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Friday RoundUp – Bicycle Bits & Pieces

Written by Scott Vines
16 Comments
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Advocacy

  • Allow Mountain Bikes in the Wilderness Study – Voice your opinion – 100,000 Signatures are needed by May 18th so visit petitions.whitehouse.gov to ask President Obama and the Forest Service to leave these remote areas open to mountain bikes. Do it!
  • 30-Year Old Bike Virgin – Safety concerns and access to a working bike are some of the main reasons why adults don’t ride. PeopleForBikes’ recent U.S. Bicycling Participation Study found that 60% of Americans aged 3-9 biked once a year, compared with 36% of adults ages 25-34. PeopleForBikes talked to two adults who each had their own stories to share about how they became bike riders later in life. Check out the blog post here!
  • ‘Wheels for Meals’ Fundraising Event – The Wheels for Meals Bike Challenge features three community bike rides and three sponsorship levels. Both riders and sponsors are needed to make the event a high-speed success. To be held rain or shine on Saturday, May 30th, this year’s event offers something for everyone with three race levels, a Bike Rodeo for kids and sponsorship opportunities for local businesses. For more information or to register for the Bike Challenge please visit teegonline.org/get-involved/wheels-for-meals.

 Contests

  • Share Your Strider Stories – Contest Opens May 1st – “STRIDER® Bikes Rule!” is an international video contest which invites families to submit creative videos featuring the STRIDER experience. Participants will compete for 10 cash prizes ranging from $500 – $5,000, plus a $250 product voucher, for a total prize package of over $20,000! Entries must be original, high-definition video, and will be accepted by e-mail to Strider Sports. For the complete set of rules and how to enter, please visit striderbikes.com/blog/.

Industry News

  • Rolf Prima Moves into New Location – Rolf Prima, the hand-built wheel and rim manufacturer has moved their manufacturing and offices to their new purpose-built facility in Eugene, Oregon – about three miles from their previous location. “I think I’m one of the few people who like moving. It’s hectic, but exciting and new.” said Rolf Prima Owner, Brian Roddy. “When we brought alloy rim manufacturing in-house, we quickly outgrew our previous building. Our new building gives us a lot more space to not only accommodate our growth, but allow us to be efficient at the same time. To compete as a US manufacturer, we need to be dialed.” RolfPrima.com
  • BOB Gear Endorses The Robert Axle Project – The results are in! BOB Gear has formally tested and endorsed The Robert Axle Project as a solution to connecting the BOB Yak and Ibex cargo trailers to thru-axle equipped bikes. The Robert Axle Project was born in 2013 when owners Chris Kratsch and Katy Bryce, avid trail builders, mountain bike tourists and adventurers, saw a need for a 12 mm thru-axle that allowed attachment of their own BOB Trailers. They quickly realized that people all over the world could benefit from this new part, so they created The Robert Axle Project. The Robert Axle Project now has a full product line for attaching all types of trailers.
  • Competitive Cyclist Pauses Strava Connect Program – When Competitive Cyclist came up with the idea to pay you a dollar an hour to ride your bike through their partnership with Strava, it was pure, it was simple and it represented everything they stand for.You signed up by the tens of thousands and told everyone you knew and exceeded all expectations. Because of this they’ve had to pause new sign-ups, and they stopped issuing new credits beginning April 21st. They’re already hard at work on a revised program that can support many, many more people. They will update you with the details of this revised program on May 19th. Full press release here.

Racing

  • Road Racing – Liège-Bastogne-Liège – This Sunday is the 101st  running of the famous Liège-Bastogne-Liège. This year’s finale to the Spring Classic’s season promises to deliver a lot of drama over the 253 kilometer route. Leave a comment below if you know where to find the race online.
  • ‘Cliffhanger Challenge’ Invades Wintergreen Resort for Memorial Day Weekend – The Cliffhanger Mountain Bike Challenge returns for its third year and this year shifts from Saturday to Sunday (May 24). Part of the 2015 Virginia Off-Road Series, the cross-country race is designed for all ages and skill levels – beginner (one lap), sport racer (two laps) and expert racer (three laps). The race starts at noon over a six-mile course that travels through Wintergreen’s ski terrain from Acorn to Highlands, with several challenging elevation changes. Register here: bikereg.com/cliffhanger-challenge
  • Mountain Bike Racing – Boston Rebellion ProXCT – July 11-12, 2015 – The Boston Rebellion ProXCT UCI Race takes place during the Third Annual Barn Burner XC race. The Barn Burner offers racing for anyone of any ability in both cross-country and short track, as well as Professional Short Track racing, a trail run, and free kids races. Sunday’s XC racing will also be part of the Root 66 Race Series, the New England Regional Championships, and The Kenda Cup East Finale. Rider and runner registration information can be found HERE.

Training and Nutrition

  • TrainingPeaks is now Compatible with MyFitnessPal – MyFitnessPal helps over 80 million users stay on track to meet their nutrition goals. Adding TrainingPeaks compatibility helps all MyFitnessPal users more accurately record the calories they burn during exercise. Create your free TrainingPeaks account, then sync with your MyFitnessPal account by going to trainingpeaks.com/myfitnesspal. If you do not have a MyFitnessPal account, download the free app for your iOS or Android device.
  • Mountain Bike Marathon Tips & Tricks – Episode 1: How to get ready for a Marathon. Limar Helmets has started this video series on YouTube. Whether you are going to compete in long lasting race or you want just to have fun on the trails without any fuss, here are the some tips.

Clothing – Gear – Tools

  • Take 25% Off at Road Holland – In the Netherlands King’s Day is April 27th and in the land of windmills that means it’s time to party (click here some insight into the party culture of the Dutch). In celebration of King’s Day, take 25% OFF with promo-code ORANGE. Visit RoadHolland.com and take a look at their stylish apparel for men and women as well as some other good stuff.
  • Timbuk2 Invites You to Badass Breakup – On Saturday April 25th visit your local Timbuk2 store for Boozy juice & beer, comfort food & 30% off a new Timbuk2 if you Break Up with Your Bag during Brunch. Check locations and RSVP.

Touring

  • The Icon Tour of the Moon is Ready for Riders – The spectacular Icon Tour of the Moon bicycle ride, which gives riders the opportunity to ride through the stunningly beautiful Colorado National Monument (a unit of the National Parks system), announced that registration is now open for the October 3, 2015 event. Riders who register by April 30 can now save $10.
  • Trek Travel Wins National Geographic Traveler magazine’s Tenth Annual “50 Tours of a Lifetime” – For the second year in a row, Trek Travel has been awarded National Geographic Traveler magazine’s coveted “50 Tours of a Lifetime” honor with the 2015 recognition going to its Portland to Missoula Bike Tour. The competitive selection process uncovered 2015’s most authentic, most innovative, most immersive, best-guided, and most sustainable tours.

Product Recall

  • Improper Use of Quick Releases Leads to Trek Recall – The voluntary recall will provide dealers with replacement quick releases and Trek is even offering a $20 coupon for Bontrager product good until December, 2015 for any rider with an affected quick release. Click here for the Full Story on Bikerumor.
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Daniel M
Daniel M
9 years ago

Bikes in the wilderness – NO. NO. NO!

I love this website and am an avid cyclist – I bike everywhere – work, shopping, restaurants, etc, as well as multi-week unsupported tours including at-large (i.e. not at a campground) camping in the National Forest and BLM lands. I also love exploring the miles and miles of fire roads and mountain bike trails in the area I live, where I grew up, and elsewhere, plus occasional singletrack mountain biking with friends.

BUT – I am also an avid hiker and backpacker. There is something so absolutely and utterly irreplaceable about the silence, stillness, and solitude of wilderness areas that would be shattered by someone whizzing past on a mechanical conveyance, even if it is self-powered. Wilderness is for hikers and horses ONLY. And Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) function as full-fledged wilderness areas, and are often the most effective way to save an area from the utterly destructive nature of 4x4s and ATV’s. And for the record, I own a 4×4 and use it to (legally) get to incredible campsites and trailheads that I couldn’t get to with a standard car. But I am all for keeping 4x4s, ATV, and, yes, bikes, out of the few areas that are special enough to set aside as wilderness.

Please don’t contribute to the erosion of wilderness protection that has been so hard-fought for the last half-century. There are already enough voices (4×4 lobby, mining, drilling, and logging interests, etc.) doing that. Please ride your bike to the edge of the wilderness and enjoy the magic of exploring these unspoiled areas without wheels.

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Brian
Brian
9 years ago

Please sign the petition. This issue hits close to home in the Northern Rockies.

This is not recommending allowing bikes into Wilderness. It’s asking to continue to allow bikes in areas they generally were already allowed in before the areas were designated wilderness Study Areas.

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DanielS
DanielS
9 years ago

As an avid cyclist and hiker, i do not support this petition. the language needs to be more clear as to which wilderness areas this will apply to. Currently a vast amount of wilderness areas are foot traffic only, with no types of structures allowed on them, and this is how they should remain.

While the conflict of land areas that currently allow for bikes and will not have them in the future is disheartening, the petition needs to be more clear. This seems like a foot in the door to allow bikes into wilderness areas that currently do not allow them, which is unacceptable.

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alex
alex
9 years ago

Bicycles should be allowed to go wherever horses go. Horses do WAY more damage to trails than bikes, and bikes don’t shit on the trail.

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Daniel M
Daniel M
9 years ago

Thanks all for your thoughtful and non-combative replies so far – not to be taken for granted.

It sounds like there is an area or areas that have been historically enjoyed by mountain bikers who are in danger of losing or have already lost access due to Wilderness Study Area (WSA) designation. In those cases, the action or petition needs to be about those specific areas – hopefully to lobby the Forest Service for a Non-Motorized Area (i.e. bikes allowed, 4x4s and SUVs not) designation which may in fact be more appropriate in those cases.

However, there are many existing WSAs (for example, in the Sierras bordering Yosemite National Park or in the Mojave bordering Death Valley NP), where the WSA designation effectively expands existing wilderness areas where 4x4s, ATVs, and, yes, bicycles, are not appropriate. To weaken the protection of all exisiting WSAs in order to preserve access to some specific areas is, unfortunately, to chip away at the protection afforded to so many pristine, spectacular, and irreplaceable sanctuaries.

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Daniel M
Daniel M
9 years ago

As for horses, they can certainly tear up a trail, as can bikes, especially when the trail is muddy and/or by skidding. I do get annoyed by long commercial pack trains in the wilderness, but horses are part of the natural world and basically get grandfathered in because they are the way the land was settled and explored long before mechanized transport took over.

Wilderness is meant to preserve the landscape as much as possible in the state it was before it was settled by humans, and to preserve the user experience as one of primitive exploration. Of course we are all carrying nylon packs and metal stoves, etc., but the principle is that having a bike whiz past you on a trail in a wilderness is is inappropriate, whereas encountering people on horseback is not.

My personal pet peeve is roads in non-wilderness areas that are closed to cars and bikes but are actively maintained for motorized access for administrative and emergency purposes – i.e. fire roads. To me, if a road is wide enough for a fire engine and maintained so that rangers can drive it in their trucks as well, bikes should be allowed under all circumstances. But that is changing the subject quite a bit! Thanks all for the continuing civil discussion – we won’t always agree on everything!

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Daniel M
Daniel M
9 years ago

Edit – I meant ATVs, not SUVs, in my 4:10pm post, second paragraph.

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alex
alex
9 years ago

Horses are not “primitive”. They were introduced by Europeans to the America’s. They don’t belong in wilderness areas any more than mountain bikes. Neither does hunting with firearms.

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JC
JC
9 years ago

This petition is not about allowing bikes in the wilderness, it is about preserving access in Wilderness Study Areas in the Northern Rockies, where bikes have been allowed for decades. Knowing the situation that generated this petition, the proposed closures are for areas that are so remote that hikers never walk those trails. I have ridden many of these trails for years and NEVER encountered a single hiker. Local MTBers maintain them because the FS does not have the manpower to do it, but their proposed closures are the results of the lobbying of the FS by selfish user groups with a loud voice, who want to close trails to other users based on philosophical more than real reasons. The wider issue is that such situations will serve as precedents for unnecessary closures in other National Forest. Time to let ourselves be heard, sign and share the petition!

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Brian
Brian
9 years ago

^
What he said

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jj
jj
9 years ago

Wilderness areas were set aside for human powered travel. Mountain Bikes are the most wilderness appropriate device ever invented.

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Cheese
Cheese
9 years ago

Daniel, I’ve never seen a mountain biker take a crap on the trail and I’ve never seen an equestrian pack out his animal’s droppings. So who is actually leaving no trace?

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DanielS
DanielS
9 years ago

JC, can you please post the language of the petition stating that it is only regarding the Northern Rockies? i failed to see that anywhere on it.

Cheese, it is unfortunate that you’ve seen evidence of hikers not practicing ‘leave no trace’ ethics, its much more likely that most do and there’s just a few bad apples. just like most mountain bikers try not to ride trails when muddy, leave gel wrappers, skid, or any number of other trail etiquette no no’s.

As much as horse droppings annoy me to walk or ride around, because of their strictly vegetarian diet it does not negatively impact the surrounding lab nearly as much as human or dog feces.

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jj
jj
9 years ago

horse feces spread noxious and invasive weed species.

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DanielS
DanielS
9 years ago

many wilderness/BLM areas require horse folks to use weed free / ‘certified’ hay.

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jj
jj
9 years ago

yeah dude they still spread noxious weeds, but that is small potatoes compared to the damage caused by their hooves. Last fall I was on a piece of singletrack wide enough to drive a truck though because of horses. Are you saying that horses are more benign then cyclists or that horse dung is more benign then humans? Neither is true.

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