Specialized Mantacage

Riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike route this past summer gave me a whole new appreciation for bottle cages. I began the ride with three different bottle cage models, and by the time I hit the border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico, only one bottle cage survived.

The Specialized Mantacage was the sole survivor, which stood up against 2,754 miles of gravel and washboard dirt roads, not to mention a few thousand miles leading into the ride. Pretty impressive for an aluminum cage that tips the scales at a scant 45 grams. Specialized uses a unique Manta Ray-esque wing design to cradle the bottle, which provides quite a bit of surface area for making some secure welds between the base plate and the wings of the bottle cage.

Another cool feature of this bottle cage is that you can spread or contract the wings to accommodate bottles of different sizes. On many occasions I had to spread the wings out to grip a larger 1-liter bottle of Mountain Dew Code Red, while on fewer occasions I brought the wings back in to squeeze down on a smaller bottle of orange juice.

The cages are priced at $12, and can either be purchased through your local Specialized dealer, or direct from Specialized online.

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Grab a free issue of Adventure Cyclist magazineTOURING GEAR & 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. Look for Josh's Fine Tuned column in Adventure Cyclist magazine as well.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2013/01/specialized-mantacage.html

british cycling

Team RadioShack Line-up in Paris-Roubaix 2011

Paris-Roubaix (France), 10/04/11 This Sunday one of the toughest spring classics, Paris-Roubaix, will see the riders go through 27 cobbled sectors. According to the weather reports, it will be a dry day like last year, which means less danger in the cobbled areas. Team Radioshack Line-up Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Ben King, Robbie McEwen, Nélson Oliveira, [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/team-radioshack-line-up-in-paris-roubaix-2011/

cycling shops

RadioShack and Leopard Trek Join Forces

So what do you get when you toss an American electronics retailer, a Japanese auto manufacturer and a mid-western bicycle maker into a blender together and hit the high-speed button, (besides the somewhat longish new name; RadioShack-Nissan-Trek)? Not sure? Then how about cramming together in the team car a hard-charging Luxembourg real estate tycoon, with [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/radioshack-and-leopard-trek-join-forces/

cycling training

TdF Stage 10 ? Klöden Well Positioned

A very hilly 158-kilometers (about 100 miles) of warm, humid conditions over 4 categorized climbs saw the peloton working hard today after Monday?s rest day, with the sprinters teams looking to neutralize any breaks to choreograph a bunch sprint finish. And that?s just what happened. It looked like HTC-Highroad?s well-honed sprint train would once again [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/tdf-stage-10-kloden-well-positioned/

cycling routes

Searching for Cycling in Denmark

Why does your page not come up for "Cycling in Denmark"? asked Sandra. Because my page is not about Cycling in Denmark I answered. It's about "Cycle Touring in Denmark." As a matter of fact 'my page' is not even about that, but our cycle tour in Denmark. And there are two pages as we've [...]

Source: http://cycleseven.org/searching-for-cycling-in-denmark?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=searching-for-cycling-in-denmark

padded cycling shorts

Radioshack, Trek & Nissan, Sponsors Two More Years

Here is a bit of great news to the fans of Team Radioshack. Johan Bruyneel has just released the following message on his blog. “Even before the Tour has started, I have some great newsfor you. RadioShack, Nissan and Trek have all renewed their sponsorships for 2 additional years! The riders and staff are extremely [...]

Source: http://www.teamradioshack.us/radioshack-trek-nissan-sponsors-two-more-years/

castelli cycling

Salsa Alternator Racks


In my column, Fine Tuned, in the latest issue of Adventure Cyclist, I mentioned the difficulties of getting a rack on a fat bike that has 170mm rear dropouts. Here's a testament to how quickly fat bike technology is moving forward: Not long after I submitted my article, Salsa Cycles went ahead and released the new Alternator Rack Wide for their Mukluk fat bike. 

If you've used Salsa racks in the past, this one should look pretty familiar. It uses oversized aluminum tubing, and includes a solid tab on the bottom to which you can secure your panniers. The long adjustable arms that attach the frame to your seatstays may need to be cut down a bit for smaller frames, but all of the mounting hardware feels sturdy and rock solid when installed properly. Once installed, you've got plenty of tire clearance, both on the sides and on top, and the rack does a good job of giving you some room around the disc brakes.

For anyone who has been contemplating cold bending their current racks to fit a Mukluk or other 170mm-spaced fat bike, this is an awesome solution that will provide some great durability in the long run. The claimed carrying capacity is 33lbs and the rack itself comes in around 765 grams. You should be able to pick one up for about $120.

Photo compliments of Salsa Cycles

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Grab a free issue of Adventure Cyclist magazineTOURING GEAR & 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. Look for Josh's Fine Tuned column in Adventure Cyclist magazine as well.


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Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2012/12/salsa-alternator-racks.html

tour de france live

2013 Bicycle Resolutions!

In listening to a Science Friday podcast about making resolutions, I learned that 40-50 percent of the population makes resolutions this time of year and a high percentage of those people actually accomplish them. There is something about saying our resolutions loud -- or sharing them with social media outlets -- that can help make them happen, so we took the liberty of asking cyclists via Facebook, email, and Twitter, to share with us some of their bicycle-travel resolutions.

The resolutions we received ranged from bicycling to work, to riding across a country, to trying out a bike overnight. Here's a sampling of those responses:

John M. said, "In 2013, I vow to shop by bike at least once each month.  That's not as woosy as it sounds; I live on a hill in upstate New York, miles from anywhere, and winter cycling can be intimidating!"

Jeff B. posted a wide ranging list, "Do my first bike overnight on The Wabash Trace: Omaha/Council Bluffs to Blanchard, Missouri, and back, carve out a week for the Katy Trail in Missouri, do the Lincoln Gravel Grinder, and ride to work more."

Christian Schuler from Switzerland has a more focused goal: "I am just five months and a couple of days away from making my dream a reality. I will ride the Great Divide, which is a long and a very mentally-tough race, but also a lot of great adventure. I hope to make new biking buddies and see some beautiful mountain ranges!"

Christian won't be alone out there on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, Gunther (@guntherds) will be joining him, racing the Tour Divide with two other Belgian buddies.

It seems a lot of bicycle-travel resolutions will be accomplished in Europe and Asia this year:

Ken (@reobedk): "We'll be touring western Ireland, credit-card style on a tandem for two weeks in early summer."

Lou (@louakers) responded with: "Cycling London to Paris!"

Spanish Pirate (@SpanishPirate1) will be managing a few goals, "Planning London to Lecco, Italy, in August, camping, self-catering, oh, and some wine tasting."

Overland from Japan (@bybikebytrain) will see "Hokkaido this summer, Honshu coast to coast in spring, and several light-touring weekenders in Fukushima, too."

And my favorite of the batch, Anna (@Thebigfive_o) is going for a big one, she's taking a bite out of the U.S. by "spending six months cycling through all 50 states with eyes wide open and a GIGANTIC grin on my face." 

For myself, I intend to participate in an Adventure Cycling Tour for my bike respite. The Great Lakes tours are a draw, so I might head out on either the Great Lakes Inn-to-Inn or the Great Lakes Relaxed. Or there is the classic C&O Canal/GAP fully-supported tour. (I'd better decide soon though, slots have filled fast this year!)

I am also going to take my new Yuba Boda Boda through her cargo-cruiser paces and commute to work every day in May to kick off the cycling season.

What bicycle-travel goals have you set for 2013?

Photo courtesy of @guntherds and ex.18:18.

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GEOPOINTS BULLETIN is written by Jennifer 'Jenn' Milyko, an Adventure Cycling cartographer, and appears weekly, highlighting curious facts, figures, and persons from the Adventure Cycling Route Network with tips and hints for personal route creation thrown in for good measure. She also wants to remind you that map corrections and comments are always welcome via the online Map Correction Form.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2013/01/2013-bicycle-resolutions.html

winter cycling gear