Journal

Extreme solitude, fortressed by sandstone buttes and pastel red cliffs, of Utah’s Canyonlands have called to me for some time. On a bike, the White Rim Trail circumnavigates one hundred miles of million-year-old canyons carved by the mighty Green River.

Real progress came only after too many instances of writing “flat and apathetic” in my log after these delayed runs. Ever since, when the urge to self-coddle rises, I channel my mother. I know I’m going to run. So I should just get going and see what the day brings. If the run isn’t a peak experience, so be it. It’s still better than one that didn’t happen.

Those moments are where I have confronted my limitations and self doubt and found strength I didn’t believe I possessed. Those moments have also taught me how to fail and the importance of putting failure into context when pursuing seemingly insurmountable challenges.

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I love biking in the shoulder season. No crowds or traffic. This isn’t the time of year you see portrayed in catalogs, not the luxurious summer evenings or the glittering winter afternoons. The trees are bare, the ground is hard, and the light is low and glaring. This is when it counts. When you get stronger. Mentally. Spiritually

Nestled on the pristine Mount Desert Island in Maine, Acadia National Park is an idyllic destination for outdoor enthusiasts, boasting captivating pine forests, craggy coastlines, and weathered granite peaks. To fully immerse in the park's unspoiled grandeur there is no superior mode of transportation than gravel bikes.

Pining for perfection has a price: It can keep you from appreciating the good routes you could be on today. After all, being a dedicated cyclist, runner, or other outdoor enthusiast means, well, getting outdoors most days. And that’s usually going to happen close to home, work, or school.

I had fished for and caught some striped bass during our visits out to Maine before the move, but as far as home water was concerned, I was starting from scratch and these waters no longer flowed in only one direction. New challenges were added—tides, bait migration, discoloration from river runoff, more extreme shifts in the weather. Add to this, that there are truly hundreds of access points to learn—from beaches, mud flats, rocky outcroppings and river mouths.

Acadia National Park is the best place in America to ride a bike.

Ok, hear me out. To be a great cycling destination a location must have the following: beautiful scenery, interesting and exciting terrain, it must be easy to navigate, and above all, it has to be a safe place to ride. Acadia has all of this and more.

Running makes me feel fully alive.

Check that: Running outside makes me feel fully alive. Running on a treadmill makes me feel like I often do when not in motion—in sort of a gray middle zone of energy and enthusiasm, more waiting out the current experience than engaged in it.

For our first Pinebury shoot I asked my friends Noah Middlestaedt (Team USA para cyclist and current national champion) and Clara Brown (Paralympian cyclist, current world champion) to join me in York, Maine for a day of riding

I started Pinebury in 2022 because I saw an opportunity to create a company that focused specifically on making the best merino wool active wear in the world and doing it the right way, right here in America.

Pinebury is a place. For me, that place is Maine, and it's inspired by my experiences here but it can be any place that allows you to connect with your environment through physical activity.