shawn

"The way you ride is the way you live." ~ The Art of Mountain Biking podcast; Danielle LeCourt & Jamie Bangerter

I love everything about bicycles. They are among the greatest of human inventions.

Though I've always enjoyed riding bikes, I never much thought about it, nor took strongly to any type of riding. But the past couple years I've discovered I LOVE mountain biking.

I ride a 2022 Trek Marlin 7 - a fantastic entry-level, but-can-hang hardtail. It followed a 2018 Trek Marlin 7 which followed a 1993 Gary Fisher Marlin ( nostalgia is strong). I love it. Also, I am actively learning bike maintenance, seeking self-sufficiency.

I am moved to write about my biking (mis-)adventures—the rides and learning bike maintenance.

Also, I serve as a middle school assistant principal. I love 'the work.' I love middle schoolers. I love learning and growing alongside them, helping them to write the narratives of their lives.

The work is messy. It's hard. The hardest in my twenty-five years of teaching youth. I am moved to try to write my way through it.

On biking and education, I don’t presume to write authoritatively. I intend only to show my work, to lean into the vulnerability of reflective inquiry, and to share and learn alongside a community of fellow bikers and educators beyond my in-person network.