[From October 2007.] Half day and night spent at a monastery. Friendly, inquisitive monks, stayed up late in discussion (one English speaker translating), trading phrases across languages, curious about the bicycle, politics, philosophy, and I, […]
Joe Cruz
Cycling adventurist, bikepacker, travel writer, photographer, speaker, professor of philosophy. Route designer of the VTXL, the Green Mountain Gravel Growler beer tour, the Silk Road Mountain Race course 1st edition, and many more.
Tibet postcard
4,700 meters and it’s pitch black, can’t or at least shouldn’t stay at the top, and I’m on the craved for zombie pilot, but able to conceptualize the danger and foolishness of it retrospectively.
Tibet album
[From October/November 2007.]
Lhasa album
[From October 2007.]
Moab itinerary
Somehow, and in spite of the many extraordinary things he’s done on bicycles and HPV’s, Rob had never been to Moab. This October we remedied that. I’ve ridden in Southern Utah more times than I can remember, but I knew that seeing the old classics through new eyes would be a treat.
Rob used this vacation as a chance to test out his new folding 29er design in rigid singlespeed configuration; naturally, I brought my rigid singlespeed race rig (with the small concession of gearing down to 34×19). What else would you use in Moab?
I felt pressure to arrange the proven standards into a compact trip:
India postcard
[From October 2007.] This is my buddy Gullam, a very good xc racer from Kashmir. We mostly called him “rocketman,” owing to the gold skinsuit and hollywood shades he busted out for the event. He […]
Moab postcard
At the bottom of Porcupine Rim, as we snacked and yucked it up before pedaling back to town, the dozen full suspension riders we had passed caught up to us. One guy from Canada remarked […]
Racing in India retrospective
In Autumn of 2007, I took part in a nutter nine day stage race from Shimla to Manali in Himachal Pradesh, India. I was at the time early on in a bike tour of Asia, […]
Inspired rides
Oregon Singletrack Tour Scott Morris Welcome to the Jungle Jeff Johnson
India postcard
[From October 2007.] I took this exact photo, oh, seven or eight times. Each time I would show the two women the result, they would have an animated back and forth (which I could not, […]
India postcard
[From 2007.] Second day in Shimla, astonishing few days riding in the mountains to get here, stayed in a village with a couple of families when it got too dark to cycle sensibly, up for […]