Accepting Submissions!

Here are all the details

Photo from Pixnio

Greetings, fellow cycopaths old and new:

One of my favorite things about going into a bike shop is talking shop. What tire width do you run and why? How in the world can you stomach the synthetic taste of Clif’s “mountain berry” chews? Does this Pearl Izumi shirt run small? Where did you ride last Saturday again? How’d you place in that gravel race? Dude, tell him about that time that dog chased you for a good half mile.

Cycling is about community.

So Cycotherapy is inviting you to submit your stories. Your advice. Your itinerary for that cycling trip through California wine country. Your poetry. Your dialogues with cyclists.

Before you get to the categories and guidelines, some notes:

*Submissions need to be nonfiction and be related to cycling.

**I know. The pay sucks. I will increase pay when resources allow. For now, every submission will come with marginal financial compensation and a Cycotherapy sticker.

***Please limit submissions to pieces that have not been published elsewhere.

Here are the categories you can submit to, and the pay rates associated with each:

1. Personal essays of up to 1,500-2,000 words. I will consider completed essays on spec rather than assigning from pitches. ($20)

2. Poem. Submit one. ($5)

3. Gear or bike review of up to 500-800 words. This does not have to be of new gear or bikes. Review your 1976 Varsity Schwinn and your Bell helmet for all I care. If it’s well written and funny and unique and something you don’t find in glossy magazine pages, submit it. But you can still submit a review on the newest Yeti MTB or Lauf gravel rig, if you so desire. ($10)

4. Interviews: pro riders, bike builders, NICA coaches, cycling journalists, anyone who describes the joys of riding bikes as “ineffable.” Up to 2,000 words. ($20)

Email me at brazdill.25@gmail.com and write “Cycotherapy submission.”

My hope with this is to find new scribes and provide a medium for publishing on a site that welcomes cyclists who are also writers.

The frequency at which these guest posts are published to Cycotherapy will be fully dependent on the amount of submissions received and the time it takes me to edit them.

Please pass this along to someone who might be interested!

Bear in mind I also work a full-time job at a news site. I’m incredibly busy. It might take me a while to respond to your submission, and if I accept it, it still might take me a while to publish it.

Happy writing!