Category: cycling

biking Slickrock Trail, Utah

On By Rick McIn cycling, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

PHOTO UPDATE:

(Using my camera self-timer on these shots was difficult.)

slickrock2.jpg

slickrock1.jpg

The bike is a Santa Cruz Blur.

First adventure day in Canyon Country …

The Slickrock Trail, located near Moab, Utah (USA), is a popular mountain biking destination with worldwide fame. This 10.5 miles (16.9 km) loop takes intrepid riders over a landscape of “petrified” sand dunes and the eroded remnants of ancient sea beds. The Slickrock Trail is one of the more difficult rides in the Moab area, both technically and cardiovascularly, and is not suitable for novice riders.

… The so-called slickrock sandstone, which forms the majority of the trail’s surface, is not slick at all, but has a surface much like sandpaper. The rubber tires of a mountain bike or off-road motorcycle will grip readily to its surface on all but the steepest hills.

The name “slickrock” was given by early settlers of the area because their horses’ metal shoes had difficulty gaining traction on the rock’s sloping surfaces.

Slickrock Trail – Wikipedia

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original

I’m happy to say I survived the long, hot day.

I saw two crashes. But came out unscathed myself.

the bike saddle that is a pump

On By Rick McIn cycling, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I rarely bother to carry my pump. This would solve the problem.

Always nice to see a kid take an idea from school and turn it into a viable product. In this case Philip Robinson came up with the idea of hiding a bicycle pump in the seat bike, saving weight by using the post as the outer wall for the pump. Ingenius. Really.

Get Outdoors – BioLogic ZorinPump: The Seat That Is A Pump – Getoutdoors.com Outdoor Blog

zorinpump_page11.jpg

why I should work for Google

On By Rick McIn cycling, GoogleLeave a comment

Wanting to be more lean and green, Google is handing out bicycles to employees.

Google staffers can choose a Dahon Curve folding bike, which normally retails at £349 and is new for 2007.

And as well as a folding bike and men’s and women’s hybrids, there’s to be a Google cruiser as well. …

2000 Google staffers were emailed a Google bike catalogue on Thursday. Orders have to be placed with Google human resources by 27th April. Google has about 2000 permanent staffers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

quickrelease.tv » Blog Archive » Google gifts bikes to staff

googledahon.jpg

biking Lake Minnewanka – Banff

On By Rick McIn cyclingLeave a comment

Tempting.

Length: 54.4km
Time: 5-8 Hours
Book: Mountain Biking in the Canadian Rockies – Doug Eastcott
Effort: Medium
Rating: 9/10
Technicality: Moderate

This ride is out and back on 100% singletrack. It goes right along the shore of Lake Minnewanka, and it’s awesome fast, rolling, techincal (in places), rideable singletrack. Just don’t get too excited and knock a hiker off a cliff. Park at the North side of the Lake Minnewanka dam. Mountain bikes ARE allowed on this trail, so don’t take stick from the hikers.

Mountain biking Lake Minnewanka – Banff National Park · Outdoor Video Magazine

lake.jpg
source – Wikipedia

how to repair a bike tire

On By Rick McIn cycling, humourLeave a comment

This is the first of a one part tutorial on bicycle maintenance.

1. Carry your bike to the local bicycle shop.

2. Curse the harried staff soundly for needing a week to fix a flat.

3. Google “repair bicycle tire”

4. Click down the results page until you find Jim Langley’s site

5. Watch Jim’s video tutorial because you are too lazy to read his text

6. Curse your bicycle pump because it has the wrong valve attachment and you have no adaptor

7. Repair tire (walking to the service station twice)

8. Inflate far too much (anticipating a slow leak)

9. Try to remember to buy another tube SOON as your repair will undoubtedly fail

flattire3removetire.jpg

photo – Parking Space

On By Rick McIn cycling, photosLeave a comment

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Parking Space, originally uploaded by mike9alive.

We got a DUMP.

Yesterday I was cycling. Today a foot of snow outside the door.

Like this guy in Montreal.

cycling photos – Warren Long

On By Rick McIn cycling, health & fitness, photosLeave a comment

More than anything else, Warren was the inspiration for my becoming a bicycle commuter.

He rides to and from work in frozen Saskatoon. And has done so for maybe 10 years. That’s “75 minutes on a bad day in winter as compared to 25 minutes on a good day in summer.”

If Warren can do it, obviously anyone can.

Warren-bike.jpg

He’s posted 547 photos from his work commutes over the years.

Tour de France dead to me

On By Rick McIn bad news, cycling, dead to me, product complaints, sport - amateur, sport - proLeave a comment

I want to thank Bjarne Riis. Good on you for coming clean.

What shred of credibility remained about elite pro cycling has disappeared as 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis of Denmark on Friday became the first Tour winner to admit he used banned performance-enhancing drugs.

… Riis said in a news conference Friday he had taken the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) from 1993 through 1998, including during his Tour victory. He also confessed to using human growth hormone and cortisone.

“The time has come to put the cards on the table,” Riis said. “I have done things I now regret and I wouldn’t do again. I have doped. I have taken EPO. For awhile it was part of my life.”

Riis, currently manager of the Danish CSC cycling team, expected to be stripped of his Tour de France title.

“My yellow jersey is in a box at home. You can come and collect it,” Riis said of the jersey worn by the Tour de France leader.

A sport caught in a cycle of cheating on ChicagoSports.com

I’ll never watch race cycling again.

tour2.jpg
source

promoting cycling in Canada

On By Rick McIn cycling, government, health & fitnessLeave a comment

An unsolicited email escaped my spam filter:

At this address: http://www.gopetition.com/online/10170.html there is a petition aimed at the Canadian federal government, asking them to promote cycling as a preferred means of transportation. It mentions the health and environmental benefits of commuting by bicycle, and suggests ways that the Federal government could entice more Canadians to become bike commuters. …

It strikes me as increasingly crazy that our society is so geared towards the automobile, and almost discriminates against public transit and the bicycle. I’m hoping that – someday soon – people who WANT to switch from driving to biking are able to do so – that the infrastructure will be there (bike lanes, bike lockers etc) to make it possible.

If you feel at all inclined to help the petition along and helping us switch to a more environmentally sound method of transportation, it’d be much appreciated.

I signed the petition because I do want a higher priority put on the cycling infrastructure. And because I appreciate that taxpayers have another way to be heard in government via the internet.

This group used the GoPetition.com service. Works well.

http://www.gopetition.com/online/10170.html – more information

San Francisco?

On By Rick McIn cycling, travel, traveloguesLeave a comment

Tourists love San Francisco: Eclectic architecture, diverse population, Alcatraz, Lombard Street, Fisherman’s Wharf, etc.

They love the restaurants and shops.

I was underwhelmed. This is not the destination for me.

I was let down, having had some vague idea I would visit the Googleplex, or Apple HQ — like they have nothing better to do than tour me around.

Though I had my bread bowl of chowder, I managed to miss the chance to ride a bike over the Golden Gate Bridge.

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» next travelogue post on this trip – Green Tortoise, San Francisco