Greg Rides Trails

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2021-02-18T19:51:00.002-05:00

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New Project Is Now LIVE! Outside365.blog

2020-11-17T16:15:00.002-05:00

I'm ridiculously excited to announce an all-new writing project today! This new website—"blog," for lack of a better term—is a deeper exploration of my Outside 365 project, and a closer look at how nature and exercise connect to our daily lives. You can find it at Outside365.blog

After being active outside every day for 845 days straight, I've only become more and more convinced of the importance of this idea. Over the past two and a half years, I've realized that going outside is actually kind of a revolutionary idea—and only more so in 2020. I've even had friends join the challenge, and they've shared with me how dramatically it has impacted their lives. So I'm going all-in with a full website to explore these ideas in depth.

I've been working on this site and prepping fresh articles for a couple of months, and I'm pumped to start releasing these pieces. If you click on over, you'll see that the site is populated with a number of articles I've written off and on over the past few years, but at the top there are a couple fresh ones to dive into. If you want an overview of the Outside 365 project, be sure to read the Manifesto linked in the navigation, and stay tuned for a little more back story in a couple of weeks.

This new blog is a passion project, and right now the site and the marketing strategy (or lack thereof) is in V1. Please bear with me as I professionalize a few things over time...

For now, I would love it if you were to check out the new site and read the first piece, "Strangely, Going Outside Is a Revolutionary Idea." Any thoughts or comments? Hit me up on the 'Gram!

The Questions Project

2017-04-13T13:40:00.001-04:00

Photo by Benjamin Reay via Flickr Creative Commons

The first step in freeing your mind is to ask questions.

The moment we move from simply reading and ingesting the information that is given to us, accepting it word for word, and we start to ask, "is what I'm reading or hearing true? Is it correct?" we have taken a massive leap towards the goal of being a free and independent thinker.

But some people that think they are free thinkers may not be as critical as they believe. They may not know what they do not know. They may, instead, ask questions about some things, but not about others.

The person who questions one party in a conversation or debate and not the other has already chosen his side.

I'm personally resolving to ask more questions. To think more deeply. To seek more truth. Hopefully along the way, I'll find some answers, too. But even if I don't, it seems to me that the asking of questions is still intrinsically valuable and important.

Click over to Greg Heil.com to follow along on the Questions Project.

Latest Project: Weekly "Over a Beer" Column on Singletracks.com

2017-02-03T16:04:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to bring a more conversational tone and the ability to analyze more creative topics--sometimes merely tangentially related to mountain biking--on Singletracks.com, I recently started a weekly column titled "Over a Beer."

By recently, I mean back in April 2016, so this weekly column has been going for quite a while now, and has seen 38 installments (as of the beginning of February, 2017).

Click here to catch up on Over a Beer.

In my opinion, it's been one of the best projects I've launched in a very long time!

Here's some more background on this column:

Introductory Post

You may have clicked on this article while asking yourself, “what the heck does he mean, ‘Over a Beer?’ I’m so not “over” beer—give me all the beers! I need more beers in my life!” No, you’ve got it all wrong. By “Over a Beer,” I’m referring to having a conversation, over a beer.

So often a person I am “friends” with posts something hyper-political, opinionated, or otherwise incendiary on Facebook, but instead of commenting back angrily, if it’s somebody that I actually care about, I ask them, “hey, do you want to go talk over a beer?” Because I would always rather sit down and get face-to-face with a friend and have a true heart-to-heart discussion, instead of exchanging context-less Facebook comments. It’s been my experience that those conversations are almost always interesting, beneficial, and end with the two of us still friends. A Facebook battle, on the other hand, rarely ends well.

I would personally love to chat over a beer with the amazing members here in the Singletracks community! I’ve corresponded with so many of you for so long that I consider you friends, even if we’ve never met face-to-face before.

But the reality is, I may never get to talk one-on-one with many of you—after all, there are about a million of you that use this website every month! So, I decided that I wanted to sit down with you all virtually, and talk “over a beer,” so to speak.

To achieve this dialogue, I’m launching a weekly column titled—you guessed it—“Over a Beer.” In this column I’ll share my opinions on various topics in the world of mountain biking, my observations, and my ruminations. Basically, I’m going to tackle any and every mountain bike-related topic that we might actually talk about if we met up and had a beer.

Fair warning: these columns probably won’t be fully-developed opinion pieces like this one. They probably won’t be well-argued dissertations like this one. Rather, you’ll be getting my thoughts and opinions in a raw, unfettered, conversational tone. So if you read an Over a Beer column that you think is missing something—guess what? That’s where you join the conversation! Share your insight, expand on what may be a brief or—let’s face it—simply shoddy discussion of a topic, by chiming in with your own insights, thoughts, and opinions in the comments section.

We are having conversation over a beer, after all.

Oh, and by the way, I totally encourage beer-drinking as you read these columns. And I’ll try to crack a cold one myself before reading through the comments section.

Latest Project: @mtbgreg Instagram

2015-05-15T18:27:00.002-04:00

In case you were unaware, I want to fill you in: my latest personal project has been building an Instagram account. At this point it's hardly new, with 324+ photos posted and 627+ followers. But unlike some things that start and then barely get off the ground, I've thoroughly been enjoying Instagram, and I don't see my efforts there diminishing anytime soon.

For one thing, it's basic: posting photos of beautiful places and cool experiences is something I've been doing for many, many years anyways, and bringing it to this platform is easy and seamless. However, it can be as intricate as you want to make it: interacting with people and participating in hashtags and challenges adds an entertaining dimension that I really enjoy.

So what are you waiting for? Click on over and give me a follow!

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-07-09T10:30:00.002-04:00

Trail: Captain Ahab, Moab, Utah.

New POD on Tripleblaze: The Maroon Bells, Aspen, Colorado

2014-07-01T10:58:00.001-04:00

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-06-24T11:07:00.002-04:00

View from the Starvation Creek Trail, Salida, CO.

New Sunset POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-06-05T10:58:00.004-04:00

An April sunset after a rainstorm in Moab, Utah.

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-05-26T22:21:00.000-04:00

South Shore Lake Pueblo, Colorado. Photo: mtbgreg1.

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-05-22T22:16:00.000-04:00

Red Rocks, Denver, Colorado

Wildcat Trail, Spooner, Wisconsin

2014-05-21T22:22:00.002-04:00

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-05-18T11:55:00.000-04:00

South Shore Lake Pueblo, CO.

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-05-16T11:52:00.000-04:00

Red Rocks, Denver, Colorado. Photo: mtbgreg1.

Big Captain Jack's Loop, Colorado Springs, Colorado

2014-05-15T12:04:00.000-04:00

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-05-14T11:47:00.000-04:00

Red Rocks, Denver, Colorado. Photo: mtbgreg1.

New Navajo Rocks Trail System, Moab, Utah

2014-05-13T12:03:00.000-04:00

Slickrock Practice with Summer, Fins n Things, Full Slickrock. Moab, UT

2014-05-12T12:02:00.000-04:00

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-05-12T11:43:00.000-04:00

Red Rocks, Denver, Colorado. Photo: mtbgreg1.

Fighting the wind at Klondike Bluffs, Moab, Utah

2014-05-10T12:01:00.000-04:00

Moab Brand Trails with Summer, Moab, Utah

2014-05-09T12:01:00.003-04:00

Amasa Back Area, Moab, Utah

2014-05-09T12:01:00.000-04:00

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-05-09T10:12:00.001-04:00

Oil Well Flats trail, Canon City, Colorado

New POD on Tripleblaze.com

2014-05-07T10:51:00.003-04:00

Wolf Creek Pass, Pagosa Springs, Colorado

New POD on Singletracks.com

2014-05-07T10:49:00.003-04:00

Trail: Oil Well Flats, Canon City, Colorado. Rider: skibum.