Defining the Ineffable with Diane Jenks
Podcaster, tandemer, LBS owner and more.
I’ve only recently discovered Diane Jenks’ Outspoken Cyclist podcast. She interviewed Caley Fretz, co-founder and EIC of Escape Collective, the internet’s newest “best bike website” earlier this month.
Their conversation covered the ebbs and flows of cycling journalism, why he and Wade Wallace started Escape and what he hopes the website becomes for the cycling community. It was a nice discussion and I thought Diane sounded genuinely affable and inquisitive.
Here’s the interview, if you’re so inclined.
I learned the Outspoken Cyclist has been around since 2010. That’s quite the accomplishment, but she had also ran a bike shop since 1974 before the podcast. The last 15 years of the shop focused mainly on frame building and custom fitting.
During that time, she and her husband also designed some products — the HubBub drop bar adapter and the HubBub helmet mirror. She’s also directed rides and races. And she’s even authored a guidebook for tour cycling.
Diane Jenks, now 76, seemingly has done it all in the cycling world, and continues to put on a great podcast. I had to talk to her. So here’s our little Q&A session.
Where do you live currently?
I live in NE Ohio – in a ring suburb right outside of Cleveland.
Who is part of your immediate family?
I live with my husband Brian who is a custom frame builder, a master bicycle technician and wheel builder, and an engineer. We have one dog – Ella, a 10 ½ year old Eurasier.
What do you do for a living?
I currently teach yoga (mostly to active seniors) and host and produce the Outspoken Cyclist Podcast. I’m a professional bike fitter and for over 40 years owned and operated a high-end bike shop. I left retail in 2012. I still assist the fitting process when my husband needs me.
You’ve been part of the cycling industry for many years, and in many different ways — owning a custom bike shop, directing races and rides, writer/journalist, etc. Which part of the industry has been most fulfilling for you and why?
What an interesting question. While I often miss the interaction that retail affords, I think hosting and producing my podcast offers me a broad and deep perspective of bicycles and bicycling from just about every angle one could imagine. I learn something new just about every time I have the opportunity to talk with someone for the show.
I rarely felt as if I was part of the “industry” and my retail model – only fit, design, and build custom bikes - was unheard of when I opened my last shop in 1997. Today, it’s nothing unusual.
What was your hope with launching Outspoken Cyclist and how, if at all, has that changed since 2010?
Well – you are assuming I had hopes! It all came about by a series of weird circumstances and at first was a huge learning experience for me – much appreciated by the way at the time.
Alongside the podcast was a live radio show for the first 21 weeks and then a recorded radio show for the next 6 years. It taught me to be keenly aware of time and how best to use it for the show, as well as how to do accurate research and find great guests and topics.
As far as how things have changed in the 12+ years since the podcast launched, I would say that podcasts were few and far between back then. Today, podcasting is ubiquitous and it seems everyone has one. My goal is to just keep my head down, continue to find great guests and topics, and be the last (wo)man standing!
I see that you are passionate about what’s happening to women in sports in Afghanistan. Can you let us know why this situation resonates with you and how people can help if they want?
Well, I believe the women of Afghanistan are the epitome of bravery and conviction, as well as the victims of a horrific and oppressive regime. Their situation offers us the opportunity to see the cruelty that man can inflict on others and, hopefully gives us pause about how we might look at ourselves and the respect and dignity we give to others. As for helping, I would suggest that you follow Shannon Galpin on social media and browse my blog for information about the aid that is needed.
What is your earliest memory of riding a bike?
Ha ha ha ha ha…. This is such a typical story, I think. When I was probably 6 or 7, my Dad taught me how to ride a bike (much the same way he taught me to drive – get on the bike and pedal/get in the car and drive.) His only caveat was to not leave the driveway – which I immediately did, fell down, and bloodied my knees. His “I told you so” look, while cleaning me up, said it all! I loved riding as a kid and did so until I got my driver’s license. Typical story!
How many bikes do you own and what are they? Which is your favorite to ride?
Well, I actually don’t “own” a fleet of bikes. My husband, on the other hand, has quite a few. We own and ride a custom tandem. I rarely – okay, almost never – ride a single. So, I guess the right answer is, I own ½ a bike!
Brian designed it, Bushnell out in Seattle built the frame and fork, and recently Bilenky Cycles in Philadelphia added S&S couplers so we can eventually travel with it without completely tearing it down. (Which we did in 2017 on a trip to Israel.) It’s an amazing bike, our 4th — or maybe 5th — tandem over the past 25 years and without a doubt the best overall.
You’re a writer, so that likely means you read. What’s your favorite cycling-related book?
Ooooooh — unfair question. One of the perks of producing the podcast is the opportunity to review many new cycling books as well as have great conversations with their authors. Looking back, I’d have to say that I really liked Tyler Hamilton’s book, “The Secret Race,” and his interview sticks out as one of the most honest and forthright I’ve ever had.
Describe the feelings cycling gives you. Be as brief or long winded as you’d like.
For many years, I didn’t ride. Being in the bicycle business was a job – a really difficult job by the way. The seasonality of working in a bike shop appears to elude many people when they almost inevitably say – “wow, you own a bike shop; you must ride a lot.” If you stop and think about it, the time(s) that are best for riding are also the times we are the busiest. And sometimes the last thing you want to think about after a 12- or 14-hour day in the shop is getting on a bike.
My love for bicycles and bicycling is actually about the machine – I love beautiful bicycles. I saw my first handmade frame back in 1974 and it completely blew me away. From that day on, I never looked at bicycles or the bicycle business in the same way. It took me over 20 years to open the shop of my dreams, but that’s what I finally did in 1997.
Now, having said all that, when I met my husband Brian, who came to Ohio to work with me in early 1998, a lot of things changed for me and riding because he introduced me to tandeming. We’ve ridden thousands of miles together and I guess you could say we fell in love on a tandem. Even though he still rides a single, I believe he feels as I do; riding together on a tandem is exhilarating, intimate, and fun. Brian is an amazing Captain and I have become a pretty decent stoker.
Thanks for reading, cycopaths. Until next time! Get out there and ride today. Word on the street is the sun is supposed to come out for a while.