Category: Bike Touring
A global travel guide operation chose the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound as its sole US destination on its Top 10 cycling routes list.
Considering the scenery, bicycle friendly roads, amenities, and remoteness of the three-island archipeligo, I can see why UK-based The Lonely Planet, in cooperation with BBC Worldwide, would make that choice.
Among other far-flung cycling routes on the list (named fully below) are the Isle of Wight, England; West Coast of Tasmania; and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy.
I've visited the three-island chain — San Juan, Lopez and Orca — on a couple of the many charity bike rides that target the islands every year and can understand how they could find their way onto this list. …..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/09/23/lonely-planet-names-san-juan-islands-among-top-10-cycling-routes/
A Dutch tavern owner is rolling across Missouri this week on his quest to finish a cross-country bicycle tour that was interrupted 34 years ago when he was struck by a car.
Frank van Dijk, 58, called home last Friday to report that he and Ron, a friend who is trailing in a camper, expect to arrive in Eureka, Kansas, by this weekend. That's a week to 10 days ahead of schedule.
The cross-country journey started for Frank in 1976, the year that BikeCentennial (now Adventure Cycling Association) put thousands of bicycle travelers on the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail to celebrate the nation's 200th birthday …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/09/22/dutch-cyclist-nears-end-of-transamerica-bike-tour-started-in-1976/
A cross-country bicycle tour by two friends trying to raise enough money to buy 1,000 bikes for the children of military families has been side-lined in Portland for a few extra days.
You guessed it. Someone stole one of their bicycles.
Paul Lebelle and Adam Burkowske pedaled themselves and their gear 3,500 miles across the U.S. from their homes in Baltimore on the trek they dubbed BikeFree. Along the way they spoke to organizations and raised funds to buy bicycles for the children of military families. Their destination is San Diego.
The two arrived in Portland over Labor Day weekend, and Monday afternoon Lebelle's green Cannondale T2 bicycle – nicknamed Buttercup (above) – was stolen from the front porch of a house where they were staying in north Portland. ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/09/09/charity-cross-country-bike-ride-bike-free-delayed-in-portland/
When Ty Robinson paused in Hannibal, MO, to visit the hometown of Mark Twain on his cross-country bicycle tour, little did he realize how closely his visit would resemble an episode in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
While Robinson, a 29-year-old resident of North Bend, WA, took a nap in a Hannibal park last Tuesday morning, someone stole his Fuji touring bicycle and all his gear. A newspaper article on Thursday drew attention to his plight and the community came to his support.
Now Robinson has been reunited with his treasured bicycle. Local resident Billy Kemph found the bicycle stowed away in the caves just outside of town.
It's eerily similar to the closing chapters …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/09/06/bike-recovered-life-imitates-art-for-bike-theft-victim-in-mark-twains-hometown/
There's a white ghost bike decorated with flowers alongside a highway that passes through the Laguna Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico.
It marks the location where 19-year-old John Anczarski, right, was struck and killed by a motorist in mid-June. The Ringgold, PA, resident and student at University of Colorado was riding cross-country with three friends to raise funds for breast cancer research when the tragedy happened.
This Labor Day weekend, a small group of friends, family, and a local bicycling group gathered to honor the man and dedicate the site. Jennifer Buntz, president of the Duke City Wheelmen Foundation …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/09/06/ghost-bike-dedicated-to-bicyclist-on-cross-country-charity-ride/
The past 24 hours have brought about an outpouring of assistance for Ty Robinson of North Bend, WA.
The cross-country bicyclist awoke from a nap in a Hannibal, MO, park earlier this week to discover his Fuji touring bike and all his gear had been stolen.
After a local newspaper wrote about his plight, help is on the way. A group of Hannibal cyclists announced a fund-raising ride, MoBikeFed is taking donations, a reward has been offered for the bicycle's return, and local businesses have offered better lodging and dining ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/09/04/things-improving-for-bicycle-traveler-marooned-in-missouri-by-bike-theft/
A cross-country bike traveler from North Bend, Washington, is stuck in Missouri after his bicycle and gear was stolen earlier this week.
Ty Robinson, 29, arrived in Hannibal on Monday and stopped to look around because he had always enjoyed the writings of Mark Twain, who grew up there.
Twain famously wrote: “Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live.” That's true for Robinson as well, except the punchline should be: “If you can hang onto it.”
Robinson and two friends started their journey from North Bend back in July. They were headed to Virginia Beach by bicycle …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/09/03/bike-traveler-from-washington-state-loses-bicycle-gear-on-cross-country-trek/
Imagine that you're 70 years old and you have completed an organized bicycle century ride in all 50 states between 2002 and 2009. What's next?
If you're Al Emma of Exton, Pennsylvania, you keep rolling down the road on your bicycle.
Just about the time he was wrapping up his 50 100-milers in July 2009, Emma had started on his next endeavor — riding a 100-mile century in each of the 10 Canadian provinces.
He started with the Southern Ontario Century Ride in Alliston on May 23, 2009 and completed the cycle with The Fredericton Freewheelers Century Ride in New Brunswick just a couple of weeks ago on Aug. 22 …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/08/30/cyclist-70-keeps-the-centuries-rolling-north-of-the-border/
If you're bicycling anywhere on the eastern half of the TransAmerica Bicycle Route over the next six weeks, keep an eye open for a cyclist wearing a yellow T-shirt that says “Tour de Frank: 1976 – 2010.”
Wave, give him a thumbs up, or even stop for a chat. That's Frank van Dijk, a fragment of bicycle touring history.
The 58-year-old Dutchman is finishing his Bikecentennial tour that he started 34 years ago.
Frank was one of thousands who took to the road in 1976 to cross the United States by bicycle to celebrate the nation's 200th anniversary. Frank set out with a group of 179 cyclists called “The Dutch Apples” who left the Pacific Coast to ride east to Yorktown, Virginia.
Unfortunately for Frank, an elderly motorist ran into him with her Buick ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/08/29/dutch-cyclist-returns-to-us-to-finish-1976-transamerica-bike-tour/
Update: Aug. 29, 2010 — “Hundreds bike to honor Ohio woman…”, Dayton Daily News. More than 300 cyclists pedaled to Michelle Kazlausky's funeral on Saturday.
Aug. 25, 2010 — “Prosecutor reviewing death of Pelotonia rider,” Columbus Dispatch. Coroner labels death a “homicide,” but explains he doesn't have arrest powers and his ruling isn't a legal action.
Donations in memory of Michelle Kazlausky are pouring in to the Pelotonia fund-raising website after the woman was killed while participating in the Ohio-based charity bike ride on Saturday.
She was just one of some 4,200 cyclists who participated this past weekend in the Pelotonia, a two-day bike ride between Columbus and Athens that raises funds for cancer research.
Donors had pledged $7,500 in her memory as of 5:30 a.m. Monday. That amount had more than doubled to $16,500 by late Monday night. Many of the donations of $10 or $25 were given by fellow riders.
The public outpouring prompted her son, Jeff McMahon, to pledge to ride in the 2011 Pelotonia …..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/08/24/cyclist-killed-on-pelotonia-cancer-ride-donations-made-in-her-memory/
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