In most circles, it’s called Adventure Coffee. (Not typically capitalized, but I did so because it’s a wonderful thing and it deserves tall letters, y’know?) The activity is simple. Find a group of friends, gather coffee/tea, camp stoves, water, and bicycles, then settle on a place outdoors to enjoy the fruits of your labors before work. There’s a reason coffee shops make most of their … Continue reading Coffee and Bikes in the Morning
It was 1:45pm and I was running late. Nothing new there. On this occasion, I was tardy by 15 minutes, which wouldn’t have been so bad, but I still hadn’t left my house. My name is Kurt Stafki and I’m never on time. It was to be a day riding an easy 30-40 miles to St. Paul and back. I was on my Niner RLT 9 … Continue reading From Two To Crew
At a certain point, I lost count of the times something didn’t go right. Navigating three feet of powder on a mountain side with cross-country skis strapped to numb feet seven miles from the nearest road; losing footing while trying to cross a river in waist-deep, snowmelt raging water; finishing your last water bottle in 104F heat 17 miles from the car on a bike. You … Continue reading Get Uncomfortable
The best trips happen spontaneously. No planning require. Get in the car and go. That, at least, is how we feel. Two weeks before heading west, I had an idea. I’ve never been to Utah and I needed to use some PTO. Yeah, let’s go to Utah. After some quick research, it would take too much time to drive all the way out there. What’s … Continue reading Wyoming and Back
Things didn’t go as planned last night. We fucked up. White people, this is why we can’t have nice things. It hurt to see such a terrible person (though that would be a compliment) be elected President. It actually hurt. I’m still stunned. Who knows what’ll happen when everyone makes sense of this. I took pride in voting for a woman to become President, just … Continue reading Reflecting
A guy can excuse himself from writing in his blog, right? Because that’s what I’m doing. A lot has happened since April. Professionally, I left my job at the ad agency for a position as the marketing manager at a menswear company in Minneapolis. It’s my dream job. I went from managing social media strategy at an agency to leading marketing for a brand. I … Continue reading Where I’ve Been
When we think of a wild place, we envision a place far from the reaches of man. A place pure and untouched. A place rugged and natural. If you were to travel 10,000 years back in time, this place would look the same. How many of these places have you seen? Or have you even heard of? Alaska’s Chuitna River is one of those places. … Continue reading Save the Chuitna
The Thousand Year Journey: Oregon To Patagonia from Kenny Laubbacher on Vimeo. If there were a video that ever resonated with me, it is this one. I’ve shared it here before, but I feel the need to share it again because it rings so true with me. My post about 2015 was inspired by this video. To live a full, interesting and wonderful life, we … Continue reading Why Explore More?
Dreams can provide a look into your subconscious. Many people believe dreams show you how you truly feel. Between self-insight and overall absurdity, I enjoy my time in the dreamscape. I’m not one who deeply analyzes my dreams, but if something is obvious, I devote some thought to it. Cyclocross consumed my dreams the other night. I dreamt I was on my Niner RLT9 Steel … Continue reading CX Dreaming
Or, Why I am Looking Forward to 2016. I started writing this post in the passenger seat of my Subaru on January 1 while speeding back to Minnesota from Big Sky, Montana. Now it is two weeks later and I’ve had more time to think about 2015 and the year ahead. We had a good year, 2015. A great 12 months. I fished in four … Continue reading 2015
Birch & Flannel 