While we've been on the subject of globe-girdling bicycling with Annie Londonderry, 25-year-old Mark Beaumont completed his journey earlier today when he crossed under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Beaumont's amazing feat? He shaved 81 days off the previous around-the-world solo bike tour record of 276 days.
No sag wagon accompanied him or carried his stuff. Beaumont toted his own 66 pounds of gear over the entire 18,000-mile journey for 195 days. Now he's looking to get some sleep…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/15/scotsman-sets-record-for-around-the-world-solo-bike-tour/
Annie Londenderry staged photos of some exploits to spice up her lectures about her bike trip in the United States.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/15/staged-photo-of-meeting-with-bandits/
Peter Zheutlin is a Boston-area freelance writer whose fascination with biking coincided with his work on “Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride.”
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/15/peter-zheutlin/
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.
Her stories involve run-ins with bandits, nights spent sleeping in barns or open fields, visiting the front of the China-Japan war where she was wounded and taken prisoner, accidents out on the road, and tiger hunts in the jungle from atop an elephant. She did it all to win a bet that a woman could bicycle around the world. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/14/annie-londonderrys-amazing-bike-trip-around-the-world/
Here's a map of her bicycling route taken by the time she reached San Francisco. Note that much of it is over open water. Used by permission of Peter Zheutlin.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/14/londonderry-route/
A drawing of Annie Kopchovsky on her Sterling men's bicycle. Used with permission of Peter Zheutlin.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/14/annie-londonderry-world-bike-traveler/
It looks like two of the top 3 finishers in last year's Tour de France will have three weeks of vacation come July. The owners of the Tour de France announced that the Astana pro cycling team cannot compete in that race, or any other that it hosts in 2008.
That means Spain's Alberto Contador can't defend his titles in the 2007 Paris-Nice or Tour de France. No. 3 Tour de France finisher Levi Leipheimer won't be able to compete in the race either
Banning cycling teams from races, in spite of team-management and internal doping-control overhauls, seems to be the fashion this year; the Giro d'Italia already banned Astana and Team High Road (formerly T-Mobile).
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/13/slam-astana-shut-out-of-2008-tour-de-france/
Some of pro cycling's top guns are expected in Palo Alto on Sunday to kick off the competition for the 3rd annual Amgen Tour of California.
On Tuesday, organizers issued a list of 10 “big names” that are signed up to compete in the 650-mile, eight-day race. A complete roster from the 17 teams is expected on Thursday.
The names on the list include not only the usual suspects from US racing, but international stars as well. They are: …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/13/whos-who-at-tour-of-california-bike-race/
What is it about hitting a bicyclist that causes some people not to stop and try to help? A GhostCycle.org survey revealed that one in five bike accidents involving another vehicle were hit-and-run. Here are two recent cases that are particularly despicable:
Police in Beaumont, Texas, have a suspect in a Saturday night hit-and-run that killed a 26-year-old man who was riding a bicycle. According to witnesses, the woman stopped after striking the man and dragging him for 20 feet, pulled his bicycle out from under the car, then continued on her way. ….
A 23-year-old Oshkosh, Wisconsin, man faces the possibility of 25 years, 6 months in prison and $101,100 in fines. He's charged with hit-and-run causing a death and his second offense of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/13/motorists-who-dont-stop-after-hitting-bicycle-riders/
(Left to right: High Road, Slipstream, BMC)
When the Discovery Channel pro cycling team closed up shop at the end of last season, I was afraid my days of rooting for a US-based “home team” at the major European races were over.
Instead, I'll have to choose from three: High Road Sports, BMC Racing and Slipstream Chipotle-H3O.
High Road Sports is the team that T-Mobile abandoned after the disclosure of the team's long history of doping became public last year. Earlier this month, the team of George Hincapie moved its HQ from Germany to San Luis Obispo, making it the only US-based ProTour team.
Then the UCI government body of pro cycling announced it would include two US-based Pro Continental teams — BMC and Slipstream — among the 15 continental teams allowed to compete on the international level on the UCI ProTour. Now, instead of no teams, I have three. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/12/three-us-based-cycling-teams-racing-on-protour-calendar/
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