Summer Bike-Travel News

It's been a busy summer here at Adventure Cycling headquarters.

Last month Adventure Cycling celebrated the much-anticipated completion of our renovation and building expansion with a huge community block party. We saw members and donors from all over the country, gave away freezers-full of free ice cream, danced to live music, and even got to be on the radio!

Missoula's local radio station, The Trail 103.3 covered the whole event live and conducted on-air interviews with Adventure Cycling staff, members, party-goers, and visiting cyclists. It was a great way to celebrate the continued growth of our organization, and humbling to see the levels of support in our local and national communities.

In more somber news, June Curry, the famous and beloved "Cookie Lady" of Afton, Virginia, passed away on Monday, July 16. "For more than three decades, June hosted thousands of cyclists from all over the planet at her home on the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail. Her generosity was so great that we named our first formal bike-travel award in her honor, the June Curry 'Trail Angel' Award , which, annually recognizes an individual or group that goes the extra mile (or ten) to help traveling cyclists." The preceding passage is from Executive Director Jim Sayer's heartfelt eulogy for June.

In keeping with June's tradition, the Willis Church, also located on the TransAm in Virginia, is fast becoming a haven for touring cyclists. Bill Lohmann, a reporter for the Richmond Times did a wonderful write-up of Willis.  "The church, which sits peacefully amid fields and woods and just down the road from Glendale National Cemetery, is on Willis Church Road -- on the route of the TransAmerica Trail. A day's ride from Yorktown, the church is a popular stopover for cyclists just starting their journey or about to finish it." Cyclists are offered a roof, a kitchen, and access to the sanctuary. "This year, the first rider came through in April, heading west; the final cyclist of 2011, traveling east, arrived in December." wrote Lohmann, "The only thing the church asks is that the cyclists sign the guestbook, which is filled with names from faraway places and lots of gratitude." Along with the article, you can listen to audio interviews with two touring cyclists who were recent patrons of the Willis Church.

This summer we've seen touring cyclists taking on big challenges, like Rich Mills, who recently embarked on a cross-country bike trek to raise awareness for Parkinson's disease, a condition he was diagnosed with in 2009. Read the full story from the Des Moines Register. Our maps make a great cameo in the cover photo of the article.

Another pair of touring cyclists, survivors of the Aurora shooting, are facing their experiences in a very positive way. As reported on National Public Radio (NPR) on July 23, "22-year-old Stephen Barton, and his longtime friend, Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent, both from Southbury, Connecticut, were six weeks into their ride to San Francisco when they pulled into Aurora on Thursday to meet a friend and decided to attend the midnight showing of the new Batman movie. Rodriguez-Torrent was unharmed in the subsequent shooting, while Barton and their other friend sustained serious injuries. "I guess I've chosen more to focus on ? my own recovery" Barton said, "and how, you know, I can take some positive out of ? this very tragic experience." Both cyclists hope to finish their ride to San Francisco next year, leaving from the Aurora movie theater. You can view this brief interview with Barton to learn more.

Back at headquarters, through all the recent events, every day, rain or shine (or blizzard) throngs of cyclists pour through our front doors with stories, smiles, and some unforgettable tan lines. To get a little sample of the action, check out our 2012 Visiting Cyclists photo album on Flickr.

Don't get me wrong, the block parties, the ice cream, the visiting cyclists every summer are great, but they're just some of the many things that make Adventure Cycling such a special place ... For the past five years Outside Magazine has annually compiled a list of the Best Places to Work, first naming 30, then 50, and now 100 companies that encourage employees to pursue and achieve a healthy work-life balance. Bicycle Retailer And Industry News (BRAIN) aptly pointed out in a recent article that this year 17 bike-industry businesses made the cut. Yeah, bike industry! And guess what?

We were one of them!

Photo: Tours Director Arlen Hall is interviewed on the radio during our big building bash. Photo by Greg Siple. 

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NEWS, NETWORKING, AND NEW MEDIA is usually posted by Winona Bateman, Adventure Cycling's media director, and highlights cool media (articles, videos, photos, etc.) and meet-ups related to Adventure Cycling and bicycle travel. This week's post was by media & publications assistant Alison Riley. Writing a story about bicycle travel or Adventure Cycling Association? You can contact Winona via email: pressATadventurecyclingDOTorg. Visit our media room, view our news releases, or follow us on Twitter.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2012/08/summer-bike-travel-news.html

world cycling

Andreas Klöden Out of the Tour

And then there were 5! After just a few minutes of pedaling into today?s Stage 13, Team RadioShack?s Andreas Klöden was forced to abandon his Tour effort this year succumbing to numerous injuries from several bad crashes. With numerous bruises and bad scrapes the most serious injury was Andreas? back, which caused him severe pain. [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/andreas-kloden-out-of-the-tour/

winter cycling jacket

The Hungry Cyclist Podcast - July 2011 - I is for Iran

Choosing a restaurant fro I in our alphabetical culinary quest was not easy. There were of course plenty of calls for India, a strong shout went out for Israel and with the current Nordic trend in cuisine many thought we...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/thehungrycyclist/~3/1pqTiB9XQY0/the-hungry-cyclist-podcast-july-2011-i-is-for-iran.html

winter cycling gear

Klöden Ignites Another Fire in Trentino

No matter how many times I write it this spring, I’ll never tire of typing the name Klöden and the word ?WIN? in the same sentence! Team RadioShack‘s 35-year old German wonder bested another field of quality contenders in the opening 13.4-kilometer Time Trial of the Giro del Trentino today, clocking 15:24 on the course [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/kloden-ignites-another-fire-in-trentino/

cycling gear uk

Robbie McEwen Profile

Robbie McEwen (born June 24, 1972 in Brisbane) is an Australian road-racing champion in his final ? 15th ? season as a professional with Team RadioShack, having started his career with Rabobank in 1996. Nicknamed the Pocket Rocket, he has amassed an almost unsurpassed record of well over 200 victories throughout his long and distinguished [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/robbie-mcewen-profile/

nalini cycling

Cycling and Simplicity

One of the attractions of cycling is its inherent simplicity. As is often remarked, the basic shape and frame of the bicycle has remained unaltered since the first ‘safety bicycles’ of the 1870s.     Cycling is big business (one of biggest sports in world) so we have a whole industry catering to offering technological [...]

Source: http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/3671/cycling/cycling-and-simplicity/

british cycling

Excited about the Early and Epic Tours

As you may already know, Adventure Cycling announced their Early, Epic, and Educational tours for 2013 this past Wednesday. The response has been very overwhelming here in the tours department. The January Florida Keys and Florida LTC tours are already 50% full in just 3 days!

You might ask, what are the Adventure Cycling tours director's favorite trips from the Early, Epic, and Educational tours list? I have actually already ridden the Florida Keys, Outer Banks, Southern Tier and TransAm tours and thoroughly enjoyed the experiences. So if I could only choose 2 trips from the list, my top two choices would be Death Valley and the Underground Railroad: North to Niagara tours.

Just the name Death Valley evokes in my mind the challenges of riding tough dry terrain, extreme conditions, pioneering conditions, and a parched throat. However, our Death Valley experience features a van to carry your equipment and to carry the food and water needed for the journey; not to mention the adult beverages. A bucket list tour if I have ever saw one. It surely is on my bucket list and maybe you will see me leading on of our three Death Valley tours next year.


Among the requirements I have when consider and epic adventure are scenery, food, cultural diversity, pie, a few tough riding days, food, history, coffee, small groups, and food. Well the Underground Railroad: North to Niagara offers all that and so much more. One half of my family roots come from the deep south and they migrate north out of Mississippi into Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. A route almost identical to our revised tour. Using the van to carry all our gear and supplies, I could immerse myself into some facinating US History, beautifully forested areas, lakes, rivers, valleys, and of course the culinary diversity of the small cafes and roadside stands along the way. The meandering riding through the Ohio farmland on the way to Niagara Falls is spectacular.

In the end, all the tours that Adventure Cycling is offering are outstanding and will offer a very enjoyable journey, with professional leaders. If you can't find something off the current list of tours, then just hang on until October 10 when we announce the remaining slate of 2013 tours. You are in for a special treat!

- Arlen


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ON THE ROAD is written by the tours team -- Mo, Paul, Madeline, and Arlen -- tours specialists and intrepid bicyclists, covering all things related to Adventure Cycling's Tours Department. Find your  dream tour now!

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2012/08/excited-about-early-and-epic-tours.html

cycling trips