10 Things I Loved in 2023: Betsy Welch

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“Favorite things” lists can be a little tricky for me. My picks tend to be less product and more experience.

This year I decided to just lean into it. I know this won’t endear me to the marketing folks, but the truth is, I reach for the same tools to put in the same fanny pack and wear the same jorts on nearly every ride. Even with a dresser drawer full of socks, I usually just wear my favorites (Sunglasses however, are different. I can wear a different pair every day).

But if you want to talk about the stilly stupid adventure rides or the hut trips or the mid ride gas station junk food stops, then I am IN.

Isn’t that why we all ride bikes anyway? To feel free as a bird and giddy as a kid?

The local race series

I took myself out of my comfort zone this summer and committed to the local race series. This is saying a lot. It’s hard to wait until 6 p.m. to ride and even more so when it might be a road race.

Even though I often tried to talk myself out of going, I’m really glad I stuck with it. One, the races were a great workout. I don’t train or do anything intense on the bike, so these races left me feeling like I had really emptied the tank, which is a not altogether unpleasant feeling. But the best part is that I met a handful of really awesome women who I have since done other races and adventures with!

Price: $200 series/$25 per race

For more: aspencyclingclub.org

Smith Shift Split Mag sunglasses

I’ve always been a fan of Smith sunglasses for both the style and the quality of the lenses. This year, I started wearing what might be my favorite pair yet. The Shift Split Mag are part of Smith’s ‘sport/performance’ line and are thus super lightweight and well-ventilated.

I have been wearing them on road rides, mountain bike rides, and also trail running and skiing —  they work in every season.

They fit nicely under a helmet and look cute with a baseball hat. Each pair of Split Mag’s comes with both a ChromaPop lens (Smith’s proprietary lens technology) as well as a clear lens. Swapping out the two lenses is super easy; you just pop off the arms and nose pads and voila!

Price: $269-289

For more: smithoptics.com

The one-egg cast iron skillet

I hope one day we do a “10 kitchen things I loved” list because I could definitely get into that. Don’t all cyclists love to cook and eat?

One item on a very heavy rotation in my kitchen is a little Lodge cast iron skillet, about 6.5 inches in diameter. I use it exclusively to fry eggs, and I fry eggs very often.

The only things that ever goes into this pan are a pat of butter and eggs, and if I fry the egg perfectly (golden lacy edges, medium to runny yolk) nothing is left behind in the skillet, which means I never have to clean it, which — no clean up — is another favorite thing.

Price: on sale for $11.90!

For more: lodgecastiron.com

The Breck Epic*

In 2015, my best friend and I did the TransPyrenees, a grueling eight-day MTB stage race across the Pyrenees from Girona to San Sebastian.

Every day we rode for 8 to 10 hours, then had to schlep our stuff up the narrow stairwells of tiny mountain inns, choke down a bland pasta dinner, and then try and sleep which was impossible due to a suffocating heat wave.

A few weeks later, my friend’s husband did the Breck Epic, and we spent the week mountain biking and chilling in his AirBnB in Breckenridge, Colorado, while he raced for a few hours each morning.

There we realized: this was the way to stage race, forget the all-day suffer marches and post-ride schlepping.

I finally did the Breck Epic for myself in August, and what a treat.

We had beautiful weather and prime riding conditions, and race director Mike Mac pulled out all the usual stops with great organization and logistics. Four to six hours of riding every morning, followed by ice cream, river dips, socializing, and even time to work? This is a race I’ll be back for.

Price: varies; six day solo $1049, price goes up April 2

For more: breckepic.com

Ripton jorts

*I did all six stages of the Breck Epic in Ripton jorts.

Now that performance denim purveyors Ripton & Co have a full line of (j)overalls, jeans, and jackets, it may be easy to overlook their hallmark product, jorts. But don’t! Ripton jorts are truly a thing of beauty and the only thing I wear while mountain biking.

They are stretchy, comfy, I have somehow never lost my cell phone out of the back pocket, and best of all, they are cute to wear when you’re done riding. I am so thankful to Ripton for disrupting the status quo of impractical baggie mountain bike shorts and making such a fun and functional product. I will never look back.

Price: varies; lots on sale now, mystery jorts just $20!

For more: riptonco.com

@gasstationfoodcyclist

I don’t follow any cycling meme accounts on social media because in general I am trying to “follow” less of everything.

I am, however, a total sucker for the @gasstationfoodcyclist account on Instagram. It is harmless and fun and food-focused and most importantly, KEEPS BIKES FUN — my kind of social media.

The premise is very simple: Riders take a pic of the snacks they source mid or post ride and tag @gasstationfoodcyclist (or alternately, #eattrashridefast) and The Gas Station Food Cyclist will share the pic in stories and “rate your haul.”

Hauls can run the gamut from classic Americana gas station roller dogs and Mountain Dew to Euro trash pastries and ‘spro. The fun is in how the GSFC shares and interprets them. I know I always get a serotonin boost when my haul gets a five star rating.

Riding to Crested Butte

Nothing beats high alpine mountain biking from the months of July through September.

Even better if those high alpine rides connect two towns, each with its own network of great high alpine rides. Better yet if I live in one of them and my two best friends live in the other, so there is always a warm bed on the other side.

If those two towns happen to be Crested Butte and Aspen, Colorado (spoiler alert, they are),  there are no fewer than five ways to ride between them.

Gallery: The 46th Annual Pearl Pass Klunker Tour

I always love spending summer days riding in CB, but this year my best memories are of the adventures getting over there. One day, I planned to ride there and back in a day but got sidelined by peer pressure. I finally headed back over Schofield Pass four days later when the Gunnison County sheriff called to say people were worried that I’d gotten lost.

Another time, I drove over with a friend and we spent the weekend running and hiking. When he had to leave, I sent all my stuff home with him in the car, and then rode back to Aspen via Pearl Pass. My two besties from CB accompanied me to the top.

Price: freeeeee

Jury Duty

The show Jury Duty was recommended to me in, get this, the lobby of a courthouse where a very important trial was happening. I was fairly taken aback by the suggestion and had no idea what to expect.

All I can say is: if you’re in need of a bingeworthy show that is heart-warming and funny (you are), watch this.

Stream free here.

The Gravel Rave

After Big Sugar Gravel this year, Life Time put on The Gravel Rave, a post-race party unlike any I have ever seen. The show opened with gravel pro Alexis Skarda doing a set of original electronic music (after she’d raced to seventh place) followed by former pro turned DJ Taylor Phinney.

The music was great but the best part was the audience. Turns out that after seven months of full gas racing, pro cyclists can and will really let loose.

Read also: Meet music-maker and gravel pro Alexis Skarda

Price: TBD

For more: bigsugarclassic.com

My new hardtail

Someone recently asked me if “new bike day” still gets me excited or if I’m too jaded to get psyched. The answer is definitively yes, I definitely get excited.

Especially if the new bike is actually mine, not a test bike for review.

New bike day happened a few weeks ago when I went down to Boulder to pick up a new hardtail from Mosaic. I have a long history with the bespoke builder; Mosaic’s founder Aaron Barcheck built me a steel road bike in 2011 just after he’d launched the company. I still have that bike and get a kick out of riding it, even if it only clears 28c tires.

I decided this summer that I wanted a titanium hardtail. Something playful and fun and versatile and comfy to ride on mixed surfaces and trails.

Something easy to travel with, something that would never go out of style. I chose Mosaic because Aaron makes great bikes but also to bring things full circle. That steel road bike was a present for graduating nursing school in 2011 and here I am now, a fulltime cycling journalist. I went with the MT-2 model, which comes in stock geometry and thus has a rapid fire turn-around time.

I like electronic bits alright, but for this one I opted for tried and true analog Shimano. Isn’t she lovely?

Price: $4200, frame only

For more: mosaiccycles.com