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Choose The Hard Way

@hardwaypod

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Bikes, zen & life w @vontz & guests.

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One for beef, beef for all. Thank you, our senator, Susan Collins.

#maine #election #humor

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There are quiet rules that never make it into official manuals, but iykyk.

One of my most conflicted ones: when you reach a crossroads, choose the road that climbs.

The idea isn’t because suffering is noble nor because difficulty is the point. It’s just that some decisions are better made before comfort has a chance to negotiate.

Over the years, I realized the same unwritten code lived inside entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, brewers, musicians, and friends who seemed to grow stronger through life’s hardest chapters. One of them is my friend Andrew Vontz, whose work inspired this piece and whose courage continues to remind me what choosing the hard way really looks like.

This chapter isn’t about seeking hardship.
It’s about becoming the kind of person who already knows which road to take when it arrives.

Choose the Hard Way.

Link in bio.

#ChooseTheHardWay #BeliefOrSomethingLikeIt #Growth #Resilience #cycling

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“From the 1920s through the end of World War II, the game, like many of its kind, once hung at eye level in smoky bars across France. The wall-mounted format made sense. It kept the coin slots and crank within easy reach and preserved precious floor space for drinking tables, conversation and the quiet shuffle of regulars coming in from the cold. There is not a single volt of electricity inside the machine. No lights. No buzzers. Just the tactile clunk of metal parts, levers engaging, springs pulling tight and the faint rattle of a token landing in the tray.

This is a game of rigged luck dressed in charm. Think of it as barroom roulette. Players made their prediction, turned the crank and listened to the soft whir of spinning wheels, hoping they’d hear the sound of a victory. Most left with nothing but an empty glass. At the top of the machine were three slots: green, red and yellow. You dropped in your 25-centime coin, a sharp clink echoing against the wood paneling, and chose your bike rider.”

Words/images: @hortoncollection

Only in print.
Get Issue 006 to read the full feature. Link in bio.

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200g CH / hr, one scoop of @skratchlabs to keep the tank full and push through the peanut-butter mud to show cancer the door.

Round three, live, from PenBay medical center.

🎉

#cancer #cycling #unbound

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Listen to your body. Do what you can when you can with what you have.

Day 37 curing b-cell lymphoma.

#cancer #ruck #zen #meditation #strength #hybrid #bcell

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OVER THE PAST 10 DAYS I spent time in some of the most incredible locations eating great food, sipping wine, drinking "some" Estrella beer, and learning about the places we visited with @efadventures

We got local... real local, this group of 7 riders and 3 tour leaders. Whether it was riding above Girona or walking the great city with an expert guide, visiting Dali's museum, the serenity of Lake Banyoles, the wicked Mare de Déu del Mont, the coastal magic carpet ride of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, or diving deep into some truly organic vineyards, this trip was intense, fulfilling and rewarding. Catalonia is a special place.

Needless to say, re-entry has been hard.

Woe is me.

Believe me, I am not complaining. Bikes are awesome. Exploration by bike is even better. In the end, too, you will meet life-long friends.

Words/images: @tim_schamber

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PART 1 OF 3
Coach Paul (although his favorite title is Izzy’s Dad): “Do you believe you can bike?”

In between all the giggles, you can hear Izzy say that she believes everyone can (including herself). This is part 1 of Izzy’s journey at Adventure Biking Camp last week in Bentonville, Arkansas. Stay tuned to watch the power of belief and how the week unfolded for Izzy!!! 👏

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It would be hard for Hollywood to write a better ending to the 2026 Classics season. At the finish line of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the cycling gods presented us with two generational talents on top of the podium. Demi Vollering collected her third win of La Doyenne, and Tadej Pogacar made it a straight-up hat trick.

To me, the Classics season is everything. I live for this part of the cycling year more than the Grand Tours. I love the all-or-nothing aspect of these races—the fact that tactical calculations are made for the here and now as opposed to three weeks from now. The Classics are epic and brutal and desperate and made of dreams. And Liege-Bastogne-Liege provides the ultimate crescendo.

It all begins with the elegance of Milan-Sanremo. Then we move to the brutal cobblestones of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. In the Ardennes, the power climbers shine like stars.

L-B-L is a monster of a bike race. And on cue, the monsters of the sport took top honors.

Words: @thejoeparkin
Images: @ashleygruber & @jeredgruber

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Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. And yet he’s deeply deeply unhappy, a man torn to pieces by his own insecurities.

These are the kind of people running this country.

8k

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The Mur de Huy: Since 1985, it has been the finishing climb in La Flèche Wallonne. There are few non-native French speakers that can pronounce the name of this hill correctly, and not many of even the world’s best bike racers can climb it well.

La Flèche Wallonne is the middle child of the Ardennes Classics, a perfect bridge between Amstel Gold and La Doyenne (the old lady) Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Following the jackhammer brutality of the cobblestone classics of Flanders, the two French-Belgian classics serve as a perfect segue from season-opening cobbles to Grand Tour spectacle.

Sadly, in my opinion, the brilliance of cycling’s middle-child region is overlooked as a riding destination. For me, the Ardennes is one of the world’s loveliest places to ride a bicycle—beautiful roads, delicious food, delightful people—even if they do speak the wrong Belgian language.

But back to the Mur de Huy: I would ride the Koppenberg tomorrow if I could, or the Alpe d’Huez, or the Stelvio or…pretty much any of them. But you can have the Mur de Huy. I’ll watch it on TV. That thing was always above my pay grade.

Words: @thejoeparkin
Images: @jeredgruber & @ashleygruber

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OUR BIGGEST ISSUE OF THE YEAR is in the works–The Official Tour de France Guide for North America!

This 148-page issue includes all the stages, teams, maps and analysis to keep you up to date through July. There is only one Official Guide in the U.S. and Fausto is it.

OF COURSE, it will include our yearly love-letter to all things France (think food, beers and bears (yes, bears), wine, culture, old school gold, etc). Issues will mail out to you by June 2nd.

THERE ARE THREE WAYS TO GET IT:
Subscribe or renew by May 15, or buy from our shop.

#readmoreridemore
#tourdefrance2026

Video created by: @pete_burr

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The Amstel Gold Race: 257 kilometers, 33 punchy climbs and 17,537,422 turns. Fact checkers are still verifying the actual number of turns—I’m going from memory of what if feels like to ride.

If the rest of the Spring Classics courses were inspired by classical music, the Amstel Gold Race was inspired by Miles Davis. It is frenetic, but requires a deft touch, intense focus and whole lot of attitude to execute correctly. Fall asleep at the wheel at the Amstel Gold and you will find yourself—no exaggeration here—several corners behind the front of the peloton, and questioning your life choices.

What makes this races unique among the Classics is that the super fans recon this event with more dedication than even the top teams, planning routes complete with off-road shortcuts that allow them to see the riders pass by a dozen or more times.

Words: @thejoeparkin
Images: Courtesy, @amstelgoldrace / @gaetan_sportpic

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