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There are 54 mountain peaks surpassing 14,000 feet elevation in Colorado, and Andy Henrichs plans to bike to each and every one of them this summer then trudge to the summit.
The athletic trainer for Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale is setting out on the quest to raise money for World Bicycle Relief's Project Zambia. He hopes to raise enough money to supply two bikes to the project each peak he climbs.
At Henrichs' website, where he's accepting donations for World Bicycle Relief, Henrichs estimates the journey will involve bicycling some 1,400 miles on his Xtracycle-equipped mountain bike and hiking over 350 miles. He expects the trek to take 52 days; that's like 1 summit a day …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/19/biking-to-and-climbing-colorados-fourteeners/
Coming right on the heels of the sad news about Trail Angel Gillian Hoggard, who lost her home to a fire this week, is a plea for help for Cookie Lady June Curry.
Neil Gunton, host of the Crazy Guy on a Bike website, writes that mounting medical and other bills for June has forced her to sell her house in Afton, Virginia.
He's setting up a special Cookie Lady PayPal donation site on CrazyGuy so the thousands of us who enjoyed her kindness over the years can contribute to her well-being now.
I don't know about you, but reading about the Cookie Lady always brings back a flood of memories from a hot afternoon on Afton hill. The photo above was taken the day we passed through in 1984.
If you didn't receive it, here's the newsletter Neil sent via email:
June Curry (The Cookie Lady of Afton, Virginia) Needs Our Help!
This is an unusual newsletter, but I decided to send it because June is a rather unusual lady. She's been running the Cookie House in Afton, Virginia since the inception of the TransAmerica Trail in 1976, giving touring cyclists a roof over their head, food and water through the decades. Now she has fallen on harder times in her later years, suffering a stroke, and has even had to sell her house to stay afloat. She isn't getting enough help to pay for the assistance she needs. So I decided to try something: …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/18/june-cookie-lady-curry-needs-our-help/
A fire that swept across the grasslands near Ordway, Colorado, earlier this week burned down the home of Gillian Hoggard, who received the Trail Angel award in 2006 from the Adventure Cycling Association.
She was honored for opening up the house at the end of the gravel driveway as a refuge for countless touring bicyclists on the TransAmerica Bicycle Route in recent years.
News reports say the fire swept through the area on Tuesday, destroying eight homes on the outskirts of Ordway, which was evacuated because of the smoke. Two volunteer firefighters died when a truck they rode in plunged into a ravine from a collapsed bridge. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/17/transamerica-trail-angels-home-destroyed-in-colorado-fire/
Organizers of an online auction to help pay for the recovery of Seattle bicyclist Jeff A. Totten are still accepting quality items for the catalog.
Bidding will begin at 8 a.m. EST on May 12 for the Jeff A. Totten Special Needs Trust. Check the website for details.
Proceeds from the auction will go toward paying the therapy bills for Totten's recovery. The project manager for an energy consulting firm suffered a traumatic brain injury on a ride in September 2006. Coasting down Novelty Hill Road in Redmond, the front wheel of Totten's bike hit a utility hole in the bike lane that sent him flying…
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/17/support-for-seattle-bicyclist-jeff-a-totten/
You gotta like Andy Hampsten. Here's what the only American to win the Giro d'Italia (1988) says about riding his bicycle:
“… And I ride my bike a lot. I love riding my bike. I raced for 20-some years and it was great. It was, by far, the most fun I've had. The best job I've ever had. I would almost have done it for free because I could ride my bike. I loved being outside. I loved seeing new things. I loved the adventure of riding. I loved the camaraderie. You just meet strangers on a bike and have some fun. It is just fun every time I go out on my bike.”
This quote comes at the end of a Q&A with Hampsten in May's Bicycling magazine by Bruce Hildenbrand. Hampsten, 46, talked about that amazing climb up the Gavia into a snowstorm that secured the pink jersey at the '88 Giro …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/15/what-andy-hampsten-says-about-bicycling/
What started in 1991 as a gathering of about 350 mountain bikers to race in the hills near Monterey has grown into an annual event that's expected to draw 10,000 athletes and 50,000 cycling fans.
The 18th annual Sea Otter Classic runs Thursday through Sunday at the Laguna Seca Recreational Area (directions) with road, BMX and mountain bike racing and demos.
Fans also can visit a trade show featuring nearly 250 exhibitors that's open throughout the festival. Also, cyclists can participate in either a 15- or 100-mile bike tour on Sunday that passes through Carmel and Monterey …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/15/sea-otter-classic-rolls-out-thursday-in-california/
Cue the Italian operetta soundtrack —
The Cutters became the first back-to-back men's winners at the 58th annual Little 500 bike race at Indiana University's Armstrong Stadium this past weekend.
The independent cycling team inspired by the 1979 movie “Breaking Away” won the 200-lap relay bike race on the cinder track at the Bloomington campus on Saturday. It was the ninth championship for the team.
In Breaking Away, the Cutters team was made up of townies who beat all the snooty fraternity teams. While many of the teams racing this weekend are in the Greek system, all the racers have to be college students …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/14/life-imitates-art-at-the-little-500-bike-race/
Alas, 2008 wasn't the year for High Road's George Hincapie to win the Paris-Roubaix bike race, although the American scored another Top 10 win.
Belgium's Tom Boonen, left, finished in much the same way he beat Hincapie in 2005, by hanging on to the breakaway and sprinting for a win with less than a lap to go in the Roubaix velodrome.
Boonen's (Quick Step) victims in this 106th edition of the 161-mile race — more than 30 miles over cobblestones — were Fabio Cancellera (Team CSC) and Allesandro Ballan (Lampre). …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/13/boonen-wins-paris-roubaix-hincapie-finishes-in-9th/
Although our neighborhood is surrounded by suburban sprawl in every direction, I'm fortunate that there's still a low-traffic farm road that's great for bicycling not four miles away.
If I ride east for about 8 miles, then south for another 8, I'm presented with this panorama of the Green River valley just 20 miles from home. It comes at the top of a climb, and it's not hard to imagine that it's a rewarding scenic overlook 1,000 miles into a bike tour.
It's also not hard to imagine I'm a hobbit looking out over Fangorn Forest in Middle Earth. If you look closely, you can even see spots where the orks have been busy clear-cutting the timber. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/13/20-miles-and-a-view-by-bicycle/
You know that Paris-Roubaix is the one spring classic that George Hincapie would like to win. He's often considered among the favorites, but bad luck always seems to ruin his day.
My son and I were watching the race on TV six years ago when Big George literally disappeared from sight when he slipped off the road and into a ditch.
In 2005 he was passed by Tom Boonen with a half-lap remaining in the velodrome.
In 2006, the steering tube on his Trek 5200 crumbled just 28 miles from the finish, leaving Hincapie sidelined with a seriously injured shoulder.
The American cyclist for the High Road team will get another chance this Sunday when the 161-mile race rolls through northern France and Belgium. The 106th anniversary of the race dubbed Hell of the North features more than 32 miles of cobblestones; if it's wet, that's 32 miles of mud as well…
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/04/11/could-this-be-hincapies-year-at-paris-roubaix/
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