In my last few posts I have written much about the challenges that bicycle touring presents and the ability to overcome those challenges as a defining element of the sport. For me this is central to why I choose to endure the mountains, the wind, the rain, and the flats (so many flats). These challenges…
“Where have you been, man?” I’ve been asked that question a lot in the last few months. Some of my friends actually thought I’d died, but I’ve been able to contact them and tell them “No such luck!” The fact is I’ve been sick. More accurately, I’ve been injured. Last May, I was at work…
Ker-PLINK ! Another broken spoke. My heart sank. My bike tour was going nowhere fast, and it had barely even begun. I had too much weight on two cheap wheels, too flimsy for a Clydesdale like myself. I needed a trailer. I felt my goals were modest enough: I wanted to bike the “Golden Circle”…
A dazzling display of pedicabs, bedazzled the Philadelphia streets in an amazing display by Cai Guo_Qianq. Deriq Carr tells the story of how he launched Los Angelos Pedicab Company. Austin pedicab riders make their big paydays when the big events come to town. And an entrepreneurial teen is discovering opportunity in pedaling people at the…
“One more lap, Dad,” my 4-year-old begs. He and my husband, Blair, have been riding “hot laps” through the campground for over an hour, but he still hasn’t had enough. Blair nods, good-humoredly, and they take off again — racing down the empty dirt road at top speed. Left in the dust, I smile to…
Time for something a little different this month. Here comes an interview with Owen Williams, about his bikepacking trip around the mega classic Tour de Mont Blanc. It’s the first time trying something like this – so please forgive any of the rough edges! Check out the pics, and dip in to our mini podcasts…
In this edition of our Family Cycling roundup, the focus is on teaching kids to ride bikes. Its something I’m quite interested in learning about more as I’m working on teaching my daughter to ride a bicycle and giving her a bicycle for her 6th birthday tomorrow. But before you should think about getting your…
Give me a mountain. Give me 30 miles of steady grade. Give me 80 pounds of bicycle and gear moved pedal stroke by pedal stroke up thousands of feet of elevation. Give me the Cascades, the Rockies, the Ozarks, the Appalachians. The steep ascents and the switchbacks. Life on a bicycle is not without climbing,…
3 Questions: Do you ride your bicycle to work? Do you carry a smart phone with you? Are you on social media? If you answered yes to the 3 above questions, you are well qualified to participate in #BikeCommuteAdventure. A few years ago, after I’d moved to a new house here in Tucson, I was…
Its always a good time to go Bikepacking somewhere… Here are are some very recent epic trips to inspire you. Croatia and the Adriatic Crest Route by Nicholas Carman on September 16, 2017 The Breaking Trail by Logan Watts on September 26, 2017 THE BIG GUIDE TO BIKEPACKING & TOURING IN EAST AFRICA by Logan Watts on August…
That’s me in the Lycra, That’s me on the descent, Losing my abandon. Trying to break my Strava record. And I don’t know if I can do it. Oh no, I’ve said too much. I haven’t said enough. I’ve been chasing descents since I was a kid in the Green Mountains of Vermont. By the…
Does going for a long bicycle ride and then camping out sound like fun? If it does maybe you should try bicycle touring. Here are a couple of recent articles to get you started. How to Start Bicycle Touring by Mike McLeish on September 4, 2017 Line Gammelli – The Lessons She Learned From Her…
I confess, as the owner of a business designed to empower transportation focused cyclists, I have barely spent any time attempting to teach my daughter to ride a bicycle, and she is almost six. Her birthday is next month. So I’ve resolved to get her a nice bike and make things right. When my daughter…
For this first edition of the Commute by Bike News Roundup, I’ll be presenting the life of the bike commuter chronologically. That takes us back to when our two-wheeled adventures began … The Birth of the Bicycle by Alex Q Arbuckle on August 29, 2015 So we have bicycles, now what are we supposed to…
[You might enjoy listening to this Woody Guthrie track whilst reading this blog] This week I have been in the forests of Sweden. I’ve been listening for wolves, and following the tracks of moose. I canoed down the Black River valley at sunrise looking for beaver, and saw long-horned roe deer prancing at dusk. This was…
I have a confession: I could probably count the number of days in the past year I’ve ridden a bike–I mean really clicked off some miles–on one hand. Life, as it so often does, has provided its fair share of roadblocks. I bought a fixer-upper first home, started a new job, got engaged. There is…
This is the kickoff off roundup post that I’m experimenting with. The plan is that each week I’ll gather interesting stories from the last month or so within one of the 5 cycling niches we cover, Commute by Bike, Family Cycling, Bikepacking, Road Touring or Utility Cycling. I’ll be keeping notes of interesting stories that…
“White Man: He sit down, walk like hell.” That was how one Native Alaskan described Ed Jesson riding a fixed gear bicycle down the frozen Yukon River in the winter of 1900. How a man with practically no supplies and the simplest of bikes could ride over a thousand miles in the dead of an…
It can be difficult sometimes to do the simple things. The ones that could make us happy. Like checking out of everyday existence with a lightly loaded bike for a few days. With a nod to our busy and distracting lives, this month I’ve tried to list some tactics for getting rolling with the good…
A 30-mile climb rises out of the prairie in front of you. The last town is 50 miles behind. The next is on the other side of this mountain. Your stomach grumbles. It’s going to be a long day. Among the touring cyclist’s worst nightmares, the dreaded bonk comes in near the top. Any cyclist…
Gore-tex that doesn’t go damp, Treads that don’t wear flat, Chains that never skip or squeak, These are some of my favorite things. When you ride for long enough, you settle into habits and gear. Maybe it’s a brand of socks that don’t bind, or bib shorts that don’t chafe, or gloves that keep your…
But is there a future for the bicycle in warfare? In a word, yes. When the fuel tank is empty, and the gas station has been bombed, then the bicycle is a mighty fine choice.
There will always be a need for lightweight, reliable, stealthy, low-cost transportation.
I received a phone call from my youngest sister in England this January. We don’t talk all that much, especially now we live on different continents. But she was calling because she had met someone special. His name was “Pedro.” Pedro, she assured me was handsome, fast, and blue. And she wanted us to go…
“So I forgot to clip out of my clipless pedals and fell over.” A well-worn pedal. To anyone who isn’t serious about cycling, the above phrase is nonsensical. In the minds of snobibsh cyclists, nothing distinguishes them more from their casual brethren on wheels than their clipless pedals. Switching to clipless pedals is as momentous to an…
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