Murphology Podcast

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 away they went. Sam was on a bit of a time crunch...

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 outpatient services to kids as young as 2 years old. Th...

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 of our tree canopy lost on that day was a terribl...

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 thousands of other Peloton riders at the same time. This...

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 along with postpartum depression, Amy didn’t like th...

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 country! In March of 2022 I biked up and over with a...

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 miles of pavement here and there. And as Cathy wil...

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 enthusiasts, from newbies to pros, and successfully put...

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 the way to New Zealand! Thanks Kim, Tyler, Chris and...

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 made the decision to call that terrible day back...

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 combine the physical benefits of biking with the s...

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 website that provides bikepackers with resources like...

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 elevation gain and not one, but two days of over 100 m...

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-trail www.murphologypodcast.com linktr.ee/Murphology www. Patreon.com/Murphology A few great deals to send your way: www.hammerhead.io Use code M...

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 hospice business with his mom, Jerry got a first han...

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 takes to travel by bicycle, and it is also full of inf...

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 biking across the country with everything they nee...

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 adventure and is going to provide us with some good tips o...

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 biking community, assist in training guides and a...

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 across the US like Rebecca’s Private Idaho and Gra...

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 100% of rider donations go directly to cancer res...

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/Murphology Episode 87 about the GAP and C&O: https://soundcloud.com/murphology-podcast/episode-87-exploring-the-great-allegh...

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 most of Missouri. About half the trail follows th...

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 the next biking event. And in his free time he runs...

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 the village of Little Stretton, Leicestershire on...