Carolyne Whelan

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in issue 208 of Dirt Rag Magazine. Like what you see? Subscribe now at dirtragmag.com/subscribe to catch issue 211, coming real soon.
by Carolyne Whelan
When Rim Tours invited me along for their Colorado Trail guided trip, I was warned that it was “advanced,” due largely to exposure and elevation. What does “advanced” mean, anyway? I’ve been riding trails for over 11 years, and I’ve ridden exposed terrain at elevation before and didn’t die. So h...

There's a palpable tension between King Coal and those tasked with preserving its history.
The following is an excerpt of Carolyne Whelan's essay "King Coal and the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum," from the new book Voices from the Rust Belt, edited by Anne Trubek (Picador, April 2018), available for purchase from Picador, Amazon and IndieBound. Copyright © 2018 by Anne Trubek. All rights reserved.
Wilma Steele sits on her screened porch and watches the last of the apples fall from her tree. ...

The first bike shop job I ever had was at a place called Rob N Charlie’s in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of my wrenching mentors there gave me good advice when I began working on an expensive bike for the first time: “Consider the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm.”
That advice stuck with me as a general life model. It’s how I try to approach both bikes and relationships, trailside flora and fauna and the people taking my cash at the grocery store. But once you get past a certain point, once y...

OK, so now that I’ve gotten the Pittsburgh tragedy out in the open, let’s move on to the PHILLY BIKE EXPO!
Maurice (Dirt Rag’s publisher and mastermind) and I drove into Philly with a few bikes in tow, plus some old copies of Dirt Rag to hand out, socks, pint glasses, hats, t-shirts, frame bags and tool pouches, and of course stickers and life-sized Jenga. Not wanting to miss a good day of riding, we set up our booth as quickly as possible and then met up with our friend and local ride ambass...

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If you live in a place that experiences cold, and especially if that cold is also wet, then you probably know about 45NRTH. They are at the front of the… Read more
For perhaps the first time in modern history, government officials beyond the highest-ranking are household names in the United States. People who are not very involved in politics and invested… Read more

A cyclist reconsiders her stance toward public lands

Green Life | Sierra Club

There was a brief break in rain, but the clouds were still looming when we set up camp in a marshy aspen field full of cow patties somewhere on Storm King Mountain. By the time we washed dishes after dinner and began our evening bedtime rituals, we were already fantasizing about breakfast. My two friends and I lay in our sleeping bags listening to the rain against our tents and tarp, and imagined the concoction we knew awaited us at sunrise.

In the ideal story of three women traveling together, we meet and bond like sisters, sync our cycles and have a great vacation with great hair and limited turmoil. But in the real world of real adventure with real women, there is a lot of strife and legitimate danger. We encountered bears, wolves and Canadian lynx on our ride. There were steep cliffs and food shortages during 500-mile stretches between towns. There was the risk of serious injury from crashing or overuse.

Women’s Adventure gives you the 411 on cycling comfort, bike fit, saddles, chamois, chamois cream, saddle sores, and cleanliness in and out of the saddle....

It only took one 2-hour, 16-mile trail ride in Santa Fe to realize that I need a proper hydration packet. Behold, my REI Dividends!