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“Biking for Obama” tour arrives in DC area in time for inauguration

Ryan Bowen has all but completed his 4,000-mile cross-country bicycle trip to commemorate Tuesday's historic inauguration of Barack Obama.

His blog, Biking for Obama, reports the 22-year-old from Los Angeles arrived in Fairfax, Virginia, this afternoon, and on Saturday he's due in Arlington. Then it's time to get ready to party.

The final stage meet-up and celebration is scheduled to leave about noon on Sunday from the Reagan National Airport for a bike tour around the mall and final destination at an as-yet undisclosed final party location …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/16/biking-for-obama-tour-arrives-in-dc-area-in-time-for-inauguration/

Magazine picks 10 top bicycling tours in North America

A lightly traveled two-lane road across an arid plateau in New Mexico. A dirt track in a remote valley in British Columbia. A level crushed-limestone path through a tunnel in Wisconsin.

These are among the bike routes chosen by Adventure Cyclist magazine in its list of Top Ten Bicycling Tours in North America.

It's the second year in a row that the publication for the Adventure Cycling Association has chosen 10 destinations for cyclists.

The 10 bike touring choices in the January issue are in no way meant solely for the road-hardened cyclo-tourist who revels in lugging his equipment-laden bicycle over mountain passes. There are rides for mountain bikers, recreational cyclists …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/16/magazine-picks-10-top-bicycling-tours-in-north-america/

Flooding strikes popular bicycling areas in Western Washington

Heavy rains and snowmelt combined last week to flood wide areas of western Washington.

High water devastated the communities of Duvall, Carnation and Snoqualmie in the Snoqualmie River valley, as well as towns located further south, such as Pacifica, Centralia and Chehalis.

These are known haunts for cyclists in the area. The rural roads in the Snoqualmie Valley are ideal for long rides and are the routes for popular summer bike ride events like the Flying Wheels. Centralia and Chehalis are stopover towns for the annual Seattle-to-Portland bicycle ride. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/14/flooding-strikes-popular-bicycling-areas-in-western-washington/

Giant recalls 1,000 bikes and frames for fork flaw

Giant Bicycle is recalling about 1,000 TCR Advanced SL and SL (ISP) bicycles and frames because a problem in the density of the steerer tube can cause the forks to crack  and break.

The 2009 model bicycles were sold from August through December last year for between $3,300 and $7,500.  Cyclists are urged to stop riding the bicycles immediately and take them in to a Giant dealer for inspection and replacement fork.

The recall notice posted at the Consumer Product Safety Commission describes the part …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/14/giant-recalls-1000-bikes-and-frames-for-fork-flaw/

Stella Artois beer commercial uses vintage bicycling theme

Watching the Golden Globes award show the other night, I was surprised to see this excellent Belgian beer commercial that tells the story of two brothers in a circa 1930s tandem bicycle race.

Entitled “The Race,” the 1:30-minute commercial for Stella Artois looks like it came directly from the pages of a book on the history of cycling in the Alps and Pyrenees, right down to the dusty roads and stone buildings.

Searching around, I discovered that the footage was shot on the Mediterranean island of Majorca (Mallorca in Spanish). The extras were cycling fanatics from the mountainous island, and the photos at the end of the piece came from a widow whose husband was a local cycling legend …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/14/stella-artois-beer-commercial-uses-vintage-bicycling-theme/

National Geographic Adventure mag lists Top 10 bicycle touring companies

If you're still checking for a bicycle tour outfitter for your bicycling vacation this summer, then it might be worth your time to peruse this list from National Geographic Adventure magazine.

Editors compared nearly 250 adventure travel companies and ranked them by the type of activity and how they scored on a 30-question survey.

Among the 200 finalists across all disciplines, the top 10 companies in the bicycle touring category are listed below as they appear in the February issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/13/national-geographic-adventure-mag-lists-top-10-bicycle-touring-companies/

Jimmy Carter's bicycle ripped off; Secret Service on the case

Apparently George W. Bush won't be the only former president who rides a bicycle when he leaves office next week.

Jimmy Carter also rides a bicycle. At least he did until his and former First Lady Rosalynn's bicycles were stolen recently from the Carter Center in Atlanta.

The Carters received the bicycles a couple of years ago from Peter Wicker, the owner of Outback Bikes in Atlanta. At the time, the couple had sent in their old bicycles for repair and Wicker said they weren't much more than “rolling junk,” reported the Atlanta Constitution …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/13/jimmy-carters-bicycle-ripped-off-secret-service-on-the-case/

23-year-old completes world bicycle tour



Last spring I stumbled across some amazing online photos from a young man on an around-the-world bicycle tour. Consider the one at left that was taken in Tibet.

I quickly traced them to Daniel Lang at his Project VELAIA website. He's a German bicyclist who happened to be in New Zealand. At the time, he had traveled some 16,000 miles; I wrote a short piece about his bike tour on my blog.

Daniel recently contacted me to say he had completed his tour. He's back home in Furfeld, Germany, after completing nearly 25,000 miles (40,000km) on his bike and recumbent …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/12/23-year-old-completes-world-bicycle-tour/

Trek launches contest for women who ride bicycles

Attention female bicycle riders: Trek is sponsoring a contest for you. It's not about speed — it's about life experiences and the bicycle.

The 2009 Women Who Ride Contest seeks to find five women to respresent female Trek bicycle riders and to blog about their lives as women, cyclists and members of the larger bicycling community.

The contest runs until Jan. 24. Entrants are asked to write a 500-word essay describing why they ride and the imporance a bicycle plays in their lives. Trek will choose five, one each from the categories mountain, road, triathlon, bike path, and urban …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/10/trek-launches-contest-for-women-who-ride-bicycles/

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy photo group on flickr

This photo I shot on the Foothills Trail in Pierce County, Washington, makes me feel warm all over.

It's a hot June day and that's the volcano Mount Rainier soaring in the background.

I just posted this rail-to-trail photo, and a couple of others, to the Rail-to-Trails Conservancy group on flickr.com

There already are more than 300 photos in the group of people riding their bicycles on rail-trails all across the US…

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/01/09/rails-to-trails-conservancy-photo-group-on-flickr/