FEB 2016 - FTP Directory Listing
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FEB 2016 - FTP Directory Listing
$6.95 FEB 2016 Vol.43 No.1 COLORADO IS CALLING 10 A publication of ADVENTURE CYCLING ASSOCIATION CYCLE ADIRONDACKS 20 LONG LIVE COLOMBIA 28 Ready to Ride TOURS & EVENTS ISSUE Discover Your Park by Bicycle on September 24 4OTH ANNIVERSARY Pedal Your Park Make Bicycling Memories Explore national parks, state parks, and other public lands in your backyard by bike on September 24, 2016. Bring your friends and family and join the celebration of the National Park Service's Centennial, Adventure Cycling's 40th, and National Public Lands Day on this free entrance day in some parks. Visit our website for resources, ambassadors in your area, and to register your ride! #Bikeyourpark #findyourpark ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG/bikeyourpark 4 CELEBRATING YEARS Letter from the Editor THE START OF SOMETHING BIG Volume 43 kicks off 40 years of Adventure Cycling CONTRIBUTORS ➺ You’re holding the first issue of 2016, which promises to be a big year for Adventure Cycling as we celebrate our 40th anniversary. You’ll be seeing plenty of 40th-related content this year with some amazing stories from our past and present and a look into the bright future. On that topic, just days before you receive this (we hope!), we’ll have sent our biggest-ever print project off to the presses — a coffee-table book celebrating 40 years of the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail as the backbone of long-distance bicycle touring in North America. Created by Co-Founder Greg Siple and 40-year staffer Mac McCoy, it represents a massive undertaking by those two and many others, and we’re extremely excited to share the finished product in a few months. In Adventure Cyclist, we’re kicking off the year with a big announcement of our own as we welcome new technical editor Nick Legan to the magazine. Nick’s an incredible addition and brings experience that includes stints as a professional mechanic, bike shop owner, technical editor at VeloNews, and Tour Divide racer. He’s got big shoes to fill — we’ve been privileged to print tech insight from giants like John Schubert and Sheldon Brown — but we know he’s up to the task. Nick will be writing Cyclesense columns in the magazine (page 44) and online, directing technical coverage, and playing a huge role in April's Cyclists’ Travel Guide. Last but certainly not least, you may have seen the launch of a new online story platform for Adventure Cyclist back in early January. If you haven’t, head over to adventurecycling.org/features to see what we think is a magazine-worthy online reading experience and another channel to share incredible stories of bicycle travel. We hope to be publishing these features regularly, and that you’ll mark them as essential reading above and beyond the pages of the magazine. Welcome to Volume 43. Alex Strickland Editor-in-Chief, Adventure Cyclist [email protected] Volume 43 Number 1 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG Nobody's ever accused BERNE BROUDY of being a couch potato. After riding Cycle Adirondacks (page 20) last fall, she left for mountain biking adventures in Canada, Nevada, and Colorado, before hopping a flight to Chile for more riding and hiking. Then it was briefly home to Vermont before jetting to Nepal. "Now I am back in Vermont processing pics and catching up on writing!" See more of her work at authenticoutdoors.com. LEAD DESIGNER Cassie Nelson COPY EDITOR Phyllis Picklesimer EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alex Strickland [email protected] CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Willie Weir Patrick O’Grady Dan D’Ambrosio Jan Heine June Siple Josh Tack COPY COORDINATOR Dan Meyer ART DIRECTOR Greg Siple [email protected] TECHNICAL EDITOR Nick Legan EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael Deme [email protected] FEBRUARY 2016 GAGE POORE might be the most-read (he's certainly the most-bylined) writer in Adventure Cyclist as the man behind the "Open Road Gallery" each issue. Gage sits down with Co-Founder Greg Siple once a month to tell the stories of some of our most memorable visitors. This, of course, when he's not interacting with members in real life as Adventure Cycling's Membership Database Assistant. The result is a timeless collection of vignettes showcasing the characters out on the road — and the reason many readers start at the back of each issue. ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Rick Bruner 509.493.4930 [email protected] 03 contents VOLUME 43 ∞ NUMBER 1 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG FEBRUARY 2016 20 is America’s only magazine dedicated to bicycle travel. It is published nine times each year by the Adventure Cycling Association, a nonprofit service organization for recreational bicyclists. Individual membership costs $40 yearly to U.S. addresses and includes a subscription to Adventure Cyclist and discounts on Adventure Cycling maps. For more information about Adventure Cycling Association and Adventure Cyclist magazine, visit adventurecycling.org or call 800.755.2453. SUBMISSIONS INFORMATION: Adventure Cyclist accepts stories, articles, and photographs for publication from various sources. We publish stories about bicycle travel and other recreational cycling subjects but do not cover competitive cycling. If you are interested in submitting a story or article to Adventure Cyclist, please visit us online at adventurecycling.org/submit for further information and guidelines. CURRENT ISSUE NOTES: “We begin each volume of Adventure Cyclist with an issue focused on supported tours and event rides from around the globe. You’ll find plenty of that here, but we could’ve just as easily called this the Mountain Issue. From the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to Colombia's Cordillera de los Andes, with a sprinkling of San Juan Island hills and Adirondack rollers, it seems our contributors had climbing on the brain. Here's to hard-earned descents and tailwinds in 2016." – Cassie Nelson Lead Designer, Adventure Cyclist OUR COVER: Dwarfed by cliffs, the road through the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland offers the best of both worlds: an easy ride and towering Alps. Photo by Stephanie Ridenour 04 ADVENTURE CYCLIST features COLORADO IS CALLING 10 FERRY US ALONG 36 ➺ Rediscovering the mountains on Ride the Rockies. by Kristen Legan CYCLE ADIRONDACKS 20 ➺ The Wildlife Conservation Fund’s inaugural bike tour surprises and delights. by Berne Broudy ➺ A week in Washington's San Juan Islands. by Alex Strickland A REASON TO RIDE 54 ➺ New York’s Empire State Ride offers stunning scenery and a chance to help the fight against cancer. by Dan D’Ambrosio TO LIV 56 LONG LIVE COLOMBIA 28 RIDE ➺ Giant CFO committed to ➺ Think Colombia's not safe for cyclists? Think again. by Simon Willis f e b r u a r y 2 016 women’s cycling. by Berne Broudy 36 10 This Month Online ➺ For more Adventure Cyclist-related content, be sure to visit our website at adventurecycling.org/adventure-cyclist. 28 DEPARTMENTS LETTERS COLUMNS 08 Waypoints 03 LETTER from the Editor 44 Cyclesense Nick Legan 06 LETTER from the Director 45 Fine Tuned Josh Tack 07 LETTERS from our Readers 46 Road Test Patrick O'Grady Elephant National Forest Explorer 18 Event Ride Table 42 The Final Mile 58 Donor Profile 60 Marketplace/Classifieds 66 C ompanions Wanted 67 O pen Road Gallery NINER RLT STEEL Go fast, go far, or do both. $2,500 NEW ONLINE FEATURE STORIES After many months of tinkering, Adventure Cyclist launched a pair of online feature stories in January. The magazine-style experience looks great on screens from mobile to tablet to desktop. Visit adventurecycling.org/ features and let us know what you think. 50 Road Test Nick Legan Niner RLT Steel 50 ID-WINTER GEAR M With temperatures all over the place so far this winter, you might be putting in big off-season miles or curled up by the fire. Either way, we've got gear for the season at adventurecycling.org/0216-gear. @xxxxxxxxxxxx: Tk tk tk tk tk @Danbaileyphoto: @advcyclingassoc tk tk in tk Psyched to be featured tk@advcyclingassoc tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tkMag tk tk tkthis tk tk tk tk tk tk tkmy tk tk month! From triptk tk tk @trvlingvagabond tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tkand tk with tk tk tk tk tk tk tk! @JoshSpiceAK. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG @xxxxxxxxx: Tk tk @RockyPumpkin: It's tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk a fabulous day when a tk tk tk tk tk tk tk @ package from these guys advcyclingassoc. Tk tk tk shows up! tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk @advcyclingassoc tk tk tk tk tk tk. #SantaAlert 05 Letter from the Director FEBRUARY 2016 Volume 43 Number 1 adventurecycling.org MISSION Adventure Cycling Association inspires and empowers people to travel by bicycle. CONNECTING Meeting our members where you are ➺ Investor Warren Buffett once said, “You will never see eye-to-eye if you never meet face-to-face.” For Adventure Cycling, I would paraphrase that to say, “you will never understand your members if you never meet face-to-face.” That’s why, when I started this job 11 years ago, I instituted road-show–style events that we call “Regional Gatherings.” At these events, we invite members and other folks interested in bike travel to meet with me or other Adventure Cycling staff — to mingle, to share what’s going on with the organization, and to get feedback. We’ve now done hundreds of these all over the U.S. and Canada, and it has been fantastic to meet with tens of thousands of members and cycling enthusiasts in a wide array of settings. Going into 2016, we’ve really upped the outreach for our 40th anniversary to get people excited about all the events, new routes and tours, and advocacy campaigns taking place in this special year. In the last three months alone, we’ve hosted a dozen gatherings from St. Louis, Des Moines, and the Twin Cities to Burlington, Vermont, Irvine, California, and Rockville, Maryland. More than 1,000 people attended these events, the most recent being an anniversary kick-off party in Manhattan, right near Herald Square, sponsored in part by Raleigh Bicycles, Gotham Bike Tours, and Brooklyn Brewery. In fact I want to acknowledge the critical role that businesses (like REI, Park Tool, and Arriving by Bike and Velo Cult in Oregon) and non-profits (like Santa Monica Spoke, Local Motion in Vermont, Potomac Pedalers, and St. Louis Bicycle Works) play in supporting these events. I also want to salute the volunteers who do much of the organizing. Most recently, they include Susan Yuen of Brooklyn (procuring food for 06 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 AREAS OF FOCUS Provide the premier tools and inspiration for people to travel by bicycle. Expand and integrate bike travel networks for North America. Create the best possible conditions for bicycle travel. HOW TO REACH US To join, change your address, or ask questions about membership, visit us online at adventurecycling.org or call 800.755.2453 or 406.721.1776. EMAIL [email protected] SUBSCRIPTION ADDRESS Adventure Cycling Association P.O. Box 8308 Missoula, MT 59807 HEADQUARTERS Adventure Cycling Association 150 E. Pine St. Missoula, MT 59802 Stopping by the Old Spokes Home bicycle museum on a trip to Burlington, Vermont, in November — Museum founder Glenn Eames (far right), Pierre Swick (life member, far left), Christine Hill (museum outreach director, center) and Jim (second from left). 150 people!), Becky Riley (fighting bureaucratic thickets to get a venue in Irvine), Cynthia Rose (organizing a cool event in the Santa Monica Breeze bike share warehouse), and Alice Charkes (creating a warm, wonderful event at an elementary school in Brattleboro, Vermont). We couldn’t do it without these dedicated people. Above all, thanks to you and all our members who come out for the gatherings. It’s so nice to meet face-toface, get your greetings, and hear your thoughts. And please keep coming. In the next three months, we’ll continue our outreach — in Indianapolis, Seattle (at the Bike Expo), Northern California (including at Sea Otter), Montana, Oregon, and Tennessee. We look forward to seeing you at a gathering, at an anniversary event, or simply on the road. Here’s to the rest of winter — and the onset of spring! Jim Sayer Executive Director [email protected] STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jim Sayer [email protected] CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER Sheila Snyder, CPA MEMBERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT Julie Huck Annette Stahelin Gage Poore Josh Tack Brian Bonham April Cypher DESIGN & MEDIA Michael Deme Greg Siple Michael McCoy Casey Greene Cassie Nelson Alex Strickland Lisa McKinney Brink Kuchenbrod Jim McTighe Dan Meyer IT DEPARTMENT John Sieber Richard Darne David Barth TOURS Arlen Hall Mandy Hale Linda Baldwin Emma Wimmer Whitney Ford-Terry ROUTES AND MAPPING Carla Majernik Jennifer Milyko Nathan Taylor Melissa Thompson Travis Switzer Jamie Robertson SALES AND MARKETING Teri Maloughney TRAVEL INITIATIVES Virginia Sullivan Saara Snow Eva Dunn-Froebig CYCLOSOURCE Patrick Finley Brent Starnes ADMINISTRATION Geoff McMillion OFFICE MANAGER Beth Petersen BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Wally Werner VICE PRESIDENT Donna O’Neal SECRETARY Andy Baur TREASURER Andy Huppert BOARD MEMBERS Todd Copley Jennifer Garst George Mendes Jeff Miller Mike Dillon Jenny Park Joyce Casey Bonnie O'Donnell Letters from our Readers SUPPORT THE C&O LET’S GO C&O Thanks for writing about “The Challenge of the C&O” in the December/January Adventure Cyclist. My wife and I are Canadians and after cycling in various states and parks, decided to ride the Great Allegheny and C&O route from Pittsburgh to Washington in June 2015 (with Bubba’s Pampered Pedalers, a truly great group.) We really enjoyed the scenery, history, and people along the route. Sorry to say not all of our holiday was such a great experience. On Day Five in Maryland, we hit a water-filled pot hole (one of many) on the tow path and went down on our recumbent tandem. Unfortunately, my wife Elizabeth dislocated her ankle and broke all the bones. That day was spent in hospital and the next two days getting back to our car in Pittsburgh, and then home to Ontario where she had surgery and various metal devices implanted. The last five months have been in physio and the gym, and all our travel plans for the summer canceled. We hope that your article will fall on ears of the money givers — government and private — to aid in improvements on such a great and historic route. Jerry Daminato | Guelph, Ontario A great issue from Zeke Gerwein to Ben Horan and Greg Siple, to Dan D'Ambrosio's article on the C&O Canal. No story about the canal would be complete without reference to the late Mr. Justice Douglas, who saved the canal from the Three Sisters bridge proposal. I think you will find, however, that George Washington had little to do with the C&O Canal. Rather, his Pawtowmack Canal Company built five by-pass canals ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG around unnavigable falls; the remnants of one can still be seen on the Virginia side at Great Falls. The C&O Canal Company, being incorporated in Maryland, did not have the power of eminent domain, and so land acquisition delayed construction of the canal. It is ironic that the same day that John Quincy Adams turned the first shovel-full in Georgetown, Charles Carroll of Carrolton drove the first spike on the B&O Railroad in Baltimore. The Canal did not survive the flood of 1924, but the railroad is still chugging along. Bill Malone | New Canaan, Connecticut Editor’s Note: You can read more about Washington's involvement (or lack thereof) at nps.gov/choh/learn/education/ georgewashingtonsinfluence.htm. DISCLOSURE DISPLEASURE, PART II I agree entirely with a recent letter that authors of travel adventures MUST indicate what they received from the travel company (airfare, free registration, honorarium, etc). The magazine can say that no promises were made to the company, but, without the disclosure, your stand is contrary to the trust of your readers. One has to wonder if there was an article that was submitted in which the author had a negative experience and was published. I doubt it, so there is a suspected bias in the reporting of such articles. Stanford Lamberg | Baltimore, Maryland In the December/January edition of Adventure Cyclist, member Phil Blumenkrantz asked for a full disclosure of sponsors in the articles published by Adventure Cyclist. I felt that your reply was less than adequate. I retired after 36 years in the medical profession. Every lecture and published article had a disclosure statement and if there was no disclosure the article or lecture was questioned for validity. It was part of the professional duty. Adventure Cyclist needs to have the same professional quality. I am tired of reading articles in bicycling journals that appear to be infomercials for various products. Adventure Cycling Association is the leader in this country for bicycle travel, Adventure Cyclist should be the leader in published articles that we, the members, look to for accurate, unbiased information for our next adventures. Louis Melini | Salt Lake City, Utah Editor’s Note: Initiated by Mr. Blumenkrantz’s letter a few months ago and bolstered by many thoughtful responses to it, we’re taking a closer look at how we can change processes and presentation to best serve our readers. CORRECTIONS: • A Victoria Cycles custom bike pictured on page 35 of December/January’s “State of the Art” rolls on 29” wheels, not 26” as the article stated. We still want one very badly. • The Boo bike on page 30 of that issue is a custom Boo RS-M, made for Don Daly, also a member of the Dirty Dogs long-distance gravel racing group. Your letters are welcome. We may edit letters for length and clarity. If you do not want your comments to be printed in Adventure Cyclist, please state so clearly. Include your name and address with your correspondence. Email your comments, questions, or letters to [email protected] or mail to Editor, Adventure Cyclist, P.O. Box 8308, Missoula, MT 59807. 07 WayPoints News you can use from around the world of bicycle travel edited by Alex Strickland & Dan Meyer 1866, Lallement rode 10 miles from Ansonia to New Haven, where he was recorded as the first bicyclist in America. The ICHC will retrace Lallement’s original bike rides, stopping at historical locations and holding demonstrations, lectures, and exhibits, all of which are free and open to the public. ICHC attendees will have access to additional lectures. For more information, go to ichc. biz. The International Cycling History Conference (ICHC) returns to the U.S. in 2016 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first bicycle ride in America. The annual event takes place June 25-27, in New Haven, Connecticut. The venue celebrates Frenchman Pierre Lallement’s 1865 ride on his two-wheeled invention from Ansonia, Connecticut, to Derby, a short trip of about four miles. In the spring of 300-MILE ONTARIO GREENBELT ROUTE OPENS Rural route around Toronto suits cyclists ➺ THOUGH its neighboring province, Quebec, gets many of the cycling accolades north of the border, a new greenbelt route in Ontario offers some intriguing cycling opportunities. Since launching in 2015, the network of roads and trails in the Greater Toronto area is well-signed (more than 1,000 signs have been placed) and convenient to a number of the region's residents. Though Toronto is home to more than 2.5 million people, the city is ringed by open space and farmland of almost that many acres. This Greenbelt protects valuable farmland in the province as well as limiting the potential for urban sprawl around Canada’s largest city. That's a recipe for excellent cycling just outside the bustling metropolis. Adventure Cycling’s Lake Erie Connector and Underground Railroad routes both pass within a few miles of the new Greenbelt Route. Learn more at greenbelt.ca. CONGRESS AUTHORIZES $4 BILLION FOR BIKE/WALK PROJECTS 08 ADVENTURE CYCLIST In late December, the U.S. Congress passed the FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation), a fiveyear reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program, the first such long-term transportation bill passed by Congress in more than 10 years. f e b r u a r y 2 016 The FAST Act is the first long-term transportation bill approved by Congress since 2004 and passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 359-65 and the Senate by a vote of 83-16. The new law contains $835 million annually for the first two years, and $850 million annually for the last three years, for bicycle and pedestrian projects. The FAST Act reauthorizes the principal program that enables cities to plan and build bike projects and is a great victory for the bicycle industry. Nationwide, bicycling generates $81 billion for the U.S. economy and supports more than 750,000 jobs. Across the country, there are 4,800 bicycle retailers, 1,895 bicycle suppliers, and thousands of bike tourism-related operators — all businesses that will benefit from the passage of this bill. COURTESY FRIENDS OF THE GREENBELT FOUNDATION GREG SIPLE CONFERENCE BRINGS OLD BIKES TO NEW HAVEN ‘CYCLE REVOLUTION’ IN LONDON Bicycling exhibit takes over London Design Museum COURTESY BEN WILSON ➺ A new exhibition at the Design Museum in London shows off the very coolest, lightest, fastest, and best-looking products created for cyclists from all walks of wheeled life. Running until June 30, 2016, the exhibit features plenty of race-focused rides from Eddy Merckx’s 1972 Hour Record bike to Sir Bradley Wiggins's 2014 World Championship time trial bike. But if extreme carbon and aerodynamics aren’t your thing, there’s plenty for the touring cyclists to gawk at, including the first prototype of a folding Brompton and products from MAC MCCOY ASPEN ALLEY ENTERING ITS AUTUMN As the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route nears its 20th anniversary in 2017 amid a huge boom in bikepacking, one of its most well-known — and well-loved — icons is nearing the end of its run. Aspen Alley, the massive grove of Populus tremuloides near Rawlins, Wyoming, is dying. “Aspen are mature into their 80s. I’ve seen trees that were 120, 130 years old on the forest, but that’s really old for an aspen here. A lot of our west side stands, which Aspen Alley would be, are tending toward that age, more than 100 years old,” Christie Schneider, U.S. Forest Service acting ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG assistant timber program manager, told the Rawlins Daily Times. “The aspen in Aspen Alley have been pretty full of disease and pathogens, rotting inside, for quite a while and it’s now that we are starting to see that stand dying and falling over.” The good news is that just because the old trees in the existing stand are nearing the end, the added sunlight from a thinning canopy could jumpstart new growth to rejuvenate the unique forest. “We hope it will grow and have the beautiful character in the canopy arching. The amount of aspen sprouting is not incredible in there, but we’re hoping for the best as more trees fall,” Schneider said. “We look for a pretty significant number of stems, maybe more than 1,000, to provide a good stand for the future” As the old trees start Brooks England, which has been making saddles and accessories since the middle of the 19th century. Learn more at designmuseum.org/ exhibitions/cycle-revolution. to come down, more wind exposure should make quick work of the remaining rotted trees. But it’s not all bad. “The positive thing is aspen is a very fast growing tree,” Schneider said. “It won’t take long to get that mature characteristic. I would say in five years you could expect trees over six feet tall.” ANNUAL ADVENTURE CYCLING MEMBER SURVEY OPEN NOW Each year, Adventure Cycling offers an online survey for its members in an effort to learn more about your cycling interests and preferences and to receive feedback regarding Adventure Cycling’s services, programs, and resources. "The survey results provide us with muchneeded insight from members: how we are meeting your needs, what is working, and what can be improved," said Adventure Cycling Membership Coordinator Brian Bonham. The 2016 Annual Member Survey can be taken online from February 1 to March 1. The information gained from this survey is one of the most important tools for Adventure Cycling departments and staff when we are planning future activities and programs, so please take 15 minutes of your time to let us know about your experience as a member. To participate in the 2016 Annual Membership Survey, visit adventurecycling.org/ annualsurvey. 09 COLORADO I S C A L L I NG Rediscovering the Mountains on Ride the Rockies STORY BY KRISTEN LEGAN O PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY THE DENVER POST RIDE THE ROCKIES ne more switchback, just a few more minutes, and I’ll be at the top of this stunning mountain climb. It’s not too far, just take a deep breath, slowly exhale, breathe again, look around — this is beautiful. How have I not ridden this road before? These thoughts trickled through my oxygen-deprived brain as I pedaled toward the summit of Cottonwood Pass during Ride the Rockies last summer. Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2015, Ride the Rockies presented us with a challenging and hilly 463-mile course with unpredictable weather and spectacular views in every direction. Having grown up in Colorado, and because I was also celebrating my 30th birthday, it was finally my chance to experience Ride the Rockies, a tour that I had grown up watching and following along with each summer on the nightly 9News updates. The days would be long and the hills steep, but with 2,000 other cyclists encouraging each other along the way, I knew this would be an unforgettable week on two wheels. Day One: Tour of the Moon, Colorado National Monument | 46 miles, 2,992’ elevation gain Kicking off in Grand Junction, Day One of Ride the Rockies took us on a throwback journey to the famous Tour of the Moon course regularly featured in the iconic 1980s Coors Classic stage race. Traveling through the otherworldly terrain of the Colorado National Monument, Rim Rock Drive circles the park’s steep red cliffs and towering monoliths that were made famous in the classic cycling film American Flyers. While steadily pedaling my way up the first real climb of our weeklong tour, a pack of neon-clad cyclists zipped by, embodying the retro character of the day. Just as they were passing, I noticed that one of the riders tucked away within the group was none other than Ron Kiefel, a legendary American cyclist from the infamous 7-Eleven cycling team in the 1980s. While riding for 7-Eleven, Kiefel and his teammates dominated the U.S. racing circuit, including the Coors Classic. Kiefel, who was nicknamed “Wookie,” now owns Wheat Ridge Cyclery, a standout bike shop located just west of Denver, and he is a longtime participant in Ride the Rockies, 2015 being his 21st consecutive year. This time, Kiefel brought family members along to enjoy the experience as well. Kiefel’s lanky nephew, Levi Stafford, was excited to share this week on two wheels with his family before heading off to his freshman year at Cal Poly in the fall. “We wanted to do a big family adventure before I left for school,” he said. “I’ve never done a tour like this before. It’s cool how the event does everything for you.” And Stafford was right. Ride the Rockies really takes care of its participants. From transporting our luggage each day, providing indoor and outdoor camping options, hot showers, and reasonably priced meals with the evening entertainment, this kind of touring is downright luxurious. Day Two: Grand Junction – Hotchkiss | 96 miles, 7,631’ elevation gain Rising early, we were quickly into our first day of big miles and serious elevation changes. Climbing out of Grand Junction, we pedaled our way up the Grand Mesa, a visually and physically breathtaking 20-mile climb that strained our legs with over 5,500 feet in elevation gain. It was a hot and grueling climb with the sun beating down on our backs and what seemed like endless switchbacks ahead. Despite our often remote riding locations, Ride the Rockies did an excellent job of providing food and water along the way. Aid stations were strategically placed every 10 to 15 miles, providing plenty of opportunities to resupply and stock up for the ride ahead. Each aid station included standard ride treats like animal crackers, pretzels, and an assortment of fresh fruit such as orange slices, bananas, and grapes. For fluids water was supplied, of course, but the real winner for me was the unlimited Skratch Labs hydration drink. This is something I regularly use in my weekly training, and I appreciate the subtle taste that is gentle on the stomach for longer events like this one. Not once throughout the week did I get a cramp or feel like I was bonking, thanks to these stocked smorgasbord stations. Day Two was one of the longest of the week with a total of 96 miles. And 12 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 Above: How does it feel to finish a big day in Colorado? Pretty darn good. Opposite: Enjoying some of Western Colorado's unique mix of desert and mountain scenery. despite the aid stations, finishing in 100-degree heat after more than five hours on the road had me struggling into the finish town of Hotchkiss that afternoon. It was a relief to have my bag waiting for me when I finally reached town. Upon arrival at each day’s finish, riders would swap their bikes for luggage and then set out to find a camping spot. Most nights, we were based out of a local high school or middle school and slept on the football or soccer fields. Indoor “camping” in the school gymnasiums was also offered to riders less inclined to battle the nightly elements. I opted for the outdoor camping because what’s better than a night under the Rocky Mountain stars? After setting up camp each day but before settling in for the afternoon and evening, a much-needed shower was in order. Although most of the schools where we camped offered indoor showers, Ride the Rockies also provided mobile RIDE THE ROCKIES showers out of two semi trucks that came along with our traveling circus. Clean, consistently warm, and easy-touse showers were a welcome perk each day, and the thought of them regularly got me through the last few miles on our long days. For a camper who is used to going multiple days without a real running-water shower, the rolling water oasis was a luxury I could really get used to. Day Three: Hotchkiss – Gunnison 79 miles, 5,990’ elevation gain Camping in such close proximity to other riders meant being awakened each day with the zip, zip, zipping of tents and sleeping bags at the crack of dawn. For a late sleeper who relishes a lazy morning filled with coffee and breakfast before even thinking about heading out on the road, I could probably be heard grumbling from my tent about the unwelcome wakeup call. However, with a full day of riding bikes in a beautiful place ahead, it wasn’t that hard to get up, get motivated, and get rolling before the sun was fully visible. Day Three of Ride the Rockies would be a challenging ride of 79 miles from Hotchkiss to Gunnison, especially with the unpredictable Colorado weather. Minutes after we set out, raindrops started falling. Going from 100-degree heat the day before to riding in wet, nearly freezing temperatures was a tough transition. But despite the cloudy and dreary day, riding up into the steep cliffs of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison was anything but dismal. A winding ascent into the Curecanti National Recreational Area led to a ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG sweeping, fast, and thrilling descent back down to the Blue Mesa Reservoir. In true Colorado fashion, by midday the sun was shining down on us, just in time for a leisurely lunch looking out onto the deep blue waters of the reservoir. Besides the bountiful provisions supplied at each aid station, several stops throughout the day were a bit more comprehensive and included food trucks and hot meals for purchase. On the longmileage days, a full meal to fuel our way to the finish was also a welcomed time to sit, relax, and enjoy the surroundings. Once again, Skratch Labs was a big winner for me, offering sweet and savory rice bowls and decadent cookies. The savory bowl with a poached egg on top along with a Coke and a cookie was my go-to lunch-stop meal, and it never failed to get me to the finish town feeling strong. Finishing Day Three in Gunnison, I set up camp, headed to the I Bar for entertainment and food, and then ended the evening a little early due to some dark clouds rolling in over the mountains. That night, lying awake and staring at the ceiling of my tent with tired legs and a sore body, I listened to the slow rumble of a distant thunderstorm building. Creeping closer and closer with each rumble, flashes of lightning started to accompany the thunder, and the flashes quickly got brighter and more frequent. Having grown up in Colorado, I knew that mountain storms are nothing to mess with, but I also knew we’d be safe in our tents as long as the storm didn’t roll in directly on top of us. Waiting for the storm to eventually 13 Day Five delivered the highest point of the trip at the 12,126-foot Cottonwood Pass — a tough climb on a 102-mile day. turn and start moving farther away, the In Crested Butte, the town had challenging climb of the week. If we lightning just kept getting brighter, and shut down its main street, Elk Avenue, could get over Cottonwood Pass, the the thunder’s gentle rumble quickly for the night’s lively festivities that rest of the week would be cake, or at turned to a cracking boom that shook the included local musicians, arts and crafts least that’s what we hoped. ground. By now, it was too late to make a tents, and an assortment of affordable Climbing, climbing, reaching up into mad dash into the school for protection food vendors. It was at these nightly the sky, Cottonwood Pass tops out at from the storm. Lighting was crashing gatherings that the Ride the Rockies 12,126 feet and crosses the Continental every 45 seconds — I Divide. The counted the time to altitude distract myself from challenged our WITH A FULL DAY OF RIDING BIKES IN A my nerves. "Too close, lungs and a few BEAUTIFUL PLACE AHEAD, IT WASN’T too close," I thought to steep sections THAT HARD TO GET UP, GET MOTIVATED, myself with little to do made for some AND GET ROLLING BEFORE THE SUN WAS but sit and wait. Finally, short crossthe storm’s symphony eyed moments, FULLY VISIBLE. grew a bit softer, the but the view booms coming less from atop the frequently. Then, just as quickly treeless summit as it had rolled in, the storm was gone, Community Foundation Grant Program was worth every moment of suffering. leaving me with a crisp and starry night to would present a grant of $5,000 to a Looking out at the vastness of the appreciate with every breath of relief as I local charity group from each town. Ride Rocky Mountains can sure put things finally drifted off to sleep. the Rockies is put on by the Denver into perspective. Post Community Foundation, and all of After taking in the views and Day Four: Gunnison – Crested Butte | the entry fees and sponsorship dollars scarfing a quick lunch before getting 27 miles, 1,424’ elevation gain go to support non-profits like the Boys too cold — even in summer, crusty After a wild night of lightning and and Girls Club, local libraries, and snow lines the roadways — I finished thunder, Ride the Rockies’ shortest and community conservation centers. a Coke and then quickly dove into the easiest day was a welcome rest with lots ripping descent past Mount Princeton of time off the bike. The gentle 27-mile Day Five: Crested Butte – Salida | Hot Springs and into the town of ride from Gunnison to Crested Butte 102 miles, 5,812’ elevation gain Buena Vista. From there, it was a long, flew by despite my pedestrian pace and The day had finally arrived — the hot slog into our finishing town of constant stops to take photos along the big one — the queen stage. Day Five of Salida. way. With an afternoon free and a quaint Ride the Rockies was the one everyone Many of the towns we visited mountain town to explore, I headed whispered about at night, partly out of throughout the week were new to me, down the main drag to check out the fear, partly out of anticipation for what but I know Salida well and was excited local eats and sip a few afternoon beers. was considered the most beautiful and to be spending the afternoon in one of 14 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 my favorite places in the state. After quickly showering and setting up my tent for the night, I headed into town to visit the best little coffee shop in all of Colorado, Cafe Dawn, located in the heart of Salida. Owners Phillip Benningfield and Dawn Heigele not only brew a mean cup of joe, they’re avid cyclists and support the local cycling community and passersby. Salida is well known to bikepackers because the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route and the Colorado Trail both pass through town and offer riders a place to rest up and resupply. My afternoon was happily spent sipping an iced coffee while watching kayakers play in the rippling currents of the Arkansas River that runs through town. Day Six: Salida – Cañon City | 66 miles, 3,087’ elevation gain With just two days of riding left, Day Six went whizzing by. We rode downhill out of Salida with a fabulous tailwind for nearly half the day. This provided a much-appreciated rest for the legs after the previous day’s century ride over the mountains. These easy miles ticked away quickly and gave several of the riders I met, Aaron Mauck and Elizabeth Norris and their friends, the opportunity to stop along the route, put their feet up, and enjoy a salty margarita. During their break from the bike, the group of friends was talked into a quick whitewater rafting trip down the Arkansas River. Knowing they could spare a few hours and still make the final cutoff time for the day, they locked their bikes, suited up with life jackets and paddles, and took a trip downriver for a wild morning of rapids and thrills. The rest of us geared down for “The Wall,” a notoriously steep section of road leading up to the top of the Royal Gorge. We experienced sweltering heat again, and I took advantage of the aid stations. I even stopped at the Royal Gorge Bridge Visitors Center to cool off and watch other visitors zipline across the world’s tallest suspension bridge. Finishing off the day in Cañon City, fresh smoothies and cold drinks awaited our arrival and helped us cool down from the blisteringly hot day of riding. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 15 Kristen Legan is a Colorado native who lives for two-wheel adventures the world over. She was one of six women to ride the entire Tour de France in 2012 as part of the women’s Rêve Tour team. Besides riding and writing about bikes, Legan also coaches with APEX Coaching out of Boulder, Colorado. 16 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 KRISTEN LEGAN Day Seven: Cañon City – Westcliffe | 47 miles, 4,281’ elevation gain With the week passing by too quickly, I packed up my tent and repacked my suitcase one last morning. It was a bittersweet sunrise with sore arms, legs, and neck reminding me of the many miles I’d already traveled. Climbing out of Cañon City, we pedaled up our final hill of the week — Hardscrabble Pass. I stopped to look down on the week’s finish line in Westcliffe with a smile on my face. Cruising down a fast descent straight into Westcliffe, we were welcomed by an exuberant community excited to show off the town’s shops and restaurants to the hoards of hungry cyclists and supporters. We ate, drank, danced, and partied the afternoon away, all while looking out onto the spectacular Sangre de Cristo Mountains that jut up sharply from the valley below. In the end, participating in Ride the Rockies was more than a weeklong vacation aboard my bike. The scenic landscape captivated my sense of exploration and reminded me just how lucky I am to call this state my home. It inspired me to stop looking to foreign countries and exotic locations for adventure. Instead I planned to appreciate what is waiting just out my front door. NUTS & BOLTS Ride the Rockies MILEAGE The six-to-seven-day route changes each year, and daily mileage can range from 45 to 100 miles. Generally, daily mileage works out to be roughly 65-75 miles a day. ACCOMMODATIONS Self-setup and break-down tent camping and indoor camping are included in the entry fee. For additional cost, Sherpa Packer Too (720.331.2401) provides tents, sets them up, breaks them down, and transports them from town to town. Alpine Cycle Connect (cyclewithalpine.com) can also book hotels, motels, and B&Bs in the host towns for nearby indoor lodging. FOOD AND DRINK Basic aid-station snacks are provided as part of the event fee. Food trucks provide lunch along the route and typically cost $5-$10 for a full, warm meal. Dinner at the entertainment site is provided by local restaurants and costs $10-$15. You can also go into town for additional restaurant options. GETTING THERE Alpine Cycle Connect provides travel packages that transport riders and bikes from Denver, Colorado, (including the airport) to the start town. Alpine then picks up riders in the finish town and drops them back off in Denver. PRICE The registration fee for 2015 was $495 per person. This includes camping, showers, transportation of one bag for the entire week, entertainment in host communities, aid stations, bike tech, and many other amenities. EVENT LOTTERY Ride the Rockies entry slots are decided by a lottery system. Applicants can apply starting in February and will be notified if selected by early March. MORE INFORMATION ridetherockies.com 500 miles + NYC to Niagara falls A fully supported seven-day ride to end cancer. Ride. See New York. Raise money. And change the state of cancer research for good. get 20% off registration with code: ACA1 july 30-august 6, 2016 • empirestateride.com Who says cycling is a low-impact sport? ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG Title Sponsor: 17 2016 Bicycle Events ALABAMA: Alabama’s Magnificent Bicycling Adventure May 21-27, amba1.com ARKANSAS: Ouachita Challenge April 2-3, ouachitachallenge.com ARIZONA: Luna Lake Overnight Tour May 28-30, bikegaba.org SonoitaBisbeee Overnight Tour March 21-22, bikegaba. org Southern Arizona Road Adventure March 12-18, adventurecycling.org/ guided-tours/fully-support ed-tours, 800.755.2453 Tucson Bicycle Classic March 18-20, tucsonbicycle classic.com El Tour de Tucson Ride to Cure Diabetes Nov 17-20, www2.jdrf.org Trail of the Mountain Spirits Sept 3-5, bikegaba.org CALIFORNIA: Aids/ LifeCycle Ride 545 June 5-11, aidslifecycle.org, 866.245.3424 California Coast Classic Sept 24Oct 1, ccc16.kintera.org, 310.804.7047 Climate Ride California North Coast May 22-26, climateride.org, 406.493.6315 Death Valley Ride to Cure Diabetes Oct 13-16, www2.jdrf.org Breathe Bike Trek Sept 16-18, sacbreathe.org/trek. html, 916.444.5900x209 Great Western Bicycle Rally May 27-30, greatwesternbi cyclerally.com, 917.355.1317 HI-USA Christmas Bike Trip Dec 26-31, sandiegohostels. org/christmas-bike-ride. php, 619.525.1531 Tour de Tahoe Ride to Cure Diabetes Sept 9-12, www2. jdrf.org NorCal AIDS Cycle May 12-15, norcalaidscycle. org, 916.572.1113 Pablove Across America Dates TBD (typically in Oct), pablove. org/pablove-across-america, 323.657.5557 Sierra Sampler Sept 10-17, adventurecycling.org/ guided-tours/fully-support ed-tours, 800.755.2453 Sierra to the Sea Tour June 18-25, sierratothesea.org Solvang Spring Tour March 21-27, planetultra.com/ portfolio/solvang-spring-tour COLORADO: Bicycle Tour of Colorado June 19-25, bicycletourcolorado.com, 18 ADVENTURE CYCLIST 303.985.1180 Colorado Rocky Mountain Bike Tour July 31-Aug 6, crmbt. com, 303.635.6977 Denver Post Pedal the Plains Sept 16-18, pedaltheplains.com, 303.954.6701 Denver Post Ride the Rockies June 11-17, ridetherockies.com, 303.954.6700 Triple Bypass Ride July 9-10, triplebypass. org, 303.800.7613 CONNECTICUT: AngelRide May 28-29, angelride.org CT Challenge July 29-30, bike.ctchallenge.org, 203.292.8104 FLORIDA: BubbaFest Florida Keys Nov 5-12, bub baspamperedpedalers.com/ bubba-fest, 321.759.3433 Surf and Turf April 9-15, bikeflorida.org, 352.224.8602 Florida Bicycle Safari April 16-21, floridabicyclesafari. com Palatka Bicycle Festival April 9-10, put nambluewaysandtrails.org STIHL Tour des Trees Oct 9-15, stihltourdestrees.org, 757.340.7425 Suwannee Bicycle Association: IDIDARIDE XXII Jan 23; Suwannee Sweetheart Feb 20-21; Spring Pedal and Paddle Festival April 28May 1; Suwannee Fat Tire Festival Oct 21-23; suwan neebike.org, 386.243.0115 GEORGIA: BRAG Spring Tune Up April 15-17; Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) June 4-10; Georgia Bike Fest Oct 7-9; Winter Ride Feb 23-27, brag.org, 404.382.7747 IDAHO: Idaho Trails Relaxed July 10-15, adventu recycling.org/guided-tours/ fully-supported-tours, 800.755.2453 Ride Idaho Aug 6-13, rideidaho.org, 208.830.9564 ILLINOIS: Grand Illinois Trail & Parks (GITAP) June 12-17, rideillinois.org/events/ gitap, 630.978.0583 Bicycle Illinois July 9-16, bicycleillinois.com, 877.868.7455 INDIANA: Cover Indiana Bicycle Tour May 8-14, hfhcoverindiana.org, 765.404.8413 Amishland and Lakes July 30, amish landlakes.com, 574.387.6449 f e b r u a r y 2 016 Your definition of what constitutes an event ride may be different from ours. At times the line can be quite blurry. Another good resource for these kinds of rides is the Bicycle Tour Network: bicycletournetwork.com. TRIRI: RAINSTORM July 11-16, September Escapade Sept 11-16, triri. org, 812.333.8176 IOWA: Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) July 24-30, ragbrai.org, 515.284.8341 KANSAS: Biking Across Kansas June 4-11, bak.org, 913.735.3035 Cottonwood 200 May 28-30, cottonwood200.org KENTUCKY: Old Kentucky Home Tour Sept 10-11, okht.org Bike Trek to Shakertown Sept 17-19, action.lung.org/site/ TR?fr_id=9700&pg=entry, 502.363.2652 LOUISIANA: Cycle Zydeco March 30-April 3, cyclezydeco.com, 337.781.9416 Ragin’ Cajun Country Oct 8-14, adventu recycling.org/guided-tours/ fully-supported-tours, 800.755.2453 MAINE: BikeMaine Sept 10-17, ride.bikemaine.org, 207.623.4511 Maine Lobster Ride July 24, mainelobster ride.com, 207.623.4511 Trek Across Maine June 17-19, action.lung.org/site/ TR?fr_id=12920&pg=entry, 207.624.0312 MARYLAND: Kent County Spring Fling May 27-30, baltobikeclub.org MASSACHUSETTS: Autumn Escape Bike Trek Sept 23-25, action.lung. org/site/TR?fr_id=13912&p g=entry, 800.499.5864 x5172 Berkshires to Boston Sept 14-18, berkshirestob oston.com, 413.824.2041 State Bike Tour July 30-Aug 5, cyclema.com, 617.710.1832 Pan Mass Challenge Aug 6-7, pmc. org, 781.449.5300 North Shore Cycling Tour June 19-24, bikenewen gland. com/2015/06/01/northshore-multisport-cyclingtour/ Yankee Roundabout Sept 20-27, yankeeroundabout.com MICHIGAN: DALMAC Aug 31-Sep 4, dalmac.org Michigander Bike Tour July 16-23, michigantrails. org/michigander-bike-tour, 517.485.6022 Sunrise Bicycle Tour June 16-19; Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (MUP) Bicycle Tour July 10-16; Shoreline West Bicycle Tour Aug 6-13; Pedal & Paddle Sept 16-18, lmb.org, 517.334.9100 Pedal Around Lake Michigan (PALM) June 18-24, palmbiketour.org, 734.669.0172 Wish-AMile Bicycle Tour July 28-31, michigan.wish.org/ news-and-events/signature -events, 800.622.9474 MINNESOTA: Bicycling Around Minnesota (BAM) Aug 13-16, bambiketour. org, 651.335.6505 Bike MS: TRAM Ride 2016 July 20-24; C.H. Robinson Worldwide MS 150 Ride June 10-12, nationalms society.org, 855.372.1331 Red Ribbon Ride July 21-24, redribbonride.org, 612.822.2110 Habitat 500 July 10-16, habitat500.org, 612.331.4439x4 MISSOURI: Big BAM June 11-16, bigbamride.com Bike the Katy Trail Sept 11-17, bubbaspamperedpedalers. com/katy-trail, 321.759.3433 Katy Trail Ride June 20-24, mostateparks.com/ 2016KTRide MONTANA: Tour of the Swan River Valley West (TOSRV) June 4-5, missoulabike.org/tosrvwest Cycle Montana-Missoula June 18-25, adventure cycling.org/guided-tours/ fully-supported-tours, 800.755.2453 Cycle Divide Montana July 9-15, adventu recycling.org/guided-tours/ fully-supported-tours, 800.755.2453 Park-2-Park Montana Sept 2016 (dates TBD), park2parkmontana. org, 406.443.2448 NEBRASKA: Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska (BRAN) June 5-11, bran-inc.org, 402.397.9785 NE United Methodists Bike Ride for Hunger (NUMB) June 25-29, numbride.org Tour de Nebraska June 22-26, tourdenebraska.com, 402.440.3227 NEVADA: One Awesome Tour Bike Ride Across Nevada (OATBRAN) Sept 25-Oct 1, bikethewest.com, 800.565.2704 NEW HAMPSHIRE: Trans New Hampshire Bike Ride June 24-26, transnhbikeride. org NEW YORK: Bon Ton Roulet July 23-30, bonton roulet.com, 315.253.5304 Cycle Adirondacks Aug 20-27, cycleadirondacks. com, 315.525.9554 Cycling the Erie Canal July 10-17, ptny.org/events/annu al-bike-tour, 518.434.1583 Empire State Ride July 30-Aug 6, empirestateride. com Five Boro Bike Tour May 1, bikenewyork.org, 212.870.2080 Five Hundred Miles Across New York (FANY) Ride July 24-30, fanyride.com, 518.461.7646 Hazon New York Ride & Retreat Sept 2-5, hazon.org/ bike-rides/new-york-ride, 212.644.2332x328 NORTH CAROLINA: Blue Ridge Bliss June 4-10, adventurecycling.org/ guided-tours/fully-support ed-tours, 800.755.2453 Cycle North Carolina Coastal Ride April 22-24; Cycle North Carolina Mountain Ride Dates TBD; Cycle North Carolina Mountains to Coast Dates TBD, cnc.ncsports.org, 919.361.1133 NORTH DAKOTA: CANDISC Aug 6-13, candisc.net, 800.799.4242 Bike the Border June 17-19, bikethe border.com OHIO: Across Ohio Bicycle Adventure (XOBA) July 23-30, Ride-XOBA. org, 330.333.9622 Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA) June 18-25, goba. com, 614.273.0811 Pan Ohio Hope Ride July 21-24, panohiohoperide. org, 888.227.6446x1222 Southern Ohio Relaxed July 9-15, adventurecycling. org/guided-tours/fully-sup ported-tours, 800.755.2453 Sweet Corn Challenge July 24, sweetcornride.com 55th Annual Tour of the Scioto River Valley (TOSRV) May 7-8, tosrv.org, 614.442.7901 OREGON: People’s Coast Arthritis Bike Classic Sept 17-24, peoplescoastclassic. org Cycle Oregon Sept 1017, Cycle Oregon Weekend Ride July 8-10, cycleoregon. com, 800.292.5367 Oregon Bicycle Ride July 30-Aug 6, bicycleridesnw.org/2016/ current-rides, 541.382.2633 Oregon Coast Loop Aug 13-19, adventurecycling. org/guided-tours/fully-sup ported-tours, 800.755.2453 Oregon Gravel Adventure Sep 3-5, bicycleridesnw. org/2016/current-rides, 541.382.2633 SOUTH CAROLINA: FestiVELO Nov 9-14, festivelo.org, 843.303.3334 Hincapie Gran Fondo Ride to Cure Diabetes Oct 20-23, www2.jdrf.org/site/ TR/Ride/JDRFNationalRide?pg=entry&fr_id=5202, 800.533.2873 SOUTH DAKOTA: Black Hills Aug 27-Sept 2, adventurecycling.org/ guided-tours/fully-support ed-tours, 800.755.2453 Mickelson Trail Trek Sept 16-18, gfp.sd.gov/stateparks/directory/ mickelson-trail/trail-trek. aspx, 605.584.3896 Ride Across South Dakota (RASDAK) June 4-11, rasdak.com TENNESSEE: Bike Ride Across Tennessee (BRAT) Dates TBD, thebrat.org, 731.358.9724 TEXAS: Bike Out Hunger Texas May 16-23, outhunger. org/event/bike-out-hungertexas-2016/ BP MS 150 Houston Tour April 16-17, biketxh.nationalmssociety. org Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest Feb 11-13, desertsportstx.com/ mountain-bike-event Heart of Texas Recumbent Rally & Rodeo Feb 26-28, heartoftexasrecumbentrally. wordpress.com Texas Hill Country April 2-8, adventu recycling.org/guided-tours/ fully-support ed-tours, 800.755.2453 UTAH: Cycle Utah June 4-10, adventurecycling. org/guided-tours/ful ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ly-supported-tours, 800.755.2453 Moab Skinny Tire Festival March 12-15, skinnytireevents. com, 435.260.8889 Tour of Southern Utah Sept 4-10, planetultra.com/portfolio/ tour-of-southern-utah VERMONT: Burlington Ride to Cure Diabetes July 7-10, www2.jdrf.org/site/ TR/Ride/JDRFNationalRides?pg=entry&fr_id=3426, 800.533.2873 Tour de Kingdom June Tour June 8-12; Double Century Challenge Sept 24-25; Fall Foliage Tour Sept 23-25, tourdekingdom.org, 802.249.9100 Vermont Challenge Aug 11-14, vtchallenge.com Corn is king on the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). This year's event starts July 24. DENNIS COELLO OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma Freewheel June 19-25, okfreewheel.com, 918.344.5987 WYOMING: Tour de Wyoming July 17-22, cycle wyoming.org, 307.742.3506 Cycle Greater Yellowstone Aug 13-20, cyclegreater yellowstone.com Cycle America: Coast to Coast July 18-Aug 20; Cross State (9 segments during June, July, Aug), cycleamerica.com, 800.245.3263 NATIONAL & REGIONAL: America By Bicycle Various cross-state, cross-country, and regional bike events, abbike.com, 888.797.7057 Fight for Air Ride - Lake Tour Bike Trek (Illinois/ Wisconsin) June 10-12, action.lung.org/site/TR? fr_id=13023&pg=entry WASHINGTON: Courage Classic Aug 6-8, minisites. multicare.org/home/cour age-classic, 253.403.4374 Northwest Tandem Rally July 1-4, nwtr.org Obliteride Aug 7-9, obliteride.org, 206.667.7433 RedSpoke July 12-14, redspoke.org Ride Around Washington (RAW) July 30-Aug 6, cascade.org, 206.522.3222 Washington Bicycle Ride July 16-23, bicycleridesnw. org/2016/current-rides, 541.382.2633 Bicycle Tour Network: Online listing of major bike tours and events, bicycletournetwork.com Fuller Center Bicycle Adventures: Spring Ride (Natchez Trace) April 8-17; Coast to Coast (CA to ME) June 10-Aug 14. Rides can be broken into segments. fullercenter.org/bikeadven ture, 229.924.2900 WISCONSIN: ACT 14: Wisconsin AIDS Ride July 28-31, actride.org, 608.316.8619 Flavors of Wisconsin July 17-23; Northern Woods & Waters Aug 9-15, aroundwis bike.com Great Annual Bicycle Adventure Along the Wisconsin River (GRABAAWR) June 18-25; Bike Northwoods July 9-15; Schramm’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Wisconsin (SAGBRAW) July 30-Aug 5, bikewisconsin.com, 608.843.8412 La Crosse Ride to Cure Diabetes Aug 11-14, www2. jdrf.org/site/TR/Ride/JDRF NationalRides?pg=entry& fr_id=3428, 800.533.2873 Charlottesville, VA to Washington, DC AIDS Vaccine Ride Sept 27-30, charitytreks.org VIRGINIA: Bike Virginia June 24-29, bikevirginia.org, 757.645.1861 Blue Ridge Bliss June 11-18, adventu recycling.org/guided-tours/ fully-supported-tours, 800.755.2453 Tour de Chesapeake May 21, tourdechesapeake.org, 804.725.9685 Big Ride Across America June 14-Aug 1, action.lung. org/site/TR/Bike/ALAMP_ Mountain_Pacific? pg=entry&fr_id=9544, 800.732.9339 Bike MS Hosts many largegroup event rides throughout the U.S., myMSbike.org, 800.582.5296 Climate Ride: New York City to Washington, DC Sept 17-21; Bar Harbor to Boston Sept 8-12, plus other rides around the country, clima teride.org, 406.552.0708 C&O Canal/Gap Sept 1724, adventurecycling.org/ guided-tours/fully-support ed-tours, 800.755.2453 Columbia River Gorge June 11-18, adventurecycling.org/ guided-tours/fully-support ed-tours, 800.755.2453 Crossroads Cycling: Cross Country Tour May 7-June 24, crossroadscycling.com Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic (STP) July 16-17, cascade. org/ride-major-rides/grouphealth-seattle-portland-stp, 206.522.3222 Minnesota-Wisconsin Rivers & Trails June 1118, adventurecycling.org/ guided-tours/fully-support ed-tours, 800.755.2453 New England Classic 150 and 550 July 9-15 (2-day option July 9-10), main.diabetes.org/site/TR/ TourdeCure/TourAdmin ?fr_id=11024&pg=entry, 617.482.4580x3456 Pampered Coast 2 Coast March 4-April 25, bubbaspamperedpedal ers.com/coast-2-coast, 321.759.3433 Race Across America (RAAM) Multiple start dates beginning June 14, raceacrossamerica.org Ride from Seattle to Vancouver (RSVP) Aug 12-13 and 13-14, cascade. org/ride-major-rides/rsvp, 206.522.3222 Ride the Fault Line (Mississippi Valley) June 12-18, ridethefault.com, 573.380.7875 Tour du Rouge: Houston to New Orleans May 1-6, redcross.org/tourdurouge, 713.313.1668 Tri-State Trek: The Ride to End ALS June 24-26, tst.als.net WaCanId Bike Ride (Washington, Canada, Idaho) Sept 12-16, wacanid. org, 208.267.0822 CANADA: Grand Tour Desjardines Aug 6-12 (weekend only also), explore bybike.com/destination-bikeadventure-the-grand-tour, 514.521.8356 Go Bike Montréal Festival May 29-June 3, includes Metropolitan Challenge, Operation Bike-to-Work, Tour la Nuit, and Le Tour de l’Île de Montréal, veloquebec. info/en, 800.567.8356 Ride to Conquer Cancer: Ontario June 11-12; Québec July 9-10; Alberta Aug 6-7; British Columbia Aug 27-28, conquercancer.ca, 888.771.2453 ISRAEL: Arava Institute & Hazon Israel Ride Nov 8-15, hazon.org/bike-rides/over view, 212.644.2332 19 CYCLE ADIRONDACK 20 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 KS STORY BY BERNE BROUDY PHOTOGRAPHS BY L.E. BASKOW ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 21 I t was mile 47 of a 78-mile ride, and I was sprawled on the grass next to a picnic table devouring a massive sandwich of ham and New York cheddar on fresh ciabatta. A few yards away on the rambling porch of an old farmhouse here in Osceola, New York, half a dozen old-timers from greater Camden, members of the Fiddler’s Hall of Fame, picked, plucked, and strummed bluegrass tunes. As I tapped my foot to the twangy tunes, I looked around — I was one of 160 riders on the inaugural Cycle Adirondacks ride filtering through this lunch spot. It’s a four- or seven-day bike tour through New York’s six million-acre Adirondack Park and its environs and a fundraiser for Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a nonprofit that does scientific research and supports communities in and around the park and around the world. Riders came from across the U.S. and Canada to ride the Adirondacks’ quiet, winding, and dipping roads, and to experience the communities within the park and along the perimeter of the Blue Line — the park’s boundary. It was hard to drag myself away from food and music to finish the ride. Between tunes, I got into a deep conversation with author, ecologist, and WCS’s staff naturalist, Jerry Jenkins, who ran me through the mill-town history of the region, and 22 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 educated me about the headwaters of the Mohawk River, which we rode past before lunch. That river valley, just a few miles away, is one of three lowland routes through the Appalachians that literally formed the geography of a significant portion of the U.S. and directed this country’s settlement by flora, fauna, and humans. Eventually, I dragged myself away from the music, and soon three Amish children driving a horse and buggy passed me. It’s a joy to pedal here — perfect temperatures, swaying fields waiting for the last haying of the season, and millions of acres of forest. Adirondack Park was the quietest public park I’ve been to anywhere in the U.S., and in three days of riding, I’d rarely seen a car except when we pedaled short stretches of main road — a rare occurrence on the carefully curated route. The ride from Osceola to Camden might have been the quietest stretch yet — and among the most fun. Massive rollers rise and fall nearly the whole way, and if I powered down the hill at full force, I could almost get to the top of the next one without pedaling. I hopped on a pace line, my quads burning for a short stint, and then fell back to a more mellow pace that better let me take in the sights and sounds. I was riding with new friends Rollin Richman and Mike Dunn, two lightning-fast, Moots-riding 60-something guys from Michigan, friends who had ridden together for decades yet welcomed me to tag along. I came to Cycle Adirondacks solo but rarely rode alone from the moment I arrived. Rollin, Mike, and I chatted into Camden, stopping for ice cream at Byrne Dairy, before the final stretch into downtown. On paper Cycle Adirondacks looks like many other group rides. The days started at 6:00am when the breakfast tent opened — though you could get lattés and mochas starting half an hour earlier from Green Goddess Natural Foods, a Saranac Lake-based espresso and juice bar that followed the ride from town to town. In the food tent, cheery locals spooned freshly scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, fresh fruit, and baked goods onto your plate while their friends and neighbors ferried luggage to the truck so it could be transported to the next camp. Riders left camp from 7:00 am on, pedaling through farms and forests and reconvening at rest stops. The route directions not only told riders where to turn but indicated points of interest along the route, as well as rest stops where churches and civic groups gathered musette bags of extra gear and dispensed bananas, fluffernutter sandwiches (marshmallow fluff and peanut butter on white bread), and water to riders. The daily mileage ranged from 46 to 78 miles. After a lunch stop where fruit, sandwiches, and baked goods were served, it was more pedaling to the night’s camp. Each night riders rolled in to find luggage waiting as well as your tent — or a shuttle to a nearby hotel. There are showers and bathrooms and, once riders settle in, free yoga, massages, and a beer garden. The third night we camped on Camden’s town green, a little tighter quarters than the school playing fields where we’d set up the previous few nights, but it had a homey feel. As I tucked my tent into the sea of ripstop nylon, a fife and drum band marched through. On the other side of the green, Camden businesses set up their own village of local crafts and artisan foods, information, and a local club raffling off a rifle. As a ride, Cycle Adirondacks is familiar … but different. It was modeled after Cycle Greater Yellowstone (CGY), a fundraiser ride for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition (see the February 2014 Adventure Cyclist). A WCS board member who participated in that ride recognized the potential for something similar in the Adirondacks. WCS hired Jim Moore, who helped run CGY, as event director to make sure the first year of Cycle Adirondacks was as good as CGY and not a typical seat-of-thepants first-year ride. “This ride is about bringing people to a place you want to protect so that they can ride for a week and develop a personal relationship with that place,” Moore said. “Most of the riders here didn’t come because they’re big supporters of WCS but because they’re looking for a great ride in a new place, and that’s what we have a reputation for providing.” Everything that’s best about the tour is place-based. An evening concert series ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG — open to the pubic — featured excepEverglades national parks combined, tional local acts. The food was sourced with around 130,000 full-time residents. with Taste New York, a state initiative to It’s a unique model — people living with promote homegrown food. It was local wildlife inside a conservation area. In whenever possible, from the veggies in fact, Adirondack Park is often described the pasta primavera to the barbecue bris- as a great conservation experiment, one ket, blackened catfish, couscous-stuffed that WCS strives to support. fire-roasted peppers, corn salad, corn As we rode into camp in Boonville, bread, and apple and blueberry cobbler one of the cyclists I was riding with — and each night there are Adirondacks remarked that he was surprised that we microbrews to sample. The staff was local too. At each camp, a Boy Scout troop, hospital volunteers, or the children’s choir was serving dinner, busing tables, welcoming riders, and more. In Star Lake, we got lei’d (with Hawaiian flower necklaces) after being cheered in by locals grilling and drinking beer in the driveway of the local fire department. Its tower truck ladder was fully extended with a flag majestically draped from its peak in salute as we rode into town. The region is as unique as the ride. Adirondack Park is home to hundreds of small rural communities surrounded by proTop: The ride began in Saranac Lake, one of the many charming tected wildlands. At six small towns dotting the massive Adirondack Park. million acres, it’s larger Bottom: A familiar end-of-day sight in camp. than Yellowstone, Grand Opposite: The forest along quiet upstate roads occasionally opens Canyon, Glacier, and the to display historic buildings. 23 were leaving the park. “We call the park perimeter the Blue Line,” said Zoe Smith, WCS’s Adirondacks Landscape Coordinator and Cycle Adirondacks Director. “But it’s not like there’s a gate. The success and health of the park is directly related to the communities that surround it. ” For example Tug Hill isn’t in the park, but it is in a priority wildlife corridor that’s part of a larger northeastern Adirondacks and Canada initiative. WCS is actively involved with Tug Hill landowners on issues of open space protection. “Often it’s more important to get involved in communities outside the park where there is unchecked development than communities inside,” Smith said. WCS is working with the residents of Old Forge on human-wildlife conflict — teaching locals why it’s important to keep black bears around, and best practices for coexisting with them. In Long Lake, where tourism has waned in the past decades, WCS is promoting the unique habitat. In Saranac Lake, where WCS is based, it’s working on loon conserva- CYCLE ADIRONDACKS The 2016 event takes place August 20-27, and costs $1,495 per rider. Travel to the area is easiest from nearby Burlington, Vermont, just 60 miles east. New York City is roughly 300 miles south. For more information visit cycleadirondacks.com. tion — surveying more than 200 lakes and ponds in and around town. And in Camden, the biggest city in the area and a wildlife corridor itself, WCS is running a “Make Home for Wildlife” campaign. In Fort Drum, WCS is working with a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to educate troops on illegal wildlife products. They’ve created an app for soldiers to record and report illegal wildlife trade they see when they’re in Afghanistan and Iraq, where wildlife products are being smuggled along with guns. “The idea is to curtail illegal activity abroad through an organization at home — to bring global conservation back to our area,” said Heidi Kretser, who conceived and spearheads the project. “If community values coincide with wildlife, people will take action,” said Smith. “We’re conducting science, and people are using it. We use community to solve conservation issues. A lot of decisions are made purely by emotion or as a result of political opinion. We need science to help our communities make good decisions.” And that’s part of why WCS routed us through these towns. Grow wildlife-and recreation-based tourism here and it will incentivize communities to protect the park. “I want the Adirondacks to have caché,” Smith said. “We want to contribute to its renaissance as a region, as a destination. There are 100 communities inside the park — and countless more around its edges. The Adirondacks is not a preserve.” Most of the cities and towns around the Blue Line have seen better days. In the late 1800s, artists, writers, and adventurers paraded to upstate New York, as did those seeking clean air and relief from ailments like tuberculosis. A hundred Wildlife, wildland, and uncrowded roads hemmed in by thick forests and shrouded in morning fog are common sights throughout Adirondack Park. The six-million-acre park has more than 100,000 residents, but open space isn't hard to find. 24 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 years ago, the region was teeming with sawmills and paper mills fueled by the local forestlands that were the backbone of local economy. The mills are gone, and modern travel means New Yorkers now go to Arizona or the Caribbean more often than they go upstate. Saranac Lake, where we started our ride, is a good example of how things can turn around. It’s seen an influx of young people, new energy, and new businesses centered on arts and recreation. There’s a community-owned store — the town has kept Walmart out (twice) — and a dynamic jeans-clad mayor, Clyde Rabideau, who sees the opportunity tourism brings to the region. Rabideau created the Saranac Lake Sixers, a target list for hikers of six peaks around Saranac Lake, and a play off the Adirondack 46ers, the Holy Grail of hiking for many enthusiasts. Complete the Saranac Lake Sixers, a much more manageable task than the 46ers, and you get an “Ultra Sixer” patch and certificate. Rabideau gets the significance of the Cycle Adirondacks ride. “We have people from 29 states and two Canadian provinces on this ride,” he said. “There are 60 million people within a day’s drive of this route — but 80 percent of the Cycle Adirondacks riders have never been to the region. I'm glad we’re changing that.” The ride is bringing possible return visitors to the area and generating media inside and outside the region. But it’s also leaving cash in communities. In each town where riders camp, local nonprofits are getting cash grants in return for the hard work of volunteers. In the end, it totaled $45,000 spread among 30 nonprofits. And entrepreneurial groups like the Senior Citizens Club of Star Lake ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG Who needs a boat when you've got a boat dock? Star Lake residents' unique motorized docks bypass the boat part altogether and give a new twist to the term "party barge." aren’t shy about taking advantage of the influx of visitors to do their own fundraising. At dinner on the second night of the ride, a cheery octogenarian with a handful of raffle tickets cornered me between mouthfuls of dessert. I gave her $10 to buy raffle tickets for a hand-woven basket of Adirondack goodies from wine to maple syrup. The money will go to rent a bus for the club’s next casino trip. In Star Lake, after I set up my tent and showered off the day's sweat, Rollin, Mike, and I shuttled five minutes to the shore and boarded one of Star Lake’s locally famous motorized docks. Vido and Pam Testone were our hosts — we boarded their outboard-powered dock and Vido fired up the 9.8-horsepower motor for a tour of Star Lake. Each dock is different, and the lake has 50 registered craft. Some are dou- ble-decker, others are outfitted with grills and coolers. Ours had an umbrella, bar stools, and lounge chairs. After circumnavigating the lake, we motored to “the sandbar” and beached alongside other docks whose captains were critiquing Vido’s driving. Docks were lined up so you could walk between them — and soon we were invited to another raft for a beer. A game of Frisbee started up in the shallow water, and I plopped down in a partially submerged plastic chair and cooled my feet while munching on carrot sticks and cheese curd, hors d’oeuvres courtesy of Pam. We were welcomed like old friends and stayed for hours before finally motoring back for dinner at camp. “We know the scenery is great in the park,” said Smith. “We’re confident the organization of the ride is good. But the magic happens in the communities. We 25 live in a place where people do things from the heart. Driving through this region in a car, you just won’t have the same experience as you will on this ride.” I can’t argue. On Day One, I had planned to blast past a snack stop, but two teenagers waved me in. Adirondack Community Church in Newton Falls had set up what looked like a bake sale with cookies, brownies, banana bread, and a solid spread of gluten-free treats, all compliments of the church. Congregation members had set up a display table with 160 wooden ornaments they had cut and decorated — gifts from the community to the riders. The pastor picked one out for me with a black loon on a blue lake and an orange and yellow sunset behind it. “We didn’t know they were doing this,” said Moore. “But it’s good neighbor stuff, a win-win.” I later learned from naturalist Jenkins that the church occupies the former paper mill offices. In 2000, the mill closed and the finance company that owned it couldn’t find a buyer. For six years, locals snuck into the mill to lube machines and turn the drums so the machinery would be in top working condition for new buyers when they finally came. Eventually, a Canadian company bought the mill and employed 100 locals for four more years before it closed for good in 2012. It’s a hard-luck story that’s part of the fabric of this region, but one that shows the town’s mettle and its residents’ big hearts. This year, the route passed through Newton Falls and Star Lake, but in 2016 it might not. WCS plans to move the ride each year to spread the love among as many communities as they can. “We have a six-million–acre park,” Smith said. “Why would you do the same ride again?” That will also give riders a reason to make Cycle Adirondacks an annual event. “We’ll choose communities based on the relationships we have, the story we want to tell, the variety of habitats, and the energy the communities are putting into promoting themselves,” she said. Although organizers had originally hoped for 350 riders, having 160 on the inaugural ride allowed Cycle Adirondacks to work out the kinks, though there were few visible to participants. WCS plans to grow the ride in order to create a community fund that will give back to the people of the region, but they recognize that they 26 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 COURTESY CYCLE ADIRONDACKS need to do it smartly and sustainably. “We want this to be thought of as the best-run tour in America,” said Moore. It’s certainly off on the right foot thanks to details like the Cycle Adirondacks Field Guide, a 14-page book of maps and route highlights I picked up at a water stop. It has elevation profiles and mileages, and notes points of interest and water stops. It also gives history, context, and tidbits of information that grounded me in my surroundings. I knew Jenkins had written it because I could hear his dry sense of ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG humor and enjoyment of irony in the copy. I loved Jenkins’s editorializing — it was another highlight of my ride. Conservation is a personal passion, but other riders are just psyched about the quiet, rolling roads. They love to ride, and they appreciate being able to do it with a group, fully immersed, with every need taken care of. There are Cycle Greater Yellowstone veterans who came for that quality of ride in a new location, and many who have ridden the cross-Iowa RAGBRAI. I rode with a trio of New Apostolic Church ministers: Eric Haase, Peter Wagner, and Randy Bauer. They’ve been friends since they were 16 — more than 30 years. This was their first big bike tour and “man-cation.” For them the ride is about time together, and the conservation angle isn’t first and foremost. “We love and respect God’s creation,” says Haase. “But we skipped the conservation stops,” he confessed. In the next breath, all three were raving about their experiences in the communities along the route. Smith smiled when she heard this, pointing out that in this region, conserva- tion and community are one and the same. “Our goal was to give guests the opportunity to discover the Adirondack Park,” said Smith. “We want to inspire people to visit and appreciate the region. We know that conservation can’t be effective without local residents and leaders. Bringing hundreds of cyclists to our region for a week of pedaling through this spectacular landscape is one example of how WCS provides opportunities for communities to benefit from their surrounding natural assets. This event provides an economic boost to our partner towns and helps showcase this spectacular landscape.” I can pedal through the Adirondacks anytime — the park is just a couple of hours from my home — but I’ll make it a priority to ride Cycle Adirondacks again next year, for the community, for conservation, and for the camaraderie, concerts, and cocktails wherever they’re served by the citizens of the Adirondacks. Berne Broudy is a Vermont-based writer and photographer. Find her on twitter @berneab and on instagram @bernebroudy. 27 E V I L G N LO A I B M O L O C 28 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 PHS A R TOG LIS O H +P WIL ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG RY STO SIMON BY 29 Y OU’D HAVE TO BE INSANE to cycle Colombia. At least, that’s what I was led to believe. The scent of sweet orange infused my gasping lungs as I scaled the final section of a two-mile climb. Spindly palm trees shot up from rows of dark green coffee bushes, embroidered onto the surrounding mountainsides. Harvest would start next week here in Quindío. Hordes of sombrero-wearing fieldworkers would scale these treacherous slopes collecting crimson Arabica beans. “These hills are perfect for riding,” our group’s mechanic and professional racer Jonathan Rodriguez said as he cruised up the arduous ascent without any sign of struggle. “Listen.” Rodriguez stood up on his pedals and cupped his ear. “Silence. No other cyclists and no cars.” He smiled underneath his slick shades. “Now, vamos Simon; we have a surprise at the top.” Our group of 10 were road testing tour operator Exodus’s new two-week tour in the kaleidoscope scenery of the central Cordillera de los Andes, a mountain range bursting through the west of Colombia. A UNESCO heritage site, Zona Cafetera (coffee-growing region) shimmers with a million gradations of green, from bright emerald to the darkest olive. After living in Medellín for three years and traveling by foot, bus, car, and horse, I had decided to slip into some revealing Lycra and explore this cycling-crazed country on two wheels. Historically, cycling companies have swerved away from “dangerous” Colombia, playing it safe with Cuba, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Now, with improved security and a peace agreement between the government and the leftist Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), adventure specialists like Exodus are realizing Colombia might be worth a try. Rodriguez formed part of the local team leading our group of seasoned riders. Though the other three guides rode with aplomb, the clean-shaven 24-yearold from Bogotá has competed in the country’s premier race, Vuelta a Colombia (Tour of Colombia). Eventually, we scrunched onto the Left: The group lined up for the crossing of the Cauca River. Right: Dramatic valley views accompany cyclists for the journey. 30 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 white gravel yard of San Alberto — a coffee farm teetering above the town of Buenavista. Passing a bunch of hybrid mountain bikes leaning against a rusting iron gate, we crab-walked down to a basketball-court–sized terrace etched into the thickly vegetated mountainside. Some of the group, which ranged from the competitive Brits to a swim enthusiast from Chicago, lounged in garden chairs. Some made hand gestures to each other, illustrating the steepness of the ride like sea-crazed fishermen exaggerating the size of their catches. Others stood at the terrace’s edge, panning their cameras slowly across the intertwining mountains caressed by wispy clouds. Eric Farnworth — a 65-year–old, slim, young Sean Connery lookalike — scratched his grey beard, preoccupied by the familiar panpipe tune floating from the speakers. According to our leaders, San Alberto stands a level above the hundreds of coffee farms in Quindío. Seeking only the finest Arabica beans, tireless workers sift through batches five times, tossing aside those that don’t meet the high standards. These select few are then dried and roasted in precisely defined conditions. The significance of this escaped me, and I asked the barista for a cappuccino. Tied in a maroon apron, the young woman gasped, clutched her chest, and stumbled backwards. Silence fell on the patio. Even the panpipes lost their gusto. Everyone stared at me, mouthing: “Take it back. Take it back.” The barista took a deep breath and composed herself. She politely reminded me, “Milk would only spoil the wonderful flavor, sir.” I guess she was right. It would have ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG Jeeps transport locals and visitors around the Coffee Zone's winding roads. been like strolling into a Russian oligarch’s reception and pouring Red Bull into the vodka. Not cool. I therefore resisted the temptation to order a tall vanilla latté with extra cream and sugar, and settled for a tinto (black coffee). “Simon and Garfunkel!” Farnworth suddenly shouted, finally deciphering the dulcet melody of “The Sound of Silence.” He sat down and grinned like a schoolboy who’s correctly answered a math question. Sliding into my wicker chair, I sipped the chestnut-brown liquid silk. A gentle caffeine hit radiated through my weary limbs, I swayed along to the high-pitched gliding notes, and watched orange butterflies float into the yellow cayena flowers, then flutter out again. Call me loco, but this could be heaven. I turned to our leader, Oscar Hernando Cañón González, and demanded to know why this region didn’t teem with tourists. “Colombia is not what it seems,” González said. “People think this is a violent, dangerous country. But what you read in the newspaper and see on television is not true Colombia.” He leaned forward, his rounded shoulders twitching like someone was pulling them from a string above. “We want people to look upon our country with a smile and cycle around the varied land with great pleasure.” Although tourism here continues to soar, the number of adventure trips — in particular, those heading out of major cities — lags behind. González believes the blame rests with Colombia’s outdated reputation. Surely, apprehension comes naturally for someone heading to a country entangled in a 52-year armed conflict? But violence has plummeted since the turn of the millennium. Indeed, 2014 showed the lowest homicide rate in almost two decades — 26.1 murders per 100,000 people. This sits below six major U.S. cities, 31 including Detroit at 45. And the conflict between the government and FARC should end soon. President Juan Manuel Santos and the country’s largest left-wing guerrilla group will stop shooting one another this March, officially at least. “It’ll turn the tourism light from red to green,” González said. “When people see we are finally at peace, they’ll come here and love it.” With Colombia named third cheeriest country in the 2014 Happy Planet Index, and friendly locals offering a wave and a “buenos días” to us at every turn, his theory had legs. Unfortunately, another cliché smears this country’s image, but the drug discussion will have to wait. Our coffee cups had run dry. González, as he often does, stood up, waited for the chatter to cease, opened his mouth a couple of times, and then smiled. “Okay, ready for the next climb?” With coffee plantations sewn onto mountainsides between 4,600 and 5,900 feet (the optimal altitude for growing Arabica beans), our days involved chest-pounding climbs and, to my body’s relief, joyous descents. We brushed under snowboard-sized banana leaves. We passed men in neckerchiefs chopping lemon trees with silver machetes and wheeled alongside vast fields of sugarcane bursting from the beige earth like crowns of giant sunken pineapples. We rode behind swooping turquoise hummingbirds, and pink petals floated down from the Guayacán rosado trees. To refuel we indulged in sweet grape juice and platters of guava, star fruit, and succulent papaya. In the evenings, we staggered into jazzy purple and red hotels, or, my personal favorite, colonial fincas. These country houses blend typical Spanish architecture with that of the Antioquian post-colonization period here in the mid-19th century. The sloping terracotta–tiled roofs signify the 55-percent– grade mountainsides where los cafeteros (coffee pickers) have collected beans tirelessly for over 150 years. The mud and guadua bamboo walls, at first glance indistinguishable from brick, derive from a pre-Columbian process known as Bahareque, which was adopted by the Spanish. Locals have continued tweaking this technique to resist earth- 32 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 quakes, among other things. Feeling the full magnitude of cycling hunger, we scarfed plates of chargrilled chicken with rice before sipping saltyrimmed, lemon-tinged micheladas. In one flutter of indulgence, I paid 50,000 pesos for a massage — $17 dollars well spent despite discovering, halfway through, that the sneezing masseuse was allergic to the oil she rubbed on me. After rattling my wooden bed frame with 10 hours of snoring — nothing beats cycling sleep — I hit the road. Colombia’s working class often relies on the bicycle as a form of exercise and transport. In countryside towns, middle-aged men trundled along potholed streets, clutching curtains, plastic piping, and the occasional Virgin Mary figurine. Bare-chested teenage boys on rusting bikes raced Rodriguez over the Cauca River. In Rio Frio, an 82-year–old man in a grey open-collared shirt showed off a rusty contraption he had purchased when he was eight for five pesos (about $1). To demonstrate its capability, he drifted twice around the plaza, grinning widely. Riding in cities is popular too. Every Sunday, masses of amateur cyclists squeeze themselves into Colombia-emblazoned Lycra and roll through cordoned-off streets. In 1974, Bogotá introduced the world to car-free days for urban cyclists, and the capital still holds the longest overall route at 75 miles. Even today, a whopping 1.4 million people attend the Ciclovia event — imagine the entire population of Phoenix saddling up at once! My guide, Rodriguez, caught the freewheeling bug when his father gave him his first bike at the age of eight. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG NUTS & BOLTS Colombia Tour operator Exodus, in conjunction with Pure Colombia, offers a 13-day trip around the Coffee Zone with accommodation, breakfasts, and dinners for $2,983 (excluding flights). The tour includes 10 cycling days at a “challenging” level, vehicle support, and bike rental if needed. exodus.co.uk/colombia-holidays. OTHER GUIDED TOURS Few guided tours exist but adventure specialists Pure Colombia (pure-colombia. com)offer various tours with English-speaking guides. ACCOMMODATIONS Hotels and homestay fincas (country houses) are commonly used throughout the country, especially in the Coffee Region. BEST TIME TO VISIT September to December is the main coffee harvest in Zona Cafetera. June to August and December to February are the driest months and the weather is mild throughout the year. GETTING THERE Many airlines offer direct routes from U.S. cities to Bogotá. I traveled with Avianca, who fly from Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Los Angeles, New York JFK, and Washington, DC. Having already competed in the Vuelta a Colombia, he’ll race in this year’s Cuban tour and then who knows? Europe, maybe. To photograph our future star and the group in action, I sporadically zipped ahead, jumped off, and began snapping away. We were heading toward Anserma, Avianca flights are available between most Colombian cities. avianca.com/es-co READING MATERIAL Kings of the Mountains by Matt Rendell; Enrique's Colombia, Adventure Cyclist, September 2008, by Willie Weir (adventurecycling.org/ default/assets/resourc es/200809_ Enriques_Colombia_Weir. pdf) a town in the Caldas region. I stopped in a skinny, silent valley sunken between thick foliage and plantain leaves. As I waited, I heard only the crack of dry pea pods falling onto the sizzling tarmac. Opposite, a man's head suddenly popped up from a tiny house window, three feet 33 . MTNS Anserma Chinchiná Pereira Los Nevados a National Park M a g d al ena Cauc S Rio Colombia South America Author’s Route 0 0 50 25 100 km. 50 mi. Cycling from the small town of Salento is tough but rewarding. above the thirsting grass. He shouted: “Vienen las ciclistas?” (Are the cyclists coming?) I nodded. Two seconds later, the clank from a metal door pierced the still heat, causing a flock of black birds to erupt out of a palm tree. The old man, holding a threadbare sombrero to his head, scampered from behind his pumpkin-colored house and skidded to a cartoon-like stop on the roadside. As the dust settled, this heavily wrinkled fellow turned to the brow of the hill and stretched out a Colombian flag. His big toes twitched in his sandals like he was waiting for his bride at the altar. I pointed my camera to the crest of the hill, then realized what I’d done. The Vuelta a Colombia was happening right then — but somewhere else. Not, as I’d just led this poor chap to believe, here. Before I could warn him, two silhouettes emerged on the heat-hazed horizon. The old man bounced his flag a few 34 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 times, almost jumping on the spot. I couldn’t watch. He had obviously expected a peloton of slick, lean cyclists to whir past in a flash of colors and adrenaline. Slowly, the shadows formed the shapes of Adam and Tatiana — two of our group members meandering along, chatting and laughing as if they were riding through a summer meadow. The man’s head followed the crawling pair, and he looked back up the deserted road, then at me. As his flag drooped onto the ground, all I could do was shrug and ride off. Misunderstandings have plagued Colombia over the past two decades. Mention to someone that I live here and I’ll either receive a concerned frown or a wink and a cheeky smile. In London a cabbie asked one of Exodus’s riders to bring back a bag of “special produce.” Family and friends of other cyclists shrieked at the news of their trip: “Colombia! You have insurance, right? Well, take this bulletproof vest just in case.” Hollywood may profit from images of coca plantations guarded by mustachioed narcos fingering machine guns, but nowadays Colombia has cleaned itself up. With drug routes concentrated on certain coastal regions and borders, areas such as the Coffee Region flourish without flying bullets and cartel bosses. Yet, for our group, Colombia’s misconstrued image worked beautifully. We journeyed for 10 days and 310 miles; climbing to 7,217 feet and flying down to 3,280 feet. We were welcomed like champions in colonial towns and coffee-scented villages. Best of all, we hadn’t seen one other foreign soul. We explored a land that, for various reasons, few people have wanted to ride. With a white dove set to be released over Colombia and tour companies finally offering viable routes here, now’s the time to cruise this unspoiled land. Simon Willis is a travel journalist specializing in Latin America. For more about Willis and Colombia, see simonwillistravels.wordpress.com and morecolombia.com. JAMIE ROBERTSON Panama Area Enlarged Rio Verde Bogotá DE Rio Buga Cali Boquia AN Roldanillo Bicycle Tour Operators/Advertisers Adventure Cycling Association Charleston Bicycle Tours Fold n’ Visit America By Bicycle Classic Adventures Freewheeling Adventures Around Wisconsin Bicycle Tours CrossRoads Girolibero foldnvisit.com adventurecycling.org/tours charlestonbicycletours.com 351.220997106 800.755.2453 800.408.1830 abbike.com, 888.797.7057 aroundwisbike.com 920.427.6086 Beer & Bike Tours beerandbiketours.com 970.201.1085 Big Dream Bike Tours bigdreambiketours.com 844.379.2453 Bike-Dreams bike-dreams.com 31.0475311047 Bike the Gap bike-the-gap.com 412.303.0566 Bubba’s Pampered Pedalers bubbaspamperedpedalers. com, 321.759.3433 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG classicadventures.com 800.777.8090 crossroadscycling.com 800.971.2453 Cycle America cycleamerica.com 800.245.3263 Cycle of Life cycleoflifeadventures.com 303.945.9886 Cycling 101 cycling101.net 928.200.0211 Cyclomundo cyclomundo.com 646.233.1354 Experience Plus! experienceplus.com 800.685.4565 freewheeling.ca 800.672.0775 girolibero.com 39.0444330724 Great Freedom Adventures greatfreedomadventures. com, 877.545.1864 Holland Bike Tours hollandbiketours.com 31.306364677 Independent Tourist independenttourist.com 866.269.9913 Iron Donkey irondonkey.com 011.44.2920891650 Italia Outdoors Italiaoutdoorsfoodandwine. com, 978.270.5774 Lizard Head Cycling Guides Lizardheadcyclingguides. com, 970.728.5891 Maupin Tour maupintour.com 800.225.4266 Mountainside Bike Tours mountainsidebiketours.us 301.722.4887 OK Cycle & Adventure Tours okcycletours.com 613.230.2100x5209 PAC Tour pactour.com 262.736.2453 Listed below are the bicycle tour companies that advertise in Adventure Cyclist. Besides supporting this magazine and Adventure Cycling Association with advertising dollars, they’re willing to invest money to be seen by Adventure Cyclist readers. We can’t necessarily vouch for them, but we think their support makes them worthy of highlighting here. Real Travel France TDA Global Cycling Santa Fe Biking Tours Timberline Adventures Senior Cycling Tours TradNatura Sport Sockeye Cycle Co. Vacation Bicycling realtravelfrance.com 011.33.622013734 santafebikingtours.com 505.690.0626 seniorcycling.com 540.668.6307 cyclealaska.com Pedal Across Wisconsin 877.292.4154 pedalacrosswisconsin.com 847.707.6888 Southeast Cycling secyclingtours.com Pedal & Sea Adventures 770.375.0010 pedalandseaadventures. com, 877.777.5699 Symbiosis Custom tdaglobalcycling.com 416.364.8255 timbertours.com 800.417.2453 cycling-tours-in-hungary. com, 36.12758490 vacationbicycling.com 706.363.0341 Woman Tours womantours.com 800.249.1444 Travel symbiosis-travel.com 44.08451232844 35 Fer STORY BY ALEX STRICKLAND 36 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 ALE X STRICKL AND rry Us Along ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG A Week in Washington's San Juan Islands Day Two had not gone according to plan. What had promised to be the queen stage of Adventure Cycling's San Juan Islands tour had turned in the wee hours when my wife, Keriann, woke suddenly to run to the bathroom. “The fish,” she whimpered, “I think I might've gotten a bad piece.” This didn't seem right. After all I'd been the one rolling the dice with consecutive meals of oysters and beer followed by more miles on the bike than an ankle injury had allowed all summer long. But life's not fair (and oysters are delicious). Dawn broke over Port Townsend, Washington, to reveal a grim scene: Keriann was sick and our group of a baker's dozen was set to board a small whale-watching boat for a three-hour crossing to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. “I can do it,” she squeaked, and dutifully saddled up for the short ride to the docks. A good choice, since it was the only one available. Adventure Cycling's small but mighty tours department has grown to operate more than 100 departures each year leaving from all over North America. And among the nonprofit's staff, few are more popular than the inn-to-inn jaunt around the San Juan Islands, just nine hours west of Missoula. No futzing with shipping bikes, and the promise of indoor accommodations and world-class riding had drawn Keriann and me to the coast for what would be her first-ever bike tour and my first with my employer. Pulling into the meeting point in the island town of Anacortes, two things were immediately clear: one was that we should have taken a few more shakedown rides since Keriann had, as of the night before our departure, never ridden with panniers. And two — we had been given a key to the wrong room. “May I help you?” asked Bruce, a physician with the Centers for Disease Control who would turn out to be the class clown on 37 ATTRACTIONS Climbing Mount Constitution on Orcas Island was a highlight of the trip, though with the Northwest’s famously finicky weather there’s no guarantee of big views off the top. On San Juan Island, American Camp and English Camp are a pair of small National Park Service-run sites offering a fascinating — and extremely odd — slice of American history. Lime Kiln State Park on the west side of San Juan Island is well-known for Orca sightings just off shore, though we weren’t so lucky. WHAT TO EAT Whidbey Island’s famous Penn Cove is known for its mussels, and the San Juans have oyster farms abounding, so if you’re a fan of shellfish, this trip is nirvana. Other sea food is abundant as well, and everything from fish and chips to grilled squid is on the menu. Area Thanks to the Enlarged CANADA high tourist USA traffic there Bellingham are restaurant East options to Mt. Sound Constitution satisfy nearly Orcas Island Roche Harbor any taste, y San and grocery Juan I. Anacortes Vancouver Friday stores were Lopez Island Harbor Lopez Deception available and Pass Island Victoria, well-stocked B.C. Whidbey on each ca Island e Fu d n a island we of Ju t i a Coupeville r t S visited. a Ferry 0 5 10 15 20 mi. Port Townsend JAMIE ROBERTSON ACCOMMODATIONS We enjoyed excellent accommodations throughout the trip, though the islands' tourism economy means that there’s no shortage of options and price ranges. A few favorites were the Discovery Inn (discoveryinn. com) in the town of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, the Lodge on Orcas Island (thelodgeonorcasisland. com) near Eastsound, and the Lopez Islander Resort (lopezfun.com). San Juan County Parks offer camping opportunities around the islands and an online reservation system at sanjuanco. com/parks/camping.aspx. mB f e b r u a r y 2 016 GETTING THERE Catching a flight to Seattle-Tacoma International is the easy part, but if you don’t want to rent a car for the 90-mile trip north to Anacortes, Bellair (airport er.com) runs shuttles from the airport. Bikes must be boxed and require a $10 fee. Once on the islands, ferries are free for cyclists, and regular service runs between San Juan, Orcas, Lopez, and Shaw islands. The whale watching trip we took from Port Townsend to Friday Harbor (puget soundexpress.com) was gorgeous, and the crew’s knowledge of the area (and the area whales) was incredible. B e l li n g h a ADVENTURE CYCLIST Adventure Cycling’s San Juan Islands Inn-to-Inn tour was one of many organized tour groups riding on the islands during our trip, but putting together a self-supported or credit-card tour on the San Juans wouldn’t be tough thanks to relatively short total distances, an abundance of lodging and camping, and free ferries. rait o St Har 38 NUTS & BOLTS San Juan Islands c Ocean Pacifi this trip when he wasn't telling stories of working to contain ebola in West Africa, but was, at that moment, a shirtless stranger answering the door. Thank goodness we knocked first. The first map meeting revealed Bruce — clothed — and his wife, Maggi, along with a cast of characters from around the country with cycling resumés that put ours to shame. Centuries, cross-country tours, weekly group rides. Oh, crap. Well, we'd rely on youth and foolishness to make up the difference and hope that our group leader, subbing in after our scheduled leader fell victim to an injury, lived up to her name. Happi, the youngest and smallest of the 13, was at the helm, and if that name was a cross to bear she never let on, bringing relentless cheer, organization, and daily lunches and snacks to keep the group fueled. As we left the next morning through the only rain we'd see in eight days, she waited to take up the sweep position even as the past and present Southerners of the group (a pair of Atlantans aboard brand new Bike Fridays, and me) huddled under eaves until well into the mid-morning hoping the drizzle would cease. A break in the weather never arrived, but after knocking out 30 or so miles over the spectacular Deception Pass and down to Whidbey Island's charming town of Coupeville, Day One did offer up a happy hour menu before hopping aboard a massive ferry — cost: $3.75 — to take us across the water to the Olympic Peninsula, Port Townsend, and one bad piece of fish. Harkening back to the days of Captain George Vancouver, who named it, the funky seaside town's Victorian buildings, obsession with wooden boats, and colorful ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG One of the many perks of an inn-to-inn trip is a light load on the days you're carrying bags at all. overnights in the same spot. A half dozen of us left the hotel in something like a pace line en route to the upscale development of Roche Harbor on the northwest corner of the island. Alpaca farms and photo opportunities splintered the group until I found myself riding alongside Bryce, a Texan who had sidled into our opening meeting an hour late after arriving from a week-long fishing trip sounding like a chilled-out Matthew McConaughey. After our tour, he was headed for a sailing school in an effort to squeeze the most out of his time in the Northwest. Bryce and I pulled into Roche Harbor next to the tiny grass airfield just as the field's keeper pedaled up on a mountain bike headed for a shack on the other side. “You guys looking for a nice ride?” he beamed, before pointing us away from the harbor full of yachts onto a one-lane road that dipped down toward the water on the back side of town. We took his advice and were rewarded when we came across the San Juan Island Distillery with hooch for tasting and a local duo strumming folk tunes out front. That night at dinner, flying solo with Keriann still on the road to recovery, I sat with the group in a local Thai restaurant as Bruce guided us on how to order 39 ALE X STRICKL AND locals are best summed up by the oft-seen bumper sticker “We're all here because we're not all here.” We were just there for a night before hopping on a small boat bound for the San Juans with high hopes for Orcas and clear skies. We met at the docks, and as we handed bikes up to the crew for safe keeping in the boat's rooftop racks, Keriann stared down the gangplank at a nightmare situation for anyone feeling under the weather: a small, 70-seat boat (with just one bathroom) about to cast off for a 30-mile open-water crossing. But the rain had ceased, and the skies and seas were a lovely blue, even if she was looking a little green. Though the cycling on the San Juan Islands is sublime, the ferries steal the show. Free for cyclists and pedestrians once you're on the islands, the short hops between ports courtesy of the Washington Department of Transportation blew my landlocked mind every time, providing incredible views, a respite for tired legs, and a chance for the group to chat in a setting that enamored everyone with the novelty of boat travel. The whale-watching passage didn't deliver Orcas, though we caught a brief glimpse of a pair of humpbacks in the wide Straight of San Juan de Fuca along with plenty of sea lions and cormorants. Keriann even made it up from belowdecks to see the whales and get a whiff of the ferry's famous baked Blueberry Buckle cake before darting back down to the boat's lone bathroom. Back on dry land in Friday Harbor, we set out for what would be the first of a few day rides sans bags thanks to back-to-back BRUCE BERNARD A Washington State ferry pulls up to the dock in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. to make the most of a family-style feast. Conversation turned from cycling to life to kids and, despite my best efforts, eventually toward the question of age. Diane, a retired California teacher, spin instructor and possibly the strongest rider in the group, turned and leveled the question I'd been hoping to avoid. “How old are you?” she asked. “Wait! How old are your parents?!” Youth might've covered the sins of insufficient training, but there was no escaping the obvious demographics. If bohemian college kids are the popular vision of bicycle touring, the reality is a little more ... seasoned. And there was no denying that the people around the table were indeed closer to my parents' age than my own. The truth out in the open and requisite grousing undertaken — not to mention promises of monthly mock-irate letters to the editor for as long as I'm at Adventure Cyclist — we decamped to the hotel in preparation for another day of riding unloaded on the biggest and most-populated of islands. We took in the southern half of San Juan the next day — all of us hoping to catch a glimpse of Orcas cruising up the Haro Straight with Vancouver Island and the outskirts of Victoria visible across the water — and then hopped another ferry bound for Orcas Island, home of the highest point in the chain, Mount Constitution. After riding up the western arm of the horseshoe-shaped island and settling into accommodations at a large house converted into a lodge, we walked to dinner at a 40 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 local Mexican joint (this, a stone's throw from Canada) before calling it a night. We awoke to perfect weather, unloaded bikes, and 30 miles of riding, including the 2,300-foot climb to the summit of Mount Constitution, complete with a massive stone observation tower built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The road up Constitution proved to be the most beautiful of the trip — almost five miles of smooth, one-lane blacktop winding through a dense forest that opened up just often enough to give glimpses south and west across the flanks of Orcas Island with San Juan and Lopez in the distance. The big reveal, though, didn't come until the top, when the view opened to the east with 10,781-foot Mount Baker looming over the blue waters of Bellingham Bay. A few members of the group begged off the big climb — Isabel, an Adventure Cycling life member and tour leader, had been to the top a few years prior and Sabine, a German-born, Portland-based psychiatrist, was following through on her promised distaste for hills — but the rest of us posed for pictures, ate lunch, and lingered long in the sun as other tourists, some also on bikes, swirled around taking in the views. A rocket descent followed by some surprisingly tough mileage down the island's eastern arm eventually wound us back to the lodge to pack for an early morning ride to the ferry terminal for our penultimate crossing. While San Juan was the most varied and enjoyed the most amenities thanks to Friday Harbor's relative size (population 2,100), and Orcas provided the most spectacular scenery, it was little Lopez Island, our last of the trip, that had us all glancing at real estate ads. The small, sparsely populated, and extremely friendly island offered low traffic and long stretches of road along the water. Plus, the one-block downtown held a fantastic bike shop and even better bakery, only lacking a microbrewery to achieve the holy trinity of cycling amenities. We looped the island after dropping bags at a small resort that for some reason reminded me of something out of the Catskills, despite the fact that I've never been there. Most days we'd ridden in larger groups than our own small parties, smatterings of three or five glomming on for a morning and perhaps connecting with others at the obvious lunch spots, but on Lopez we rode in a bunch, chatting side-by-side as miles rolled by without ever seeing a car. We hiked out to the coast at Shark Reef Sanctuary, sliding over roots in our SPD shoes and staring out at the flat water hoping to catch sight of a fin. That night — our last as a full group since a few folks were headed out in the pre-dawn hours to catch the early ferry back to Anacortes — we toasted the trip as the sun sank over the bay outside, and promises were made to call or crash in spare bedrooms should travels ever take us to Texas, Ohio, or beyond. By morning, the remaining seven or eight of us headed for the final ferry ride (still free) back to Anacortes, where the terminal was within shouting distance of our first night's accommodation and parked vehicles. As the ferry pulled up to the dock and we prepared, ironically, to walk our bikes the final few hundred yards of the trip, I looked at our remaining crew, aged late 20s to late 60s, and recalled Sabine's introduction a week earlier. “I do not like hills,” she said. “My lowest gear is my feet.” It was just modesty, of course, as she ground up the islands' rolling roads with the rest of us. But I couldn't help but notice that on the bicycle, a great democratizer of age, ability, courage, and just about everything else, age makes nearly no difference — life on two wheels means you never have to downshift at all. Alex Strickland is the editor-in-chief of Adventure Cyclist. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 41 Final Mile Plagued on the Seven Summits THE HORSE FLY SHUFFLE ON MOUNT KOSCIUSZKO BY DAMIAN ANTONIO ➺ After a four-year layoff from bicycle touring, I decided to revive my passion by doing something extraordinary. Something epic. I decided to cycle to one of the Seven Summits. That is, the highest summit on each of the seven continents. The only question was which one. They were all so tempting. Obviously Everest was not an option because I didn’t have room in my panniers for the required oxygen tanks. Aconcagua in the Andes and Denali in Alaska have both recorded summer temperatures of -30°C (-23°F), which is far too cold for this summer-loving Australian. As a sufferer of ifestiophobia (the fear of volcanoes), Kilimanjaro was not an option. Mount Elbrus is in Russia, and I can never go back there due to an unfortunate misunderstanding involving a Ukranian mail-order bride, the Russian mafia, and an incorrect translation of “How much is the train to St Petersburg?” And I didn’t have a spare $50,000 to mount an Antarctic expedition to Mount Vinson. So that left Mount Kosciuszko in Australia. I guess it was just good fortune that at 2,228 meters above sea level, Kosciuszko is less than half the height of the second smallest mountain on the list, and is a mere six-hour drive from my home in Sydney. Regardless of its modest stature, cycling to the roof of Australia in the middle of summer comes with its own challenges. They may not involve altitude sickness, hypothermia, or 42 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 gale-force winds that can blow you off the side of a mountain, but they are challenges nonetheless. (Actually, most of the challenges were the direct result of planning, packing, and departing for the trip on January 1, after an all-night New Years Eve party on Bondi Beach.) I arrived late in the day in Jindabyne — the launch pad for the Snowy Mountains. I looked in the boot of my car at the mish-mash of camping equipment, cycling gear, and food that had been haphazardly stacked around and on top of my bicycle in a sleepdeprived stupor earlier that day. Following some rearranging and culling, I set off at 5:00 pm with the sun still high in the sky and oppressively hot. Flat to begin with, the road became progressively steeper and the surrounding bush thicker. I briefly wondered about the wisdom of cycling into dense bushland during a very dry summer, with forecast temperatures of mid-30s (about 95°F), at the height of bushfire season. Far more immediately concerning than being burned alive, though, was the fear of having every last drop of blood sucked from my body by the local horse flies. Using the hypodermic needles attached to their faces, their Bruce-Lee–like nimbleness, and their Wolverine invincibility, they turned what was supposed to be a relaxing mountain ride into a never-ending mobile acupuncture session. I took comfort in the thought that these critters might abate in the cooler air at higher altitudes — my logic being that since they obviously spawned in the fires of hell, they wouldn’t like the cold. At the campground that evening, however, a hiker seemed to take pleasure in assuring me they would only get worse, “Up there, they’re big enough to pick you up and carry you away,” he said. The following morning, the climb to the highest point in Australia began in earnest. With one hand steering and the other swatting, 8 kph was just slow enough for the flies to keep pace — taunting and tormenting me, putting me on the fast track to the loony bin. Exhausted, I yearned for a break, but my “rest stops” were spent practicing the Horse Fly Shuffle — an ungraceful and tiring combination of wriggles, swats, and kicks. Not for the first time in my bicycletouring career, I envied the Lycra-clad racers who were taking advantage of the smooth roads, long climbs, and sparse traffic. They effortlessly glided past me on their un-laden, sevenkilogram speed machines, seemingly oblivious to the plight of the slow. Even if the horse flies didn’t, the dense bushland gradually thinned out and was replaced with a lush carpet of green grass, woody low-lying shrubs, and the pale-gray, tangled snow gums that are unique to this part of the world. Long, snaking rivers and streams flowed from the tops of the surrounding mountains, their banks lined with ashen granite boulders. SOPHIE KIT TREDGE With such spectacular backdrops to spur me on, patiently and persistently I reached the end of the road at Charlotte’s Pass (1,900 meters/6,234 feet). From this point, summiteers ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG are required to walk or cycle the remaining eight kilometers along a meandering dirt track. As with most of the Seven Summits, the average age of Kosciuszko summiteers is somewhere between 30 and 40. Although in this case, it’s not so much because it requires a young, fit body with an experienced mind, but rather because there are as many children as septuagenarians, skipping and hobbling to the top. It was only the magnificent views that distinguished the summit from a typical family picnic in the park. In the foreground were green mountains (read: hills) displaying a patchwork of various shades of green and dotted with pockets of untouched snow. Looking farther, the mountains continued to the horizon, though with the distinctive Australian blue haze that is a result of the eucalyptus oil that hangs in the air. That night after setting up camp, 30 very fast and very fun kilometers below Kosciuszko, I plunged into the crystal clear Snowy River to wash the sweat from my body. Immersed in the icy cold waters, this was exactly what I had visualized when setting out on this adventure: bathing in the Snowy River, satisfyingly exhausted, alone in the wilderness. It was a perfect moment. Then I broke the surface and was attacked by a thousand horse flies. Damian Antonio is an ex-engineer who threw in the nine-to-five life to become a freelance adventuretravel writer. He spent two years cycling from Malaysia to Turkey and continues to cycle, kayak, trek, and camp throughout his home in Australia. 43 Cyclesense Return of the Tech Column 'GENTLING' YOUR BIKE BY NICK LEGAN ➺ If you haven’t seen the documentary Buck, give it a watch. It’s a touching and nuanced film, and for the sake of this column, I’ll paraphrase. Historically, horse trainers would “break” horses, bending them to man’s will through brute force and often violence. Instead, Buck Brannaman, the film’s protagonist and archetype for “The Horse Whisperer,” employs kinder means to “gentle” a horse by building trust and understanding a horse’s natural tendencies and personal history. Now take a little time to think about your relationship with your steed, a bicycle in this case. While the interaction is different with an inanimate object, understanding its nature and history is no less important. Do you know your bike well? Can you recall important moments in the bike’s history, be they traumas or periods of regular maintenance? Do you care for your bike or fix it only when something prevents your next ride? In my days as a bike mechanic, both in shops and working for professional racing teams, I was routinely surprised to discover how little avid riders and racers understood about the mechanical workings of their machines. To be clear, I’m mechanically inclined, and what I didn’t understand I was encouraged to take apart and figure out. I realize that not all riders have that same experience, but all riders can take steps to better understand the bikes they ride. Here’s an example. Carbon fiber bikes, with large, hollow, sounding-board tubes, always make a certain sound when bouncing over a rough road. An aluminum bike has a different sound, just as do those made of titanium and steel. I encourage you to pay attention to the sounds of your bicycle, especially 44 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 GREG SIPLE Editor's Note: After a five-year hiatus, Cyclesense is back, this time with Nick Legan at the helm. A former pro mechanic and tech editor at VeloNews, he continues a tradition of technical coverage in Adventure Cyclist that was anchored for many years by reader favorite John Schubert. In a nod to that tradition, the accompanying illustration was originally published in 2002 alongside a column by the late, great Sheldon Brown. after a tune-up when the bike should be running well. When new noises pop up, note them, explore them. While you pedal happily, take a short break from enjoying the scenery to note the little grinding noises, the creaks of your bike. Here are a few more questions to ask yourself. Is your bike slower to turn in than it used to be? Perhaps your tires are a bit underinflated or your headset is too tight. Is your shifting sluggish? Maybe you have to push on your shifter twice before it changes gear. Dirty cables or a bent derailer hanger are likely culprits. Remember that some of these things occur slowly, so they are easy to miss during normal day-to-day riding. If you ride a friend’s new bike and marvel at the crispness of its shifting, don’t throw in the towel and decide that you need a new bike (or do, but good luck with that on the home front). Instead try CONTINUED ON PAGE 65 Garmin Varia Smart Lights Fine Tuned THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT BY JOSH TACK ➺ It’s always impressive to me how many consumers Garmin is able to reach — automotive, aviation, marine, outdoor, and fitness industries are all covered by their products. In a way, they’ve done with GPS technology what 3M has done with tape. If you’re a person that moves from point A to point B by just about any means necessary, they’re likely to have a product for you. Garmin’s range of cycling paraphernalia is but a niche within their sports and recreation department, but that’s not stopping them from innovating in our corner of their universe. They’ve spent years polishing up their Edge series bike computers and are now turning their attention to rider safety with their new lineup of Varia smart cycling devices. Found under this new category are the Garmin Varia smart lights. The smart bike lights can be purchased in a few configurations — you can buy a headlight only, taillight only, or a combo. I tested front and rear, and out of the box this gets you a Varia headlight, taillight, remote switch with handlebar mount, Garmin’s universal out-front handlebar mount, various taillight mounts, microUSB charging cable, and user manual. The first thing I noticed was how well everything was built. Because of that, there’s definitely some heft to the headlight, but the out-front mount is also beefed upped to handle the extra load. The light affixes to the underside of the mount, and there’s a quarter-turn attachment point on the top for any Garmin Edge series GPS you want to toss up there. This means you can double up a headlight and GPS unit on the same mount, which helps declutter the handlebars. The rear light is not quite as overbuilt but still feels sturdy and attaches securely to either the seatpost or seatstays. Out of the box and on their own, these lights aren’t too unlike anything else you’ve ever dabbled with. They have high, low, and flashing settings available with a quick toggle. No big surprises there, although one handy feature is that you can pair the lights to the included remote switch, which can be attached to your handlebars for easy access. This is a great way to flip through various settings while keeping your hands on the bars. If you want to take advantage of the smart features that these lights offer — a big reason you’d pay for these in the first place — you’ll need a compatible Garmin GPS device, such as the Edge 1000. There are some really cool things you can ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG do once you have your lights synced with your GPS unit, first of which is beam adjustment based on your speed. As you ride faster, the headlight will register your pace and throw a brighter beam farther down the road. If you slow down, the front beam pulls in to illuminate the road closer to you and changes the blinking pattern of the rear light to alert anyone behind you that you’re slowing or coming to a stop. Another nifty feature is the light’s ability to automatically brighten or dim based on surrounding light conditions, though a light-sensing Edge 1000 is required, which is a little unfortunate since we’re seeing some lights out there that can do this on their own (such as the Blackburn Central Smart Front Light). Both the front and rear lights have internal batteries charged using a microUSB cable. When you go to charge up your lights for the first time, be sure to download Garmin Express to register your lights and check for the latest software updates. Within Garmin Express, you can also customize a few automated settings on your lights and download product manuals. Moving away from the smart features and diving into the usual specs, the headlight can push out 600 lumens at its brightest and 150 lumens at the dimmest setting, with 400- and 250-lumen outputs in between. If you’re running this full blast, you can expect about two-and-a-half hours of runtime on a full charge. Behind you, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 65 45 Road Test ELEPHANT NATIONAL FOREST EXPLORER BY PATRICK O'GRADY ➺ NEW MEXICO'S Sandia Mountains are not the Alps, and I am definitely not Hannibal. But I did spend part of late spring and early summer herding an elephant along our local mountain trails — an Elephant Bikes National Forest Explorer (NFE), to be precise — and if we never made it to Rome, well, neither did Hannibal. Actually, if Hannibal had started his expedition with 650b-wheeled Elephants instead of the four-legged variety, he might have made better time crossing the Alps and had a shot at seizing the Eternal City. The National Forest Explorer is intended for traveling light and fast, whether you’re commuting from home to work, doing a long out-and-back on your local dirt roads, or bikepacking into the high country to see if there’s any prime real estate on the other side. “Think long, unsupported days in the saddle,” said John Speare of Elephant Bikes, where Glen Copus puts his 25 years of experience to work building bikes in small batches in the South Perry district of Spokane, Washington. The Forest Service-green NFE starts out as a double-butted True Temper front triangle mated to a 4130 chromoly rear triangle, with a lugged crown and low-trail fork drilled for internal wiring in case you’d like to rock a dynamo hub up front. Three sizes are available — small, medium, and large — and my large NFE frame was said to hit 4.5 lbs., with the fork adding another 2.25 lbs. 46 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 SPECIFICATIONS ELEPHANT BIKES NATIONAL FOREST EXPLORER 3. Head tube angle: 73° Price: $1,385 (frame and fork only) 6. Standover height: 835mm Sizes available: Small, Medium, Large 8. Fork rake: 65mm Size tested: Large 10. Wheelbase: 1056mm Weight: 25.1 lbs. without pedals; frame weight, 4.5 lbs.; fork weight, 2.25 lbs. (with 290mm steerer) 11. Frame: Double-butted True TEST BIKE MEASUREMENTS 1. Seat tube: 58cm (center of spindle to top of seatpost clamp) 2. Top tube: 57cm (actual, center to center; 58cm effective) 4. Seat tube angle: 73° 5. Chainstays: 435mm 7. Bottom bracket drop: 70mm 9. Fork trail: 45mm Temper front triangle with 4130 chromoly butted rear triangle. Guides and stops for fully housed cables to brakes and rear derailer; three sets of bottle mounts; rear rack/ fender mounts 12. Color: National Forest green (RAL 6021) 13. Fork: Nova brazed and lugged crown, drilled for internal dynamo-hub wiring. Disc tab, low-rider/fender mounts, Nitto Mini mounts 14. Handlebar: 42cm Ritchey Comp Curve, 73mm reach, 128mm drop 15. Stem: Ritchey Pro 4 Axis, 100mm, four-bolt clamp, +84/6° 16. Shift/brake levers: Gevenalle GX 17. Brakes: Avid BB7 Road mechanical discs 18. Rotors: Avid, 140mm rear, 160mm front 19. Front derailer: Shimano CX70 20. Rear derailer: Shimano Deore Shadow 10-speed 21. Crankset: Shimano 105, 175mm, 50/34T 22. Cassette: Shimano 10-speed, ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 12-36, 12-13-15-17-19-21-2428-32-36T 23. Bottom bracket: SM-BBR60 24. Seatpost: Ritchey WCS, 27.2mm, 400mm 25. Saddle: XLC Comp 100 Series 26. Headset: Ritchey Comp 27. Chain: SRAM PC-1051, 10-speed 28. Hubs: Shimano Deore, 32h 29. Rims: WTB i23 Frequency 30. Tires Schwalbe Thunder GEARING IN INCHES 3450 11 76.5 112.5 13 70.6 103.8 15 61.2 90.0 17 54.0 79.4 19 48.3 71.0 21 43.7 64.3 24 38.2 56.2 28 32.8 48.2 32 28.7 42.2 36 25.5 37.5 Burt, 650b x 2.1 Contact: Elephant Bikes, 2001 E 17th Ave. Spokane, Washington 99203, elephantbikes.com. Built up and ready to ride, with a pair of Shimano PD-M540 pedals, my NFE weighed 25.9 pounds. It’s something of a pygmy pachyderm, even with the signature biplane fork crown and wishbone seatstay that the press kit says “makes the bike an Elephant.” It certainly got a lot of attention down at The Bike Coop, where a customer hollered, “Wow! Cool bike!” and everybody wanted to know where I was riding it. Somewhere and soon, I thought, catching the forest-green fever. Without any extra weight that wasn’t attached to me, the NFE was rarin’ to go — so much so that I had to keep a close eye on it during a shakedown cruise on some rolling, swoopy New Mexican singletrack peppered with sharp stones and cacti. Some stodgier bikes will correct your errors, or at least resist them, but not this one. If you want to get into trouble, the NFE will be happy to oblige. Not that it’s scary or sketchy — it just has more jump to it than your typical 29er. The bike’s geometry and 650b wheel size have their roots in randonneuring, according to Speare. The 73-degree head-tube angle with 65mm of fork rake anticipate a small load carried over the front wheel — less than 15 lbs. — while the high-volume, supple 650b tires available from companies like Compass and Schwalbe suit the type of riding Speare said an Elephant customer has in mind, especially if he or she rides a small or medium. “The load slows down the steering a bit,” Speare said. “Pretty much all of our customers run it with a front rack. Without the load, it’s super lively and requires a lot of attention to steering input, which, if you’ve been riding mostly 29ers lately, will feel pretty foreign, I imagine.” It was definitely a change of pace. If a 29er sometimes feels like a road bike with fat tires, the 650b-wheeled NFE feels more like a mountain bike with drop bars. Just for fun, I took my old 26-inch hardtail out on the same circuit and felt many similarities, right down to overcooking 47 some of the same corners. Speaking of cooking, my NFE arrived spec’d out like a meal at a Pacific Northwest restaurant specializing in regional foods. Speare included a matching green porteur rack from Haulin’ Colin (Seattle); an Ozette XL rando bag and Jr. Ranger panniers from Swift Industries (also Seattle); a Pika seat bag from Revelate Designs (Anchorage), and Gevenalle GX brake/shift levers (Portland, Oregon). This marked my first outing with the Gevenalle levers, and I found them an impressive alternative to the usual integrated shifters. Like bar ends, they let you mix and match Shimano’s 10-speed road and mountain components, but with the advantage of being able to switch gears while riding on the hoods. They don’t look as elegant as STI or SRAM’s DoubleTap and take a bit of getting used to, but you can quickly hit the 34x36 without having to reach for the drops, leaving you free to focus on cleaning that S-shaped rock garden that just appeared dead ahead. With everything attached, I put five 48 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 lbs. in the rando bag, added 10 lbs. to the panniers, and stuffed my 2.6-lb. Fly Creek UL2 into the seat bag. Then I set about climbing some of the neighborhood singletrack. As Speare said, putting weight over the front end settled the NFE down a bit. But the handling remained responsive — cornering at speed and in close quarters was a breeze, and I was even able to trackstand while searching for the best line through a rock-studded section of trail. “Yeah, once you get a feel for the handling, you can pull a U-turn on most trails,” said Speare. “This is not a traditional touring bike — it’s more geared for endurance/long days, dirt-road, selfsupported, minimalist bike camping.” Indeed, four NFE customers finished the grueling 2015 Oregon Outback, a 365mile, self-supported tour of that state’s dirt-road boonies. Bikeportland.org publisher Jonathan Maus wrote about his experience with the Outback, and it made Hannibal’s alpine expedition look like one of the National Lampoon “Vacation” movies. “That’s a good illustration of the scenarios this bike was designed for — super-long, hard days with lots of climbing,” said Speare. “Minimalist packing is essential to optimize the comfort of where you’re spending your time — in the saddle.” Frankly, I didn’t spend nearly enough time in the NFE’s saddle. After reading Maus’s account of his odyssey, I felt even less like Hannibal (and nothing at all like Odysseus). My outings were confined to the greater Albuquerque metropolitan area, my meals were slightly elaborate affairs cooked on a five-burner gas stove, and I slept in my own bed instead of under the stars. What can I tell you? I’m a sluggard who enjoys his comforts. But if I were just a little more adventurous, you might catch a glimpse of me herding an Elephant over the mountain to see what I could see. Patrick O’Grady has written and cartooned about cycling since 1989 for VeloNews, Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, and a variety of other publications. To read more from Patrick, visit maddogmedia. wordpress.com. SHAREtJOY for a chance to win Spread the joy of cycling — you could win a bike! l For each cyclist you refer to Adventure Cycling, you'll receive one entry in our drawing for a limited edition Salsa Marrakesh. The grand prize winner will be drawn from all eligible members in January of 2017. l Throughout 2016, we'll draw one winner each month to receive gifts from corporate members such as Arkel, Cygolite, Jones, Revelate Designs, and others. l The more cyclists you refer, the more chances you have to win! Visit adventurecycling.org/joy to enter. adventurecycling.org/joy ADVENTURE CYCLING CORPORATE MEMBERS Adventure Cycling’s business partners play a significant role in the success of our nonprofit organization. Our Corporate Membership Program is designed to spotlight these key supporters. Corporate Members are companies that believe in what we do and wish to provide additional assistance through a higher level of support. These corporate membership funds go toward special projects and the creation of new programs. To learn more about how your business can become a corporate supporter of Adventure Cycling, go to adventurecycling.org/corporate or call 800.755.2453. TITANIUM W hi at re h Bike R fis et te Montana’s First And Only Bike Retreat ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG SILVER GOLD BRONZE At Your Pace Freestyle Cycling Adventures Fold n Visit – Cycling Holidays | City Tours Peru For Less TiGr Lock Lizard Head Cycling Guides 49 Road Test SPECIFICATIONS NINER RLT STEEL W/ 2-STAR 105 BUILD Price: $2,500 (as reviewed) Sizes available: 47cm, 50cm, 53cm, 56cm, 59cm, 62cm myself, ignoring the fact that the effort was warming me in the freezing temperatures. The shaded, dirt shelf road curved its way up the pass that served as the opening volley in the 2015 Rebecca’s Private Idaho gravel event. While there was a number on the front of my Niner RLT Steel test bike, I was there for new roads and old friends, not heated sparring with fellow cyclists, and to put Niner’s latest offering through its paces. Whether labeled gravel, adventure road, all-road, or something similar, bikes like Niner’s RLT (Road Less Traveled) Steel continue to offer new, versatile options for drop-bar riders who like to mix it up. Sharing geometry and key features with Niner’s original RLT Alloy, the steel version easily clears 40mm tires, offers the reliable stopping power of disc brakes, a Pressfit 30 bottom bracket (with the option of using Niner’s eccentric bottom bracket for tensioning a singlespeed or internal-gear hub chain), and full compatibility with both mechanical and electronic groupsets. Its balanced, low (but not too low) bottom bracket and long (but not too long) chainstays make for a sure-footed bike that changes direction when asked. Niner says the RLT Steel is a bike designed with gravel, dirt, and paved roads in mind, whether its rider goes fast and light or slowly and methodically. While many users will keep the RLT in a stripped-down form, its frame does 50 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 9. Wheelbase: 1038mm 10. Standover height: 819mm Weight: 22.74 lbs. (without pedals) 12. Fork: Niner Full Carbon Fork, top) ➺ “DOES this climb ever end?” I asked above ground: 285mm 8. Fork offset: 45mm 11. Frame: Niner RLT Steel w/ 1. Seat tube: 56cm (center to BY NICK LEGAN 7. Crank spindle height Size tested: 56cm TEST BIKE MEASUREMENTS NINER RLT STEEL 6. Bottom bracket drop: 65mm 2. Top tube: 56.5cm (effective) 3. Head tube angle: 71.5° 4. Seat tube angle: 73.0° 5. Chainstays: 430mm (horizontal) Reynolds 853 QR 9mm (new model uses thru-axle) 13. Rims: Niner alloy 14. Hubs: Niner Alloy, QR 9mm front, 142x12mm thru axle rear (new model uses thruaxle front) 15. Tires: Schwalbe G-One Performance 700x35mm, folding bead 16. Bottom bracket: FSA GEARING IN INCHES 17. Crankset: FSA Energy, 172.5mm, 46/36T 18. Cassette: 11-speed Shimano 105 11-32T 19. Brake levers: Shimano 105 ST-5800 black 20. Shift levers: Shimano 105 ST- 5800 black 21. Brake calipers: Avid BB5 mechanical disc brake 3646 1188.9 113.6 1281.5 104.2 1375.2 96.1 1469.9 89.3 1661.1 78.1 1854.3 69.4 2048.9 62.5 2244.5 56.8 22. Pedals: N/A 2539.1 50.0 23. Seatpost: Niner alloy, 400mm 2834.9 44.6 24. Stem: Niner alloy, 100mm 3230.6 39.1 25. Handlebar: Niner Drop Top Alloy, 44cm 26. Headset: Cane Creek 26. Saddle: Niner w/ Cr-Mo rails ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG Contact: Niner Bicycles, 1611 South College, Unit 202, Fort Collins, Colorado, ninerbikes. com. feature rack and fender mounts both front and rear. In fact with the updated fork that Niner unveiled in October 2015, the company offers the industry’s few carbon fiber forks with mid-blade rack mounts (the Specialized Diverge is another). Rebecca’s Private Idaho was a worthy test with 93 miles of prime Ketchum-area dirt roads. With well-stocked, regular rest stops, I didn’t need to take advantage of the RLT’s third water-bottle-cage mount. On the other hand, I did make use of the Niner’s ample tire clearance by installing a pair of Clement’s excellent 40mm X’Plor MSO tires. While the 56cm bike was a bit harsh for my 155-lb. frame (although bigger riders enthusiastically endorsed the bike’s ride quality) with its stock 35mm Schwalbe tires, the Clements went a long way to smooth out the rough ride of dirt roads. They also gave the bike a more surefooted feel that led me to explore several singletrack connectors while riding at home. When I asked Niner’s Associate Brand Manager Brad Cole about that perceived rigidity, he mentioned that with Niner’s background in mountain bikes, the RLT frame and fork are built to surpass Europe’s strict EN off-road specifications required of mountain bikes sold on the continent. “As a result, the frame and fork ends up a bit stiffer, but stronger and more durable.” he said. For this tester, that peace of mind really did go a long way when I considered taking the road less traveled. It also means that the frame will carry a load well when in touring mode. When exploring the limits of the Niner RLT on mountain bike trails, the lack of a granny gear became apparent. While the FSA Energy crankset is a fine, value-oriented piece, the stock 46-36T chainrings and 11-32 cassette limited where my mortal legs and lungs could propel the bike. In fairness, this isn’t a mountain bike, and the fact that I was able to use singletrack connectors on dirt-road rides put a smile on my face. To help a bit on long inclines, prior 51 to Rebecca’s Private Idaho, I installed a 34T chainring that I had in my parts box, which helped limit my suffering. A triple or a mountain bike rear cassette would have opened even more possibilities for the bike as an explorer and for loaded touring. Thankfully, if you’d like to entertain that option, Niner sells the RLT Steel as a frameset ($1,500). The basic layout of Rebecca’s Private Idaho is a lollipop. And because the route begins with a long climb out of Ketchum that turns to dirt, the ride ends with a well-earned descent back into town. While Shimano 105 shifters, derailers, chain, and cassette all performed just as you’d expect from Shimano’s third-tier group, featuring reliable accuracy that is a bit heavier than its more expensive siblings. Like most original equipment, replacing the cables for slicker, more expensive options would have improved both the shifting and braking, but that’s a wear item and nothing of concern. Those wide 44cm bars mentioned earlier are a Niner house brand model, as are the zero-setback seatpost, saddle, stem (with nifty beer-cap headset cap that you INSTALL LIGHTS AND A REAR RACK TO CARRY YOUR WORK ESSENTIALS AND SPICE UP THE RIDE HOME BY HITTING A DIRT SECTION. the Niner was wonderfully sure-footed throughout the day’s ride, it was on this descent, after 80 hard miles, that the handling and intelligent spec on the RLT Steel really shined. An ear-to-ear grin installed itself on my dusty face as I did my best John Tomac impression on the rough dirt descent. The wide 44cm bars, low bottom bracket, and long (think gravelbike long, not loaded-touring–bike long) wheelbase gave me the confidence to let it all hang out on bumpy corners where overshooting the edge of the road had dire consequences. Avid’s budget BB5 mechanical disc brakes did a fine job offering modulation and power and the Niner wheels were true after all my off-road escapades. 52 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 can decorate with your favorite brew’s lid) and wheels. While serviceable, these items help to keep the cost down but are not the lightest in category. And that heft does add up a bit, with the tested 56cm bike weighing in at 22.74 lbs. without pedals. For a bicycle with a tough steel frame and a budget-oriented specification, this is totally respectable. I always encourage friends to focus on the fit of a bike and refine it with nice touchpoints and tires. Many bikes in this weight category ride lighter than a scale would indicate. With the Clement MSO tires and my preferred saddle installed, I never found myself cursing the bike’s extra weight, but I did appreciate the stability that accompanied its heft when flying down dirt descents. So, like many things, weight is a double-edged sword. Beyond gravel and dirt road exploring, Niner also pitches the bike as a bikepacking or light touring bike. As such it features rear rack mounts, and the new fork offers a front thru-axle as well as low-rider rack mounts. A road-touring cyclist could fit robust, road-width tires and fenders for cruising comfort, but the tall gearing limits the heft of the load a Niner RLT-mounted explorer might consider if using a stock build. If you are fit and seasoned in packing light, though, the RLT will make a fine touring steed. That versatility also makes the RLT Steel a worthy weekend warrior while serving double duty as a weekday commuter. Install lights and a rear rack to carry your work essentials and spice up the ride home by hitting a dirt section. The Niner RLT lives up to its name. With a robust frame, disc brakes, and healthy tires, the Niner encouraged me to take overgrown doubletracks, singletrack connectors, and the longer option on several occasions. At $2,500, the Shimano 105-equipped model I tested is a great value for a very versatile bike. My only minor qualm is the gearing, but stronger legs won’t mind, especially if the bike is only used with light luggage. Unless you have an ample parts collection at home, the complete bike is a value compared to the frameset option. As the basis of a personalized world explorer, Niner’s RLT Steel frame and fork would serve as a wonderful foundation. Nick Legan is the technical editor of Adventure Cyclist. Scenes From the Saddle Top of the TransAm PHOTOGRAPHS BY RON MCCLURE (TOP) AND ROGER GAITHER ➺ COLORADO’S HOOSIER PASS, looming high above already high Breckenridge (elevation 9,600 feet), crowns the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail. Getting there is no easy task, thus the sign at the top is a popular spot for cross-country cyclists looking for a keepsake from the highest spot along the route. These two shots show that while Hoosier Pass may always be in the same location, it’s not always in the same place as terms of the experience it dishes out. The top image, taken on a cold, snowy day in June 1976, is a far cry from the bottom shot, taken in the summer of 2015 in shirtsleeves under blue skies. Of course any location on the trail can seem like a different place from year to year — even day to day. But perhaps the pass has moved! According to the new sign, Hoosier Pass is three feet lower than it was in 1976. Maybe that’s another reason for the modern-day grins — they had to a climb a whole yard less than Bikecentennial riders did. This story and hundreds more are featured in a new coffee-table–book celebrating the TransAm Trail. Watch for more details in the March issue of Adventure Cyclist. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 53 A REASON TO RIDE COURTESY EMPIRE STATE RIDE New York's Empire State Ride offers stunning scenery and a chance to help the fight against cancer The Empire State Ride might begin in Manhattan, but the scenery en route to Niagara Falls is a far cry from the Big Apple. BY DAN D’AMBROSIO T he first annual Empire State Ride left Manhattan last August bound for Niagara Falls with 10 riders who raised $55,000 to support the fight against cancer at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. Roswell Park, founded in 1892 by Dr. Roswell Park, was the first comprehensive cancer center in the nation, now one of 41 such centers in the country. Roswell Park Alliance Foundation is the fundraising arm of the cancer institute. Jay Josker, ride director and senior special events coordinator for the foundation, explained that to earn the “comprehensive care” designation, Roswell Park meets four standards from the National Cancer Institute. “The four pillars are: we treat patients, we do research and education, we have partnerships with the University of 54 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 Buffalo and other schools, and then prevention,” Josker said. “We run the New York State smoker quit line through Roswell Park.” Roswell Park also has one of the best data bank repositories in the country. “Basically, we cryogenically freeze cell tissues from cancer patients we treat here,” Josker said. “It’s coded: for example, a 35-year-old Hispanic male with lung cancer.” Cancer researchers from across the nation rely on Roswell Park for cell tissues to study as the search for new treatments, and ultimately a cure, for cancer continues. Roswell Park treats about 30,000 cancer patients annually, primarily from New York State, but also from other states and even other countries. One of the Roswell Park doctors is currently helping set up a new cancer treatment center in Nigeria, which previously didn’t have any such facility. “Also, our CEO, Dr. Candace Johnson, was one of a select group that traveled to Cuba with the government of New York where they entered into a research partnership with an agency in Cuba,” Josker said. “The Cubans do some really great research. You wouldn’t think they would have been able to because of the embargo but they have isolated a gene that could have great potential for specific cancer research.” The foundation Josker works for raised $20 million for cancer research at Roswell Park this year through grants, personal donations, and events. The money was used to fund “Phase 1” research for new ways to treat cancer. “Twenty million dollars sounds like a lot, but unfortunately, it’s not,” Josker said. “We get hundreds of applications every year and we only pick the best ones that we think have the best possibilities.” A big, hairy, ambitious goal The Roswell Park Alliance Foundation was already running a one-day ride to raise money for cancer research. The Ride for Roswell, now in its 20th year, raised $4.6 million with 8,000 riders in 2015, the single largest one-day fundraising bike ride in North America, according to Josker. “We have a volunteer advisory committee,” Josker said. “We did some team-building exercises, and one of the questions they posed to us was, ‘If you could do one thing — a big, hairy, ambitious goal — what would it be?’” The answer that came back from two Alliance Foundation employees: “We’d love to do a bike ride across New York State.” That was in December 2013. “That’s how it started, at a retreat,” Josker remembered. “We started building a business plan early in 2014 and had it completed by February.” The inaugural ride last August was small by design, just 10 riders, to work out the kinks before opening the ride to a larger audience. Josker, however, said he would have taken as many as 50 riders for that initial event. “Ten was fine with us, we had 10 really good people,” Josker said. “They hit a good cross-section of what we think the larger group is going to look like.” Looking for a challenge One of those 10 inaugural riders was Anne-Fleur Andrle, 30, originally from France but now living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her American husband convinced her to move. “I was looking with a friend of mine for a sports challenge for the summer,” Andrle said. “I heard about the Empire State Ride, which sounded beautiful. It was for a great cause, so the combination convinced us.” Andrle, a business development manager in Cambridge, was not an experienced rider. “To be very honest with you, I came up to the ride with a mountain bike, with mountain tires,” she said. “That was very ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG challenging. It was really bad. I did half the ride on it before we switched to road bikes.” Despite the challenges of riding 518 miles in seven days, partially on an illequipped mountain bike, Andrle soon found herself lost both in the beauty of New York State and the friendliness and curiosity of its people. “That was pretty amazing,” Andrle said. “New York is a beautiful state. We saw everything — New York City, mountains, beautiful rivers. It’s really gorgeous. “The hills were challenging, but that’s not what I want to remember. The people we met along the ride, kids with a lemonade stand on the side of the road, everybody was happy to see us and proud to show us their region. That was cool.” Like most of the riders on the Empire State Ride, Andrle had someone suffering from cancer in mind as she rode the backroads of New York. An elderly woman in France whom she calls her grandma, even though they’re not related by blood. “She always had the role of my grandma,” Andrle said. “She died three weeks ago, in France. Unfortunately I was not able to see her before she died.” While on the ride, Andrle learned that her 30-year-old cousin in France also has cancer. Her cousin’s cancer began as breast cancer but has spread. “I was really impressed,” Andrle said. “She’s in a tough condition, but she wants to come and ride one day with us next year. This is really great, great motivation for us. Sadly, everbody can relate to this ride.” A very determined young man Kara Easton-Weaver, another of the 10 inaugural riders, is Roswell Park’s Executive Director of Patient Experience. She collaborates with everyone from operations staff to facilities staff to offer more comfort to patients. That includes how the patient is admitted to what the building layout looks like. “Everything is patient-centered,” Easton-Weaver said. Easton-Weaver began her career as a patient advocate for her own husband, who suffered from a rare aortic dissection 15 years ago, a condition in which a tear in the outer wall of the aorta causes blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta, forcing the layers apart. When her husband’s aorta dissected, his right arm and leg became paralyzed because of blood loss, followed by his left leg. The couple were engaged to be married at the time. “He was a very determined young man, he was a firefighter,” Easton-Weaver said. “He went back to school, and was able to drive this past year with the help of technology and prosthetics. He has been my motivation in my career and everything I do.” Easton-Weaver, 39, decided to do the Empire State Ride for several reasons. “I’m not a big cyclist, but I like to get out on my bike for meditation,” she said. “As an executive at Roswell Park I felt I needed to do more for my patients and families. On a personal note, I wanted to push myself physically. It seemed like such a challenge. It was one of those moments when you say, ‘Why not? It’s a great cause.’ Every one of us has been touched by cancer.” Still, Easton-Weaver was “incredibly anxious” about the ride. All of Easton-Weaver’s fears were allayed when she got to New York City and met her fellow riders. “It was this incredible connection,” she said. “All of us had a personal story, a professional story. All had the same fears, even those with more cycling under their belts.” “I have to say personally the ride was one of the most gratifying things I’ve done in my life. The 10 of us bonded immediately. I don’t think I’d laughed that hard in many years. We supported each other. If one person needed to stop, CONTINUED ON PAGE 64 55 Ride to Liv Giant CFO committed to women's cycling I n 2007, then-57-year–old Bonnie Tu signed up for the Formosa 900 (also called the Tour of Taiwan). Tu, who is the Chief Financial Officer of Giant Bicycles, hadn’t ridden since she was a kid. In preparation, she went to her local shop to kit up. “I couldn’t find the proper apparel, bike, or accessory,” Tu said. “So I had to wear extra small men’s apparel and I had to ride a men’s bike.” She rode portions of the tour that year, and returned in 2008 to complete the trip in 15 days. “The tour was excellent,” she said, “but the apparel annoyed me. We females should be entitled to have our own bikes and apparel and accessories so we can look good on the bike, so we can enjoy the ride. During that experience, I decided that the bicycle industry didn’t treat females fairly, so we (Giant) should do something.” So she did — she created a sister brand, Liv. Tu got into the cycling industry as an investor. As a university student majoring in literature and art at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, cycling captured Tu’s imagination. She wasn’t a rider, but in 1972 she read about the health benefits of cycling, and she bought stock in fledgling Giant Bicycle Company, becoming one of its first shareholders. “In Taiwan people used the bicycle as a transportation tool,” Tu said. “I 56 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 read in a magazine from the U.S. that people were using it for sport, and that cycling is good for cardiac health. Sport for health seemed to me like a good investment.” By 2007, when Tu first participated in the Formosa 900, Giant had been trying unsuccessfully to break into the women’s market for years. Posttour, when Tu approached senior management, distraught that she couldn’t find a women’s bike and apparel, Giant gained new perspective on how to approach the women’s market. “Women’s needs are so different from men’s,” Tu said. “The Giant management group finally understood that bikes weren’t all that was needed, but apparel, accessories and also a shopping experience to meet the female consumer’s needs.” Tu and her colleagues at Giant launched Liv in Taiwan in 2008 through their Giant dealers. They also launched a Liv concept shop so the brand could learn how to sell to women. Since then, the brand split from Giant and has launched concept stores worldwide — including countries that aren’t always thought of as hotbeds of women’s cycling like Dubai. That’s because Tu’s mission isn’t just to make bikes and gear that appeal to women, but to turn cycling into a mainstream sport for women worldwide. “In Taiwan and everywhere, we try to propose to women that cycling is a very good sport for you — especially for runners. In Asia we have a lot of women that run marathons. We’re trying to educate those women that cycling is a good alternative because it’s a low-impact sport.” The fitness benefits of cycling are the first point that Tu wants to drive home. She also sees cycling as an entrée for empty nesters — a way for women to get back into “the stream of society.” And she understands how cycling can boost a woman’s selfesteem, making her strong mentally and physically. “The more you ride the better you get,” Tu said. “It’s very easy for women to feel free on a bike and to build their confidence and selfesteem.” So Tu has taken her brand and her mission to countries where the community of female riders is small or non-existent, and even countries COURTESY LIV BY BERNE BROUDY where cycling is considered taboo. Liv is a sponsor of the Afghanistan women’s cycling team, as well as Iran’s national women’s team. After opening a Liv store in Dubai, Tu was inspired to develop cycling apparel for Muslim women. “We need to provide product that fits women’s lifestyles,” says Tu. “Wherever you live, if you’re a woman and you want to ride a bike, we need to provide you a decent outfit.” Tackling women’s needs worldwide is a big task, but one that Tu, who is often referred to as the Godmother of Cycling, is up to. What she’s found: “Men are concerned more with tech and performance. Females take technology for granted — it’s important, and they assume that they are getting the best. But as women, we believe we are entitled to something chic, beautiful, and distinctive. We believe design should be better. We care about the total look.” Worldwide, however, tastes vary. What women want from a high-end performance bike is similar from country to country. But women’s taste in commuting and “shopping” bikes is radically different from country to country, particularly when it comes to color and graphics. American and European women prefer what Tu calls “sober, mature, low-profile” colors and graphics, while Asian markets go for bright colors and patterns. “Even though we spend a lot of time thinking about color and graphics, and even though our apparel is very fashionable, we are not a Barbie brand — we don’t exist just for looks,” Tu said. “We base Liv bikes on women’s geometry, so they don’t just look good but they feel good. When we come up with a product, I sit all my team members down and ask them 'do you want to buy it?’ If I hear them say this is for another kind of woman, not me, we don’t produce it. Only when everyone sitting around the table wants that product badly do we make it. It’s our heart and sweat and blood that we’re selling under the Liv brand.” Tu keeps her team of designers hard at work. And she’s grown Liv into 10 percent of Giant’s revenues over the past eight years by focusing on what syncs with women’s lifestyles country by country. In the U.S., she has established an ambassador program with professional, semiprofessional, and amateur racers and riders. “They all have such a passion to promote cycling to females,” she said. At home in Taiwan, Tu is working with the city of Taipei to run a citywide bike-share program. And she pedals regularly — 30 miles at least twice a week and loves climbs. Tu has ridden up the highest mountain in Taiwan, as well as Japan’s Mount Fuji. She’s led groups of Taiwanese bike dealers to Japan to ride, and she’s ridden in China, the U.S., and Europe. “And when I go on holiday, I make sure that the hotel will provide a decent bike,” she said. Tu has now completed the Tour of Taiwan five times, the latest just days after our interview, when she took a group of female Taiwanese bike dealers. It seems very matter-of-fact when Tu describes it. It’s step-by-step advocacy, but she sees the results. In the U.S. last July, she met Liv dealers and ambassadors who thanked her for her work and shared their stories of how Liv had impacted their lives. “This touched me very deeply, and made me very proud,” said Tu. And it gave her even more reason to continue her efforts full force. “It’s still in the very beginning,” Tu said. “I do not think Liv is already a success and that we can rest. I am on a crusade. I am naïve and full of ideas and passion — I am trying to create a better world.” Berne Broudy is a Vermont-based writer and photographer. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 57 Donor Profile Donor Profile: Kathy Schubert BY APRIL CYPHER ➺ It didn’t take Kathy Schubert long “EVERYONE WHO RIDES A BIKE SHOULD WEAR A HELMET. DOGS INCLUDED.” 58 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 to go from learning to ride a bike to riding a loaded bike. As a young girl in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood, Kathy started traveling back and forth from the library, her bike basket piled with books, as soon as the training wheels came off. The thrill of loading up her bike hasn’t worn over time. She has navigated the Windy City with a 30-pound electric water heater, pulled a rented carpet shampooing machine, and regularly packs her panniers for multiday tours. But her favorite cargo is her 18-pound Miniature Schnauzer, Suzy. Before signing Suzy’s adoption papers at the shelter, there was one thing Kathy needed to know. She set Suzy in the bike basket and watched. “If she didn’t like it, I knew it wouldn’t work out.” Now, Suzy is Kathy’s most consistent cycling partner. After 16 RAGBRAI rides — 10 with her previous Mini Schnauzer Joey, and six with Suzy — Kathy has made a name for herself as the lady with the dog. Traveling by bike with a dog poses challenges, like finding dog-friendly lodging, but Kathy finds the benefits of taking Suzy far outweigh any difficulty. When last year’s RAGBRAI route was announced, Kathy called veterinarians in small Iowa towns to inquire about who might host the pair for a night. She quickly found places to stay with some vets offering their own homes. Over the years, Kathy has gathered enough anecdotes about riding RAGBRAI with Joey and Suzy that she’s turned it into a stand-up comedy routine. What sets Kathy and Suzy apart from most other people riding with their dogs are the costumes and matching helmets. “Everyone who rides a bike should wear a helmet,” said Kathy. “Dogs included.” Three companies manufacture dog helmets, but by making them herself Kathy finds she can get the perfect fit and customize them to match her themed helmets. Their current count for matching sets? Fourteen. At home, Kathy is best known throughout Chicago’s cycling community for her advocacy work, garnering awards from both the city’s Department of Transportation and Critical Mass Chicago. After she fell while riding her bike on a notoriously dangerous grated bridge in 2002, she started a petition by handing out postcards that urged the city to make the bridge more bike-friendly. Kathy knows she can’t claim all the credit for metal plates that were later installed to make it safer for cyclists, but she has more than one friend who refers to the plates as “Kathy plates.” Though much of her work is focused on making Chicago a better place to ride, her dedication to the COURTESY K ATHY SCHUBERT Chicago cyclist has dog, will travel TransAmerica Bicycle Trail created by Adventure Cycling Co-Founder Greg Siple and editor Mac McCoy. If you’re one of the 8,500-plus riders cycling across Iowa during 2016 RAGBRAI, keep an eye out for Kathy and Suzy. With their matching jerseys, the iconic duo shouldn’t be hard to spot. As Kathy said of Suzy, “she is the RAGBRAI dog.” April Cypher is Adventure Cycling’s Development Coordinator. She was disappointed to learn there is no known recording of Kathy’s comedy routine. DAN BURDEN cycling community extends far beyond the Midwest. A longtime supporter and member of Adventure Cycling Association, Kathy became a Life Member in 2001. More recently, she helped fund a large-format book celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Riding the final miles of the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail in Virginia in 1976. SUPPORT ADVENTURE CYCLING Change lives through the power of bicycle travel. Your support to Adventure Cycling helps to inspire and empower people to travel by bicycle. Bike travel is a life-defining experience and without the tools and encouragement provided by Adventure Cycling, many would-be travelers would never be able to make their dreams of bicycle adventure a reality. You can support Adventure Cycling by donating to our Annual Fund, Young Adult Scholarship Fund, U.S. Bicycle Route System campaign, sponsoring miles along the Adventure Cycling Route Network, putting Adventure Cycling in your will, and more! Find out more at adventurecycling.org/ support. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG Thanks to the following sponsors of the upcoming book chronicling the history of the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, who jumped at the chance to help bring the vibrant story of the TransAm Trail to life through their generous support. • Ben & Lindsay Banks • Harry Lammot Belin • Peter L. Bower • Matthew Cohn & Mary Ellen Holverson • Don Dolben with daughters Kate & Tory • Arlen Hall & Shawn Decareaux • Jim & Wendy Homerosky • Diane Houslanger • Dinni Jain • Kathleen McNamara • Mike Morency • Charlie Pace • Frank Schipper • Kathy Schubert • Joe Golden: To honor my fellow 2009 TransAm riders: Alice, Andy, Cammie, Dave P, David R, Frank, Judie, Ralph, and Tom. Also, to the memory of Ollie. 59 RATE: Marketplace ads start at $195 per issue. For rate information, please contact Rick Bruner. Phone/fax: 509.493.4930, Email: [email protected]. Market Place Small Groups . SAG Hotels . Meals www.aroundwisbike.com BIKE TOURS OF VERMONT • Peace of Mind Guaranteed • 60 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 www.pomgbike.com 888-635-BIKE DYNAMO USB CHARGERS Revolution R E A C T O R www.sinewavecycles.com Designed in Cambridge, MA | Made in the USA ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 61 Classified Ads ACCOMMODATIONS WHITEFISH BIKE RETREAT Hostel-Style Lodging located in Whitefish, Montana, on the Great Divide, Northern Tier, and Great Parks Adventure Cycling Routes. Lodging options starting at $45/night. Camping Available. Shuttles Available. A Place Created For Cyclists By Cyclists! 406-260-0274, www.whitefishbikeretreat.com. KALISPELL HOSTEL On route to Glacier National Park, the Continental Divide Trail and 6 minutes to the Rails to Trails bike path. Located above Wheaton’s Bicycle Shop, est. 1918 in Historic Downtown Kalispell. Direct access to shopping, restaurants and pubs. (406) 2701653, www.kalispellhostel.com. BOOKS THE POWER OF PEDALING After logging more than 150,000 miles by bicycle, Janet Cady Zebrack and Jerry Zebrack sat down to write “The Power of Positive Pedaling: A Couple’s Stories and Lessons Learned from Three Decades of Cycling the World.” The authors began bicycle touring in 1981 as a way to have fun with their two young sons. Now, 34 years later, they’re still touring the world. The pair is donating all profits from the book to Adventure Cycling Association. Brimming with details about their adventures and photographs taken along the way, the paperback is available for $18.95 through Cyclosource: http:// ow.ly/QqFpz and eBook version for $2.99 on Amazon: http://ow.ly/QhXnw. BICYCLE TOURING GEAR THETOURINGSTORE.COM Expedition Quality Panniers, Racks, & Bicycle Touring Gear. See Ortlieb, Tubus, Lone Peak, and more! Questions? Call Wayne at Toll-Free 800-7470588. Email Wayne at wayne@thetouringstore. com, or visit us at www.TheTouringStore.com. Mention this classified ad and receive 10% off of your next order — now through March 31, 2016. BIKE SHOPS TANDEM EXPO 2016 April 2nd & 3rd. Pittsgrove Twp Middle School. Over 80 tandems in stock, seminars, free food, admission and raffle. A great place to buy a tandem. Over 12 different brands on display Tandemseast.com Tandemseast@gmail. com 856.451.5104. INTERNATIONAL TOURS REAL TRAVEL FRANCE — BIKE TOURS THAT NOURISH Farm to Table meets Travel by Bike on organic food, wine and cycling tours in the southernmost region of France. Taste and discover French Catalonia where the Pyrenees drop dramatically into the Mediterranean with resident Franco-American tour leaders. www. realtravelfrance.com. 62 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 RATE: $115 for the first 30 words, $2 for each additional word. For more information, please contact Rick Bruner at phone/fax: 509.493.4930, email: [email protected]. CYCLOMUNDO Plan your trip with local experts. Explore France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. More than 80 Guided and self-guided trips by France-based company. Leisurely to challenging. Tailored itineraries for groups. Check us out at www.cyclomundo.com. HOLLAND — DISCOVER THE HIDDEN GEMS Scenic and safe biking in the cyclist’s paradise! Local expertise for routes and accommodation. Excellent equipment. Recreational, road and e-bike tours. Varied tour program and tailor-made options. www.hollandbiketours.com. OK CYCLE & ADVENTURE TOURS Follow Your Dreams. Since 1995, fabulous cycling and vacations worldwide (including bike/barge and trekking too), guided and self-guided, for all levels of abilities. Exclusive and custom tours also available. Share the passion! www.okcycletours.com. PEDAL AND SEA ADVENTURES We’re a personable travel company offering creative cycling and multi-sport adventures in many of the world’s best places, including Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, P.E.I., Croatia, Italy, and Ireland. Guided and self-guided. Van-supported. Friendly guides. Charming inns. Custom groups anytime. Over 70% return clientele since 2005! Toll Free Phone: 877-777-5699. Please email us at info@ pedalandseaadventures.com or visit our website: www.pedalandseaadventures.com. MADAGASCAR — THE 8TH CONTINENT Lemurs, giraffe-necked weevils, beautiful baobab trees, and much more. Madagascar is one of the least explored places by cycle tourists — time to change that! tdaglobalcycling.com/8thcontinent or (416) 364-8255. LUXURY BIKE TOURS IN HUNGARY & AUSTRIA Unique castle & family hotels, gourmet & wine experiences, nicest routes & sights, superb bikes, small groups, fully guided & supported rides personally with the owners. www. tradnaturasport.hu [email protected]. CROATIA BY BIKE AND BOAT This is absolutely the only way to find the heart of this diverse and poetic country. We will tour through the towns of Split, Hvar, Stari Grad, and Korcula — towns that include two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, so named for their impeccable preservation, historic value, and stunning beauty. Each evening we make our way back to our private boat, which is outfitted with all the necessary comforts, and begin our journey to the next stunning vista, perhaps stopping enroute for a dip in the sparkling clear water. Contact our office for more details. Toll free phone: 877-777-5699. Email us at [email protected], or visit our website: www.pedalandseaadventures.com. CONNECTING QUEBEC CITY AND NEW ORLEANS French Connection celebrates two great French enclaves. We’ll cycle the Appalachians, visit New York, Washington, experience Memphis, Nashville, and enter ‘NOLA’ along the Mississippi. (416) 364-8255 or tdaglobalcycling.com/french-connection CLASSIC ADVENTURES Bicycling Vacations since 1979. Full route support, experienced guides, gourmet cuisine. Austria, France, Greece/ Crete, Germany, Lake Constance, Quebec, Vermont, Mississippi-Natchez Trace, Texas Hill Country, NY Finger Lakes, Historic Erie Canal, Coast to Coast. Free Catalog (800) 777-8090 www.classicadventures.com. HELP WANTED JOIN THE CYCLE AMERICA® SUMMER STAFF Spend an adventuresome summer traveling while sharing ride and work responsibilities. Positions include: Tour Support Volunteers, Bike Mechanics, Massage Therapists, Picnic and Route Coordinators. 800-716-4426. www. CycleAmerica.com. NORTH AMERICAN TOURS & EVENTS AMERICA BY BICYCLE, INC. Your full service bicycle touring leader. Choose from 38 tours ranging from 5 to 52 days. Let us take you on your dream ride Coast to Coast! abbike.com. 888-7977057 FREE CATALOG. AROUND WISCONSIN BICYCLE TOURS Beer, cheese, lakes, woods — Wisconsin! We offer affordable fully supported 7-day tours featuring hotel and resort lodging with restaurant meals. Flavors of Wisconsin, July 17 -23, 2016. Northern Woods and Waters, August 7 - 13, 2016. www. aroundwisbike.com 920-427-6086. BEER & BIKE TOURS We offer small group cycling tours throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Spend the day cycling and sampling local Craft Beer. Cheers! www. beerandbiketours.com or 970-201-1085. CROSSROADS CYCLING ADVENTURES 20th Anniversary! Los Angeles to Boston or anyplace in between. Come ride with Tracy Leiner — owner, cyclist, and tour director. Tracy travels with every group, everyday! Small groups, personal attention, business-class hotels and meals. Luggage delivered to your hotel room and A/C turned on before you arrive! Extensive pre-trip support including training plan, weekly newsletters, rider/staff email introductions and telephone consultations. Rider references available (800) 971-2453 crossroadscycling.com. COAST 2 COAST Hassle-free closely following Southern Tier averaging 63 miles per day. Fully supported including freshly-prepared great tasting meals, and a mechanic. You dip your rear wheel into the Pacific and your front wheel into the Atlantic, we will do everything in between. We even do your dirty laundry! March 4 - April 25, 2016. Details from BubbasPamperedPedalers. com or [email protected]. BIG DREAM BIKE TOURS Newport Beach, CA, to Pleasure Bay Beach, Boston, MA, or any section. GARMIN, hotels, meals, SAG provided. Family owned to focus on your fun, safety and adventure. www.bigdreambiketours.com 844379-2453. CYCLE MASSACHUSETTS July 30 - August 5, 2016. Not just a ride, it’s a Celebration of Cycling in Massachusetts. For 2016, we ride in 4 states with quaint towns, spectacular routes, food and local culture. 2, 4, 5 and 7 day options. Find out why we’re “The Friendliest Ride the East.” www. CycleMA.com or 617 710-1832. BIKE GAPCO Great Alleghany Passage/ C & O Canal Pittsburgh to DC. June 26–July 2, 2016. Bicycle through American History on this totally traffic-free tour while staying in B&Bs and hotels. Breakfasts and dinners included as well as lodging. Daily mileage options on this fully supported which includes route sheets and SAG stops. This tour will start just outside Pittsburgh where you will be returned upon completion. It’s your vacation PAMPER yourself. Details from BubbasPamperedPedalers.com or [email protected]. CHARLESTON BICYCLE TOURS Come enjoy along with the owners two of the South’s best rides: Charleston-Savannah and Asheville-Blue Ridge Mountains. Van supported tours, luxury inns, gourmet meals and small fun groups. 800-4081830. www.charlestonbicycletours.com. VACATION BICYCLING Treat yourself to a fun, beautiful and unforgettable 7-day bicycle tour! Mississippi River Trail & New Orleans $1599; The Florida Keys & Key West $1599; Charleston & Savannah $1599; Jackson Hole $1599; Outer Banks $1299; and Maui $1699. Come join us! Trips are fully supported including hotels, food & SAG. Celebrating our 10th year Anniversary. 706-363-0341 or 800-490-2173 or www. VacationBicycling.com. GREAT FREEDOM ADVENTURES Inspired bike tours and multi-sport vacations with regional experts. Fine lodging, top chefs, stellar routes, high-end bikes and awesome guides. Group, private and custom tours. Corporate teambuilding and charity events. Call today: 877-5451864 www.greatfreedomadventures.com. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG CYCLE OF LIFE ADVENTURES New for 2016 — “Route 66,” “The Appalachian Trail,” and "EPIC Colorado.” All-Inclusive, Fully supported bicycling vacations. Scenery, History, Outstanding Hotels, Upscale Dining. Rider references available! ·Tours of varying difficulty throughout the U.S. Original, challenging, adventurous routes. Small groups — 12 or less, personal attention. Ride with the owner every trip. Phone: 303-945-9886 CHECK US OUT: www.cycleoflifeadventures.com email: [email protected]. CYCLE NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL RIDE (April 22-24, 2016) Edenton, NC — Enjoy unique waterfront camping and cycling on scenic country roads in Coastal North Carolina. Register for 1, 2, or 3 days. Various mileage options for all skill levels from easy family to challenging century. Additional lodging options are available. Fully supported with SAG support and rest stops. [email protected] www. ncsports.org. CYCLE AMERICA Enjoy a Fully Supported Cycling Vacation this Summer. Ride Seattle to Boston on an epic Coast-to-Coast tour or explore America’s treasures on our series of National Park trips. First-Rate Support, Great Routes and Good Friends! Let Us Help You Plan Your Next Fun and Affordable Adventure. 800-245-3263. www. CycleAmerica.com. CYCLING THE ERIE CANAL — July 10-17, 2016 — Learn from canal historians about the people, places and things that made the canal so important. Visit museums, take a boat tour on the canal and enjoy miles of beautiful rural scenery. The 400-mile route from Buffalo to Albany, NY, is 70 percent canal path and 30 percent adjacent roads. Most meals, SAG, refreshment stops, luggage transport, maps & cue sheets, evening entertainment, campsites at schools and colleges. www.ptny.org/canaltour or 518.434-1583. FLORIDA KEYS HOTEL TRIP Fully supported, outstanding hotel accommodations, DoubleTree by Hilton, Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn. 6-day trip December 5-10, 2016. Key Largo to Key West & back. Stunning beach scenery, great meals, 2 layover days in Key West. Only $950.00. www.floridakeysbikeride.com, 847-309-4740, [email protected]. WOMEN ONLY BIKE TOURS For all ages and abilities. Fully supported, inn-to-inn, bike path & road tours. Cross-country, National Parks, Europe & more. Bicycle workshops, wine tasting, yoga. Call for free catalog. 800-247-1444, www. womantours.com. SOCKEYE CYCLE CO. Alaska Bicycle Tours, Rentals, Sales, Service. Established in 1988, we specialize in guided bicycle tours of Alaska’s Southeast panhandle and remote areas of Canada’s Northwest British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. Whether you take a day tour or one of our extended trips, our experienced guide staff will escort you on an unforgettable adventure through the northern wilderness. POB 829, 24 Portage St. Haines, AK 99827-0829, TF 877-292-4154, 907-766-2869, Fax 907-766-2851, 381 Fifth Ave. Skagway, AK (May - Sept) 907-983-2851. www.cyclealaska.com. CYCLE NORTH CAROLINA 18th Annual "Mountains to Coast" (October 1 - October 8) — Cycle 450 plus miles while experiencing the North Carolina countryside on scenic back roads amidst beautiful fall colors. Explore quaint towns, visit famous State Parks, Historic Sites, wineries, and more. Fully supported with SAG Support and rest stops. Various registration options available. [email protected] www.ncsports.org. TIMBERLINE ADVENTURES Fully supported bicycling & hiking adventure vacations with an organization whose sole focus for 32 years is extraordinary adventure throughout western U.S. & Canada. Website: www.timbertours.com, Email: [email protected], Phone: 800-417-2453. SANTA FE TRAIL BICYCLE TRIP 2016 22nd Year. Sept. 11 - 30, Non-Profit, Camping, Fully Supported www.SantaFeTrailBicycleTrek.com. CYCLE THE SELKIRKS Six-day, 350+ mile, fully supported Rotary ride September 12th to the 17th on the International Selkirk Loop. A spectacular scenic-byway through Washington, Canada and Idaho. Beautiful scenery, small communities and a challenging ride with superior SAG support for riders. www.WaCanId.org or 1-888-823-2626. MICHIGAN TRAILS Named one of the "Top 10 Multi-Day Rides in America" by Bicycling Magazine, The Michigander is a 2/6/8 day is an affordable bicycling vacation every July featuring paved and crushed surface trails, Great Lakes beaches, forests, rivers, and a healthy serving of brewpubs. It's the perfect Pure Michigan route. www.michigander.bike. TWO NATION VACATION Bike the International Selkirk Loop, North America’s only two-nation Scenic Byway through Washington, Idaho and Canada. Pick your pace for 270+ miles of incredible self-supported riding! Cyclists guide including elevation maps, itinerary and alternate routes available at www.selkirkloop.org or 1-888823-2626. 63 Classified Ads continued THE GREAT ALLEGHENY PASSAGE AND C&O CANAL 334.5 continuous trail miles from Pittsburgh to DC; custom or group tours; includes B&Bs, inns, excellent meals, luggage shuttle, full SAG support, vehicle or people and gear shuttle; attractions including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, Antietam battlefield, plus so much more ... Call Trail Gail at 301-722-4887 240-7277039 or www. mountainsidebiketours.us “You Pedal, We Pamper." RIDE THE FAULT LINE 4 states in 1 week! June 12-18. 400 mostly flat miles along the New Madrid fault line through Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky. Unique history, river crossings, bald eagles, agriculture, southern hospitality! Register now www.ridethefault.com. OREGON COAST ADVENTURE Join us for a fully supported bike tour. We have openings for 14-day trips in June and July 2016. Learn more on Facebook @ CYCLING 101 LLC or www. cycling101.net or call Troy @ 928-200-0211. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 55 D'AMBROSIO: EMPIRE there was always support. People helped each other, encouraged each other up those long climbs. We had an almost spiritual experience.” Nothing compared to chemo Easton-Weaver also had a lot of time and mileage to clear her head and think about her life. “When we stopped in different towns, people see your jersey and ask what you’re doing,” she remembered. “You hear wonderful stories about people fighting cancer across the state. I felt very proud.” As the ride progressed, sometimes on very hot days with temperatures of more than 100 degrees on the pavement, Easton-Weaver felt strong, despite the aches and pains. “When we were feeling rough, we thought, ‘This is nothing compared to chemo or radiation treatment, or people who have lost loved ones to cancer,’” she said. “We can do this. We are doing this for people in the fight, or people who have lost the fight.” On August 19, three days into the 64 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 NATCHEZ TRACE TOURS Enjoy a van supported Inn-Inn tour of the Natchez Trace. From North to South on Spring tour/South to north in the fall, starting with the Great MS River Balloon Race. Also van supported weekend tours of the Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga Trails from GA to AL. Dates and rates on our website. www.secyclingtours. com. KATY TRAIL BICYCLE TOUR September 11 - 17, 2016 Following Lewis and Clark’s route, this flat and totally traffic-free tour is on America’s longest Rails to Trails. This fully supported tour, which includes daily route sheets and SAG stops, overnights in B&Bs and Historic Hotels. All breakfasts and dinners as well as lodging included. Tour starts just outside of St. Louis where you will be returned upon completion of the tour. You deserve to be PAMPERED! Details from BubbasPamperedPedalers.com or [email protected]. seven-day ride in Albany, EastonWeaver received a call at 5:30 in the morning, telling her that her husband had lost consciousness. His heart was always expected to give out. EastonWeaver’s husband had lived 10 years longer than expected. “My parents were with him,” EastonWeaver said. “They called me. I was able to be with him when he passed.” “What’s unique about the whole thing coming off that ride and dealing with the loss, I have forged relationships and friendships with these riders I will have the rest of my life,” Easton-Weaver said. “They were incredibly supportive. I have stayed in touch with them and they have helped me cope with my husband’s death.” For the greater good Easton-Weaver said she “absolutely” is going to ride again this year. “I plan to do it every year,” she said. “I have to finish the ride. You know what was amazing, sometimes New York gets a bad rap. The landscape and what you’re able to see on a bike, there is no replacement for that. It was absolutely stunning.” FLORIDA KEYS The ultimate Bicycle Vacation. Bike the entire key system, down and back. Fully-supported including breakfasts and most dinners. Beautiful sunsets. Swim with the dolphins. Snorkel. Dive. The Seven Mile Bridge just might be the most beautiful seven miles you will ever bike. November 5th-12th 2016. Details from BubbasPamperedPedalers.com or [email protected]. PAC TOUR Riding Across America Fast since 1981. Cross country and regional tours for elite riders. Northern Transcontinental in July, Eastern Mountains in September, across Peru in October. Full support, hotels, training and coaching. www.pactour.com 262-736-2453 WISCONSIN BACKROADS HOTEL TOURS Fully supported affordable 5-7 day bicycling vacations. $590 includes HOTELS w/indoor pools-whirlpools, buffet dinners, food stops, & emergency support. Quiet, scenic, all paved back roads. NORTHWOODS, DOOR COUNTY, Spring Green, New Glarus, & more. Celebrating our 31st year. www.pedalacrosswisconsin. com, 847-707-6888, 847-309-4740, drjpedal@ sbcglobal.net. Josker said he’s shooting for 200 riders in 2016. He’s hoping to figure out a way for riders to dip their tires in the Hudson River at the beginning of the ride and in the Niagara River at the end. Josker also plans to add day rides for people who don’t feel like they can devote an entire week to the ride, but still want to be part of the event (but still raise the $3,500 required of each rider). “We understand that’s a big commitment,” Josker said. “One of the things I loved was stepping back and watching the riders bond with each other. It’s not just about getting on your bike and riding. It’s about doing something for the cause, for the greater good, and having this great experience. If we can just show people what a life-changing experience this is, we’ve got something here.” For more information, go to EmpireStateRide.com. Registration for the 2016 ride is now open. Dan D'Ambrosio is a contributing writer for Adventure Cyclist magazine. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 44 LEGAN: CYCLESENSE to recollect the last time that you had new cables and a chain installed. If you can’t remember, it’s probably time to do so. You might also need a cassette, and if you’ve really neglected your bike, chainrings may be in order as well. Although there are few things better in life than a bicycle ride, there are also few things more frustrating than encountering a roadside problem that could have been easily avoided. So go out to your garage and create a rapport with your bike. And when you get home after a ride, put your bike first. Figure out the cause of those audible complaints before you even shower. Jot them down and call your bike mechanic at the very least. Otherwise you’ll quickly rediscover that the noise is there when you mount up for your next ride. Take time to inspect your machine once a week. Give the poor thing a bath if it hasn’t received one for some time. (You bathe yourself every day, I hope. Is once a month too much to ask for your beautiful bike?) Here are some other pro tips: • Pick your bike up three inches off the ground. Drop it (on its tires) and be sure to catch it before it falls over. Did you hear any rattles beyond normal chain slap? If so, investigate. Check the headset, your hubs, and continue until you find the culprit. • Lube your chain after a ride. Do so sparingly. Why after? Oil needs time to soak into the rollers of your chain. If you oil the chain right before a ride, your furious pedaling can fling that oil away from the chain, making a mess of your bike and negating your efforts to preserve your drivetrain. • Check your tires often. This is especially easy to forget on bikes with fenders. • Overhaul your bike, or pay a professional to do it, once a year. Taking your bike down to a bare frame is the best way to inspect for cracks, replace worn bearings, cables, brake pads, and bar tape, and it’s a great way to rejuvenate your trusty steed for another year of adventures. • Be gentle. Be kind to your bike. Love it and it will love you back. If you are so inclined, name your rig. Personification can lead to increased care. If you have questions of a technical or personal nature about your bike, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Feel free to think of me as your bicycling counselor. I’m here to listen. I’m here to help. You can reach me at [email protected] or via twitter @NickLegan. Nick Legan is Adventure Cyclist's technical editor. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 45 TACK: FINE TUNED taillight boasts seven LEDs that will give you four hours of runtime in high steady mode, or 14 hours when flashing. It does take a fair amount of time to charge these two lights up. The front needs a solid six hours of charging from empty to full, while the taillight will require about two hours. Out on a tour, this might be a bit excessive, depending on how much you use your lights. For local riding, it’s probably best to set up a little charging station. The bundled set of front and rear lights comes in at $299. At first glance, that seemed a little on the spendy side, but it’s hard to find anything else quite like this to compare them to. If you’ve already got a compatible Garmin Edge device to pair these with, this is certainly worth your consideration. Regardless of price, I’m excited to see Garmin putting some resources behind rider safety. Josh Tack is Adventure Cycling’s membership manager. If you have any questions or comments about this article, your membership, or bicycle travel in general, Josh is always happy to hear from you at [email protected]. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 65 Companions Wanted BICYCLE RIDE AROUND ARKANSAS (BRAA) Annual self-supported ride, March 20-25, 2016, through various parts of Arkansas. This ride is tentatively from Texarkana to Lake Village for 5-6 days. We usually have about 10-12 riders. We will camp or stay at colleges or motels in bad weather. Free registration at arkansasbicycleclub.org to get updates. [email protected] WASHINGTON TO FLORIDA TO BENEFIT MAKE-A-WISH I’m a 54-year-old disabled hand-cycle athlete from the Seattle area. I’m looking for a travel companion(s) on an epic journey across the U.S. to benefit the Make A Wish Foundation from the U.S./Canadian border at Blaine, Washington, to Key West, Florida, on my 27-speed Top End XLT Pro hand cycle via the Pacific Coast, Southern Tier, and Atlantic Coast routes, beginning in early April 2016 and arriving in Key West by June 1, 2016. I plan to average about 100 miles per day, six days per week with a day of rest per week and spending the nights in motels with comfortable beds and hot showers. Let's experience this challenging adventure together! [email protected] BIKECENTENNIAL 40+ IN 2016 I’m going and looking for company. I always go on RAGBRAI (last full week in July) so timing is somewhat important. I plan on starting in Astoria on May 15 with the goal of finishing in two months. 4,200 miles in 60 days? That’s about 70 per day. Not a fan of total rest days, better to keep moving. I am willing to do short days. May 15 is a bit early so I will be trying to limit my riding the first couple of weeks so I don’t burn out. Big-mile days can be had in the mid-section of the country. A mix of camping, motels, and Warmshowers.org. Eating in restaurants and grocery stores as much as possible, I don’t want to haul cooking gear too. [email protected] 66 ADVENTURE CYCLIST f e b r u a r y 2 016 Providing partners for tours, domestic and abroad, since 1978 ROUTE 66 Small group looking for others to join us for all or part. We will have a luggage van carrying our stuff and will be staying in motels/ lodges. Average 55 to 65 miles per day (according to availability of lodging and terrain) with a day off each week. Luggage van will have all supplies plus a couple of coolers! Starting in September 2016 in Chicago. You can join for the whole shebang or just for a week or three! [email protected] IDAHO HOT SPRINGS, JUNE/JULY 2016 Looking for one or two or a few folks to do the Idaho Hot Springs Route. 500+ miles, 10-14 days. Possibly do some singletrack options. There are two or three of us right now. Mid 30s, one guy, one gal, tour buddies. [email protected] JACKSONVILLE TO SEATTLE, APRIL TO JUNE 2016 I plan to go self-supported from Jacksonville, Florida, mid-April 2016, northwest across Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky toward the Mississippi River Trail. Then will leave MRT in St. Paul, mostly follow the Northern Tier Route to Seattle (plan to deviate south and cross Cascades on Iron Horse trail) and arrive about June 2016. Plan to stay with friends, Warmshowers hosts and cheap motels. (No camping). Usually 80 miles per day. I am a 54-year-old guy with a family and this is a present to myself when I retire from the Navy. I would enjoy some company. [email protected] ALASKA TO ARGENTINA, SOLSTICE TO SOLSTICE The plan is to celebrate summer solstice 2016 in Deadhorse, Alaska, and spend 18 months cycling south to reach Ushuaia, Argentina, during summer solstice. Experienced 53-year-old male cycle tourist looking for adventurers to join in all or part of the ride. [email protected] SPAIN PERIMETER RIDE I am a 14-year-old (I’ll be 15 when I do this tour) semi-experienced bike tourist looking for two adult riding companions who speak Spanish for a 2-month ride JuneAugust 2016, around the perimeter of the Iberian Peninsula. This ride will not be a race, there is no fixed route, and we do not have to make it all the way around the perimeter. I am fairly proficient in Spanish, though my accent is terrible. I have done three long tours before: one 3,000-kilometer, 1-month ride from San Diego to Seattle; one 5,000-kilometer, 2-month ride on the Sierra Cascades/Pacific Coast Route, and one 7,000-kilometer, 2.5 month ride across the U.S. I will be raising money for the Sierra Club during this ride. [email protected] NEW ENGLAND, NEW BRUNSWICK, QUEBEC I’m in early planning for a “Tour de New England — and Canada,” a loop starting/ending in Portland, Maine, going up the Maine coast to New Brunswick. Then across to the St. Lawrence, stopping in the Laurentians, then Quebec City, then a stop in Burlington, Vermont, a cruise through the White Mountains and on to Portland. About 1,200 miles, 32,000-feet of elevation gain. 50 miles/day, mostly camping, 27 or 28 days total. Self-contained or van-supported, depending on preferences of the riders. Dates flexible. I am 68, male, with 45 years touring experience and Adventure Cycling leader training. Two more potentially on board now. [email protected] Adventure Cycling Association assumes, but cannot verify, that the persons above are truthfully representing themselves. Ads are free to Adventure Cycling members. You can see more ads and post them at adventurecycling.org/adventure-cyclist/ companions-wanted or send them to Adventure Cyclist, P.O. Box 8308, Missoula, MT 59807. Open Road Gallery No. 4738 Becky's group, from left to right: Courtney Dolan, Corrine Garrett, David Owsley, Becky Ojeda, Joseph Ojeda Seven, the hard way PHOTOGRAPH BY GREG SIPLE STORY BY GAGE POORE ➺ “INTERESTING FACT: I’m so not a cyclist,” Becky Ojeda wrote during her visit to Adventure Cycling Headquarters while riding with her husband and three friends to Yorktown, Virginia, from Pacific City, Oregon. “It doesn’t come easy for me. I’m enjoying it more the longer we are on our trip, but I find myself wishing I was more relaxed and this whole thing came easier for me.” After reaching Yorktown, Becky later wrote, “My whole life I have been someone who is notorious for not finishing. I’ve started so many diet programs, exercise routines, creative journeys … and I never get past a certain point. As soon as it stops being exciting, I tend to forget about it and lose my motivation.” Days before they reached Missoula, Becky lost her motivation on Day Seven of her journey. “Day Seven was in the middle of an intense heat wave in the heart of the Oregon Desert," she wrote. "Riding up mountain passes in 105 degrees was likely the hardest thing I had done in my life up until that point and we still had two more months of riding to go.” But she pedaled on. “Each morning I would wake up knowing I likely had some grueling hours of riding in front of me.” Putting in the hours, day after day, the ride became easier over time. “The real turning point was when I was climbing the last steep grade of our tour, right outside of Vesuvius, Virginia. I found that I had gotten in a rhythm going up mountains. I told myself to keep pedaling — slow, rhythmic movements. Eventually you’ll be at the top.” Soon, she was at the top, and beyond that they rode the Blue Ridge Parkway, which she described as one of the most beautiful sights of the tour. That’s when the lesson of her touring experience clicked. “Life is about doing hard things. Not just for the sake of doing something hard, but because of the reward at the end. After every grueling climb, there was a spectacular view, a wonderful person to meet, or a new town to explore. But internally there was the joy of having accomplished something that you never thought you could.” Back home in Salem, Oregon, Becky says that she can’t shake the new perspective that her cross-country tour has given her. “Doing hard things changes the very core of who you are and blesses you with amazing gifts that you just can’t get from living an easy life.” Visit us online at adventurecycling. org/gspg From Adventure Cycling’s National Bicycle Touring Portrait Collection. © 2016 Adventure Cycling Association. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 67 Non-profit Adventure Cycling Association U.S. POSTAGE PAID P.O. Box 8308 Missoula, Montana 59807-8308 Adventure Cycling Association America’s Bicycle Travel Experts · · · maps tours gear resources Questions? 800.755.2453 www.adventurecycling.org P L AY. E X P L O R E . B O N D . Our Family Fun Tours A cycling vacation is one of the best bonding activities that family members can experience together. Choose from tours that offer all of the amenities found on our fully supported trips, or try self-contained family touring! Our Family Fun fully supported trips feature: Self-Contained Great Allegheny Passage | 7/9 - 7/16 | Location: PA Fully Supported Idaho Trails | 7/17 - 7/22 | Location: ID Colorado | 7/30 - 8/4 | Location: CO Minnesota - Paul Bunyan Trail | 8/7 - 8/12 | Location: MN • Scenic and FUN pre-planned easy-to-ride routes. • Hiking and historic site exploration. 4 CELEBRATING best tour e h t r o f s “Thank r done!” we’ve eve Tour Participant 2014 YEARS Details and registration at: adventurecycling.org/toursinfo, or call 800.755.2453