Young Living currently has four farms and distilleries where their products are grown and produced. Those four farms are located in:

• Mona, Utah, USA
• St. Maries, Idaho, USA
• Simiane-la-Rotonde, France
• Guayaquil, Ecuador

This past June I had the opportunity to tour the Mona, Utah farm along with my parents who have been a part of the company for several years. The photos below were taken during my tour – on a day in which thousands of people from all over the world also came to also get a tour of the farm and take part in a large, multi-day Young Living conference.

Related Posts

• What Is The Most Amount Of Weight You Have Ever Lost On A Bike Trip?
• Bicycle Radio Interviews The Bicycle Touring Pro

After spending two months last year living in Luzern, Switzerland and traveling by bike through numerous Swiss cities, I decided to ride my bike to Midway and check out this year’s Midway Swiss Days festivities. I had hopped to meet some German speaking individuals at the event, but I was unsuccessful in meeting even one person who knew how to speak the German language.

The photos below were taken during the 2010 Swiss Days Parade. Announcers at the event were speculating that as many as 70,000 – 100,000 people would attend the Swiss Days festivities over the Labor Day Weekend.

Other Articles You Should Read

• Introducing The New BicycleTouringPro.com Newsletter
• Bike Doctor iPhone App – Learn Bicycle Repair
• Bicycling To The Beach With A Book
• Sea To Summit Titanium Spork
• Barend Dronkers – First Time Solo Cycle Tourist: A Macedonian Encounter

This winter I am going to be renting out my condo in Park City, Utah… and it could be yours if you act fast!

Please visit the following link for pictures and more information: http://darrenalff.com/park-city-condo/

My plan this winter is to spend a few months traveling in South America. But in order to do that, I need to rent out my condo in Park City, Utah (USA).

I bought this 1-bedroom, 1-bath condo almost five years ago and since that time have used the place as my home base during my local and international travels.

This winter, however, I want to rent the condo out for 6-12 months so I can travel about in South America.

If you like to ski, snowboard, ice skate, hike, fish, or ride a bicycle, then Park City, Utah is where you want to be! Park City was the location of the 2002 Winter Olympics, it is the annual host of the Sundance Film Festival, and it is the location for three of America’s best ski resorts: Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort, and The Canyons. You will never get bored in this city!

If you follow Bicycle Touring Pro on Facebook, you’ve probably seen some of the photos I’ve taken in and around Park City. This place is really beautiful!

That said, I’m trying to find someone like you who would be interested in renting my condo this winter for at least 6 months or more.

If you are interested… or you know of someone else who might be interested in renting my place, please get in touch with me as soon as possible. To see more photos of my condo and to see a detailed description of the place and everything that is included, please visit my personal website at DarrenAlff.com.

Watch the video below for even more info…

If you have any questions about renting my Park City condo, please don’t be afraid to contact me. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.

Related Posts

• How To Run 22 Miles With No Training Whatsoever
• Photos From The 4th Annual Utah Olympic Park Hill Climb
• Running With Ed: 41-Mile Park City Relay Race
• Park City Olympic Athlete Parade
• How To Carry Skis On A Bicycle

The Race Across America is arguably the most difficult bicycle race in the world. It takes riders from Oceanside, California across more than 3,000 miles of diverse terrain and finishes less than 10 days later in Annapolis, Maryland. Race participants ride non-stop, with support crews in chase, and often times go for days on end without the slightest bit of sleep.

It is no surprise then, that a book chronicling the story of the Race Across America was published with the title, “The United States Of Delirium: The Story Of The Race Across America.”

With photos by Lorne Bridgman and text by David Houghton, The United State of Delirium is an impressive collection of photos, stories, history and racer profiles, chronicling both the beauty and pure insanity that is the Race Across America.

I could go on and do my best to explain to you what the Race Across America really is and how it came about, but I think author David Houghton says it best on the book’s very first page:

September 1976

John Marino was leafing through the Guinness Book of World Records when, by chance, he came across the United States coast-to-coast cycling record. Set by Peter Duker in 1972, the record stood at 18 days, 2 hours and 20 minutes. Marino, a baseball player who’d been drafted by the L.A. dodgers before a career-ending back injury, set his mind to breaking the transcontinental cycling record. After two years of training and preparation, Marino set off on August 26th 1978, and knocked five days off Duker’s time, crossing the country in 13 days, 1 hour and 20 minutes. He then went on to beat his own record two years later with a time of 12 days, 3 hours and 41 minutes.

Lon Haldeman, a lanky endurance cycling from Harvard, Illinois, had been tracking Marino’s successes. In 1981, Haldeman beat Marino’s record with a time of 10 days, 23 hours 27 minutes. For added emphasis, Haldeman beat Marino’s best while completing a couple transcontinental, an ambitious back-to-back traverse of the United States from east to west, then west to east.

By this time, Marino had begun to entertain the idea of a head-to-head transcontinental race. The challenge was dubbed The Great American Bike Race, a name suggested by Stuart John Meyers, editor of American Bicyclist magazine. In 1982, Marino set off from the Santa Monica pier, bound for New York City, with the only three competitors willing to join him: Lon Haldeman, Michael Shermer and John Howard. Shermer, a small, bearded rider from Tustin, California, had just set a new Seattle-to Los Angeles cycling record. Texan John Howard was a three-time Iron-man champion who had been anointed Cycling magazin’es Cyclist of the Decade for the 1970s.

Haldeman won The Great American Bike Race in 9 days, 20 hours and 2 minutes. Marino had to settle for fourth place, but his head-to-head competition had knocked a full day off the transcontinental record. Renamed the Race Across America (RAAM), the race has been run every year since.

The race has grown to include many categories. The first solo woman’s division was introduced in 1984, the first four-person teams in 1989, and the first eight person teams in 2003. The race now includes a staggering array of divisions, including 2 Person Tandem Men, 4 Person Team Recumbent and 8 Person HPV (Human Powered Vehicle). YEt at its core, the Race Across America still clings tightly to John Marino’s vision. It is a race of solitary men and women struggling with internal and external forces, those they can control and those they cannot, fighting fatigue and enduring physical pain as they ride more than three thousand miles across America virtually nonstop, a notion as big and audacious as America itself.

The United States Of Delirium is a beautiful book splashed with wonderful stories, detailed historical information and incredible photographs. Half pictures and half text, The United States Of Delerium is a book that truly captures the spirit of the Race Across America - in both its wonder and its pain.

For more information on the book, or to pick up a copy of the text for yourself, head on over to www.theunitedstatesofdelirium.com

Related Posts

• Live Video Recording: Discussing The Katy Trail & More!
• Bicycle Dreams: A Documentary Film About The Race Across America

Each year, during the freezing cold month of February, the Swiss people take to the streets of Luzern, Switzerland dressed in costume for a near week-long celebration known as Fasnacht. During this time, the sounds of Guggenmusik fill the air and the carnival stretches on into the early morning hours.

The video above shows some of the Guggenmusik festivities that took place while I was living in Luzern at the time of the 2009 Fasnacht festivities.

Related Posts

• 61 Winter Photos Of Lucerne Switzerland
• Living In Luzern, Switzerland
• Amazing Fasnacht Costumes From Luzern Switzerland
• Breaking Tradition. A Different Type Of “Bicycle Touring”
• Video From My First Day In Luzern, Switzerland