What do you do when someone tells you that you are not mentally tough enough? Scotti’s answer was to sign up for the 2019 Silk Road Mountain Race as a pair with my husband Ernie, and take home the win. Since then she has set multiple FKT at Arkansas High Country, has unfinished business with the Atlas Mountain Race and it hot of a new FKT for Stagecoach 400.
Continue readingSpring Surfing: The Mid South and Croatan Buck-Fifty
By Logan Jones-Wilkins
The last couple weeks I have been surfing. You know, the proper radical stuff. You know, getting stoked.
“You just drop in, smack the lip… Waapah! Just drop down… Swoopah! And then after that, you just drop in, ride the barrel, and get pitted, so pitted.” – Surfer Guy, 2012
That’s it — that has been me. Minus the ocean, and the water, and the surfboard, and the crazy Californian energy. Nonetheless, there have been waves, I have been riding, and I have been getting pitted. So pitted.
Continue readingRodeo Adventure Diaries: Strade Bianche
Logan Jones-Wilkins
Over my spring break I had $1,000 dollars of flight credit to use, built up from four postponed trips. After so many false starts, it was time to go again – and go I have. First up, Siena for the Strade Bianche. For the trip, I put away my Instagram and my updates and I turned to my journal. Over dinners and downtime, I wrote down my sensations. These are the moments that captured the trip for me, and I hope you enjoy the “crudo” distillation of my week in Tuscany!
March 3, 2022 — Firenze Centrale, Florence, Tuscany
People seem to flow here. In scarfs, overcoats, down puffers, and other regal regalia built for temperatures colder than now, the Italian masses move with effortless intention. In twos, and threes, and four, and sometimes ones but nearly never fives, people would come, and people would go in a swirl of the sing-song language of the land.
Continue readingFrench Winter Gravel
Why did I say yes in the first place?
In January my buddy and I rode Gravelman Paris – a 350 km gravel race around Paris with start and finish close to l’Arc de Triomphe. They call it a race but that’s not really what it is. Riders can start from Thursday 5.30 am and have until Sunday 11 am to finish. A little 200 km is gravel, the other 150 km is asphalt. One rider actually approached it as a race, and finished within 25 hours, including 4 ‘inactive’ hours. He rode an average of 16.8 km/hr.
Continue readingWhat’s Working Podcast w Cam Marston
Radio host and podcaster Cam Marston recently invited Rodeo founder Stephen Fitzgerald onto his show to talk about the behind the scenes of Rodeo, how it came into existence, and what it was like transitioning out of a more traditional career and into running a bike company and community. Check it out via the embed here or search for What’s Working With Cam Marston on your favorite podcasting platform:
Continue reading2021 Wrapped: Logan’s Rodeo Playlist
Spotify’s marketing team, take a bow.
Once again, you’ve done it, you mastered viral marketing. Now, December is marked by the bombardment of Spotify branded music tastes. As much as I try to be the grinch, I like it. I like it a lot.
Alas, my contrarian flare persists, and I have journals to write. So instead of a simple Instagram story share and per a budding tradition, here is my 2021 playlist. Five of my favorite songs from 2021 paired with my top five rides. I highly encourage you to listen as you go! Each passage was written while the tunes played on loop. My apologize to my roommates. Enjoy!
Continue readingArmenia: The Final Dispatch
Evan and Bo have wrapped up their final dispatch from their two month ride across, around, through, and into Armenia. It’s been so inspiring to follow along on this journey with them through words and photos. It seems that Rodeo and Armenia have been woven together through our experiences there, and we can’t wait to see where inspiration takes us next. In the meantime, enjoy this final post.
Continue readingRiding East With Tom
Tom and I are not alike.
He’s into obscure Welsh rock. I’m into hip hop, I think. He went to law school. I was done after high school. He leans to the left, I lean to the right of whatever left means. I don’t think he’s religious at all. If I didn’t have faith I think I’d be dead. Tom likes a very tall riding position with an absurd stem because ergonomics. I like a low, sleek position, because vanity. Tom was a pipe smoker once upon a time. I’ve literally never smoked anything, ever, not even the tires on my car.
Continue readingThe Good, The Bad, The Ugly and the Spaces Between Them
By Logan Jones-Wilkins
I try to avoid cliches.
After copy editing last year with a classically gnarled old-school journalist, I have been on the prowl to slash and burn the cliches I have in my writing. I think I am improving. Nevertheless, sometimes those cliches are cliches for a reason and I’d be a fool to let a good trope pass me by. So, as I have emerged from my forced concussion sponsored reset, I am going to have a little fun with some lazy formatting because it’s what I want to do. Sue me.
In my ruminating on my summer in Ecuador, the old Clint Eastwood cliche keeps seeping in. It was good. It was bad. It was ugly. And I just couldn’t help but share this worn triumvirate in the third installment of Ecuador shorts.
Continue readingThe New Normal Podcast
Andrew Maher, an avid cyclist an technology podcaster stopped by last month for a sit down talk about what Rodeo Labs is up to in regards to social media and communicating with customers. It was a fast paced conversation, and Andrew may or may not have added to that by speeding up the speech a bit. That allowed us to cover a lot of ground. We also talked about the supply chain problems of 2021, how we have handled those setbacks, then got nice and abstract as we explored just what exactly innovation is here at Rodeo. If you’re interested in our back story and how things work behind the curtain do have a listen here or on your favorite podcasting platform:
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