Overnighter bicycle tour to the Key Peninsula from Seattle

The ferries that cross Puget Sound can be a quick and affordable escape for bicyclists seeking to escape the urban sprawl for a rural retreat.

Although these ferry rides are relatively short, I always feel that I've been deposited on a faraway shore with all my cares and worries left behind.

Last week, I rode down to the Seattle Ferry Terminal to begin an overnight bicycle tour to the Key Peninsula, a rather isolated part of lower Kitsap. How isolated? A barista I spoke with near the town of Home said she'd lived there 32 years and was still considered a newcomer.

I would only be gone 30 hours, but I felt like I'd been away from home for a week by the time I returned ...

Source: http://www.bikingbis.com/blog/_archives/2011/7/28/4867443.html

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Meet the Team :: Daz Carter

Meet the latest team member, double ironman finishing, sub 9 hour Ironman Darryl “Daz” Carter. He’s gunning for a slot at Hawaii at next weekends Ironman UK in Bolton. Here’s Daz in his own words… I’ve spent the last three years as a triathlon coach, personal trainer and ?part-time? long-distance triathlete, having previous worked for 10 [...]

Source: http://blog.bike-science.com/2011/07/25/meet-the-team-daz-carter

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Cycle lanes what a waste of time!

A new survey shows that cycle lanes are still coming up short. A recent national survey by Insurance provider Cycleguard has revealed that cycle commuters simply don?t have enough bike lane choice available to them on most of their journey to work. The above taken from Cycling Active. This is a statement of the bloody obvious to most cyclists, using the roads in the Britain, most cycle lanes are a waste of green paint and indeed some are just a waste of a white line, some serving no purpose that springs to mind.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Cyclingchatcouk/~3/wwCaMVxpaaE/

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My Favorite Map

The world has gone digital. Albums became CDs, which became MP3s. Books have been digitized. Even mine has. Many cyclists prefer to use their GPS than having to carry paper maps.

But just as I love the look of an album cover and the smell of a printed book, I adore maps. Physical maps. Maps that fold and sometimes tear. Maps that wear the dirt and grease smudges of adventurous travels. Maps of places I dream to travel that I can pin up on my wall. Every trip I've ever taken has begun with my gazing at a map.

But of all the maps I have (and I have boxes full of them), I do have a favorite. It is no bigger than three by four inches. It was drawn for me by a man I met on the road in South Africa. He was trying to describe which route I should take. I kept getting confused with his instructions. He pointed to my small notebook and asked for a pen.

After a couple of minutes he handed it back to me. A little piece of art with the information I needed. There was me on my bike, the town I should sleep in, and the way to the Tugela Valley.

But that was many years ago. Today, no matter where I travel, a local is more likely to pull me inside to their computer and bring up Google maps than to draw one in my notebook. That's pretty amazing.

But I still miss the feel of a map.

Image: South Africa--1995 scanned from Willie Weir's notebook

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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/2011/07/my-favorite-map.html

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Quick Tips for Dealing with Summer Heat

After a long winter up in Montana, we're pretty excited to have some summer weather. But while I love taking advantage of the warm weather, a long day in the saddle under the hot sun can really take its toll, and I often find myself looking forward to the temperature dropping back down. Fortunately, there are a lot of little things you can do to keep your cool and enjoy the summer sun at the same time. I actually wrote a post about this a few years back, but sometimes it's good to revisit an important topic such as this.

My previous post on this topic focused on hydration, riding at cooler times of the day, and finding routes that are inherently cooler due to shade or topography. For this post, I'll check out some smaller details that might give you more freedom to ride where you want, when you want--and won't require a lot of extra effort.

1. Ice is Nice! When you stop at a gas station or convenience store to top off your water bottles, hit the ice dispenser on your way out. I like to drop a few cubes into the water bottles to keep the water cold for a few extra miles, and then toss a handful of ice cubes in my jersey pockets to help keep my body temperature down. It's nothing that will last for a long haul, but it's highly refreshing for the short time that it lasts. If you can think of it ahead of time, you can also freeze a couple of water bottles the day before your ride, and toss them in your back pocket when you head out (frozen bottles tend to rattle around a lot in bottle cages).

2. Soaking the jersey in cold water can really knock down the body temperature and make you feel rejuvenated when the heat is bearing down hard. This is a trick I picked up after moving to Montana, where the streams run clear and cold. Back in my hometown stomping grounds of Iowa, the slow moving, muddy water was a little less inviting.

3. Take your breaks in the shade. This seems super simple, but I always have to remind myself to roll a few extra feet to grab some shade under a tree while I'm taking a rest stop, or perhaps fixing a flat. Sitting stationary in the sun when you're already heating up can really hit you hard.

4. Don't forget sunscreen. Aside from limiting the risk of a nasty sunburn, it can keep your skin hydrated, which can help prevent moisture from evaporating from your skin too quickly. Sport-specific formulas are great since they don't run off too quickly when you sweat.

5. Wear sunglasses. They might not make you feel cooler, but they have the potential of making you look cooler. More importantly, they help prevent squinting in the sun; this not only improves your vision, but can actually make you feel fresher (surprisingly, squinting can take a fair amount of energy out of you over the course of a few hours).

Photo by Sarah Raz

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TOURING GEAR AND TIPS is written by Joshua Tack of Adventure Cycling's member services department. It appears weekly, highlighting technical aspects of bicycle touring and advice to help better prepare you for the journey ahead.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/07/quick-tips-for-dealing-with-summer-heat.html

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