In 2015, I started LOAM with a simple idea: good coffee belongs outdoors. At trailheads. On race mornings. Along dirt roads before the day gets loud.
What began as a way to raise funds for a mountain bike guiding company slowly became something else. The coffee took off. The brand grew. Nacho the Van showed up at gravel races, mountain bike events, and trail building days. What started as a side project became a real thing.
But over time, I realized something important. The coffee was never the center. It was the excuse.
I’m always looking for different ways to brew coffee, whether at home, on the trail, or on a gravel road. When I go gravel riding, I usually bring along a different way to brew coffee. Why? I’m not only trying to dial in my favorite, but I like using other brew methods.
I suppose there’s no such thing as my “favorite” way to brew coffee as I love mixing things up. Maybe what I’m looking for is the most convenient? Simplist? Easiest?
As much as I love riding my mountain bike on trails, I have to admit I equally love exploring the backroads on my gravel bike. Every now and then, when I get bored riding the same local and regional trails, I’ll switch it up to ride the endless ribbons of gravel roads around Oregon and Washington. At the same time, I’ve been experimenting with different brew methods while gravel riding. That brings me to the Ortlieb collapsible coffee dripper.
Like you, I love hand-built trails with tabletops and bermed corners. Gravity-fed flow trails are one of the wonders of the world. And so, I regularly hit the same trail systems repeatedly. But with gravel, whole new worlds open to me that I don’t see or miss by riding on enclosed trail systems. Oregon is packed with endless miles of gravel or dirt roads that take you on adventures that leave you whoopin’ and hollerin’.
One of the topics I want to hear more about is thinking through more sustainable ways to access trail systems than simply driving. No, I am not anti-car or anything like that. I sometimes think about the absurdity of endless shuttled runs and all of the gas wasted, time wasted, and of course, CO2 emissions emitted. Maybe that is why I have been thinking of gravel riding a lot more of late.
No, I’m not saying that introducing people has to be sequential … first gravel and the single track. But I wonder where my love would be if my first introduction was simply the kinds of trails that we have today. There’s something about learning to enjoy a good pedal, learning to corner, and getting used to bikes before going truly off road.
