A friendship forged by fire. The forging was mostly Brandon Melott (B$) crushing my soul on the bike, but damn it made for one great friendship. Shortly after COVID hit in 2020, Brandon and his family hit the road headed west for a year of exploring and making memories. To say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, would be an understatement. I’m stoked to have my buddy back for a few weeks and happy to have the opportunity to make him a cup of coffee and chat.
Aside from the usual banter, I hit him with the hard questions. You know, like where can we find the best coffee, best riding, and what’s the nomad life all about. Give it a read and we’ll see ya’ on the road!
What does the nomadic life mean to you and your family?
”The cool thing for me, my wife and our son, we like to see and experience different places. Right now, it’s in the U.S., hopefully within the next couple years it’s abroad. Going to a place and not just doing a quick visit, but staying for a few weeks, a month, experiencing the culture. Visiting all the coffee shops, cool restaurants, and hitting the hiking trails. The ability to do that all across the country is what we love.”
After a year on the road, where would you say has the best food?
”If you want queso….it’s just here, Oklahoma and Texas. There’s no queso in the Pacific Northwest. We don’t go to many restaurants, but we go to A LOT of coffee shops. I felt like what we have in OKC, in our culture around coffee, is as good as or better than any other state out there.”
Where has the best riding?
”I think for me because I broke my hip in May and didn’t start riding again until early fall, it was Bend. We stayed in Bend, OR for a month and that to me, was the best. It was Deschutes National Forest, free camping, you’re in the midst of like 200 miles of trail and a ten minute drive from town.”
Four time National Champ, which one of those meant the most to you?
”The first one. My cyclocross championship. It was the first one, I put a lot of time into that and you know, you hope and dream that it all works out. The funny thing is once you win something like that, once you win one, the others you care about, but you know you can win another one. The riding didn’t get easier, the competition didn’t get easier, but the anxiety got easier to manage. You just trained, and rode, and knew you’ve won one and you can dig hard and win another one.”
If you were going to offer any advice to a young and upcoming cyclist, what would it be?
”Just keep chasing it. Stay consistent with keeping your eating clean, your physique good, and your weight good, and that will pay dividends. Stay focused on the riding, keep it fun, workout a few days a week, eat as clean as you can, and mostly just have fun with it.”
The coffee we enjoyed: SONS Coffee - 1984 Costa
Origin: Costa Rica
Notes: Hibiscus, Cinnamon, Cranberry & Brown Sugar
My thoughts: This coffee is amazing as a pour over. I’ve tried it on the Saint Anthony Industries C70, the V60 and my Snow Peak pour over and it’s fantastic. It’s clean, smooth finish and I enjoy that the cinnamon note gets more apparent as the coffee cools. I have a few more cups left and will enjoy everyone of them!
Future Coffee Ride Guests:
4/1 - Ryan Hulseberg
4/8 - Staci Patton
4/15 - Alan White (Gravel Doc)