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Road tripping, with my two favorite allies, fully loaded we got snacks and supplies”
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Red Hot Chili Peppers What do you get when you cross two of the best female mountain bikers, ArtBarn Film, Platypus Hydration, the comedic styling of Miranda Miller and Moab, Utah?-A ridiculous good time….
Whether you live in Whistler, Seattle, Toronto, Santa Cruz, Reykjavik, Queenstown or Nashville, the siren song of new undiscovered trails is always strong. The tried and true method is “
The Road Trip”. Road trips are a Kerouacian rite of passage for every mountain biker, one of the only times when you can justify Krispy Kremes, Energy drinks and fast food, bonus points if your trip brings you close to an In and Out burger. In fact, sometimes routes can be planned based solely on the proximity to In and Out burger joints.
In and Out Burgers fuelled the final leg, Animal Style from Salt Lake to Moab's La Salle mountains
Road Tripping and mountain biking share many of the same core attributes, both are about the journey and not the destination. Have you ever been super stoked to arrive at the bottom of a trail?
Both the road trip and mountain biking create their own language, memes and inside jokes, which to those on the outside make no sense. For instance that awkward moment when your road trip inside jokes are met with silence from people who stayed home. Apparently the phrase “
Get Bucked” when referring to dinner plans has little meaning outside of Moab, Utah. Road trips, and mountain biking are also generally undertaken with good friends, providing opportunity for those relationships to grow, while experiencing new places and shredding new berms.
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Every road trip you go on will be different. But some things will always remain the same. You will most likely be uncomfortable and bored for a longer amount of time than you bargained for, the same people will always ride in the front seat and you’ll about talk three things; scheming, dreaming and bullshitting. And sometimes those three things are the same...”
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Miranda MillerMiranda and Katrina may have been dreaming and scheming about a hotel room from the tents...
Both the road trip and the act of mountain biking facilitate meeting new people, going on new adventures and almost more importantly trying new Micro-brews. This particular road trip had the girls testing two new women’s specific Platypus Hydration packs, the cross country inspired, B-line and the multi hour All Mountain pack, the Siouxon. As Miranda would say “
These packs are designed for you… unless you’re a man.”
The Platypus B-line and Siouxon were designed and refined in Seattle, by Katie Nash a designer who specializes in women’s specific outdoor products. Instead of just re-branding the men’s pack and offering a smaller size, Katie designed a new platform from the ground up, tested it on a wide range of women, and finally sent her finished product to Moab with Miranda and Katrina. Miller and Strand are hard charging athletes, who happen to be women, and their feedback from the harsh desert (
where hydration is essential to survival) helped further refine the B-line and Siouxon.
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Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”
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J. KeroucThe road trip does not reward those who stand still, for it is a journey into the unknown. That is the very nature of a road trip; the search for the next new place. Each and every trip you and friends undertake is different, and can never be re-created. Sure you can go to the same places and ride the same trails, but the journey will never be the same... That’s just the way The Road Trip works.
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When it’s over and you’re left with a craving for a salad, a bag of dirty clothes and a bike that probably hates you. It only takes a second alone to realize how good those kids really are and how lucky you are to be allowed to have this much fun.”
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Miranda MillerTell us where your ultimate road trip destination is in the comments.
Way to go, ladies... Thanks for the time, effort and dedication you put into this and that I'm sure you'll put into more great stuff! Can't wait to try it out!