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Mica is a Rear Rack for Bikes Without Rack Mounts

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Mica is a Rear Rack for Bikes Without Rack Mounts

Skyler Des Roches created the Mica Rack as a solution for bikes without rear rack mounts for riders who didn’t want the hassle of bikepacking saddle packs. Rather than having a bag swaying and bouncing all over, the Mica Rack allows you to strap dry bag with your straps of choice.  It is not a pannier rack, nor a rack for fully-loading; think of it as a bag support. Let’s check it out below…

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VIDEO: The Slow Lane

Dedicated to slowly exploring the world on two wheels, Pierre Bouchard and Janick Lemieux have covered more than 250,000 KM by bike and spent 14 years in the saddle since 1990…

Project 321 G3 Hub with 6-Lock Technology Use Center Lock or 6-Bolt Disc Rotors

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Project 321 G3 Hub with 6-Lock Technology Use Center Lock or 6-Bolt Disc Rotors

The bike industry insists on making diametrically opposed standards, often conflating them with improving the user experience or solving non-existent problems. While it’s often the larger companies making these moves, it’s up to the smaller, quicker to pivot brands to create solutions. The all-new Project 321 G3 Hub looks to tackle one such problem. The G3 hubs use what Project 321 calls 6-Lock Technology, and the tech is illustrated above: they can run center lock or six bolt. Check out more at Project 321.

VIDEO: Echoes

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VIDEO: Echoes

Almost one year after a disastrous trip in the Chilcotin Mountains, which led Race Face athlete Celeste Pomerantz with a dislocated elbow and broken bike, she finds herself exploring a different kind of challenge: How to get your mind back into a confident space to continue to explore these longer and dangerous bike adventures…

Rigid, Vintage, Ready: Lachlan Sillitoe’s Anonymous Beach Bruiser

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Rigid, Vintage, Ready: Lachlan Sillitoe’s Anonymous Beach Bruiser

You won’t find many fully rigid, bi-plane forked, singlespeed mtbs on the trails of Kamloops—or anywhere else for that matter. But Lachlan Sillitoe, an Aussie transplant in the Loops and owner of the Bicycle Cafe, breaks the mold of the typical British Columbia Interior ride, with style and flow to spare. After hanging on his wheel during a few rides earlier this year, Dylan Sherrard writes about his friend’s unconventional bike choices and eagerness to embrace the entire spectrum of the riding experience—comfort be damned. Read on for Lachy’s thoughts about why easier isn’t always better and for a closer look at his anonymous vintage rigid SS mtb “beach bruiser.”

Take Care, Ride Slowly: The First Annual Dirtbag Cycles Rambler

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Take Care, Ride Slowly: The First Annual Dirtbag Cycles Rambler

I was leading the pack towards the tail end of the first annual Dirtbag Cycles Rambler on Vancouver Island. We were riding through the last singletrack section of the 90-ish km ride, and only I knew what was coming. After a quick 90-degree turn off the main trail, the forest opened up into a powerline clearing with about a half-kilometer descent. I heard behind me someone say “Oh shit, here we go!” and then all 15 of my fellow riders started hooting and hollering. I let go of the brakes and took off, reassured that the experience I’d been planning for the better part of a year had ended up being exactly what I hoped for.

Searching for Goldilocks: 7Mesh Copilot Waterproof Cycling Jacket Review

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Searching for Goldilocks: 7Mesh Copilot Waterproof Cycling Jacket Review

In his 1973 book Coast to Coast, Alfred Wainwright wrote, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. Well, perhaps Alfred never experienced being blasted by sideways rain while desperately trying to gain traction on a rutted, sloppy trail! Let’s just face it, sometimes the weather can be crappy and when it is, a good jacket can be the difference between damp fun and fuckin’ drenched and dangerous.

In this review, we’re looking at the newly redesigned, Copilot Jacket from the good folks at 7Mesh. Based in Squamish, Canada, the 7Mesh crew definitely get bad weather. Afterall, Squamish regularly gets all four seasons in a day and has an average rainfall of over 220cm per year. That’s hella wet. Even by this Englishman’s standards.

Multi-Sporting on Garibaldi Classic: The Nch’kay House of Pleasure and Pain

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Multi-Sporting on Garibaldi Classic: The Nch’kay House of Pleasure and Pain

We were one day into a three-day trip dubbed the Garibaldi Classic or “The Nch’kay House of Pleasure and Pain.” Pandemics aside, on the long weekend in September, it has become a tradition to embark on some sort of ill-advised multi-day trip involving mountain landscapes, good friends, small backpacks, and quite a bit more foot travel than would be advertised in a long-weekend bike trip brochure. The goal was to leave from our front doors, bikes loaded with everything we would need for a three-day, lightweight excursion in the mountains, curling a horseshoe around Garibaldi Lake within British Columbia’s Garibaldi Provincial Park.

A Double Header of Dispatches from a Canadian Summer

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A Double Header of Dispatches from a Canadian Summer

Long tours are often lauded as being the ultimate way to tour but getting out for overnighters, here and there when the schedule allows, can be just as powerful an experience. Amidst general life busyness, photographer and pedaling-enthusiast Pat Valade makes time for a couple overnight bike campouts this summer. It should be no surprise that he packed the camera and we’re stoked to share the following doubleheader photo essay and its myriad glimpses offered into the Canadian summer. 

The 2022 TransRockies Gravel Royale

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The 2022 TransRockies Gravel Royale

TransRockies has become an institution in the stage racing world: they have been around since the beginning. In late August, the inaugural Gravel Royale was their first foray into the world of gravel racing. The edition of the truly off-tarmac event makes sense, as the main critique of TransRockies in years past has been riders complaining about too many gravel roads. Sounds like they’ve just been honing the course for a real gravel throw down! After the four stages, Rob Britton of Victoria, BA and Rach McBride of Vancouver, BC took the top step in the Elite Men’s and Women’s categories, respectively. What follows is Barry Wicks‘ rider journal from each of the four days which gives a stream of consciousness account, followed by his interviews with other competitors. Each interview maintained the same format and consisted of just three questions designed to skip the small talk: What is your favorite color? What are you reading right now? What is the meaning of life? Enjoy the ride!

Vancouver to Cape Breton: Robin Todd’s Solo Bikepacking Trip Across Canada

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Vancouver to Cape Breton: Robin Todd’s Solo Bikepacking Trip Across Canada

Robin Todd, 57, wants you to know that you can do big things, and that a grilled cinnamon bun will help significantly at the end of a long rainy day.

Last fall, Robin bikepacked alone for 6,800 kilometers (4,225 miles) from Vancouver, British Columbia to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She’s always been an adventurer, but this journey across Canada was done in part to prove that age isn’t a factor when it comes to adventure, especially for women.