Get To Know Me

I wanna start this thing off with deep gratitude for everyone that is reading and has helped me along the way. My name is Mitchell, but you can call me Mitch. I’m originally from Venice, California. Home of palm tree covered beaches, tourists on vacation, and tech companies like Snapchat, Google, and YouTube. I love that place to death, but a lot of the vibe and culture I grew up with has left and it’s turned into somewhat of a Silicon Beach, as some would say.

I grew up making music, playing basketball on the beach, riding FGFS (Fixed Gear Freestyle), competing in track & field, and then studied psychology in college. I’ve always been interested in travel because I had a pretty diverse upbringing. All of my friends are from a different heritage, my mom is Jamaican, my dad is 2nd generation American, my stepdad is Irish and my stepmom is Thai. Woah, right?! Fortunately, I grew up speaking Spanish and English as well. By the time I reached college, I had been all over the US, to Jamaica a few times, Ireland, Turkey and Greece. Seems like I caught the travel bug pretty early...

A little after my first year of college, I dropped out and started working. I was just helping the college dropout rate increase, I guess. The live/work balance became tough, so a “failed start-up and lack of a job” later, put me in a really bad place. I was no longer driving around in a nice car, eating out at all my favorite places and working when and how I wanted. During one of my most challenging times, a good friend of mine told me I should try out mountain biking with him. Being in the mountains, getting good exercise, hanging out with friends, and experiencing the raw freedom that cycling brings, literally changed my life. I fell in love with it, bought a bike and had a job at a bike shop a week later!

Cycling for me was, and still can be, my escape from the daily struggles of life. When I was in high school, I used to clear my head by riding for hours by the beach, practicing some new tricks, and then flying home for dinner on time. Then, life hit and I kind of just forgot about it all. Luckily, riding again and working with bikes every day showed me how much cycling contributed to my life. It became my coping machine. The world of cycling was at my fingertips and I felt like a kid in a candy store… but I was 23… and they were bikes.

I started commuting everywhere, got in decent cycling shape and then fell in love with my Bianchi track bike. It was like a birthday present to myself since I had always wanted one of those celeste beauties. Fast forward a few more months and a customer named Aline came into the shop for some repairs. Once we got her bike taken care of she recommended I try out road cycling.

…I let go of that idea when Bianchi put me on an Oltre XR3 with 50mm Atom Composites wheels. How do you make a road cyclist overnight? Give them a sick bike to ride!

Not long after my heart was taken by the road, (here’s the cheesy part) Aline took my heart and made me chase her all around LA on our bikes. We rode up and down the coast. She saw me do my first race. She was even there for me when I was hit by a Range Rover on my way to work. We became tired of earning money to barely survive in an expensive city like LA, so we sold all of our stuff and moved to Germany in October. Oh, how life changes in the blink of an eye!

The Purpose

I started this blog because I wanted a place to share my journey, meanwhile providing value to the right people. People that would understand the passion for cycling that moves your soul and leads you to want to travel all over the world. People that are looking for a place to connect with other cyclists, learn a thing or two, or maybe gain some inspiration to take the leap and change their life like I did.

What you can Look Forward To

Following along this journey means you’ll be getting a heap of all things bike-related, a spoonful of travel stories about the journey from California to Germany (more to come), and a dash of me finding the depths of my soul through the world's diverse cultures!

I would love to hear your comments, thoughts or questions about anything you have to share. I dabble in the world of mindfulness, so rest assured, I’m pretty open. Feel free to get in contact with me HERE for any questions, concerns or collaborations. Most of my time is spent on Instagram and there’s a link below to stay up to date with stories, posts and more!

vision is important!

Hopefully this blog will turn into a place that you can come to for a healthy dose of life tales, travel destinations and of course, geeking out on cycling. Ideally, I’ll try to post once a week, so stay tuned for the next batch of content. Also, Aline and I will be guest publishing a post about one of our favorite bike route’s in LA with Born2.Bike soon, so be sure to check that out!

If you’ve read this far, thank you SO much and I appreciate you for being at the start of what I hope will be something amazing!

p.s. we’re attending the ISPO Expo starting Feb. 3rd and will be posting updates on Instagram the whole time!

Welcome to Live • Travel • Cycle

Get To Know Me

The Purpose

What you can Look Forward To

vision is important!