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Meaghan Hackinen is an ultra-endurance cyclist and author of South Away: The Pacific Coast on Two Wheels (NeWest Press, 2019) a travel memoir based on her first bicycle tour with her sister. Other two-wheeled adventures have taken Meaghan from Haida Gwaii to Mexico’s high plateaus, across Canada and the United States, and from North Cape to Tarifa […]

Backcountry Freedom with My WR35 Falcon Wheels

As a dedicated road cyclist, I stepped outside my comfort zone in 2021 to purchase a used Salsa Cutthroat, an ultra-endurance mixed surface bike inspired by the Tour Divide. I fell for this style of adventure cycling so hard and decided to upgrade my wheelset in 2022 to get even more out of the experience. […]

Big Rides of 2022: A Roundup

Inspired by 2021’s Big Rides in the Okanagan, this year I’ve broadened my reach. Unlike 2021 where I explored terrain close to home and in neighbouring US states, this year I racked up 24,000 km in twenty-one countries on two continents (plus many more hours on my indoor trainer). Transitioning to remote, part-time work enabled […]

Midnight Reflections from the Transcontinental

July 24-August 5, 2022 From Transcontinental.cc : “The Transcontinental Race is the definitive self-supported bicycle race across Europe. From the cobbles of Flanders, to the shores of the Black Sea; via rock hewn tunnels, bald mountain tops, navigating pristine asphalt and rock strewn tracks, the Transcontinental will once again cross the European continent in its […]

Early Bird Van Island Bikepacking

James and I kicked April off with an early season bikepacking trip: seven days, no set route, more dirt than pavement. We picked Southern Vancouver Island mostly out of convenience. I had a cat sitting gig in Courtenay lined up for the end of March, plus spring arrived a little earlier on the Island than […]

Covid-19 Comeback: My RAD 400 Experience

The westerly gale socks me. I tuck low into the aerobars and concentrate on forcing power through my legs. Dig in. Just a few more kilometres, I promise myself. I should be approaching Denmark’s west coast, but under an overcast night sky, the midnight darkness swallows me whole. An inky landscape reveals few hints to […]

Mallorca 312

The Jersey In 2019, Stacey Welsh loaned me her old Mallorca 312 jersey for the NorthCape4000, a self-supported 4,000-plus kilometre bikepacking race from Turin to North Cape, Norway. I wore Stacey’s jersey to shreds that summer: through Italy, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and then some. I wore it for […]

The Buckshot

June 15-16, 2021 I roar out of Kamloops on Valleyview Road on my bicycle, shot full of adrenaline. On a quest to cover 483 kilometres of rough, rolling terrain before sundown tomorrow. After a quick latte at a friend’s place where I park my borrowed Prius, I’m off and rolling east toward Barnhartsvale, grinning to […]

Big rides in the okanagan: 2021 Roundup

2021 didn’t shake out as planned. Yet, for all that went wrong—ask me about the joys of a cross-border romance in an era of travel restrictions—I discovered the thrill of off-road cycling, and for that I am extremely grateful. Below, I’ve compiled eleven awesome local rides from the summer of 2021, including bikepacking overnighters, epic […]

The urban edge

October 21, 2021 Ready for Battle By 10 pm, the disorderly chaos of Lycra, tools, and groceries strewn about the living room of James’s apartment has been tamed. It is Wednesday October 13, 2021: the eve of our self-supported 24-hour ITT (individual time trial) attempt at Sauvie Island, and we are sharpening our axes and […]

Playin’ It Cool: How I Survived the 2021 BC Epic

July 23, 2021 The number one question people ask me regarding the 2021 BC Epic 1000 is How did you manage to ride through the heat? I actually gave my heat strategy a lot of consideration—both in preparation for the event, and in execution. I definitely didn’t roll up to the start line without a […]