Category: Bike Touring

The most recent issue of Adventure Cyclist magazine published by Adventure Cycling Association features an article about Thomas Stevens' globe-girdling ride in 1884 on a 50-inch penny farthing.

In “The Fearless Traveler: Around the World with Thomas Stevens,” author Geof Koss describes the trials of becoming the first person to accomplish the feat.

But before Stevens could become the first person to bicycle around the world, he had to cross the United States.

During his around the world bike ride, Stevens sent dispatches to Harper's Weekly. In 1887, he published a book about his journey, “Around the World on a Bicycle.”

Here are some excerpts I collected and published at this blog back in 2007 from his trip across California, leaving from Oakland and heading up to Sacramento, then across the Sierra Nevada. …

“With the hearty well-wishing of a small group of Oakland and 'Frisco cyclers who have come, out of curiosity, to see the start, I mount and ride away to the east, down San Pablo Avenue, toward the village of the same Spanish name, some sixteen miles distant. The first seven miles are a sort of half-macadamized road, and I bowl briskly along.

“The past winter has been the rainiest since 1857, and the continuous pelting rains had not beaten down upon the last half of this imperfect macadam in vain; for it has left it a surface of wave-like undulations ……

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The wait is over for anyone wanting a set of bicycle maps to explore the length of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range.

The cartographers at Adventure Cycling Association finished dotting the cities and crossing the intersections on the 2,389-mile Sierra Cascade Bicycle Route and the results are back from the printers.

The bike route from Sumas, Washington, to Tecate, California, is available on a set of five maps that went on sale Friday at the Adventure Cycling website.

More than 200 bicycle enthusiasts showed up for a sneak peek at a couple of the maps earlier this month when the route was unveiled in Seattle.

It was joy to see the maps, not only because of their wonderful presentation but also for the potential of adventure they contain. They're printed on durable stock and also contain information about where to find food, lodging and bike shops …

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The park service is making it easier for people to enjoy their national parks on two wheels and away from the cars and RVs.

Bike rentals in the National Parks are becoming more commonplace, and many parks have closed off roads or built trails for bike- or pedestrian-use only.

Here are three parks where I've arrived by bicycle for touring in the past. It's good to see that they're accessible to more people who want to enjoy them by bicycle.

For the first time, a bike rental operation will operate at the Grand Canyon National Park on the South Rim.

The park service issued Bright Angel Bicycle Rentals a one-year permit ..

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RAGBRAI. BRAN. RAW. GABRAKY. BAK. GOBA. XOBA.

This isn't a command that Klatuu gives his robot in the movie, “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” or the agency listings in an acronym-crazy state government phone book.

Dyed in the wool bicyclists will recognize these as just a few of the shortened names among the dozens of mass participation, across-state bicycle tours that are held every summer in the US.

The recession economy doesn't seem to be hurting the popularity of these outings. In fact, David Harrenstein, head of the National Bicycle Tour Directors Association, says:..

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Four years after her diagnosis for brain cancer, Anne Feeley is riding her bicycle across country to raise money and awareness for one of the most deadly forms of cancer.

She and her friend and trainer, Gundula Hennig, set off from San Francisco late last week on their 3,800-mile cross-country fund-raising ride called Brains on Bikes. They are currently in Northern California.

The 55-year-old is the first to admit that she's been lucky. Doctors told her she probably had about a year to live. She suffered the same type of cancer — glioblastoma multiforme tumor — that afflicted the late Senator Ted Kennedy.

She underwent radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and she began exercising to make herself stronger. It gave her some control over her situation and made her feel better both spiritually …

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For the bicycle touring crowd, this is as close as it gets to something like a release party for Apple's iPad.

More than 200 bicyclists showed up on Tuesday night for the unveiling of the Sierra Cascade Bicycle Route, the newest map set produced by the Adventure Cycling Association.

The 2,400-mile bicycle route connects Canada and Mexico via paved roads roughly along the corridor of the Pacific Crest. The 5-map set will be available at the end of April.

The bicycle route marks Adventure Cycling's achievement of creating more than 40,000 miles of bicycle routes …..

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