunately, the season for enjoying this route is getting much shorter and riskier due to climate change. Continue reading Bikepacking the Idaho Cold Springs
Perhaps like everyone, we had PLANS for 2020: international research (a collaboration with a Palestinian cycling club), bike tours, laid back bikepacking trips and more intense races. We planned to ride around things (Great Salt Lake, the Cedar Mountains, and Minnesota), through things (really big trees in Big Sur and the arches around Moab), across things (the Flint Hills of Kansas and the state of Utah) and over things (clear sandstone in Capitol Reef and endless gravel roads of the West Desert). In short, we hoped to ride the Waheela Cs through as many adventures as we could. Continue reading Etter Olson 2020 Look Back
