The resting period in Denver has begun. On the first day, Seçil wasn’t there; she had gone on vacation to the Dominican Republic. When she returned the next day, the period of restful conversations began. Seçil moved to Denver from Florida three years ago and insists that Florida is much better than Denver. If you ask me, Denver is the superior city. Why? Because there are mountains, it’s cool, the national parks are amazing, and there are fewer people. Plus, there are plenty of nice places to go out and explore.
Since Seçil is from İzmir, she’s a sea person. She keeps saying, “It’s tough without the sea, Gürkan.” She moved here when her sister Aslı relocated to Denver. She has a bit of a nomadic spirit, you can feel it. She works at a school in Denver that provides English language education for immigrants. Yes, she’s an English teacher. And the neighborhood she lives in is beautiful. Honestly, many people kindly offered to host me, but since she lives in such a central area, her couch was more than enough for me.
I’m resting. Since she’s at work from 8 AM to 8 PM, we only get to meet in the evenings, going out for dinner, to a bar, or somewhere else. One of the nights we stayed in, we set up a rakı (a traditional Turkish alcoholic drink) table, the conversation and music were top-notch. She’s an amazing conversationalist, and her unique adventures are genuinely hilarious.
As I entered my fifth month in the United States, it was time to extend my tourist visa. I thought this visa extension would cost $110, but it cost $420. I was shocked when I found out. I had some money with me that Ahmet had helped me with to buy a drone, but I had already spent part of it on food and accommodation along the way. When Bülent heard about this, he stepped in to help, so I managed to cover the extension fee. I was about to buy the drone, and another issue popped up. Damn, I just can’t seem to get that drone! Hahaha.
One of my sponsors, The North Face (TNF), has its headquarters close to here, I could have even biked there. Man, I came to Denver with such high hopes, but The North Face America turned out to be a huge disappointment.
Let me summarize the story…
TNF’s main headquarters is in Denver. At one point, I asked The North Face Türkiye, “What are the criteria for becoming a global athlete? Could I possibly qualify?” Their response was: “Gürkan, even Tunç Fındık (Turkish Mountaineer) wasn’t accepted as a global athlete. It was difficult, but we asked, and TNF wasn’t interested.” That happened years ago.
Being a global athlete, meaning a TNF athlete worldwide, also means receiving a salary. We, on the other hand, don’t get paid by TNF; we’re just athletes who receive gear. Over 13 years, the total cost of supporting me for The North Face Türkiye hasn’t exceeded $10,000. That breaks down to about $55 per month. My gear is sent to me from Türkiye. I can hear you saying, “Gürkan, that’s nothing; this is ridiculous.” But believe me, on this journey, there’s no real alternative brand I could use. Why? Because TNF provides summer and winter gear, tents, sleeping bags, and shoes, all in one place. That means six different product categories in a single brand, and they’re technical products designed for all weather conditions. You don’t have to mix and match with other brands. Most importantly, the quality is genuinely top-tier. There’s no other brand at this level, and even if there were, their products wouldn’t be suitable for bicycle touring and would take up more space.
On the other hand, The North Face prioritizes mountaineers first, followed by skiers, trail runners, and then urban lifestyle consumers. Since they don’t have a cycling division, what I do doesn’t matter to them much.
That said, I have to give credit to The North Face Türkiye. They’ve done everything they could to support me by providing the necessary gear over the years. One of the main reasons for this is my dear friends Razan and Kerem, without them, I doubt The North Face Türkiye would have sponsored me either. Why? Because, as I mentioned above, I don’t fit into any of their categories.
I sent a message to my friend Kerem from TNF:
Gürkan: Hey, I’m getting close to Denver. Can you find me a contact at The North Face headquarters here? I’d like to meet with someone, maybe we could do something together. Plus, I need to replace a few pieces of gear while I’m here.
Kerem: Gürkan, you know we’re connected to Europe. The U.S. operation is a separate branch, and we don’t know anyone there. But I’ll contact the European branch and see if they can give me a name. I’ll keep you posted.
A week passed, and no one responded to Kerem. Of course, everyone was busy working hard for the 2025 season.
Gürkan: Kerem, I’ve arrived in Denver. Still no name?
Kerem: Gürkan, no one got back to me, and they didn’t provide a contact. Just walk in and introduce yourself. I have no doubt you’ll end up talking to someone.
Gürkan: Alright, I’ll do that then.
So, as he suggested, I went to the headquarters. I walked in and tried to introduce myself to the staff at the front desk. They asked me who I had an appointment with, I didn’t have a name. They told me they couldn’t connect me with anyone.
Gürkan: I guess I didn’t explain myself properly. I’ve been cycling around the world for 12 years. Look, I’m from Türkiye, and I’m a The North Face athlete from Türkiye. If you tell someone there’s an athlete here, surely someone will want to meet with me.”
Just then, as I was talking, a woman who had noticed my bike leaning against the lobby wall suddenly shouted without realizing I was there.
Woman: Whose bike is this, and why is it here? Don’t you know you can’t leave bikes here?”
She paused for a moment when she saw me. She looked at my hat, shirt, and pants, all from The North Face.
Gürkan: Hello, I’m Gürkan Genç, a The North Face athlete from Türkiye. I started my world tour by bicycle in 2012. This is my 12th year, and I’ve been cycling through the United States for five months. I’m on my way to Alaska, I’ve covered 130,000 kilometers and 69 countries so far. Sorry, but I had to leave my bike here; I can’t leave it outside.”
Everyone waiting at the reception experienced a brief moment of shock. They kept asking me what I was doing because they couldn’t believe it. Jane, responsible for assisting visitors, sat down at her computer to reach someone and started notifying everyone.
Jane: Gürkan, sorry about this. It’s Monday, and most people don’t come to the office on Mondays, but I’m letting those here know. Hopefully, someone will have time to meet with you.”
While I was waiting, a young designer from the main office, 26-year-old Wayt, saw my bike and wanted to meet me. We went upstairs for a coffee. He listened to my story. He had only been working at the company for three months. Whenever he got the chance, he rode his bike and hiked in the Colorado mountains. However, he made it clear that he wasn’t the person I needed to talk to.
At that moment, James, responsible for global athletes, joined us.
James: I’ve heard your story, it’s incredible. We definitely need to talk. How did we not know about someone like you? We’ll organize something.
After saying that, he left. That was the end of our conversation as well.
I stopped by Jane’s desk on my way out:
Jane: Gürkan, first, Europe will be contacted to confirm whether you are a TNF athlete. We’ll get back to you during the week.
There was nothing I could do but wait. By Friday, I still hadn’t heard anything. On Friday morning, I wrote to The North Face Türkiye.
Gürkan: Hey, this is the situation. They were supposed to call you,what happened?
Kerem: Yes, Gürkan, Europe contacted us. We told them that we’ve been supporting you and providing equipment since 2012. They must have passed that on to the U.S.
On Friday, I went back to the headquarters. Jane had seen me on the evening news.
Jane: Gürkan, what an incredible life journey! When I told my husband, ‘I met this guy,’ he was shocked! Hahaha.
Gürkan: I can imagine, Jane.
Jane: How can I help? Who are you here to meet?
Gürkan: They’ve confirmed from Türkiye that I am a supported athlete. But no one told me who I should talk to. I have to leave on Monday, and I need to replace some gear.
Jane: Well, we can’t provide equipment here at headquarters.
Gürkan: Of course, but you could direct me to one of your stores, let them know that an athlete is coming to pick up some gear, and I can go and get what I need. But no one from TNF has reached out. No one has said, ‘Let’s sit down and talk. You’ve been using our gear for 14 years, what are your experiences?’ Does no one really care? Isn’t that strange? I’ve cycled all the way from the other side of the world.
Jane: You’re right, Gürkan, I’ve been trying to reach someone, but it’s Friday, and there are very few people at the office today.
Gürkan: You also mentioned that there would be a few people at the office on Monday, Jane. It seems that no one works at The North Face headquarters anymore. Anyway, thank you.
Jane: We have all your details, and they’ll contact you. They’re following the procedure.
Gürkan: Everyone’s time is valuable, so I’ll order the products I need from Türkiye. The U.S. The North Face headquarters has been a complete disappointment for me, and I’m sorry.
I left the building. If an American TNF athlete were to come to Türkiye, TNF Türkiye officials would welcome them, provide any necessary gear, and organize meetings with other athletes. I’m certain they’d do that for an American. But will TNF Türkiye do the same for me? I’m not sure (even though I was in Türkiye in 2023, they didn’t do it for me). By this point, after 13 years of working together, we’ve never had the chance to meet and organize something. Maybe in the future, I don’t know. A shout-out to Razan and Kerem.
To sum it up, I was really frustrated with the situation. My dream was to share my experiences with these people and update some of my gear.
• Rain Jacket: I’ve been using it since 2017, but it’s starting to leak water in.
• Winter Jacket: I’ve been using it since 2017. It has two tent patches on, and the insulation inside has diminished.
• Tent: I’ve been using it since 2018, and in many places, the insulation at the seams has completely worn out. With winter approaching, the tent’s condition needs to be good. At high altitudes, there’s no room for mistakes.
Unfortunately, TNF has discontinued the single-person tent concept. This is a huge mistake by the TNF designers and marketing department. Apparently, the single-person tent concept is unimportant to TNF, and they didn’t care about that market.
In 2015, they introduced the Triarch 1 model with a single pole and triangular tent ends, and MSR quickly copied it. I started using this tent model in 2016. It took up incredibly little space on the bike. While MSR developed and raised the price of the single-person tent concept over the years, TNF stayed stagnant. After receiving feedback from cyclists and backpackers, they improved and developed their tents. In the following years, Chinese brands and other American companies entered the market. Years later, when you look at TNF, their single and two-person tents stayed in the $130 to $250 range. Well, that’s nice, they’re cheap now. But that’s because they didn’t improve. When they stayed cheap, what happened? As I mentioned in my previous post, homeless people started buying TNF’s cheap tents and sleeping on the streets. This damaged TNF’s brand image in the market as it became associated with tents used by the homeless.
TNF continued to develop and upgrade their 2-3-person tents designed for mountaineers. They pulled their single-person tents from the market in 2022. I’m not sure when the new ones will arrive. Companies like MSR and NEO have raised the price of their single-person tents to the $500-$600 range.
The first thing I did after leaving TNF was to head straight to the REI store. I was incredibly frustrated. REI is the American version of Decathlon (a French sports equipment retailer chain) in Türkiye. It’s much bigger, and all the brands inside are some of the best in the world. So, I spent the money I was saving for the drone on a new tent. A place to sleep is more important.
I use Ortlieb 4.1 Fork Pack bags on the right and left of my bike. In the front left bag, I used to carry the first and second layers of the tent, its stakes, and the groundsheet. I carry the tent pole in the front of the handlebar bag. With the new tent I bought, the whole setup has changed.
MSR Hubba Bikepacking 1 – A tent specially made for single-person bike packing. They’ve been making everything a cyclist would need in a tent for years. And they’ve added it all to this tent. The tent arrived, and I was shocked. It’s actually smaller than the single-person tent I was using. The space taken up by the poles is also less. They’ve made a nice waterproof cover that can be attached to the handlebar bag. This way, the tent’s place shifted from the side bag to the front of the handlebar bag. In the empty side bag in front, I placed a folding chair, front and rear lights, and a rain jacket.
This way, the 6-liter frame bag in the middle of my bike became completely empty. Wuhuuuuu!
Also, I’m going to replace the Ortlieb Fork Pack 4.1 setup (the bags on the sides of the wheels, with a total capacity of 16.4 liters) with the Ortlieb Fork Pack 5.8 liters, which means I’m increasing the capacity of the side bags to 23.2 liters. This brings the total luggage capacity on the bike to 73 liters. The bike is neat and balanced. I’m writing the details on my equipment page.
I planned to move from Seçil’s house to Elif’s house, but it never quite worked out. I was always at Seçil’s place because I kept making plans, and having conversations in the evenings, the house was in a very central location, thanks to her.
It’s well known that I’ve given travel scholarships to dozens of university students through the Young Explorers Project over the years. Three of these students are currently living in the United States. Elif Akdaş, who just turned 30, is studying and working in Denver. I had never met Elif before, but we had the chance to meet here, and I’m glad we did. She is an incredibly energetic young woman. In fact, I gave her the part I replaced on my bike, and it became a nice memory for her. We went on a picnic and did paddleboarding together, having a wonderful conversation about what kind of career she wanted to pursue and how she could bring innovations to that field.
In 2022, I received a message from Işıl on my Instagram page. At that time, both of us were in Bogotá, Colombia. She was traveling through South America with a backpack, and that’s how our friendship started. She’s funny, loves to travel, and faces her fears head-on. She also never gives up. She’s working on her master’s degree in International Relations at the University of Denver. When we met, we discussed the United States, and our thoughts were more or less the same. If I ever become a sports minister, she’ll definitely be on the team, I’m saying it now. Wishing you all the best, wherever you are.
I also met Soner, the owner of Istanbul Cafe, during a discussion day organized by the Turkish American Culture Society of Colorado (Tacsco), which brought together our fellow Turkish community. Thanks to Mrs. Nilgün, the president of the association, and everyone who took the time to attend. It was a great conversation for me, and I hope everyone enjoyed it.
I had previously met Melih, the owner of Bosphorus Restaurant, in Ankara when I had my Italian restaurant. He came to my place with our mutual friend Kerem. Sending my greetings to him as well. I had the chance to visit Melih’s place in Denver too.
Overall, I really liked Denver. To the question, “Where would you prefer to live in the US?” based on the areas I’ve pedaled so far in the US, my answer is Denver. With its mountains, trails, beautiful villages, people, and opportunities, it’s the place where I could do the work I dream of the best, so I would stay here and live. I’d also constantly explore the national parks around it. I’ve mentioned that Colorado is my number one state because of Mesa Verde National Park.
Before leaving Denver, I stayed at the house of Elif Akdaş, who joined the Genç Kaşifler program in 2017 and has been continuing her education in the United States while working after graduating from university. By the way, I upgraded my bike bags from 4.1 to 5.8 liters. Elif asked for the old ones, and I also replaced my tent, which I had for 6 years, here. As mentioned earlier, I switched to the MSR Hubba Bikepacking-1 tent and gave my old one to Elif. She’ll continue using it as long as possible (the tent had some issues with waterproofing). I also toured the area with Elif, and she kindly hosted me. In the coming weeks, she’ll join me for a week on my route at a spot that works for both of us.
Next up is the highest pass in North America and the largest desert.
Let’s see what’s in store.