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We're back! What was ABOB up to all summer?

2nd September 2025 • All Bodies on Bikes • Marley Blonsky

ellen: Okay, we're recording. We remembered how.

Marley: Yay.

ellen: Yay.

Marley: Oh my God. It's been a summer.

ellen: It has been such a summer.

Marley: I made a whole list of, um, my joys of summer, my lows of summer, some of my favorite rides, and then I just wrote film double exclamation mark.

ellen: That's, I think what we need to do the list is let's talk bikes and then let's talk film. Didn't I send you like a big old list too? No, that's just for our normal chat.

Marley: Oh, I was like,

ellen: Wait, we have, this is what it's, we had a, we have an actual document. That's what I don't have pulled up

Marley: Oh. But I don't think I actually put anything in the document.

ellen: that. Oh, okay. You're just keeping fit in your head.

Marley: Well, that's why I wrote down. I, I wrote it. I, I physically wrote it down. I did

ellen: I love it.

Marley: some brainstorming.

ellen: It means it'll be fresh. Whatever you hear come outta my mouth will be live

Marley: Yes. Um, did you listen to maintenance phase yet?

ellen: No, no. I started to the one episode or any of it.

Marley: Any of it

ellen: Oh,

Marley: you need to.

ellen: I am, uh, what I've realized, I'm really a big fan of Yap and my trap on my own podcasts, but I don't actually listen to podcasts.

Marley: Okay. I mean, I'm kind of the same way to be honest. I listen to a lot of like investigative journalism and like deep reporting, but I don't listen to people Yap on podcasts, which is what I like doing. So

ellen: Fair enough. What is, what made you think of maintenance phase though?

Marley: Um, because at the beginning of each episode they introduce themselves and I think that's something we should do.

Yeah. Even though, I guess, I don't remember if we do it in the intro or not, but I think it would be good for us to get in the habit of introducing ourselves.

ellen: We might do it in the intro. I think we just say, I'm Marlene. And I'm Ellen. So,

but now, now people who are listening for sure won't know who I am.

Marley: yeah. So I'm Marley Lansky. I am the co-founder and executive director of All Bodies on Bikes.

ellen: And I'm Ellen Schwartz. I'm the co-host of the podcast and producer of the podcast and General enthusiast for bicycles.

Marley: Yeah, and we are coming at you with the end of summer episode of All Bodies on Bikes, and you might be thinking end of summer, you didn't do any episodes during the summer, and you are correct.

ellen: Yeah,

Marley: We were busy living life.

ellen: Right. Part of our intro should have been, we are two normal humans who have day jobs.

Marley: Are we normal though?

ellen: Uh Oh,

Marley: I'm definitely not normal.

ellen: We're too a, uh,

Marley: Awesome.

ellen: we're too awesome.

Marley: Almost 40 somethings. Are you almost 40?

ellen: Yeah. I remember we're like almost exactly the same

Marley: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, who are really busy living life and not actually doing the things that they're supposed to be doing.

ellen: We're two Geminis who like long walks on the

beach and made our summers all about that.

Oh boy. I do.

Marley: I, I like long bike rides, but right now walking hurts my body so much. My knee is still giving me trouble.

ellen: Oh my God. That's sad.

Marley: I know. It's really hindering my life right now.

ellen: That makes sense. Is it okay on the bike though?

Marley: Uh, yeah. It's okay. But as soon as I start trying to like, push it or like go uphill, it's really problematic and my doctor doesn't seem to believe me that it actually hurts.

Um, he's like, well, if you can ride unbound, you don't need a knee replacement. And I'm like, I did it in pain the whole time. So,

ellen: Is this the one, so wait, this is the knee that has not been replaced or you've only had surgery?

Marley: I've only had surgery on my meniscus twice. I haven't had a knee replacement, but that's what I'm going for.

ellen: I see. That's wildly frustrating that they're just sitting there saying, well, you did it, so No, you don't.

Marley: Exactly.

ellen: Hmm.

Marley: Yeah. So they said, I need to wait like 10 more years. And I'm like, but my quality of life now is not where I want it to be.

ellen: That's so frustrating.

Marley: Yeah.

ellen: Why do they think there needs to be an age limit?

Marley: Because these, apparently when you go bionic, they're, the parts only last for a certain amount of time, which makes sense,

ellen: Oh

Marley: and like they know that like if I did one now, I'd need one again in 10 to 20 years, but I'm going to, if I do it now or in 10 years, like, just let me live the life I wanna live right now.

Well, I've got the energy and the money and the time and, uh.

ellen: So are they banking on if they give you a knee replacement when you're closer to 50, maybe you'll just be dead by the time you're 70.

Marley: think so.

ellen: Jesus,

Marley: I know it's really messed up.

ellen: that's very messed up. I'm

Marley: But I'm hopeful that, um, you know, maybe I can find a new healthcare provider in Oregon. Uh, 'cause spoiler alert, I'm moving out of Arkansas. Yeah,

ellen: so excited for you.

Marley: me too. I, I kind of made the decision randomly this summer.

ellen: This is, yeah. And maybe I'll just be the voice of the audience because I feel like the last time you and I chatted, you were like, I'm leaning into Bentonville. I love the people here. I'm gonna make it work.

Marley: And that is true. And then I went on this epic road trip over the summer, which, um, longtime fans will know. I tend to do that in the summer. I like to go on like a six week trip and just get out of Arkansas 'cause it's so hot. And this summer I found myself spending a lot of time in Portland and the surrounding areas and really.

Just felt at home here and kind of developed a little group of friends and a community. And when it was time to leave, I realized I don't wanna leave, I don't wanna go back to Bentonville, I don't wanna go back to Arkansas. And it's like, I could have continued to make life work in Arkansas. You know, I had really started to develop some good friendships, some deep community there, but it would've been making it work.

I wouldn't have been happy, you know? Um, it's just. It's not my place at the end of the day, which, which sucks. Um, but I feel I'm proud of myself. You know, I took the risk three years ago and I tried it and I, uh, really had a good time sometimes and had a bad time sometimes. But I've been in Portland now, so fast forward, basically I, my road trip was over.

I went back to Arkansas, was kind of living life, having a good time. And then Daisy Mae died, um, which was definitely the low point of my summer. I know RIP.

ellen: Daisy May.

Marley: I know. Um, but she lived such a good life. She was 16 maybe. We don't really know how old she was. Um, and so once she was gone, there was really nothing tethering me down to Bentonville anymore.

Um, and kind of around the same time, I had a, a good friend, a new friend, but a good friend up here in Portland. Um, her wife was hit by a car while riding her bike.

ellen: Hmm.

Marley: Really bad. Um, she's still in the hospital. It's, it's not a good situation. But basically they own a shop called The Athletic, um, which is primarily a sock shop, but they have like other.

Athletic type things there. And Jess was running the store every day and now she's in the hospital and so she can't exactly run the strap. And so their community really stepped up in like the week or two after the crash and was like, you know, they had volunteers coming in, but you can't run a business with all volunteers.

And so, um, I was talking to Vanessa Jess's wife and was like, Hey, would it be helpful if I came up there and just kind of ran things for a month while you figure out. What's the long term strategy? And she was like, absolutely. Um, so that's where I've been. I've been up here for the last three weeks now.

Um, bike commuting every day. Kind of like pretending like I already live in Portland. Um, but I have to go back and get all my stuff still. Um.

ellen: Do you or do you just say like, let it go? That's right.

Marley: I mean, I am very, very tempted, but all my bikes are there except one. My car is there, my bed that I really like is there. Um, so I'll go back and get all that stuff.

Plus there's a couple events that I still, I, I just need to like, wrap up that chapter, you know, say goodbye to people. I'd like to leave on a high note instead of like skipping town right away.

ellen: Yeah, that that is nice. I will agree with that. The temptation to just burn it all down.

Marley: Is real.

ellen: real when you start to move.

Marley: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

ellen: you will be glad to have your stuff

Marley: I think so, and I'll be happy to like, really, I don't wanna say close out those relationships 'cause I hope that a lot of them will continue, but at least like put a nice little bow on it, give people some good hugs

ellen: Perfect. sounds great. And congratulations on kind of some finality, I think, in this, this piece of your life because you were, I think you were gonna struggle with it no matter what.

Marley: I think so too. You know, and it's, I, I don't know how much I wanna get into this on the show, but it became especially evident these last couple months as there was this huge mural debacle happening in Bentonville. Um, did you keep up to date on any of that?

ellen: I kept loose ties on it. I know enough people with ties to Bentonville who were posting about it and it sounded like, I mean, it's kind of a good example of when bikes and politics cannot be, um,

Marley: Separated.

ellen: separated. I was going to say tert. Twined, but Yes. Separated. Yeah.

Marley: yeah. So for folks who aren't in the know, you should go look it up. But the, uh, too long didn't read version of it. There was a RAD nonprofit. Um, there is called All Bikes Welcome. That does, um. PRI programming primarily for, um, black, indigenous people of color, um, gender non-conforming folks, um, you know, for a marginalized community.

Um, and they painted this beautiful mural that said, all, well, they, and a local artist painted this mural that said, all bikers welcome.

And then, we started hearing rumblings of complaints to city council and it turned into this whole debacle over a couple of colors that somebody claimed looked like the transgender flag. Um, which facts or facts, it was not the transgender flag.

Um, the colors might have been reminiscent of it, but. It definitely wasn't. It finally ended up in front of the city council where the bigots, who didn't want this, had to say the quiet part out loud, and then they hid behind another, argument about advertising.

But the reason I bring all this up is because it really showed me who in Bentonville, in this like most welcoming bike place ever. Is truly fighting the good fight. I mean, there was definitely a lot of folks from the community who came out and stood up for this nonprofit and like made their voices heard.

But there were a lot of voices that were conspicuously silent. Um, so I don't know. I'm glad to get outta there. I'm happy to be going to a place where like I'm bus passed me yesterday that was like decked out in the pride colors, including the trans flag. Like I'm just happy to go to a place that it's like doesn't have their panties in a wedgie over colors of a flag.

ellen: Yeah, it's hard to stay and fight the fight when the fight is very exhausting. I go back and forth on this a lot too. There's just fight after fight after what feels like stupid fight to me because it's obvious what the right things are.

Um, and so it's kind of, it's a back and forth in your head of. Do you stay here and try to make this place better, which is stressing you out? Or are you better off somewhere that you can have better mental health and therefore do different things in a different way? Like support everything in another way?

Marley: that's not to say that Portland is perfect. You know, I've, I've been here three weeks and I've already, you know, seen some things and gotten involved and learning what is going on, but they're fighting bigger fights here. Um, and. You know, Walmart doesn't have a choke hold on the local economy.

You know, people aren't afraid to speak up because they're afraid that they'll piss off Uncle Tom [Walton] and Uncle Stu. I guess my gloves are off and I'm willing to talk really openly and honestly about Bentonville, but that can be a whole nother

ellen: let's do that in a completely different episode. Um, because I think it is worth talking about. We can rip the top off of that can of worms

Marley: Yeah, definitely. And we should, we should do some research on that before I just like go spouting off my opinions.

ellen: Eh,

but I mean, yes.

Marley: Yes. Um, so bikes were a big part of my summer. Um, I don't know about you how bikes a big part of your summer.

ellen: They were less of a part of my summer than I felt like they had been in the past. Like I went on this trip to Europe a bit last minute, and I think I wound up being in a car more than I had been, like almost the entire time I lived there,

Marley: Oh, interesting.

ellen: I thought so too. And it wasn't because we were in places that didn't have transit or didn't have cycling.

It was just like the things we chose to do required a car, and by the time I got to our final stop was in Malmo, Sweden, by the time we got there and we borrowed a friend of a friend's cargo bike, um, to just bike around and tole around, I was like, this is perfect.

Like, and I'm sitting there like, how do, why don't we move here? But I think in contrast to your move, it's a bit of grass is greener. It's a bit of like trading one thing for another.

Marley: right, right. Well, I went to Europe this summer and also thought many times, why don't I just move here?

ellen: Yeah, it, it's so tempting.

Marley: Yeah, although it's funny 'cause in the spots that I was in, they were not necessarily meccas of cycling. And I needed to be like, totally full disclosure here.

I went on a paid trip. Um, as in they paid me to go with EF Adventures. Um, we went to the Tour de France, fems of Zw. Um, and so we spent four days in Provence. You cannot say Provence without sounding hoity-toity. So we spent four days riding bikes in Provence, and then we spent four days, maybe it was five, I don't know, uh, riding bikes in the French Alps and following behind the Tour de France Femes, which was so incredibly cool.

Um, and it really opened up a whole new world of road biking to me. I'm not, yeah, it made me realize why people like road biking so much because we were on these like epic climbs, like I did, um, Mount Von two, which is like a historic climb, and I was like, oh, I understand why people do this now, because it really was that special and that beautiful.

And honestly, the day that we climbed Mount Vontu, it was probably my favorite day ever on a bicycle that I've ever had.

ellen: That's saying something.

Marley: Yeah. And it wasn't, so we, we basically, we climbed up Von two, which was a 15 mile climb, about 7,000 feet of elevation. I was on an e-bike, which helped immensely.

I, I don't think I would've said it's my favorite down a bike if I didn't have that e-bike. But once we came down, we went down the backside of Vtu, um, to this place called Salt. Um, and then another place called Gorge, I think, or Gor. I always get it wrong. Anyway, like, have you ever seen the, like photos or paintings of Provence was just like the fields of lavender as far as that.

I can see. That's where we were at. It was. So magical. And it was like a 20 mile descent, I think.

ellen: Oh my gosh.

Marley: it was, and I, it was, which was good because I was trying to save battery after climbing Von two. I had like 8% battery. And it was funny. We were, I was like, you know, should I get in the car? Because there was always a support man with us.

And I was like, should I get in the car? Should I ride?

ellen: Mm-hmm.

Marley: my period started that day and I was like, no, I'm gonna ride. And then, you know, if I run outta battery, I'll just hop in the car. Well. At the very end of that day, it was like 60 mile day. The last five miles were uphill again, and my battery died and I was like so pissy because I was like.

If my battery's dead, I wanna be in the van. This bike is heavy, it's hot, I'm on my period. And so I just like got into this really negative head space. And then as I was climbing up this hill, I look up and there's like this, it's like looked like a fortress wall with grapes coming down over the side. And I was like, Marley, get your head outta your ass.

You're in France riding your bicycle. Like, so what if your battery died? Like enjoy it. And by the time I got up to the top of the hill, I was just like so happy and was in a completely different head space. Um, and just like. I actually had conversations with my body. I was like, just like saying thank you out loud.

And like, I like got to a point where I like apologized for all the years when I had like treated my body like crap and just like, thank you for letting me continue to do this thing. But I, I don't know. Long story short, I got into a really good place in my head and was just really grateful that my body lets me do these cool things.

ellen: I mean it just, you've done a lot of mental training to get yourself there, but I love that you were able to turn it around even in the moment. 'cause like in the moment is like it's what you've been training

Marley: exactly. And that's what what I was excited about and like, you know, when I was in that kind of negative head space, I hate being in a negative head space, like even in my day-to-day life. But you know, sometimes it's necessary, but it just would've been such a waste to be on this like trip of a lifetime and be like, ah, I'm so angry at a van isn't here.

Like, no, ride your bike. This is stunning.

ellen: I like that the grapes were the thing

Marley: Yeah, they just appeared and then I ate a bunch and they were

ellen: you did.

Marley: Oh, yeah, I probably wasn't supposed to, but I totally did.

ellen: that's amazing.

Marley: And then it was.

ellen: it the most Marley story. I think that could have happened

Marley: Oh yeah, and then we, we got to the top and there was like a little village and of course I was the last one up. Like there was a theme of the trip, like even though a lot of us were on E-bikes, there were a couple folks on the trip that weren't on E-bikes. And regardless, I was always the last one. And I think I figured out like I have the capacity to ride at the pace everybody else does.

I just don't want to like, I really like going slow.

ellen: I love that.

Marley: So anyway, I make it up to the top and everybody's like, oh my God, yay, you did it. I was like, did you guys see the grapes? And then everybody was just like, no, that was the hardest hill of my life. I just put my head down and I was like, you gotta lift your head up.

'cause that's where the grapes are at.

ellen: That's right. What a metaphor. Nice work.

Marley: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it was man.

ellen: it slow means you see the grapes.

Marley: Yes. And actually, you know what's funny is we were in, I think it was, it wasn't Avignon, it was St. Remy de Provence, one of the other fancy places. We, we were there and we had a, a tour guide who was telling us about, you know, the connection to Van Gogh and, oh, this is a church steeple that's in Starry Night.

It was really, really cool. She was saying, in the south of France, there's a saying that's like slowly in the morning and not too quickly in the afternoon. And I was like, that is a perfect metaphor for my life.

ellen: I like that very much. Just kind of, it reframes everything. It lets you go at the right pace for

Marley: exactly. Yeah, yeah,

Besides Europe, what'd you get up to?

, uh, in the year of our Lord: 2025

Marley: in America.

ellen: in America. So yeah, it was been good.

Marley: Um, I got to go on a bike bus. The other day actually, I got to go on two bike buses in the same day. Yeah. One was their elementary school where, um, we started at one point and then went on a designated route and people joined throughout.

It was so cute. There was probably a hundred kids on the bike bus. It was huge.

ellen: That's amazing. Was it like the famous one, the coach B one, you? I'm sorry.

Marley: I went on the Coach Balto bike ride and I did not make any content about it because I felt weird filming children that aren't mine.

ellen: Where did he Right? Like I feel like I would've seen if he was tagging you in

Marley: He did tag me in one, but I don't know, it was kind of a weird morning. I do have some GoPro footage. I'm gonna try and make something about it, but I still just feel weird having children that I don't know in my content.

ellen: fair. Yeah. I'd probably ask for consent first, but.

Marley: So,

ellen: Um, I love that mainly because one of the things that I am going to be doing in this fall is helping schools plan their own bike buses because it's something that can happen in a lot of these neighborhood schools.

You just kinda need someone who wants to do it and knows how to plan that route. But I had gone to a coffee shop where I was gonna do a different event for the family ride there, and I kind of was explaining what I do and one of the like, you know, college age baristas was just like, oh, like that bike bus on TikTok.

And I was like, holy cow, Coach Balto has made it big enough that this young person who's not really into cycling behind this coffee bar is just excited about it, even if it wasn't her thing, right?

Like so,

Marley: that blew me away about Coach Balto bike Bus was the simplicity of it. He had the leaders wearing bright yellow ponchos from um, clever Hood, um, which you can get those on the Clever Hood website. You can also get all bodies on bikes branded clever hoods, and we get a portion of those proceeds, um, anyway, not the point.

So he is got people in bright yellow ponchos who are like the ride leaders. And then he has a bunch of parents, um, you know, he encourages the parents to come if they can, to help with like ride marshaling and basically just riding on the outside of the group. And essentially they have, um, adults. Cork traffic, they, they serve as corks.

Um, and the ride just goes like, there wasn't a big announcement at the beginning. Um, he did have music. He, he did have all the kiddos because it was like the first one of the year he did, like, when I say bike, you say bus, and it was really cute, like bike, bus, bike. It was very, very cute. But. I feel like so many of these bike rides that we go on as adults are over complicated.

Um, and we spend so much time at the beginning talking and this one, he was like, okay, we're going to school. Um, and he was like, adults, don't let any cars in the group, you know, try and stick together as a group. Um, everybody's shoes are tied. Okay, here we go. I was like, oh, this is remarkably simple, like,

ellen: Yeah, there's definitely a keep it simple aspect of all of this stuff. He's been doing that for at least a couple years now. And so I think I'm hopeful that it's, for him, it's like this is his group and there's like, kind of like we talked about on group rides, it's a bit of like a buddy system, right?

If someone's new, make sure that they know what's going on and they feel like they're ready to roll with you. Um, and I wonder if that's happened like kind of ahead of time or even if the kids are excited for their friends to be there

Marley: Yeah, and there were, there were a couple folks that had like bike bus shirts on from their school that we went to. And so from what I understand, coach Balto does it at a couple locations throughout the city. So the one that I was at, he does on Fridays, but they like do unofficial ones the other days of the week.

And so the parents just like self-organize those, which is pretty cool.

ellen: That's my goal, right? It has to be supported by someone at the school. And I only have one child who attends one school. And so like finding those advocates within those little micro communities of the elementary schools, is what's gonna keep everything sustainable. But so far, everybody has been super

eager and it's a bit of like a heck yes moment, that's the reception I've gotten so far.

Marley: That's awesome 'cause you get that success and then you can kind of snowball affect it to other schools.

ellen: that's my

Marley: That is so exciting. Oh my gosh. I used to ride my bike to school and it was kind of a bike bus. There was like 10 of us in the neighborhood who would all just go together.

ellen: Yeah, that's the thing is there's just been so much fragmentation, I think because of school choice.

Breaking up. Like you don't go by default to your neighborhood school. You might go to a charter school, you might go to a specialty school, but that's where, that closeness to your school is lost. But at the same time, there's going to be a.

Group of people close enough to the school that where it's like, can we swap out your drop off, your car drop off, or a bike drop off one day a week to actually just like get the kids moving, get fewer cars in the drop off line.

Marley: Yeah, it's a win for everybody and like riding your bikes makes you happy. Riding your bike makes kids happy. It's a great way to just get your body moving a little bit. And also, I had this conversation on the airplane on the way here about. Riding long distances and this woman next to me was flabbergasted that I could ride 25 miles.

And I think if you're not a cyclist, you don't look at distances the same way as somebody who rides bikes does. And like kids are easily capable of riding two or three miles, like young kids, and it goes by incredibly fast. It's so much more efficient than walking. So I'm a fan,

ellen: And her shock I don't think is unusual to where even when I've been organizing these little rides in Kansas City, it's a bit of like partially to just prove to the parents that, yeah, one mile. Like you can walk it in 20 minutes if you're not even trying.

And so then on a bike it just becomes boop. And so then, oh, that really was fast. What is near me? What could we be doing this on instead? And just that, I mean like Missouri famously is the show me state. And so it's that showing. That says, Hey, you can do this and your kid can too. Like give your kid that autonomy.

There's an article that came out in the Atlantic over the summer that was about how like kids, specifically kids aren't riding their bikes anymore. And I think there's even then a second article about how what kids need to battle. The anxiety that we're starting to see in young kids is more autonomy.

How as a parent can you provide these things? That to me is one of the solutions is to say like, here's, you know, point A to B. It feels really long if you're in a car, if that's all you've ever done. But yeah, actually your kid can be on a bike and make it this far on their own.

So like for you, how can you make it doable for you? So,

Marley: That's so funny, um, that you brought those two things up together because, um, I read both of those this summer. Um, the second one was like an excerpt from this book, the Anxious Generation.

ellen: oh, okay.

Marley: so my friend, my friend Krista in, uh, Arkansas, was telling about the autonomy thing. So one thing she was trying was letting her kids ride to bike camp by themselves. Um, and she said it, you know, it was really scary. And the first day she actually like, went out and kind of hid along the route just to make sure. Um, but she said like her kid, like it was.

Amazing. Once she gave her kids the autonomy to do it, like they really proved her right? And they had a communication device. And I don't know, it's just, it's cool to see.

ellen: It is. And I will, I mean, obviously I am a parent and I very much empathize with this position that parents have been put in, which is that. We understand you have to have autonomy, but we also know the world we live in. And so what is this like magical zone that, that comfort zone, like not a, not a get out of your comfort zone, comfort zone, but a literal, how can I make this work zone that is really hard to find and our built environment and our society make that a pretty thin line.

So I'm really excited that she was able to figure something out and I, that's again, like kind of what I think we can start encouraging. Encouraging that bigger community aspect of it to where, like, part of what I wanna do with a bike bus is say, it's like, as long as you're comfortable with me, like your kid can ride with me.

Like I will watch out whoever is under my care. You know, there's probably a, a limit to what I can do safely, but, you know, then it just becomes a matter of adding parents, adding parents, and how do we, how do we make that all work? So

Marley: Oh, I'm so excited for you.

ellen: I feel like I undersold my summer. Now that we've had such a good discussion.

That's been a lot of what I've kind of been laying the groundwork for as the summer progressed, was to start figuring out how to kick these all off.

Marley: When does that kick off for you? Are you starting it soon?

ellen: starting at just kind of at various schools to figure out how to get the word out honestly. So

Marley: Yeah, well if you're listening to this and you're in the Kansas City area, um, you can reach out to Ellen at Ellen at all bodies on bikes.com. Is that right?

ellen: it's definitely a way to get a hold of me. Yeah.

Marley: Okay. Well that, that's your email address right, Ellen? At all bodies on bikes.com. Okay, great. Okay.

ellen: I wasn't completely sure what you were validating there. I was like, you gave me the

Marley: I know I set it up.

ellen: I'm sure it's just my name

Marley: I'm sure it is

ellen: my first name I should say, because my last name, I try as much as I can to get my last name out of emails because it's a lot of letters.

Marley: That's so funny. Can I tell you a funny story about that? I will be a sponsored athlete by Shredly again next year. And for one of the pieces, she wanted my signature. And I have gotten so lazy with my signature over the last 30 years and so I spent like probably two hours the other day just like working on my signature.

And my last name has a lot of letters too, and I hate a cursive. K. It like doesn't work. Yeah.

ellen: It's a tricky one.

Marley: It's just like,

ellen: you, it has a lot of reverses that the other letters don't have to deal with. You're right.

Marley: Yeah. So

ellen: My

Marley: I can relate to having a lot of letters.

ellen: oh yeah, my whole, my whole last name ties fun fact for the longest, one syllable word in the English language, which is screeched

Marley: Oh.

ellen: nine letters, but one syllable and my last name because of that.

The superfluous E at the end of it. Nine letters, one syllable,

Marley: Dang. Schwartz, right? Schwartz. E or Schwartz?

ellen: just Schwartz. One syllable.

Marley: Damn, that's pretty

cool.

ellen: Yeah, my signature over the years just, uh, merged into like a bunch of up and down squiggles. 'cause Ellen is actually a super fun name to write in cursive.

Marley: Oh, I believe that. Yeah. I love a cursive L.

ellen: So now that they know how to forge our signatures, um, movie, video, film.

Marley: yeah. Oh my gosh. So all bodies on Bikes two electric boogaloo, that's not the name of it. Uh.

ellen: I wouldn't like, this is maybe to a testament to how silly and fun loving you are is I was sitting here like, maybe it is, maybe it's got electric bikes at like front and center.

Marley: I'm trying to think if I ever ride an e-bike in the film. I don't, I don't think I'm on an e-bike at all during the film. Maybe a little bit of cargo bike, but I don't think so. No. The working title right now is Road to Joy. Um, I don't know if that'll continue to be the title, but essentially, I feel like we talked about this back when we talked about the Five Borough tour, but we have had a film crew with us for a lot of the summer, so,

um,

ellen: I think that we did talk about it, but not we didn't. I think that was the first thing that you'd filmed

Marley: Yeah, so.

ellen: on.

Marley: This, the filmmaker followed along with us in New York and then he, his team came down to Arkansas and filmed a bike packing trip, which was really fun 'cause Kaylee came to town for that. And it actually kind of reignited my love for bike packing 'cause I used to do it all the time. And then I just really haven't done it since I moved to Arkansas.

Um, but since that trip, I've gone twice more this summer. So I like, feel like I got my, my fill of sleeping outside this summer, which was one of my goals. Um, so anyway, filmed in Arkansas and then just a couple weeks ago we wrapped up filming in Portland. Um, there was a big show called Made, and it's like a handmade bike show.

We did a group ride and uh, the film crew came out and filmed there. I saw the first seven minutes of it, or at least like a rough cut and I didn't know where the story was gonna go because it's like the first film told.

Such a good story that it was like, how do we not just repeat this for the second one? Um, but he's done a beautiful job of kind of integrating in the growth of all bodies on bikes, and I think the podcast actually does make an appearance in the film, which is pretty fun.

ellen: Oh my gosh. I'm very excited.

Marley: So that'll come out at some point this fall or winter.

And the plan for that as of now is to do a very limited release. So basically we can tour with it. Kaylee and I can like go on trips with the film and screen the film, maybe make it a fundraiser for all bodies on bikes, give talks, whatever that might be. But then, my book is also coming out this spring.

Um, yeah, I finished writing it. Uh, we just got the final illustrations last week, starting to get the page layouts put together, and I'm really, really, really excited for this

ellen: You did share, the cover art for the book. It looks so sweet.

Marley: I'm so excited about it. So the book is called ragtag Best Friends Bicycle Club. And, uh, we'll we can do a whole episode on this, maybe where we interview the illustrator and the publisher too, and not just the author, uh, me.

ellen: Typically is who you talk

Marley: That's true. That's

ellen: we have an exclusive, what can I say? Exclusive interview with children's book author Marley.

Marley: Oh my gosh. Uh, I read the story out loud the other day, um, just to myself to make sure like it flowed right and this story is so sweet and so cute and, um, I think something that'll resonate with people of all ages. Like kids will get it, but I think adults, especially anybody who's ever felt left out, I think will really appreciate it as well.

ellen: I mean, itest that most children's books work on both children and adult levels.

Marley: And that was my hope. Like, 'cause I, I, you know, when you like read a children's book and you're just like, oh, I don't wanna read this one again. Like, no, Remy, we're not reading this one again. Um, but I hope this is one that kids reach for. And the parents are like, okay, that sounds great, and then let's go for a ride.

ellen: Yeah. For us, the book that we hate is JJ, the Jet Plane. It's terrible. Just FYI. So,

Marley: So don't buy that for niece and nephews.

ellen: don't, don't do it. We, and it's like, it's the book that kept coming back. We kept thinking we'd hidden it and that we donated it and it just never actually was. But there are other books that are delightful that we are like so happy to read over and over again, and I would bet that one's gonna fall into that category.

Marley: Yeah, sorry. If you heard a dog barking.

ellen: Who's your dog friend?

Marley: Uh, my dog friend's name is Pepper and at the place I'm staying in Portland, uh, she's two and she is like my best buddy. Every time I come home from work, she's just like tail wagging, so excited to see me. It makes me feel really good.

ellen: Well, that's very wonderful. So yeah, film coming out, book coming out.

Marley: Um, moving to Portland, um, dating like always. Uh,

ellen: We can have a separate podcast about that if you

Marley: we should, have you ever heard the podcast? Why won't you date me by

ellen: No,

Marley: Oh my God, I need to steal her idea and do that because that's my life.

ellen: Okay. Whenever you're ready, you let me know.

Marley: Sounds good. I'm looking through my list. I, I made it. I'm gonna show my list to the, the camera. This my end of summer.

ellen: Is it crossed off?

Marley: No, I forgot to, um, I'm gonna cross off things now. So Joys, oh, my first one. We didn't talk about watermelon juice. Um, so I discovered this summer that watermelon juice is one of my favorite things in the world.

Um, trader Joe's has it for like $2 and it's literally just watermelon juice and it hydrates so well.

ellen: So like the way that you would go get fresh squeezed orange juice, you can get fresh squeezed watermelon juice.

Marley: At Trader Joe's.

ellen: That does sound really refreshing. Which I actually don't love watermelon, but it's a texture thing, so

Marley: Oh, interesting. So you might like watermelon juice.

ellen: I might, yeah. It also sounds like an, like a awas fresca

Marley: I, it's very similar. Yeah. Um, okay. What else on my list? I said bike packing. Again. We talked about bike packing. Right.

ellen: We did.

Marley: Okay. Um, I said driving, which is funny that I put that under the joys of my summer. Um, but I really enjoyed my road trips this year. I actually stayed with a bunch of friends. So normally when I'm on a road trip, like I don't wanna inconvenience people. Like I just staying for one night. And this time I was like, no, I'm gonna say yes. And so I stayed with a couple different folks and it was so lovely to like, reconnect with lots of friends all over the country.

So that was one. Um,

ellen: My preferred way to travel. It's one of the ways that we wind up planning our trips is like, who can we see? Who can we go to? And I mean, we are really blessed to have friends who have that kind of open door, let us know policy. Um, but we joked that our Europe trip, because it was so last minute, but because we have enough contacts and friends over there, we, I joke that it was my tour to France.

Marley: That's so fun. Oh my God. Um, no, I think after the summer. Uh, that is gonna be my preferred way to travel as well, because, you know, if your friends are opening their house to you, you're not imposing.

ellen: You're not

Marley: Yeah. And I love when people stay with me, so I don't know why I felt like such a burden, but it's just how my brain works.

ellen: a hundred percent one of the juxtapositions that I don't understand, but also do myself. Like if you were to say, I'm gonna be in Kansas City at this hotel, and I'd be like, the fuck, I have a spare room for you. But then similarly, when I am planning a trip, it's like, oh, maybe I'll just get a, maybe I won't ask.

Marley: It's just, it's so

ellen: Even though I would be thrilled if anybody said they would love to stay with me,

Marley: Yeah.

ellen: so keep that in mind, listeners.

Marley: Okay. Um, I have five more things and I think we talked about all of them, so you can just say yes or no. Sleeping in tent,

ellen: Yes,

Marley: France,

ellen: yes,

Marley: e-bikes.

ellen: yes.

Marley: Yeah.

ellen: Is there anything more than like going up that you, because it helped you have a nice time in France because

Marley: They're just awesome. I love them.

ellen: do too.

Marley: That's

ellen: That's I ride anymore. People keep asking. It's like, oh my gosh, you bike around in the hot and then this, and it's like, oh, no, no, no, no. Like

Marley: Yeah.

ellen: a

Marley: I'm, I'm excited for my cargo bike to get to Oregon because I've been riding my gravel bike as my, like daily commuter, and while it's really cozy, comfy, I'm ready for like more upright electric cargo. Do you know how hard grocery shopping is with one Paneer when you have a DHD and no plan?

ellen: I do. In fact, because I did that in London a couple times, I bought a full, you know how you can buy the basil that's like, you know, this big one inch by two inch little carton of it, or you can buy the whole plant. And the cost difference is usually just a couple bucks. Yeah. Well that made it home in a pannier.

Marley: Nice. I love it.

ellen: who knows what all, I'll try to dig up the picture, but it's just like, oh, right.

Marley: It's, it's honestly been really fun to like ride around town as a commuter again with a paneer. Um, it like takes me back to my early days of getting into biking and I don't have my car in Portland right now. And so like whenever I go anywhere, you know, whether it's on a date or I went to a comedy show the other night, I'm riding my bike or taking the bus and it really just takes me back to an earlier phase of my life and

it's just, it's fun.

It's,

ellen: It is and it's nice.

Marley: yeah, it,

ellen: I don't know, I just don't like, I don't like driving at all, but part of it is because like that's the only thing I can do when I'm, is drive the car. You can let, like, I know that's also where people listen to a lot of podcasts. Probably a lot of you in your car now. Thank you very much. Not what I default to. And so it makes me like I get sometimes a little bit too angry about how much like I could be riding my bike, which is just fun on its own. Or like if I'm taking the bus, like I can be reading my ebook or I can be working on something or what, looking around, right? You can just see the city.

If you're not driving, you can look instead of watching the, to make sure you don't break rules and hit people.

Marley: Exactly. Yeah. Um, and honestly it's been a really good way to look at buildings and apartments. 'cause I like ride by and I'm like, oh, they have a four rent sign I'm gonna call right now. Um, and I think I might have already found a place to live, but anyway, that's not important. Um,

ellen: I will say we should have just like a cargo bike, love fest, because that was where I borrowed a cargo bike in Malmo, and it was one of like the big, not front bucket like you have, but it's like the like tricycle

Marley: Oh yeah, yeah. Did you like that style?

ellen: I did and it, well, it hauls a lot too. Like I was riding in the front, or my husband with our kid was riding in the front, or like my best friend with my kid,

Marley: Oh my God. So fun.

ellen: it was, it became truly a car replacement.

o if I think of the summer of: 2025

Marley: That seems so delightful. I'm happy that you got to have that.

ellen: I'm too. I'm really glad that we went,

Marley: Yeah.

ellen: but it does make me wanna get a cargo bike like that.

Marley: I have two more things, uh, moving to Portland. We've already talked about that. And then the last one, I don't think we talked about it dating. I've had so much fun dating this summer.

ellen: Yay. All over

Marley: All over. Yeah.

ellen: all the cities.

Marley: All the cities. Um, I find it's just like such a fun way to get to know people and like I'm always forthcoming, I'm like, Hey, I'm traveling through, or I'm moving here, or I'm leaving here.

I don't think most people in: 2025

Like if you enjoy each other's company, do it again. Do it again. Oh wait, now I'm gonna touch your body. Uh, because that feels good. I don't know. I think we overcomplicate things.

ellen: I think that's true. I think there's a lot of stress that's put on relationships most of the time.

Marley: yeah,

ellen: Once you can remember that it's just about two people enjoying. Yeah. Company time, other things.

Marley: exactly.

ellen: It does simplify it.

Marley: Although you probably shouldn't take dating advice from me because I've been single for like five years now.

ellen: Uh, it means that you have astronomically more experienced dating than I do.

Marley: I've actually thought about writing a book about dating, calling it like a decade on the apps. 'cause I have been on the apps for more than a decade and I have some really good advice and stories.

ellen: I was gonna, I think I would absolutely read the stories. 'cause that to me just feels like those are just gonna be good stories. Like good, just like human interest stories. I will say. I understand now. It's like if you're trying to say it's advice that'll get you a full-time partner, then no. But

Marley: a good time.

ellen: Yeah, that's, I think maybe that's what you were trying to say this whole time and it's just now like clicked into place for me is like, I think dating gets such a bad rap because so many people are trying to find the only end goal of long-term partner. Long-term partner, long-term partner versus dating.

Marley: Yeah. And

ellen: Enjoy dating.

Marley: yes, I would love to find a long-term partner, but like you, at least in my experience, you cannot make that your sole focus. Like you've gotta enjoy each other's company before you go down that road.

ellen: I would very much agree with that. Please enjoy who you're sleeping with.

Marley: Oh, please. Oh my God. I read so many horror stories on threads.

ellen: I believe it and part of

Marley: I will also say I haven't slept with somebody in like over a year. I know.

ellen: That's a level of discipline that I maybe wouldn't have.

Marley: I've just realized that like bad sex is worse than no sex. Like I know how to get myself off

ellen: Fair enough.

Marley: I'd rather do that than like put up with somebody who's like not gonna like touch me in a way that I enjoy.

ellen: I was gonna say, there's a fair amount of learning in those early stages too, and sometimes you don't wanna teach. You want to enjoy.

Marley: Mm-hmm.

ellen: Not that there can't be mutual enjoyment in teaching, but

Marley: This is All Bodies on Bikes after Dark. I don't know if this is gonna make it to the podcast or not. Maybe this will

ellen: the bodies

Marley: special episode for our membership only,

ellen: Ooh, that would be good.

Marley: which we should talk about that we haven't talked about that in a long time.

ellen: I was gonna say we should talk about that because i'm gonna take a lot of the Podcasty stuff over to the Discord to say. What's going on? What is the, the word on the digital streets, so to speak, or even just what questions do you have?

Or, Hey, we know that this guest will be coming on, and what questions would you ask them? And bringing the voice of all bodies on Bikes audience into this podcast. As much as we've established that Marley and I are super duper good at chatting with each other, um, we wanna make sure that it's something that you like listening to, that you're getting value from.

And so we have a free discord server where people are interacting and chatting and local groups are getting together.

Marley: Yeah. Um, I was just looking at our website to remind myself of the like membership tiers and so we have. Of a $5 a month. Or $50 a year saves you two months a membership. So that's our cruiser membership. Um, we have our Trailblazer membership, which is $10 a month or a hundred dollars a year, and gets you a couple more benefits.

And then we have our Pacesetter membership, which is 25 bucks a month, 250 bucks a year. Um, which gets you even more benefits. We also have a free level, um, which basically gets you access to our online resources, which we are busy building out more of those resources right now. Um, but that's a huge way to support all bodies on bikes.

Um, this podcast is an arm of all bodies on Bikes, which is a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit supported by your donations. Um, folks have asked us like, Hey, can you do a Patreon? This is our version of the Patreon. Um, just go to all bodies on bikes.com and you'll see all the details there. Uh, to wrap up the episode, Ellen, what are two things you are looking forward to in the fall?

ellen: I am absolutely looking forward to setting up the bike buses and I am very much looking forward to the cooler weather and getting cozy. I want to really like hogie up my living room this year. I've not done a lot of like cozy fy, so that is high on my list.

Marley: I love that.

ellen: What about you?

Marley: I'm very, very excited to move to Portland. The second half of my gravel season is starting, which is great 'cause I haven't ridden gravel in like two months.

It's fine.

ellen: It's fine. I'm not twitchy. It's fine.

Marley: I'm also looking forward to more regular podcast episodes and building our community, so gonna be great. Uh, thanks for chitchatting with me.

ellen: Thanks for chatting with me. Bye.

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