Photo by Jeff Clark
By Shea Parton
On November 20th I was waiting for Cole at Hollywood’s retro diner, Café 101. I had mixed emotions of concern and anticipated being starstruck. Cole’s smooth cycling reputation and handle bar mustache gave me nightmares of suffering to keep up for a few weeks in the Himalayas. Immediately, the ice was broken with a rookie bike chain mistake on our first Los Angeles ride. The tender hearted Maness was quick to help me get back on the saddle and I instantly knew our trip to Nepal was going to be more about building a long-term friendship. Maness’ patience and loving soul comes from a government special agent father and an art teaching mother. At 32 years old, his principles of hard work and desire to explore started in Memphis, Tennessee, as he learned the ropes working at Yellowstone National Park, a job that would prepare him for long nights as an Emergency Medical Technician, then manager of a boutique outdoor retail shop, marketing director of an online bicycle company and a West Coast member of the Rapha Continental team. When Cole isn't riding you can find him walking his beagles, hanging out with his two brothers or planning his next trip. Cole Maness has been our secret weapon after he steered the development of the Transit Elite Sweater and maximized his photogenic observations for a request from the New York Times for Nepal travel tips. We compiled our 16 days in the Himalayas and created an accessible road map for any avid adventurer. The New York Times article, Pedaling for Nepal, only shared a couple nuggets - giving us the opportunity to release a complete Travel Guide and respectfully attribute a majority of the insight to the legendary Cole Maness.
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