Send it Safely? What’s that? Nick lives in Albuquerque, where he’s got a good group of riding buddies that enjoy taking to the local trails on their singlespeeds. When he first moved to town, he was jarred by the lack of trail etiquette, mostly by cyclists. Mountain bikers would plow downhill, hardly even yielding for hikers or other riders. For those unaware, uphill traffic always has the right of way. That’s when Nick thought of the phrase “send it safely” and started making stickers.

It was through these stickers that I first got to know Nick. Well, as well as you can know someone on the internet. Admittedly, I haven’t been to ABQ once since moving here, as we’re trying to play it safe during the pandemic, so Nick and I had never met before the afternoon I shot his Rivendell Sam Hillborne…

The Sam Hillborne is Rivendell’s “gravel” or “all-road” bike, which even seems sacrilegious to label it that as any bike can be a gravel bike, and using those two denoting terms brings about connotations of carbon, disc brakes, internal routing, lycra, and shaved legs. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those but they’re not exactly the Rivendell modus operandi, ya know?

Nick got this beaut built up at Two Wheel Drive, a shop in Albuquerque that we’ll be showcasing next week. Coincidentally, Nick shot the Shop Visit for the Radavist, so everyone say hello!

What I love about this build are the modern shifters, derailleur, and chainring, mated with some timeless componentry and tons of fun accoutrement. Personally, I love documenting bikes like this, to see all the fun little buttons, patches, bags, and other details that give them such character. Then, in years to come, once the beausage has set in, it’s always fun to do a follow-up post.

Nick’s side project, Send it Safely is just one more of the brands with the right message that have grown on Instagram over the years. See his stuff at Send it Safely.