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Scorched Winter Video By Bjorn

Frontage Roads — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:02:49 GMT

I was lucky to meet 3 of the riders in this video while in Homer, Alaska. These are my kind of people. Oh, and look close for Camille the dog too! Enjoy. Scorched Winter from Bjørn on Vimeo.

County Road K, Wisconsin

Bike Potatoes — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:01:12 GMT

One Morning In Lisbon

Bike Around the World — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:31:02 GMT

Posted with Blogsy

BikePacking 101

Bikewriter's Blog — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:01:10 GMT

It is Bike Month here in our great city and ten hardy individuals weren't going to let a little rain stop them from attending BikePacking 101. The instructor was an old codger with seemingly lots of BikePacking experience and next to him he had his bike with all the gear a person would need for a unsupported trip.

The audience was equally divided between the sexes and the ages ranged from those in their early twenties to retired individuals. One person rides every day as a bike courier and another is planning to ride across the country. The suggestions they made to the teacher showed that some of them had quite a lot of BikePacking experience and in fact one of them asked where the term "BikePacking" originated?

The tutor explained that BikePacking is simply backpacking on a bike. (The bike wears the pack silly!). Except for the pump, patches, bike tools, cycling shoes, padded shorts and helmet, the equipment is pretty much the same and the gear is stowed in a similar manner to filling a packsac. Pack heavy stuff at the bottom and close to the frame and put items you constantly need in the external pockets.

Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, the BikePacking coach kept pulling out an limitless amount of interesting provisions from his panniers but the thing I liked best was the elastic netting that could be placed over all the accessories. The strong spider web elastic bands would ensure that nothing falls out. The leader described how his cycling partner lost his tent on a trip and had to squeeze into someone else's two man tent for the rest of the trip. I could then understand the value of having a midget sized one man tent.

Everybody gets their own tent

At the end of the demonstration, the trainer handed out bike themed stickers and it reminded me of a prize my brother and I received for belonging to our church choir. Choir members were rewarded for being the best soloist or best tenor or best harmonist. What do you give two boys who can't sing or hold their attention to the song sheet in front of them? You award them stickers for best attendance.

They've replaced the trucks with these cute little...

Susan & Jeff's Adventure Blog — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:31:59 GMT

They've replaced the trucks with these cute little electric vehicles

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Susan & Jeff's Adventure Blog — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:31:30 GMT

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Day Two: Spoke Day

Bike Potatoes — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:31:04 GMT

And onto our second day! We got up around 5:30 and had some wonderful oatmeal with peanut butter breakfast. We got on the road about 7:00 and 30 miles in the road became extremely hilly. Which, on a tandem, or … Continue reading →

The Flying Folding Bike!

Folding Bike Travels — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:01:20 GMT

Just when you thought you've seen it all... Indeed, soon you can travel and fly with your folding bicycle! The tent is an option...

From their webiste:
"This is a brand new type of ultra-light aircraft – the combination of a para wing and conventional bicycle we call paravelo.

The paravelo is aimed at those who have a thirst for adventure, but are without, perhaps, the storage space or bank balance to accommodate a helicopter. As well suited to someone living in London as Mojave, we believe the paravelo can transform the way we travel for work, leisure and adventure".
More info on Kickstarter.

Diseñan un sillín que evita lesiones asociadas a órganos genitales

el de la dahon — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:31:11 GMT

Investigadores de la UA diseñan un sillín para bicicleta que evita rozaduras, dolores y lesiones asociadas a órganos genitales

Investigadores de la Universidad de Alicante han desarrollado un novedoso sillín para bicicleta que evita rozaduras, dolores y otras lesiones asociadas a los órganos genitales como la impotencia y la prostatitis.

Se trata de un sillín articulado abatible cuya parte anterior estrecha, y la parte posterior ancha, de apoyo del coxis, se unen articuladamente. La parte anterior es móvil, mientras que la parte posterior es fija, pudiendo ambas modificar su posición relativa a voluntad del usuario.

Este nuevo concepto de sillín para bicicletas ha sido diseñado y patentado por investigadores pertenecientes al Instituto Universitario de Física Aplicada a las Ciencias y las Tecnologías y el Departamento de Física Aplicada de la Escuela Politécnica de la UA.

El investigador de la UA, Alfonso Panchón Ruiz, responsable de la investigación, ha explicado que "la principal ventaja de este nuevo diseño respecto a los sillines tradicionales, es que permite, a voluntad del usuario, el descanso y la recuperación de la fatiga de las partes perineales que sufren una compresión intensa y duradera para la cual no están diseñadas anatómicamente".

"El sillín de bicicleta clásico tiene una estructura unitaria, formado por un cuerpo rígido en sentido antero-posterior que hace que, permanentemente, los tejidos de la zona perineal, blandos y no preparados para soportar estas fuerzas, se vean comprimidos, independientemente de la posición que adopte el usuario. Por esta razón, al poco tiempo de iniciar el ejercicio, los nervios y las arterias alcanzan valores elevados de compresión, lo que provoca problemas asociados a la falta de irrigación sanguínea, por ejemplo, entumecimiento y afecciones de los órganos genitales, tanto en hombres como en mujeres y a largo plazo, pueden aparecen patologías importantes que necesiten tratamiento médico", añade Alfonso Panchón.

Hasta la fecha, sólo se han encontrado dos soluciones para resolver este problema, o bien levantarse sobre los pedales, en un pedaleo típico, visible tanto en las carreras profesionales como en los gimnasios, o bajarse de la bicicleta y ponerse de pie, abandonando de este modo el ejercicio iniciado.

En este sentido, explica Alfonso Panchón "con este

nuevo diseño, no es el usuario el que debe separarse, levantándose del sillín, sino que es el sillín el que se separa girando o desplazándose hacia abajo de la zona perineal del usuario. Se anula así radicalmente la presión sobre dicha zona, mejorando de forma inmediata la irrigación sanguínea de las zonas afectadas, con la consiguiente recuperación funcional de los tejidos referidos.

Otra de las ventajas, es que usuario no pierde la capacidad de control del equilibrio en la conducción, independientemente de las condiciones de uso, carrera profesional, paseo, gimnasio, montaña, etc., y le permite realizar movimientos laterales nuevos en la parte anterior móvil así como recuperar a voluntad e inmediatamente el sillín completo y tradicional con un ligero movimiento inverso al inicial.

Asimismo, este modelo del sillín, se pueden liberar más de diez centímetros, espacio libre entre el sillín y el manillar, que pueden ser aprovechados con ventaja competitiva en los descensos, ya que admite mantener una postura aerodinámica en pendientes muy pronunciadas.

El equipo de investigación dispone de un prototipo que permite comprobar las bondades médico-sanitarias y aerodinámicas de este novedoso concepto de sillín. Actualmente, no existe nada similar en el mercado, por lo que se trata de una tecnología con grandes posibilidades de comercialización internacional.

Visto en: web.ua

Back to my roots - back into mountain biking!

http://cycleslogger.blogspot.com/ — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:15:59 GMT

So after a long hiatus from the mountain bike world, I am back in. I started my 'grownup' bicycle riding in 1981 with the purchase of a mountain bike. I had just graduated from High School and was totally into my car ('70 Ford Mustang Fastback), cruising northern California towns on weekend nights, and flipping pizzas to make living. At that point, I had likely not been on a bicycle since I got my license to drive and all of a sudden - what would become the biggest revolution to bicycling, mountain biking came onto the scene. It all started in Northern California in Marin County with the founding fathers Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze and Charlie Kelly modifying old klunker bicycles to be able to be ridden over dirt roads and trails. So, I got the mountain bike bug.

These guys came up with the Repack Road Down Hill Race (the first ever mountain bike race) and the race was so named because the route was so steep (1300 feet in less than 2.1 miles) that at the end of a race, the coaster brakes were so blazing hot, they had cooked the grease out of the rear hub and the hub needed to be repacked!

Here is a pick of a rider (George Newman) coming down Repack in 1976. See the bike? Old klunker, modified for dirt. This started the entire mountain bike world we have today!

If you want more history on Repack Road - here is a link.

Repack Road History

Here is a magazine cover from 2009 with Charlie Kelly, Gary Fisher and Joe Breeze... GODFATHERS of DIRT!

Please check out these links for a good history of how these guys and mountain biking got started in Marin county on Repack Road. Good stuff!

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame

Charlie Kelly website

So... my first bike was a 1981 Bianchi Grizzly. Mine did have a seat however.

In 1982 I moved up the ladder a bit and bought a Specialized Stumpjumper frameset and transferred the components from the Grizz to the Stumper.

I road this beautiful machine for about 4 years and then for some reason wanted an aluminum mountain bike since that seemed to be all the rage at the time. So I bought a Cannondale.

Pretty cheesy color scheme! Mine was a nice baby blue actually.

So, I had this aluminum fascination going on and it seemed quite exotic and I loved the big tubes look. So, my next bike was again al-yoo-mineeum and I bought a Klein Pinnacle! Oh man Klein was the bomb for me back then.

I had the Klein for about 10 years, well into the period where front suspension was becoming common place and 'hard tails' were de rigueur! So I sold the Klein and needed to jump into the next phase and it indeed was a hard tail... a Rocky Mountain Vertex.

I rode that bike up until about 2006 and never really felt very comfortable on it. It just felt a little twitchy. So, I sold it and moved into the road bike phase of my by-pedal hobby.

So, fast forward to 2013 and this is the new machine in my stable.

Its a full suspension 29er XC machine from the venerable mountain bike builder Santa Cruz!

So after the road bike-slash-touring season wraps up and I do the Vines to Bitterroots tour... I'll kick off my summer of XC riding! Yes!