AJ DeLauder (they/them) grew up and still resides amongst the pastoral beauty of Aurora, West Virginia, deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. In the summer months, they can be found bikepacking local West Virginia routes or working at their small bike shop in Oakland, MD. During the rest of the year, AJ works as an English professor at Garrett College, in McHenry, MD, where they try valiantly to make their community college students believe that writing essays and reading literature is a worthwhile endeavor. AJ began seriously bikepacking in 2018 and founded the Snallygaster 200 route in 2021. Since then, they have consulted with multiple route planners across the Mid-Atlantic.
Ariel Marlowe is based in Austin, TX and dove headfirst into bikepacking in 2022. He is a co-leader and board member of Black History Bike Ride, a ride leader and safety officer at Bikes or Death, and spends his time collaborating with non profits and other BIPOC organizations around the country to provide leadership and community organizing experience.
Ariel was a 2024 BIPOC Grant recipient who has used his grant to initiate a gear library in Austin, while hosting a range of beginner to intermediate trips locally. A collaborator to the core, he loves sharing his knowledge and experience with others, so that more leaders can be empowered to create spaces for people to learn about and experience bikepacking.
A Latine cyclist who grew up in San Antonio, Texas. Mike is passionate about getting other BIPOC folks on bikes to experience the freedom and community that it brings. Even though Mike is new to the outdoor industry, he has organized community events and Bikepacking trips including co-organizing a BIPOC specific Bikepacking trip in Vermont.
Christy (she/her) grew up in the beautiful southern Indiana town of Bloomington, with small stints in Estes Park, Colorado while her folks worked at a summer camp. She has lived in Colorado most of her adult life, now calling Golden home. Although she took to mountain biking and bikepacking later in life, they were fast friends. With her love of camping and riding her bike, bikepacking was the perfect combo. Since her first bikepacking trip several years ago, she has thoroughly enjoyed a variety of rides, including 9-day trips and local overnights. She spends her days guiding young children at a public Montessori school, encouraging them to find the peace and joy and wonder that she finds in the outdoors.
Brendan Collier (he/him) lives in Idyllwild, California. Originally from Chicago, Brendan is a long-time veteran of the bike industry and the creator of the popular Stagecoach 400 bikepacking route. Brendan has partnered with Bikepacking Roots on a new series of bikepacking routes that he is creating called The Desert Collective.
Cedar (he/him, Zigzag, Oregon) has been Bikepacking for well over a decade with inspiration and mentorship from Brendan Collier (the original creator of the Stagecoach400 Route). He is also involved in advocacy and trail building locally as a board member of the newly formed “Hoodland Trails Collective”. He works with HTC as well as NWTA, 44 Road Trails, and The Oregon Timber Trail Alliance to help build and maintain trails all over the Mt Hood National Forest.
Julian Bender (he/him) lives in Philadelphia, where the Pine Barrens are the biggest, closest wilderness to the city. I currently have an extremely indoor job, but worked for several years developing and mapping hiking trails across the Middle East, including the Jordan Trail (https://www.jordantrail.org/) and Sinai Trail. My first ever bike camping trip was to the Pine Barrens in 2011, and since then I’ve been exploring the area by bike on a regular basis. After years of thinking the Pinelands needed a proper bikepacking route, I decided in 2024 to go out and create one. The Pines are a truly special place, especially given how close they are to the most populated parts of the US. I hope the Jersey Devil Hunt will offer a way to discover this unique ecoregion, and expose more people to bikepacking in general!
Susie (she/they, Los Angeles, California) is a designer and artist based in LA. For over a decade, they have been actively organizing within the LA bike scene, with a focus on fostering community for gender-expansive and women riders. Growing up in Idaho sparked Susie’s passion for the outdoors, while attending school in Washington reintroduced her to bikes. Their love for bikepacking emerged from a series of memorable misadventures, igniting a passion for camping by bike that she eagerly shares with others.
In 2021, Susie co-founded Wild Wolf Cycling Collective, where they developed a bike campouts program and a gear library aimed at making overnight bike trips more accessible for first timers.
In 2022 she led monthly trips for the collective and created a zine featuring all 12 routes. Each year, the program and gear library have continued to grow, further expanding opportunities for new bike campers.
Corey (he/him, Bozeman, MT) bought his first bike in the mid 1980s – a Shogun Prairie Breaker. He grew up in a logging family in Idaho and got into cycling because asthma kept him from riding horses. Later in life, Corey ventured into advocacy in the early 2000s as he saw groups successfully convincing land managers to ban mountain bikes from some backcountry trails. Since then, he has helped found the Montana Mountain Bike Alliance and has been heavily engaged in mountain bike access issues throughout the northern Rockies. He’s also spent countless hours clearing and maintaining trails in the Caribou Targhee National Forest.
Will Kessler (he/him, Massachusetts) is a Geographer by training with a passion for all kinds of recreation on public lands. I’m a big fan of under-biking and love finding out whether a proposed route “will go” the hard way. My interests in maps and bikes means I’m constantly pouring over new areas, devising trips for some day down the road. My first bike touring experience was in 2017 on a self-devised route multi-month tour through Colombia and Ecuador. Since then, I’ve taken every opportunity to get out and ride somewhere new. In 2022, after several years living in Helena, MT and watching divide riders pass through town, my partner and I toured the route before ending up in Cambridge, MA. Now we’re having fun exploring the class 4 roads of New England!