May is Bike Month–Ride one.

The Twin Rivers Cyclists have moved toward greater advocacy of cycling in general and commuting in particular.

We’re still a recreational club–not racers nor particularly commuters, but folks who enjoy cycling and want to increase awareness of cycling for own safety. If that means encouraging others to join us on bikes, that’s great. If that means our efforts have a small impact on the amount of carbon in the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest, that’s great too.

So we advocate safe cycling for a very selfish reason–please don’t run over us in your cars. Better still, climb on out and experience the Palouse and the Valley without your personal mobile cabinet.

As a club we have joined the League of American Cyclists and some of us are individual memebers as well. The League sponsors Bike Month activities all around the nation. This year we are stirring up a bit of activity ourselves.

• Listen for our Public Service Ads on local radio stations, Klew, and KWSU
• Jen and Scott will teach two beginning bicycle classes for us with the Parks and Rec
• Corrie, Linda, Jen, and Scott are also taking the League’s Road I course in Spokane. Jen and I plan to eventually become League Certified Cycling Instructors.
• We will have a display at the Lewiston City Health and Wellness Fair on the 15th of May. By the way, we still need volunteers to staff our display. You can volunteer by following this link.
• 10,000 Mile Challenge Members and non-members both may participate in our effort to amass 10,000 miles of cycling in May as a group. Log your recreational and commuter miles by filling out the simple form once each Monday in May. And while you are there try the Gas Savings Calculator.
• Visit our Bike Month page for videos, tips, and links to get you started commuting or improve your experience.
• Make a habit of checking our calendar. Lots of tours and day rides around the Northwest are included with links to websites.
• Look for information from Bill Mannshreck on hiking the Breakeheart trail–we want to position ourselves to be community support for converting the railroad from Reubens to CuldeSac to a trail should the opportunity present itself. Bill plans to lead a hike along the trail this summer.
• Want an easy way to keep up with our activities? Install the TRC Toolbar.
• And most of all Come Ride with Us in May.

I’m getting too old for this cycling stuff!

Jen sends along this email with a link to a short video showing an Ohio gentleman on his bicycle with a little help from his friends. Oh, yeah. He’s 102. What’s your excuse?

I thought you all might enjoy this video/story… the email is from the Ohio Bicycle Federation board President, Chuck Harris.
Just goes to show once you’re hooked on cycling, it’s hard to let things keep you from it.
Enjoy,
Jen

> OBF Board,
>
> Yesterday, I had the unique experience of riding 17 miles on a tandem
> with a 102-year-old gentleman. The gentleman was Clair Duckham, who
> started the Dayton Cycling Club with Horace Huffman in 1962.
>
> Here is a link to the Channel 7 coverage, which will reside for a
> brief time on the Channel 7 web site:
>
> http://www.whiotv.com/video/16034407/index.html
>
> The video includes an interview with former Governor Bob Taft, who has
> joined us for several Clair Duckham birthday rides both during and
> after his terms as Governor.
>
> Chuck

Ride of Silence

Well, yes, the Ride of Silence is coming up, but that’s not what I mean. I don’t like engines.  i know some of you are motorcylists but I’ve no interest in noisy smelly machines. Yeah, Lance, I know you put your mufler back on. Its still noisy.

The whoosh-whoosh of tires on pavement frees my spirit, lifts me, and any tick, creek, or rattle spoils the ride. Guess where I fit below? I identify with this post ’cause I’ve discovered the source of offensive noises to be nothing more than a loose strap.

There are three broad categories of bike noise tolerance among cyclists:

• Absolute Silence: Some riders want no noise coming from their bike whatsoever. They regard any click, creak, buzz, or rattle as an affront to them, and a condemnation of their machine. All noises must be corrected immediately, even if it means halting the ride. People like this are almost all roadies. Or, in extreme cases, they may be triathletes, in which case they may need to be treated pharmaceutically.

Read the other two categories over at Fat Cyclist. And don’t miss the comments where the source of the noise is identified.

TRC Toolbar

Lots of stuff going on in the cycling world. Not enough time to visit the website? Would you like to have a link directly to the calendar or the news page? How about a quick reminder ticker? Well, it is all possible and more if you install the TRC community Toolbar.

It is a simple add on in either Firefox or IE and has lots of features you can modify for yourself. The first downarrow after the logo on the left has lots of options including an internet radio. You can select your own channels. It’s not slacker.com but it’s also real radio.

Two of my favorite gadgets are the calendar. Click on the Date icon to the right of the blue ticker. This calendar can be dragged anywhere on your screen.

The second gadget I like is the windows calculator. Unless you’ve already put it on your desktop, this tool could be very useful. Try it by going back to the options menu under the TRC logo and selecting the windows calculator from the many “useful components.” While you’re there try using the Microsoft office menu. If you use the office suite, these will find your programs and load them for you.

A chat module and a message module are among the other features I can add if we decide we want them.

I’ve been using this for about a month and find it pretty useful if I want to go somewhere on our page without waiting for everything to load on the front page. Hey, you can even read In the Spin from here.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.–Corrie

Supported Area Rides to Consider

Dave T. and I did the Lilac Century on Sunday. We had a good time and got a bag full of ride flyers. Several look interesting but none quite caught my eye as much as the CHaFE 150 in Sandpoint, Idaho on the 13th of September. If you’re ready for Joseph the following weekend, consider this 145 mile ride. The name results from the fact this is a benefit ride for early childhood education. The letters stand for Cycle Hard for Education. I think they threw in the little a to tell you what the meant by “hard.”

I’d like to do this ride. The challenge is about right to get McCracken back on his bike. He’s been taking it too easy this spring. Sept. 13

Pedal Around a Glacier, Eh!

Wendy and Dave recommend this ride. McCracken and his son did it last year. Linda wants to do it. The website hasn’t been updated yet. For 2008, the ride is on Sept. 6 and 7. Let’s see 135 miles on the first weekend, 145 on the second for Chafe, and 200 on the third for Joseph. This could be a high mileage month. Sept. 6 and 7

Kootenai River Ride

100k, 60k, and 16k rides in Bonner’s Ferry just in case 145 miles for the CHafe ride at Sandpoint sounds overlong. Sept. 13

Great Northwest Fall Tour

Here’s one from Newport, Washington. Lots of lakes and rivers. Pretty country and rides of 15, 30, 50 or 85 to choose from. The date conflicts with our Trail of the Cour d’Alenes but here it is. Aug. 31

Loreen Miller Memorial Cancer Ride

June first should be a beautiful day for a ride north of Spokane. Here’s one cancer research. June 1.

8 Lakes Leg Aches

A beautiful ride through the lake country east of Spokane. Well supported and plenty of challenge for your legs. August 2nd. 80 miles

Touring Bike For You?

Touring Bikes–I’ve already got bikes under the deck and filling the garage–Corrie

Seven Vacanza
Most expensive

In spite of logging thousands of bicycle touring miles in my life, I’ve never owned a strictly production touring bicycle. I’ve taken whatever bike I had at the time and modified it for carrying gear over the long haul — sometimes more successfully than others.

That’s why the article about choosing a touring bicycle in Adventure Cyclist’s April issue was so interesting for me. Technical editor John Schubert gives an excellent primer on what to look for in a touring bike, then reviews some of the top contenders in several price ranges.

See More Touring Bikes recommended by Adventure Cycling

Best Bikes from Bicycling Mag

The magazine came yesterday–very thick, lots of little articles but the pictures are great. –Corrie

Crumpton_Superlight

The folks at Bicycling magazine have announced the winners of the 2008 Editors’ Choice Awards (click on links to see bikes & spex):

Read More

Bicycle Water Filtration

Ever gone on a mountain bike ride with Sean? He loses water at a ferocious rate and carriees gallons with him. Now there’s a trike intended for poor nations which filters water as you bike. We’ll have to get one for Sean.–Corrie

Pedal to a better world

There is something frightening and compelling about an event called Innovate or Die. But for many in our world, innovation is their lifeline

to a better future.

A bit more and a link to a you tube video

TRC Board Minutes April 24th

The minutes will be available over on the balance sheet page in pdf format just as soon as I get a chance to post them. Look for them on the navigation bar on the left side.

HIghlights of the meeting

The club has $3353.68 cash on hand as of 4/23/08. We made 631.67 on Devil’s Slide.

Bill Mannschrek and Mike Warnock are hiking what may become the Breakheart Trail reconnoitering a possible club hike  later this season to  showcase the  potential for a Rails to Trails conversion.  The board feels it is important to go on record as a  public group advocating this conversion should the railbed become available. I’m looking into  contacts provided by Bill Mannschrek.

Don’t forget that May is Bike Month and your club is actively promoting all forms of cycling but commuter cycling in particular. Check us out at the Bike Month Page. You will find information about the two introductory classes Jen Cunningham is holding through the Parks and Rec.

10,000 mile challenge. As a celebration of Bike Month we challenge our area cyclists to join us in achieving 10,00 miles of cycling and cycle commuting miles in May. I’ll post a form for reporting your totals in a couple of days. We’ll cap this challenge with a club hosted barbecue in either Hereth or Airport parks. This barbecue will replace the traditional barbecue after I Made the Grade which has lost participation in recent years quite likely because of the parking fees at Timothy.

Sean is working with a local pilot to get a picture of the Spiral Highway that would work well for a new club jersey from Primal Wear.

We will participate in the Lewiston Helath and Wellness Fair at the Lewiston Community Center on Thursday, May 15h. We’ll need a couple of volunteers to man our booth. The fair runs from 10 to 2. If you have an hour to volunteer, I’ll have a sign up sheet available on line shortly.

Bite the Bullet lives. No we are not going to hold a race. Better, we’ll start in Lapwai, ride up Garden gulch, down to CuldeSac then climb Old Winchester, take lunch, spend 3 miles on 95 and return through Reuben Gifford, Cottonwood Creek and back down Garden Gulch. We should have someone driving along sag, let’s kick in some gas money and lunch. This will be Sunday, June 22nd.

We want to begin some regular rides on Saturdays at 8. These wil not be the centuries I call for but will be longer say out to Julietta, Jacques Spur, or a loop for lunch. I’ll probably look for ways to extend the group rides for longer trips. Anyone interested?

New Rides:

Ride from the Riddles: Mike and Nicky come through with two more cool rides:

May 4th we’ll start at Nicki’s and ride for 58 miles to celebrate her birthday. Brownies and ice cream at the Riddles’ after the ride. 10 am start. Bring snacks for the ride. We’ll be riding toward Buffalo Eddy and there’s no support beyond Asotin.

Pump Up the Pulse July 4th

Years ago before I did much cycling I brought my Giant Innova to Pomeroy for what was probably my first organized event. Mark Schmidt hosted it in those days, but it died out. We are going to revive it as a club ride. Meet at the Pomeroy City park at 9 for the ride with a potluck afterward.

Sean proposes a new fall race/ride up Spiral to Uniontown, across Thorncreek and back on the new highway in Idaho. This will replace Bite the Bullet as a money raiser and we’ll probablly not start it this year. We want to see if we can make it a metric century. Anyone got a clever name for this ride? Is that a contest I feel coming on?

Lots of energy at these board meetings. Remember they are open to all club members. Come help us promote cycling for, as Steve says, fun, fitness, and transportation. Next board meeting will be May 22nd after the time trials at Mike and Nicki’s in the Orchards.

–Corrie

A Sadly familiar story.

This reminds me so much of the time last fall when Doug and I hit the mountain bike trail on Asotin Creek, and the trail hit back. And for the horticulturally inclined don’t miss this guy’s link to Tribulus terrestris. It is good to know we aren’t the only community experiencing the joys of puncture vine.–Corrie

–Corrie

Expensive Error

There’s a terrific singletrack network — Corner Canyon, in Draper, Utah — that is almost ridiculously convenient in its location. It is literally on my way home from work, so I can drive partway home, ride for an ninety minutes or so, and then finish my ride home.