Ten years ago, Rick and Liz Weber stepped into Muir Valley, a hidden wonderland, nestled in the hilly region of eastern Kentucky that sits at the doorstep of the Daniel Boone National Forest. What they saw amazed them beyond belief and they immediately set out to buy the property.
While a dirtbag entrepreneur may seem like just another oxymoron (like tight slacks and jumbo shrimp) the fact of the matter is the outdoor industry is ripe with them.
That bald guy is the Bald Guy of Bald Guy Brew Roasting Company. His name is Don Cox, and he’s just about as complex of an individual as the third-world coffees he roasts in his little shop in western North Carolina. An Appalachian State University alumnus, carpenter, priest, aspiring cyclist, and “grunt” of Bald Guy Brew, Cox’s diverse array of life experiences and interests can be seen in every corner of the coffee shop.
His boating resume includes hitting Oregon’s 80-foot Metlako Falls (101 feet total from pool to pool), racing the Class V Great Falls of the Potomac, slalom racing Washington’s Little White Salmon, and winning gold at the Freestyle World Championships at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina last year.
Getting back on the bike after an illness, a new job, or having babies taught me humility and compassion for myself. I had to fight down the regurgitated acid of what I “used to be able to do,” staring down at a soft belly and fumbling legs while my friends looked back, grinning.
Back in Greenville, S.C., it’s all about the future to Hincapie, training his determination on his business ventures, helping to foster a culture of fun, clean cycling in the U.S., spending time with family, and riding bikes. “This area’s got the best cycling in all of the East Coast,” Hincapie says of his hometown.
Trampled By Turtles formed in the small North Country city of Duluth back in 2003 and, like most independent bands, earned its audience with relentless road slogging. While armed like a back-porch bluegrass outfit, the band’s sound is hardly traditional. The group is in fact best known for pouncing on its strings with reckless abandon, riling up crowds with a punk ethos on acoustic instruments.
A World Cup and Olympic-caliber racer traveling the world for many years, Sue Haywood is now a recreational pro racing everything from XC, 100 milers, enduros, downhill, and cyclocross. We sat down with Haywood in Davis, W.Va., and asked her to dump out the contents of the bike pack.
Take a listen to this month’s Trail Mix as you wait and watch for these sweltering summer temps to finally go down. As always, Trail Mix has gathered the best that the indie and Americana world has to offer and has served it up, just for you.
We've got an exclusive interview with one of the most famed professional cyclists in the world, who just happens to make his home down in Greenville, South Carolina. We'll take you climbing in Kentucky's Red River Gorge. And we take a spin around the region with ten cyclists who just might change your opinion on why you ride bikes.
