Foreign – Luke’s Traka Adventure

2 AM, on Sunday Morning and I’m in a Boeing at over 35,000 ft in the air. Sorry, over 11,000m in the air. When competing outside of these United States, we will use the metric system, like the rest of the civilized world. But I refuse to be some proselytizing Metric Snob just because I have been to Europe once. As soon as I cross that border, that Wahoo returns to miles and I’ll be referring to my beverages in “fluid ounces” and calling French fries by their true name, freedom fries.

Continue reading

A Season of Lessons, Pt II

Summarizing a 10-month season of racing is complicated, but in an effort to take you all along with me through 2023, I’m going to try. Events like Mid South in mid-March now seem so distant compared to the more recent sweltering heat of Foco Fondo in July.  Now it’s December, and I’m deep into prepping miles for the 2024 season. My brain wanders while on the trainer: What is it that defines a season as a success or a failure? Is it really either-or, or is it neither-nor?

Continue reading

A Season of Lessons Pt 1

For the last 10 months, I have been racing professionally in CA, AZ, OK, CO, NE, KS, and AR. My TrailDonkey tells the story of long, dusty miles and many lessons learned. This is the first year I have raced full-time and it has been an enlightening experience. More than a tool for fitness, a bicycle is a teacher. The lessons are usually tough and sometimes take more than one confrontation with challenges. I entered the season wanting to dive deeper into the sport than ever. Over the season, I’ve grown as an athlete physically, mentally, and professionally. I’d like to share some of the things I’ve learned so far in 2023. I can’t wait to see what new lessons the next season will teach me.

Continue reading

Robididn’t: Open Range Tornados

I experienced a wide range of emotions after standing on the podium at Unbound. Climbing up there and fulfilling a long journey of hard work and sacrifice filled me with elation. However, it also left me with a lingering question of “what’s next?” The following four days were mostly filled with snacking and sleeping as I basked in achieving my biggest goal of the year, only touching the bike to clean it.

Continue reading

Naked means Naked with TD4.

Traildonkey 4, TD4, Naked unidirectional carbon fiber,

We’ve offered “Naked” frames at Rodeo for a long time, but naked has never really meant NAKED, because practically speaking carbon bikes are often not precise enough to show in their naked state. There are almost always small aberrations and flaws in a frame once it leaves the mold, Those are mostly covered with putty and then paint. Some sections of the weave or layup come out smooth and those may be clear coated, but very few bike companies will offer their frame in its visually naked state because clear coat doesn’t only show the beauty of carbon fiber, it also shows the abnormalities.

Continue reading

TD4 production / delivery update

TD4, Traildonkey 4.0, White Rim trail.

Its been five months since we announced Traildonkey 4.0 (TD4) at Philly Bike Expo. The response that the bike received and continues to receive from our community and customers has been thrilling to all of us here in Denver who have been at the genesis of its creation.

Continue reading

Bike Gear Database: Switch Up Donkey

Bike Gear Database took notice of the Switch Up 2.0 TD4 build that we completed recently and sent us over a bunch of questions about the bike. The Switch Up concept uses clever, easy-to-use hydraulic couplers which allow for swapping flat bar to drop bars in about ten minutes or less. The couplers also allow for traveling with TD4 builds that use the fully integrated / internal routing option that the platform supports. If not for the couplers it would not be possible to adequately take apart and pack an integrated routing bicycle which is something that ALL integrated bikes on the market today potentially suffer from. We are happy to report that we’ve solved the problem and the results speak for themselves! Check the article for details.

Continue reading

Bikepacking.com // TD4 and the industry conspiracy

Bikepacking.com kindly invited our senior intern to share some thoughts on our new TD4, it’s history, and how we came to be where we are with the bike’s evolution. Stephen took the opportunity to have a wink at the way the bike industry develops bikes, and the skepticism often seen from consumers when a new bike debuts. If you’re interested in hearing where Rodeo and our bikes come from, have a hop over to bikepacking.com for the full read.

Continue reading