How about a scenic bicycle tour through the mountains? Better lube your granny gear.
The Adventure Cycling Association is working on a set of maps called the Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route that would route touring bicyclists on paved roads along the Pacific Crest.
Essentially, the 2,500-mile route would run from the Canadian to Mexican border. It will connect the Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon and the Sierra Nevada in northern California and Nevada. Then it will pass through the Tehachapi and San Bernardino mountains in southern California …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/20/pacific-crest-bike-tour-maps-in-the-works/
Washington state's Mount Adams from Trout Lake Highway.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/20/mount-adams/
With this month's ultra-endurance Race Across America, followed by the Tour Divide and the Great Divide mountain bike races, I thought there should be an extreme race for touring bicyclists.
There isn't one out there, as far as I know, so I decided to start one: The Tour de TransAmerica.
I've put together a set of rules that emphasize all the important aspects of bicycling touring — such as dodging road kill, fixing flats, cooking one-pot pasta meals. All we need is a sponsor, a website, and a director.
Tour de TransAmerica Rules:
1. Must use Adventure Cycling Association's TransAmerica Trail maps, either direction, connecting Yorktown, Virginia, with Astoria, Oregon.
A. Contestants must leave one section of the 12-map set at home and try to figure out a route using suggestions from people you meet along the way. Highway maps are not allowed.
2. Must carry way too much stuff. You must include a bulky sweater, 2 pair of blue jeans …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/20/10-rules-for-the-tour-de-transamerica-bicycle-touring-race/
Missing maps, attack dogs and road kill.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/20/bike-tour-race-route/
June must be the month for extreme ultra-endurance bicycling events.
Cyclists took off June 8 for the 3,000-mile Race Across America. Last Saturday, 17 mountain bikers set off from Banff, Alberta, on the inaugural 2,711-mile Tour Divide mountain bike race.
This coming Saturday, more mountain bikers will start the 5th annual Great Divide Race, that rolls out from the Canadian border for the Mexican border, 2,490 miles away.
They call RAAM “the world's toughest bike race.” What can you call these two north-south races? How about, “The world's most drop-dead insanely challenging bike races.” ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/19/great-divide-route-hosting-two-mountain-bike-races/
Another US-based pro cycling team is getting a sponsor makeover in preparation for the Tour de France.
Pro continental cycling team Slipstream-Chipotle is changing its name to “Garmin-Chipotle presented by H30” after Garmin International signed on as a title sponsor.
The new sponsorship won't effect the ownership of the cycling team by Slipstream Sports LLC, a sports management company co-owned by Doug Ellis and Jon Vaughters. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/18/slipstream-chipotle-is-now-garmin-chipotle/
The ride will go on, in spite of flooding in parts of Iowa. That's the word at the official Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Around Iowa (RAGBRAI).
[June 19 update: RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz tells Des Moines Register that extensive flooding in the state has left a handful of roads in some pass-through towns still underwater, but the overnight towns are “in pretty good shape.” ]
The weeklong, 471-mile bicycle tour across Iowa rolls out July 20-26. RAGBRAI says the planned bike ride is still scheduled to take place on the scheduled route, but they're “closely monitoring” the flood devastation across Iowa.
This map from the Iowa Department of Transportation shows road closures (red circle with white bar) throughout the state as of Tuesday afternoon. As you can see, the route tends to skirt many of the current trouble areas, although the flooding is still developing. The area between Ames and Tipton appears most affected along the route….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/18/ragbrai-officials-monitoring-iowa-floods/
Iowa Department of Transportation map from June 17. RAGBRAI rolls out July 20, 2008. Hopefully most of the flooding will be over by then.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/18/iowa-road-closures-and-ragbrai/
Did you get a nice, new High Road kit for a Father's Day present? I hope not. That uniform is as yesterday as the T-Mobile pink.
The ProTour cycling team — featuring American George Hincapie and British sprinter Mark Cavendish — is now sponsored by Portland, Oregon-based Columbia Sportswear. It takes effect with the Tour de France.
Originally based in Germany, the team was sponsored by T-Mobile for many years until the bad publicity connected with the teams loose doping controls persuaded the telecom to back out of its contract early. The team took its management company's name, High Road, and moved its HQ to California …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/17/team-high-road-is-now-team-columbia/
While many of us slept in our comfy beds, raw-boned RAAM cyclists began rolling into Annapolis overnight to end their coast-to-coast bike race.
Two guys who rode cross-country relay style on fixed-gear bikes were the first to arrive at the RAAM finish line on Monday night, completing the 3,000-mile journey from Oceanside, California, in 8 days and 4 hours. They're the first fixie riders to ever finish the race.
The 8-man teams of BMC Cycling and Team Type 1 were expected to follow in the wee hours of Tuesday, just 5 days after leaving Oceanside with most of the other teams last Wednesday.
Slovenian cyclist Jure Robic, in RAAM video clip above, is expected to arrive around noon on Tuesday; his 14 mph average speed bringing him across the finish some 18 hours ahead of David Haase and Mark Pattinson, his closest competitors. His fourth win would set a RAAM record …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/06/17/raams-fixie-duo-first-to-finish-in-annapolis-robic-expected-tuesday/
Adventure Cycling Association Trail biking Rails to Trails Conservancy League of American Bicyclists
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