Carolyne Whelan

• Title: Gear Tester & Review Author
• Email: whelan.writes@gmail.com
• Location: Missoula, Mont.
• Social Media Links: LinkedInInstagram

Expertise

• Topics of Expertise: Bicycling, bikepacking, bike touring, hiking, backpacking, dogs, trail running, van life, travel, mountain biking
• Years in This Expertise: 24
• Number of Products & Number of Hours Expert Has Tested: 100+ products, 2,000 + hours

Experience:

My career in outdoor journalism may be at its height, but my love of adventuring, the outdoors, writing, and tinkering is lifelong. In high school, I purchased a bike at a yard sale and when the local bike shop wouldn’t work on it, I bought tools and taught myself rudimentary mechanics right there in the parking lot. That started a lifelong love for bicycles, smart designs (It was an old English three-speed; what an introduction to mechanics!), and taking the time to appreciate how something works and why.

I moved to New Mexico as soon as possible, attending the now-defunct College of Santa Fe. I spent so much time in the bike shop next door that they offered me a job, and I’ve been an active part of the cycling community ever since — hosting mechanic classes after work or on days off, working at shops around the world, riding my bike ridiculous distances relative to my preparation, and writing the whole time.

By now, I have an MFA in poetry and nonfiction, a couple of books either published or on their way, have been the Editor-in-Chief at two world-class cycling magazines, and occasionally teach writing and editing workshops.

My tinkering has now transitioned into building up my van (Shevanigans II), and my world has become more rounded to include more skiing, backpacking, hiking, and anything else that seems fun — most of the time with my adventure pup and support animal, Bruce.

Career Highlights

• Becoming the first women editor-in-chief at Dirt Rag and Adventure Cyclist
• Completing an incredible magazine redesign completely in-house
• Riding my bike down the Pacific Coast with nothing but a picnic blanket and a jar of couscous
• Riding down the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail and getting to write about it for ESPN
• Getting to ride the Colorado Trail for a story about what a bad cyclist I am, and then writing a story about that
• Bringing in more diverse voices and perspectives into the adventure travel and cycling worlds
• Raising Dirt Rag web readership from 80,000 to 200,000 in 6 months

Education & Certifications

• Education: BA: College of Santa Fe; MFA: Chatham University
• Years of Writing: I made and sold my first zines in 1995
• Certifications: InDesign Basic Training, Grant Proposal writing, Wilderness First Aid
• Club or Association Memberships: Outdoor Writers of America
• Awards or Recognitions: Pushcart nomination, Best of the Web, republication in an anthology and a college writing textbook
• Previous Publications: Backpacker, ESPN, Sierra, Roads and Kingdoms, Bicycling, Belt

A Word From Carolyne Whelan 

I wrote my first zine in 8th grade, inspired to get my ideas out into the world but knowing no publication would be interested in publishing a dorky kid who walked barefoot through the city. These zines got pretty popular with some finding worldwide distribution, so I’m thankful I wrote under a pen name.

The first time I saw the Milky Way was outside a stranger’s old Subaru on the road headed to the Santa Fe ski basin, no long after I moved there. I shouted, “What the heck is that?!” and have been trying to stay in nature as much as possible ever since.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer so this career path chose me, though I did grow up with a dark room (my dad was a forensics photographer), so I long thought I would be a photographer as well. After grabbing coffee with the editor at a popular magazine while on a road trip, I came home to Pittsburgh, quit my day job, and began dedicating all my efforts to making it as a professional writer. (I also worked at a bike shop, hung posters, and worked part-time in a law office while I earned my chops; the days had more hours back then).

I started reviewing gear for my now-defunct blog once my readership started growing, learning how to look critically and completely at everything from face cream to flashlights. It was not too dissimilar to the bike shops I’d worked in off and on since 2000, just expanding my focus and with the goal of letting people know what works and doesn’t about a product they may wish to buy, rather than a component they may wish to replace.

That has blossomed into countless hours testing and reviewing bikes, tents, apparel, and mapping technology. I continue to bounce around and spend as much time in the forest and desert as possible, but my home base is Missoula, Mont.