Escape to Florida in January

Looking for an escape from those cold, wintery blues sure to arrive this January? Well, look no further: we?ve just added an early season offering of our Florida Keys self-contained tour ... the Florida Keys Winter Escape!

Set to run January 17-27, 2012, this self-contained trip features eleven days of splendid, tropical touring along Adventure Cycling?s Atlantic Coast Route and Florida Connector, with relaxed riding terrain, beautiful beach camping, and several nights with the added luxury of indoor lodging. In addition to a fascinating, off-day van tour of Everglades National Park and a ferry ride across the Gulf of Mexico, the tour includes opportunities to explore fun coastal towns and beautiful natural sites along the route, including Key Largo, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Bahia Honda State Park, Historic Key West, and Lake Okeechobee, just to name a few. It is sure to offer something for anyone looking for a mid-winter cycling break.

For more early season beach-cruising, be sure to check out our brand-new Outer Banks Inn-to-Inn tour, scheduled for April 22-29, 2012.

Photo by Tom Robertson

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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. We've just announced our 2012 Early & Epic Tours!

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/09/escape-to-florida-in-january.html

cycling ulster

Team RadioShack Line-up in Denain and Amstel Gold Race

Team RadioShack Line-up in Denain and Amstel Gold Race Grand Prix de Denain (France), 14/04/2011 Riders: Sam Bewley, Philip Deignan, Robbie Hunter, Ben King, Geoffroy Lequatre, Robbie McEwen, Nelson Oliveira & Jesse Sergent Director: Dirk Demol Amstel Gold Race (Netherlands), 17/04/2011 Riders: Philip Deignan, Ben Hermans, Markel Irizar, Geoffroy Lequatre, Sérgio Paulinho, Gregory Rast, Jesse Sergent & Haimar Zubeldia [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/team-radioshack-line-up-in-denain-and-amstel-gold-race/

craft cycling

Mark Cavendish World Champion

Congratulations to Mark Cavendish and Team GB for finishing off an amazing victory in the World Road Championship – the first since Tom Simpson in 1965. Despite my love of cycling, it’s not often I get excited about watching cycle races – often they are pretty tedious events. But, today I felt quite fortunate to [...]

Source: http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/cycling/mark-cavendish-world-champion/

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Meet Mark Martin: Implementing U.S. Bike Route 90 Across Louisiana

Meet Mark Martin of Baton Rogue, Louisiana, and join me as I welcome him to the growing army of volunteers across America that are helping to create the U.S. Bicycle Route System.

Mark is working with the Louisiana Department of Transportation to implement U.S. Bike Route (USBR) 90, also known as Adventure Cycling's Southern Tier Route.

There were a few options on the table when it came to deciding which corridor to implement in Louisiana first -- including USBR 45, which follows the same corridor as the Mississippi River Trail, and USBR 51, a corridor newly prioritize based on interest coming from Arkansas. But in the end, Mark and the DOT decided the priority route was USBR 90. Established bicycle traffic on the Southern Tier made this option stand out.

1) How did you first hear about the U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS)?

I don?t really remember the first time I heard about the USBRS. I?ve been ardently advocating for bicycling and walking the past five-and-a-half years, and suspect I ran across information about the USBRS at one point or another in that time.

2) What made you want to get involved?

I?ve been working at the local, state, and national levels as an advocate and have worked with a number of people in that time. One of those people, Brian Parsons at the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD), asked me if I would be interested in volunteering to work on getting Route 90 through Louisiana approved. It seemed like a great project to work on.

Part of the reason it's great is that I?ve been hosting bicycle tourists as they pass through Baton Rouge for the past year. One of the first tourists staying with me turned me on to the Adventure Cycling Association's Southern Tier, of which I was completely ignorant.

Now that I?ve had around 30 people stay with me, many of whom were traveling the Southern Tier, I recognize the importance of that route. As Route 90 follows the Southern Tier it seems self-evident that it should be a nationally recognized route.

3) How are you involved?

I?m contacting all eleven parishes the route passes through, and a smaller number of towns and cities the route passes through, to see if they are willing to sign a Resolution of Support for Route 90. Part of that effort involved creating a packet for each parish containing an introductory letter, a partially filled in resolution of support, a copy of the USBRS system map, and a link to an accessible online map of the route (for which I used Map My Ride).

After first contact I?ve been sending updates as they become available and answering questions that may come my way. I?ve found that simply including the URL for the online map of the route is not very effective. A number of the parish representatives have asked for detailed maps of the route through their jurisdiction, which is exactly what the online route provides. I?ve taken to sending the parish contacts JPG images showing the route through their jurisdiction derived from the online route. Included in those images may be detail maps of the route when it passes through a town or city.

After getting that underway I created a Web page for the USBRS Route 90 in Louisiana. It is available via the Baton Rouge Advocates for Safe Streets (BRASS) website at the following URL: http://www.brsafestreets.org/route-90-in-louisiana-1.

If we can at least get all the parishes to support the route we can forward those resolutions to the LaDOTD asking the Secretary to support Route 90 in Louisiana. From there, assuming the Secretary will support this, the LaDOTD will make a formal request to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) for a route number designation -- USBR 90.

I?m also attempting to get the spur from St. Francisville to Baton Rouge, and ultimately to New Orleans, designated and numbered. If we can get that designation I?ll start gathering the necessary waypoints for the New Orleans segment of the route.

4) Why is Louisiana implementing USBR 90 as its first route?

I suppose because it is an established route, having been mapped then distributed and updated by Adventure Cycling Association for over 20 years. The LaDOTD ?Louisiana Bicycle Map? indicates the same route as an approved route. Given that it is an established route, and a well-documented one at that, it is easier to show that the route will be used and that use will benefit the communities through which the route passes.

5) Why do you think communities would want to be on a US Bike Route? What are the advantages for them?

First and foremost, every community wants to increase its income even if that increase is small. Bicycle tourists eat, drink, camp, stay in motels and hotels, do laundry, and a host of other activities that add to the economy of the place they happen to be at the time.

Having a US Bicycle Route pass through a town is an excellent opportunity to develop bicycle touring related businesses. Granted, on Route 90 in Louisiana, the heat and humidity of the summer months -- defined here as May through October -- might keep touring bicyclists away during those months. Nonetheless, opportunities for bike tourism exists. Local entrepreneurs and businesses should enjoy the prospect of having this group of consumers to serve.

For myself, I get a kick out of taking bicycle tourists for a look-see around town. I have a background in history and I?m not shy, so it?s easy and fun for me to play the tour guide. I can?t say that I am a typical person but I think people like to leave visitors with a good impression of their town. Taking out-of-town visitors for a ride to show them the sights is a great way to do that.

I also think communities along the route that want to find a way to get more people riding will be able to utilize the USBRS as another tool in that effort. Local groups can organize outings to nearby communities, wildlife areas, or weekend overnight rides between communities. During Mardi Gras the town of Mamou holds a more or less famous Courir de Mardi Gras which would make for a great ride.

6) Tell us about the organization you represent?

I represent the Baton Rouge Advocates for Safe Streets (BRASS) , our local 501c3 bicycling and walking advocacy group. We?ve been around for five-and-a-half years. In that time we have seen a great deal of positive change in town with regard to how the city-parish approaches bicycling and walking and the creation of infrastructure for bicycling and walking. We still have a long, long way to go, but we?re beginning to head in the right direction.

BRASS also works with our metropolitan planning organization, the regional planning organization, the LaDOTD, and other organizations affiliated with the city-parish. BRASS has
also partnered with other citizens organizations to provide information related to bicycling and walking, to support social action, and to have fun!

And now BRASS is working on USBR 90. Bit by bit, we're gaining the necessary Resolutions of Support. Because Route 90 in Louisiana is already extremely well documented, we don?t have to create the necessary route documentation. As we work through the process, we will keep the parishes, villages, towns, and cities up to date on the current status of the effort through the web page dedicated to Route 90 on the BRASS site.

7) What is your long-term hope for this national system?

Well . . . I?d like to see the entire system adopted as soon as possible, but I suppose that goes without saying.

One of the things I almost always see as a comment left on almost any story about the bicycle infrastructure in the Netherlands or other northern European nations is, ?Yeah, well, ____________ is tiny compared to the U.S. We couldn't do that here because we?re so huge geographically.? This, to me, is an excellent opportunity to show that a national bicycle route system is viable anywhere, regardless of the geographical size of a nation.

Having a national system will, potentially, encourage local communities to build more and better bicycle infrastructure within their jurisdictions. If only a few of the cities connected by the USBRS began to build up-to-date infrastructure, we could well have a number of Copenhagen-style systems in the U.S. serving local populations as well as the passers-through.

There are plenty of studies showing ridership increases with dedicated infrastructure. There are also plenty of studies demonstrating the benefits of bicycling to individuals and to communities. Put these two together with a national bicycling system and improved local bicycling infrastructure, and nearly everyone profits. All we have to do is do it!

Thanks Mark -- It seems fitting that the lead volunteer for implementing the U.S. Bicycle Route System in Louisiana is pictured all covered in Mardi Gras beads, enjoying a parade!

Photo by Mark Martin

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BUILDING THE U.S. BICYCLE ROUTE SYSTEM (USBRS) is posted by Ginny Sullivan, USBRS coordinator at Adventure Cycling, and features news and updates related to the emerging U.S. Bicycle Route System. The USBRS project is a collaborative effort, spearheaded by a task force under the auspices of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Members of the task force include officials and staff from state DOTs, the Federal Highway Administration, and nonprofits like the East Coast Greenway Alliance, and Mississippi River Trail, Inc.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/09/meet-mike-martin-implementing-us-bike.html

oakley cycling

MapMyRIDE Signs Levi Leipheimer

MapMyRIDE Signs Team RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer as New Product Spokesperson 2011 Tour de Suisse Winner and Team RadioShack Member Will Use MapMyRIDE’s Innovative Web And Mobile Products Over the Course of His Training MapMyRIDE, the premier provider of Web- and mobile-based training and mapping applications for cyclists, announced today that Levi Leipheimer, current member of the Team [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/mapmyride-signs-levi-leipheimer/

winter cycling gear

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/

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