This week we welcomed special guest, Dawn Piech the founder and president of INSPYRDMOVEMENT.org and creator of the “Together We Ride” event.  This successful bike event is now in its 5th year and brings together riders from all backgrounds, ages and abilities for a weekend-long recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8th.  Dawn discusses why she started the Together We Ride event and how 5 years later, riders from all over the globe now gather in their communities, their homes and gyms to ride for this very worthy cause.    As the ride grew in popularity each year, Dawn saw the need to go further. Her non-profit organization, Inspyrd Movement brings together walkers, hikers, runners, and riders with a mission to increase awareness of  diversity, equality and inclusion.  We were so excited to talk with Dawn as we celebrate this year’s 103rd Anniversary of International Women’s Day!  We hope you enjoy our conversation with Dawn as much as we did. 

To contact or learn more about Together We Ride event March 8th through March 11th in your area or by visiting www.Inspyrdmovement.org

Welcome to the Mixed Surfaces Podcast where we discuss all things about riding bicycles. This week your hosts,  Iowa Bike Gang Eria, Jason and Carol talk about upcoming events, rides and races.  Fired up for our earlier episode with Casey from Iowa Gravel Series where he discussed upcoming gravel events, we decided to talk about what we are looking forward to this year.  There’s a combination of local events such as the Kalona Horseshoe www.IowaGravelSeries.com here in Iowa, and then further afield where all three of us will be racing at the Gravel Locos in Texas www.gravellocos.com.  You’ll have to stay posted to this site to hear about the showdown between Eria and Jason as they tackle the 100-mile route. Eria and Carol will be in Steamboat Gravel in CO in August for some fun out West,  www.sbtgrvl.com and Jason discusses wanting to do the PANTS route, a very fun 300 mile ride almost all of it on backroads and gravel from North to South PA.  Jason now lives in the flatter area of NC, but he’s no stranger to hills. He’ll need his climbing legs:  PANTS has a whopping  27,000+ feet of climbing. 

We hope you enjoy this episode.  We’d love to hear your comments and if you like what we are doing, please give us a like and share. 

Join Iowa Gravel Gang, Jason and Carol on our new Mixed Surfaces Podcast.

This episode, we welcome Ryan Baker to the Podcast. Ryan is the owner of World of Bikes in Iowa City. This is a great chat as we talk about the World of Bike’s 50 year history.  We take a trip down memory lane talking about bike brands carried in the early days of the business,  to the brands the shop carries today; Trek, Salsa and All City.   We talk about Ryan’s love for all things bicycle related, including his most prized bicycles and why he wont ever part with them. 

We also learn how the COVID pandemic in 2020 affected the bike industry and small bike shop owners and how, 4 years later,  those changes continue to shape how we buy bicycles. We discuss the rise of electric bikes and how they bring joy and freedom to riders of all capabilities. Ryan talks about how his why for owning WOB these past 18 years, what motivates him and makes this a job that he truly enjoys.  (psst spoiler alert…it’s all about you, the community, staff and having a sense of humor.)   We think you will really enjoy this episode.

Is the spirit of gravel gone? In this episode we chat with Casey Ralston from the Iowagravelseries.We also touch on the Lifetime Grand Prix. We even hear about Jason's first almost podium at a fat bike race. Find more information about Iowagravelseries at the link below.

https://iowagravelseries.com/

In this episode we meet your hosts. Welcome to the first ever episode of Mixed Surfaces.