If you filed a 2007 tax return, and I hope you did, you'll be receiving an economic stimulus tax rebate one of these days soon. Consider bicycling when you're thinking about ways to spend that money.
The rebates are $600 for an individual, $1,200 for a couple and an additional $300 per child.
The economists are worried that people will use the rebates to offset the higher costs of gasoline, thus benefitting the oil companies. We know that nothing sticks it to Big Oil like riding a bicycle.
If you don't want to put that check into savings, I came up with a few ideas on spending it on your bike:
1. Take a fully loaded bicycle tour. If you have the proper gear, you can roll right down the driveway and be on your way. Camping out and cooking your own breakfasts and dinners can save money and keep you on the road for a while.
If you want to range further afield, consider packing the bike rig in a car, bus or train and heading to a destination within a couple hundred miles. When I lived on the East Coast, I did this for week-long trips on the Natchez Trace and Lake Champlain to Montreal. For ideas, check out the Adventure Cycling Association's Route Network.
This doesn't have to be an individual pursuit. Joe “Metal Cowboy” Kurmaskie took his two sons on a cross-country bike tour that became the book, “Momentum is Your Friend.”
You might want to try shorter trips with your family. Also consider long, no-traffic bike trails, like the Katy Trail across Missouri or the Great Allegheny Passage in Pennsylvania and western Maryland. The Rails to Trails Conservancy has information on 1,400 trails in the US.
2. Take a multi-day cross-state bike tour. Non-profit organizations in many states offer lost-cost cross-state bicycle tours. They're fully supported, meaning that you ride and they cook, provide showers and carry your gear. Many are in the $500-$600 range.
Most are family friendly. My son did his first Cycle Across Maryland when he was 11, and he was by no means the youngest. See the BikingBis Across State Bicycle Tour index for ideas.
3. Singletrack and downhill mountain biking. Many downhill ski areas turn their slopes over to mountain bikers in the summer. There also are the superb mountain biking areas in Utah and northern Arizona, Alleghenies, California and more. Look for a location that has several mountain biking areas within a short distance.
SingleTracks.com lists nearly 700 mountain bike trails in the US. Choose a town like Asheville, North Carolina, then do some research on mountain biking there at Biking in Asheville or Bicycling in the Blue Ridge websites.
Also check out supported mountain bike trips, like Mt. Bike Oregon, which is well within the amount of the rebate.
4. Do some bicycling on your “getaway” vacation. CNN's website published “5 Great Tax Rebate Getaways.” It's probably the first in a slew of travel articles hooked on the tax rebates.
Ken called this story to my attention, and mentioned that the story only mentioned bicycling for San Francisco, but he knows the others — Charleston, S.C., Santa Fe, North Rim of Grand Canyon and Destin, Florida, all have great bicycling as well.
Use your search engine to find bike rentals and maps for these and other areas.
5. Buy some stuff. You can always use that check to purchase bicycling gear. If you want to help the US economy, just check to see where the product is manufactured. A $600 rebate check probably won't cover the cost of the handbuilt frame that interests you, but it might help make it affordable.
There's also bicycle clothing, messenger bags and panniers that are made by craftspeople in the US. Also, your local bike shop would be more than happy to take some of that rebate off your hands with a super tune-up.
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