Author's posts

Scotland to Syria by rowboats and, when necessary, bicycles

Colin and Julie Angus are two adventurers who are taking a 4,000-mile rowboat and bicycle expedition across Europe that you'll be able to follow online beginning in March.

The two experienced travellers from Canada are rowing down rivers, coastlines and canals from Scotland to Syria. When it's time to portage over passes or around dangerous rapids, they'll use the foldable bicycles and trailers stowed on board to tow their watercraft.

That makes it a completely human-powered expedition on old trade and migration routes from the Scottish highlands to the deserts of the Middle East. The trip also includes a component that enables children in classrooms around the world to interact with the travellers.

Larry Lagarde at the RideThisBike.com website tipped me off about this adventure. He also donated through his website the two full-sized folding mountain bikes the pair will use. Colin Angus will be riding a flat black SwissBike LX; Julie is riding a baby blue Montague CX ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/23/scotland-to-syria-by-rowboats-and-when-necessary-bicycles/

Towing a rowboat with foldable mountain bike

Julie and Colin Angus will carry foldable mountain bikes and trailers on their expedition from Scotland to Syria.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/23/towing-a-rowboat-with-foldable-mountain-bike/

Route across Europe by Julie and Colin Angus

Experiences travellers set out on human-powered expedition by rowboat and bicycles in March 2008.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/23/route-across-europe-by-julie-and-colin-angus/

Levi Leipheimer wins Stage 5 time trial, solidifies overall lead

American Levi Leipheimer blistered the 15-mile individual time trial at the Amgen Tour of California on Friday, beating his closest challenger by a full minute.

Two-time world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, whose hopes for a golden jersey rested on this course around Solvang, had a disappointing day. Instead of climbing back into the lead that he held after the prologue, the Team CSC rider fell out of 2nd place .

The stage win by Leipheimer puts him closer to an overall victory for Tour of California for the second straight year. He'll be able to rely on his strong Astana team on the 105-mile stage from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita on Saturday, and the concluding 93-mile bike race into Pasadena on Sunday …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/levi-leipheimer-wins-stage-5-time-trial-solidifies-overall-lead/

Levi Leipheimer

American cyclist at Amgen Tour of California

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/levi-leipheimer-6/

(Fill in the blank) is your new bicycle

Something you'll be hearing a lot soon is that something “is your new bicycle.” It started with a website called “Barack Obama is your new bicycle” which caught fire and already has a slew of imitators.

The term will probably reach a peak in a few weeks, when advertisers will start using it in their “hip” commercials. That's when we'll quickly get sick of hearing it, and the once-clever term will die out of use.

Here's what Matthew Honan, a San Francisco based writer for Wired magazine, told Eric Zorn at the Chicago Tribune about the website and how it got started….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/fill-in-the-blank-is-your-new-bicycle/

DNA leads to arrest of Seattle bike theft suspect

(The subject of this investigation committed suicide Saturday morning, the Seattle Times reported.)

This sounds more like an episode of CSI than your typical bike theft investigation where police take a report and file it away.

The police crime scene investigation in this case traced DNA on a coffee cup left behind in a Seattle neighborhood bike shop by a man who took a Cervelo R3 for a test ride and never returned.

Months later, a DNA match led them to a Longview, Washington, podiatrist who they charged with 12 counts of possessing or selling stolen bikes …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/dna-leads-to-arrest-of-seattle-bike-theft-suspect/

Campaign director sought for America Bikes

Do the Clinton-Obama or McCain-Huckabee campaigns get your political juices boiling? How would you like to direct a campaign that will make a real difference.

America Bikes, a national coalition of bicycle and trail groups, is looking for a campaign director to dramatically improve funding for bicycling in the next federal transportation authorization bill, expected to go to Congress in 2009.

By ensuring that the transportation funding bill is bicycle-friendly, the group says the campaign director “will help address a number of key problems facing the United States, including climate change, dependence on foreign oil, road congestion, air quality, and childhood obesity. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/campaign-director-sought-for-america-bikes/

Rollin wins Stage 4; Leipheimer still leads Tour of California

Staying with the breaks for 125 miles into a spitting rain paid off for Dominique Rollin on Thursday when he launched a solo break near the finish and won Stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California.

Levi Leipheimer retained the leader's golden jersey, due to the efforts of his Astana team riding at the head of peloton and controlling the race.

If there is glamour in the sport of cycling, it wasn't in evidence in Thursday's stage. In addition to many cyclists being ravaged by stomach flu, the rest of the peloton spent the day pedaling down Pacific Coast Highway into rain and head- and side-winds for 135 miles between Seaside and San Luis Obispo.

How bad was it? The final results show that 15 riders dropped out during the stage, in addition to 3 who couldn't start in the morning. Among the drop-outs, Tom Danielson from Slipstream and Jackson Stewart (BMC Racing), who had just reclaimed the King of the Mountains jersey before climbing into an ambulance to be treated for hypothermia. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/rollin-wins-stage-4-leipheimer-still-leads-tour-of-california/

Dominique Rollin

Dominique Rollin, 25, of Toyota United.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/dominique-rollin/