“To love cycling of all sports in 2025 requires a hard look at yourself, and perhaps some special pleading..”
cycling
The Alchemists
“They led a cycling revolution in Afghanistan where women were forbidden to ride. When the Taliban returned to power, their only hope was a harrowing escape to an uncertain future.”
Into the Wind
“There is a fine line between losing yourself and finding your deepest truths.”
The West Coast’s Fanciest Stolen Bikes Are Getting Trafficked by One Mastermind in Jalisco, Mexico
“A digital sleuth named Bryan Hance has spent the past four years obsessively uncovering a bicycle-theft pipeline of astonishing scale.”
Best Of 2023: Features
At the time of this writing, Longreads editors have created nearly 650 recommendations in 2023, and just about every one of them can be considered a feature. However, you’ll find that the stories contained herein are features in the classic sense: marriages of deep reporting and indelible prose. Some are light, others emotionally taxing. Their […]
Molly’s Last Ride
“Twelve-year-old Molly Steinsapir crashed onto the pavement from a Rad Power e-bike and never woke up. With a poorly regulated e-bike industry, who is responsible when a child dies?”
Does Cycling Have a Drinking Problem?
“Bikes and booze have been linked for decades, but research shows there is no such thing as a healthy amount of alcohol.”
How the 1% Runs an Ironman
“Inside the world of Ironman XC, which makes the endurance contest a little more endurable — for executives who can afford to pay.”
Braydon Bringhurst Versus the Beast
“Is this mountain biking’s greatest uphill achievement?”
I Shredded a 70-Mile Dirt Ride on a Folding Commuter Bike
If you’re ripping off 70 miles of off-road riding in a day, you’d probably go for a mountain bike or gravel bike. Maybe a cyclocross bike. Or you could, as Elena Lacey details in this joyous travelogue for WIRED, opt for a $5,000 titanium folding Brompton. Just don’t expect to clear any obstacles. As I […]
