Category: Bike Touring
Two weeks of amazing Rocky Mountain highs are done for bicyclists who rode The Denver Post Ride the Rockies and the Bicycle Tour of Colorado.
Together, the bike tours covered 1,002 miles of Colorado blacktop and summited 14 mountain passes, 7 on each bike ride.
Celebrating its 25th year, Ride the Rockies is one of the oldest mass bicycle tours in the nation, probably surpassed only by the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Around Iowa.
One of this year's highlights was bicycling along the Rim Rock Drive in the Colorado National Monument. See the video for scenes along the route ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/06/26/2-colorado-bike-tours-wrapped-up-more-on-tap-later-this-summer/
As the Race Across America cyclists charge eastward with their teammates or support crews or both, there's an equally amazing corps of cyclists heading down the spine of the Continental Divide individually and with no support whatsoever.
The Tour Divide got underway from Banff, Alberta, with 48 mountain bike riders on Friday (video at left). They're heading along the spine of the Rocky Mountains to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, on gravel roads and dirt paths for a distance of 2,745 miles.
You could draw comparisons between the two races all day long. For instance:
— They're both ultra-endurance events whose winners measure success by hours spent not sleeping.
— Both aim for the lightest rides possible. Weight issues stop with the frame and components for RAAM cyclists; Tour Divide bicyclists must factor in tools, food and cooking equipment, sleeping bags …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/06/15/tour-divide-mountain-bike-race-rolling-along-how-to-follow-the-race/
Bicyclists who use Nokia cell phones won't have to find electrical outlets to recharge them much longer. The company says it will start selling chargers that are powered by bicycles before the end of the year.
Aimed at cell phone users in developing countries where electric-power can be scarce, the chargers uses a small electric generator that spins on the bicycle's front tire.
The electricity from the dynamo is carried by wire to the cell phone holder mounted to the handlebars. Touring bicyclists can easily stuff that attachment in their front bag if their handlebar “dashboard” already is crowded with headlamps, bells, altimeters, bike computers and GPS devices.
The faster and longer you ride …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/06/03/bicycle-travelers-can-recharge-cell-phones-as-they-ride/
Bicyclists riding the paths of the Erie Canalway in New York this summer shouldn't be surprised if some communities all but roll out the red carpet when they arrive.
The towns would be following suggestions in a 28-page booklet that explains why it makes economic sense to encourage and embrace two-wheeled visitors in their communities.
Entitled “Bicyclists Bring Business: A Guide for Attracting Bicyclists to New York's Canal Communities,” the book is used in roundtable workshops offered by Parks & Trails New York and the New York State Canal Corporation in canal towns.
Although we might like communities to cater to traveling bicyclists for altruistic reasons, it's a matter of dollars and cents to business people. According to the booklet:
“When a particular bicycling destination is so appealing to bicyclists that they come from some distance away to enjoy it, the dollars they bring with them can be significant” ……
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/06/01/booklet-tells-how-businesses-can-attract-bicycle-travelers/
Here's an emotional video from a cross-country bike rider whose journey didn't go exactly as planned. Not that many long-distance bicycle trips do. That's part of the adventure.
But this is an experience that Australian Janeen McCrae, aka Noodle, doubtedly could have done without. As she explains in her video:
“I was riding my bicycle across America. I was having such a good time. Then I wasn't riding my bicycle across America. I was in a ditch.”
A couple of weeks ago, very early in her coast-to-coast bicycle trip to raise $4,262 for Team Fatty and Livestrong — $1 per mile — she suffered a crash. She was on a downhill ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/05/31/an-australians-interrupted-transamerica-bicycle-tour/
Today, May 31, is the last day to donate to the “Build it. Bike it. Be a part of it.” campaign to help fund the U.S. Bicycle Route System.
The Adventure Cycling Association launched the grassroots effort on May 1 to get small donations — $10 minimum — from those interested in bicycle traveling to raise $20,000 by the end of the month.
There's been huge interest in the program all month as they've raised $23,200 as of Friday. Their new goal is $26,000. You can help them raise it by following this US Bicycle Route System link or the box at the top right hand corner of this page …..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/05/31/us-bicycle-route-system-fund-raiser-ends-today/
A judge sentenced an Illinois man to 9 years in prison for running down a 65-year-old California man on a coast-to-coast bicycle tour last summer.
Jim Gafney, left, of Chula Vista, California, was more than half way along on his “Mad As Hell Bike Ride Across the US” to deliver a petition to Washington DC when he was struck down on an Illinois highway.
Gafney had taken to riding his bicycle at night because of an oppressive hot spell sweeping the midwest. The driver later told police that he saw Gafney when he crested a hill on US 50 but was unable to stop his 1997 Nissan Altima in time. He was arrested later by police ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/05/27/9-year-sentence-in-hit-run-death-of-california-bike-traveler/
If you've been thinking about donating to the “Build It. Bike It. Be a part of it.” fund-raising campaign for the US Bicycle Route System, this would be a good week to dig into your wallet.
TeamEstrogen.com is matching the first $1,000 this week to help us get more mileage out of our donations.
Adventure Cycling Association announced on Tuesday …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/05/12/matching-funds-for-bike-route-campaign/
A 5-day bicycle tour of breweries along the San Juan Skyway and a one-day bike ride to the top of Pikes Peak are new two-wheeled opportunities in Colorado this summer.
Colorado already has a full slate of bike rides, but there's always room for more. As their names imply, these rides are geared to bicyclists who aren't timid about tackling the state's greatest bicycling resource — mountains.
The Assault on the Peak is a one-day bike ride that ascends 14,115-foot summit of Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs. It gives most cyclists their first opportunity to ride their bikes to the lofty summit as the solitary road is usually closed to bicyclists …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/05/05/peaks-and-pints-assault-on-the-peak-are-new-colorado-bike-rides/
What's the next big thing in the future of bicycle touring?
It could very well be the US Bicycle Route System, a nationwide network of officially numbered bicycle routes to link cities, suburbs and rural areas.
The map at left is an April 2010 update of the overall corridor scheme criss-crossing the US.
Cartographers at Adventure Cycling Association are charting routes within some 50-mile wide corridors marked on the map with the blessing of the American Association of State Highway Transportation officials and the help of volunteers at the state level.
Some 30 states are interested in the system or actively working to implement US Bicycle Routes in their states ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/05/03/progress-on-the-us-bicycle-route-system-funds-needed/
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