Sometimes you just need a snack, and sometimes you need to stop the ride and get off. How do you know which is the right decision for you?

Marley recently rode her longest ride EVER (!): 230 miles of the Oregon Outback route (https://bikepacking.com/routes/oregon-outback/ Marley modified this to be shorter mileage per day). BUT... she had intended to ride the entire 364-mile route. Today she walks us through what she took into account to know it was time to stop.

You can join Marley for another epic ride this year at UNBOUND. She'll be riding the 25 mile course with Meg Fisher, as well as leading the All Bodies on Bikes shakeout ride. More details here: https://www.unboundgravel.com/

Have you had to make this decision? What helped you decide between pushing through or packing it in? Tell us in the comments!

Marley & Kailey are coming back to Central Time! Join us for a week packed with rides, custard, podcasts, films, and fundraising.

• May 31 Custard Cruise bike ride
• June 1 Film Screening + LIVE Podcast Recording with Marley, Ellen, & Kailey

• June 2 - Gravel Ride with Iowa Gravel Project
• June 3 - Movie Night

• June 4 - We'll screen We Are Cyclists and Bone Saw Is Ready, with a live podcast recording after. https://bonesawcycling.bike/bone-saw-is-ready-film
• This event is supported by The Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (BikeMN), Cyclehoop, and NorthHouse

• June 7 - Film Screening & Community Ride

In this conversation from September 2024, you'll see Marley and Ellen's very first episode together, with guest Iresha Picot, founder of Black Girl Joy Bike Ride in Philadelphia. It's awesome to see how full of light and joy Iresha is.

Iresha is currently a featured athlete for Bicycling Magazine. While the content of the full campaign is telling stories of cycling for weight loss, Iresha barely focuses on that—and even says outright it’s not why she started cycling. So we wanted to make sure her whole story is amplified.

Since 2023 with Black Girl Joy Bike Ride, Iresha has hosted bi-weekly rides, as well as workshops like Fix a Flat and Bike Maintenance 101. She is on a mission to close the gap around bike equity, and in the last 11 months has bought bikes for 23 Black women through the help of grants and fundraising.

Iresha, you’re amazing, you’re doing the dang thing, and we love you over here at All Bodies on Bikes.

Don’t forget for our Midwesterners (or road-trip-takers!), All Bodies on Bikes is touring with our new movie with Shimano, We Are Cyclists, beginning in June. Tickets are on sale now! We’ll have stops in Kansas City, Des Moines, Minneapolis, & Chicago and want to see you all there.

Visit https://www.allbodiesonbikes.com/events for details and to buy tickets.

May is Bike Month!

Marley & Ellen catch up and share what some of our chapters are doing to celebrate bike month. Plus catch up on our latest goings-on, and grab a spot at our Midwest Film Tour!

01:41 Bike sizing and price gaps Marley has seen at her new job

03:37 Yay Bike Month!

10:05 Chapter Events Roundup

11:47 Midwest Film Tour Dates

16:29 Bike Month ideas

17:32 Bike to School Day

20:12 Our best rides recently

Even the littlest among us deserve to be on bikes!

Today we're talking with Sam Balto, better known as @CoachBalto or @BikeBusWorld on social media. By posting videos of a joyous river of school kids riding bikes through the Portland neighborhoods, he has garnered national attention—as well as hosted some of the biggest entertainers for a morning ride.

The bike bus movement is more than viral videos. Research lately has pointed out kids and their families are struggling to stay active, allow autonomy, and rebuild community that has eroded over the past decades. Bike buses (and other active options like walking school buses) sit at the center of all of these: Kids start school focused after an active morning; they can participate solo; and adults can begin to re-weave a web they can rely on.

A League of American Cyclists webinar recently broke down how bikes are part of the solution, too: https://bikeleague.org/calendar/feeling-free-children-adolescents-teens-biking-and-independent-mobility/

Sam founded Bike Bus World to help you start a bike bus at your school! Check out https://bikebus.world/ for more info.

Find Bike Bus World on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube... you get it:

@coachbalto and @bikebusworld

Follow All Bodies on Bikes:

@allbodiesonbikes

https://www.allbodiesonbikes.com

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is supported by BikeTiresDirect.com. Use code ALLBODS for 10% off your order, and for 6% to go toward supporting future episodes of the All Bodies on Bikes podcast. Thanks!

April 21, 2026 is a day of national action for bike infrastructure. The League of American Cyclists in the Washington Area Bike Association are organizing in response to threats that the federal government is going to remove a bike lane from 15th Street in Washington, DC. (Marley actually talked a little bit about this when she was at Bike Summit; she led a protest ride along the 15th Street bike lane.)

This bike lane is used by thousands of cyclists, and it's reduced all roadway crashes along the lane by 46%. However, the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy has said that the federal government shouldn't be funding bike lanes.

And, members of Congress who are writing the next transportation bill have said that the next five years of federal funding won't include biking and walking projects. So even though that is happening in Washington DC, it likely will affect you wherever it is that you are listening across the country.

And this is where it all intersects with All Bodies on Bikes. Because we built our brand on being inclusive to all riders, and getting someone to start cycling means they need to feel comfortable doing it. Comfort comes from safety and feeling like you are not going to get run over by a giant truck while you're on your bike.

So this is a moment when we can all take some collective action. The League and WABA are asking for three ways for you to participate:

1. Ride your bike! (I think that you can all do that. :) )
2. Post on social media using the hashtag #AmericasBikeLane and #BikeLanesSaveLives and tag @bikeleague, @wabadc and us, @AllBodiesOnBikes.
3. Write to your members of Congress. Bike League has a form up that makes it very simple for you to customize a message asking them to defend the 15th street bike lane, and telling a story about infrastructure in your area, too. Give them a story that they can hang onto when this comes up in Congress again: https://bikeleague.org/take-action/action-center/

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is supported by BikeTiresDirect.com. Use code ALLBODS for 10% off your order, and for 6% to go toward supporting future episodes of the All Bodies on Bikes podcast. Thanks!

How young can kids start riding in bike seats? Are training wheels or balance bikes better for teaching kids to ride bikes? What about cargo bikes, are they good for families?

Ellen (founder of KC Family Bike Ride) and Marley go through some frequently asked questions we hear about cycling with young people. We may not have seen it all, but we've seen a lot.

02:50 Stride bike versus training wheels: which one is better?

07:31 How to teach kids to ride a bike

09:19 Can I buy a bike that my kid grows into?

10:39 Finding affordable kids bikes

12:48 Bike safety and responsibility for kids

14:25 Cycling with kids: front mounted seats vs back rack seats

17:33 Cargo bikes are awesome for families

20:00 Getting started and finding safe routes

23:09 How far can a kid ride on a bike?

26:39 Don't stop riding when you start a family! Adapt and grow with them.

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is supported by BikeTiresDirect.com. Use code ALLBODS for 10% off your order, and for 6% to go toward supporting future episodes of the All Bodies on Bikes podcast. Thanks!

Today we're recapping Marley’s trip to the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, hosted by the League of American Bicyclists, including...

• a surprisingly meaningful Lobby Day meeting with Oregon representatives and staff
• how the summit’s diversity felt refreshing,
• why face-to-face advocacy can move policy
• Marley receiving the Susie Stephens Award for Joyful Enthusiasm and having an opportunity to reflect on joy as resistance and finding renewal through cycling.
• All Bodies on Bikes’ Spark Grant–funded size inclusion retailer training, and our hopes to scale it virtually.

Pre-order Marley's book, The Ragtag Best Friends Bicycle Club before it's out on April 15th: https://ragtagbestfriendsbicycleclub.com/

Contact All Bodies on Bikes to request size inclusion training for your bike shop: [email protected]

03:18 National Bike Summit

04:52 Lobby Day Impact

08:54 Capitol Hill Moments

12:04 Marley Blonksy wins the Susie Stephens Joyful Enthusiasm Award

14:37 Retailer Training Spark Grant Update

18:57 Big Picture Takeaway

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is supported by BikeTiresDirect.com. Use code ALLBODS for 10% off your order, and for 6% to go toward supporting future episodes of the All Bodies on Bikes podcast. Thanks!

"I saved him, and I changed my life. What a weekend." —Donna Smith, Mid South DFL 2026 (50mi)

Donna Smith didn't intend to be more than a Mid South 50-mile finisher when she set out to train for it as part of the All Bodies on Bikes 2026 team. Luckily for one rider, her training—and her strong body—helped save a life by administering CPR at mile 6.

And she met Millie the friendly cow at the Salsa Oasis Chaise Lounge.

Make sure your saddle is secure for this wild ride!

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is supported by BikeTiresDirect.com. Use code ALLBODS for 10% off your order, and for 6% to go toward supporting future episodes of the All Bodies on Bikes podcast. Thanks!

By now you know our tagline — all bodies are good bodies, all bike are good bikes, all rides are celebrated. Kristen Owenreay's story from her 2026 Mid South 100-mile ride is all of these things and more.

Celebrating DFL at Mid South is about more than a party; it's about gifting the finish line experience to every rider. Kristen faced mechanical issues, health issues, logistics issues, and more, but still had the time and space to finish the ride. Keeping a course open for as long as possible opens up the field of cycling to encourage more and more riders to try it out at their own pace, and celebrate their wins, not just the podium.

Kristen also has a personal connection to seeing more fat bodies on bikes, which you'll hear in the beginning. It's a testament to body acceptance at any size, and living the life you have in front of you instead of taking drastic measures to fit a mold based in bias.

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is supported by BikeTiresDirect.com. Use code ALLBODS for 10% off your order, and for 6% to go toward supporting future episodes of the All Bodies on Bikes podcast. Thanks!

Are you ready for ten minutes of joy??

Our new film by Shimano is live TODAY on YouTube. Watch it now: https://youtu.be/nCFaOAMtzNo

What are you waiting for??

We Are Cyclists: The All Bodies on Bikes Story picks up exactly where the first film left off in 2021 before All Bodies on Bikes was even a thing. Back then, it was just a radical idea that we all deserve joy and to ride bikes.

In the five years since then, All Bodies on Bikes has become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with chapters across the US. We have a podcast, we have gravel teams, we have a library of resources! And the film tracks that evolution.

It's absolutely delightful and packs a huge punch in 10 minutes.

Starring: Marley Blonsky & Kaily Kornhauser

Directed by: Robin Sansom

Cinematography: Robin Sansom, Josh Sawyer, Adam Kachman

Graphic Design: Eli Atkins

Colorist: Michael Schatz, RKM Studios

An Offsite Studio Production for Shimano and All Bodies on Bikes

Music:

Epilogue by Ian Post

Ode to Joy by Metromusic

Waiting for a Sign by Ctrl S

These Days by Louis Island

Ballo in Casa Capuleti by Bottega Baltazar

Inselurlaub by Hanjo Gabler

Ode to Joy by The Adicts

Life is Good by The Hunts