Guides Gone Wild

Pause, Pivot, but Keep Pedaling Forward: Lindsay Currier, Bikepack Maine (and so much more!)

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Today I’ve got an awesome conversation with just the kind of everywoman superhero I love to talk to on the pod - Lindsay Currier, a registered Maine guide, mountain bike coach, enduro racer, trail builder, ski patroller, total mom goals and the force behind Bikepack Maine.

Lindsay’s lived on both coasts and a few places in between, and has spent a bunch of years doing a bunch of stuff to lift up women in biking, whether as her full-time gig or as a side-hustle-on-steroids.

We don’t talk a ton about how Lindsay got into biking in the first place, or what brought her into racing and coaching initially, but I’ve linked up a fantastic blog post here (https://www.josiebikelife.com/2015/11/women-involved-series-lindsay-currier.html) that will give you a window into her life and back story as of 2015, when it was written.

There’s still lots of ground to be covered today, though, and while a lot of things have changed for Lindsay in the past decade (mostly driven by the fact she now has a daughter, Saffron, and lives in Maine instead of out West), there are still a few golden threads that are woven all the way through - among them her commitment to promoting women on and around bikes; her innate drive to foster community; and her desire to help others avoid all the costly and borderline critical mistakes and slipups she made as she learned how to ride big.

And as an added bonus for any of you who dream of riding big with your little rippers, Lindsay shares some mindset tricks and gear tips that will help set you up for success!

Follow Lindsay's (and Saffron's!) adventures:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaybethc/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindsay.currier.50
Bikepack Maine: http://www.bikepackmaine.com/

A hint of the single track miles we cover can be found in our extensive link list (come on over to the episode page on GuidesGoneWild.com for even more)!:

Lindsay Currier:

So don't don't give up. If anybody's out there listening and they've tried it and it just didn't go well, don't give up, just have reasonable expectations. I mean, I don't have expectations really for anything anymore in my life, and that's just made my life a lot better.

Jen:

Welcome to the guides gone wild podcast. What is guides gone wild, you ask? This is where you'll fill your ears and minds with the stories of every day Extraordinary women who inspire you to take your outdoor adventure game to the next level. Whether you're starting your journey from the couch or the trailhead, this is the place for you. So let's go.

Jen:

Hey there, hi there, ho there, welcome to guides gone wild. This is your host, jen, and today I've got an awesome conversation with just the kind of every woman superhero. I love to talk to you on the pod Lindsey Carrier, a registered main guide, mountain bike coach, endura racer, trailbuilder, ski patroller, total mom goals and the voice behind bike pack main. Lindsay's lived on both coasts and a few places in between and has spent a bunch of years doing a bunch of stuff to lift up Women in biking, whether as her full-time gig or as a side hustle on steroids. We don't talk a ton about how Lindsay got into biking in the first place or what brought her into racing and coaching initially, but I've linked up a fantastic blog post in the show notes that will give you a window into her life and backstory as of 2015, when it was written. There's still lots of ground to be covered. Today, though, and while a lot of things have changed for Lindsay in the past decade, mostly driven by the fact she now has a daughter, saffron, and lives in Maine instead of out west, there are still a few golden threads that are woven all the way through. Among them, her commitment to promoting women on and around bikes, her innate drive to foster community and her desire to help others avoid all the costly and borderline critical ouch, mistakes and slip-ups she made as she learned how to ride big. And as an added bonus for any of you who dream of riding with your little Rippers, lindsay shares some mindset, tricks and gear tips that will help set you up for success. So let's not wait another second time to hit the trails with Lindsay Carrier. All right, lindsay Carrier, at the stove making yourself some warm soup on this freezing cold day before you go back outside again.

Jen:

Welcome to the guys got wild podcast. Nice to meet you, jennifer. Yeah, it's nice to talk to you. Finally, lindsay comes to me via Alejandra Strong and the pack raft. I talked about him a couple weeks ago a great, fantastic person doing some cool stuff and meeting lots of cool people, and he was one of the many who was like. You got to talk to Lindsay because she's doing some really cool stuff. I know that you have hosted some. You've got mountain biking figures prominently in your background and Lindsay's also getting at it in a really cool way with her daughter and I want her to talk a little bit about that today.

Jen:

So I have two quotes that I pulled out of your fairly recent backstory. Both of them are from when you first were getting back into, when you're aspiring to get back into, enduro after COVID, after all the drama that has Been the last many years. There were two, two things that just caught me immediately. One was when you were thinking about getting back into racing and you're like what will happen to my daughter if I crash, and I was like that was visceral to me. And also your point about making saying that facing challenges with others is more fulfilling experience than always doing things alone. So those are two things that you have put out there into the world lately that I would love to kind of help frame our conversation today. So I want to have you take it all back, tell us how you wound up in Maine this time around and what you've been up to lately.

Lindsay Currier:

Yeah, so I Originally came to this area of Maine over 20 years ago. I was a freshman at University of Maine, farmington, and I came up for their ski industry program Because there was no like bike program. I've always worked in the bike industry since the beginning of my working life and so that brought me to this area. I then left because there were no bike trails and ended up out in Santa Cruz, california, and kind of Spent some time there and then up in Tahoe and then kind of bounced around doing like the van life sort of lifestyle, following bike events, putting on my own bike events, helping with trail building and other stewardship opportunities out there. But then I got pregnant and the relationship with my daughter's father was not good and it became very apparent to me that to give my daughter the best life possible I needed to come back home. And so Maine I have my parents are here my very best friend, who happens to be a guy that usually throws people for a loop I've known him my entire like working career in the bike and ski industry. He lives in Auburn and then, coming back I think it was in 2017 and 2018 I came back to put on some mountain bike camps and also volunteer at some mountain bike Events, and I met some incredible people in this area that I just felt, well, this is, this is the community I want to be a part of. These women make me feel supported, and guys and this is a great place to raise a kid, because all the kids are getting well. Most of the kids are getting outside and and participating in either skiing, biking, hiking or something like that, and so that's why I came back.

Lindsay Currier:

I Was on the mid-coast, briefly just getting back on my feet, so I, like, honestly, came back with nothing. My car completely broke down. I Didn't have a dollar, and so I'm really grateful my parents were able to just give me a spot to land. I had to work outside of the bike industry for I think it was four and a half years. I worked in like municipal finance for a town office, and then I also worked for an auditor who serves, like most in New England, disciples and non-profits, and so that was pretty hard for me to be inside in an office, and I also have a fusion in my back that gives me chronic pain that I just can't stay in one position for too long, but I just stuck it out so that I could, you know, buy a house and give my kid a stable living environment. Is that kind of going where?

Jen:

you know that that that definitely is, and so had you when you were at Farmington. Did you? Did you major or minor in some sort of finance or accounting or something? Is that no?

Lindsay Currier:

so my background with that started. My first job was at Valley Bicycle in Connecticut, where I grew up, and I quickly went from Like cleaning the bikes and pumping up the tires and building little kids bikes to oh you, you're pretty smart, lindsay will put you in the in the back and have you do the bookkeeping and the payroll and All of that part of the job as well as working out on the floor and doing service, and so I got pretty good at that. When I left Humane Farmington I actually went back to Connecticut for one year. I didn't want to just drop out of college, so I transferred and Did one year in state with business. I just thought, well, maybe I'll try this. I had been studying biology co-currently with the ski industry and I I want. I just wanted to find something that I could do that had to do with biking, but unfortunately there weren't programs Centered on how to career biking at the time.

Jen:

It was definitely a different world back then, that's for sure. Yeah, doesn't even seem like it was that long ago, but it's no for sure was so. So you, when you came back to Maine so you've landed now in carabasset Valley, right, you're up in that area.

Lindsay Currier:

I mean I think, kingfield. So it's, we have the same zip code. It's to me it's the same town but it's not. There's two different town offices and different you know, millaried with the taxes and all that, but we're very close.

Jen:

Yeah, and you have the grocery store.

Lindsay Currier:

So yeah, we've got some more amenities that are open Like not year round. We split right now we're in the shoulder season, so like rolling fatties is closed and some other businesses have kind of like tapered off their hours. Um, but there's more stuff going on down here. I feel like them up there. Yeah, yeah that's interesting.

Jen:

So, and I think that you're this whole perspective of like Kind of building your life in a community like that for people who are, you know, living in Connecticut or Massachusetts or places outside of you know essentially a ski and outdoor, rec oriented community like, talk a little bit more about what it's like to like, try to build an actual Living in a spot like that, because it's challenging and I know that like, housing is an issue for a lot of people and you know you were fortunate enough.

Jen:

It sounds like to have bought a house, so you have a place to live, but like so many challenges, so talk a little bit about that.

Lindsay Currier:

Yeah, the housing piece is huge and that's something that's being discussed a lot up here and we've got a workforce housing committee. Yes, I was very lucky. I was able to purchase my house just at the very last end of things. I bought a house that is not my dream house. It's tiny, it doesn't have a yard and it's got like crazy wood paneling. But I was like I need a home, my daughter and I just need somewhere that's like walkable distance to school, in the grocery store, in case something happens at the car. And we were lucky.

Lindsay Currier:

But others are not so lucky and and it's actually it's been a polarizing topic, Not just in our town. I hear it's happening in other places where people they don't see why we should have affordable housing. They think it's going to bring crime or that it's just going to serve, like in this case here in Kingfield, Sugarloaf, and that's just not true. There's people like myself that you know their guides. We don't make our living, all of our living, just from guiding. We have to do all these other jobs and sometimes the work isn't available. It's based on conditions. Another job I do is trail building and if the conditions aren't right we can't do it.

Lindsay Currier:

My buddy down the street. Our kids go to school together. He's a painter. The summer was terrible for painting, so you know he lost some of his income and so that that makes it hard to get by. And with all of the people that came up and purchased property for their vacation home or to just rent it out on Airbnb, we're lacking affordable housing for just the regular people that live here year round, that are doing the necessary work to make this area, you know, fun to visit. If, if these people can't live here, we won't have restaurants all the way down to like super necessary things, like the doctors off that we have a doctor's office in town, which is amazing, Like who's going to be on the fire department? Who will work at Annie's, the gas station, if they don't have a place to live? So it's a big deal?

Jen:

Yeah for sure. Yeah, it wasn't a very good summer for pretty much any outdoor activity. I would imagine. Building trails, I'm sure was not building culverts, probably busy, but other than that, yeah, for the the guiding.

Lindsay Currier:

I didn't do very much guiding this summer and I also coach bike skills. I didn't do that. Our little local bike park was closed most of the summer, so it was a tough summer for me, but I made it through.

Lindsay Currier:

And it's almost it's almost ski patrol time. So that's what I do in the winter is I work on ski patrol up at sugarloaf and I'd say that would leave me to. You know, if you're trying to get up here, get to a place like this and get going as a guide work for the mountain. The pay isn't incredible. I know that's hard for some people especially I'm not like profiling people from Connecticut or Massachusetts, but they're typically used to a higher rate of pay and that's just not what we're making. I'll be fully transparent I make $17 an hour on ski patrol, which is very little, and it is very hard work and we're out in the elements of risking our own safety to help people. But I do it because the community right.

Lindsay Currier:

So, like from working on ski patrol I've met so many people. I have this like huge family of ski patrollers right here at Sugarloaf but that extends on to every other mountain, like not just in the nation but all around the world. So it just kind of like opens doors for people right, I'm almost 40. So I don't see myself as like going on to be some like super pro ski patroller. This is just like what I do to get by. And then, of course, like I said, to network and you also learn skills right. So in the ski patrol realm, like I'm learning mountain operation skills and also medical skills, and all of that crosses over into guiding and keeping people safe out in the back country. To me it's valuable, even though I don't get paid so much.

Jen:

Yeah, no, and certainly those of us who drop in and out as we wish to ski certainly appreciate it, because there's no time like when you're having, when somebody that you love is having a trauma or something else is going on, that you really realize like how freaking lucky we are to have folks step up and do that kind of work, like for 17 bucks an hour. I mean like, yeah, I can say my daughter makes that much to be a freaking hostess at some restaurant downtown, you know, and she's 17. Like it's shameful.

Lindsay Currier:

It really is. I made that much working in that bike shop doing, you know, being the back end bookkeeper person, like being basically co managing the bike shop. That's how much I made when I was 19 years old. Yeah, so 20 years later I'm making the same amount of money hourly, but the perks are worth it. Right now, Like I said, I was doing the other kind of job and that just wasn't working out for me.

Jen:

Yeah, tell me what. What made you become a guide and when did you do that?

Lindsay Currier:

So I was guiding out West. Sorry, I'm eating soup, go for it.

Jen:

I can't believe. You're looking at the soup across the room and I just grab it, it's good, it's all favorite.

Lindsay Currier:

So out West I was guiding. It's a different process than here in Maine. There's like Maine is unique and how it has the registered guide license right, and so out West I didn't have that. I had like permits through the BLM and the Forest Service and all that to operate what I was doing. Coming here, honestly, I was kind of confused at first. So I was still working the office job and I was trying to get back into doing some guiding and coaching and I would go to like the town and say, can I get a permit? And they're like what are you talking about? And then people are like you need to get your guide license.

Lindsay Currier:

So it had been on my list of things to do, like you know, back when I was in college. When I was in college here and I just never did it. Everybody said it's like super hard and it's really expensive. But I looked at the facts and yeah, now sitting where I am working on ski patrol, it's expensive to pay for the test. But I was smart and I did it while I was working the other job and I didn't take a class. That's another piece that's expensive and can also take like, be hard or inaccessible due to, like, time and geographical restraints. But because of my background and already being a guide and because of the programs that I had worked through, like I'm even going to say like my experiences in Girl Scouts, and then you know all the stuff I did with my dad, without door recreation, I was able to just like study with another person here in town, with somebody else's like book from a class they took, and then just walk in and take the test.

Jen:

Yeah, that makes sense. I mean you definitely were living it elsewhere. So it's like just phone up on the local requirements, basically, or the local flora, flora and fauna, and then you're good to go, and you were from here anyway.

Lindsay Currier:

so it was really like the the ATV laws. And you know they asked some hunting laws, so I don't hunt and I don't write an ATV, so those weren't just like in my mind. I had to study that part.

Jen:

Yeah, that's cool. So let's talk a little bit about you know, so you're, you do all these jobs that are taking you out outside and here and there and everywhere. Let's, let's back up. You have a daughter, who is what I'm guessing I was going to say there you go, nailed it who looks like a total badass. I mean, these bike trips that you do with her are amazing, like, and so I want you to talk a little bit about kind of getting into adventuring with a child and infant and then kind of how you've evolved to where you guys are now, and also tell me a story about the part of it that you don't see on Instagram sometimes, because it can't all. It can't be all unicorns and rainbows, no, it's not.

Lindsay Currier:

Yeah. So I have her name, safran, and I had her, you know, out in California At the time I was working for USA cycling. That's a whole nother story. But she would go to work with me and I had her like in the baby Bjorn, but we didn't. I didn't really start riding with her until she was like I mean, I wrote a little bit with her like just not at all, not till we move back here, because they say to wait till their 18 months or their neck can't handle it and in their head it's not good for them. When I moved back, I was able to get a, a chariot it's like a trailer that you pull behind a bike from a family and gray, and I bought it for like a hundred dollars, which is really cheap.

Lindsay Currier:

And they're hard to get used to because people yeah, and even if you have so, like working in the industry, you do get discounts on things, but even with the discount it was still like out of my range. Like I said, I came back and I had nothing but I, you know, saved up, paid the hundred dollars, met the family, picked the thing up and then just started dragging it around behind this like old gravel bike my dad was letting me borrow because that was another thing. I had to like sell a lot of my bikes to Be able to come back, and so I just wrote that around mid coast pulling her. I had contacted Carbure bikes, which is in bath or they're in Woolwich, but it's bath, cycle and ski, because they have a bike company. They don't make them in Maine but they, you know, they're trying to work towards one of their models is made in the US now and so I want to support that and I was chatting with them and I actually have the old email.

Lindsay Currier:

I wanted a bike that I could take out on the hot trail which I had no idea what the hot trail is going to be like and pull my daughter but also be able to put fat tires on it in the winter. I wanted, like a bike that could do everything, and they were just like, yeah, it's. I think it's not exactly what's how that's all going to work, but when I'm going with this is. I ended up pulling that trailer like everywhere. I eventually did pull it on the hot trail. The hot trail is a lot rougher than I thought in my brain, but I was able to do it. And then I bought a ski kit for it so I could pull it behind my fat bike.

Lindsay Currier:

In addition to that I had, I had various Kids seats that go right on the bike for my daughter and we did everything from fat biking in the winter to like riding in the summer. And it just kind of made sense to me and pulling all this way already, like why wouldn't I just bring the camping equipment? And so we just kind of went from there. It went from just like Hearing enough stuff like diapers and all the baby stuff and food and all the emergency stuff. And you know, I'd still bring a blanket and a hammock in case we had to take a nap and a tarp. That's like, well, I'm already bringing all this. Like why not? So as soon as she was off diapers that's when we started camping we did do two hot stays While she was still in diapers and you have to pack out, so I had to pack out the diapers.

Jen:

And when you talk about hats, you're talking about the main hats and trail system. Right, yeah, they're not like leans.

Lindsay Currier:

Shoes they're really nice hats have radiant floor heating. You just need to bring a spring bag. They have either full service, where they feed you, or self service, where you get to use the kitchen, so it eliminates a lot of Gear that you need to bring. That being said, it's not cheap, so it's not super obtainable to like you know, people in my income level now. So that was something I did while I was still working that other job and Since then, like I was saying, we have transitioned to something called a burly piccolo, and so that enabled us to ride more in single track, because the the chariot trailer it's got two wheels.

Lindsay Currier:

You need a wider trail. If the trail is really rough, there's the Chance that it can tip over, which isn't good. Like the child, still very secure, but I just it scares them and it's not good, right, yeah, yeah, so to access the train I wanted to go to and also to be able to mountain bike, like, I had to transition to that burly piccolo, and I like that one because it pivots off the rack instead of the seat post, so it's a tighter turning radius, and so we did everything from like riding all the trails in the caribacet valley and going out to like the stove leaf blower, riding the kingdom trails and that was not this past summer but like the two summers before that we did that a lot and then just going out, usually just like one or two night, like packing trips. Just I had to get back for work, that's. And then now that she's in school, like we're limited on how long of an excursion we can do because she's got to go to school, right.

Jen:

Yeah, that's a cool. That that's cool. I didn't realize, because I saw that tag. I just call it a tag along, but like it's not, I mean the fact that it doesn't pivot off the the seat post. That's pretty cool, because that that was always kind of clunky. We have one of those for a little while and it was like it was a little janky, I couldn't have. I was like, how is she riding single?

Jen:

I mean obviously you're more of a bad ass to me anyway, but I was like holy cow. But now that makes sense and it's got a different way of pivoting, then yeah, it's so it puts the force of pulling on the bike lower rate, which lowers things, which is good.

Lindsay Currier:

And then I'm able to still use a dropper post. So, like when we get in a sketchy situation where I need to, like, get my feet down on the ground, I can just drop that post. Yeah, how does she like that?

Lindsay Currier:

she loves it, she must yeah, yeah, it was really hard to get her to want to ride her own bike. Since we did that so much, she's just much rather have me pull her around, yeah, but now she's on her own bike and she sees, you know, okay, like it's cool if I ride independently, because I can, you know, ride what I want to ride and ride it how I want to ride it.

Jen:

Yeah, but I still think we need to talk about this. Past summer was, I mean, and certainly I saw some nice sunny pictures. Yeah last trip, but there was so much rain, there've been so many bugs because there was so much rain. Like what? What is that like? How do you even even I think, the most just happy go lucky Psych to be alive? Child is going to have their moments in that situation. So talk to me about that.

Lindsay Currier:

Honestly, this summer she, she was just a bad ass like I don't can't really remember too many bad moments, but I guess we're winding the tape just to for other people trying to do this. In the beginning it was like we weren't going out for like even an hour. It took time. We had to build up and I that's why I would bring like the hammock and I would bring like toys and bring snacks and we would really break it up.

Jen:

And you learn that by like getting into a trial in a couple times where you're like, yeah, when you have to end, or like, did you just know, yeah, to do that.

Lindsay Currier:

No, so like when we moved into the kids ride shotgun, which is it's like a front mounted seat and they need to be like actively holding on because there's no like backrest or anything. I was living, or we were living in a condo up at sugar love while we were looking for a house, and you know, up on the hill, so I ride down to the river and then I'd have to ride her back up. There are a couple times that she fell asleep so we had to stop. I couldn't ride, she's asleep, and then I'm just standing around holding up like not a baby but like a very big toddler In the woods, and so I just thought I have a little pocket hammock, bring that you know. And so that just got added.

Lindsay Currier:

And then, as things went on, I realized like I was one of those moms that's like don't give any sugar to my kid. But in certain situations it's like okay, like have a gummy bear so you can go a little further. Have another gummy bear. Okay, how about you can make it?

Lindsay Currier:

You know, now we're at the point where I say, like Safran, if we can just make it through this next two hours, like I know there's an ice cream shop, like let's go get it. You know, or, alright, we're in the middle of the woods but mommy packed a nice treat. It's at the bottom of the and if we can just make it to the next spot, like we're gonna eat that. So having some kind of reward and just having the expectation that if there's, you're gonna need to take breaks. Also like layering your child, like they're not doing the work so they get a lot colder, quicker. One thing that they didn't have that they have now are like little kid Pogies for like the kids that I shotgun and I had used like stroller Pogies, so they're just like mitts that like your hand goes straight into and just put those on there, and she was able to get her hands in there and keep them warm because they just get a lot colder. They're not doing the pedaling.

Jen:

Yeah, that's a good, that's a really good point because, like you know you, you're certainly working hard enough dragging oh. God yeah dragging her, plus all your gear, plus even more gear now that you're bringing toys and hammocks and food and twizzlers yeah, all that. And it's like it is hard to to stop to think. Oh hey, by the way, they're they're a little chilly, so yeah yeah that's it. That's all really good points.

Lindsay Currier:

So don't give up. If anybody's out there listening and they've tried it and it just didn't go well, don't give up, just have reasonable expectations. I mean, I don't have expectations really for anything anymore in my life and that's just made my life a lot better.

Jen:

Yeah, yeah, yeah that is a good point, because I'm sure that she's still it and I think you know, and kids are, they're just always evolving and changing and changing their mind about stuff. So it's like, okay, yeah, what was, what was cool two weeks ago? Now all of a sudden, not not their jam anymore, they'll let you know you just got to like okay, let's try something else, I would imagine I hope she likes doing it for a while.

Lindsay Currier:

I do expect that you know if things could shift. You know my greatest hope and I haven't even told her this because I don't want to like dictate what she chooses to do but it would be amazing if she did love bike packing and wanted to like go on some bigger trips with me when she gets older. You know like it'd be fantastic to do the EDT with my daughter. That would just be, and that's the Eastern Divide Trail. That would just be amazing, right, Like maybe when she graduates from high school we could do that. That being said, if she has no interest in that, then no problem, I'll go do it alone.

Jen:

Yeah, some other, but yeah, or she'll be the, or she'll be the kid that wants to like do the. You know 360 backwards off of a. Jump onto the mat or something, or the the airbag?

Lindsay Currier:

I really hope not.

Jen:

Well, talk about the whole Enduro and the race culture and stuff, because certainly she's seeing a little bit of that.

Lindsay Currier:

Yeah. So I will just say it's expensive and it's not as accessible Like that's another reason why I've kind of just gone back to like bike packing. Bike packing, which used to be bike touring, which I did when I was a kid Like the equipment is expensive the race entries, depending where you go, they're expensive, there's a lot of risk and it's just not that accessible for people. That being said, mount Abraham bike park they've got races that are $15. So that's accessible and they have rental bikes. There are ways to get into it.

Lindsay Currier:

But like the, the free ride stuff I think is really cool and I had like a whole personal agenda that I just really wanted to get like women competing. Like you've heard of Red Bull Rampage, it just happened. Like you know, I wanted to get a woman into that contest and I'm not the first woman that wanted that, nor am I the last Like there's been. Like Katie Holden was able to get Red Bull to put on something called Formation and that was like a women's, like non competitive thing that they did and it did end up getting publicized alongside with regular rampage. That got canceled this year.

Lindsay Currier:

And this other woman, chelsea, she put on more like what I would call a more like what I was doing. But she got it bigger. She had 50 women this year. I think the most I had was 30. And so they're out there digging lines together, hitting features, filming each other, and just the whole point is to just show other people that identify as female that, like it's possible, you can totally go out there, you can ride this stuff. There's people that want to support you in doing it. And just because Red Bull Rampage has been only guys doesn't mean that a woman can't do that.

Jen:

Yeah, no good point, but also I don't know. I yeah, I don't know. It's good, it's good that it's good that some someday I mean there are people ripping all that stuff anyway you might as well engage it in the same kind of structure as the boys have, but but the same time, it's kind of fun to watch you doing all these other cool things yeah, what's on, what's on the guiding agenda for? You did a, you did a trip in along with me and Hudson Trails in the fall, I saw a bike trip and you have stuff like that. That's kind of on your you know next year list or what are you thinking? Where are you going to take the guiding and the bike, assuming the weather cooperates where you go in 2020.

Lindsay Currier:

So we just had that trip in October and that was like an inaugural event that's intended to be annual and just kind of like a celebration of the season and then also getting people together. That might be planning things for next year. It was pretty small this year, sort of on purpose. I didn't want to like burn myself out and not want to do it again. But, yeah, we stayed at the hut, so it wasn't like bike packing proper, it was more like a learning event. I had a clinic on Friday before people checked into the hut. Then I did a guided 100k route around Flagstaff, which is actually a route that I've bike packed with saffron a handful of times now, and on Sunday then we went out with Alejandro of Packraft, maine, and did a bike rafting event, which was killer, and so I hope to do this annually, hopefully with the huts.

Lindsay Currier:

There have been some other venues that have been brought to my attention. That might be better for the overall purpose. So I haven't put up the registration yet because that's still up in the air, but it's going to be around the same time a year, likely a week ahead. It conflicted with a thing that we have at Sugarloaf called Homecoming, and so that kind of decreased how many guides I could hire because a lot of people are busy with that event and chefs because that was the thing too is all the food is included. This year I did all the food myself, but my intention is, like next year, to hire local chefs to do all the food, and that that's the only event that I plan on putting on. That's, I'd say, like gourmet and bougie, like that. The rest of the events will be more affordable.

Lindsay Currier:

Maybe free events. I would like to. I was hoping that event would become like a fundraiser, so that people that have the means to enjoy something like that they would just come and have a good old time and make money so that I could put on some community events that are potentially free. And what I would like to do is pass on general bike skills, bike maintenance, how to get into bike packing, and then also do trips with bikes that are included. So I was finding this is something. When I used to coach Enduro too, I actually had a little fleet of Da Vinci Enduro bikes that I would bring with me, because there's a lot of people that don't have the bikes yet, and so you give them a skills clinic or an adventure, and you include the bicycle and the helmet and the necessary equipment. They just have a much better time, and then they might decide to go to their local bike shop and purchase those items.

Lindsay Currier:

Yeah that's good. Go ahead. No, no, go ahead. I was gonna say there are a lot of rental opportunities in the state of me.

Jen:

That make it affordable.

Jen:

Yeah, but I think that you're right that sometimes people I just even noticed this within my circle of female friends they get to be like middle-aged and they don't have a bike anymore. So it's like even if they were interested in trying something, they're like they don't have a bike and they're far enough removed from having a bike that they're not even that comfortable renting a bike because they just don't know what they you know what I mean and they don't want to get mansplained by their husband. So they're just like whatever, I'm just not gonna do it and it just. It's like this little thing that like it doesn't even need to be a really nice bike just to bike, to get on the bike again, and then you can be like oh hey, maybe I'll go to that swap next month and get myself a bike finally, because I haven't had a bike in 10 years Like there's no excuse to not be riding a bike when you're 50. Get on a freaking bike or anything, ladies.

Lindsay Currier:

Yeah, so that's. My major goal is to obtain some, you know, a fleet of reasonable bike packing bikes, and the reason they would be bike packing bikes is so that we can use them for bike packing, but also basic bike packing bikes are great for teaching basic mountain bike skills. So even the people that want to go and ride a rebel rampage or compete in the Eastern States Cup and Duro or do Trans New England, like I did, you really need to hone in those like basic bike skills and like riding a full rigid bike is perfect, because you don't have the suspension to like make up for your mistakes, so yeah, for sure, and if you're going on a packraft, you don't want all those whistles and bells anyway, because like you might get wet.

Lindsay Currier:

Yeah, you don't want an electric shifter, or you know all the yeah, like you said, all the bells and whistles.

Jen:

Yeah, when I went on mine, I have this, like you know, teeny little Gary Fisher, 30 year old hardtail that just like popped apart, went right on there. I didn't care if I flipped, I'm like whatever, it's fine. We didn't have to put special tape on anything, it was just like whatever, there it is and now it's back together.

Jen:

we're all good. That's funny. So if people are interested in like connecting with you to organize some sort of fun adventure, because you've got so many great ideas and you're in such a beautiful spot, do you have like a site or do they just get the DM you like? How do you? How do you connect with your potential guiding clients?

Lindsay Currier:

So bike pack main has a website. It's very basic right now and it just has that event that we just did up on it. But there's also a contact form on there that people could reach out to me through that and that just goes to the email. Lindsay at bike pack maincom, I'm also on Facebook and Instagram. I'm a very inconsistent social media person. At this point, you know, if I do decide that social media is indeed important to marketing my business, I will be hiring somebody, but for now I just, you know, I pop on there and I'll have stints of like posting a lot and then I'll just kind of disappear because I need somebody. You know, like schedule posts and do that sort of stuff. But if you want to get directly in touch with me, email me. I check it like every day, yeah for like. I can.

Jen:

I can completely relate to that. It's just like, yeah, you know, it's so much to me. You have other things going on in your life. It's like not like you can sit there with your phone in your face all the time, so I get that, Alright. Last question before I let you go and eat your soup. Finally, it's your favorite piece of gear that you own that cost you less than $50. Oh goodness, or most useful doesn't have to be your favorite.

Lindsay Currier:

This is gonna sound kind of silly, but like just having nice like socks and underwear. So, like I just did an order this is for winter, but like because I'm in ski gear every, every single day, I just ordered myself new underwear. And it wasn't like Lacey Victoria secret, it's totally just, you know, reasonably priced sets of merino wool tops and bottoms. Yes, they were on sale on steep and cheap steeper than even a pro deal and I was able to get a top and bottom for under $50.

Jen:

Oh nice, both pieces. That's a score. That's good. I'm glad we're revisiting steep and cheap, because every once in a while it comes on the on the radar and I'm like, yeah, I got to get on that. It's funny. It's always the people who have are in snow sports. It's like the, the people who you who work in like snow making or whatever that are getting like the really heavy duty shit that you need to have. Yeah, it's usually very expensive off steep and cheap, so that's actually not silly at all. That's a great, that is a great, great suggestion.

Lindsay Currier:

So I appreciate that I'm not advertising for them at all, but like the stuff was like 75% off and that's even in the industry you're not going to get a deal like that. So it's like way below wholesale. And, like I said, when you're wearing it every single day it's it's just nice to have like a pair underwear.

Jen:

Yeah, awesome, all right, cool, Anything. We didn't talk about that. You want to plug?

Lindsay Currier:

I tried packrafting. I definitely recommend packraf. Mean I had gotten tried to get into that by myself but then, having my daughter, I was really concerned about something going wrong and, you know, like something terrible happening. So the first time I did it with her I went with Alejandro and we were able to borrow because he has all the boats right a pack that was big enough to fit the bike with the we'll call it the tag along and her and myself, and you know, go and have an adventure and then roll the bike up and put it on the front of the bike and he just made it very easy and made me feel like I had a lot of confidence. And then I watched him, you know, do that with our group up at Flagstaff and everybody just kind of came out like, oh, I want to get a packraft. So yeah, yeah, I haven't tried it. Check out packraft. Mean he makes it really affordable to try.

Jen:

Yeah, absolutely, and he was actually speaking of affordable. He's selling some of his gear from last year right now because he's upgrading his fleet. So I was like, oh my god, I want to get on the email list. I want, but still.

Lindsay Currier:

Yeah, and they're great, but yeah, yeah, yeah, they were.

Jen:

I would second that emotion. That was a very, very fun. It had looked super intriguing, but it, you're right, it was. I mean not, I don't even, wouldn't even bring my kids, because I knew that they're at that age where they hate everything. But I didn't even want to try it myself because I'm like, oh, that looks a little, there's like a lot going on there, even though, like, I like to paddle and I like to bike ride. But putting the two of those things together, oh, I don't know.

Lindsay Currier:

So my biggest fear was like what if it pops? So like I kept like what if it pops? And he's like, yeah, we'll just get it out of the water? And I'm like, but all the stuff? And he's like it'll be fine and I'm like, yeah, all right.

Jen:

Yeah, it was amazing. I got one of the ones that you like that your stuff is literally inside the part that's in flight. I'm like this is unbelievable it was. It was crazy. I couldn't believe how much stuff you could fit into into that thing.

Lindsay Currier:

So yeah, yeah, it's amazing and I can't think anybody else and well, I would say New England I mean, I don't get out of Maine very much, but I can't think of anybody else. That's like running an operation like that. So we're really lucky to have him and I'm really grateful that we're friends now.

Jen:

Yeah, absolutely, and he doesn't have a seven year old, so he goes wherever you want, anytime you want.

Lindsay Currier:

Yeah, we actually. I got invited on their dude trip. It's a in mid November if it doesn't snow like 10 feet by then. But we're supposed to bike rafter on moose head lake and then in an area like adjacent to that, so that should be interesting.

Jen:

That should be amazing actually, and I don't know. Hopefully this weather will continue.

Jen:

We did finally have some frost, but still pretty nice out, so this week is going to get up to 70 again. So Welcome to global warming. All right, cool. Well, thank you so much, lindsay. Have your lunch. I really appreciate and I'm glad we finally made this connection and I'm looking forward to getting up in that area. And yeah, back to a main that. I've been to flag stuff and I've stayed at Strattenbrook before and they're really fun. They're really fun places to go and I want to get up there for a ski trip because I've only been there in the summer so far. So I've made that break.

Jen:

I have not fat biked. Okay, I've only ridden a fat bike like around, not in the snow. It's been on my list for like years, so I'm dying to get up and try it. Like you know, the conditions have to be right, I have to be in the right place at the right time, and we are. We do a lot of downhill skiing, so we're always like trying to pick our kids to do that. And so, like the weekends, you know, there's only so much time when you're only working on your, when you only have two days a week, that you're like doing stuff with your family you're like, okay, what are we going to do this week? So, but yeah, I would love to come up and try that. It'd be so fun. Keep dropping, keep dropping hints about fat biking. So that would be awesome. Yeah, I like it. Alright, awesome. Well, thank you again.

Lindsay Currier:

Thanks a lot, Jennifer. Have a great day.

Jen:

So what all did we learn today, people? Here's what I'm taking away. Number one keep trying, iterating, failing, trying again. Whether it's parenting and doing stuff outside with kids or doing stuff in your own life, you're not failing, you're not trying, you're not growing. Number two think about what you want the future to look like for yourself and the people you love, and take small steps today to move in that direction. Hey, maybe sign up for a new type of event or a new distance, or take a crappy job for a while. That'll get you the funds you need to go on that life changing trip or a hack. Maybe just find a friend to drag to something fun and then actually let yourselves be present in the moment to have the fun.

Jen:

Number three try to view local economies and their outdoor activity ecosystems holistically. Consider what impacts your choices have on others, like where you decide to spend your money, buy your gear, rent for your vacation, etc. We're all in this together and the ripple effect is a real thing. If there's no more work for us, housing or groceries left in the local IGA on a Saturday morning, or if independent and family run outfits aren't supported, we all lose mindfulness all around people Speaking of mindfulness. Don't miss me too much. Over the next few weeks I'll be taking a quick pause to do some bucket list, traveling and be present with my mom and family. So I won't be dropping back into your earbuds until December, but when I do I've got another sugarloaf area baddie to share, so you'll want to hit subscribe or follow so you catch us on the rebound. That's it. Enjoy your turkey or whatever you'll be gnawing on next week, and end your November with a little bit of wild.