Great divide mountain bike ride packing list for Summer 2026!

This wasn’t something I ever planned to do, at least not at first. As a senior in high school, I very actively avoided chemistry and physics. I was going to be an artist, that much I was sure of. But when it came time to apply to college and choose a major, I found myself checking the box for Environmental Science. I didn’t really know what that meant. I just knew that I liked science, and I loved the environment. It felt like a reasonable combination, even if I didn’t yet understand where it...

“The pink ones come out at 2 AM,” my older brother, six years my senior, taunted me, knowing I would never be allowed to stay up that late. It was a sticky, warm night in Western Pennsylvania, the kind where sweat and dirt mix with DEET bug spray—the eau de summertime of my youth.