Top of the Day to all you Irish out there. You win a prize: Gene’s list of cross-state tours for 2008. It’s worth another look if you like multi-events. –Corrie

10 amazing logos for across-state bicycle tours

by Gene Bisbee at 06:00AM (PDT) on March 16, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

Border Raiders bike tour in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri

It has taken a while for me to find them, but the Biking Bis blog is listing 94 multi-day bicycle tours in 47 states for 2008. That’s 7 more states and 13 more tours than last year. You’ll find them at “2008 Across State Bicycle Tours.”

See more logos 

 Why’s everyone trying to make me look bad just ’cause I can’t ride?

Beware the ides of March, Caesar was warned. I say, beware the tourists. They’ll hur’ cha. Two stories for the tourists today.

I love Gene Bisbee’s blog. Not only is it in the Northwest (Seattle) but he seems to have sources around the world. I highly recommend reading him every morning, not just when I point something out.–Corrie

Bicycling to climb every mountain

by Gene Bisbee at 05:00AM (PDT) on March 14, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

David Sylvester is setting off this week on a quest to bicycle to the trailhead of the highest peak in each of the 48 contiguous states and climb to the top of each and every one. He’ll be accompanied by his faithful companion Chiva, a 2-year-old shepherd/husky mix.

If successful, they’ll be the first dog-human team to accomplish the feat. And you thought all the Earth’s frontiers had been conquered. Not with a dog, they haven’t.

Read More 

For the tourist junkies out there. You know who you are. Here’s a challenge. Bike from England to China and back. ’s’only 15,000 miles.

This is just one blog entry and picture. Read this and more at http://www.2wheels.org.uk/blog/–Corrie

Braked down the hillside from the world’s most booooootiful campspot to the main road and went down down down an extraordinary green valley (how long it has been since things have been green and lush) full of Kazakhs chasing livestock around on horseback (the Kazakhs, not the livestock), and selling honey and honey-flavoured kvas, back into the hotlands, the flatlands, the really rather drablands of the Xinjiang semi-desert.

Someone BikePortland attended the National Bike Summit in Washington DC and wrote these blog entries.

National Bike Summit 2008

Welcome to BikePortland.org’s special coverage of the 2008 National Bike Summit. Read all the articles by clicking on the headlines below. You can also view my photo gallery here.

This coverage is sponsored by Planet Bike.

Entries are at bikeportland.org/cats/ridesevents/bikesummit2008

 You’ve heard of dog sledding in Alaska, but did you know this was going on right now?–Corrie

Four-legged bane of Trans-American bicycle tourers? Dogs. Four-legged bane of Iditarod snow bikers? Moose.

The Human-powered Iditarod got underway in 10-degree temperatures on Sunday, and racers snow-biking the route have reported problems with moose along the trail, especially one particularly aggressive female moose.

Meanwhile, Jill Homer, whose Up in Alaska blog is one of the most popular bicycling blogs on the Internet, is posting good enough times to be on pace for a record-setting 350-mile ride into McGrath.

Read the rest of the story 

Shh— don’t tell Linda. She’ll want to do it.

Scotland to Syria by rowboats and, when necessary, bicycles

by Gene Bisbee at 11:16AM (PST) on February 23, 2008 | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Colin and Julie Angus are two adventurers who are taking a 4,000-mile rowboat and bicycle expedition across Europe that you’ll be able to follow online beginning in March.

The two experienced travellers from Canada are rowing down rivers, coastlines and canals from Scotland to Syria. When it’s time to portage over passes or around dangerous rapids, they’ll use the foldable bicycles and trailers stowed on board to tow their watercraft.

Read the rest of the story.

Ah, touring on a bicycle? But how about getting it there? This page comes from the people at RoadBikRider. com. Read the Article

$9.95 eBook RBR Publishing Company 26 pages 18 photos PDF file size: 575 KB

Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, there is no excuse for not having your bike with you and enjoying rides at your destination.

Well, actually there could be several excuses . . . until you have the know-how from this advice- and fact-packed eBook by world-traveling cyclist Alan Bragman, D.C.

Dr. Bragman includes his insights and guidance about many modes of travel — by personal vehicle (five types of car racks are evaluated), airplane, train and bus. Special attention is given to air travel and how to avoid exorbitant charges when checking a bike as baggage.

“The great thing about traveling with your bike is that you can be a cyclist anywhere you go,” writes Dr. Bragman. “The world’s roads await! This eBook provides the information and tips that will help you handle the challenges.”

Shh— don’t tell Linda. She’ll want to do it.

Scotland to Syria by rowboats and, when necessary, bicycles

by Gene Bisbee at 11:16AM (PST) on February 23, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

Colin and Julie Angus are two adventurers who are taking a 4,000-mile rowboat and bicycle expedition across Europe that you’ll be able to follow online beginning in March.

The two experienced travellers from Canada are rowing down rivers, coastlines and canals from Scotland to Syria. When it’s time to portage over passes or around dangerous rapids, they’ll use the foldable bicycles and trailers stowed on board to tow their watercraft.

Read the rest of the story. 

Chandler asked if anyone was doing Chilly Hilly this year. I’d have considered it if I had known the sun would shine but we would  justbe getting back from Death Valley so I didn’t think about it. Got to say, I like the Pacific Northwest Scenery.–Corrie

2008 Chilly Hill pictures

by Gene Bisbee at 11:00PM (PST) on February 24, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

Read the rest of the story and see more pictures. 

Last Fall in Sun Valley I heard these two Idaho ladies present about their year long bike tour of Europe after they quit their jobs and sold their houses.  The book has a website now where the book can be ordered, photos & watercolor prints of the tour can be viewed, etc.

http://www.choppybone.com/Leaving%20Luna.htm

It’s a good read and the photos on the web page are worth seeing.

Jim

You can read more about Jim’s take on Leaving Luna here:

Click on http://groups.google.com/group/twinriverscyclists/web/leaving-luna - or copy & paste it into your browser’s address bar if that doesn’t work.

Jim McCracken would like to group to do Cycle Yellowstone:
I’d be interested in considering this ride if we could get a group together.
The 11th Annual Spring Cycle Tour is scheduled for May 10, 2008. The tour - around what locals call “the block” - is 64 miles long. It’s a challenging early season ride but the scenery is gorgeous and we do our best to make sure that everyone has an enjoyable day.

Read more about it:

http://www.cycleyellowstone.com/spritour.html

Now that I know how much Scott Trost likes to suffer, I’m sure he’ll be often with Jen on their honeymoon trying to beat Beaumont’s record.

Scottish cyclist Mark Beaumont, 25, has completed an around-the-world ride in 195 days to break the record (pending Guinness certification) by 81 days. Beaumont rode 18,400 miles (29,611 km) averaging about 100 miles (160 km) per day. The ride ended last Friday where it began at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, after which Beaumont declared, “I am very much looking forward to not getting on the bike tomorrow.” A CNN video report is at http://tinyurl.com/2au4fu

” That’s all part of the fun,” Scott insisted when whenever the climb became too steep. The story begins over on Crusty and will take a couple of days to finish.

Annie Londonderry’s amazing bike trip around the world

by Gene Bisbee at 05:00AM (PST) on February 14, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

If you’re familiar with the world of bicycle touring, you probably already know that the first cyclist to pedal around the world was Tom Stevens, who left San Francisco on a penny farthing in 1884.

But who was the first woman to accomplish the feat?

Let me introduce you to Annie Londonderry, a Bostonian in her early 20s who undertook the journey 10 years later in 1894. Credited with accomplishing the bicycle journey by Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and countless other newspapers at the time, her story is one of high adventure and extreme risk for a woman travelling alone in the late 19th century.

Read the rest of the story and find a link to the book on Amazon. 

March 4, 5, and 6th in Washington D.C. No, I won’t be going but it is nice to know cyclists have our own lobbyists.–Corrie

National Bike Summit 2008

Climbing Capitol Hill:
Putting Bicyclists In the Seat of Power

The legendary polka dot jersey is given to the best climber in the Tour de France. Become a champion of bicycling by climbing Capitol Hill, March 4-6 as a participant at the 2008 National Bike Summit in Washington, DC. Pack your suit and discover the power you have to influence national transportation, energy, environment and health policy for the better: For bicycling.

Read more

So, I’m going to make the leap to modest touring. Linda’s been after me to do some touring near Vancouver and I’ve been thinking of ways to do a bit of credit card camping–but that still means I’ve got to find a way to carry some gear. And then Doug comes along with his little self-contained tour tour to Death Valley in the middle of February. A trailer seems like the solution to my problem. The BOB is a single wheel trailer that would be great for single-track. But its a bit pricey and I lilke the fact that the Burley stands up by itself. Should work out well for quick runs to the grocery, too. It’s in the mail as t hey say. –Corrie

Bicycle Trailers Child, Cargo, Bike Carriers, Piggyback bikes and Misc.

A page of links to lots of trailers for bikes

I posted a couple of pages a while back, one covering cycling logs and the other about mapping tools. Most of the maps sites listed in the following article are on that page. I made an attempt to create a feature comparison chart but I’m not sure it is complete.

I mentioned that the palm device I’ve been using has gotten old–not me, the device. I think I’ve found the right way to keep my cycling log. I like both BikeJournal and Mapmyride and have been entering the few rides I’ve done this winter on both since the first of the year.

Looking around I began to see GPS devices everywhere. With Garmin introducing a new line, the 305 Edge dropped down to $240 on Ebay and I bit. I’ve only used it twice but it seems to work flawlessly and best of all, plugging in the USB pulls the day’s ride right into Training Center software. I can import it just as easily to Mapmyride. Bike Journal doesn’t provide for that. MapMyRide has lots of reports. I like its compatibility with my Garmin though it doesn’t pull in heart rate information. I may continue to enter data by hand since it avoids the extra step of creating a map which I do not want for every ride.

–Anyway, Bike Hacks has a long list of sites that provide cycling maps online. –Corrie

55 Free Bike Route Mapping Tools

January 25th, 2008 by Bren · 3 Comments

Crickey, there are a lot of ways to map your bike route! This list focuses on freely available versions. I’ve caught a lot of them, but I’m sure there are more. If you notice that I missed your favorite free bike route mapping tool, drop it in the comments!

There are plenty of places that’ll sell you a bike map, but I’m mainly interested in maps that are offered for free. And, amazingly, these aren’t all variations on (the excellent) Google Maps. This list is broken into two sections, with only the vaguest notions of organization. The first section are resources that are more global in nature. The second section are more location-specific maps.

Read More and see the list

Thanks to Jim McCracken for this piece. Now back to work, Jim. Quit wasting your time surfing the web.

Commuting in the liquid lane

By Susan Gilmore

Seattle Times staff reporter

 

KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Bob Barrett pedals two miles across Puget Sound from Ketron Island to Steilacoom. “Here, you’re part of the Sound itself,” he says.

KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES

“I don’t have a death wish. I’m not here to drown and I’m not risking my life,” says Bob Barrett, who’s been making his water-bike commute for nearly seven years.

Related

• Video | Commuting by water bike

Nat Hong and Bob Barrett commute on Puget Sound by bike — water bike, that is — to their jobs in Bremerton and Steilacoom.

“This is pretty hard to beat in terms of a pleasant commute,” said Hong, who lives on Bainbridge Island and teaches at Olympic College in Bremerton.

The drive would be 80 miles round trip. But with his water bike, the trip to work is just 12 miles — including one mile on the water.

Read More

First snowboarders and now BMX . . . Corrie

BMX Racing Coming To Beijing Olympics

Did you know that BMX racing is making its debut as an Olympic event at the 2008 Games this summer in Beijing?

48 of the world’s best racers, both male and female, will slug their way through several rounds of racing to see who can be the fastest around on the 350 meter (approx 1/4 mile) track and claim a medal on the podium when it’s all done.

“BMX in the Olympics is like a dream come true, because I started racing in 1981, at 8 years old, and there was always talk of BMX being in the Olympics. And for it to actually come true is extraordinary,” said long-time American BMX pro rider John Purse in an interview with CNN.

Links:

• What is Olympic BMX?
• Your Path to Glory - How to win a spot on the Olympic BMX team

No word on wether this one is sold out yet. –Corrie

Tour de unicycle