The Silver Lining - Ride Beyond

In mid-April, right around when all the dirt roads east of the Cascades get just about perfect for spring bikepacking, I dislocated my elbow on an easy gravel grinder ride that is right off the Oregon Outback. The healing process has been long and frustrating, so I spent some time dreaming about bike touring and emailing a bunch of random customer service departments of companies that promote bike touring to see if I could convince anyone to send some free gear to give away at a presentation I was giving to introduce women to bike touring and bikepacking. Hillary from Ortlieb emailed me back immediately... yes, she would send some panniers and by the way, she loved my bike blog and wanted to invite me on a sponsored women's bikepacking ride to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Great Divide route. Who knew that dislocating my elbow would lead to this incredible opportunity?

With a three-week trip to Peru and Ecuador with my dad to distract me, I finally was able to get on my bike last week for the first time in over a month. My introduction to bike touring presentation was a smashing success with nearly 30 women showing up and I'm back in the saddle (literally!).

So many amazing women!

Yesterday, we received the official information packet and it made me all warm and fuzzy as it combines my love of bike touring and bikepacking with my passion for social justice. From the official packet: "The goal of Ride Beyond is to increase inclusion of women in outdoor activities; specifically bikepacking. Ortlieb GmbH is hosting the first Ride Beyond Stereotypes event in Slovania at the end of June 2018. Ortlieb USA plans to grow this initiative by hosting a ride in the States. The group will be made-up of 10 women with different backgrounds and skill levels. Our initiative is to show that we “Ride Beyond” through all levels of diversity, not just by gender." The roster of women on this ride is inspiring and I'm privileged to a part of this initiative!