Category: Bike Touring
Border Patrol agents call it el Tour de Los Estados Unidos. The winners of this Tour gain illegal entry into the US from Mexico on bicycles they use to cross the border.
The rundown bikes cost $20 to $25 each. They run the gamut from mountain bikes to Chinese models with wing handlebars. The reflectors are removed; one bike was painted camouflage green, while others are spray painted black.
The immigrants ride the bikes at night on hiking trails or unused desert roads. The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, right, is a favorite route.
“Usually you hear what sounds like off-road truck tires coming toward you down the road 'cuz there's so many of them” …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/25/illegal-immigrants-racing-across-border-on-bicycles/
Police across Indiana are mourning two cyclists killed on a cross-state bicycle charity ride to raise money for fallen comrades.
State Police Lt. Gary Dudley, 52, left, and former Lake County Police Chief Gary Martin, 63, right, were killed in the collision as they rode their bicycles on Tuesday. A third cyclist, retired Indianapolis Police Officer Spencer Moore, was airlifted to a hospital for treatment. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/24/2-die-in-police-charity-bicycle-ride-in-indiana/
You want pictures of touring bikes? Fully Loaded Touring Bikes has pictures of touring bikes — nearly 100 of them.
Ron W's “tribute to the fully loaded touring bicycle” gallery shows the many makes and styles of touring bicycles out on the road and the different ways their owners load them up. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/21/touring-bicycle-online-photo-gallery/
I'm testing out my newly acquired Yakima trailer the other day, and a guy on a singlespeed comes up alongside and shouts, “Nice rig!”
It didn't occur to me then, but I realized later that I've stepped up from riding a bike to piloting a rig.
I'm planning (probably not too carefully) a few days off for a bike tour in a couple of weeks, and my LeMond Tourmalet isn't really designed for carrying much gear. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/19/i-suppose-its-a-rig-now-not-a-bike/
Bill Cook's cross-country bicycle adventure ended in Washington, D.C., this week.
The 70-year-old retired journalist's 3,248-mile recumbent bike tour ended 49 days after it started in Seattle, where he left with a supported tour organized by the Adventure Cycling Association. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/12/70-year-olds-cross-country-bike-trip-ends-at-lincoln-memorial/
A Tacoma, Washington, couple's ride of a lifetime ended on a rural road in north-central Wisconsin earlier this week when Bob Burton, 55, was struck by a car as he rode his touring bike.
His wife, Anita, who had ridden ahead a little while before the collision, said:
“It was an instant thing. We had a beautiful road. Two feet (of shoulder) and then the white line. The person who hit him did not see him.” …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/11/another-tragedy-on-cross-country-bike-tour/
Bicyclists are taking to the cross-country highways this year to gain experiences at a slow pace and to promote and raise money for charity.
One awesome example is the Bike for BJ tour.
In high school 10 years ago, friends Nick Blankenburg and Sean Ryan made plans to ride their bicycles cross-country. Before they could accomplish that goal, however, Blankenburg was injured in a car accident at age 17 that left him paralyzed from the chest down. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/10/3-cross-country-bike-tours-3-good-causes/
A motorist intentionally shoved a cyclist off the road and into a ditch in Oregon on Saturday during the MS 150 bike ride. The rider suffered cuts and bruises; the motorist left the scene and is being sought by police.
Pro cyclist George Hincapie was among the 900 bike riders in the two-day fund-raiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society that rode out of Forest Grove on Saturday and Sunday. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/09/hit-and-run-on-ms-150-bike-ride-in-oregon/
I've noticed several searches on this site regarding a death during the Marin Century bike ride last Saturday. The Marin Independent Journal reports that Judith Harmon, 49, of Lafayette died at about 11:15 a.m., about halfway through the 100-mile event.
The newpaper quoted the county coroner as saying Harmon completed a 100-mile bike ride two …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/09/marin-century-cyclist-dies-of-apparent-heart-attack/
I made light of some grassfires sparked by a bicycle dragged behind an RV last week in Idaho, but wildfires are serious business for bicycle tours.
In addition to the obvious danger of being caught in a conflagration, there's the hazards of emergency equipment speeding along winding mountain highways and lung-choking smoke from fires that could be many miles away.
The Red Eagle Fire, pictured above, in Glacier National Park, Montana, is just one of four fires in Montana and 40 large fires in the western states reported on Tuesday that are burning about a half-million acres. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/08/08/fire-warnings-for-cyclists-in-western-states/
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