The Seattle papers are full of controversy about plans to convert the 42-mile BNSF railroad tracks between Renton and Snohomish into a bicycle trail. Is anyone surprised?The county executive for King County said he wouldn’t fund construction of a trail on the right-of-way if the tracks aren’t torn up first.
There’s a more than 100-mile-long abandoned railway corridor on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula that is being transformed into a first-rate bicycling trail named the Olympic Discovery Trail.When completed it will stretch all the way from La Push on the Pacific Ocean, across the base of the northern slope of the Olympic Mountains, to bustling Port Townsend on Puget Sound.
More than a third of the trail is routed and paved (primarily the central portion connecting Port Angeles and Sequim on the Strait of Juan del Fuca), and volunteers are beginning work on another section east of Sequim that brings the trail closer to Port Townsend.
I’ve added two new pages under the links menu for Journals and Maps.
Doug and I have been using BikeJournal.com for about a week. It is a nice journal at this point but doesn’t seem to do a good job with mapping. Way back last summer when I created the maps on the favorites pages,I used Bikely after having already looked at MapMyRide and a couple of others. None of these sites had my favorite feature at that time.
My favorite feature: Auto-route or snap-to-road allows you to tell the software to just follow the road. It reduces the number of clicks you have to make to get around corners. I wish I’d had that when I did routes of Winchester and Spiral grades. Of course now all the sites have that same tool. Well, all except BikeJournal.com.
Journals: brief reviews and links to journal sites and software including Steve’s spreadsheet which is arguably still the simplest and best tool.
Mapping: This is a cool tool for sharing rides. Auto-route would probably have saved me many hours last summer.
My conclusion: I like MapMyRide best overall and it is free though registration is required. It is flexible about how you enter your data. Instead of getting upset because you don’t already have a map for the route you just rode, it lets you enter a description and get on with your log and life. If you prefer you can start by creating the map–easy with auto-route–and then save it to your training log with distance already filled in. Hint: Make sure you tweak your map so it shows the same distance as your computer.
–Corrie
Devil’s Slide is the club’s only USA sanctioned event. It is a mountain bike race at Hell’s Gate State Park south of Lewiston. Rider’s say it is an excellent course. Over the years running the race has fallen on Joe Wagenbrenner of MAMBA.
Joe has resigned and will be out of town January through February and MAMBA feels they should stay focused on trail building and promotion.. Sadly, that means he won’t be able to help anyone taking over. It is likely that the race will have to be cancelled for 2008.
The prospects aren’t good within the club for finding a director. This makes it look unlikely the race will resume under our auspices. We would like to see it continue with or without us. We are prepared to lend a hand in future editions or continue to sponsor it ourselves if we can find a director.
We appreciate your past participation as well as current interest and suppport. Please send comments, thoughts, and applications to trcboard@twinriverscyclists.org.
–Corrie
A team of 10 cyclists from MIT have set a new world record in the field of Human Powered Computation (HPC) by drawing 1.2 kilowatts of electricity and powering a a SiCortex SC648 supercomputer over the course of a 20 minute nonstop ride. If you recall, SiCortex pulled a similar stunt with another group of bikers at this year’s NextFest. The original idea came in response to Google’s “Innovate or Die” contest that challenges contestants to use pedal power to develop a “zero emission invention.” More info and a video after the break.
Entries for the Innovate or Die Pedal-Powered Machine Contest closed Saturday, and 93 can be viewed online as YouTube videos. Results will be released on Jan. 15.
The contest was supposed to “inspire innovation and environmental change by highlighting the benefits of cycling in an unprecedented way.” The result has been a creative tour de force, with inventors submitting everything from recumbent tricycles (above) to bike-powered blenders, tennis-ball launchers and water filtration systems.
Steve sends this link to a site that discusses restoring old bicycles. Here’s his comment:
I was surprised you put my reconstructed decals up. Once I brought the pdf file into work, I saw it and printed it on a color printer, I knew I had more work to do. What looked like pure black on my home screen showed yellows and greens bleeding through. I have that fixed now. I’m glad I left the bottom portion of the seat tube in the photo so you could see how I’d made the 3 dimensional tube look 2 dimensional.
All this makes only limited sense without the hotlink to the more informative (but granted less inspiring) article on the Carlton restoration. His photos are impressive as well as the more detailed “how to” he provided. I’m thinking I want to make my first try on a cheaper old lugged bike (like the Raleigh Grand Prix) and then move up to a Reynolds 531 lugged frame if I enjoy the first project. (Both frames must fit me as fit is the most important part of any bicycle acquisition!) I’m still shopping for both fixer uppers though, and the days start lengthening next week which will rapidly reduce my time for this project
The Carlton Catalina Restoration Project
The Catalina Project
Steve Maas, Long Beach, California, USA
March - September, 2002
In late March of 2002, I became the owner of a Carlton Catalina touring bike, made in England in (as close as I can tell) the mid 1960s, and I promptly set about the task of restoring it. The bike was a disaster–a real rust bucket–but as I tore it down, I was astounded to see that it was largely unused and almost completely original. None of the bearings had any visible wear, and even the brake pads, gears, chain, and cable sheaths were ones that came new with the bike. The only nonoriginal part was the saddle; I assume that the original leather one died a moldy death as the bike sat decaying in a series of garages.
Specialized Bicycles is voluntarily recalling 3,000 Model-D helmets that failed tests required by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The helmets can fail, causing serious head injury to cyclists. Fortunately, no injuries have been reported.
The ultralight helmets retailed for $200 and were sold through Specialized authorized dealers and online stores between July and October 2007, when they were taken off the market. Apparently there was problem with the chin strap buckle.
The CAC met yesterday afternoon for a two hour field trip to visit the several points of interest for the four options for this trail. At the meeting afterword we prioritized the four options. You can see our conclusions on the advocacy page.
Look for a Public Open House in the third week of January to view this route plans and bring your ideas to bear.
Members of the cylcing community are encourage to write me at treasurer@twinriverscyclists.org.
Climbs like this can be made easier with preparation indoors.By Edmund R. Burke, Ph.D.
For Active.com
While speaking at a recent training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, an off-road cyclist wanted to know if working out on a stair climber would be a good cross-training tool to exercise on during the off-season.
I was quick to tell him that a key training concept for athletes to remember is specificity of training. In other words, if you want to be a swimmer, swim; if you want to be a runner, run; and if you want to be a good climber in cycling then climb on your bike.
Steve finds something to do inspired by Bicycling Magazines article about rebuilding an old bike. He sent the image as a full size PDF. Actually, I really enjoy these clean graphics. Somewhere inside me is a graphic artist. Steve’s done a great job capturing these images.
Corrie,
you’re probably not overly interested, but I’ll still give you some info.
Recreating decals is a pain! I liked the idea of
photographing the decals and creating new vinyl ones. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, so I started messing with the old Grand Prix ($10 in a yard sale 10 yeas ago). However, it’s obvious that the decals are bent onto the frame and the the light catches words differently and of course is usually shiny in the spot opposite the sun. Too much effort to hide from the sun dulls the colors badly.
Anyway, this looks so simple, but I spent most of the day on this. Its crazy I’d spend any time on the old Grand Prix since its fork is bent and the frame may also be, but I get bored in the winter even when I should be working on the house or preparing for Christmas!
I’m happy with these, but the Grand Prix is such a mess I don’t know how to fix it or get a photo I can start with. I really don’t care if it’s authentic- even if the bike were fixable.
–Steve
Representative Doc Hastings of Washington State seems to think so. Here are his remarks in Congress on the debate over the Comprehensive House Energy Bill. The Bicycle Commuter Act is part of that bill and represents not only an effort to recognize bicycle commuting as a legitimate form of transportation but more importantly to build into law the idea of that cyclists should have equal rights with mortorists who have long enjoyed a tax subsidy for the cost of parking their cars.
It is hard enough to understand speaking against equal rights but then to paint commuter cyclists as part of a leftist dream seems pretty over the top. Certainly we aren’t going to solve global warming by switching to bikes but it can’t hurt and it helps move the culture toward one a bit more planet-friendly, but we wouldn’t want those gas companies to have to leave an ounce of oil in the ground.
Read it closely. I think Doc Hastings believes big, old-bad government is going to make him ride a bike. Bold facing is my emphases.
–Corrie
Mr. Speaker, this bill won’t become law, and it shouldn’t become law. Its priorities are all wrong. It won’t lower gas prices; it is going to increase them. It totally ignores nuclear power as a non-emitting energy source. It totally ignores hydropower as a clean, nonemitting energy source. It raises taxes by unknown billions. And, Mr. Speaker, it gives a tax credit to people for riding their bikes to work. I am sorry, but gas prices and climate
change aren’t going to be fixed by making people ride their bikes to work.
This isn’t a plan to make America energy independent and to free us from foreign oil. It is just a dream for the political left in this country. And let me repeat, Mr. Speaker, it raises taxes, it is anti-nuclear and anti-dams, it forces people out of their cars, and gives tax credits for riding their bike to work.
commuter_tax_update.pdf (application/pdf Object) Transcrlipt.
Also, read Ecomobility : an international organization promoting cycling as transportation. Yeah, I know a bunch of the sponsors are bicycle manufacturers. Could this be good for business?
–Corrie
New Spinning Record Set at 112 Hours!
John “Blue Dog” Jurczynski and Mike “Mad Dog” Gallagher have set a new spinning record of 112 hours! Jurczynski said Thursday was a hard night for him but as they got close to the record he felt good. Near the end Gallagher said he felt like he could go for another 10 hours.The Guinness rules allow a 5 minute break every hour and the time can be saved up for a few hours to give enough time for a nap. That makes for a total of 2 hours a day off the bike which means some serious sleep deprevation over 4 days.
Let Susan B. Anthony Tell You What She Thinks Of Bicycling
“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”-Susan B. Anthony, 1820-1906, abolitionist and leader of the American women’s sufferage movement.
Image: Public Domain
Electronic log books
Cyclistat and BikeJournal.com reviews
I’ve spent some time Friday and Saturday playing with these two options for a paper log book. Clearly you aren’t going to keep this kind of detail on paper. Things you never thought of doing before are suddenly simple with the computer.
That doesn’t mean you want all that data. If you are a team cyclist, you likely have a team coach who wants you to record data his way with his tools. All these programs have the same flaw–just becasue I can.
I’m pretty satisfied with Runner’s Log on my palm but the desktop version isn’t really up to speed so I’m looking for another way to track my mileage. I really don’t look at the charts and graphs I already have and I’m not sure I want to share my ride data with the world either.
But I have years of data that I don’t want to lose either. Any program I settle on will have to allow me to import my data so I can compare years.
I’m still looking.
PS: the page linked is still in beta and not in the menu system yet. The only way to reach it is from the link above.
-Corrie
Dinner and a movie on New Year’s Eve is not really an official club event but it has been a tradition for a number of years. We usually have an early dinner at Rooster’s in Clarkston around 5. After dinner, many of us go to a movie at Nez Perce Plaza together.
Debbie will take care of arranging a group table but she needs to know how many are coming. Please fill out the form and submit it.
See you New Years Eve and don’t forget the traditional New Years Day bike ride. It is a bike club, you know.
–Corrie
By Josh Horowitz
PezCycling News
The options and opinions concerning off-season training are almost as numerous as there are coaches and athletes. Based on the principle of specificity, at the heart of the off-season remains the need for saddle time on the bike.
For those braving the outdoors, the debate remains: What kind of winter beast will serve best for training in the cold and dark? What equipment will be both durable and bring about the biggest return for the training effort?