- Brighten up your bike. Throw some flowers on it – 3D printing can give us key bike parts like custom titanium dropouts, ti lugs, or even just component prototypes. But why not something a little less technical, and more whimsical? Wouldn’t it be cool to carry a plant in your pocket? That was the thought of the Atlanta-based industrial designer behind the Wearable Planter line for the last 5 years. Now they come to the bike, on your handlebar, or even strapped to your seattube or fork blade. Where else would you find this sort of thing, but on Etsy.com…
Events
- Race e-bikes today at Sea Otter – Are you already in Monterey for Sea Otter? Bosch is hosting an Industry Challenge eMTB race with a cash purse of $5000 for the local trail building non-profit of choice of the winners. What better excuse to ride battery-powered bikes around?! The race is today Friday, Apr 15 at 4pm on the “Swale”. No eBike? Bosch and others might still have some around on site that you can chase down while they last. Charge up, kit up, and step it up for your local mountain biking association! SeaOtterClassic.com
- Get your swap on in Portland, OR – This Sunday, Apr 17, head to The Rosewood Initiative in downtown Portland to buy, sell, or donate all of your old and extra bike gear. Experience Oregon’s biggest bike parts garage sale with be great deals on new and used bikes and accessories. Bring cash to buy and come early. All proceeds go to Rosewood Bikes, a local initiative for nonprofit community development. PortlandBikeSwap.org
- Great Cycle Challenge USA: Riding a Million Miles to fight children’s cancer – The Children’s Cancer Research Fund’s annual event has opened registration, offering cyclists the chance to hit riding goals and raise money for children’s cancer research at the same time. Every mile you ride on a bicycle, a stationary bike or even a unicycle this June can improve your health and help fund childhood cancer research during the second annual Great Cycle Challenge USA. Register now for the month-long cycling fundraiser at GreatCycleChallenge.com and download the free mobile application to track their progress. Participants who register by Apr 22, are also entered into a drawing to win a Diamondback Podium Vitesse bike.
Training
- Get in the last preseason base, racing an ostrich with Kinomap – Being the fastest animal on two legs, why not race against an ostrich? Kinomap has got you covered with their geolocated videos via their training app. It’s a bit short of a complete warm up session, but might still get you psyched up to crank out a full roller session. Watch the interactive data including power in watts, probably the only time you’ll ever see a power meter is set to an ostrich. On a more serious note, Kinomap has also added a geographical search on Kinomap.com, bringing in user-requested functionality that had previously only been on their app. Kinomap.com
