Back in January when I set a 4,000-mile bicycle-riding goal for 2008, I didn't want to have to resort to fulfilling my resolution on New Year's Eve.

Of course, that's what I ended up doing today. 

I completed 4,002 miles in 2008 with a 10-mile ride up to Lewis Creek Park on Cougar Mountain this morning. My son suggested that route, because it's all downhill on the way home -- a good treat for my accomplishment.

Now, I'll probably spend the first week of 2009 cleaning my bicycle. ...   more »

The East Coast Greenway is a 3,000-mile bicycle-pedestrian route from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Florida.

The route is proposed as an off-road path that links cities along the eastern seaboard. Currently, about one-fifth of the route is on traffic-free paths with more on the way.

But before things get too far along, however, the Greenway wants to establish a set of uniform signs that can be used along its length.

To get some public feedback, the Greenway folks are distributing an online Bicycle Signage Survey that takes 12 minutes to complete (your time may vary) .....   more »

Here's a book about precarious border crossings, bandits, wars and civil unrest, and big ol' hairy rats.

The latest John LeCarre spy novel? No. It's the latest bicycle tour book from Tim and Cindie Travis entitled "Down the Road in South America."

Don't get me wrong. The book also tells about the wonderful people that the Travises meet on their journeys and the remarkable landmarks and scenery that they experience from the saddles of their loaded bicycles.

I suppose the book is best described by its subtitle, "A bicycle tour through poverty, paradise, and the places in between." ...   more »

The sight of black pavement in my neighborhood this morning was enough to coax me out onto my bicycle after about a week-long hibernation.

Ordinarily I use better judgement about picking my bicycle rides, but we've been snowed in for awhile. And with only a few days remaining to knock out the last 90 miles of my 4,000-mile bicycling goal for 2008, just about any conditions are adequate for a bike ride.

By the end of the day, I was 33 miles closer to my goal. By riding gingerly or walking through sections of slush or carrying my bike over snow dunes at some intersections, it was one of the slowest rides of the year ...   more »

RAGBRAI -- and any other organized bicycle rides -- are welcome again in Crawford County, Iowa.

The county's board of supervisors earlier this week rescinded the ban they instituted in October 2007. That's when their insurance carrier paid $350,000 to settle a negligence lawsuit with the family of a man who died in the 2004 RAGBRAI.

The decision to allow organized bike rides again ends an ugly prohibition that threatened to spill over into other counties. 

The change of heart occurred after the Register's Annual Great Annual Bicycle Ride Across Iowa .....   more »

Looking through some pictures for an end-of-year family photo album this week, I stumbled across some bike ride pictures and realized I had enjoyed many excellent bicycle rides this year.

Here are my 10 favorites (with links if I blogged about it) in no particular order:

Seattle to Portland -- Although my son and I had done Ride Around Washington several times, we had never ridden the 200-mile STP together. He nailed it effortlessly (above) with just a handful of training rides; I chalked it up to his being 17 years old.

John Wayne Pioneer Trail -- With the family out of town for a few days this summer, I took the opportunity to finally ride the rail-to-trail over Snoqualmie Pass. Amazing scenery. I returned in October and met a guy from Oklahoma who was riding his horse 2,000 miles to visit a friend in western Washington.

Overnight to Kanaskat -- My son and I had never independently taken an overnight bicycle camping trip together. We rectified that this spring ...   more »

After being struck by cars, robbed, and kidnapped on his worldwide bicycle tour, Okhwan Yoon has reached the southwestern US where he's continuing his solo trek.

Yoon, 46, has been on the road for seven years, travelling through 169 countries on his quest to ride his bicycle in nearly every country on Earth.

The South Korean is quite the media hound, as there are many stories about his travels online. Googling his name, I could follow him into Brazil (where he was struck by a hit-and-run driver), then Central America and Mexico, where an interview appears at YouTube.

After crossing the border and riding to San Diego, he continued to Los Angeles and is now in Tucson, where he was interviewed at the local newspaper ...   more »

The Tour de Georgia bike race isn't returning in 2009, but a North Georgia town has a plan to boost tourism using bicycles anyway.

Hotels in the historic town of Alpharetta are offering special packages that enable tourists to have bicycle rental, delivery and pick-up all included in their room rate.

The offer enables visitors to ride the bicycles to attractions around town or head out to ride the scenic Big Creek Greenway bike path.

That bike path runs for 6.2 miles through the Alpharetta area and was recently connected to another 3-mile section in Roswell ....   more »

If you ask me, a bicycle tour is as good a way as any to commemorate a monumental event.

Ryan Bowen would probably agree, as he's bicycling from Los Angeles to Washington DC to mark the election and inauguration of Barack Obama.

The 22-year-old graduate (shown at left and in the video on the jump) of Occidental College in LA is hoping to interest some other like-minded Obama-supporting bicyclists along the way who might want to join him on the ride into DC.

He told the LA Times that he'd like to have an escort of 50 or more bicyclists by the end of the trip.

"That would be my dream, to roll into Washington with something like that." ...   more »

What have you done in the past 100 days? I can't say that anything I've done is as exciting as the bicycle touring adventures by Philippe and Leandra Brient.

The couple from British Columbia set off from France on Sept. 1, and so far have visited 13 countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa on their bicycles. (At left they're warming up in Turkey.)

According to their website, Vimax Adventures, the pair have reached Egypt after bicycling across the Sinai Peninsula. It looks like their cyclo-touring will continue after the first of the year.

Philippe and Leandra e-mailed me about their adventures and invited me to check out their website "to give inspiration and information to other cyclists (as others did to us). ...   more »

Irish cyclo-tourists Simon Evans and Fearghal O'Nuallain began an around the world bicycle expedition in November. They say it's the first Irish circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle.

The cyclists figure that they'll ride through 30 countries on their 17,000-mile trip that they're undertaking to benefit Aware, an Ireland-based organization to support people with depression.

I've read that regular exercise is a good way to fight depression, so I suppose you could say that they're practicing what they preach. Since many people get the blues over the holidays, it might be a good time to check in with them ...   more »

The latest wit and wisdom from Portland's Joe Kurmaskie, the Metal Cowboy. I've picked some of my favorite "You-might-be-a-cyclist if's:"

-- You own more tights than a children's theater performing Peter Pan.

-- You ring that bell for legitimate safety reasons, but the joy it brings seeing morning dog walkers seize up and scatter like quail is a nice fringe benefit.

-- When styling professionals ask what product gets your hair to do that, you answer, "Helmet." ...   more »

Even though I still take frequent bike rides, this is the time of year that I'm not so interested in laying down a lot of mileage. This is when I slow down to explore and poke around, maybe learn some roadside or trailside history.

Cougar Mountain, which lies a few miles east of my house, is a good destination for this. I've written about the old coal mining industry that thrived there at the turn of the century; this past week I've been learning about its role in the Cold War defense of Seattle.

Today the mountain is a mix of flashy, big box homes and golf courses and the 3,000-acre Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park. Although the park's trails are closed to bicycling, the two Cold War-era military bases are accessible by short dirt roads from residential streets ...   more »

When members of two Virginia bicycle clubs showed up on Afton Mountain a few weeks ago to hand over donations to "Cookie Lady" June Curry, a reporter from public radio station WVTF recorded her comments.

In a radio report, Sandy Hausman tells how the Bike House got started and how June gained her nickname, "Cookie Lady," way back in 1976.

Now, bicyclists who passed through years before are offering their help. June said:

"Ever since I had my stroke, when I've really needed help, I've got it from bikers. I feel like I owe all of you a great deal ...   more »

This holiday weekend I took a virtual state-by-state bicycle tour around the U.S. by reading about all the exciting week-long bicycle tours that are available in 2009.

I dug up more bike rides than ever -- 133 bicycle tours in 45 states -- to update the BikingBis.com list of Across State Bicycle Tours.

That's kind of a generic title for the list. Although a few are patterned on RAGBRAI and actually go from one side of the state to the other, most are high-attendance, week-long rides that simply explore a region of the state by traveling the backroads ...   more »