Zipp expansion small bright light in bike industry

The same day that President Obama announced his jobs programs in the State of the Union address, an Indianapolis-based bicycle components maker announced it would expand and create jobs by 2013.

Zipp Speed Weaponry, which makes wheels, aero bars and other components for road, cyclocross and triathlete bicycling events, will expand its customer service and manufacturing division in Indianapolis, adding 105 jobs.

Currently the firm, which became a subsidiary of SRAM in 2007, employs 130 people. Hiring begins in June, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal.

This $12.5 million investment is good news. Zipp is expanding and keeping its jobs in the US, not farming out to India or China. ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/28/zipp-expansion-small-bright-light-in-bike-industry/

Traveling by bicycle to document the end of industrial age

Brett Tracy travels the western US by bicycle and uses his artist's trained eye to document the end of the industrial age.

While the end of the industrial age might not be an accepted fact, Brett sees evidence everywhere that humans are coming to the end of their industrial phase. He imagines that a more ecologically aware human-scale era will replace it.

His website is “The Illuminated Thread: a journey by bicycle into the murky unknown of the deindustrial age.” It's full of pictures, videos, audio and journal postings of his travels.

Brett is about to set out on a bike tour from Los Angeles to Houston. Along the way, he's planning to stop at desert water projects, failed alternative energy projects, utopian settlements, mines, dumps and aircraft storage yards. ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/27/traveling-by-bicycle-to-document-the-end-of-industrial-age/

Cyclist fulfills world bike touring dream in spite of epilepsy

Stephen Allen is pedaling across the Pacific Northwest on the last leg of his around the world bicycle tour to raise money and awareness about living with epilepsy.

Allen left Telluride, Colorado, some 14 months ago and headed east on his Seize the World bike travels. Since departing, he saw 22 countries and sustained 3 1/2 seizures.

He flew into Seattle from Japan in December, and now he's pedaling his bike across Idaho after passing through eastern Oregon. He continues to give talks, like the one last week in Boise for the Epilepsy Foundation of Idaho, and use his laptop to update his website, SeizetheWorld.com.

Allen undertook the world bike tour to show that people with epilepsy can realize their dreams. He keeps his epilespy in check with medications. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/26/cyclist-fulfills-world-bike-touring-dream-in-spite-of-epilepsy/

Thousands join bike ride to remember Florida hit & run victim

More than 2,000 south Florida cyclists gathered in Key Biscayne on Sunday morning for a memorial ride to honor hit-and-run victim Christophe LeCanne.

It was an amazing outpouring of support to demonstrate to elected officials and the motoring public that bike riders are tired of second-class citizenship on the road.

LeCanne, 44, was struck by an allegedly  drunken motorist as he rode his bike in the bicycle lane on the Rickenbacher Causeway a week ago Sunday.

He lay bleeding to death in the road for over 15 minutes because the closest fire-rescue station was closed due to a reduction in hours …..

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/25/thousands-join-bike-ride-to-remember-florida-hit-run-victim/

Biking Bis Top 10 list of awesome names for bicycle clubs

Back in the day, I used to be dazzled by the cool names of bike clubs I'd come across on bicycle rides — “Yellowjackets,” “Flyers,” “Wheelmen,” “Team On Your Left.”

Nowadays, however, I'm more interested in going-out-for-the-ride then getting-there-fast. Therefore, the club names that catch my interest now carry a hint of determination rather than perspiration.

Here's a list of my Top 10 favorite names for bicycle clubs, in reverse order.

10. Road Soldiers Cycling Club: Ohio Veterans Home, Sandusky, Ohio.

Nothing says determination like soldiering out for a bike ride. Many of the members are residents of the Vets Home, and their rides are often held with the Scooter and Wheelchair Owner's Group. I salute you all.

9. Old Kranks Bicycle Club: Ventura, California

Don't even try to join this club unless you're over 50. They usually ride out of the Goebel Senior Center Commission and most rides are 4 to 19 miles. They're Kranks, not cranky, so it sounds like they have a lot of fun.

8. Easy Riders Bike Club: Seattle, Washington

Their own description: “We are a kinder, gentler bicycle club …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/22/biking-bis-top-10-list-of-awesome-names-for-bicycle-clubs/

Drawing attention to global warming on winter bike tour

Bicyclists who launch a long-distance bike tour to draw attention to a cause usually do so in the spring to take advantage of the summer bicycling season.

Not Don Ross. The 66-year-old Alaskan took off from Fairbanks on his cross-country “Ride for the Planet” bike tour on Oct. 3.

He figures that he'll draw more recognition about the problems of global warming if he makes his ride in the winter.

Ross has made it south to Eugene, Oregon, so far.

Riding a Giant bicycle and pulling a loaded BOB trailer, Ross plans to continue to San Francisco before striking east to Washington DC by Earth Day…..

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/21/drawing-attention-to-global-warming-on-winter-bike-tour/

World bike traveler Heinz Stücke to visit Canada in 2010

A 45-minute interview with Heinz Stücke is now posted online at TravellingTwo website. He talks about where he's been, how bicycle travel has changed over past 40 years, and what he thinks about bike paths.

At 70 years old, Heinz Stücke is still going strong.

The German bike traveler who holds the Guinness Book of World Records title as “most traveled man in history” is swinging by Canada later this year.

The TravellingTwo blog interviewed Stücke recently for a podcast that will be aired soon. They note that after bicycling in northern Canada, he'll begin visiting island-nations to qualify for the Guinness Book record of stepping foot on every country on Earth.

While Stücke just turned 70 on Jan. 11, he's been traveling by bicycle since 1962. He's logged more than 350,000 miles in nearly a 50-year span, mostly on the same bicycle …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/20/world-bike-traveler-heinz-stucke-to-visit-canada-in-2010/

“80 for Haiti” bike ride will raise money for disaster relief

Bicyclists can raise money for the Haitian disaster relief effort by joining a bike ride across the rolling terrain of southeastern San Diego County on Feb. 13.

The charity bike ride is named “80 for Haiti.” Organizer Chris Kostman notes the 80-mile bike ride mostly follows historic Highway 80. There's minimal traffic, no traffic lights and just a few stop signs.

The entire entry fee of $80, or more if you wish, goes directly to Mercy Corps, a non-profit that's on the ground in the earthquake zone in Port-au-Prince.

Chris is president of AdventureCorps, which is absorbing all the costs; they're looking for co-sponsors to supply food and water. AdventureCorps produces and promotes ultra-endurance and extreme sports events such as the Furnace Creek 508, Death Valley Century and Double, and Mount Laguna Bicycle Classic<.

I asked Chris why he's getting involved in this effort ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/19/80-for-haiti-bike-ride-will-raise-money-for-disaster-relief/

Changes allow bike commuters to load anywhere in Seattle

Good news for Seattle bicycle commuters who combine their bike ride with the bus:

Beginning Feb. 6, bicyclists can load and unload their bikes on all Metro buses at any time. That means for the first time, bicyclists can load and unload their bicycles in the busy downtown core, which has been closed to such activity.

King County Metro says this is a one-year demonstration project to determine whether loading and unloading bikes on the front racks on buses slows down the schedule. They'll evaluate safety and operations at the end of the 12-month period …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/18/changes-allow-bike-commuters-to-load-anywhere-in-seattle/

Stinky Spoke bike ride

Cyclists on the Stinky Spoke bike ride emerge out of the fog Saturday morning on the Sammamish River Trail. More than 600 rode the fund-raiser for the Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center near Redmond, Washington.

The 16-mile round trip started and ended at the Red Hook Brewery in Woodinville. While the riders started in the fog, the weather cleared after they left the paved Sammamish River Trail. The route took the mountain bikers along a dirt powerline trail and then home on the hilly Tolt Pipeline Trail. ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/16/stinky-spoke-bike-ride/