Why Pedals and Puffins?
…because bicycle touring and wildlife photography are two of our greatest passions.
Pedalers
We are kindred spirits who explore the world by bike. We’ve been doing bicycle tours since 2000, when we first tackled Ride the Rockies.
From there we completed bicycle-tours in Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Delaware, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Denmark, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. We've also done shorter rides in Mexico, Spain and South Korea. For us, bicycle touring is the best way get to know a place, its people, and its natural wonders.
In 2017 we decided to focus more on self-supported touring. In the fall of 2017, we biked across NY state on the Erie Canalway, camping and carrying all our stuff. That led to our 2018 epic journey across the United States, when we cycled coast to coast on the TransAmerica bike route, followed by a year of cycling throughout Europe, a ride across Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, and our first bikepacking adventure on the Western Wildlands Bikepacking Route from Canada to Mexico. In 2022 we will begin our longest tour ever, with an attempt to cycle from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Patagonia at the tip of South America.
Nature Enthusiasts
We've always incorporated our love of nature into our travels. Along the way, we take the time to photograph animals (especially birds), plants, and their native habitats. Learning about the ecosystems we are passing through adds to our enjoyment and appreciation of the incredible diversity of life. We’re excited to be able to share the images from our journeys with you.
The Puffin, Our Mascot
Puffer has been with us since the 1990’s when we received him as a gift from our sister, brother-in-law and niece. As you might have guessed, Puffer is a puffin, one of several species of very cute, diminutive seabirds that inhabit far northern oceans. But Puffer has only recently shown an interest in biking. He was excited to hear that we saw puffins while biking along the Oregon Coast during our TransAm ride in 2018. Pretty soon, he started hanging around our bikes, and generally making it clear he’d like to come on our next trip. As our biking friend Kevin would say, “He doesn’t weigh much.” So starting in 2019, Puffer accompanied us as we rode along the west coast of Europe. There, he was thrilled to see his fellow puffins off the coast of Scotland. That’s how we became, Pedals and Puffins.
Since our trip across Europe, Puffer has retired from cycling. He now cheers us on from his perch at home.
If you have ideas, thoughts or feedback about our travels, we’d enjoy hearing from you. The best way to reach us is by leaving a comment at the bottom of any of our blog posts. To send us an email privately, choose “Contact Us” on the main menu, or at the bottom of each screen.
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You can also view or follow us on Instagram, and see some of our wildlife observations on iNaturalist.