On this episode meet Amaiya Bearpaw. As a proud member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, she was chosen to pedal about 950 miles in 2023 as part of the Remember the Removal Bike Ride, also known as RTR. The ride spans from Georgia to Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma over nearly three weeks.

The Remember the Removal Bike Ride was started by the Cherokee Nation in 1984 with the intent for Cherokee youth to retrace the Trail of Tears and get a glimpse of the hardships their ancestors faced when they made the same trek on foot years before. The ride became an annual event starting in 2009 and today, riders are selected based on an interview process. Then, the selected riders train for six months and also learn about the history of the Cherokee . During the bike tour, riders get re-connected with their past, honoring and visiting the historic landmarks and unmarked graves of their Cherokee ancestors. Amaiya was part of the 2023 team and is on today to tell us about her experience.

https://rtr.cherokee.org/

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/remember-the-removal-bike-ride.htm

https://shop.visitcherokeenation.com/

www.murphologypodcast.com

Email me at [email protected] if you have a topic or the name of a cyclist you find interesting. Support my podcast at Patreon.com/Murphology and visit my Facebook, YouTube and Instagram page for daily entertainment.

There are many ways to enjoy a bicycle tour whether you join an event, pay someone to provide logistics, or you do all the planning yourself. On this episode meet Zach Ostrander from Summit Cycle Solutions. He started this all encompassing logistics company back in 2016 when he noticed a strong need for logistics specific to cycling. Summit Cycle Solutions does everything from full service, like ordering port of pots, filing permits, securing venues and hotels or camping for events, or they will take on one or two components of an event that a ride director may need help with. They also provide logistics support for private tours of 50 riders. Zach takes his job very seriously. He knows we as riders are trusting him and his company with our time and our vacation. A few rides that Summit Cycle Solutions are part of are the Triple Bypass and Colorado’s Ride in Colorado, and Cycle North Carolina Mountains to Coast. Events range from a long weekend to weeklong tours that take place in breathtaking places. Zach and his team work hard so riders can enjoy themselves without worrying about logistics. I got to see Zach and his team in action during Colorado’s Ride and was very impressed. They worked long hours, balanced many tasks seamlessly, and still brought the hype to the event! You can learn more about Summit Cycle Solutions and the events they are part of at summitcyclesolutions.com. Or email Zach at [email protected] and sign up for their newsletter so you are in the know. And if you are interested in riding the Mountains to Coast Ride in North Carolina, let me know!!!

www.murphologypodcast.com

www.summitcyclesolutions.com

https://ncsports.org/

https://coloradosride.com/

https://www.triplebypass.org/

Email me at [email protected] if you have a topic or the name of a cyclist you find interesting. Support my podcast at Patreon.com/Murphology and visit my Facebook, YouTube and Instagram page for daily entertainment.

On this episode meet Meaghan Hackinen. She is an ultra endurance cyclist who recently completed the Tour Divide which is over 2,700 miles of self supported bike racing that follows the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, from Banff Canada down to the US/Mexico border. Not only did Meaghan finish this grueling race 7th overall with a time of 15 days and 23 hours, she nailed first place in the women's division! Meaghan is tells us a bit about how she embraced the grittiness of the race by staying what she describes as consistently consistent. In addition to being an ultra endurance athlete with countless wins and FKTs, she is also a writer with two books focused on two wheeled adventures. Both South Away: 'The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels' and 'Shifting Gears: Coast to Coast on the Trans Am Bike Race' are available for purchase.

https://meaghanhackinen.com/

www.murphologypodcast.com

https://tourdivide.org/

Ever thought about riding your bike in Mexico? How about with a top notch bicycle tour company? BRAG is a non profit that provides quality bike tours including their signature tour called by the same name. BRAG stands for Bicycle Ride Across Georgia and that is a multi day bike tour across Georgia that has been going on since 1980! In addition to BRAG they offer other bike tours around Georgia. They also take bikers internationally on adventures to Croatia, the Netherlands, France, and finally the trip I went on with them, to the Riviera Maya! BRAG.org is their website and it lists all their upcoming rides. At the time of this recording Riviera Maya 2025 registration is open. On this episode you are going to hear my recap!

BRAG Episode: https://soundcloud.com/justgobike/episode-249-franklin-johnson-from-the-bicycle-ride-across-georgia-brag

www.murphologypodcast.com

www.brag.org

The Be Good Foundation was founded by Rebecca Rusch who among many things is an ultra endurance athlete, adventure cyclist, a world champion multiple times and the star in a film called Blood Road. At the Be Good Foundation, the bike is the center of their work as a catalyst for healing, empowerment, and evolution. They provide grant support to a number of organizations that use the bike in just this fashion. One such recipient is today’s guest, Megan LaBeth. Megan is currently on an epic bikepacking adventure, riding from New York City to a cycling event in Idaho put on by Rebecca Rusch called Rebecca’s Private Idaho. Megan has a mantra, "One Rotation at a Time," that to her is a reminder of the power of persistence, the importance of mental health, and the healing nature of cycling. She is raising money for the Be Good Foundation along the way so that there can be future Be Good Foundation scholarship recipients. She is going to tell us about her adventure and experiences as a solo traveler making her way to Idaho. You can donate to her Be Good Foundation fundraiser at: https://www.thebegoodfoundation.org/fromthebigappletothebakedpotato

Follow along on Megan’s journey on her Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/eatplaybike

https://murphologypodcast.com/

https://www.thebegoodfoundation.org/

https://www.instagram.com/eatplaybike

Watch Rebecca’s film Blood Road: https://www.redbull.com/us-en/films/blood-road

Experience Plus! is a premium bicycle tour company with a great past. Back in the late 60’s a foreign exchange student from Italy met a high schooler in Oregon. They parted ways but reunited, fell in love and married. They chose to live in the US but wanted to travel. To make ends meet they put up posters to get people to join them on a bike trip to Italy, and it was a huge success. Throughout the years they continued doing tours and eventually decided to make a business of it. Today Experience Plus! is owned and operated by the couple's daughters, including today’s guest Maria Elena. They offer over 100 premium tours in places like Europe and South America including the classic guided tours, bike & boat tours as well as gravel explorations. Maria Elena is on to tell us all about Experience Plus!

www.ExperiencePlus.com

www.murphologypodcast.com

What the heck is DFL? Well, keeping it PG, it stands for Dead Freaking Last and at Mid South Gravel there is a celebration for the last rider to finish the 100 mile gravel course, a high energy celebration that I have never experienced before. Hundreds of people line up at the finish line and this year as Beth McBride crossed that finish line, people were cheering, the champagne was spraying and the band was playing. It was epic! Bobby Wintle is the Race Director and he goes out of his way to make this weekend one heck of a party. Beth tells us about her experience at Mid South, which was her first 100 mile gravel finish. She also tells us about a challenge she joined on January 1st..to ride 10 miles a day. With over 100 days of consecutive riding, she is still going strong on this challenge and has no plans to end her streak!

I was lucky to get to meet and ride bikes with Beth recently when we both were part of the Driftless Gravel Camp in Winona, Minnesota. We both share a deep love for the bicycle and the opportunity to ride. It was such a fun weekend!

Beth’s Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/trexlovescake/

https://www.midsouthgravel.com/

https://murphologypodcast.com/

www.patreon.com/murphology

Email me at [email protected] if you have a topic or the name of a cyclist you find interesting. Support my podcast at Patreon.com/Murphology and visit my Facebook, YouTube and Instagram page for daily entertainment.

Have you heard of the Florida 500? This is an ultra endurance bike race that starts in Jacksonville FL and Finishes in Key West, giving riders over 530 miles of some of the fastest and flattest stretches of roads in the world. You can race as a solo unsupported rider, a solo supported rider, or as a Team Relay with 2, 4 or 8 riders. Today on the podcast meet cyclist Dan Swenson. Dan is an ultra endurance racer who lives in the high mountains of Colorado where he balances his professional time coaching others as an Endurance Sports Coach, owning and operating Dogma Athletica, a boutique fitness center, and as a small business consultant. He did the Florida 500 as a Team Relay with Mike Garcia and they won in their category. It took almost 27 hours for the duo to pedal 535 miles complete with nonstop headwind. They took turns pedaling 40 minutes and then taking 40 minute breaks as they made their way along the Atlantic coastline to Key West. Dan is going to tell us about his experience racing and winning the Florida 500, and just how important the power of the mind is while racing, and living life!

You'll hear us talk about a neck surgery Dan underwent just after completing the Florida 500. Dan separately shared with me that his surgeon assured him the neck issue wasn't related to his biking position, but more likely to a life-time of staring down at a computer while at his work desk.

https://dogmaathletica.com/

www.facebook.com/dogmaathleticaco

www.instagram.com/dogmaathletica

https://murphologypodcast.com/

www.patreon.com/murphology

Email me at [email protected] if you have a topic or the name of a cyclist you find interesting. Support my podcast at Patreon.com/Murphology and visit my Facebook, YouTube and Instagram page for daily entertainment.

The Iowa Gravel Series started in 2020 after Chris McQueen put on the Glenwood Gravel Grinder and decided to expand. Seven races now make up the Iowa Gravel Series, and it is a full season of events all over Iowa that take place from May to September. Races include the Glenwood Superbloom which is a unique and first of a kind women’s gravel race in Iowa and takes place in late September.

In this episode Ian Breitlow, the Marketing Director with the Iowa Gravel Series, is on to tell us more about how the Iowa Gravel Series uses gravel roads to connect people with community.

https://iowagravelseries.com/

https://murphologypodcast.com/

www.patreon.com/murphology

Email me at [email protected] if you have a topic or the name of a cyclist you find interesting. Support my podcast at Patreon.com/Murphology and visit my Facebook, YouTube and Instagram page for daily entertainment.

On this episode I chat with Jonathan Cain from TREE Fund. TREE Fund, which stands for Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund, is a national nonprofit that among many tree related things, distributes scholarships to college students who are going into the tree care industry. Their biggest fundraiser is the Tour des Trees. Each year they host this fully supported multi day bike tour for about 100 riders. This year in late September riders will pedal about 425 miles in the Southern New England area while attending outreach events along the way. You can be part of Tour des Trees as a rider, or donate to the cause at tourdestrees.org. Jonathan is going to give us some great highlights about the bike tour, and also all about TREE Fund.

https://treefund.org/

https://treefund.org/tourdestrees

www.murphologypodcast.com

www.patreon.com/murphology

Email me at [email protected] if you have a topic or the name of a cyclist you find interesting. Support my podcast at Patreon.com/Murphology and visit my Facebook, YouTube and Instagram page for daily entertainment.