Citizen Cyclist. Are you ready to tackle a 121-mile stage in the Pyrenees that climbs the Col de Peyresourde?
If so, then you can saddle up for the L'Etape du Tour, the day when mere mortal, recreational bicyclists can ride their bikes on a route that will challenge the professional peloton a few days later in the Tour de France.
The 2007 L'Etape du Tour is scheduled Monday, July 16. It's Stage 15 …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/26/the-2007-letape-du-tour-bike-ride-announced/
Popular UK travel writer Eric Newby died at age 86 last week. The British adventurer, whose travelling experiences stretched back to 1938, at times included a bicycle in his treks.
NPR reported on Eric Newby's death and replayed a portion of an 1988 interview conducted after Newby and his wife, Wanda, had spent a “blustery winter” (is there any other kind?) cycling through Ireland.
After commenting they were geriatric cyclists (he would have been in his 60s), Newby said, “It required considerable guts on Wanda's part ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/25/when-late-travel-writer-eric-newby-rode-his-bicycle/
A few weeks ago I reported my awe in the fastest and oldest finishers of the Mt. Diablo Challenge, a bike ride in the East Bay suburbs of San Francisco that gains 3,249 feet in 10.8 miles.
I mentioned some youngsters went up on tandems and trailers, but missed the story of 6-year-old Trey Holterman, the youngest solo bicyclist ever to finish the event.
His proud dad, Gordy, told the San Mateo County Times:
“There was a ceremony afterward, and the host asked a bunch of the kids up onto the stage,” Gordy said. “Trey was the smallest kid up there, and the emcee asked him 'Did you go up the mountain on the back of your dad's bike?' Trey said, 'No, I rode myself.' The audience loved that.” …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/24/youngest-real-finisher-at-mt-diablo-challenge-bicycle-race/
A few weeks ago I wrote about the steps some cycling chaperones and I took to usher 60 middle school age kids along the Sammamish River Trail for a safe 20-mile bike ride.
Little did I know at the time that the Adventure Cycling Association had just released a first-ever youth bicycle guide entitled “Pedal Pioneers: A Guide to Bicycle Travel with Kids.”
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/20/how-to-lead-youth-bicycle-tours/
Bicyclists in the U.S. loathe some rural bike routes because of the danger posed by being chased by loose dogs. In Australia, it's swooping birds that can frighten and endanger bicycle riders.
The problem is so great in some areas that signs are posted warning of swooping birds. Cyclists are encouraged to avoid those areas or risk being buzzed, scratched or pecked.
If cyclists must pass through native bird nesting areas …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/16/spring-menace-for-australian-cyclists-swooping-birds/
Bicycle touring is as easy as following a box or Rice Krispies or as difficult as getting run over, sick, robbed or thrown in prison.
Those are the yin and yang of bike touring experiences related in two newspaper articles this weekend. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/15/first-person-bicycle-touring-stories/
There's a short, little 10.8-mile bicycle ride in California where the organizers give away a free T-shirt to anyone who can finish in 1 hour. Sounds easy?
The ride is the Mt. Diablo Challenge in the East Bay suburbs of San Francisco. The bike ride sports a 3,249-foot elevation gain, 6.9% over the last 4 miles. Out of 957 finishers, the Save Mount Diablo organization handed out only 134 free T-s on Sunday.
This year's winner was Robert Anderson, a 51-year-old cyclist from Mill Valley, California …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/02/winners-of-mt-diablo-challenge-bike-ride/
One thing I discovered when I set off on my bicycle tour of the Olympic Peninsula was that I needed to learn more about lightweight bicycle touring.
On that bike tour last month I carried a couple of books, food in cans, a two-person tent (on a solo ride?), extra fuel bottles, yada yada. There were clothes I did not even wear. Just look at that mess of stuff spread out across the picnic table on the first night. I had added 55 pounds to my bicycle touring experience before throwing in a couple of last-minute odds and ends.
The Adventure Cycling Association has come to the rescue of bike touring hogs like me. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/09/26/ultralight-bicycle-touring/
How's this for a way to finish a three-day bike tour in mid-September?
Snow greeted the 435 cyclists on the final day of the 109-mile Mickelson Trail Trek last weekend, reminding them that the Black Hills of South Dakota can offer blustery weather while the rest of us are enjoying late summer temperatures.
This was the 9th year for the bicycle tour that uses the 114-mile George S. Mickelson Trail that runs between Edgemont and Deadwood in southwestern South Dakota. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/09/22/a-snowy-mickelson-trail-trek-in-south-dakota/
This bunch of bicycles caught my eye at the Port Townsend Marina last month while I was on my bike tour of the Olympic Peninsula. The sailors who depend on the wind to propel their sailboats rely on their own muscle-power to get themselves around town. No fossil fuels involved.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/09/19/bikes-and-boats-wheels-and-wind/
Adventure Cycling Association Trail biking Rails to Trails Conservancy League of American Bicyclists
Recent Comments