My Story

HOW IT ALL BEGAN…

Beginnings.

I was born in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland, USA to what would have been a quintessential, well-educated middle class family. We had a front lawn, a dog, a small garden in the backyard, and lived in an area where the public schools were fairy well regarded, all things considered. Eventually, my family split apart- divorce, job loss, disability, mental health issues, binge drinking, financial difficulty, cutting off contact with one another, etc. I won’t dive too deep into the details, but let’s just say that things weren’t easy for any of us during my adolescence.

First Travel Experience.

I spent every summer and winter break working minimum wage jobs from the ages 13-16 before working part-time, year round, by the age of 16 until I graduated college at 21. Travel and vacations were not often come by in my family. We would camp at Cape Henlopen during my childhood, maybe take a weekend trip here or there, but for the most part, I can’t remember many significant vacations in my adolescence. The summer after my first year of college (2018), my nana decided to fly me, herself, and my two other cousins on a girls trip to Spain to show us the beauty of travel. We spent a week in Barcelona and a few days in Granada going on guided history tours and eating local cuisine. I immediately caught the travel bug.

My First Bike.

Less than a year after this trip to Spain, I purchased my first bike. Because of my financial aid status in college, cost-saving was of paramount importance. I couldn’t afford to call Ubers to off-campus parties, run errands that were far away from campus, or explore the city which was a few miles out. As a sophomore, I had run out of my allotted 7 free therapy appointments before needing to find an off-campus therapist to pay for continued therapy. The closest one was 3 miles away. I had two options: walk an hour there and back every Thursday after class, or call an Uber. I tried both, and was unsatisfied. I decided to look for a cheap bike on Craigslist, and eventually purchased a $150 1990s hardtail Trek Mt. Trak. This bike took me not only to therapy, but eventually to off-campus crew parties, to movie nights with friends, to class on the opposite side of campus, or to the gym where I could store a change of clothes in the back of my bike without having to bike all the way back home between class and rowing practice. My bike became my ultimate source of transportation equality around the greater campus area- my freedom of movement.

Pandemic.

The pandemic took the world by hold, shutting down almost everything as we knew it. I was no longer able to participate in rowing practice and needed a new athletic outlet (the dumbbells in my backyard weren’t enough). My temporary roommate was a cyclist and eager to show me some of his favorite routes into the city, grounding me in the exploratory aspect of cycling. I made another friend who was interested in cycling as a sport. He taught me the basics of bike maintenance, safe cycling, and eventually brought me to the campus bike shop. As you can tell, one thing turned to another. 10 mile rides turned into 45 mile rides. Adjusting my seat height turned into replacing chains and changing flats. Following Strava routes turned into biking wherever I liked based off the near perfect mental map of the city that I developed. Volunteering at one bike co-op turned into volunteering at two. My weekend plans turned into picnics at the park, wandering around the mostly empty city, and exploring every nook and cranny I could. I fell in love with cycling and its community.

First Bikepacking Trip.

During my senior year of college, I was toying with the idea of biking home from Atlanta, GA, to Baltimore, MD after graduation. I desperately did not want to get a job after graduation. I already had about 9 years of work experience under my belt- what was the point of working all these minimum wage jobs just to feel burnout and behind from all of my wealthy classmates? I wanted an escape and I wanted a break. So I decided to start preparing for this tour by first biking to a campground that my friends drove to (they carried my gear, I simply met them there on the bike), then by going bikepacking with a friend to to this exact same campground, a second time, but with a loaded bike. I hardly knew what I was doing, but I knew I was onto something amazing.

Biking From Atlanta to Baltimore.

And so my first tour begins! Just a couple weeks after graduation in 2021 (when my lease ended) I left my apartment in Atlanta to bike all the way to Baltimore. Over the 1.5 months of cycling, I biked on dangerous, fast, and busy roads. On dirt roads where dogs chased me. In food deserts and rural communities. To Savannah, GA and along the coast, I camped, ate meals with strangers, used Warmshowers for the first time, got 7 flats in one day, pedaled three days with a man I met on the trail, crashed with friends along the way, and ultimately, made it to my mother’s home in Baltimore, MD, in one piece. I documented all of this on my Instagram, @livingbybike, for my friends to see. This was the birth of Living By Bike.

The Next Adventure Begins- Europe.

After making it home, I wanted to keep going. I didn’t like living at home with my mother, still wanted to avoid getting a job, and had a graduation present waiting me in Maryland- money to travel abroad. I quickly took that money to buy a better bike (albeit, still a heavy piece of work), and a one-way ticket to London, the only city abroad that I had a close friend in. I was home less than two months before I left to bike across Europe for what ended up being four and a half months. I continued to post on Instagram, debating about trying to develop some sort of influencer status of being a bicycle tourist. I continued to post my daily diary entries while experimenting with TikTok and Instagram reels. It was cold and I was frequently drenched from rain. I crossed ten countries- England, Wales, Scotland, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, France, Spain (and Portugal, in a van with someone I met) from September 1st to January 12th. By the end of the tour, I couldn’t wait to be back home to enjoy a sense of stability for the first time in years.

Living Car-Free.

I have never owned a car, and don’t plan on doing so anytime soon. After traveling for those six months in 2021, I secured a remote job and (accidentally) settled down in Baltimore. My remote job made the car-free life easier than it would be for others, but I still endured the challenges that most Americans face in many of our cities- a lack of bike and pedestrian friendly infrastructure, big and fast roads, urban sprawl, and a lack of quality public transportation. I biked to Ace hardware whenever I needed a specific tool. I biked to birthday parties at bars 7 miles across the city, and would bike those 7 miles back after midnight. I biked to the farmers market, to doctors appointments, to Michael’s, to grocery stores, to thrift stores. I biked everywhere I could, and found myself a community of likeminded people. I biked with Baltimore Bike Party, on social Saturday morning coffee rides, and went bikepacking in the greater DMV area. Biking is a form of political resistance to our car-dominated nation, a country where automobiles are prioritize over the real humans who live there. I bike to be eco-friendly. To save money. To make friend. Ultimately, though, I bike because I love it.

Biking Across the USA.

The Ulman Foundation reached out to me in 2022 to help advertise for their upcoming 4k for Cancer bike tour across the USA to raise money for their nonprofit that helps young adults fighting cancer. I was reluctant at first to agree to the tour- I didn’t know if it would fit into my life plans, and was unsure if I wanted to bike across the USA, let alone, with a whole group of strangers. I signed up for the trip, created content for them to recruit more members (two of whom joined from my TikToks), and took unpaid time off to complete the tour, starting in June of 2023. We biked across the USA, from Baltimore, MD, to Atlanta, GA as a group on a self-run, van-supported bike tour, as we all raised $5000+ each for the Ulman Foundation.

Biking Across New Zealand.

After biking across the USA, I quit my job. I wanted to pursue bike influencing, content creation, and entrepreneurship full-time. One of my life mottos is this: it is better to fail trying than to never try at all. So here I am, trying to make this lifestyle work for me! I began reaching out to brands for support as I planned a near 3 month tour across New Zealand and part of Australia with one of my friends from the summer tour. My remote tech job- with its high salary- is what enabled me to save money and live the dirtbag, traveler and cyclist lifestyle once again. I was only home for about two months after finishing our USA bike tour before flying out to Christchurch to continue on this wild adventure of bicycle touring.

Where I Am Now.

As I write this post, I am sitting on the balcony of a travel friend’s apartment in Melbourne, Australia. I am still reaching out to brands, navigating the monetization process, building this website, editing YouTube videos, and occasionally, freaking out over what the heck I am doing with my life. All I can say is that, despite the deep uncertainty I live with every day living off my savings to try and make this little dream of Living By Bike come true, I am happier knowing I do something I care about which impacts other positively.