Category: Bike Touring

You've seen out-of-shape bicyclists get off their bikes and walk up steep hills on weekend bike tour events. But have you ever seen riders dismount because of a headwind?

Bike riders on the Jalapeno 100 through the Rio Grande Valley around Harlingen, Texas, were doing just that Saturday as wind gusts of 52 mph swept across the route.

Tailwinds above 40 mph are a good thing; but headwind or sidewinds are not. Sag wagons filled up during the day. The blogger at Texbiker.net gives this vivid account, which reads at times like it's a dispatch from the Dust Bowl era

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While we've been on the subject of globe-girdling bicycling with Annie Londonderry, 25-year-old Mark Beaumont completed his journey earlier today when he crossed under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Beaumont's amazing feat? He shaved 81 days off the previous around-the-world solo bike tour record of 276 days.

No sag wagon accompanied him or carried his stuff. Beaumont toted his own 66 pounds of gear over the entire 18,000-mile journey for 195 days. Now he's looking to get some sleep…

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If you're familiar with the world of bicycle touring, you probably already know that the first cyclist to pedal around the world was Tom Stevens, who left San Francisco on a penny farthing in 1884.

But who was the first woman to accomplish the feat?

Let me introduce you to Annie Londonderry, a Bostonian in her early 20s who undertook the journey 10 years later in 1894. Credited with accomplishing the bicycle journey by Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and countless other newspapers at the time, her story is one of high adventure and extreme risk for a woman travelling alone in the late 19th century.

Her stories involve run-ins with bandits, nights spent sleeping in barns or open fields, visiting the front of the China-Japan war where she was wounded and taken prisoner, accidents out on the road, and tiger hunts in the jungle from atop an elephant. She did it all to win a bet that a woman could bicycle around the world. …

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Pedalers on the three Colorado week-long bicycle tours this summer will be treated to views like the one I shot while bicycling down Route 550 between Montrose and Ouray.

In fact, two of the bike tours start in Durango a week apart and tackle the San Juans Mountains (shown here) on the first or second day.

This is the second year that Colorado mountain pass-climbing enthusiasts have a choice of three bike tours – the Denver Post's Ride the Rockies June 15-21; Bicycle Tour of Colorado June 22-28; and Colorado Rocky Mountain Bike Tour Aug. 3-9.

Here's a summary of the three bike tours…

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 This is a photo of my son and other bicyclists on the Ride Around Washington a few years ago heading up to Washington Pass on Highway 20.

Believe me, to discover the North Cascades for the first time on a bicycle is a never-to-be-forgotten experience. I'd say it's one of the best rides around.

The editors of Adventure Cyclist magazine, the official publication of the Adventure Cycling Association, think so too. They chose the North Cascades and Okanogan region of northcentral Washington as one of the top 10 cyclotouring destinations in North America.

Deputy editor Aaron Teasdale explains that with interest in bicycle touring at an all time high, “We wanted to spotlight the best places for people to head out for a week and ride.” …

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Two bicycle safety instructors from Portland are touring the Andes by bicycle after deciding it was pointless to put off the trip any longer.

Andy McKerrow and Elicia Cardenas had individually wondered for years when they would be ready to bike tour in South America until they recognized they each had the same idea and there was nothing stopping them doing it.

They set off a few weeks ago, and now they're sharing their adventures on a blog at Wend Magazine entitled “Elicia and Andy's Ride through the Andes.”…

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When I rode my bicycle out in the Central Valley of California, I always had to keep my eyes open for ground squirrels.

Those big, fat suckers would hang out in the shade of a haystack at a roadside dairyfarm, then kick up a small cloud of dust as they scampered across the road. It was always the squirrel's agility, not my bike handling skills, that averted disaster.

A 61-year-old wasn't so lucky. In spite of four transAmerica bike trips, Anthony Ricupero lost his first squirrel vs. bike tangle last weekend on a club ride near Greenwich, Conn…

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An outdoor trade organization named the Adventure Cycling Association among its finalists for the 2008 Outdoor Industry Ambassador Award.

Although the award ultimately went to Mountain Gear for training more than 1,000 climbers a year, the bicycle touring group said it was proud to included among the finalists and honored to be the only cycling group cited.

Adventure Cycling was chosen for its Underground Railroad Bicycle Route, which has drawn new audiences, including African-Americans, to recreational bicycle touring…

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The Chico Velo bicycle club is launching a very worthwhile fund-raiser bike ride later this month to support local bicyclists who have suffered injuries while bicycling.

The first beneficiary is Ed McLaughlin, a longtime bicycle advocate and cycling coordinator for the Northern California club. He did a header over his handlebars when he hit a bike-path pole on a group ride in December and damaged his spinal cord. He's only regained the use of an arm.

The bike ride features two options of six and 20 miles, either through Bidwell Park or among the blossoming almond orchards on rural roads …

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When I rented a bike in Sacramento for a ride along the American River up to Folsom Lake, I took my camera to shoot signs of bicycling.

I got that, but I also got pictures of wildlife out in the brush or perched in the bare trees. Other animals crossed the bike trail just ahead of me and disappeared into the brush before I could point and click.

The Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail passes through a rich wildlife corridor for some 32 miles between Sacramento and Lake Folsom along the American River Parkway…

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