Gravel Bike – Rodeo Adventure Labs, LLC

Podcast: Ride, XPLOR, Create?

This week, we are back in the Lab to consider the new SRAM RED XPLR AXS (so many capital letters!) and its use of the UDH (moar capital letters! moar!). While we jest at the branding, the tech is serious business. The new 1×13 groupset leans into the SRAM Transmission style rear derailleur and brings it to drop bar bikes, with the UDH hanger instead of the previous convention of specific hangers for specific frames. This change is a big deal for Rodeo because the design is at odds with the pre-existing design of the Trail Donkey as the frame is not UDH compatible.

We delve into some of the specifics, but the majority of the conversation is about how these big standard shifts in the bike industry affect small-frame brands. Along the way, we also find a few tangents to discuss some of the nuances of groupsets in this day and age of cycling. In this conversation, Stephen and Logan talk shop at first, before the Intern passes the baton to Drew van Kampen and Cameron “Coco” Lindberg to get into the weeds. Then, it’s back to Stephen and Logan to bring it all around.

Host: Logan Jones-Wilkins

Guests: Stephen Fitzgerald, Drew van Kampen, and Cameron “Coco” Lindberg

Producer: Logan Jones-Wilkins

21 Songs to Enjoy While Riding a Bike

Music to live to, music to Ride to. Luke Hall, our factory racer, spends a LOT of time on bikes. He’s shared a list of 21 tracks that pair with his rides beautifully.

Adventure Cycling Gravel Bike Playlist Rodeo Labs Spotify traildonkey

Pilgrimage to Radical Hill

The onset of Alpine season in Colorado first takes us to that spot in the map that we’ve been wondering about for years: Radical Hill. It was no easy thing getting there, but we never having to dig deep on the way to Colorado’s treasures.

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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.

Adventure Gravel Bike Luke Hall Rodeo Labs Traka

The Rodeo Newsletter, Chapter 4

I’m not sure how it’s April 2024 already, but here we are. Newsletters are tricky! Each month I intend to write one, but they are probably the single most difficult thing for me to stop what I’m doing and work on. There is so much to catch you up on though! Rodeo Labs has been non-stop on so many levels through the end of last year and into this year, and I’d love to bring everyone up to speed.

Adventure Colorado Cycling Flaanimal Gravel Bike Rodeo Labs Rodeo Rally traildonkey

Mid South: a Heaven fit for the Talking Heads

Mid South is the type of Heaven the Talking Heads always imagined. Here is why:

Gravel Bike Gravel Race Mid South Rodeo Labs

Donkeys Fly South: Southern Migration recap

Once upon a time, exactly ten years ago, when Rodeo started, it was 100% about community. There were no products, no ambitions, no balance sheets. We started a team, we invited anyone who wanted to join the team, and we had no plan from there. Whatever happened, happened, and a lot happened. In the following months an entire community sprang to life not just locally in Denver, but throughout the state, throughout the region, and throughout Colorado.

Adventure Cycling Flaanimal Gainsville Gravel Bike Rodeo Labs Rodeo Rally traildonkey

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?

Colorado Cycling Gravel Bike Rodeo Labs traildonkey

Four improvements with TD4

Bike brands spend a lot of time obsessing over details that distinguish their product from others. They hire PR firms, bring in R&D to discuss and verify the finer points. They hire athletes to say they ride faster because my gear is better than other peoples, or something close to that. Comparison is important in a market place of ideas and products, after all.

Adventure Colorado Cycling Gravel Bike Rodeo Labs Trail donkey review traildonkey

Everest (ing) by Donkey

Everesting is a ride wherein riders ride a single hill over and over until they’ve climbed the height of Mount Everest. That’s 29,032′ or 8848m.

I decided to do an Everest attempt after doing a last minute Instagram poll just throwing it out there to see if I should give it a go. 100% of you said yes. I wasn’t sure if I would do it up until this point and since this was the day before I was pretty ill-prepared.

Adventure Cycling Gravel Bike Mountain Biking Rodeo Labs traildonkey