About

Hi there and welcome to Happy Trail Tales!

I’m Victoria. I’m an adventure cyclist who loves big rides. Whether it’s a 200-mile solo ride along the coast of California or Dirty Kanza, you can probably count on me being down.

I started riding bikes a couple years ago when I moved to San Francisco. At the time, I knew nothing about bikes. But I was determined to get better. Slowly, I did. It’s a constant learning process but my journey so far has been such a thrill.

After trying out the road racing scene, I found and fell in love with “adventure riding.” Adventure riding is a little different than your typical riding scene. Often, you’re in a remote area and you don’t have any course markings (even if you have a set course). You might have your sleeping bag and tent mounted onto your bicycle. You might be in frigid cold or perhaps sweltering heat. There might be pavement, but chances are that you’re working with mostly gravel, be it fire roads or single track.

But that’s the beauty of it. Adventure riding puts you in a place of many unknowns. It challenges you to care less about getting from point A to B as fast as possible and more about savoring the moment as you roll past beautiful scenery on rural country roads.

Adventure riding can seem daunting, if not scary, at first. But with the right prep and the right attitude, it is a total blast that so many people can (and should) experience. In the past year I’ve done some fun stuff just by biting the bullet. To name a few…

• I rode 200 miles across gravel Kansas roads on a little ride known as Dirty Kanza.
• I headed down to San Diego, up and down beautiful dirt and sandy roads for the Belgian Waffle Ride (many waffles were had).
• I woke up at 3am to ride 200 miles solo along California’s incredible Highway 1.
• I packed up my tent and rode 400 miles from Reno to Mendocino, a 5-day, 4-night unbelievably gorgeous gravel adventure across California.

But, I’m not pro cyclist. Not even close. I’m just a girl who loves to ride her bike. I started this blog to showcase some of my awesome adventures to hopefully inspire your own. Most of the experiences that I share here will be from a bike—a mix of road and gravel—but there will be other types of  fun like backpacking and big day hikes thrown in there too. I’ll fill you in on what I did, how I did it, and tips on how you can do your own similar adventure. 

Hope you enjoy the blog, and happy adventuring 🙂

Victoria