Ep. 78 - Jessica Alexander, Bikepacking from Arkansas to Austin during a Pandemic

Bikes or Death

Patrick Farnsworth

Sports, Health & Fitness, Wilderness

4.8 • 563 Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2021

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I've been familiar with Jessica peripherally as a member of the Austin cycling scene and also from her published work in Bikepacking.com. She's penned two works for them, Discovering Aloneness on the Arkansas High Country can be found online. Her other piece, River Road Rendezvous, is featured the in the 2021 edition of the Bikepacking Journal. So when I received my July '22 issue of TPWD Magazine I was surprised, but not shocked, to see an article she wrote for them about bikepacking during the pandemic.

It's about a 700 mile trip that her and a riding companion created and road during the later stages of the pandemic. The began their journey in Little Rock, AR and used a train to get them to their starting point. From there it was 700 miles of mixed terrain riding back to their hometown of Austin, TX. Like any trip they have their highs and lows, but they are always jam packed with lessons and knowledge you didn't have before.

Jessica is an accomplished bikepacker and photojournalist and her two passions intersect to inspire people to get out and ride their damn bike, and that's something we can dig over here at BoD. On this episode we learn a little about Jessica and then we learn from her about bikepacking, route planning, and how to share them to inspire others!

After we parted ways she was off to teach a women's clinic on crit racing. Jessica's desire to grow the bike community is seemingly endless and I appreciate her coming on the show to share some of that with us.

There is a special message to the listeners at the beginning of this episode. I hope you will take the time to listen. These episodes aren't possible without your support, literally. To find out how you can help keep the lights on please visit Patreon.

A big thanks to this week's newest Patrons!!
Jeremy Gleason
Michael Gerwig
Tom Boss
Dave Lewis
Valerie Ruiz
Dave Easley
Bill Gercken
Matthew Wells
David Criswell
Stephen Outten
Neal Sivula
Jesse Orman
Charley Lingerfelt
Katy Cummings
Ashley Nicole Ferris

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, friends, and welcome to the Bikes for Death podcast. As always, my name is Patrick,
0:05.7	and I am your host. And before you reach for that skip button, please hear me out. I've got some
0:13.4	news, and it isn't good news, I'm afraid. I am out of money, like, all the way out. I've been so, so focused on Bikes for Death and I've
0:24.6	been working so hard that I didn't even realize how deep I'd gotten myself. But, you know,
0:33.6	here we are. I talk a lot about Instagram versus reality, but how about a little bit of podcast
0:39.3	versus reality? The reality is that I've been the benefactor of a immense outpouring of support
0:47.6	from the community, from so many people all over the world who have bought merchandise, listen to the show, donated money,
0:58.8	you know, whatever it is, or just, you know, send me a message and told me I was doing a good job.
1:03.1	Whatever it is, you know, I have been the benefactor of so many amazing things.
1:08.2	And this has been an absolutely incredible experience. But it's one that I have
1:13.2	been personally financing. Unfortunately, I can no longer pay for the privilege to be the host of
1:22.3	this show anymore. But just because I can't doesn't mean we're done. I am not quitting. Over the last
1:31.0	three years, I've given you 78 episodes now and hundreds of hours of audio entertainment or
1:38.2	podcasting or whatever you want to call in addition to all the social media and the websites and
1:44.1	the blog post and everything else I do.
1:47.0	It takes a lot to try to chase your dreams and turn them into a reality.
1:52.3	And I have sacrificed so much.
1:55.4	And unfortunately, you know, I've just come up short.
1:59.2	And being a person who advocates for solo self-supported adventures,
2:05.6	and, you know, just as a person who's really lived by that ethos
2:09.6	since I was 17 years old and moved out of my parents' house,
2:12.6	and I've kind of been figuring it out ever since on my own,
	...

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