My name is Randy, and this is the DirtBum blog, a personal blog dedicated to riding bicycles on Kansas dirt, or as the tagline says, “exploring Kansas back roads by bike”.
This site is a companion piece to my RecumBum site, which is dedicated to riding recumbent bicycles. Yes, in addition to riding a mountain bike, I ride a recumbent. It’s a strange combination, I’ll admit, and what’s even stranger is that I started riding the “weird” bike — the recumbent — first.
I started riding the recumbent due to some hand issues (repetitive strain injury), where it was painful to ride an upright bike due to weight being put on the hands. The bent solved that little problem, but after a few years the RSI issues lessened, and I found myself wanting to do more than the bent would allow — specifically ride off-road. A recumbent bike is a fantastic machine for riding on paved roads for long distances, but it doesn’t handle gravel roads very well, and doesn’t work for singletrack at all.
So I bought a mountain bike, and found I really could still ride an upright bike, and further, that I enjoyed it.
So now, in addition to being a recumbent bum, I’m a mountain bike bum. And given that there are no actual mountains in Kansas, I’ll just be a dirt bum.
I enjoy riding bicycles all over -- city streets, suburbia, rural roads, gravel roads, dirt roads, rail-trails, and singletrack. I love exploring the countryside and finding the interesting and historical treasures hidden in plain site. 
I saw this link on Adventures Cyling Bike bits andall I can say is “Cool.” Good for you. i just bought myself a 40 year old bicycle- a Raleigh Super Tourer which I have fixed up and painted and now want to equip with rfacks and panniers because when I retire soon I want to go! See you on the road, I hope. Connecticut to Kansas is probably only 1800 miles. A few weeks of fun. I find now as I age, the less concerned with speed I am the better I like riding. Comfort cruising is my style.
Paul Murray
Saw the website name on one of your biking photos and had to check it out – very cool. I do a fair amount of road biking spring/summer culminating in the MS150 each year but almost no off-road biking. This makes me very much want to spruce up the old mountain bike and get out there. We also do a bit of family camping but have never really combined biking and camping – another thing I’d like to do. My dream is to take a pop-up camper, with a couple bikes on top and travel around the country.
Hope all is well, T.