2024 was a good year
Someone in the Path Less Pedaled Discord asked “what people's favorite components, trips and general things were this year”. In general I’m working on practicing more gratitude. So in no particular order, here goes…
I finally did some actual bike camping. The extremely cold March shakedown with my dad was a good combination of Type 1 and Type 2 fun. But really my birthday dirt tour was one for the books. To describe it is to try to describe an incredible piece of art or a mystical experience— it will inevitably fall short. But it was just so fun and freeing to ride until you’re tired, eat when you’re hungry, and go to bed when it’s dark. I’m jonesing for another tour.
I rode 200 km in one fell swoop to go camping. In retrospect I think I should’ve ridden my Stooge Rambler instead of my Centurion Pro Tour, but it went without a hitch. Randonneuring is cool but I’m not making plans to do another big day out like that again, unless it falls into my lap.
Speaking of my Stooge Rambler, I really doubled down on my commitment to Cushcore in all the bikes. My Murmur has had inserts forever, but I added Cushcore XC to my Rambler, and a combination of Cushcore Plus and Cushcore Pro to my Stooge MK4. I am definitely open to the idea of running heavier casing tires with no inserts on my Murmur for certain terrain, but I am completely sold on light supple tires + inserts for the vast majority of riding— even if that riding involves roads.
Similar to the previous point, I got really into rigid mountain biking. I love my Murmur very much but once my Stooge MK4 showed up it definitely got a bit neglected. Even in Kingston, NY I got into some fairly heinous chunk on my Rambler. The simplicity and radness of riding such a simple machine cannot be overstated.
We didn’t get a bike stolen.
I went even shorter on cranks. I’ve been a 160mm True Believer for a couple years now, but I threw some 155mm on the MK4 and, lo and behold, it’s equally good— if not better, even single speeding. 152mm cranks are going on the REEB shortly.
I realized that I’m a 17º backsweep minimum guy when it comes to handlebars. But on rigid bikes I’ve really come to enjoy the 20º “Comfort Shred Zone” as coined by Keaton at Doom.
For the first time I combined DJ’ing with biking. Music and bicycles are my two true loves, but since I make a living off of DJ’ing I made a really concerted effort to A) not try to turn bicycles into a career, and B) not combine music and bicycling. But when Tenzin hit me up to DJ the Nutmeg Nor’easter my friends told me I would be a fool not to play the event. I’m happy I took their advice. The party was incredible, the dance floor was so great, and it was just so lovely to meet so many great people. Mum’s the word that I’ll be back next year…
There’s still 21 days left in the year, and we’ve got some great riding planned. But what an amazing year it has been. In my ongoing effort to move from cynicism to sincerity I feel like saying that I am overflowing with gratitude and I feel genuinely lucky for all of the memories I have been able to make this year.
Lots of love,
Peter
