Category: Bike Touring
On my birthday bicycle ride to bike the miles of my age in January, I set my annual goal to complete 4,000 miles by the end of the year.
Instead of slogging through ankle-deep snow to complete the required miles, like 2009, I've completed my personal challenge by the end of October: 4,009 miles.
A lot of my success is due to the training and riding the 500-mile Biking Across Kansas in June with my son. Not only did that directly add miles to the total, but it boosted my endurance so I was comfortable going longer distances …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/31/tale-of-the-tape-achieving-my-4000-mile-goal-for-2011/
A bicycle club's plot to get people off their butts and onto their bike saddles next year became clear as the Cascade Bicycle Club announced its slate of rides and events for 2012.
To avoid a repeat of this year's online server meltdown at registration time, Cascade is instituting a lottery for RSVP and RSVP2 (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party) and staggered registration for other rides.
That should make club members, as well as their employers, happy. People waited online 2 to 4 hours on registration day only to be kicked out of the system. Cascade says it doesn't want a repeat of that experience …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/26/cascade-bicycle-club-announces-major-2012-rides-and-events-new-registration-policies/
Chance encounter with kangaroo nearly derails attempt
A recumbent cyclist from British Columbia is submitting paperwork soon to document his bid as the new Guinness around-the-world record-holder.
Bruce Gordon completed the bicycle trip on Sept. 23 in 153 days, 10 days faster than current record-holder Vin Cox of Great Britain.
If Guinness World Records accepts his submission, Bruce points out that he'll establish a number of firsts among the small group of globe-girdling record holders:
He'll be the first to break the record on a recumbent; the first to break the record going in a East-to-West direction; and, at 48 years old when he started, he'll …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/24/bc-cyclist-challenges-around-the-world-record-on-recumbent/
A Vancouver, BC, man nearing the end of a globe-girdling bicycle tour to raise funds and awareness about mental illness lost his bicycle to an opportunistic thief on Thursday.
Michael Schratter had bicycled through 32 countries since August 2010, covering more than 22,000 miles, only to lose his bike in his home province of British Columbia.
“Maybe the person who took it doesn't realize it wasn't just abandoned. I suspect that person doesn't know it's a key piece of this journey to help people with mental illness …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/23/bicycle-stolen-from-canadian-on-around-the-world-tour/
Bicycle tourist Michael Sprick (red jacket at left) doesn't know it, but he's getting widespread support from fellow bicyclists as he battles for his life in a Virginia hospital bed.
The 40-year-old was on a 10-week bicycling ramble down the East Coast on Oct. 8 when he was struck from behind by the driver of a bread truck that swerved off the road.
Today, Sprick is still in a coma and on life support at the Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. A chance meeting earlier in his tour at a West Virginia bike store has brought together dozens of bicyclists who are lending support to him and his family through the ordeal.
They're offering help at the Friends of Michael P. Sprick page on Facebook.
“It's kind of like a community, when you travel …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/21/cycling-community-rallies-to-help-injured-german-bicycle-traveler/
The 10-part cable TV documentary about a bicyclist who shared his tandem with disabled passengers on a cross-country bike trip is getting lots of recognition.
“Take a Seat: Sharing a Ride Across America” won top honors for Universal Sports Network at the CableFax Program Awards in the Best Show or Series – Sports category.
The half-hour series first aired on Universal Sports in April. It recorded the adventures and hardships of Britain's Dominic Gill as he paired up on a tandem with disabled people who undergo various hardships in their lives.
This past summer he set off to Egypt for a “Take a Seat” adventure. (See trailer)..
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/20/take-a-seat-sharing-a-ride-across-america-bicycling-documentary-takes-awards/
Although I'm often the first to complain about the weather, I'll have to admit this was a good day to be a bicycle rider in the Pacific Northwest.
I came upon more than the usual number of cyclists enjoying the sunny skies and temperatures in the mid to upper 60s.
The main conversation was the “great weather” and how we …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/18/good-day-to-be-a-bicyclist-in-pacific-northwest/
This vintage Map of California Roads for Cyclers certainly brings back pleasant memories of bike rides I used to take around the Golden State.
The 1896 map is reproduced at the Big Map Blog in minute detail so viewers can zoom in on detailed routes. [See the San Francisco Bay Area below.]
We used to live in the Central Valley, and I see all the way stations from my bike rides during that period — Modesto, Copperopolis, Chinese Camp, Big Oak Flat, and Angels Camp, among them.
It's interesting to see that all those towns were bicycling destinations long before I ever showed up on two wheels …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/17/historical-bicycle-maps-of-california-circa-1896/
The Argus Leader essentially opened the 2012 across-state bicycle tour season this weekend with its South Dakota route announcement for Tour de Kota.
It might seem a little early to be planning for a mass bicycle event in 2012, but several of the more popular week-long rides have announced their dates, although not their routes.
RAGBRAI, Ride the Rockies, Biking Across Kansas, Cycle Oregon and Oregon Bicycle Ride (OBR) all have announced their 2012 tour dates; the OBR organizers also have announced a rare Montana Bicycle Ride in 2012.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit Adventure Cycling Association has announced a full slate …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/17/early-announcements-for-2012-state-bicycle-tours/
Two extreme examples of how to raise money for cancer research are evident this weekend.
In Austin, 4,300 bicyclists and runners are participating in the Team Livestrong Challenge this weekend. Together, they raised $2.3 million for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Meanwhile, in Roanoke, Virginia, four men rolled into town on their bicycles after completing a 3,467-mile cross country tour called Roll Over Cancer (above right). They raised about $18,000 along the way to give to Stand Up to Cancer.
A tip of my cap to all of them.
The Austin event dates back to 1997 ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/10/16/fighting-cancer-by-bicycle-4300-ride-and-run-at-livestrong-as-4-complete-transamerica/
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