Advocate Cycles

Rider Profile - Lael Wilcox

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If you haven’t heard of Lael Wilcox, allow us to introduce you. Lael has spent the better part of the last decade touring around the world on her bike. It all started about 8 years ago when Lael and Nicholas Carman decided to take off on a two-month paved tour in the United States—in some ways, the ride has yet to end. Since that tour, they have been splitting their years between working to save up money and traveling by bike.

They have spent time touring throughout North America, two summers chasing dirt routes across Europe and a substantial amount of time in both South Africa and the Middle East. Recently Lael has also taken to ultra-endurance racing with great success, setting the female record for the Tour Divide in the summer of 2015, although for the both of them, travel is most important and will probably always remain the focus.

Currently, Lael is down in Baja, Mexico aboard an Advocate Cycles Hayduke where she and Nick are working on mapping and planning a roughly 2,000 mile bikepacking route through the area. In the end, they hope to be able to publish the route for others to use as a springboard for their own rides. You can check out their project online at www.bajadivide.com. We caught up with Lael during her tour and asked her a few questions about what it’s like living this lifestyle.

RK: For starters, when you aren’t riding, where do you call home?

LW: I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. That’s where my family lives so that’s where I’d call home. I don’t spend too much time in Anchorage. I don’t have a house or a car, but I’ll always go back there. When we’re not traveling we may work in different places. We’ve lived in Tacoma, Denali, Key West, Annapolis, Albuquerque, and France, but for the last eight years, we’ve spent the majority of our time riding.

RK: What do you do for work in between these long rides? Do you keep a similar schedule or does it change year to year?

LW: I usually work in restaurants as a server or a bartender. I’ve been working in restaurants since I was sixteen. The first year I cleaned a bar in the mornings and washed dishes in a cafe for the afternoons. Since, I’ve worked in at least twenty restaurants. It’s usually an easy job to find and an easy job to quit, and I enjoy the work. I’ll work hard for four to six months in a stretch, often two jobs at once. I save money so I can travel on the bike again.

I’ve done other jobs as well. I taught English in France and yoga in Anchorage and once worked the door for a bar on New Year’s. I’ll take any job I don’t dread. Although, serving is fast-paced and fast cash and I prefer it.

I don’t have a set pattern of work and bike travel. Mostly, I travel until I run out of money and pick up a job to save for the next trip and leave town when I can. It’s nice to mix it up. I’ll often live and work in different places. It’s fun and exciting to learn a new place and make new friends along the way, but I’m always ready to leave after a few months. There’s a lot to do and see.

RK: Tell us about your first extended bike tour and what effect that tour had on your cycling and the course of your life.

LW: I met Nick when I was twenty years old while in college in Tacoma, Washington. He gave me a bike so I could commute to work four miles away—otherwise I got around on foot. The bike opened up my world. I love walking, but the problem is walking takes a lot of time. The bike really speeds things up. We started biking all around town together.

At the time, one of my sisters lived in Seattle. The other sister flew in for a weekend visit. I wanted to go see them both. Normally, I would’ve taken the bus—its only $3 even with a bike. However, we didn’t have enough cash to pay the fare. So I said, hell let’s just ride there instead.

At the time, Nick and I were riding fixed gear bikes and it was definitely the longest ride of my life—45 miles. We pedaled and talked the whole way on bike paths, through industrial zones, outskirts and in town. Along the way, I turned to Nick and said, “If we can bike to Seattle, we could bike across the country!” I’d never known anyone to do it, but I could imagine the lifestyle of pedaling all day and camping somewhere different every night. We figured, I’d graduate in the spring and we’d leave from Tacoma and ride to the east coast.

I graduated, but we didn’t have any money—none. So we worked all summer, saved what we could and left in the fall. We flew into Boston to visit Nick’s sister, rode north to Montreal and south to Key West, Florida. We chased fall colors all the way to South Carolina and then rode the coast. Sometimes it was cold and hard, but we learned a lot: how to camp, eat, ride, and spend all day with each other and feel safe and free.

We ended up in Key West in November. It was the end of the road and we were out of money—it seemed like a great place to spend the winter and work. We both got jobs as pedicab drivers and I worked in a restaurant. We shared a small house on a tropical lane with a French guy who assumed the name Jack. We dove off the pier for lobsters and I spent many afternoons at the outdoor laundromat down the street because we only had two white work-shirts. Besides, Felix the coffee man made good Cuban coffee and sassed me cause I was from Alaska. He called me Palin.

We saved enough money in three months to ride out of town and we haven’t stopped since. That was eight years ago.

RK: What do you look forward to most on these adventures? Is it the riding itself, travel to new places, seeing new cultures and landscapes? Tell us what it is that makes you want to live this lifestyle.

LW: This is my life. How does anyone look forward to their life? Do they appreciate what they have? Do they daydream about what could be different? Do they daydream about other places or other people’s lives? Does traveling on the bike allow me to do all of these things? Yes.

I see and experience and feel new things everyday with my best friend in the whole world. We do this together. And then we talk about it. And then we sleep next to each other on the ground and then we wake up and do it again and pedal somewhere else. What else could I want?

It’s not always easy and sometimes it rains and sometimes we fight, but that’s life. Life is not always easy, but it can be damn good.

I look forward to mixing it up. And along the way, I look forward to sunny weather and climbing mountains and sleeping hard and smiling until the wrinkles at the ends of my eyes hurt.

What I look forward to most is going somewhere new every day.

Everywhere I’ve been, Ukraine, South Africa, Israel, I’ve been invited in and I feel like a special guest. People see us on the bikes—they’re curious about us and we’re curious about them. To be invited into someone’s home, you learn so much about how they live and what they care about. If we share a language, then we talk. If we don’t, then we do our best. It’s real and it matters.

In the end, I guess we find a home away from home. We learn new places. We ride our bikes and we’re happy.

NicholasCarman_Baja-5676

RK: Why did you decide on Baja? What was it about the area that made you want to ride and travel there?

LW: Baja is just south of California and, snowbiking aside, it’s one of the last mountainous places we could ride in North America in winter. We rode here five years ago, mostly on narrow, paved Highway 1. This time we came back with bigger tires and less luggage to ride a mostly dirt route. To do this, Nick invested a lot of time and money into printed and digital maps. We’ve decided to commit more time to this project to ultimately publish a high quality route for other riders to enjoy in the future. This means we’ll probably ride the peninsula again this spring to explore alternative routing. I’ve come to learn that the Hayduke is the perfect bike for Baja. The 27.5+ wheels eat up loose rock, sand and washboard.

The peninsula is a desert, the least populous region in Mexico, with open water on either side. On Christmas Eve, we arrived at the dead end of a dirt road. A family was slaughtering a cow and they invited us to stay for dinner and singing and breakfast.

In the month we’ve been here, we’ve ridden along both coastlines, spent a lot of time in the mountains, and encountered lots of fresh water and the camping has been awesome, with mostly clear skies.

Throughout this ride, we have been working on connecting dirt roads and rough jeep tracks as much as possible. We hope to share our route with others and encourage them to ride here too.

RK: What’s next? Any plans after your time in Baja?

LW: We plan to be here for another month or two. We’ll be riding with friends and working on the route and then we’ll see. I’ll need to work sometime in the next few months. We might go back to Alaska to ride fatbikes in the snow. I’d love to ride parts of the Iditarod Trail and in the White Mountains near Fairbanks.

RK: Thanks so much, we wish you all the best in the rest of your Baja tour and will be excited to see where you end up next.

NicholasCarman_Baja-5675

All photos courtesy Nicholas Carman

Dealer Spotlight - Topanga Creek Outpost

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Topanga Creek Outpost, located in Topanga, California did not start out with the intention of selling bicycles. It began as a touring business taking tourists around LA to popular destinations and celebrity homes. During those touring years, Chris noticed the need for a bike shop in Hollywood and opened Hollywood Pro Bicycles right on the walk of fame on Hollywood Blvd. The shop was around for 8 years before moving to Topanga for a better quality of life. The shop in Topanga has been open for seven years now.

The move to Topanga was intended to allow a better quality of life for the owners—to move away from the chaos of Hollywood—and of course to be in closer proximity to the great mountain bike trails in Topanga State Park. The area boasts world-renowned road riding and amazing mountain bike riding while still in LA County.

Topanga Creek is proud to be a part of the small community and staying active within it is a big part of the shop mentality. In 2015, Topanga Creek received an honor of being the best small business in their senatorial district for being active within the community and they were humbled to have Senator Pavley show up to present the award.

At the shop, there is a secret door in the gate filled with spare tubes and anything road riders might need if they are pedaling by. They have an honor system in place so that they can help out riders if they need anything. Aside from sales, they also rent mountain bikes—people from around the world visit Topanga just to mountain bike in their backyard and Topanga Creek Outpost is there to help make that happen. Rentals can be applied to the purchase of a new bike and also give people a chance to explore their wonderful area. Everyone that rents a bike and completes their ten-mile loop receives a certificate of achievement after they finish. The loop has about 1700’ of climbing in ten miles.

When the shop first moved to Topanga, they were involved in a lot of racing events—it was a fun way to get new people interested in the sport. But they also noticed that the mindset had changed from having fun to going fast. While they still love racing and helping to get people active in that way, they have shifted their focus a bit to be more inclusive and inviting for all riders.

In the past two years the shop has shifted towards what they call their “UnPredict Your Wednesday” adventures. They take off every Tuesday night to go camping and hiking/riding into Wednesday morning. Everyone is invited to join, and while the adventure is “UnPredicted” there is usually a tentative schedule of where they are planning to be and what is going to happen that week. They see a lot of benefits of the sub 24-hour adventures—especially in the middle of the week—and are trying to spread the word. Trips have been as simple as camping a mile away from the shop or as complex as bikepacking out to a primitive campsite at the top of a 9,000’ summit to spend the night. In addition to these adventures, they also do weekly shop rides every Saturday morning pending weather. They bake 6 loaves of banana bread fresh before the ride and come back after to relax with coffee and fresh baked bread. The staff ride as much as they can with their free time—in addition to the weekly camping adventures, they also get involved with plenty of bikepacking and endurance cycling events.

No doubt, a big focus for Topanga Creek is to get people outside. Whether is be on bikes or by foot, they want people to explore the area that they live in. They work with the local IMBA chapter CORBA as new trails are proposed, planned and built and as a shop they hold work days for the local trails in Topanga. Since it doesn’t rain a lot in SoCal, when it does the trails get pretty torn up and the staff and community are around to help out when that happens. As a whole, they are always looking for ways to be more active with advocacy groups and efforts in the area.

The Topanga Creek staff has a wealth of experience in the cycling industry but come from varied backgrounds. Chris, the owner, has been in the industry for 20+ years—he likes to think outside the box and has created a unique retail experience in Topanga. Jay, another shop employee, came from a background of gravel racing in the Midwest and still continues to pursue and train for endurance events. And there is Jeo, he lives in LA and commutes to work by bike when he can and always joins in for Saturday shop rides—he is one of the best web guys around and also happens to be one of the nicest. The staff at Topanga knows their products in and out and have all worked together to build their own unique brand as well as to pursue creative endeavors through the retail environment. Just stop by the shop and see for yourself.

Dealer Spotlight - World of Bikes

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WorldofBikes_Profile-

Founded in 1974 and then purchased by Ryan Baker in 2006, World of Bikes in Iowa City has been a staple of the Iowa City bicycle community for over 40 years. Often touted as a “family” bike store, World of Bikes has been in the forefront of many current trends that set them apart as a destination store for niche products.

One of the largest supporters of both the fat bike and gravel movement, we asked Ryan how he stays ahead of the curve with the products the shop carries and he admits, “I have always relied on my staff to look into their crystal ball for the next great thing.” Baker recognizes the need to offer more than just mainstream products. He also told us that, “While we support all types of cyclists, we have found success in niche markets as they are developing.” World of Bikes was one of the first to really embrace fat bikes; stocking multiple brands of bikes, carrying accessories for winter riding, and building one of the first fat demo fleets that we know of.

Community involvement is also big for World of Bikes. From bike rodeos and health fairs to races like the Jingle Cross and the Sugar Bottom Scramble, World of Bikes and Baker look at these events as “a way to support the people who support World of Bikes.” He also believes that being able to support a wide variety of events will help to keep a shop from being “pigeon holed” as one specific kind of shop. Supporting these events also helps get them in contact with customers who may never have visited the shop otherwise.

Within the cycling advocacy community, World of Bikes is also one of the largest donors to the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, an advocate of cycling that lobbies for bike lanes, provides education, and works for safer bike laws in Iowa. In line with Advocate’s mission, World of Bikes is a member of IMBA, Bikes Belong, League of American Bicyclist, and Adventure Cycling Association. When he first became aware of our brand through the Indieogogo campaign, Baker said he felt that the Advocate Cycles mission was a “brilliant way to bring a new company to market and it was in alignment with what we do as a shop.”

Ryan really credits his staff as something that sets them apart. Being in the “blinky light district” of Iowa City, which is home to four shops in a four-block radius, there is a need to create your own identity. “Our shop has some of the best people in the industry and we aren’t your conventional group of cyclists. We spread the spectrum of cycling and egos get left at the door. We have racers, commuters, mountain bikers, fat bikers, roadies, and kid trailer pullers.”

The current staff aside, Baker is proud of the alumni that have worked at World of Bikes and gone on to work at places like Enve, Boo Bicycles, Trek, and yours truly (Adam) at Advocate. “To me this shows that our staff cares about the industry. It’s not just a part time job to get a discount on parts, it’s a lifestyle for our people.” We can personally attest that this is true not only of past employees but of current ones as well.

Look for World of Bikes employees at local and regional races as well as out on the trails of Sugar Bottom Recreation area in their free time. Also, check them out as they provide support all over Midwestern Iowa at varying events. Baker reminds potential customers, “We CAN BE your bike shop. We love to help all sorts of people and we have the staff both in the front and back of the store to help you get what you need. No club jersey needed to walk in our door.”

Their Only Portrait - A Bike Tour That Gives Back

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As cyclists, it is hard to quantify what we get out of riding our bikes. It is a sport and lifestyle that gives us endless enjoyment as well as countless memories and experiences in the locations we see and with the people we meet along the way.

Buenos Aires photographer Federico Cabrera and his “ Their Only Portrait” project ask the simple question, “What if we all gave back a little more along the way?”

DSCF6387At the end of October, aboard an Advocate Cycles Hayduke Ti, Federico will be taking off on a 4000-mile bike tour along the Cordillera de los Andes from La Quiaca to Ushuaia giving away 1000 printed portraits along the way. In addition he will be giving away portable solar lanterns to people who need them most.

Federico came up with the idea for this project during his previous travels. In underdeveloped areas he would often notice hundreds of tourists taking photos of the local people without showing much if any respect for the subject. Furthermore, he learned that many of these local people did not possess a single family portrait of their own. With this realization, the idea for “Their Only Portrait” was born.

During his upcoming bike tour, Federico plans to make family portraits of the local people he meets along the way while riding thousands of miles through developing communities. To do this, he will bring a small portable photography studio along, which will allow him to create and give each family a printed copy of their photo. His intention is simply to give back to local communities and hopefully inspire other people to find their own way to give back.


We caught up with Federico in the final days of preparation before taking off on his tour to find out a little bit more about his project.

RK: First off, I want to say that this is such a great idea. We all dream about long rides and adventures, but to connect with people in such a personal way is very special. I can only imagine the remarkable people you will meet along the way, but what excites you most? Is it the adventure of a long ride or the adventure of the new faces and communities that you will surely find in the process?

FC: Thank you! It’s certainly both, but if I had to choose just one it would be the people I’ll be able to meet along the road. The portraits are the most important part of my trip and so the people are central to this idea and I want to make these portraits the best I can, even when that means carrying gear that is definitively not light or “bike friendly” such as the Studio flash & printer and possibly even an umbrella for lighting.

RK: Surely there are many other ways to visit these communities and meet these people. What is it about bicycle travel that you enjoy most? Have you done other long rides like this in the past?

FC: I have, and I still remember the freedom I felt exploring Patagonia on a self-supported bicycle trip almost 20 years ago. On a ride like this it is so easy to appreciate nature and blend in with the environment. It is by far the best way to relate with local people, and to engage with life in its every form.

RK: No doubt, this is a long bike ride. How long do you think it will take you to complete this adventure?

FC: For this trip I’m also collaborating with Fundacion Ruta 40 (a local NGO contributing in the comprehensive development of rural schools) to make & print their students’ portraits. Depending on how many schools I manage to visit before the end of classes in December, it should take around 4 months to make it to Ushuaia.

RK: I see from your photos that you have done some portraits for families in preparation for this project. What kind of reactions have you received from people that you gave portraits to?

FC: Yes, I already did two trips through some of Argentina’s most remote & wild areas in an effort to put myself and my gear to the test before the main trip. Outside of the big cities, most people are very shy with strangers, especially at Argentina’s original communities, and are not used to big flashes, photometers, and the rest of the gear I’m carrying along on these trips. It usually takes them a while to understand what I’m doing and that it is a gift for them to keep, for free, even with other printed portraits as examples. Usually, as soon as someone is brave enough to pose for the camera and they see a familiar face in print, they want their family portrait taken and one of just their kids as well, because they don’t know when they might be able to get another one.

RK: Will you be updating on your progress along the way? Where would someone be able to check in on your adventure in the coming months?

FC: Yes, I’m traveling with satellite technology to keep people abreast of my progress online. You’ll be able to track my daily progress on the project website at www.theironlyportrait.com and also keep up with regular updates through social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

RK: We wish you well on your journey. Thanks so much for letting us be a part of your project.