1. What is your goal/mission w/ buckyrides?
My objective is to enable someone to have a good ride. As simple or as complex as you want to make that as in, "Hey, good ride! "
2. What is your backstory?
I'm one of those people who was lucky enough to graduate from uni and got a job in my field of study - Product Design. For the last 20 years I have been designing stuff from steel, wood, plastic and fabric and putting them into production so people can buy them. Product design is one of those areas where you have to be artistic, creative and also know about materials, technology and manufacturing. With this comes the advantage of inside knowledge. I like to layer this knowledge over cycling products and talk about this on buckyrides.com. "Why does this work well?" "Why is it bad?", type of questioning. Of course, the proof is in the product testing and I get enough bike time to actually use these products for an extended period of time, not just the Outdoor Magazine marketing hype bullet points pasted on a full page spread.
Slap on top of that my love for cycling, finding NW cycling routes and having "good rides" - smash it ALL together and you have buckyrides.
3. What is your favourite cycling route in the NW and why?
Favourite route -- right, ha that's funny, as if I have just one!
Cycling is so personal and changed by emotions, that many spring to mind. Living in such a great area there is so much good stuff to ride out the door and from a car destination that makes this a really hard decision. With that in mind, I will give you two - If I want to get away and have extended solo time on the bike, the Vernonia Century is fantastic.
If I want to explore a bit, road and dirt then the Mosier G Con 1 is the best.
4. What is your go-to bike in your personal lineup and why?
Since I ride my bike every day -- commute to work and cycle on weekends -- I'm going to say two bikes spring to mind. My 9yr old Kona Honkey Tonk road bike, fully fendered with downtube shifters. This steel frame is versatile, designed well (by our own Eric Tonkin) and rides great. In the summer the bike choice switches to my Moots CR or Gravel equivalent Routt, light, sporty, fun ride for long distance summer riding.
5. Why cycling as opposed to say...trailrunning or kitesurfing?
Cycling combines Beauty, Adrenaline, Escapism and Community. It affords this at a pace allowing you to absorb nature and think at the same time as seeing a lot, covering a lot of ground to get several experiences or viewpoints. You can dial the factors up or down according to taste from large group rides, quick shreds in the woods with your best pals or the rush of racing in a criterium or road race.