Bikes or Death

Annabelle Bitterman was our 2024 Central Texas Showdown (472 miles) 1st place female, which was also good enough to secure 3rd overall. This was her third time participating in a Texas Showdown Series event. Her first bikepacking race was the 2023 Central Texas Slowdown (297 miles) and was our 1st place female finisher. Next she signed up for the 2024 East Texas Slowdown (280 miles) where she was our 3rd place female finisher.

She only started riding bikes seriously a few years ago and was quickly bit by the cycling bug and was further hooked by the cycling community. Hailing out of Austin, TX she's found a robust community of other rad cyclists that continue to ignite her passion for throwing a leg over the top tube and go for long rides.

Those long rides led her to find ways to continually challenge herself which is when she discovered the Texas Showdown Series. Since then, she's become a staple at the events and a staple on our podiums. On today's episode we take a deep dive into CTS, ETS, and Annabelle's experience as a relatively new cyclist who's looking to challenge herself on her bike. 

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Tim Krueger has been in the cycling industry for almost three decades. He got his start at a local bike shop breaking down boxes as a teenager. After college he landed a job at Salsa Cycles as the Product Manager during the birth of the "Adventure by Bike" category. A pivotal time in the bike industry that ultimately led to an entirely new market and category of Adventure Bikes. After his time at Salsa he went on to start his own company, Advocate Cycles. Advocate featured a rad lineup of steel adventure bikes with a unique business model that donated all of its profits to philanthropic institutions.

After attempting that business model for a couple of years it became clear to Tim that businesses needed their profits to sustain their employees and grow their company. It was at that time that the decision was made to transition the brand into Esker Cycles that we know today.

Tim's contributions and commitment to the cycling community and influence in the cycling market at large has been nothing short of impressive. I've been following his career, and awing over the cool bikes he's helped bring to market, for years. It was a true honor to get to pick his brain about longstanding questions and curiosities I've had about him and some of the bikes he's brought to market.

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Hannah Simon is quickly becoming a dominant force on the ultra bikepack racing stage. She recently added another feather in her cap of accomplishments with a win at this year's Silk Road Mountain Race, with a time of 8d 20h 16m. At this point, Hannah probably needs little introduction, especially to the Bikes or Death audience. This is her 7th appearance on the show and this time we turned to you, the listener, to come up with the questions for Hannah!

It's been so inspiring to watch Hannah's progression in the sport of bikepack racing. I had the privilege of being at the finish line when she won her first ever bikepacking race, the inaugural East Texas Showdown. Since then, she's been on an absolute tear, winning many of the biggest races bikepacking has to offer. Along the way, she's been kind enough to share her experiences with me and my audience. Some of you have been following along on her journey from the start, so it was only fitting to give you guys the opportunity to provide the questions this time around!

I caught up with Hannah at CHUMBA headquarters in Austin, TX, where she is currently employed. A big thanks goes out to Vince Colvin, CHUMBA CEO,  for letting us commandeer his office for our conversation!

Thanks to the listeners for all of the great questions. We had a blast using them as fodder for our chat!

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In her first year as a bikepack racer Jen Kelly has already racked up an impressive resume. She entered into 3 bikepacking races this summer and won them all! She's also a professional poker player who picked up cycling 4 years ago when she moved into a condo next to a rails to trails. She quickly fell in love with it and just wanted to ride further and further. Last year she put her career, as a professional poker player, on hold to focus on riding her bike.

Her first bikepacking race was the inaugural Great American Wheel Race, a 3,600 mixed surface race across America which she placed 4th overall and 1st Female. Just 6 weeks later she entered the 900 mile Big Sky Spactacularie in Montana where she took 1st overall. Then only 5 days after finishing Big Sky she entered the 1,750 mile Montana Bike Odyssey and took the overall win again! Needless to say her gamble to focus on bikepacking is paying off!

We had a great chat and it was great to talk to someone who is new to the sport and already having so much success.

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Nicolette Jones just won the 2024 Colorado Trail Race on her first attempt. Not only was this her first time racing the Colorado Trail, it was her first bikepacking race ever! Which makes her finish time of 5d 12h 21m even more impressive.

Although this was her first bikepacking race, she is no stranger to adventurous pursuits or the Colorado Trail. She is the only person in the world to have thru-hiked, skied, and biked the Colorado Trail. So she is no stranger to this trail and, in fact, probably has a higher familiarity with it than most people. In 2023 she toured the trail in 11 days with thoughts of racing it one day on her mind. This year, those thoughts turned to reality and she rolled out at 4am with about 75 other racer at this years CTR. She was able to get a lead on her competitors early on and then maintain it for the entirety of the race.

On today's episode we talk about a host of interesting topics. From her jobs as an adventure guide and coach, to making your own bikepacking bags, her love for tandems, and a 7.5 month bike tour she did with her Husband, Mark, from Arizona to Argentina. And, of course, we talk about her impressive win at the Colorado Trail Race. At only 25 Nicolette has a huge adventure resume and it was a lot of fun getting to know her and hear about some of her adventures. If you'd like to learn more about Nicolette after you listen to today's episode you can take a deeper dive on her blog, WalkSkiCycle.com.

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Red Granite Grinder - Epic gravel race in Wisconsin on Oct. 12th, 2024. Smash the link for more information and registration.

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Justinas Leveika is fresh off an impressive Colorado Trail Race finish. This was his first time at CTR and he finished in 4d 7h 17m, which was over 8 hours faster than the next rider. However, due to a rule violation, which was unknown to him at the time, he was not the official first place finisher. That honor goes to Xavier Chiriboga with a time of 4d 15h 55m.

Going into Leadville Justinas destroyed his rear wheel on a gnarly decent which shattered the wheel, rendering it unrideable. To get it fixed he hiked to a trailhead, hitched a ride into town, replaced the rear wheel, and hitched a ride back to where we left the trail and continued on. Unlike other solo self supported bikepacking races like the Tour Divide, you are not allowed to get in a vehicle at anytime during the Colorado Trail Race. Justinas was unaware of this rule at the time, but it didn't stop him from putting on an impressive performance.

After returning to the trail with his shiny new wheel he quickly started packmaning his way through the field and finished ahead all the other riders. The broken wheel wasn't the only challenge he had to overcome on the race this year, but you'll have to listen to the episode to hear the whole story.

Regardless of an unfortunate rules oversight, what Justinas did was undeniably impressive. Even more so considering that he broke the long standing FKT on Tour Divide less than 2 months ago. Now, he sets his sights on the Arizona Trail Race in an attempt to complete the Bikepacking Triple Crown.

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In 2000 Chris Smith was diagnosed with Stargardt's Disease, by 2009 he was declared legally blind. No longer able to drive he turned to the bike as a way to get to work 3 miles from his house. At the time he tipped the scales at over 300 lbs and the 3 mile ride to work was a real challenge, but Chris wasn't discouraged. He kept at it, joined friends for group rides, and eventually went on to earn a buckle at Leadville in 2019, to mark his 10th year of blindness. He went back the following 3 years, each time earning a buckle.

For his 15th anniversary of being declared legally blind he set his sites higher, much higher. After watching Ride The Divide he decided to take on the holy grail of bikepacking, the Tour Divide. An ambitious goal for anyone, but particularly so for Chris since he hadn't done a multi-day bikepacking trip, and he's blind. Undeterred, he hired a coach, and started training for the Grand Depart, only 8 months away.

It took him 47 days and 10 hours, he was the 2nd to last finisher, but nothing stopped Chris from accomplishing his goal, and after riding the Tour Divide, I doubt anything ever will.

Chris was riding to bring awareness to blindness and raising money for the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Through his efforts he was able to raise $28,000 which will go to help finding cures for blindness diseases like his. You can find out more about Chris, and donate, on his website.

Red Granite Grinder - Epic gravel race in Wisconsin on Oct. 12th, 2024. Smash the link for more information and registration.

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Edyn Teitge, at 15 years old, just became the youngest person to complete the Tour Divide solo. He set out with a goal of finishing in 20 days and was able to complete the race in 19d 13h 14m. An accomplishment that may be shocking to outsiders, but for Edyn, this just feels like the next step in his progression as a cyclist.

Edyn first joined me on the podcast in September of 2022 after he finished his first ultra bikepacking race, the Smoke and Fire 400. He didn't just finish, though, he came in 6th place, 8 hours after legendary Jay Petervary. At that time he was only 13! Since then he's been busy entering, and gaining experience, in many other ultra events, including, Fat Pursuit, Stagecoach 400, and Drift 100. All of which gave him the confidence and experience to tackle the Tour Divide.

When we recorded today's episode Edyn showed up on Zoom with his hands completely covered in car grease. He had been working on replacing the radiator on a Ford Astro Van that someone gave him as his first car. So while he may be doing things that are very uncommon for a 15 year old boy, he's also a kid who's excited about cars, going to school, and riding bikes with his friends.  

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Spencer McCullough just did something that's never been done before! He visited all 51 National Parks in the lower 48 by bicycle. This epic trip around the U.S. involved 411 days of riding, 18,000 miles covered by bike, and a total of 28 flat tires.

Spencer was inspired to do this trip after reading an article in the New York Times, titled "What to Save? Climate Change Forces Brutal Choices at National Parks". His goal? To visit all the National Parks in the lower 48 to experience them before climate change impacts them even further.  Along the way, he educated himself about cycling safety and infrastructure and compiled invaluable data on dedicated hiker-biker campsites in our National Parks. Through his ride, he's been able to bring awareness to some of the issues facing cyclists who dream of visiting our National Parks by bike.

One of his initiatives to promote bike touring in America is a website that lists all the hiker/biker campsites in one place. This site is a combination of his own research and efforts, but community members are encouraged to submit campsites to the map as well. This is an ongoing project, but he's already mapped 508 campsites (at the time of this writing) and more are being added by the day. To check out this resource and/or to add more campsites, please visit GoBikecamping.com.

On today's episode, Spencer and I dive into his motivations and goals for this trip, what it's like to live off your bike for 411 days, some of the best (and worst) Parks and places to ride in America, and what to do if you find a gun on the side of the road! Those topics, and more, can be found in today's chat with Spencer McCullough.  

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Eight years ago Mike Hall made history and etched his name in the record books, and in the hearts of an entire community, with his record setting Tour Divide time of 13d 22h 51m. Since then, hundreds of others have lined up for the Tour Divide grand depart to chase his dot to the US/Mexico border. This year, on his second attempt, Jusinas Leveika became the first person to best Mike Hall's record with an official time of 13d 2h 16.

Justinas entered the world of ultra bikepack racing in 2021with a 4th place finish at Transpyrenees. Since then, he's racked up too many podium finishes to list, in the hardest bikepack races our sport has to offer. Last year, at Tour Divide, Justinas came in 2nd to Uba Bartholmoes and was plagued with mechanicals and bad weather. This year he came back with one goal, fix his mistakes.

While weather played a major role in this year's Tour Divide, nothing was going to stop Justinas. He got an early lead over his competitors and Uba, in particular, put on a hell of a chase, but in the end Justinas wouldn't be caught. On today's episode we get to know the man behind the dot, the man who has the honor of besting Mike Hall's time, Justinas Leveika.

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