2022 Favorite Things

Reid and Josiah at Coffey's Cliff

Happy Thanksgiving, splitterheads. Here are the year's most-loved routes, places, gear, albums, books, and other assorted favorite things. I love how this year's list features a lot of stuff close to home. And a lot of them can be enjoyed together. For example: playing Magic: The Gathering while eating a Murder Burger at Lo Main? Or a power hour ride with a King Dewey enjoyed at Coffey's Cliff? These are Holy Trinities of favorite things. Let's get to it...

Coffey's Cliff

A dumpy limestone outcropping overlooking the tracks; popular with trainspotters and spotty youths. A great and grimy mid-ride chill spot. "Long live Coffey's Cliff" is graffitied on a bench and I agree. 

Magic nights

Magic: The Gathering

In this trading card game I am a powerful wizard traveling across a universe of elaborate fantasy worlds, summoning creatures, casting spells, and vanquishing my enemies. Magic has engaged my imagination and expanded my friend group. It's seriously one my favorite parts of 2022. 

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert 

I have loved reading the Dune series and completely nerding out in a way that I have not done since I was a ten-year old using our family's free AOL trial CD and dial-up internet modem to browse the Star Wars Expanded Universe databank. 

X-Tiger Polarized Sports Sunglasses

Handsome. Powerful. Self-confident. Elegant. Tiger style, baby. 

Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind (2022) - Coheed and Cambria

If the opening tracks of the second-installment to the Vaxis saga are too "popheed" (Disappearing Act is as dance-worthy as a good Robyn tune), then the backend (Ladders of Supremacy, Rise Naianasha, and Window of the Waking Mind) will hearken you back to the days of the roman numeral'd prog suites of Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV.  SO GOOD. 

Traverseroids at the St. Elmo Boulders

St. Elmo Boulders 

Unlike the world-class stone at the top of the mountain, the rock near St. Elmo is coarse, sandy, and more than occasionally "cursed." Your feet could explosively blow off at any moment and your finger tips may not last a full day. But if you're willing to make peace with the choss, then you're almost guaranteed to have a good time.

Lo Main

A good neighborhood bar simply cannot be beat and this one is .2 miles from our front door. Cheap beer. Good food. Great vibes. *The chef's kiss of all chefs' kisses*

Metempiric (2022) - Knoll 

Pummeling grindcore from Tennessee. It's creative chaos. It's blast beats and death growls. It's music to make you feel like you're being curb-stomped by Dolly Parton. 

Dirty Pecan 100

A hundred miles of red clay (and sand) roads through canopies of White Oaks, pines, and pecan trees. 

PBR + Lime

"Have you had a PBR with lime? It's the reason I still go to church." - my friend, Payton. 

Brooks at Stringers

Tuesdays at Stringers

Our local urban wilderness, Stringers Ridge, rides best CCW (Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday). The initial downhill of Double J is the most fun you can have on a drop bar bicycle, IMO.

Baby Elmo Loop

A perfect after work 5k that links up a variety of trails past Glen Falls on Lookout Mountain. 

Plantgazer (2020) - Show Me a Dinosaur

Post-black metal shoegaze from Russia. Their socials have gone radio-silent since posting a rehearsal video with an anti-war statement on the eve of the Ukraine invasion. This album is as good as anything from Deafheaven. Listen to it.

Seeing MxPx + Teenage Bottlerocket in Milwaukee

Rebecca surprised me for my birthday with tickets to see a pair of my favorite punk bands. Unreal level of kindness. MxPx CHANGED MY LIFE when I was in seventh grade and Teenage Bottlerocket was on my very short list of bands I still had yet to see live. So this birthday pretty much ruled because of the amazing human I married. 

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Bike Rides and Swimming Holes

Most days this summer were spent riding bikes or going to swimming holes and often combining the two. Pretty perfect. Highly recommend. 

This Danzig + Bullwinkle crossover T-Shirt

The iconic heavy metal design mashed up with one of my favorite childhood cartoon characters and adulthood favorite animal. I saw Kody Templeman (Teenage Bottlerocket) wearing it and I had to have one for myself.

Survivor Season 42

The forty-second season of Survivor ruled. I thought it was a strong rebound from Season 41 and the best all-new cast since Blood v. Water 2, IMO. So many good players that I hope return. 

"The Power Hour Loop"

A 16-mile loop ride around the city that takes roughly an hour. Witness the fitness of raw pathleticism as I blast around the South Chickamauga Greenway and Tennessee River Walk. 

Bedrock Sandals

Life after Chacos exists and it's better. 

Squishy Fork!

I'm a real MTB boy now. My Redline Monocog has seen many variations and this is its best. Catch me over-biking chunky gravel and under-biking the hardest lines on the trail. Ride it like you wanna rebuild it.

Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park

PROS: Rebecca and I spent a week peakbagging, gravel biking, and lobster roll eating in the ancestral lands of the Wabanaki. CONS: Despite Maine having the highest population of moose in the United States, there are none native on the island. 

King Dewey

Or, as I like to call it,  Appalachian Baby Formula. Equal parts (1:1) Budweiser and Mountain Dew. Don't knock it till you try it. 

Parksville Lake Loop

25 miles of Appalachian gravel: lots of climbing, lots of descending. Never too much of it all at once. You'll either love it or you'll hate it. 

Ergon GP3 Handlebar Grips

I was sad to ditch my drop bars when I put on the squishy fork; I like having options for my hands on long rides (and short rides too because I have so much metal in my wrists and hands). I added these and they're amazing.

the Murder Burger @ Lo Main

Murder Burger @ Lo Main

Two delicious patties -- not too thin, not too thick -- cooked to perfection, coated in American cheese, crema, kimchi, chutney, and mayo between two brioche buns: arguably the best burger in town and it only costs $8. My dad said it was one of the best burgers he's ever had. 

The Lookout Mountain Mini-ATB Loop

The perfect after work 10 mile bike loop that links up a six-mile gravel climb with a quick 1.5 mile blast down a mountain highway to some fun, DIYish singletrack and then a neighborhood bike path back to the parking lot. 

Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022) - Kendrick Lamar

I love hip-hop but I'm not quite enough of a hip-hop head to wax eloquent about this one so I'll just say this: this album is good. Real good. Like good kid good but more grown up. 

Currently Reading: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

 The Dispossessed checks all my boxes: anarcho-syndicalism, sci-fi world-building, and words strung together with care. The Dispossessed gives us a chance to imagine a world outside capitalism. Another world is possible.  

Gravel Camp 

Gravel Camp 2022

Reid brought together an amazing group of people for a fun weekend camping and gravel biking around the Hiawassee River in east Tennessee. The route was killer and the crew super fun. 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I've always sensed that I was born in the wrong region of America; I think I was supposed to be born somewhere cold and grey. Walking the snowy streets of Milwaukee passed old cathedrals and glowing Schlitz Beer signs confirmed this suspicion. 

we're having a baby

yessir. 

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5 Rules for Car Camping

car camping at the Cowell boulders, Arkansas (photo by Josh)

There is a certain kind of freedom that comes with sleeping in (or near) your adventure vehicle, be it a Sprinter van, Toyota Tacoma, or Honda Civic. Ask any American what's the best part about America and they'll likely respond, "freedom." But hardly anybody really thinks about what that actually means. 

Most people think about freedom negatively: freedom from things. But you can't do whatever you want. The way I explain it to my students is this: your right to bear arms, freedom of speech, and other civil liberties are like swinging your arms around. You are free from restraint to swing your arms around all you want. But when you start windmill throat-punching your neighbor, we have a problem. You're not free to do that. We also explore civil rights as a more positivistic understanding of freedom. These are freedoms to do or for things -- equal rights and equal protection and all that stuff. 

What's this got to do with with car camping? Well, there's rules for that too. Some are freedoms to do things that you may not be able to while participating in other forms of camping, like backpacking (rule #1). Others are restrictions (rule #2). But enough about political philosophy, let's talk about car camping.

Jamie hogging all the shade while car camping at Shelf Road, CO

1. Bring it!

When it comes to camp stuff carrying capacity, nothing beats car camping. A giant Yeti cooler? Yes. Extra pots and pans? Bring it. A giant bin of rock climbing gear? Even better. 

Before a recent car camping weekend, my wife asked me if we could bring a mixing bowl for scrambled eggs. I was dumbfounded. I've never brought a mixing bowl camping before. Befuddled, I stared at her considering if we should or not. Lovingly (but in a way that still felt like Ja Morant posterizing Malik Beasley in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs), she said, "it's not like we don't have space, right?" Of course we have space, we're car camping.

2. But leave your guitar at home.

Don't be that guy. (It's almost always a guy.) Unless somebody specifically asked you to be the Guitar Guy (and almost certainly nobody did), don't. 

gravel camp 2022 at Lost Creek, Tennessee (photo by Reid)

3. Share

This is Humanity 101 stuff. I don't want to get too in the political philosophy weeds again, but imagine camping with Ayn Rand. You'd blow your head off. "Hey Ayn, can I use this headlamp for a sec?" "Only if you adequately compensate me for its battery use you freeloading, second-handing, collectivist swine." I just gave myself nightmares. But collective property and planned mutual giving are what make camping (and equitable societies) work. Read G.A. Cohen's brilliant little book, Why Not Socialism? The whole first chapter is about camping!

Consider a recent weekend riding bikes and car camping in the Appalachian woods. Betwixt the six goofy men who attended "Gravel Camp 2022," more than 84 beers (and Twisted Ice Teas) were brought, shared, and consumed. Open-source. Fair game. My PBRs are your Rolling Rocks and so on. I think I speak for everyone when I say that a highlight of the trip was Luke joyfully sharing out of the goodness of his heart a dozen donuts DIY-made in his JetBoil camp stove. 

car camping at Lost Creek, Tennessee (photo by Leah)

4. You still have to LNT

Pooping responsibly doesn't end just because you're sleeping in a Sprinter Van. 

If you packed it in with your vehicle, pack it out with your vehicle. This includes but is not limited to: beer cans, food wrappers, and the forty-year old, hand-me-down, Coleman two-burner camp stove your dad gave you that exploded in a massive ball of flames in the back of your truck while cooking beans at the mouth of Diablo Canyon, New Mexico. 

Josh making breakfast in Diablo Canyon, NM

5. Enjoy it!

This blog wholeheartedly endorses all forms of camping. Whether bivying mid-route on a multipitch climb or casual car camping at a local state park, sleeping outside is food for the soul. Car camping is fun and relatively easy. The amenities to suffering ratio weighs heavily in favor of comfort. And as long as we don't have an affordable cross-country rail system in this country, then your car is an incredible conduit to some of America's most amazing spaces. Get out there and enjoy it. 

my feet (please don't sell) at San Isabel National Forest, Salida, CO

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Gear Review: X-Tiger Sunglasses

not Nick Offerman

What's more important in life than shredding? Looking good. I may not be a dentist with a bike that costs more than a 2005 Ford Focus and I may never win a lottery spot in Mid South Gravel or huck a suicide no-hander over a double gap. I don't even know what those words mean. But I can look cool. Like Macho Man Randy Savage cool. And for the low cost of $20.99, you can look this cool too with X-Tiger Polarized Sports Sunglasses.

These sunglasses are so cool that my wife says I can only wear them while biking. Too much sauce for the grocery store  I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Once, my friend Alea saw me riding across town and she said, "Wow. Those glasses are... something." And you know what? They are something. They're like Pit Vipers but for a fraction of the cost and without the cringey lax-bro-in-a-MAGA-hat-and-Reagan-Bush'84-t-shirt kind of vibe. X-Tiger sport shades are lightweight, low-cost, and keep the sun and mud out of my eyes. What more do you need to know? 

I suppose you could take the time to read the nearly 7,000 gushing reviews on Amazon and you could see that Outdoor Gear Lab gave X-Tiger Sunglasses 4 out of 5 stars and a "Best Buy" rating. But why would you waste your time when you can imagine me pulling these bad boys down over my sweet baby blues, doing slow donuts in the trailhead parking lot while blasting Iron Maiden's "Wrathchild" at full volume? 

Eat your heart out, Pit Viper. Let's shred.

(EDIT: due to the rising cost of living in our ever collapsing hell world, I regret to inform you that these glasses are now $23.99)

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