This week for TRC

We have a board meeting on Thursday. I hope we come up with some rides. The calendar’s looking a bit thin for this week.

Because I’m working at B&L, I’ve been getting extra miles during the week and haven’t needed to add much but the club ride on weekends. Still I’m likely to want to do something longer next weekend either Saturday or Sunday.

Dave tells me he’ll be missing in action so I’m hoping I can persuade someone else into picking up the slack. Let me know if you are interested for either day and what you’d like to do.

Special Note: Jim’s Ride which was until recently still on the calendar for Sunday has been postponed to an unspecified date. I hope Jim gives us a date on Thursday.

And don’t forget to check what’s on PalouseCycling’s calendar. You can visit their site or just check our calendar. If the calendar is too busy, just deselect some of the calendars from the drop down list on the upper right of the page.

Ice Cream Ride Tuesday’s at 6:30 from Clarkston’s Basking Robins

An easy evening ride along the Green Belt Trail and out to the end of the pavement on Asotin Creek. We’ve been really slow going out recently and a bit faster coming back. Turn around when you want and meet us for ice cream after the ride.

Crazy Ladies are starting from the Southway Boat Launch at 8:30 every Wednesday morning all summer.

Nevermind what the calendar says.

Time Trials Thursday, 6 pm

Challenge yourself over a 10 mile course. We start the ride at 6 but you need to come earlier so that we can handicap the riders who will start every 30secs faster riders last. 6pm Thursdays at the 2 mile marker on Down River Road west of Red Wolf.

Easy Does it

On Saturday’s Linda’s leading an easy hour ride that finishes with a breakfast these days. The ride starts at 8 at Clarkston’s Corps of Engineers parking lot and lasts for about an hour. The group stops for breakfast somewhere at 9 for breakfast. Check with Linda or come back to the calendar for updates.

Mostly we start at the Southway Boat Launch in Lewiston, but special rides start at different places. Be sure to check start times and places carefully. Poor weather may scare us off. Bad weather cancels without notice.

If you’re gonna ride in Kendrick . . .

Don’t miss Matt Weyen’s latest blog. You’ll find a link over to the right or just click here to read his take on If you’re going to play in Texas, . . . .

Bicycle Popularity

I’ve been working at B&L putting together new bikes, watching as Sean, or Tim, or Steve, or Scott demonstrates for the hundredth time with patience and good will just how to adjust that front brake.

I’m learning but I’m also pickin up on other tidbits as well. These guys like bikes. I like to ride bikes. These guys like bikes and bike parts. Steve’s selling the mountain bike his doctors won’t let him ride any longer but now hie is buying new wheels from Tim who is experiementing with going tubeless.

And there is Felix who basically lives at the shop. Hard to tell if he’s working or haning out or just tweaking some component on the bike he is building for himself. Sean says Felix works Saturdays. I just think he lives at the shop.

These guys ride bikes, but I think it is that extra few ounces saved on a new wheel set or the geometry of a new frame that really excites them.

Bicycle popularity is growing around the world, but it will take the kind of love these guys show for their machines to keep ‘em all rolling.

Bicycling it isn’t always easy. Busy streets, honking horns, and inadequate city funding for bike lanes and paths can make bicycling an uphill battle. However, with green in the news, the economy in a slump, and summer on its way, it’s getting easier to find reasons why there are some 1.4 billion bicycles and only about 400 million cars in the world today.

This week, EcoWorldly authors from six continents contributed articles on bicycling in their country. With exerpts from those articles and others in the blogosphere, here are seventeen very good reasons to bicycle no matter where you live. Click the headings as you go to read more.

STP

Lot’s of folks doing STP this year.

9,500 riders take off on annual Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic

Some 9,500 bike riders took off Saturday in the annual Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. Some make the ride in one day; others will take two.

By Sean Rose

Seattle Times staff reporter

PREV of  NEXT

DANIEL MENDIES

David Mendies is riding for his second time.

Some would say David Mendies made a rash choice.

He had never been a cyclist, but two years ago he decided to change that. Along with some friends, he registered for the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic and bought his first bike — one month before the 200-mile, two-day tour de Northwest.

Bikes making inroads

Lots of interest in bicycling as transportation but when the most bike-friendly community in the US, Portland, OR, has only 6 per cent ridership, that still doesn’t seem like much.

The NBC Nightly News featured this video coverage last night, highlighting the strides being taken by U.S. cities to promote bicycling. Washington DC’s bike sharing program also gets a mention. Nothing about our fair city, however. Maybe Denver is cycling’s best-kept secret?

See the Video

This is  Part one. Part two is on longevity

Some cyclists are all about looking good. A mirror, oh, no. Geeky. Helmet, if I have to. Shaved legs, tiny or non-existent seat post bag. But for those of us who long since gave up any pretense of looking good, this may seem silly but the article offers some excellent tips for commuters who worry cycling may mess their coiffures and make them smell. Maybe you should read it. Corrie

Look Good on a Bicycle

Published July 8, 2008 by Men’s Style Examiner

With rising gas prices, this month’s Tour de France, and the fact that riding is just, well, stylish… most men decide to pedal their way to work at some point or another.

Even British clothier Paul Smith was once a cyclist. A good one. But a serious accident — and the subsequent meeting a certain woman — caused him to become a fashion designer. However, he never lost his love for cycling, even going so far as designing both a track (fixed-gear), and touring bicycle for Mercian (a hand-made English bicycle company).

You see, there’s a fascination between men’s style and transportation. From fast sports cars of today all the way back to the beginning of transportation, there’s been a distinct link between looking good and going fast. What started with the golden age of the Tour with their wool sweaters and cycling hats, has continued to this day, and for good reason: on a commute to work you can show off your style, tie waving in the breeze, trousers cuffed to show off your brilliant socks, and the speed to go with it.

So the question remains: How do you look good while riding to work?

Rules of the road

Linda and I will be taking the League of American Cyclists LCI Seminar in October. They teach Forrester’s Vehicular Cycling and that’s what we’ll offer in club classes like Jen’s. Still Fiedler makes a point about still paying attention to the situation. For example, I’m inlined not to put my foot down at stop signs if I can roll up and see that it is clear in all directions. Fiedler discusses what he does at an intersection with lots of traffic.

Do you filter to the front of the line?

When you’re coming to a stop sign or stop light, and there is a line of cars ahead of you, what do you do? Do you get in line with the cars and wait your turn, or do you filter to the front of the line?

Cyclists’ opinion vary on this, of course. Those who follow the doctrine of vehicular cycling gurus like John Forrester will tell you that a bicyclist should behave like a motor vehicle; in other words, wait your turn and no cutting in line.

Buzillions Reviews Bicycles and gear

I didn’t know about this site which offers reviews of all sorts of products until I saw a blog noting that Buzillions has created a review site specifically for cyclists. Scan down and you’ll see they organize the reviews in several different ways to help you find what you are looking for. Shopper’s delight!–Corrie

Buzillions Cycling Reviews

Home > Sporting Goods > Cycling Reviews

Cycling Reviews
Results: 7220 of 7220 Products
Get Recommendations —
See reviews from these types of users:
Casual/ recreational Collegiate/pro Commuter Competitive cyclist Cyclist Weekend warrior

An Adventure Called Cycling

Here’s a blog I like. Actually I like the name best of all but check it out. –Corrie

Hello! Welcome to An Adventure Called Bicycling. This is a blog about the everyday adventures to be had aboard a bicycle. Whether it’s trying to get lost for 10 hours on a road bike, picking up groceries on an Xtracycle or moving out of an apartment by bicycle trailer.. it’s all an adventure.

This blog tries to serve two purposes: One is to journal about my personal everyday adventures which hopefully inspire and Two is to provide information and news for those looking to try bicycle adventuring (particularly commuting). If you’re new to bikes, try clicking around the menu to the right to find some helpful tips or links. And please do leave comments, I quite enjoy them.

Check out the rest of this entry and see the video on Too Few Options.

Looking for something bicycling to read?

Gene comes through with this list of four. I’ve actually read the fiction piece.–Corrie

4 recommendations for the summer bicycle reading list

by Gene Bisbee at 11:00AM (PDT) on July 8, 2008  |  Permanent Link |  Cosmos

The ubiquitous “they” are always saying that summer is a great time to read books. I guess that’s advice for people who vacation at the beach or need relaxation between weed-pulling efforts in the garden.

For a bicycling enthusiast who splits his time between watching the Tour de France, preparing for the next bike ride, riding, and keeping the family happy, summer seems like a more difficult season to find reading time.

Here are four bicycling books that I should make some time to read. They’re suggestions from the Seattle Public Library in the Shelf Talk blog, and honestly I’ve never heard of any of them.