Ambassadors – Esker Cycles

Esker Ambassadors

Alexandera Houchin
Cloquet, MN

Alexandera is a citizen of the Fond du Lac Band of the Lake Superior Anishinaabe, and calls Cloquet, Minnesota home. She’s carved out a place in ultra-endurance bike racing, completing the Triple Crown Challenge—an arduous endeavor that spans more than 4,000 miles in a single season of racing— on a singlespeed in 2023. She’s a graduate of the Native Nation Rebuilders Program (Cohort 12) and serves on several boards including the Northland Foundation's Maada’ooking board and the Arizona Trail Association (ATA). She has set and holds several women’s records across bikepack ultra-racing.

@alexanderahouchin

Substack

paulo laberge
guelph, on

Paulo’s passion for cycling has taken him to many beautiful and unique places in the world. His bikepacking adventures fulfill lifelong dreams of exploring the world by bike, experiencing diverse cultures and forging friendships in unexpected places. Closer to home, Paulo is a proud member of the local mountain biking community - attending and leading group rides, volunteering for trail-building and maintenance days, and most of all, enjoying time spent pedaling - whether solo or with his partner or friends. Paulo is most at home and at peace when he's out riding his bike. Cycling is not just a sport or hobby for him - it is spiritual; it's part of who he is.

@crankngrind

Jon yazzie
Coalmine Canyon, az
dine Nation

Jon is a full-blooded Navajo, aspiring adventure cyclist, former mtb racer, and lover of the outdoors. Co-owner and guide, he currently runs bikepacking tours on the Navajo Nation via his company, Dzil Ta’ah Adventures based out of Kayenta, AZ.  

@dziltaahadventures

Karla Robles
SONORA, MEXICO

My name is Karla Robles, I’m a Mexican woman who loves to travel by bicycle mostly on dirt roads. Since 2018 my partner and I have been touring in different places in México and the USA. What I like the most about traveling like this, is that I get to know different kinds of living and thinking in this big and diverse world. To create a cycling community, and to learn from other cool people. I like to take pictures during my trips because it’s a way to tell my story to other generations, especially to my niece, and to remind me of how strong I am in the moments when I don’t believe in myself. Traveling by bicycle on dirt roads also reminds me about the fugacity of our life on this planet and how important it is to take care of each other. To be part of Esker Cycles and to travel in my Hayduke is all that I wish for in this moment of my life, and I hope many others can fulfill their dream of riding a wonderful bicycle.

@karlatrobles

Ihi heke
New Zealand Maori

Riding MTB since 1985 Queenstown from the beginning.
Current role is looking at how to train high performance sports people to be environment centred rather than athlete centred. Developing VR180 reels that teach how this can be achieved.
Also leading the sector on indigenous contributions climate change and consequent contributions to well being.
Ride up hill all day even though built for goin down!
 

@atua_matua

 

Takashi Minamiura
hakuba, japan

Riding a bicycle in nature is the delight of the body and soul. Freedom of mind. Encounters of People and terrain. Infinite possibility. Mountain biking is a gift of happiness. I can move with human power, and can feel the place slowly with five senses. Being in nature makes your mind and body healthy.
 

@takashi.minamiura

Johnny Price
Duluth, Mn

Johnny loves being outdoors and pushing the limits of his physical and mental self. He races in ultra-endurance bike races on a singlespeed mountain bike, most recently winning the singlespeed race of the 2023 Arizona Trail Race— an 800 mile race across Arizona portaging his bicycle 20+ miles across the Grand Canyon!

@johnny_no__shoes

Nadine Johnson
Ma'ii Deeshgiizhinii (Coyote Pass) 
Dine Nation 

A weekend warrior adventure guide, co-owner of Dzil Ta’ah Adventures and Co-founder of DZA Youth Adventure Team. Through cycling she facilitates community and youth empowerment excursions with an emphasis in self-reliance and self-reflection.

@njnbikes

Heather plewes
Guelph, on 

In late 2016, Heather fell hard for mountain biking in more ways than one. A couple of rides on borrowed bikes and she was hooked. She bought her first mountain bike one month later and bikepacked through Costa Rica with her partner Paulo two months after that. In the years that have followed, mountain biking has completely reshaped Heather's life. She has embraced the culture and community of mountain biking, especially the wonderful friendships and camaraderie of the women's MTB scene. Bikepacking adventures with Paulo have taken her to incredible places around the world and sparked in her a passion for exploring by bike and for sharing her experiences through story-writing.

@h.p.sauce

Michelle & JB Matthews 
duluth, mn

You know those couples who enable one another's crazy ideas? That's Michelle and J.B. They're avid adventurers, paddling to the Arctic Ocean, biking around Iceland, and a multitude of trips in between. They insist on at least three trips each year to the Boundary Waters...at least one in the snow. They opt for bikes more than any other medium these days, and they almost always have their two dingoes in tow.

  They call the shores of Lake Superior home (where they are slowly building their dream, another project)), and they are all about making new stories and friends as they go. She likes her whiskey neat, and he likes his beer cold, should you stop by to swap stories.

@twodingosinthewoods

@three6_jb

David Glover
Moab, ut 

I love any adventure on two wheels, from riding roads to laps at the bike park. I am the Service Manager at Moab Cyclery and the Biking rep for Moab Trail Mix. I love making bikes and trails better!.

@gofastglover

TJ Kearns 
Brevard, NC 

TJ Kearns is a trailbuilder, adventure sports photographer/good times facilitator based out of Brevard, NC. When he's not building trail or shooting photos you can try to find him exploring the depths of Pisgah National Forest, Nantahala National Forest, or the Cohutta Wildlife Management Area. A purveyor of bad ideas on two wheels, TJ like long rides in the forest and enjoys hiking/scrambling steep blue lines in search of Native Brooke trout.

@timothyjamesphoto

Daniel Diaz
Sonora, MX

Daniel quit his job in 2015 and rode his bike through Mexico till he ran out of money four months later. Ever since, he’s been going on bike trips, short and long, that get interrupted by times where making money becomes necessary. One day, while riding on the highway in Baja California, he got tired of looking back to see how close the cars were coming and took a dirt road. This caused him a saddle sore, numb hands, broken spokes, and a missing bolt rack. But the solitude, the pureness of the landscape, and the almost absolute absence of cars made him search for more dirt. Daniel likes documenting his rides with photos, to have something to remember when he gets old.

@perdidoenbici