What the heck is DFL? Well, keeping it PG, it stands for Dead Freaking Last and at Mid South Gravel there is a celebration for the last rider to finish the 100 mile gravel course, a high energy celebration that I have never experienced before. Hundreds of people line up at the finish line and this year as Beth McBride crossed that finish line, peop…

Have you heard of the Florida 500? This is an ultra endurance bike race that starts in Jacksonville FL and Finishes in Key West, giving riders over 530 miles of some of the fastest and flattest stretches of roads in the world. You can race as a solo unsupported rider, a solo supported rider, or as a Team Relay with 2, 4 or 8 riders. Today on the po…

The Iowa Gravel Series started in 2020 after Chris McQueen put on the Glenwood Gravel Grinder and decided to expand. Seven races now make up the Iowa Gravel Series, and it is a full season of events all over Iowa that take place from May to September. Races include the Glenwood Superbloom which is a unique and first of a kind women’s gravel race in…

On this episode I chat with Jonathan Cain from TREE Fund. TREE Fund, which stands for Tree Research and Education Endowment Fund, is a national nonprofit that among many tree related things, distributes scholarships to college students who are going into the tree care industry. Their biggest fundraiser is the Tour des Trees. Each year they host thi…

TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE DISCUSSION. On this episode Dan Hurd, AKA Lt. Dan joins me, and we talk a considerable amount about the sensitive topic of suicide so please be aware. Dan himself has attempted suicide several times and lucky for him, and all of us, he found the bicycle and it changed his life for the better. He had only been on a few rides…

Frankie Holt wasn’t really into cycling when she had a life changing experience while on a bike trip with her sister. She was in her 40’s and that bicycle trip gave her new energy, new confidence and the realization that freedom came with cycling. She also realized she couldn’t find a cycling bag that was quite right for what she needed, so she wen…

I recently spent a week riding my bike in Florida with the Rum Runner Tour and asked the tour hosts to join me on the podcast. Pat Mayben and Bill Plock both have a ton of experience as event organizers, and run this successful bicycle tour that leads riders through the Florida Everglades and down to Key West. The Rum Runner Tour will introduce you…

Today meet an extremely inspiring person, Jeremy Raeszler. Jeremy had a motocross accident back in 2008 that left him with a spinal injury and paralyzed from the waist down. He was now a paraplegic and told he would never walk again and that was a pretty hard pill to swallow for Jeremy. Time passed and somehow the idea of riding a bicycle got into …

Joy Ride: A Bike Odyssey from Alaska to Argentina written by Kristen Jokinen, is a new book available now! On the show today meet WORLD TRAVELERS, Ville and author Kristen, who are currently on a book tour zigzagging across the country promoting the book. They are on to talk about their 2 year, 18,000 mile journey from Alaska to Argentina on bikes!…

Today meet Jamie from Canada! He is a self proclaimed bagger who got deep into bike touring a few years back and hasn’t looked back. Last year he loaded all his gear onto his Surly Long Haul Trucker and took about 6 weeks to bike across Canada. This year his big adventure plan was to bike across Iowa as part of RAGBRAI. He decided to make it an eve…

Grassroots Gravel is a new entity and new event coming to Pueblo, Colorado this fall and Adam Davidson is back to talk about it. You can be part of this first year event and get 15% off! 15% off Grassroots Gravel entry for Murphology ListenersRegistration Link: https://register.chronotrack.com/r/74848 Use code: MURPHOLOGYAdam was on episode 41 to t…

On this episode meet Sam Westby. Recently Sam and his dad loaded up their bikes and rode across the country. Sam started bike touring with the family at the age of 9 and riding across the country with his dad was a bucket list vision for many years. This year the stars aligned with both of their schedules so they put a plan and a route together and…

Have you heard of the nonprofit called Orchard Place? They provide mental health treatment and expertise to kids in Iowa. Today meet Brandie Broadhead, the director of volunteers and special events with Orchard Place. Orchard Place is the oldest locally based charity in Des Moines, they have been around 130 years, providing both inpatient and outpa…

Today you are going to hear what it was like to live through a Derecho, and what it has to do with bikes and trees. A derecho is kind of like a hurricane that occurs on land, and lasts much longer than a normal thunderstorm. It was August of 2020 when I learned what a derecho was, because it came through and destroyed my community.Seeing over half …

On this episode meet Johnathan Olson. He got a Peloton as a gift a few years ago and like most people he started out doing a couple of workouts a week. If you haven’t heard of Peloton, it is a brand of stationary bike that has built in features that allow you to join live cycling events so you can ride your bike alone in your home, but with thousan…

Amy Boelter is on this week’s episode to tell us her journey to reclaim her health via the bicycle. Several years back Amy experienced a tough journey to have a baby. Once her daughter was born, she fought some unexplained health issues that doctors couldn’t give her answers for a quick fix. Add to this the pandemic and some mental health issues al…

On this episode I am going to tell you all about Emory Pass. Emory Pass is a high mountain pass located in the southern part of New Mexico, USA, in the Black Range Mountains. It is in the Gila National Forest and Emory Pass rises to an elevation of 8,228 feet above sea level. Bicycling Magazine once listed it as one of the greatest climbs in the co…

On this episode Cathy Niebauer is on to tell us about her experience bikepacking in a multi day event called the Huracan300. The Huracan 300 Challenge is the ultimate off-road endurance experience in the state of Florida. The route features over 100 miles of singletrack, many remote miles of double-track forest roads and abandoned paths, and a few …

Meet Fabian Serralta, who founded a popular gravel event called Gravel Locos after he discovered his love of gravel biking and the spirit associated with it. He wanted to share with others his experiences riding gravel roads, while raising money for the local volunteer fire station in Hico, Texas. Gravel Locos has attracted over 1,600 gravel enthus…

I recently caught up with a few of my cycling friends and asked them about their favorite ride, or maybe a bucket list ride they want to make. So in this episode I will cover 4 great places worth checking out. From the Paul Bunyan Trail in Northern Minnesota, to Missouri and the Katy Trail, down to Florida to ride from Miami to Key West, and all th…

Back in July of 2001, Michael experienced what he calls his ‘last bad day’, when he was hit head on by a motorist while riding his bike. This day changed his life, his outlook, and his identity. The road to recovery was a long one and there was a point when Michael realized he had to heal his mind if he wanted to get his body healed. That’s when he…

This week meet the founder of Girls in Gear. Gabrielle Rossi is the executive director of Girls in Gear which is a nonprofit organization that teaches young girls life skills through bike skills. Starting as young as 5 years old, Gabrielle and her team of coaches offer both one day clinics to learn to ride a bicycle as well as 8 week programs that …

Today meet Ally Johnson, executive director for Bikepacking Roots. Bikepacking has continued to become a very popular type of bicycle activity and Bikepacking Roots was started in 2017 by Kurt Refsnider and Kaitlyn Boyle, both professional bikepacker/bikepack racers, who are still an important part of the staff. This is a one stop shop type of webs…

Ride the Rockies has opened registration for the 2023 tour, and next week the route will be announced! Last year I was in Colorado as part of the Ride the Rockies crew. Ride the Rockies is a 6 day Colorado bicycle tour that started way back in the mid eighties. Last year riders tackled 8 mountain passes on their bicycles, almost 30,000 feet of elev…

Time for some more listener mail!! Topics include biking in Minnesota, group riding, and my take on tubeless vs tube tires. Enjoy!Episode 81: Exploring the Paul Bunyan Trail: https://soundcloud.com/murphology-podcast/episode-81-exploring-the-paul-bunyan-trailwww.murphologypodcast.comlinktr.ee/Murphologywww.Patreon.com/MurphologyA few great deals to…

On this episode meet Jerry Kopack. Author. Speaker. Recovering Cubicle Dweller. He just released his new book titled The World Spins By, which is about both harrowing and comical adventures of touring on the bike. Jerry is on to talk about the book along with how he got out of the corporate world and into bike touring. While owning and running a ho…

On this episode meet Sam Bennett. He is the new face behind the popular website BicycleTouringPro.com. This website is truly a one stop shop for anyone into bicycle touring or dreaming of bicycle touring. It is a great how-to resource, with blog articles, YouTube videos, books, you name it, for those who might be interested in learning what it take…

This week meet the guys from ReadyRiders.bike. Mike and Steve recently packed up their bikes and rode the entire Great American Rail Trail. It took them 90 days to pedal over 4,000 miles of mixed terrain surfaces, passing through 14 states as they made their way from Washington DC to Washington state. They are on to tell us about their experiences …

This week meet Scott who is a lifelong bike tourist. He named his bike Mustang Sally and they just completed an 18,000 mile self contained journey with a mission to raise money for national parks. He called it Parks Pilgrimage and he was able to visit 33 national parks in one continuous bicycle tour! Scott is on to tell us about this great adventur…

This week meet Julie and Matt. Julie is the founder of a nonprofit organization called World Ride that works with women who are interested in learning how to mountain bike but might not have the resources to do so. World Ride works with local partners in various locations across the world. These partners help to recruit more women into the mountain…

This week meet Eria Sabiiti. He stumbled upon gravel by chance when he and his wife-to-be saw a poster for a bike race in their community. That race turned into quite the adventure, and both of them were hooked! He started a local club called the Iowa Gravel Gang and rides weekly on Iowa gravel roads. He also participates in some pretty epic races …

This week meet Jay Indovino. Back in 2009 Jay started a bicycle event called Pedal the Cause in St. Louis. His goal was to raise money for cancer research, and to date, Pedal the Cause has raised millions and millions of dollars. Jay was executive director until 2020 and is on to tell us what it was like to run a top notch, first class event, where…

Time for some listener mail!! Thanks to all the listeners who take the time to reach out. I love it! Topics on this episode include cold weather bikepacking, biking with strangers, and Murph’s drink of choice. Enjoy!My Alzheimer's Ride donation page: http://act.alz.org/goto/MurphologyEpisode 87 about the GAP and C&O: https://soundcloud.com/murpholo…

On the show today it is just me and I am going to give you a recap of my recent trip to Missouri where I rode the entire Katy Trail, west to east. I would highly recommend checking out this trail if you haven’t yet. The Katy Trail is in the Rail Trail Hall of Fame and you can learn more about it at bikekatytrail.com. It spans about 240 miles across…

On the show this week is Scott Sumpter. Scott is an avid cyclist who takes adventure to a whole new level. He has raced in all kinds of crazy long distance events where the roads turn to mud and the weather is anything but pleasant. He rides year round on a variety of types of bikes and when he is not biking he is in his adventure van heading to th…

Are you ready for a murder mystery that involves bicycles? This week I partnered with my co-host, Andrea Parrott, over at the Just Go Bike Podcast to take you back to 1919, where we discuss a famous unsolved mystery. The Green Bicycle Case was a British murder investigation and subsequent trial pertaining to the fatal shooting of Bella Wright near …

On this episode meet Erin Trautmann. This summer, Erin, a teacher, biked the entire East Coast Greenway in just 47 days! The East Coast Greenway connects 15 states, 450 cities and towns, and has over 3,000 miles of people-powered trails plus low traffic roads. The East Coast Greenway spans from the Canadian border of Maine all the way to Key West, …

On the show meet Maggie. Maggie is a long distance endurance cyclist who recently placed first in the single speed women’s category in the Gravel Worlds Long Voyage, which is a 300 mile gravel race. Maggie completed this event in just under 26 hours and placed third female overall in this distance! Earlier this year she decided she wanted to try ou…

On this episode meet Kim who recently completed an epic solo bikepacking adventure by completing the Katy Trail on her bike after being inspired by a female colleague who did the same adventure while back. At nearly 240 miles long, the crushed limestone Katy Trail spans nearly the full width of Missouri and is the country’s longest continuous rail-…

On the show today meet Sherry Ott from ottsworld.com. She is on today to tell us about a cool quest to finish what her father started, to visit every capitol building in the US, and she is doing it via bicycle! She describes herself as a corporate cube dweller turned nomad traveler. A travel expert who has traveled all over the world, her website i…

On this episode meet 1984 Silver Medalist in the Summer Olympics, Nelson Vails. AKA Nelly and the Cheetah. Nelly is the 1st African American to medal in cycling. He has also been 2005 inducted into the Lehigh Valley Velodrome Cycling Hall of Fame as well as the US Bicycle Hall of Fame. He was back in Iowa for another RAGBRAI and I was lucky to get …

RAGBRAI 2022 is history, and what a ride it was! This was like my 25th or 26th RAGBRAI and I may have to call this year my favorite. The weather was beautiful and not only did I get to ride my bike all week, I was also lucky enough to be part of the RAGBRAI social media crew. It gave me a new and fun perspective on the ride that I thoroughly enjoye…

On the show today is Larry Walsh. Larry is the author of Suit to Saddle and Forty to Finish. Both of these books highlight Larry’s epic adventures of cycling across the United States at age 56, and then racing across the US a few years later. In this interview he tells us about his journey of self discovery, and how these adventures came to be. Che…

On the show today you will meet Ben Gibbs. He is a musician and podcaster who I met while biking the Katy Trail. That was basically Ben’s first crack at bikepacking and he was hooked! He upgraded his gear and bike and went on an epic 6 week bicycle tour, exploring the C&O Towpath, the GAP trail, and the Empire State Trail. He traveled over 1,100 mi…

A few weeks ago I was in Colorado as part of the Ride the Rockies crew. Ride the Rockies is a 6 day Colorado bicycle tour that started way back in the mid eighties. This year riders tackled 8 mountain passes on their bicycles, almost 30,000 feet of elevation gain and not one but two days of over 100 miles of pedaling. I caught up with Jason Carolan…

Well listeners, I did it! I rode my bicycle all the way across the United States! I biked with Team Biking to Remember. We started March 12 in San Diego, California and we made our way across 8 states using the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier maps. It took us 64 days and 3,080 miles to pedal from coast to coast and we reached the Atlantic Ocean on …

I sat down with Jenny Lorenz to talk about our adventure in progress, biking across the United States. Jenny had a vision many years ago to bike across America after she retired. She also wanted to somehow give back and so she married her passion for biking with her interest in raising money for the Alzheimer’s Association. Jenny’s mom has been suf…

On the show this week I take some time to talk to the new interim ride director for Ride the Rockies. Bill Plock is a Colorado native and long time cyclist who is pretty pumped to take Ride the Rockies to the next level. Ride the Rockies is a multi day challenging event in Colorado that has been going on for 25 years! With 5 Continental Divide cros…

Rebroadcast of a great episode. This week meet Henry Gold. Henry tells the frightening story of how he came face to face with an angry elephant while cycling, and lived to tell about it. He is also Founder and Director at TDA Global Cycling, an adventure cycling tour company with some epic bucket list expeditions available. Many years ago Henry had…

As of today I am taking a much needed rest day in Austin, Tx enjoying the luxury of a real bed while I stay with my brother and his family. Tomorrow we will be back at it, starting day 35 of 63 days. We are using the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier route and going west to east. We started in San Diego and have pedaled across California, Arizona, Ne…