Amgen Tour, Levi Just Misses TT, Horner Keeps Lead

The winner of the last 3 Tours of California, Team RadioShack?s Levi Leipheimer, who is also the winner of its last 3 time trials in the city of Solvang, just missed his fourth victory in this year?s TT to Garmin-Cervélo?s David Zabriskie by 13 seconds. Levi looked very strong on the first parts of [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/amgen-tour-levi-just-misses-tt-horner-keeps-lead/

cycling ulster

My Kind of Cathedral


The cold November rains have come and my mind drifts off to warmer places on the planet. While we are slamming into winter here in the U.S., New Zealand is sliding into summer.

If you have the pleasure of taking a bike trip in New Zealand, don't miss the cathedral. While I know there are beautiful churches in Christchurch and Auckland, I'm referring to one made by Mother Nature.

Cathedral Cove is on the Coromandel Peninsula, east of Auckland. As I recall, you'll have to park your bike and hike out to this cove with its grand arch. It is a protected marine reserve popular with divers and snorkelers.

After a visit, you can get on your bike and pedal out to Hot Water Beach, where thermal activity under the sand provides a great opportunity to dig your own hot tub. Borrow a shovel (unless you are already carrying one on your bike. Really? You are?) and dig a hole in the sand when the tide is low. The water will be too hot to sit in, so you'll mix it with seawater.

The trick is you'll have to also build your own little sand wall to keep too much of the cold ocean water from spilling into your hot sand hot tub. It's hard work. But you won't mind because you'll remember that back at home it's snowing or raining or clear and thirty below.

I was there nineteen years ago. Normally I wouldn't lend out specific travel advice that is nearly two decades old. But unlike restaurants or lodging options, which can drastically change from year to year, Mother Nature is pretty consistently awesome!

Photos: New Zealand -- 1993 by Willie Weir

--

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS appears on Friday afternoons. Willie Weir is a columnist for Adventure Cyclist magazine. His latest book Travels with Willie: Adventure Cyclist will inspire you to hit the road and just might change the way you approach bicycle travel. He lives in Seattle with his wife Kat. You can read about their local adventures and life without a car at http://YellowTentAdventures.com/.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/11/my-kind-of-cathedral.html

cycling events 2011

Bontrager commuting jacket review

A jacket that I?ve increasingly found myself wearing on rides is the Bontrager Commuting Jacket. It?s a very stylish windproof jacket that is suited to ?cool spring mornings and evenings?. Windproof jackets have the advantage of keeping you cool through use of breathable fabrics. This is something that can be rarely matched by waterproof jackets, [...]

Source: http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/cycling-accessories/bontrager-commuting-jacket-review/

irish cycling

Recap: Tour of Flanders (Ronde van Vlaanderen)

Hills are bad enough, Pave is not a preferred surface for cycling. Put the two together and you have a punishing prospect for a cycle race. And so it is with the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Thrills, spills leg-pain, guts and all out exhaustion are guaranteed in every running of this World Pro Tour race. Falling [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/recap-tour-of-flanders-ronde-van-vlaanderen/

cycling team kits

Europe, from a Friend of Mine

My friends Jeanne and Peter Anderson traveled to Europe earlier this fall, where they had some fun on bicycles. For this edition of BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS, I'm going to run a piece Jeanne sent to me shortly after their return. A self-described "thinker, writer, reader; volunteer, catalyst, leader," Jeanne was an "Up with People" person from 1974 through 1976, and owner of Dark Horse Books in Driggs, Idaho, from 1995 through 2009. She also writes Jeanne's Jewelry & Junk Blog and edits Teton Home & Living magazine.

Okay, I'll admit it. I hadn't ridden a bicycle in something like five years. But when my husband Peter and I encountered unseasonably warm weather in Berlin (Germany) in late September, we started thinking how much fun it would be to explore that city on two wheels.

Berlin is almost completely flat and an uber-bike-friendly urban environment. For the previous few days, we'd seen folks older than we are ? and seemingly even less sure of themselves than I was worried I might be ? happily bopping about on bikes. Navigating the traffic looked enticingly simple: almost every street has well-marked bike lanes. And those lanes even have their own traffic lights!

We sought out the conveniently located and highly recommended Fat Tire Bike Rentals. Rentals were basic three-speed cruisers and offered no fancy gear, unless you count a plastic squeaky-thing that substituted for a bell; mine looked like a bumblebee on steroids.

The friendly Fat Tire employees carefully adjusted the seats for us ? big, comfy ones, gentle on tourist posteriors. Armed only with a map, the desire to explore deeper into what was once East Berlin, and a vague notion of some other sights we wanted to see (or re-see), we headed off toward the tree-shaded paths of the Tiergarten.

Such fun! We zoomed out to the once-Bohemian, now gentrified Prenslaur Berg and stopped for lunch. After a long cruise along the River Spree and a short hotel break, we wound our way to Schloss Charlottenburg. Tired but happy, we capped our Berlin-by-bike experience with a late-afternoon beer at an outdoor cafe.

On a sunny but chilly morning a couple of weeks later, we decided to do the same thing in bike-busy Copenhagen, Denmark. This time we discovered the well-publicized rental spot at the Central Train Station was closed, but found bikes-for-hire at a nearby retail shop. After I'd circumnavigated the roundabout a dozen times getting used to the skinny seat and the old-fashioned back-pedal-style brakes, we took off for another glorious day, riding along wide paths past lakes full of swans and ducks, stopping at the King's Garden and to see the Little Mermaid.

In both cities, the rental process was easy and affordable. The bikes had built-in snap-type back-tire locks, something we'd not seen before. Our excursions took us well beyond where we'd been while walking. We felt extremely safe, despite the high numbers of other bikers on the paths. Helmet-wearing cyclists were rare, something very different from everyone biking around here in the Tetons.

Here's one thing I know: I won't wait another five years for my next cycling adventure!

Thanks, Jeanne, for sharing!

Photo of bikes parked alongside Copenhagen's Black Diamond library building by Jeanne Anderson.

--

BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling?s media specialist, and highlights a little bit of this or a little bit of that ? just about anything, as long as it?s related to traveling by bicycle. Mac also compiles the organization's twice-monthly e-newsletter Bike Bits, which goes free-of-charge to more than 43,000 readers worldwide, and organizes the Bike Overnights program.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/12/europe-from-friend-of-mine.html

winter cycling jacket

Meet Andy Sedgwick ? Bike Science North East?s Head Bike Fitter

We’re happy to announce the forthcoming opening of our North East of England region Bike Science fitting studio. Bike Science North East Unit G4 Morton Park Way Darlington Co Durham DL1 4PQ Proposed Opening Date – Mid December 2011 LOOK OUT FOR OUR OPENING MONTH OFFER – REDUCED BIKE FIT PRICES THROUGHOUT THE OPENING MONTH All fits at Bike Science North East will [...]

Source: http://blog.bike-science.com/2011/11/08/meet-andy-sedgwick-bike-science-north-easts-head-bike-fitter

cycling events 2011

Andreas Klöden Wins Stage 3 of Criterium Int?l 2011

Team RadioShack?s Andreas Klöden (GER), continued to show his strong form this spring by winning Sunday?s final 7.8 kilometer individual time trial stage at the Criterium International in France, by 4 seconds over second place finisher Bradley Wiggins (GBR) of Team Sky. Third place went to Jakob Fuglsang (DEN) of Leopard-Trek, 10 seconds [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/andreas-kloden-wins-stage-3-of-criterium-int%e2%80%99l-2011/

cycling ulster