This week’s Reader’s Rig comes from Steve Brust, who is currently on a massive ride from Patagonia on up to Alaska aboard his trusty Rohloff-equipped Surly Ogre. Check out Steve’s well-worn bike, read some stories from the road, and learn a little about his bicycle travel philosophy here…

Words by Steve Brust, photos by Miles Arbour

I’m Steve. I’m Dutch and American; I spent a few years in the States growing up, but I’ve lived most of my life in the Netherlands. I’ve never been super into cycling as a sport, but I’m thoroughly convinced that it’s the best way to commute, travel, and see the world.

I was working in engineering before this, and a friend had the idea of going on a cycling trip in Eastern Europe one summer. Riding through towns and chatting with folks, the food, the culture, the social aspect of it all, that was my favorite. I found it all to be so wonderfully free-flowing—you’ve got this idea of where you want to go, but between here and there, it’s really just up to you. After that trip, the idea for a bigger ride was planted. It just kept coming back. I couldn’t shake it. It took me a long time to work up the courage to quit my good, stable job, but those early, decisive steps to go for it were the hardest part. Once you’re out there, you’ll figure it out along the way.

My Surly is super rad, and I’m incredibly fond of it. Up here in Canada now, I’ll find myself sitting in a Timmy’s, drinking coffee, and looking out at the bike and thinking, “Hell yes!” It started this trip with an SLX 12-speed that worked great but was worn out by the time I’d reached El Salvador. In Nicaragua, I had a pretty bad crash with a motorcycle that left the bike dented and bent but still rideable. Together with my parents and some family friends, we arranged for the Rohloff to meet me in Mexico City. Surly generously helped me out with a new fork, and the raddest folks at Basica Studio—who I found through a BIKEPACKING.com article—helped me straighten out the steel frame.

I’m nearing the finish of a long bike trip that started way down south in Ushuaia, Argentina. My end goal is Deadhorse, Alaska, but for a long time, that was just a thought in the back of my mind; I didn’t know I’d come this far. It’s a bit more common to go north to south on this route, but I figured if I only go for a year, then I wanted to have cycled in South America. You take it all a few weeks at a time and link up some disparate destinations along your route. “A few more weeks and I’ll be here, then a few more weeks and I’ll get there,” and before you know it, you’ve gone pretty far.

I wasn’t concerned with being a purist and maintaining the continuity of the route. I just tried to follow my gut and do what felt right. I spent more than a few months down in Patagonia pursuing side trips until I was consistently waking up with snow on my tent. I rode down toward the central flatlands to a town called Los Angeles and took a bus to Santiago. I didn’t see the sense in smashing a thousand kilometers of highway riding just because I had to. I’m out here for fun, right?

• Frame/Fork: Surly Ogre
• Rims: DT Swiss EX511
• Hubs: SON28 (front) / Rohloff (rear)
• Tires: Surly Extraterrestrials
• Handlebars: Jones Riser H-Bar
• Headset: Cane Creek 40
• Crankset: Sugino XD2 with a 36T steel Surly chainring
• Pedals: Raceface Ride
• Brakes: Avid BB7
• Shifter(s): Rohloff
• Saddle: Brooks B17
• Seatpost: Thomson Masterpiece
• Stem: A generic short one
• Front bags: Revelate Designs harness with a Salty Roll
• Fork bags: Revelate Salty Rolls
• Frame bags: Revelate Designs Surly-specific
• Rear bags: Ortlieb and Vaude panniers, dry bag, and Oveja Negra seat pack
• Accessory bags: Two Revelate Designs feedbags
• Other accessories: Forumslader USB charger, Widefoot cage, and Supernova E3 lights front and back

My trip is in no way “perfect,” whatever that means. I took some buses here and there. If I was cycling uphill in the rain after dark and someone offered me a lift into town, I took it. These decisions that I made led me to some of my most treasured memories. I liked seeing the metaphors in all of this. If I met a really fun bunch of folks in Panama or had a hilarious evening at a pool hall in rural Colombia, then that was because of those earlier decisions that led me to right here, right now. I’m sure if I’d taken a left instead of a right way back there, it would’ve led me to some other neat experience, and I believe that this line of thinking can be applied to life more broadly. The bike trip has given me some really tangible examples that helped me to see that.

I want to reiterate that the hardest part of this whole trip was starting. I sought guidance from quite a few people, and I was so amped for the trip, yet the unknown of it all and the loss of stability still scared me. Eventually, you just have to send it. One realization that gave me the most confidence was that the older the people were that I was talking to, the more enthusiastically they told me to go for it.

You can follow Steve at BSteve.com.

Further Reading

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