Category: Bike Touring

Cyclist fulfills world bike touring dream in spite of epilepsy

Stephen Allen is pedaling across the Pacific Northwest on the last leg of his around the world bicycle tour to raise money and awareness about living with epilepsy.

Allen left Telluride, Colorado, some 14 months ago and headed east on his Seize the World bike travels. Since departing, he saw 22 countries and sustained 3 1/2 seizures.

He flew into Seattle from Japan in December, and now he's pedaling his bike across Idaho after passing through eastern Oregon. He continues to give talks, like the one last week in Boise for the Epilepsy Foundation of Idaho, and use his laptop to update his website, SeizetheWorld.com.

Allen undertook the world bike tour to show that people with epilepsy can realize their dreams. He keeps his epilespy in check with medications. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/26/cyclist-fulfills-world-bike-touring-dream-in-spite-of-epilepsy/

Drawing attention to global warming on winter bike tour

Bicyclists who launch a long-distance bike tour to draw attention to a cause usually do so in the spring to take advantage of the summer bicycling season.

Not Don Ross. The 66-year-old Alaskan took off from Fairbanks on his cross-country “Ride for the Planet” bike tour on Oct. 3.

He figures that he'll draw more recognition about the problems of global warming if he makes his ride in the winter.

Ross has made it south to Eugene, Oregon, so far.

Riding a Giant bicycle and pulling a loaded BOB trailer, Ross plans to continue to San Francisco before striking east to Washington DC by Earth Day…..

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/21/drawing-attention-to-global-warming-on-winter-bike-tour/

World bike traveler Heinz Stücke to visit Canada in 2010

A 45-minute interview with Heinz Stücke is now posted online at TravellingTwo website. He talks about where he's been, how bicycle travel has changed over past 40 years, and what he thinks about bike paths.

At 70 years old, Heinz Stücke is still going strong.

The German bike traveler who holds the Guinness Book of World Records title as “most traveled man in history” is swinging by Canada later this year.

The TravellingTwo blog interviewed Stücke recently for a podcast that will be aired soon. They note that after bicycling in northern Canada, he'll begin visiting island-nations to qualify for the Guinness Book record of stepping foot on every country on Earth.

While Stücke just turned 70 on Jan. 11, he's been traveling by bicycle since 1962. He's logged more than 350,000 miles in nearly a 50-year span, mostly on the same bicycle …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/20/world-bike-traveler-heinz-stucke-to-visit-canada-in-2010/

“80 for Haiti” bike ride will raise money for disaster relief

Bicyclists can raise money for the Haitian disaster relief effort by joining a bike ride across the rolling terrain of southeastern San Diego County on Feb. 13.

The charity bike ride is named “80 for Haiti.” Organizer Chris Kostman notes the 80-mile bike ride mostly follows historic Highway 80. There's minimal traffic, no traffic lights and just a few stop signs.

The entire entry fee of $80, or more if you wish, goes directly to Mercy Corps, a non-profit that's on the ground in the earthquake zone in Port-au-Prince.

Chris is president of AdventureCorps, which is absorbing all the costs; they're looking for co-sponsors to supply food and water. AdventureCorps produces and promotes ultra-endurance and extreme sports events such as the Furnace Creek 508, Death Valley Century and Double, and Mount Laguna Bicycle Classic<.

I asked Chris why he's getting involved in this effort ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/19/80-for-haiti-bike-ride-will-raise-money-for-disaster-relief/

More gran fondos in 2010 for recreational and amateur cyclists


2009 Gran Fondo San Diego

Bicyclists don't have to travel to Italy to participate in the cycling phenomenon known as gran fondos any more. There are plenty scheduled in the US and Canada in 2010.

I've stumbled across six more gran fondos — in California, Colorado, Oregon and British Columbia — since I first reported on the sudden surge in the events back in December: “Gran Fondo bike rides gain popularity in the US”.

That brings to 17 the number of gran fondos available to cyclists in North America.

I've compiled a list of all 17, their dates and locations at a new page: “2010 North American Gran Fondo bike rides.” Check it out soon if you're interested in joining in, these rides are known to fill up fast.

Three of the new rides are slated in Colorado by sports marketing firm Cyclosportivo N.A…..

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/14/more-gran-fondos-in-2010-for-recreational-and-amateur-cyclists/

Bike tour across Asia leads to school project in Nepal

Sometimes a chance encounter made while traveling by bicycle can lead to a life-long undertaking.

Such is the case of Mike Church, 27, whose 10,000-mile bike tour across Europe and Asia with a small group of bicyclists has led to the founding and maintenance of a school in a part of Nepal that is far off the tourist track.

The Mikey Medium English School, named for Church, opened in 2008 with funds provided in lieu of wedding gifts to Church's marriage to Ali Sharp. Since then, Church's parents have helped their son raise funds for the project. Church grew up in Davidsonville, Maryland, and is now a graduate student in Montana.

Interviewed in the Annapolis Capital, Church said:

“It just goes to show you how surprisingly easy it is to make a difference. It's a wonderful thing. My parents and I have supplied the school, but it's not a heroic deed. In the grand scheme of things, it's a minor and painless exercise ……

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/10/bike-tour-across-asia-leads-to-school-project-in-nepal/

TransAmerica bike tour in 6 minutes 18 seconds

If the winter weather is getting to you, this video should remind you that good bicycle traveling days are ahead.

This 6:18-minute video is a compilation of photos taken on the Bike the US for MS 2009 cross-country bike tour from Virginia to Oregon that raised $25,000 for the charity.

According to Adventure Cycling Association's Bike Bits newsletter, MS biker Bret Taylor attached a digital camera to his bicycle and set it to shoot an image every 5 miles. He strung the images together ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/07/transamerica-bike-tour-in-6-minutes-18-seconds/

Dutchman to complete TransAmerica bike ride 34 years late

Dutchman Frank van Dijk has a bike ride to finish.

Frank visited the US in 1976 to ride his bicycle cross-country that first Bikecentennial summer.

The 23-year-old joined hundreds who streamed from coast-to-coast to celebrate the nation's 200th birthday on routes mapped by what later became the Adventure Cycling Association.

Except Frank didn't finish.

A motorist struck Frank while he pedaled through Kansas. His head smashed through the windshield and his body sprawled across the hood of the car.

He spent several days in a hospital in a coma and suffered various fractures, contussions and lacerations. Then he returned to Holland ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/24/dutchman-to-complete-transamerica-bike-ride-34-years-late/

Signs of the times for bicycling

Didn't Bob Dylan sing “…the signs, they are a-changin'”?

Maybe not, but I couldn't get that song out of my head when I read at Bike Portland that the feds were establishing new guidelines for signs and road markings that included changes that effect bike riders.

While some of the improvements deal with freeway signs and traffic signals, many changes involved making bike lane markings more uniform and establishing common signs for bike routes and paths.

The ones at left caught my attention at first.

The U.S. Bicycle Route signs will be used on the 50,000-mile bike route corridor network being established by Adventure Cycling Association and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation officials.

Those bike route designations are already being used for USBR 1 and 76 in Virginia. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/18/signs-of-the-times-for-bicycling/

Gran Fondo bike rides gain popularity in US

–Updated with more gran fondo events–

Bridge2

Amateur cyclists and recreational bicyclists in the US and Canada will get more opportunities to participate in Italian-style gran fondo bike rides in 2010.

Nearly a dozen gran fondo bike rides are scheduled next year in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ontario.

Cyclists appear to be hungry for such events.

When 3-time Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer launched a gran fondo-style bike ride in Santa Rosa last October, 3,500 cyclists signed up.

Word must have spread among cyclists, because when online registration opened on Tuesday for the October 2010 King Ridge Gran Fondo — 10 months before the event — half the 6,000 spots were reserved the first day.

In addition to Leipheimer's event in Santa Rosa, the Tour of California is sponsoring two gran fondos along the course of two Tour stages before the race in April. Centurion Cycling  is launching its first season of gran fondo with rides in California, Colorado and Wisconsin, and Gran Fondo USA is offering rides in San Diego and Philadelphia next year …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/18/gran-fondo-bike-rides-gain-popularity-in-us/