Bikes, Art, & Advocacy With Lisa Congdon

Kristen Bonkoski: Lisa, thank you so much for being here and giving us some of your time. Um, for anybody listening who doesn’t know who you are, could you just tell us a little bit about yourself?

Lisa Congdon: Gosh, yes, um… Some fun facts about me, um, let’s see, I am an artist and an illustrator. I live in Portland, Oregon. I just turned 58 years old. Um… And I am an avid cyclist. I mostly train on the road, but race on gravel. So, yeah.

Kristen Bonkoski: Okay. And how’d you get started with cycling?

Lisa Congdon: Um, let’s see, it was in… 1998. So, I was 30 years old, um… Also, almost 30 years ago, which is kind of nuts to me. Um, I… Had a really close friend who, um, was in a relationship with somebody who was, um… on the board of directors for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and… Um, there was this… I think it might be in its last year, or, like, last year was the last year of this, but… They, um, sponsored a ride called, well, it was originally called the um, California AIDS ride, and it was a… 500 and something mile ride that you did over 7 days from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise money for AIDS research. And, um, so my friend, who was in a relationship with this guy who worked for the AIDS Foundation, was like, I’m gonna do this 540 mile. 545-mile bike ride to LA, do you want to do it too? And I was like, sure, I didn’t have a bike, I had nothing, I had never clipped into pedals before.

Kristen Bonkoski: Wow.

Lisa Congdon: And but I said yes and I went and bought a bike. And… Um, and got some gear and started training. And I kind of fell in love with cycling then. Although, you know, as often happens with people, you, like, sign up for an event that’s really huge, and you train for it, and you do it, and… I mean, to me, now riding 545 miles over 7 days, like. Would probably be not as big of a deal, but at the time, it was a really big deal for me, like, I’d never done anything that.

Kristen Bonkoski: Right. Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: you know, long, and I was exhausted, and I probably wasn’t eating enough, and like all the things. So, um, when I was finished, I was like, okay, I’m done, you know, and then I just sort of stopped riding my bike. So, the bike sat in the garage for a while, and I remember, like, I had made some friends. Started riding with them a little bit, but never quite, um, got back into it. And then the bike was stolen out of my garage. So, fast forward to, uh, I think it was 2008, so, like, a good 10 years later. Um, I met the person I am now married to, and she. Um, was a cyclist, and not super serious, but definitely rode her bike a lot, and she also asked me, like, do you want to start riding bikes together? And I was like, sure. So she went. And found me this used bike. Um, and… We got it, like, all set up for me, and so then we started riding bikes together. And a few years after that, we also then did the same ride that I had done in 1998 except at that point it was called the California AIDS life cycle. Um, same idea, though, we trained and then rode our bikes from San Francisco to LA and raised money. And that time, I didn’t stop riding a bike afterwards. So, um, made some friends, kept riding.

Kristen Bonkoski: Hmm.

Lisa Congdon: maybe took winters off, you know, didn’t, you know, uh, like, ride every day necessarily, like I do now, or almost every day, but. You know, kept up a decent amount. Then we moved in, um, 2000, about 7 years later. Um, we moved to, in 2015, we moved to Portland, Oregon, which is a super bike-friendly city.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: And we’ve been living in San Francisco before, and also lots of cyclists there, big community. Um, but we had to make new friends. We didn’t know where to ride, we didn’t know who to ride with. And my wife is like very, um, she’s not as serious about cycling as I am, but she’s like really committed to the social aspect of it. And so, she just went out in search of a team or a club that we could join where there were regular rides where we could learn where to ride in the city and meet some other women who… who rode bikes. And she found this team, and we joined the team, and… Um, rode with them for many years and made friends and. I wasn’t racing or anything, but we were just definitely riding, like, every weekend and maybe once or twice during the week. And then… pandemic hit. In 2020, and I had by that point been, you know, riding with a bunch of, um, women that I had met on this team, and one of them. Um, was like… Have you ever… ridden a gravel bike, and I was like…

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: no, I don’t even know what that is. And it was kind of a new thing at the time, and because it was pandemic, like, we were writing in really small groups, and it was really my only social time.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: Was, you know, going out with these women. You know, a few times a week to ride bikes. And… because it felt safe, like, you’re outside, you didn’t have to wear a mask.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: And, um, so I started training a lot, and ended up buying a gravel bike and signing up for some gravel races, because I was… I had nothing else to do, basically, besides that and work.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: And, um, and then I got kind of swallowed into gravel cycling and the gravel cycling community, and now it’s, like, a huge part of my life. So, 2022, I started working with a coach. And, um, so now I’m on a training program year round and. I travel to race and, um, compete and also mostly have fun. So, yeah. That’s my very long-winded version of my story.

Kristen Bonkoski: Why did you decide… no, that was wonderful! Uh, why did you decide that, like you wanted to try racing. What to race… about racing speaks to you.

Lisa Congdon: Well, what’s interesting is that I was not interested in racing at all before, like, um, first of all, I never. I was a competitive swimmer growing up into my teenage years, and then I swam and coached master swimming until I was in my late 30s, and so… It had been about 20 years since I had done anything competitive, but um. I was like… I definitely have a slightly competitive nature, I’m a Capricorn, so…

Kristen Bonkoski: So am I.

Lisa Congdon: Okay, that’s right, yes, that’s right, our birthdays are close together. Um, and so I… I knew that it was in me, but because I wasn’t a super confident cyclist when I started, I mean, to me, I mean, I started in road, and like. Road racing has a reputation for being very elitist and not super community driven. I know there are exceptions to that for, like, some clubs and.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm. Mhm.

Lisa Congdon: and some races around, um, at least the United States, but, like, for the most part, the reputation was pretty scary and, like, off-putting to me.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: And so, I never would have considered racing, even if somebody had said, oh, you have potential. Like, I just would have been like, no thanks, that’s not for me. too much pressure. And so… when I, um, got into gravel cycling. my, you know, my friend who… who had already done a few gravel races was like, you should really race, and I was like, no, why? And she’s like, well, gravel cycling is different. It’s, like, more community… community-oriented, and she was trying to explain to me the, like, mullet analogy, which is, um, business in the front, party in the back. So, like, mass start, everyone starts together, you go at your own.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: pace, that you’re in it to, like, experience nature and friendship, but it’s not necessarily about, you know, doing your best time or winning, um, unless you want it to be. Like, it can be whatever you want. And so I was like, oh, that sounds fun. I will try.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: A gravel race. So I went, and I had a blast, and experienced exactly what she was talking about. Even though it was, like, really cold and raining, and, um, this was in 2020. early 2021, so I had a gravel bike for, like, a year, but I had never raced. Um, had a blast and then I signed up for this, like, crazy 5 day stage race in Oregon where I live, um, with. I had no… I mean, I have so much technical skill now, but I had zero then, and this is one of the most technical, hardest races in the country, like, I don’t… I don’t know what I was thinking, but I think sometimes, like, ignorance is bliss, right? And I suffered greatly that week, but I had a blast, and I met, like, a ton of people that I’m still friends with to this day, and built some relationships, including my relationship with my coach. And I was really impressed at that race how, like, you have on the one hand, like, people, like, there was, um, Pete Stetna, who’s a professional.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: Male, um, gravel racer and mountain biker, he, like. um, you know, was in the Tour de France. And, you know, he’s, like, sitting there eating dinner at the same table as, like, a 67-year-old woman who’s also doing this 5-day stage race.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: And I thought it was such a beautiful thing that you had people at all different levels who were communing together and camping and, you know, mass starts are less of a thing now at these very competitive races, but at the time, that was the spirit of gravel.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: And I was really into it, and um… and then from there, I just started, like, signing up for races because I knew.

Kristen Bonkoski: Hmm.

Lisa Congdon: You know, like, for me it really wasn’t about winning, it was about. Going and seeing what my body could do and like experiencing it and once I hired a coach. It was definitely more about performance for me, I mean, also coupled with fun, um, but. I found gravel racing, like, so much less intimidating than road racing. I’ve done a few road races.

Kristen Bonkoski: Okay.

Lisa Congdon: since I started gravel racing, but I mostly race gravel, and it’s because. gravel is, like, I’ve experienced such a welcoming environment, even as, like, an older, middle-aged woman who’s relatively new to… To this genre of the sport, um, it just feels like. a place that I want to be. Yeah.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah. I think it’s interesting that you mentioned the mixing between the amateurs and the pros, because I, um, just interviewed Sarah Sturm this morning, and that was actually exactly…

Lisa Congdon: Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, Sarah’s one of the people that I met, um, when I was on this Oregon gravel race, and, um, she’s one of the people that I, like, got to know, and now is a really good friend of mine. And, like, where else does that happen?

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah, yeah. I just thought it was really cool that you both had the same answer, like, one from the amateur perspective and one from the pro perspective. Yeah, that was cool. Um, how did your training and your relationship to bikes change once you got a coach?

Lisa Congdon: You know, I, um… it’s, it’s really… 95% of it has been positive for me. I think, you know, I’m somebody who really likes to see how far I can push things, um, and. So, especially when I discover that I love something, or that something brings me joy. I, like, go all in. Um, and I think that’s why, you know, I’m a self-taught artist, like, I… you know, I’m now a professional artist, but when I started, like, I think the reason I became a professional is because I was like, oh, I love this, and I’m very… like, I love the challenge of it, I love the fact that you have to practice. To get better, like… Um, I wanted to, like, I was really motivated by it, and cycling has been a really similar experience for me. And, um… I think when I didn’t have a coach, and I was sort of doing it for fun, like, I had fun, but so much of it was mysterious to me, like, how do I go faster? Like, how do I descend this very sketchy thing?

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: How, um, how do I, like, feel better at the end of a race? Um, and I learned all of those things, like better nutrition. Um, lots of technical skills. I’ve gone to a ton of camps, um, and skills clinics. Um, and also what my coach helps me do is sort of, like, frame out my program. So, um, over the course of a year, we figure out, like, what my goals are. you know, what races I’m going to do, um, if I have performance goals, FTP goals, VO2 max goals, whatever those things are, um, and then she builds a program for me where we try to meet those goals, and… As somebody who’s really motivated by improvement and, um, like, seeing myself do things that I didn’t think I could do. I’m really coachable in that way, like, I think I respond really well to coaching, because I listen and I take it seriously.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: And I have a very much, like, at least in that part of my life, like, very much a beginner’s mind. And I’m kind of a sponge for information, and my coach is really great, like, every week we meet and she will tell me what my workouts are and explain to me, like. why I’m gonna be doing this thing that feels really hard, or whatever. Um, or conversely, like, why this week is easy for me, or why it’s all zone 2.

Kristen Bonkoski: Hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: Um, and I really, like, being a student of the sport and. I’m super motivated by improvement and, you know, at my age, like, there’s still so much I can do, but, you know. I’m… we’re talking marginal gains at this point, you know? I just turned 58, like, in 2 years, you know, my metabolism will probably drastically change. That happens around 60, and like, you know. Your ability to, like, get more fit or whatever really drastically reduces and. So I’ve got to figure out other ways to get faster, like getting better at technical skills and, um, fueling better, so…

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: I like the puzzle of all of it and trying to fit those pieces together to see what I can do, what my body can do.

Kristen Bonkoski: From the time when you first started Cycling, which you said is, like, in your 30s, right, to now, have you Seen or felt differences as you’ve aged.

Lisa Congdon: Oh yeah, totally. I mean, my ability to recover is way… I mean, in some ways it’s better because I’m eating more and drinking more water, like.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: Even in the last 5 years, like… The amount of carbs I consume when I’m training, especially doing hard training and when I’m racing. Um, compared to what I was eating, I think about 3 years ago, I really started changing my. Fueling, and I think that was true for a lot of people, like, that was around the time that the whole conversation about. Making sure you’re taking in enough carbs in particular, and um. you know, that you’re eating properly before and after really became part of the conversation, and I wasn’t, um, like most people. And, um, so…

Kristen Bonkoski: Hmm. Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: That… that has, I think, helped me recover better, but there’s something also about being older that is… just makes it a lot harder. Like, I’m in full-blown menopause, which means, you know, I haven’t had my period for, like. 5 years or 6 years now? And, um, estrogen really helps you and your body to metabolize things and to recover and, like, it has so… I mean, estrogen is, like, a magical hormone.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm.

Lisa Congdon: And when you have less of it or way less of it in your body, it just, like, makes a lot of things more difficult.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: So, um, so that part has been, you know, like, the fueling has been good, but, like, recovery takes longer, um… I definitely… I feel like my motivation to ride. for my health. is stronger. I think when I was younger, I was like… less worried about being consistent. Um, and now, like, consistency feels really important. Last year, I took. well, it was a combination of the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. I took. 6 months off the bike to have both my knees replaced. And, um… taking that much time off the bike at my age is hard. It’s like, use it or lose it, you know? And so I was pretty nervous, and I’ve gained back all of my fitness, and my numbers are where they were before, but I was nervous about that, because it’s harder.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah, yeah.

Lisa Congdon: To come back when you’re older, um, so, yeah, I mean, cycling is just, like, in general, a bigger part of my life. Than it was when I was younger, I have like a whole community, my 2. You know, our 3 closest friends are, including my coach, are, um… are cyclists, and I spend a lot of time with them, riding with them, and um… I’m not on a team anymore, I’m just sort of, like… Having fun in the last couple of years, I quit a team that I, another team that I was on before I had knee replacement surgeries, and then I didn’t.

Kristen Bonkoski: Okay.

Lisa Congdon: re-up any… to join any team after that. Um… And I’m really enjoying the freedom of it, but also… I have this sort of built-in community where I live, um, and people to ride with, and other women to ride with in particular, which I love.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: Yeah, so that feels different. I feel like I didn’t have that when I was younger. Um, but I feel like cycling is so much more accessible for more people than it was… Back in the… in the 90s, so, um… I think the whole landscape has changed for the better, like, it’s not unusual to be a 58-year-old woman who’s out riding and racing her bike.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: Like, that probably would have been way more unusual when I was, you know, in my 30s.

Kristen Bonkoski: Absolutely. I love, too, that so many women are, like you said, like, starting racing in their 40s and 50s, um, where I think.

Lisa Congdon: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kristen Bonkoski: Before, you saw a lot of women who maybe had done it earlier in their lives and continued, but not brand new to it in older age, which is really cool.

Lisa Congdon: Yeah. Well, it was, like, kind of this crazy thing where, like, you know. someone like Sarah Sturm, who’s, like, a professional gravel cyclist, like, I mean, she did start pretty young. She raced in college, and sort of, like, came through the ranks. I mean, even took a little bit of a break in there.

Kristen Bonkoski: Right?

Lisa Congdon: Um, but it’s not unusual for women to discover, even in their early 30s, that they’re super, super fast cyclists. Like, my coach, Serena, she didn’t… even start riding a bike until she was 33. And now she’s 47, and she still competes at the elite level, and it’s like… Kind of amazing to see what, you know, it used to be that, like, women would, if you weren’t already sort of, like, in the, in the lane to become a professional cyclist by the time you were 18 or 19.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: you had kind of missed the opportunity. And now, we’re seeing, you know, professional racers start much later, and women like me, who didn’t start racing until they were in their early 50s, um… You never saw that.

Kristen Bonkoski: Right?

Lisa Congdon: So… it’s cool. I love it.

Kristen Bonkoski: It is very cool, me too. Um, why do you think that you gravitate towards these really long endurance type races?

Lisa Congdon: Hmm. Um, you know, it’s funny, when I was a swimmer, I was a sprinter. That’s basically what I… like, all through high school and in my young adulthood, I, like, was a. I swim butterfly was my stroke and I like was like 50 and 100. Butterfly and freestyle swimmer, like, that’s what I did. And, um, somewhere in my 30s. I wanted to try something different, and I had a swimming coach at the time who… Was really into longer distances, like the, in swimming we say like the mile, so not an ultra, but like.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: You know, something much longer. And he really encouraged me to give it a try, um, and so. I started training very differently for these longer endurance events in swimming, pool swimming. And… kind of fell in love with the… Um…

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: I think it was something about, like, you had to be really strategic about pacing, um, because if you went out too fast, you would die, and the training was sort of long and boring, but. I found it really meditative, and so, for the last sort of 10 years of my swimming career, um, I was really into these longer distance events. Like, the 800 and the 1600, which is, like, the mile. And so I left swimming, and then there was a little bit of a time there where I wasn’t doing much of anything, and then I got really into cycling, and. Um, at first I wasn’t racing, so I was just going out and, and training, but I found that, um, even early on that I really liked. the longer rides, I think for the same reason, like, you have to really think about… Um, pacing yourself, and um… I really like the kind of challenge of breaking a longer ride into sections and kind of figuring out how I’m gonna get through all of them, and.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: When I got into gravel cycling, it was, like, really the only option was to do longer stuff. And I… I’ve done a few centuries, but for me, longer is, like, between 45 and 75 miles. Um, I have aspirations to do more. Um, longer endurance events, I don’t know, about 200 miles, um, my knees, I don’t think would be very happy with me, even my new knees, if I did that, but, um…

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: But I like, I like longer distances, I like physical challenge, and I like the sort of mental game of all of it. Um… Yeah, I just think it’s fun, and I’ll honestly, I think that my older body, um, is.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: better built for longer endurance events than it is, like, shorter, punchier things. Like, I’m like, oh, maybe I could try a crit race or something like that, but, um, I mean, that’s a whole different kind of training, and.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: You know, um, demand on your body. I also really like being in nature. And, um…

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: Longer rides afford you the opportunity to, like, get out. Of your neighborhood, and, you know, explore. So…

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah. Yeah. I like what you said, too, about it maybe being better suited as we get older, because in my experience, like, as I get older, I get mentally stronger, and so much of those, like, longer distances are about mental strength, even more so than the physical strength. Um…

Lisa Congdon: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that’s such a great point. I, and I, I know they’ve, they, and people talk about that. I’ve read things about how endurance.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mhm.

Lisa Congdon: Um, events are especially suited to older women because, um… Not just, like, what our bodies are capable of, but our bodies are capable of more because we have more mental strength, so we have a higher pain tolerance and an ability to suffer more than…

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: Then either younger women or men do, so… yeah.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah, I think so. Um, so I know you from your Instagram, and you do such a good job there of blending your art and your cycling and your advocacy work. Why have you chosen to kind of Put those all into one basket, rather than keeping them all siloed.

Lisa Congdon: I have, um, been on the internet for a long time. And, um, I basically started my art career on the internet, so I don’t, I can’t even separate my, my, like. Art career from a time, like for a lot of artists who are my age, they had whole careers. Where they made art and were not on the internet. Like, for me, the.

Kristen Bonkoski: Hmm.

Lisa Congdon: they’re… they’re completely connected, because I didn’t start making art until I was in my late 30s. So it’s been almost 20 years, but I, you know, I have always sort of shown my work on the internet, and I made a really conscious decision when I first got on the internet and, um, you know, I had a blog and that I was going to be a whole person. And I didn’t, that I, that I, I sort of wanted to show up as, like. Somebody who had many dimensions and my, my art has always.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mhm.

Lisa Congdon: been about… things I care about, and… so it was hard to separate, like, my…

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: the things that, you know, like, the social causes that I was interested in from my art, so those sort of naturally kind of. blended together, and then I would… tell stories about my life related to my work. I mean, I still do that today, but I started doing that pretty early on.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: And when I got really into cycling, um, so I joined Instagram in around 2011, and I. Got back into cycling, um, in 2012, and so it not in the, not to the extent that I’m into it now, but like, I definitely. You know, I would do these rides and take pictures and share things. And then when, in the beginning of the pandemic, when cycling became an even bigger part of my life. It made sense for me to. Talk about it as something that I was doing, especially at the time for my mental health. Um, I think the pandemic was such a… it felt like such an oppressive time for so many people, because… I mean, I think it was very freeing for a lot of people, too, but, like, I think for a lot of people.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: You know, they were so thrown off by not being able to live their lives in the way that they had and, um. That I was definitely one of those people who, you know, had all of these routines and things that I did every single day and that got shut down and cycling was the one thing that I could keep doing and I felt really safe doing and the one thing that was very social in my life. And, um… So… Anyway, like, I’m… I’ve lost my train of thought. When we were talking about, um… Remind me what we were talking about, uh…

Kristen Bonkoski: Just why you’ve chosen to blend all of these things together. Yeah, of course.

Lisa Congdon: Oh yeah, okay, sorry, you can edit that part out. Anyway, I, like, sometimes I get… I go off on a tangent, and then I… I’m like, what was the point of this story? Um, yeah, so… when I… got, you know, back into cycling. I started… making art about it, I started… Talking about it, um, its impact, or its positive impact on my mental health.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm. Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: And then, um, what ended up happening is, like, because I have a big Instagram following and more and more cyclists were following me, I started getting work in the cycling industry and so it wasn’t anything I ever set out to do, but it just started to happen, I think organically because I was like expressing my love for. Cycling and I had a very distinctive, you know, brand already and. that was a really cool, kind of, I don’t know, weird thing that happened that I didn’t necessarily expect. And now, I’m so glad that I integrated all of those things because, um, it’s led to so many amazing opportunities for me, like… I mean, I feel like I would say. about… 40… 40 to 50% of my work is…

Kristen Bonkoski: Oh, wow. That’s amazing.

Lisa Congdon: connected to cycling at this point in my career. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, I still do lots of other things, and… You know, just… Today, I was designing some stuff for Kate Courtney. Um, I do lots of, um, posters and branding for bike races. Um, I’ve designed so many jerseys that I can’t even count anymore, so it’s… it’s pretty cool, and it’s kind of the sweet spot for me, and I feel like…

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: People ask me all the time, like. What advice do you have for creatives? And I think one thing. I will say is that when you kind of show up online as a whole person who has. lots of interests and, um, is passionate about lots of things. You might think it’s gonna confuse your audience, but actually what it does is it.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: Um… It allows people to see you, like, as somebody who, you know, is more interesting and dynamic and that can lead to a lot of. Um, like, potential projects and work opportunities and passion projects that you can’t even. You know, imagine, so…

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah, I really love that. I also love that you speak up about your values and about politics. Um, I recently posted something political for the very first time ever on my cycling, um, Instagram.

Lisa Congdon: Hmm.

Kristen Bonkoski: And it’s not because I’m not, like, on my personal Instagram, but I just always felt like maybe I needed to keep these separately. It felt a little scary to speak out on a business platform. Um, YTU. Have you chosen, like, on your business, to talk about these things?

Lisa Congdon: Yeah, you know, um, for really similar reasons as, like, what I was just talking about, but I think there’s sort of an extra layer with politics.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: Um… yeah. I remember, for me, like, I’ve always sort of talked about politics because I’m gay, and so, like, it’s kind of hard to avoid because my life is.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: Political in a way, or my existence is political, and I remember, like. when I first started a blog, this was, like, before Instagram or any other form of social media, I would write about my life, and I was pretty open about who I was, and I remember, like, way back when gay marriage in the United States was. um, signed into law, and, like, this was, like, a huge moment of celebration for me, and, um, my partner, and my friends, and I talked about it a lot, but that was really kind of, like, where I left it.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: Um, and then, in 2016, when Trump was elected in the United States, I, um… instantly… it was sort of like the moment that a lot of people are having now, but I just started a lot sooner, and I lost a ton of followers, I got a lot of the, like, you should stick to your pretty pictures, and… you know, people didn’t mind me talking about gay marriage, but they didn’t want me talking about Black Lives Matter, or…

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: the Trump administration and their policies and, you know, leave politics behind. And I remember one time I talked about the fact that I was angry, and there was just this whole debate in the comments about.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: women and anger and, you know, it was just, like, really intense. And I had to make a decision at that moment, like, okay, I’m in, I’m either… you’re either in or you’re out, and. I… because I felt so strongly about the… the stuff that I was making art about and advocating for, um, I just kept doing it, and I kind of dug my heels in even more. I mean, I’ve been through. some periods where my, um… my work and my feed has been highly political, and then months where you don’t really see much, and I think that might be a little bit of a reflection of.

Kristen Bonkoski: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: like, the kind of these red and blue waves in the United States, in terms of, like, who’s in power, and how much I feel like I have to speak out.

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: But I’ve always, like, especially since 2016, you know, spoken out, and it… I have to tell you, it’s not always easy. Um, I had a lot of anxiety and I felt a lot of. Um… a lot of fear when I first started doing it. Like, what does this mean for me, and what does this mean for my brand? Am I gonna lose clients? Like, I didn’t really care about people unfollowing me. It was more like…

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: how’s this gonna affect my career? And what ended up happening was, it just was so positive. Like, I ended up getting more work, I built an even bigger following, um…

Kristen Bonkoski: Mm-hmm.

Lisa Congdon: Because I think people saw me as somebody who wasn’t afraid to, like, talk about her values, and um… And make work that was political, that could be shared, and um… So that’s sort of how it started for me, and has continued to this day, and I… and I’m watching in real time a lot of people right now, because of what’s happening in the US, you know, a lot of people are… Um, coming out of the closet, you know, about their politics, um, because. Uh, what’s happening is so, um, kind of dramatic, and like… um, I think it’s just really knocking a lot of people out of balance, and because it’s so much more extreme than anything we’ve seen in this country. Um, you know, and so, I can… I can see, like, I remember when that was me.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: You know, and I really just, like, appreciate and empathize with people who are, like, losing followers, and…

Kristen Bonkoski: No.

Lisa Congdon: saying things on their business accounts that they never would have said, because they’re like, no, I have to… I have to be a whole person, and I have to share that this is important to me. I don’t want anybody to mistake me for somebody who doesn’t care about this, and. I find it really heartening, actually. Like, it’s sad that it takes that to get people sometimes to speak out, but…

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: But I also love it, um, that more and more people are sort of coming out of the closet as, you know, as, you know, having certain political views. Yeah.

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah. Well, thank you for being brave and leading the way for us who are a little further behind.

Lisa Congdon: No, thank you for doing it. I think it’s never too late, so…

Kristen Bonkoski: Um, I’ve got 3 final questions for you, but before I ask those, um, where can people come connect with you, where can they come find your art?

Lisa Congdon: Sure. Yeah, so the main place that I hang out is Instagram. It’s, my handle is my name, which is. Lisa Congdon. Um, I also have a newsletter that I send out every two weeks, and you can go to my website, lisacongdon.com, um, to… Uh, sign up for that, and… I also just started a substack, um, so I’m trying to write on it once a week, but I’ve been. kind of busy lately, so it hasn’t been quite as active, but there I post, like, longer form essays and, um, things that you don’t find anywhere else. Um, on Instagram or in my newsletter, it’s, like, mostly different content, so… Yeah.

Kristen Bonkoski: Final three questions, the first one is, what bike or bikes do you ride?

Lisa Congdon: Okay, I have 2 bikes. I have, um… I mostly ride… well, I should say, not mostly, it’s about 50-50. I have a gravel bike that’s an Argonaut. It’s a custom Argonaut. Argonaut is a…

Kristen Bonkoski: Okay.

Lisa Congdon: company in Bend, Oregon, a bike company, um, a bike maker, and they do, you can buy. I think you can… I think all their bikes are custom, so, like, they’re fit to your body. Um, and so I got a custom Argonaut, and it’s also a custom paint job with my artwork, which makes it really, like. special, and brings me lots of joy, and I think it brings other people lots of joy. Um, and that’s the GR3. So I have a GR3, an Argonaut GR3, and then I also… my road bike is a Williere, which is an Italian, um, bike. Maker and I’m trying to just, I can’t remember the exact model I have. But, anyways, my other bike is a Willi Air, and um… and it’s also very sleek and fun and has amazing acceleration, I will say, about that bike.

Kristen Bonkoski: Second question is, where is your favorite place you’ve ever ridden your bike?

Lisa Congdon: Oh, gosh, um…

Kristen Bonkoski: Hmm.

Lisa Congdon: I think the… my favorite place that I’ve ever ridden my bike is probably, um… Patagonia, Arizona. Um… I’ve ridden there a few times. It is… in southern Arizona, like, on the border of Mexico, and it’s basically the desert, but it is incredibly beautiful. And, um… uh… kind of special, almost spiritual place. Yeah.

Kristen Bonkoski: That’s one of my favorites, too. Oh.

Lisa Congdon: Oh, yeah, I also won a bike race there. The only bike race I’ve ever won.

Kristen Bonkoski: Okay. Ah!

Lisa Congdon: Like, I’ve won bike races in my age group but not, like, outright and so it was one of the best days of my life because. I won the 57 mile distance there in 2023, and like… I… that will never happen again, and um… it was just, like, kind of the perfect day, so, yeah.

Kristen Bonkoski: What was the race? What was the race?

Lisa Congdon: Yeah. Oh, uh, the spirit world. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Kristen Bonkoski: Cool. The final question is, what is your favorite thing about riding your bike?

Lisa Congdon: Um… Mmm, there’s so many things!

Kristen Bonkoski: Uh-huh.

Lisa Congdon: I mean, aside from the fact that I can… that I eat, like, basically as much candy as I want, which is, like, the childhood me’s dream, um, without, like, feeling ill, um… I think for me it’s really writing with my friends, like, I love writing by myself and I feel really grateful to. feel comfortable riding by myself and training by myself, but the days that I get to just go on fun rides with my friends that have no structure are really my favorite days, and um…

Kristen Bonkoski: Yeah.

Lisa Congdon: I have one this Friday, and I’m very excited.