Instagram story viewer> @bolmj> Posts
Jacob Bolm(@bolmj)'s profile avatar HD Profile

Jacob Bolm

@bolmj

258
followers
239
following
Endurance Cyclist, #go4graham Athlete, IT Security guy, and general geek
POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED
Download All
The end of an era. This marks the last year of @rebeccasprivateidaho - an event I’ve been coming back to for over a decade. RPI was my first race. My first mass start. My hardest achievement at an important time in my life. It very literally shaped me and motivated me to change my life. When @kraxner convinced me to sign up for the 50 mile course (on my aluminum full suspension mountain bike…) I didn’t know the ripple effect it would have. He, @jsalbre, and so many others finished the 100 mile course before I finished the 50 that year…but I was hooked. Fast forward a few months and I now have a gravel bike and find myself crossing the finish line at @unboundgravel after riding my very first bike 100 mile event…and who do I see at the finish waiting to cheer on the soon to come in 200 mile women’s winner? @rebeccarusch . She took a moment to speak with me and when I proudly said that I just finished my first 100 and that I was already signed up to do the 100 at RPI that year, she immediately started offering advice to help me get faster to make the cutoff times. That lead me to @mathenyendurance who has been my coach for over a decade now. He helped me get faster, and has helped me accomplish so much on a bike; tons of proud finishes at some of the biggest and most iconic events: the Leadville 100 MTB, @breckepic , Unbound 200 (x4 and counting), and so many more. But that entire journey started in Ketchum Idaho, because Reba had a vision that then turned into her @begoodfoundation mission. RPI may be going away, but it will live on under a new name The Big Lost. And it means that Reba, @aerahh , and the Be Good foundation can take their mission further. So really, this is just the beginning. taken in Ketchum, Idaho by @bolmj
27
20 days ago
Download
Got out for a nice big training ride today with @itsmesilps and some additional friends! We did a 55 mile loop (with 5,000ft of elevation gain…) out in the hills northwest of Fort Collins. Very very dry out there and even though we started at 7:30 it got hot quickly. After the ride was a Mexican food truck and some beers at Stodgy! All in all a great day! by @bolmj
1
3 months ago
Download
I guess it’s time for my Unbound 200 recap. @imjdel , @missy_schaefer , @kraxner and I all came in a day earlier than normal so we could make it to @megfisher ‘s induction into the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame. What a pleasure to be present for her induction as well as the other 3 folks this year. Everyone has an amazing story and a spirit of community and giving that is unrivaled. Congrats again Meg! Unbound always feels like a family reunion; EVERYONE is there. It’s the biggest gravel race on the planet. All of the major brands are there launching new products. All of the pros are there duking it out for the podium, and then literally thousands of your closest friends are there to ride with you and cheer you on. It’s ALWAYS a highlight to say hi to @bigtallwayne , @dhughes101 , @p.bitty86 , @lindaguerrettephoto , @megfisher , and so many more people that I’m missing here. And it’s literally a homecoming for me. This year I saw my old friend a prior roommate Damon for the first time in years while walking out of a restaurant. Ok so race day was a blast. It was also the single hardest single day I’ve ever had on a bike. And at 207 miles, it makes the longest ride I’ve ever done (by like…a mile or two. But it still counts!). The course conditions were brutal. The first 1/3 or so was full of sloppy mud, thunder, lightning, and rain. Lots of broken bikes. Lots of noisy bikes. That’ll happen with that much mud. The middle 1/3 was warm, sunny, and windy. Still some unrideable mud sections as well as some knee deep standing water. The last 1/3 was all night riding with lights. We got dumped on my a very active thunderstorm. Lightning everywhere. I finished just before midnight. I’m particularly proud of @dustinkraxner for pushing HARD and finishing his race, as well as @imjdel for completing his second 200. Anyone who toed the line at any distance this year deserves incredible respect. That was a tough day. 1 more finish till my 5-time goblet! Then I’ll stick to the 100 😂 by @bolmj
9
4 months ago
Download
This is my belated @midsouthgravel post. I didn’t take nearly as many pictures this time around. Friday - I really liked having the pro race separate. It let us normies actually watch them as a spectator for once, and it gave them a clean race with a separated field. Lots has been said about the terrible race coverage and safety concerns, so I won’t rehash it here; definitely tons of room for improvement on both fronts. Saturday - The weather was great, the roads were fantastic, and the vibes were high. Due to the pros racing the day before, that allowed THEM to hang out, cheer, and some even decided to ride the course again with the amateurs to get a feel for what their day was like. Special shoutout to @pstetina and @bigtallwayne for their twizzler gravel fishing! Also @chasethebiker and his Lunchbox crew playing bongos and cheering folks on. You want to talk about the REAL spirit of gravel? It’s that right there; community, fun, and at the same time pushing yourself and others to do something hard. As for my race day, it went phenomenally well. According to Strava, it was my fastest 100 miles ever. Not bad for also having roughly 7700ft of elevation gain! The trusty @mosaiccycles treated me well, my @envecomposites wheels and bars brought comfort all day, and the ol @silca_velo waxed chain and bar tape held up with no complaints. Shoutout to @mathenyendurance for helping me stay fit and dialed over the winter and going into the race! Now…just a few short months till @unboundgravel ! taken in Stillwater, Oklahoma by @bolmj
5
6 months ago
Download
Every now and then I actually do things for fun not involving a bicycle. One of those hobbies is Astrophotography; specifically taking very long exposures of very faint objects in the night sky with some specialized equipment. I sat down this weekend and edited some data taken of the Orion Nebula (M42). It is one of the most studied objects in the night sky, sitting just 1,344 light-years away — making it the closest large star-forming region to Earth. At its heart lies the Trapezium, a tight cluster of young, massive stars whose intense ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas and sculpts the nebula’s iconic billowing structure. It’s bright enough to be visible to the naked eye as the fuzzy middle “star” in Orion’s sword, yet deep enough to reward hundreds of hours of imaging.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ A higher quality image can be found here: https://app.astrobin.com/u/jb_astro?i=p6gbub taken in Fort Collins, Colorado by @bolmj
2
6 months ago
Download
Another @bigsugarclassic in the books! With some thunderstorms in the forecast for the race, doing the 12+ hour drive from Colorado felt like a bit of a gamble. But, with the money already spent, and it being the last race of the season, I felt like I’d be missing out by not going. @missy_schaefer and I carpooled down and met up with @kraxner for our typical bike race stay shenanigans. We even got to have a nice dinner and spend time with @zacharylallison , @whit.allison , @megfisher , and @gpowersfilm ! Special thanks to Gretchen for that awesome finish line photo! The weather was unfortunately just as forecasted; lots of rain and lots of lightning. So the planned 100 mile course got paired down by the race officials to 50 miles. Well, after looking a bit more closely at the weather, combined with my expected finish time, riding for 4-5hrs in the rain and lighting didn’t sound like the best idea. Joe and I opted to instead ride the 25 (29…) mile course as absolutely fast as we could. I even managed to set a few new all-time power output records out there! Clearly even with my off year of racing and training, @mathenyendurance has been keeping me squared away! No issues on course to speak of, other than getting absolutely soaked and muddy! Just need to do a deep clean on the bike when I get home! taken in Bentonville, Arkansas by @bolmj
7
a year ago
Download
@rebeccasprivateidaho 2025 is done! What an awesome week up here. I got to spend some time doing media capture for the stage race (stage 1 and 2) which was incredibly fun. I also had a successful race today (the 100 mile course), though definitely slower than some other years; my training is down. We got a condo with the regular crew of @kraxner , @jsalbre , @missy_schaefer , @rockymtnwild , @imjdel , and then with a special guest @megfisher and a brief time with @gpowersfilm Already looking forward to next year! taken in Ketchum, Idaho by @bolmj
15
a year ago
Download
Some photos from my @nedgravel Tungsten course ride today - 70 miles and ~8300ft of gain. Looooots of up and down. Very little in between. But, the weather was absolutely perfect, the views were amazing, and the folks that put this event on do an amazing job. I’ll particularly shout out the safety crews; every intersection that should’ve had someone controlling traffic was fully staffed and on top of it. taken in Nederland, Colorado by @bolmj
2
a year ago
Download
This was my 3rd successful finish of @unboundgravel 200, and my fastest one yet at 16hrs and 56 minutes. With all of the rain that the area got leading into this race, it was hard to know what we’d run into; this is a race known for some pretty extreme conditions, after all. What we were greeted with was instead some of the smoothest, fastest roads I’ve ever seen out here. I’m sure that contributed to my faster time this year…because my (lack of) proper training leading up to this race certainly didn’t 😂. @mathenyendurance did his best to get me into race form despite my job doing its best to derail him! I’m also SO proud of @missy_schaefer and @imjdel for finishing their first 200’s! And of course, @kraxner deserves kudos for not only finishing his alongside Missy, but doing it single speed! It’s always so nice to run into friends back in Emporia. @megfisher , @bigtallwayne , @lelandains , @adventures_with_godzilla , @chelsearhl and so many more that I can’t list here! 2 more of the 200’s to go until my 1000 mile club gravel chalice…then I’ll probably stick to the 100 mile course after that. For a while at least 😂 taken in Emporia, Kansas by @bolmj
17
a year ago
Download
Life lessons right here… by @bolmj
1
2 years ago
Download
I first met Robert at the @ltraceseries MTB 100. He’s one of the few riders out there that is taller than me (6’7”) and is a helpful, kind, and caring as he is tall. Last week at @bigsugarclassic , he was in a terrible accident. He crashed and his femur went through and shattered his pelvic wing and hip socket. He was transferred 2 hours to a Trauma 1 hospital in Springfield, MO. On Tuesday, he went though a 9 hour open reduction internal fixation of the left acetabulum fracture in the pelvis surgery, which the surgeon said was probably one of the worst that he’s ever seen or done. He has over a dozen screws screwing his pelvis to his spine, and then attaching the other hip bones together. It will be 12 weeks with no weight bearing on his left side/hip and then months of rehab. At this time, He will likely be in a rehabilitation center in Missouri for a time, and then the task of getting him back to Minnesota is unclear because of the distance and the transport. His wife, Angie, is there with him, which is another added expense that is necessary for his recovery. Anything you can do to help this wonderful human and his family would be greatly appreciated. https://gofund.me/92209fa0 taken in Bentonville, Arkansas by @bolmj
0
2 years ago
Download
@bigsugarclassic 2024 edition is wrapped! I set a new personal best on this course at 8hrs 22 minutes. The weather was perfect, and I had no issues with hydration, nutrition, or mechanicals all day. My beautiful @mosaiccycles frame and @envecomposites g23 wheels got me through the chunky, loose, high speed downhills comfortably and safely! It’s always wonderful running into friends on course as well. I got to ride with @megfisher for a while in her brand new Gravel National Champion jersey. She stopped to help an injured rider and sent me ahead to hunt down help around mile 45 or so and I didn’t see her again until the finish. Speaking of injuries, there were a lot of broken and battered people on course; I personally saw 3 different ambulances stopped helping people, and heard of plenty more. Put buddy Robert got banged up pretty bad as well, but is in good spirits. We’re certainly wishing him a speedy recovery. Special thanks to @gpowersfilm for the finish line shot with Meg! @kraxner should be able to start cycling again here soon. Today marks the first day since breaking his foot that he was allowed to wear a normal shoe. Progress! taken in Bentonville, Arkansas by @bolmj
11
2 years ago
Download
×

Download all media on this page

Photos Videos
back to up