From time to time on various bikelists and messagboards there is a discussion revolving around the what-if-you-could-only-have-one-bike question. However, for most of us, the fun of having a few different rides in the stable outweighs the zen and simplicity of the one-bike concept. That was until I realized that my wife and I would be moving to Burkina Faso for the next 2-3 years with a very limited shipping budget. I realized that I was in fact going to have to limit myself to just one. It certainly wasn't going to be my Kirk. Not that it wouldn't have been up to the task, I just didn't want to risk taking such a nice bike.

Burkina for the most part is flat, arid, and sparsely populated. The few paved roads that exist there are Mad Max post apocalyptic in quality, so I knew that most of my riding would be done on rough dirt roads. That's when the BurkinaBike was born, a flip-flop fixed/free monster cross bike with beefy 700*40 tires and springy Brooks saddle. I haven't had the chance to ride it much yet due to a recent IT band release surgery, but I'm looking forward to doing a little scorching on Burkina's back roads with it! Think this will turn a few heads in the village?

The second pic is what it looks like when it gets angry.

Cheers,

Dustin Sharp

Alexandria, VA

dsharp@runbox.com