Features

• By Clarissa Ersoz

  League of American Bicyclists 2010 State and Community Rankings

  The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) recently released its third annual 2010 Bicycle Friendly State Rankings and Bicycle Friendly Communities. This year, Washington remained the number one bicycle friendly state, maintaining its 2008 and 2009 status.

• By Bob Freeman

  Age of Innocence, Age of Elegance

  Back in 1978, when I was already in the bike industry but still couldn’t afford a new top end racing bike, I came across a nice 1973 Colnago Super, one of the bikes the stars rode. Eddy Merckx, Giuseppe Saronni, Gianni Motta, Gianbattista Baronchelli, the Molteni Team and the SCIC Team, all rode a Colnago at times. I had to have one.

• By Clarissa Ersoz

  A Different Kind of Economic Stimulus

  Cities, large and small, continually search for ways to stimulate their economy and funnel money into their communities, especially during economic hardship. Many towns rely upon tourism to create revenue and support local businesses. In order to attract attention and travelers, they need to give potential visitors a reason to come and hopefully return.

• By Tom Archer, President, Northwest Trail Alliance

  Northwest Trail Alliance Reinvigorates Off-Road Riding

  In the past year, citizens, bicycle shop workers, and government land managers have remarked that they haven’t seen this much excitement for off-road bicycle advocacy in the Portland, Ore., region in years, if ever. Helping shape the new push is the Northwest Trail Alliance.

• By Christopher R. Shuhart, M.D., CCD, MHA

  How’s your Skeleton Doing?

  I’ve been riding for thirty years and over time I had accumulated a sense of fatalism about cyclists and broken bones: eventually, every rider will either suffer a fracture or know someone who has done so while riding. My work in bone health and osteoporosis over the last ten years has tempered my cynicism, and I think it’s time for road cyclists to understand ... our bones are weaker than we think.

• By Robinson Cano

  BikeSnobNYC Unleashes Himself on the Pacific Northwest

  The inveterate urban-utilitarian cyclist-blogger BikeSnobNYC has taken his new eponymous book on tour this summer, bringing out his “real thorough scouring” of the world of cycling, first to Austin, Texas, and then north and west where it culminated in a signing at Powell’s Books in the bicycling mecca of Portland, Ore. ... he was greeted with the largest turnout of the tour.

• By Bob Freeman

  Age of Innocence, Age of Elegance

  When I first became aware of non-factory produced bikes, there were certain ones that captivated my attention. It was the early ‘70s, long before the internet, and information came from very few sources. The “All Campy” racing bike was the Holy Grail. Clement sew-ups, Binda toe straps, Ideale and Unicanitor saddles, Cinelli bars and stems, and the ever-present and ubiquitous Campagnolo Nuovo and Super Record parts were the stuff of dreams.

• By Darren Dencklau (review) / Claire Bonin (interview)

  The New Ergon GR2

  Ergon’s GR2 grips are designed to provide 100% hand contact, thereby dispersing pressure to the palms and fingers. The wider platforms let the majority of the hand rest on the grips’ tops. I tested them out recently and was pleasantly surprised.

• By Claire Bonin

  JerseyBin — A Genius of a Little Pouch

  They don’t look like much, but appearances can be deceiving. JerseyBin is one of the simplest yet useful products I have found to carry small personal items without fear of losing anything and keeping everything organized while cycling.

« Back   Next »

Opinion

• By Jana Moseley

  Bicycle Dreams: The Race Across America

  The Race Across America (RAAM) is seen as the single most difficult challenge in the endurance cycling world. It is a testament to the human spirit and the pinnacle of physical limits. Of all who attempt, less than half will finish. For those who do complete the race it’s the accomplishment of a lifetime.

• By Joe Kurmaskie

  Mud, Sweat and Gears: A Rowdy Family’s Canadian Adventure on Seven Wheels

  We got the jump on James, but he came roaring back. It’s quite difficult to outpace a 16-foot, 438-pound bike train going downhill. The Metal Cowboy's second installment of James and the Giant Peach Bicycle.

• By Maynard Hershon

  Put in Some Distance

  Cyclists are different. We feel unjustly persecuted on the road, abused by callous motorists. So we ride tense, anger barely suppressed, tight-jawed, primed, ready for someone, anyone, to offend, so we can act out that anger. Why are we so tense?

• By Joe Kurmaskie

  Mud, Sweat and Gears: A Rowdy Family’s Canadian Adventure on Seven Wheels

  Nothing so large and exuberant has ever gotten the jump on me, at least not in broad daylight, during good weather while riding a bicycle with not one, but three clean, unobstructed views through rear facing mirrors.... Yet, there he was, just off my left as if beamed in from the planet of gigantic Irishmen.

• By Maynard Hershon

  The Natural

  As I lean my old Lighthouse bicycle against the railing, a guy at the next table ... asks me if I had the bike made. He’d asked about my Lighthouse as an icebreaker, but he’s not interested in it except as it relates to his search.

• By Joe Kurmaskie

  Into Africa to Help the Kids

  When August rolls around and the summer is ripe and full in this hemisphere, after we’ve wrapped up another season of trips for Camp Creative, I will travel halfway around the world to help raise awareness and funds for a program that, in many ways, mirrors the one we’ve started in the Pacific Northwest.

• By Maynard Hershon

  What Would Nancy Do?

  When you hear people call new-tech bikes names like throwaway bikes, “fragile bikes” or “compromised bikes,” ask them if they have owned any recent bikes or have ridden them a few miles. It’s my hunch that the honest answer will be no.

• By Joe Kurmaskie

  Mud, Sweat and Gears: A Rowdy Family’s Canadian Adventure On Seven Wheels

  We gear down and sit in for the assault on this jagged bit of the Canadian Rockies. There’s an instant when I actually start to come out of the saddle. My second-rate racer’s body forgets that it’s at the head of a mule train hauling half of America behind it.

• By Maynard Hershon

  Basic Stuff — Relax

  Relax on your bike. Everything else about the dynamic physical aspects of cycling begins here. If you are stiff on your bike — tense — you will over-control it. Your bike doesn’t like to be micromanaged. Subtle control inputs work best. Practice relaxing when riding.

« Back   Next »