First of all, Happy New Year! This year marks the 25th year our organization has published a free magazine for the public. Since 1994, we’ve published and distributed a print magazine to better bike shops, breweries and coffee shops. We’ve run under various flags including, Orange County BICYCLIST, Southern California BICYCLIST, SoCal BICYCLIST, and our present title, BICYCLIST Magazine. For those that have been along for the ride, thank you for keeping up. For those new to the investigation, welcome!

For this first issue of our new year, we are all over the map with stories of experience to motivate your goals, travels and adventures. John Woodson checks in with a dispatch from the Beehive State, as he takes us on his do-it-yourself, 3-day tour through Cedar City, Utah in Asphalt, Please. The ‘sponsor yourself’ event is an eligible BICYCLIST Challenge. Find out more on page 19 and learn more about the other Challenges at bicyclist.xyz/challenge (and the requirements to become ‘Cheesecake Supreme‘).

Tucking in alongside our road challenges, we are opening up the BICYCLIST Challenge to include the first mountain bike entry. Taking the latest installment In Search of Dirt from James Murren on his outing to the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, 13 miles or so south of Julian in San Diego County, James outlines a route that will challenge a variety of skills, both technical on the bike, but also off-bike including way-finding and basic outdoor survival. Of special interest to our ‘SoCal locals’, the piece details an area that mixes solitude, single-track, double-track, and wilderness, right here in our backyard.

In ‘Destinations Within Reach‘ we look at another State Park for this issue, Crystal Cove in Orange County- a true destination for adventure, disconnecting and seeing the best of route and trail. The more than 2000 acres are home to four campgrounds, three of which are bike-in/hike-in only. The network of trails provides a cornucopia of challenges easily accessible to the training racer or weekend warrior.

We also have our experiential guide to the ‘bike-overnight’ on page 12- The BATVenture #001, a ride to somewhere with everything you need to sleep and eat on the road, but compacted to a 24-hour adventure. When available school, budget or work responsibilities don’t allow for an expansive travel tour, a quick trip to a destination within reach is an entirely new experience when taken from the vantage point of the overnight. We hope it’s a reminder and motivator for you to search out the local gems that offer easily accessed opportunities for adventure. And we made some avoidable mistakes,

learn from our missteps.

We have a fresh installment of Reader’s Rides on the next page, see what they’re getting and how you can enter. Hint: #iambicyclist. On that same page you’ll also find summaries for our podcast, The BICYCLIST Experience, where I join Kelley O’Toole, and Victor Prestinary to explore, analyze and discuss the world of news through the optic of people who travel, race or explore the world by bike. Legal Cycling, and Ask the Coach have fresh installments for your consideration, and we also have a new section ‘The Community Feed‘ where you can catch up on the headlines you may have missed across the bicyclist media landscape.

Lastly, if you enjoy this magazine, or if you would be disappointed to find out it was no longer in print, please pledge your support on Patreon. In exchange, all supporters receive early release of the magazine, delivered as a digital PDF, ready for import to your favorite reading device along with full episodes of the podcast (+4 hours of additional laughs, humor and witty banter every month). Higher levels of support rewarded accordingly. Visit www.BICYCLIST.team to learn more and pledge your support of independent and free media dedicated to guiding and promoting a life traveled by bicycle.

See you on the route. Stay safe. Peace,

– Chris Reynolds

(@chrsrnlds)