When cyclists choose a venue to ride, rarely would they look to the heavily trafficked roads of a big city. For bike messenger Nico Deportago-Cabrera, weaving through clusters of cars, buses and taxis via the intricate paved network of inner-city Chicago was very much a workweek routine, one that he thrived on. Yet as much as Nico enjoyed this daily dose of adrenaline, when he was off the clock he yearned for the wide-open spaces that cyclists live for. In Nico’s words: “If you’re never in the way, then you’re always right where you need to be.”
Photos by Sterling Lorence (@eyeroam)
Produced by Anthill Films for TREK, Never in the Way follows Nico’s first self-supported cycling trip to Arizona; more than 400 kilometers from Flagstaff to Phoenix over five days. It was his first such offroad trip of this caliber; pedaling on pavement, cornering on winding singletrack and navigating backcountry roads in every state of disrepair. All with the occasional mandatory detour to soak up the solitude of the Arizona Desert.
When Nico returned from the balmy Arizona mountain ranges to the chilling chaos of winter in Chicago, he did so with a renewed perspective. Spending time on one’s own, with nothing but the essentials to get you to the next dot on the map, revealed what’s actually important, and what isn’t.
