Spotlight: John 'Blue' Hannon

I recently sent some questions in a quest to uncover some data about the mysterious John 'Blue' Hannon, who has been leading tours with Adventure Cycling Association since 2004. (He has been long-distance touring since he was 12!) Last year, Blue directed the Great Lakes Relaxed Tour for Adventure Cycling. He has been a pleasure to work with and is dearly loved by the participants on his tours. This year, Blue will be leading the new Freedom Flyer Tour!

Here is what he had to say:

Tell us about your first organized state ride? What keeps you coming back to organize cycling events?
My first ride across New Jersey was when I was 12. When I was 17, I rode across Maryland. When I was 19, I rode across the USA; that was in 1975, a year before the Bikecentennial ride.

How do you stay active during those cold and snowy Buffalo, NY, winters?
I ride my bike as much as possible, play ice hockey, and also ski a lot. Sometime I go to the gym, but I prefer to be outdoors.

You have an intriguing e-mail, with 'forever hockey' as part of the name. Tell me about your hockey background. What position do you play? Do you follow any particular national team?
I play on a team with my two adult sons and a collection of young people. I feel honored to continue to play and be the "old guy." I like all hockey and follow high school, college, and pros. I like several pro teams and always pull for the USA.

Blue, how did you get the nickname Blue?
I put blue [pool] cue chalk on my nose at a birthday party in 1964. The chalk is gone but the name stuck!

Can you describe your favorite day on a bicycle, real or imagined?
Nice weather, good conversation, pretty scenery, a sense of independence and accomplishment. Then don't forget some REALLY GOOD FOOD around a campsite!

What is your favorite recovery drink after a sweet day in the saddle?
Chocolate milk.

Awesome, Blue. Thanks so much for some added insight and cool history. Hmmm, I think you have only added to the mystery though... Have a great hockey season, and fun planning some rides in 2011. Catch you on the flip side.

Photo courtesy of Blue.

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ON THE ROAD is written by Paul Hansbarger and Mo Mislivets, tours specialists and intrepid bicyclists, covering all things related to Adventure Cycling's tours department. Check out our 2011 guided tours today.

My Own Two Wheels

As reported in the February 2 edition of Bike Bits, With My Own Two Wheels is a new film about the bicycling experiences of five unrelated individuals across the globe: Fred, a health worker in Zambia; Bharati, a teenager in India; Mirriam, a disabled woman in Ghana; Carlos, a Guatemalan farmer; and Sharkey, a young Californian for whom the bicycle is a means to sidestep the gang mindset adopted by too many of his peers.

With My Own Two Wheels is the first feature-length documentary by Jacob and Isaac Seigel-Boettner, brothers with long ties to bicycle travel and Adventure Cycling Association (their dad John wrote the classic Hey Mom, Can I Ride My Bike Across America?).

“The inspiration for With My Own Two Wheels is a long story,” Jacob wrote. “It started in 1987 and 1989 when my brother Isaac and I were both brought home from the hospital in bike trailers. Over the following summers, my parents took us across the globe every summer on bike tours with their students. These were not only our family vacations, but almost a form of summer school. The bicycle literally took Isaac and me to places that school never could, introducing us to teachers who had never set foot in front of the blackboard: cooks in Italy, park rangers in Canada, pub owners in Ireland, coffee farmers in Rwanda, and countless others. In 2002 our family, a young filmmaker, and four of Isaac’s and my classmates from Santa Barbara Middle School embarked on a four-month cross-country tour in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark (following Adventure Cycling maps, of course). Some people said we were playing hooky by taking off the first six weeks of school to complete the trip. We pointed out that our trip was just a different type of school. To steal a line from my dad’s book, America was our textbook, and the people that we met along the way were our teachers.”

Since the film’s debut February 2 in the brothers’ hometown of Santa Barbara at the S.B. International Film Festival, we received this additional information from Jacob:

“This spring, Hubub Films (myself, my brother Isaac, and Ian Wexler) is teaming up with World Bicycle Relief to organize the With My Own Two Wheels Grassroots Screening Tour. The goal of the Tour is to both raise awareness about the power of the bicycle and to encourage audiences to take one of two ‘next pedal strokes’: sponsor a bicycle for a student in rural Zambia through World Bicycle Relief, or donate time, resources, and used bikes to a local bicycle kitchen or bike advocacy group. We are looking for bike shops, bike clubs, advocacy groups, university departments, student groups, collegiate cycling teams, churches, mosques, and synagogues across the country that are interested in hosting a screening. Folks who understand how two wheels expand horizons, who remember their first spin down the sidewalk. Together, we can fill auditoriums across the country with diverse communities of people — shaved legs, sparkly sneakers, tattooed ankles — a true cross section of the community brought together by the love of two wheels.”

If you would like bring the With My Own Two Wheels Grassroots Screening Tour to your community, contact Jacob at withmyowntwowheels[AT]gmail[DOT]com. He asks that you include the name of your city, university, or organization in the subject heading.

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BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling’s field editor, and highlights a little bit of this or a little bit of that — just about anything, as long as it’s related to traveling by bicycle. Mac also compiles the organization's twice-monthly e-newsletter Bike Bits, which goes free-of-charge to more than 40,000 readers worldwide.

Canari Static Jammer Winter Glove

Looking back (and a little bit forward) on a season of winter riding, the Canari Static Jammer gloves were a big surprise for me. Just looking at them, they don't appear to be padded up enough to handle the cold winter bite, but the windproof/waterproof fabric does a great job of keeping your hands protected, while allowing some breathing room to keep too much moisture from building up inside.

The palm of the glove isn't heavily padded, so if you are used to riding with gel padded cycling gloves, you may want to layer a pair of them underneath these. As for durability, there is a tough, "grippy" rubber layer covering some of the contact points you have with your handlebar, especially between the thumb and pointer finger, which is where I see a lot of gloves break down.

Looking at the back side of the gloves, they have a fleece portion, which does add some additional warmth, but even more importantly, is great for wiping away a running nose. With a lot of heavy winter gloves I've used in the past, dexterity has suffered quite a bit, and I was really excited with how easy it was to move around in these gloves for braking and shifting.

Everyone is going to have a different tolerance for cold weather, but I was pretty happy wearing these down to 20 degrees. When the temperatures dropped below 20 degrees, and into the single digits, I layered a pair of wool DeFeet gloves underneath. At only $27, they are pretty well priced.

Photo by Josh Tack

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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.

Stand and Pedal

I'm forever hearing folks debate about which is the most comfortable seat on the market. Leather seats? Gel seats? Thin or fat? Seats with springs or seats with holes cut out in strategic places?

And the answer is? ... I'm not about to put myself in harm's way of that debate.

But I will nominate the saddle above as the most uncomfortable bike seat I've ever encountered. The bike was parked among several hundred other single speed bikes in downtown Havana.

Perhaps the seat post had been stolen, or maybe the bike frame was just too large for its owner. Anyway, the seat had been tied on the top tube with leather straps. The "saddle" material had been shellacked into a rock-hard glaze with some unidentifiable substance.

It wasn't an abandoned bike. The tires were pumped up. The bike appeared quite functional. But I just couldn't imagine the owner doing anything other than standing and pedaling.

Whenever I want to curse my own saddle for its failings (which usually are due to my not riding enough), I only have to picture the seat above ... and magically my own saddle feels like a lounge chair in a million-dollar mansion.

Photo: Cuba 1998 by Willie Weir

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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 compiles his favorite writings over the last twelve years. He lives in Seattle with his wife Kat. You can read about their local adventures and life without a car at http://yellowtentadventures.com/.

Join Adventure Cycling in DC and Baltimore!

Join Adventure Cycling Association — North America’s largest cycling membership organization — for two special presentations in Washington, DC, and Baltimore, MD, featuring Executive Director Jim Sayer who will speak on the joys of bicycle travel, and cool projects happening at the national and state levels. Jim will touch on Adventure Cycling’s new bicycle routes and maps (including the new Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route and the planned Bicycle Route 66), a new website with resources on “bike overnights,” plus a status report on development of the official US Bicycle Route System (USBRS).

Details:

Wednesday, March 9 — DC event (hosted by Potomac Pedalers)
Rhodeside Grill, 1836 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201, near the Courthouse Metro station. Socializing starts at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation will run from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Food and beverages will be available and for purchase.

Friday, March 11 — Baltimore event (hosted by Bike Maryland)
Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation, 4 East University Parkway, Baltimore, MD, 21218. (The entrance is on Charles Street.) 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Please RSVP for either event by March 5. Contact Sarah Raz at sraz@adventurecycling.org or 800-755-2453 x 210.

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MEMBERSHIP HIGHLIGHTSis posted on Fridays by Amy Corbin, Membership and Marketing Coordinator. It spotlights the various benefits of membership, what we have accomplished thanks to member support, and even interviews with some of our most passionate and dedicated members, both individual and organizational.

Progress: India's "One-in-a-Million"

They say in India, “If you’re one-in-a-million, then you’ll need to stand in line with 1,100 other people.”

In the lobby restroom of the 5+ star Trident Hotel in Mumbai, I realized that the crowd gathering outside in the hotel’s Golconda conference center was not just the country’s one-in-a-million set — they were the privileged upper crust who’d been ushered to the front of the line: Bollywood goddesses, political big wigs, business moguls, and celebrated fashionistas. The odd thing, I thought while standing over the glass-sculptured urinal filled with ice cubes, was how the purpose of all of this glam was to raise money to promote use of the humblest of machines — the bicycle.


AC India Blog - Images by Gregg Bleakney

The challenge of promoting cycling for sport, health, and transportation in the developing world is that the bicycle is not considered a means of recreation, but rather “a poor man’s tool.” However, a sports marketing company named ID Sports thinks it can change that stigma in India. Two weeks ago, in addition to the cycling-themed charity fashion show, a mass participation “Cyclothon,” and a UCI sanctioned international road race, they invited me to put 23 prints from my project "India on Two Wheels" on exhibition in the Trident’s Golconda foyer. This project was conceived in 2010, when I rented a $50 Indian-made fixie and a mini-van, and spent two months traveling around rural India making over 16,000 portraits of working-class cyclists. There were not any ice-packed, glass-sculptured toilets during that journey. Yet, I did learn something along the way that I never could have in the confines of a decadent hotel — the country’s 300 million “common man” working cyclists are at risk of extinction.

With a strong economy and influx of cheaply produced motorcycles, Indians are trading in their utility bikes for their combustion-fueled cousins in record numbers. In 2008, the Indian-made Splendor became the first motorcycle in the world to sell over one milion units. Rather than cheer this lifestyle trade-up as progress, groups like ID Sports are taking a step back to question the human impact of it all. The Bollywood mid-drift and celeb-donations during the fashion show were snapped up by nearly every media outlet in the city, and the international road race lured high-caliber teams like RadioShack, Liquigas, and Team Type 1. But most importantly, Indian citizens are starting to become engaged, too. Nine thousand participants signed in for the Cyclothon — pumping their social networks about the experience of cycling in a traffic-free Mumbai pedal for pedal. After uploading several pics and videos of the ride, Indian-born Rudolph Andrew Furtado posted on his Facebook page, “Cycling in India could become an active health sport. It’s the first time that fashion and glamour have been associated with cycling in Mumbai, normally considered a poor man's mode of transport.”

I hope we see more posts from Indians like Rudolph waxing about the joys of cycling in Cyclothon-style events in the developing word. And, hopefully, in the future Rudolph’s message could be more that just one from a batch of a few thousand enthusiasts — perhaps it could become "one-in-a-million."

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GREGG BLEAKNEY is a writer and photographer who contributes regularly to Adventure Cyclist magazine. See more of his work at http://www.gbleakney.com/, or follow him on Twitter: gthefish.

Unsung Route: Lewis & Clark Bicycle Route, Section 8

The Lewis & Clark Bicycle Trail maps offer cyclists a way to follow the historic journey of those intrepid travelers from near St. Louis, Missouri, to Astoria, Oregon, with many alternates and options in between. Additionally, we included as an extra Map Section 8, which outlines where Captain Clark's return trip east diverged from the main group's.

For the most part, Captain Clark followed the Yellowstone River from near the present-day community of Livingston, Montana, to today's Williston, North Dakota. To retrace that route means riding on or parallel to Interstates 90 and 94. While this might not be every rider's cup of tea, it does mean gentle grades and wide open vistas are found in abundance over these 514 miles.

Highlights include visiting the cities of Bozeman and Billings, and checking out Pompeys Pillar — the site of the sole known physical evidence of the company's passing. The feature holds an inscription by Captain Clark himself, and its proximity to the Yellowstone River offers the experience of seeing the trail much like the explorers would have viewed it more than 200 years ago.

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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 Adventure Cycling's 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.

6 Steps to Implementing U.S. Bicycle Routes

We've met with many states over the past couple of years about the U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS). As we move from awareness building to the implementation process, it's become exceedingly important that states and their partners understand the vision as well as the "how to" of getting it done.

To get them started, we present a General Implementation Slide Show that takes agency staff, bicycling and trail groups, and other stakeholders through the USBRS history, project vision, and AASHTO expectations. (Open the slideshow above and hit the "Show Menu" button at the bottom left to read the slide notes.)

Adventure Cycling has also created a step-by-step guide to help states and their stakeholders more fully understand the process of designating a U.S. Bicycle Route. The Steps for Planning and Implementing U.S. Bicycle Routes (pdf, 112k) and the corresponding Flowchart (pdf, 128k) are meant to provide guidelines based upon our experience so far.

The steps (condensed) are:

1) Review the National Corridor Plan Map (pdf): determine changes and/or which corridor to implement first; talk to neighboring states!

2) Determine and communicate with stakeholders: roles and responsibilities and the what, who, how, and when

3) Determine the route: roads and trails, and gain official endorsement of the route from various agencies and trail managers

4) Document the route: a map, turn-by-turn explanation, and services along the way

5) Coordinate with adjoining states on the Application (remember: State DOTs must partner)

6) Promote the U.S. Bike Route: maps, websites, brochures, signs, and more

The process of developing a U.S. Bicycle Route opens the door to collaboration on so many levels: between AASHTO, Adventure Cycling Association, State Departments of Transportation (DOTs), other state and local agencies, bike clubs and coalitions, trail organizations, and many more. As with any collaborative process, there are bound to be pitfalls and challenges -- but the resulting triumph of having an official and nationally recognized bicycle route system will be incredibly rewarding for cyclists throughout the world.

Top photo of Minnesota stakeholders; middle photo of Washington stakeholders. Both photographs by Ginny Sullivan.
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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.

Under the Tarp

On a mountain bike, space is often at a premium. One of the most effective places to cut both space and weight on a bicycle camping trip is your shelter. Even light solo tents usually weigh two to three pounds and take up quite a bit of space. Bivy sacks can feel claustrophobic and don't always provide the best protection from the weather. A great method is to use a SilNylon or polyethylene "tarp," rope, and stakes to construct a barrier from the elements.

Often touted by ultra-light backpackers as the ultimate shelters, "tarp tents" are lightweight, versatile, and simple. Most commercial tarp tents require trees, fence posts, or rigid objects such as poles to add shape to the tarp. Bikepackers don't carry hiking poles the way backpackers do, but the bike itself can make a great "pole" in a pinch. The above photo, taken by Dave Nice, shows the MSR E-Wing Solo Tent pitched in the Utah desert. The shelter, weighing in at a feathery six ounces, can pack down to the size of a soda can. Even with the guyline and stakes, it still weighs less than a pound.

Regular tarps also can be used by stretching the tarp over the wheels of the overturned bicycle and staking down the guylines tight on all sides, utilizing trees and rocks where available. Tarp shelters are all about creativity. A few extra ropes and stakes allow bikepackers to rig up a shelter that can withstand fairly severe conditions.

For do-it-yourselfers, the backpackinglight.com website offers detailed instructions for constructing your own tarp shelter out of a 3 mm polyethylene sheet (found at stores like Home Depot), rope, and stakes. Tarp shelters won't keep out bugs, but they do effectively block wind and rain, with the added bonus of gear storage space in an extremely lightweight package.

Photo by Dave Nice

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BIKEPACKER is written by Jill Homer, deputy editor for Adventure Cyclist magazine. It appears the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month.

One Way to Leave Your Lover: Hop on the Tours Bus, Gus

This just in: New tours van, almost ready to roll!

The tours department increases its fleet by one van and one trailer, and we are now hastily outfitting the van for the 2011 season. This 2008 Ford E350 Super Duty, 15-passenger beauty features a CD player and really cushy seats. We are currently outfitting the van with the ability to carry 15 bikes, and plans are underway for installing a hydraulic suspension, and integrated sound and movie system (just kidding!). The maiden ACA tours voyage of this van will be the Death Valley I Van Supported Tour, with our very own Sam Hall whisking it away to warmer climes. Current debate involves how to christen the van for its inaugural journey. Regardless, we wish it well in supporting many 2011 tours, including the Spring Southern Tier ride.

Okay, if you’re out there and still reading, what one item would you want in a van on your van-supported tour?

Have fun dreaming of your own escape, van-supported or not. I leave you with the lyrics of Paul Simon: "Just drop off the key Lee, and get yourself free." (From the song 50 Ways to Leave your Lover)

photo courtesy of Sarah Raz

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ON THE ROAD is written by Paul Hansbarger and Mo Mislivets, tours specialists and intrepid bicyclists, covering all things related to Adventure Cycling's tours department. Check out our 2011 guided tours today.

Home Sweet Home

A lot has been written on the virtues of the tent when cyclo-touring, and I'll cast my ballot as another fervent supporter. I know that lean-to's and tarps are lighter, and hotels can call me with their sweet siren songs of beds and showers; but, when all is said and done, I'll always be a tent girl. I adore spending the night outside, I love a low cost (or free!) night's stay, and I enjoy the relative privacy and weather protection granted to me by my beloved tent.

There are of course a bazillion options when you're picking out a tent, but it's important to choose wisely. A well-designed, high-quality tent can last you for a long time and it doesn't have to be expensive. Keep in mind how many people will be using it, how much space you need to feel comfortable, and how much weight you're comfortable carrying. (Remember, if you're traveling with someone else, you can split up the weight.)

Cyclosource carries a few tried and true tents: the Kelty Crestone and Gunnison and the MSR Hubba and Hubba Hubba. I know there are lots of great tents out there, though, and I would be interested in your experiences. (And for an altogether different take on the subject, see Jill Homer's "Bikepacking" post tomorrow morning.)

photo by The Amazing Julie Huck

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SHIPPING NEWS is brought to you by Sarah Raz, sales representative/outreach coordinator/lover of all things outdoors. She also wishes Eddy Merckx was her father (sorry Dad!)

Serendipity

I don’t know if you recall, but in my January 3rd Biking Without Borders post I wrote about portable radios that you can take with you on tour. Two days later, I received a late Christmas present from a good friend in Missoula: an Eton Scorpion digital AM-FM radio tuner – solar-powered, yet. (My friend had not read my blog post, by the way.)

A week later, in my January 10th post, I issued a snow-shoveling-versus-bicycle-commuting calorie-consuming challenge to my colleagues at Adventure Cycling in Missoula. “How do we measure the calories spent?” I asked. “Therein lies the problem.” Within days, and out of the blue, I received an email from a PR person asking if I wanted to try out an ePulse2, the “world’s first armband heart rate monitor and calorimeter.” (He hadn't read my blog post, either.) Of course I did, and it arrived in the mail in less than a week.

I don’t know why this is happening, but I’m sure as heck not going to argue with it. And, oh yeah, my next blog post will be about the Moots Mooto X YBB … and the Volkswagen Toureg for hauling it around.


Photo by Michael McCoy

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BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling’s field editor, and highlights a little bit of this or a little bit of that — just about anything, as long as it’s related to traveling by bicycle. Mac also compiles the organization's twice-monthly e-newsletter Bike Bits, which goes free-of-charge to more than 40,000 readers worldwide.

Used Bicycle Shops

About a month ago, I wrote up some tips for purchasing a used bike. What I neglected to include in that post was where you could go to find a used bike. In the past, I have found places such as Ebay, Craigslist, and local listservs for bicycle clubs useful. These are all good places to find a used bike; however, in some cases, your local bike shop can also be a good starting point.

Over the past few years, it seems as though there has been a growing interest among bike shops to start selling used bikes. Some shops add them to their lineup of new bikes, while other shops deal exclusively in used bikes. Some shops will even post photos of their stock online, as is the case with Hellgate Cyclery, which resides across the street from our home office in Missoula, Montana; so too is the situation with 30th Century Bicycle of Iowa City, Iowa.

If a used bike shop operates in your area, this is where I would recommend starting your search for a used touring bike. You will be purchasing a bike from a skilled mechanic who knows what needs to be replaced (if they haven't replaced it already). He or she will also help you find a bike that fits well, and provide advice on any technical questions you may have for future accessories or upgrades.

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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.

The Rolling of the Bulls

Even if you've never traveled in Spain, you have probably seen images or video of the "running of the bulls." The most well known "running" is in Pamplona, but many other cities in Spain and Portugal have their own versions. Runners, dressed in white pants and shirts with red scarfs and waistbands, run down the narrow streets in front of large, charging bulls.

I've never had the urge to participate ... not even close. But a day's bicycle ride out of Madrid, we came upon a tamer tradition that had us laughing with delight.

I'll call it the rolling of the bulls.

We heard the music, drums, screams, and laughter coming from a town square and had to investigate.

Instead of adult runners fleeing from thousands of pounds of angry bovines — you get scores of giggling kids running from realistic bull replicas rolling along on a bicycle tire.

And the rolling bulls have squirt guns built into their horns. How cool is that?

The kids never tired, but the young men pushing the rolling bulls did have to occasionally stop for a rest and a well-deserved beer.

Rack up another amazing use for the bicycle wheel.




Photo: Spain 2010 by Willie Weir

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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 compiles his favorite writings over the last twelve years. He lives in Seattle with his wife Kat. You can read about their local adventures and life without a car at http://yellowtentadventures.com/.

Alert Update: Federal Budget Cuts and Cycling Programs

Earlier this week, we wrote about the possibility that the U.S. House of Representatives would consider amendments to a spending bill that would cut key federal programs that support cycling and walking. We learned today that no such amendments will be considered. This is good short-term news for cycling. Federal investment in cycling over the last 20 years (currently about 1% of federal spending on transportation, which itself is a modest part of non-defense discretionary federal spending and funded mostly by the gas tax) has yielded major improvements in new facilities and programs for non-motorized transportation and recreation.

Although no spending reductions were proposed in the current (Fiscal Year 2011) budget, Congress and the White House are now beginning consideration of the FY 2012 budget, which could include major cuts in biking and walking programs. Also, the White House has signaled its desire to draft important new transportation authorization legislation that would govern transport spending and policy for the next six to seven years. Provisions in this authorization are what have enabled communities in every state to build trail and on-road facilities to enhance cycling, everything from commuting to bicycle travel to safe routes to school for our nation’s young people.

So even though bicycling and walking “dodged a bullet” this week, keep on the lookout for the upcoming budget and authorization debate. While we fully understand the importance of balancing America’s budget in the long term, we also know the powerful improvements in health, transportation and, yes, economic development and revenue generation that result from investments in biking and walking systems.

Thanks for your interest and, along with our partners at America Bikes, we’ll keep you posted.

Photo by csreed on iStockPhoto.com

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JIM SAYER is the executive director of Adventure Cycling Association.

Making Business Count in the Adventure Cycling Route Network

How do you like the new look of these maps? Notice the folksy images at the top left side of each? Let me tell you a little bit about those.

If you've ever used an Adventure Cycling map you already know that they include a very valuable tool called the Service Directory. These listings include businesses on (or within bikeable distance of) our routes such as bike shops, campgrounds, hotels, libraries, and food stores. We update these listings regularly. (And if you have an update or a suggestion for a new service on our routes, use our map correction form.)

We've never told the businesses that we list that they are on our maps; we've never asked these businesses if they are enjoying having cyclists at their stores and in their communities. And we've never talked to those businesses to let them know what they can do to be more bike-travel friendly.

What does this have to do with those images at the tops of our maps?


These images are from our new route decals. (You might remember Heidi Beierle, who distributed our window decals on the TransAm Trail, or executive director Jim Sayer, who traveled down the Pacific Coast Route with his family last summer, handing out decals to businesses along the way.) As you can see, these fabulous window decal images are now also emblazoned on our map covers, helping us brand our routes.

So far, we've sent decals out to the businesses on the new Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route and the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, and we're gearing up to distribute them on the Northern Tier this year. All of the decals -- including the TransAmerica Trail, Pacific Coast, and Underground Railroad -- are available for purchase from our online store.

The goal is threefold: 1) build awareness of our routes in local communities, 2) help cyclists recognize and frequent these businesses, and 3) enable Adventure Cycling to build a stronger relationship with the business community.

I think what I love most about this idea is all the connections it makes -- between our routes and maps, the cyclists out on the road, and the communities they are visiting. Eventually it will help us gauge the economic benefits our routes deliver to the business community. That's what we hope to bring to the table as we get more deeply involved in selling the idea of the U.S. Bicycle Route System to road agencies and political leaders across the country.

If you know of a business along one of our routes that should have a decal in their window, please send the name our way.

Maps and decals by Adventure Cycling Association

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CONNECTIONS is posted by Ginny Sullivan, Adventure Cycling's special projects director and features the cultural, historical, geographical, and human connections created through bike travel. Find out about our award-winning Underground Railroad Bicycle Route.

Spring is in the Air

Well, maybe not yet, at least not in Montana. But our spring Cyclosource is in the mail and the office is abuzz with excitement over all of the new products that keep pouring in. Here are some of my favorites.

1. Jannd Frame Pack, $34. A high quality frame pack for less money!


2. Cinelli Gel Cork Tape, $20. Stay classy.

3. Cygolite ExpiliOn 250, $139. Because silly things like darkness shouldn't get in the way of a good ride.
Photos by Jannd, Cinelli, and CygoLite.

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SHIPPING NEWS is brought to you by Sarah Raz, sales representative/outreach coordinator/lover of all things outdoors. She also wishes Eddy Merckx was her father (sorry Dad!)

Alert: Cyclists, We May Need Your Help This Week!

As you may have seen in the news, in the coming week the U.S. House of Representatives is considering some big changes to the current federal budget. On Friday night, they unveiled a list of cuts in many programs, including some in the transportation area. Adventure Cycling, as a member of America Bikes (the national coalition that works to improve federal policy and resources for cycling), has been tracking the situation closely.

Although the list does not include cuts in the major programs that support bicycling and walking, there could be amendments in the next few days that would cut the small but effective federal investments in biking and walking programs.

This special post is to let you and other friends of cycling know that there may be an action alert coming out sometime this week, asking you to contact your Representatives in the U.S. House and urge them to oppose amendments that would cut biking and walking programs.

Because there will be a short time period between when amendments are available and when they will be voted on, we encourage you to keep checking your email and social media sites regularly this week. Along with our partners at America Bikes, we will let you know about amendments and the action you should take as soon as possible.

Please share this post with all your cycling friends, and thanks very much for your interest!

Photo by csreed on iStockPhoto.com

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JIM SAYER is the executive director of Adventure Cycling Association.

My First Bike Trip (part 4 of 4)

When I left off last week, Nancy and I were camped out under the stars at a drive-in-movie theater in Faith, South Dakota.

Several days later, in Watertown, not far from Minnesota border, we stayed with the parents of a woman friend (not a girlfriend) of mine from college. After dinner, they took us cruising in their convertible, through downtown and past parks full of kids and grown-ups playing softball and doing other summer parky things — a living Norman Rockwell scene that made us feel a bit nostalgic and homesick; it may, in fact, have been responsible for our first acknowledging that the open road would not stretch on forever.

After enjoying the riding in western Minnesota, we confronted the greater Twin Cities, the first and only metropolitan area of our trip. Today, Minneapolis is heralded as one of the best (if not the best) cycling cities in the nation, but in 1974 it was a virtually unbikeable maze of limited access highways that we could not figure out how get across. So, we thumbed a ride with a guy driving a pickup truck … who proceeded to rear-end the car in front of him after we’d been with him for only about two miles.

Okay, we agreed, no more car rides on this trip.

As I alluded to last time, Nancy and I were only vaguely aware of the gasoline shortages plaguing motorists in the U.S. that summer. That’s because the fuel running our machines was fruit, peanut butter sandwiches, granola, peanut butter sandwiches, salads, and peanut butter sandwiches. Oh, we also tried peanut butter on edible day lilies we found growing at road’s edge.

After staying and water skiing with some friends of a friend in Stillwater, Minnesota, we crossed the St. Croix River to New Richmond, Wisconsin. There we celebrated the Fourth of July in true Badger State fashion: a parade and fireworks, accompanied by plenty of Leinenkegel beers and Sheboygan bratwursts. Mmmmm!

Wisconsin, the best state of all. Endless miles of paved country roads, virtually traffic-free, leading over rolling hills and past postcard-perfect farms — and farm wives/mothers, regularly flagging us down to make sure we got our recommended daily allowances of fresh cheese, fresh milk and cookies, and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

But we were almost out of time.

We made it as far as Rhinelander, in the northeastern part of Wisconsin, before turning around and heading for my parents’ place in Iowa (but, oh yeah, pausing briefly to stay at an interesting hippie commune/farm cooperative near Frank Lloyd Wright’s hometown of Spring Green). We regretted not making it to our intended destination of Bar Harbor, Maine; looking back, however, I wouldn’t change a thing about the adventure. By bicycling and odd-jobbing our way across the country and spending up to a week in certain places, we earned an intimacy with the locals, and with their lives and landscapes, that would have eluded us had we pushed to make it all the way to the East Coast in those three months. We saved very little money during the layovers, but we accumulated a fortune of experiences and good feelings about our country and its citizens.

And now, in the clarity of hindsight, I also see how wonderfully simple it all was. We had no blog or website to keep up … no daily cell phone calls to make or emails to send (only the occasional postcard or call from a pay phone to let family know we were still okay) … and no greater cause or altruistic reasons for doing what we were doing. We were just bicycling, having fun, and discovering new people and places.

Like that night of camping under the stars on the drive-in-movie grounds: I highly recommend it if you’ve never given it a try.


Photo caption: It wasn't long after the bike trip that McCoy went through his "Mexican" phase. Photo by Max McCoy (deceased).

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This piece marks the 100th edition of BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS. Posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling’s field editor, BWB highlights a little bit of this or a little bit of that — just about anything, as long as it’s related to traveling by bicycle. Mac also compiles the organization's twice-monthly e-newsletter Bike Bits, which goes free-of-charge to more than 40,000 readers worldwide.

Bike Glow Light

Even when you're out on tour, you may find yourself riding around town in the dark. Maybe you're heading to the store to stock up on food, or checking out the nightlife away from camp. In such cases, it's a good idea to make sure you are visible to traffic. While headlights and tail lights are great for this, you also want to be seen from the side, especially at intersections. Spoke reflectors are certainly helpful, but they aren't a lot of fun. If you really want to make your presence known, the Bike Glow is worth taking a look at.

Bike Glow is a 10-foot electroluminescent tube that can be wrapped around your bike frame, and is powered by a small battery pack containing two AA batteries (not included). The battery pack can either be stuffed into a saddle bag or fixed to your frame with the included Velcro strap.

When wrapping the illuminating rope around your frame, you want to be sure that you don't wrap it over your cables and housing; you'll also want to keep it nice and tidy and away from around any moving parts, such as crankset and wheels. When you're finished wrapping it around your bike, you can tie it off with some included zip ties.

The full setup only weighs around 100 grams, and it is unobtrusive enough that you won't be bothered by it when riding around during the day. There's a great variety of color options (red, green, blue, aqua, pink, purple, yellow, and white), all of which feature three light modes of steady, slow blinking, and fast blinking. When the Bike Glow is turned off you can still see a tint of color in the tubing; so, if you want it to blend in during the day, try to choose a color that comes close to matching your bike's paint.

At $25, these are a fun and inexpensive addition to your bike. They will definitely garner some attention and help keep you safe at night.

Photo by Josh Tack

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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.

The Seven Wanders of Your World

If I asked you to list the Seven Wonders of the World, would you be able to do it?

You would first have to ask me, "Which seven wonders?"

There are many lists: The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, The Seven Wonders of the Modern World ... the Natural World ... the Underwater World.

No matter what answers you gave, somebody or some organization would disagree with you.

But here is a much more important question, and one that you'll always get right.

What are the Seven WANDERS of YOUR World?

Where do you want to travel? It is a simple question that I find many people don't ask themselves. What are your travel dreams? Pedaling across the U.S.? Your own state? Alaska to Tierra del Fuego? A grand world tour?

Dream big. Dream small. Weekenders to no-time-limit life changers.

Now. Write them down. At least seven of them. You can include more ... it's your list. Remember, there are no wrong answers and your list is always "subject to change."

I'll get things started. Here's my current list:

Madagascar
Ethiopia
Bolivia
Armenia
Burma (Myanmar)
Newfoundland
Adventure Cycling's Great Divide Route

Are these my next seven trips? Probably not. The next place we tour might not even be on the list. But every trip begins with a dream.

Whenever someone asks me about bicycle travel, I ask them where they want to go. It is amazing how often the answer is, "I don't know. I just want to travel."

Take it a step further. Seven steps further.

Make a list.

Seven correct answers that are always subject to change.

What are the seven wanders of your world?

Photo: Portugal 2010 by Willie Weir

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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 compiles his favorite writings over the last twelve years. He lives in Seattle with his wife Kat. You can read about their local adventures and life without a car at http://yellowtentadventures.com/.

Join Adventure Cycling in Indianapolis

Jim Sayer, Adventure Cycling's executive director, will be the featured guest at a gig in Indianapolis on February 16. Sponsored by the Central Indiana Bicycling Association (CIBA) and the Indianapolis/Marion County Public Library, Jim's talk comes on the heels of a similar appearance on January 19 by popular Adventure Cyclist magazine columnist Willie Weir. (Download CIBA's lecture series brochure, pdf format.)

The title of Jim's presentation is "Planning for Adventure: Latest News on Bicycle Travel," and he'll touch on topics like the under-development U.S. Bicycle Route System, along with anecdotes from his family's ride down the Pacific Coast last summer.

Here are the details:

Feb 16th, Indianpolis, IN - "Planning for Adventure: Latest News on Bicycle Travel"

7:00 to 8:30 p.m. @ Central Library's Clowes Auditorium, 40 East Saint Clair Street

Feel free to bring your friends, family, and fellow cyclists to this free event!

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MEMBERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS is posted on Fridays by Amy Corbin, Membership and Marketing Coordinator. It spotlights the various benefits of membership, what we have accomplished thanks to member support, and even interviews with some of our most passionate and dedicated members, both individual and organizational.

Rural Friendliness Pays Dividends

A couple of years ago, I received an email from a writer pitching me an idea that she thought our readers would be interested in. Seems the town of Twin Bridges, Montana -- almost in Adventure Cycling’s backyard -- was in the process of establishing some sort of accommodations for cyclists. At the time, it wasn’t a done deal and my response was that I might be interested once more details came to light. As those details began to trickle in, and it seemed like the bike camp was going to become a reality, I thought it would be a good idea to let Adventure Cyclist readers know about it. I wasn’t ready to dedicate the space for a full feature, but a Waypoint certainly would be appropriate, and an announcement about the camp was included in our May, 2009 issue. (It was also announced in Bike Bits Vol. 11, No. 4, February 18, 2009.)

As the bike travel season’s of 2009 and 2010 came and went, it was apparent that they’d created something pretty special in Twin Bridges and that cyclotourists along our TransAm and Lewis & Clark routes were very much enjoying the bike camp and facilities made freely available to them in this rural Montana town. Okay, I thought, now that this looks like something of substance, it might be time to cover it as a feature in Adventure Cyclist, problem was, we had already booked every issue solid through 2011. Once our plans are made, it’s not easy to make changes or adjustments so it was looking like we wouldn’t be able to cover the Twin Bridges bike camp until our 2012 volume. Decision made, I put a note in my “2012 and Beyond” folder and moved on to our more pressing upcoming issues.

So I’m in Bozeman in October of 2010 visiting with my in laws and on their coffee table was a copy of Montana Quarterly, a beautifully-done magazine that publishes four issues per year and covers many subjects of importance to Montanans. As I’m reading the table of contents, I notice a story about Twin Bridges so I flip to the appropriate page and begin to read, and do so until I finish the piece. We’d been scooped! What to do? Settle down, that’s what. I figured there probably isn’t too much overlap between the readership of Adventure Cyclist and Montana Quarterly so we were probably safe to run a story in 2012. My next thought was that MQ had done a pretty damn good job with this story, why would we try to recreate it? We wouldn’t. Upon returning to Missoula, I shot MQ an email and suggested that we reprint the story, something which is a rarity for us. They agreed, based on certain conditions, but we still didn’t have room in the 2011 volume but how about making it an online-only feature? Then we wouldn’t have to wait a year and we could also dip our toe in the online-content waters to see if we could drive enough readers to a web-only story that, in essence, is additional content. Consider it an experiment of sorts. If we see that it’s worth doing, we’ll do more of this in the future.

So there you have it. On our website, you can now read an excellent story about the Twin Bridges bike camp that was originally published in the Fall issue of Montana Quarterly. If you’d like us to publish more content than we can fit in the pages of AC, you’ll flock to www.cyclecamp-twinbridges.com and find out the more about how this very cool bike camp came to be, and then tell your friends to go there too.

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AND THEN, THE MENTAL CALISTHENICS is written by Mike Deme, editor of Adventure Cyclist and publications director for Adventure Cycling Association.

More Map Updates in the Works

I'm still in update mode over here in routes & mapping. The North Lakes Bicycle Route (Sections 2 and 3) maps went to the printer last week. Yay!

My working energy is now focused on updating our downloadable pdf maps. Specifically I'm starting with the Utah Cliffs Loop and Green Mountains Loop. While I'm working on updates, the maps have been put on backorder in our store. Last I checked, we were out of stock of both, so this has put a fire in me to get them back in the rotation. Once the updates are complete, we’ll have them printed and ready for purchase or download.

The Underground Railroad Pittsburgh Spur, Adirondack Park Loop, and Allegheny Mountains Loop maps are next in line, and will be available once the current stocks are depleted (they are almost gone now!). Glancing through the files, it appears that most of the updating will simply involve service information, with little to no route changes. If you already have these maps or intend to buy them soon, just make sure to download the most recent addenda, and you'll be as current as the new version.

Image provided by Adventure Cycling's routes & mapping department. Caption: Covers of downloadable pdf maps.

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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 Adventure Cycling's 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.

South Dakota: Small but Mighty

Let me tell you, South Dakota has it going on!

Above, I'm pictured with most of the South Dakota Bicycle Coalition after a successful state Bike Summit. Pictured from left to right: me, Kevin Brady (president), Jessica Giard (vice president), Michael Christensen (treasurer), Heather Brutz (from Transportation for America and just one of many featured speakers at the summit), Amy Blackstone (secretary), and Jim Books (at-large board member). Not pictured: Fred Deutsch (at-large.)

This fledgling organization put together a wonderful program with speakers and breakouts covering topics like public health, economic benefits, bicycle culture, bike/pedestrian design, and biking education — all combined into a one-day event. When asked by Jim Books of my reflections on the summit and their group of emerging advocates, my response: "Small but mighty!"

Yes, with only 800,000 people in the entire state, the South Dakota cycling folks don't have a large population to draw from, but they do have connections — to their government agencies, including parks, tourism, transportation, and health. And their friends and neighbors represent them politically at the local, state, and national levels. Those relationships being established now will pay dividends as the coalition grows and takes on the hard issues that may face them in the future.

U.S. Bicycle Routes are definitely in this state's future. During the session on bicycle tourism, we noted many of South Dakota's strengths and opportunities — all of which clearly outnumbered the challenges. And, most importantly, the coalition found a willing volunteer to help nurture the U.S. Bicycle Route System process along.

I look forward to reporting more on South Dakota's progress and good works in the future.

Photo by Ginny Sullivan

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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.

Winter Stoke

IditaTour: Part one. from Mike Curiak on Vimeo.

Late winter is generally a quiet time of year for bikepacking. Trails are covered in snow, and mountain bikes are stashed away with months-old mud still clinging to the frame bag. For many dirt enthusiasts, winter can feel like little more than the Great White Wait. But for a few others, winter is the quiet time one needs to embark on the most incredible solo bicycle tours.

In March 2010, Mike Curiak, a bicycle wheel builder based in Grand Junction, Colorado, embarked on a self-supported 1,100-mile tour across Alaska on the famous — and frigid — Iditarod Trail. Equipped with a custom-built Moots fat-tire bicycle and panniers, Mike’s monthlong trip wasn’t self-supported in the traditional sense of the term, which generally means frequent resupplies at stores and the occasional hotel stay. Mike was entirely self-supported, meaning he embarked on the trip carrying a month’s worth of food and fuel, and all the gear he needed to survive 25 days in the Alaska wilderness in temperatures ranging from 40 above zero to 45 below, camping every night. In those 25 days, he never once stepped inside a building, even as he passed through several rural Alaska villages en route to Nome.

“Completing the trip that I did, in the style that I chose, is probably the most rewarding thing I've yet done,” he said. “The difficulties went beyond the mental and physical relatively early on, and took me to lows and highs that I didn't expect and could never have prepared for.”

Recently, Mike created a three-part film series documenting his 2010 Alaska tour. The images and words he captured during his ride are beautiful and haunting, and well worth the 45 minutes of winter quiet time it takes to watch them. It’s enough to make a bikepacking fan wish winter lasted just a little bit longer.

Part 2:


Part 3:



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BIKEPACKER is written by Jill Homer, deputy editor for Adventure Cyclist magazine. It appears the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month.

Your Feedback Helps Us Grow!

For several years now, we have been sending out our Annual Member Survey to find out what our members love (or don't love), and how we can grow and improve as an organization. The feedback has been useful and enlightening. It has helped us to set priorities and improve our systems.


Now, it's time again to share your thoughts, opinions, and experiences. If you are a current member of Adventure Cycling, you can take the survey anytime before the end of February.

Thanks in advance for all of your feedback!

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MEMBERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS is typically posted the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month by Amy Corbin, Membership and Marketing Coordinator. Membership Highlights spotlights the various benefits of membership, what we have accomplished thanks to member support, and even interviews with some of our most passionate and dedicated members, both individual and organizational.

I Heart My Bike! I Mean, My Girlfriend

Valentine's Day is coming up, and I'm lucky to be spending it again this year with Josh, who you may know from his fabulous gear reviews. Or maybe you were lucky and called in to renew your membership and got to talk to him. Anyway, he's an all-around great guy: fun to have adventures with, watch movies with, eat cookies with — and I'm sure he's looking forward to spending Valentine's Day with me, too. Of course, I know, in my heart of hearts, there's 'someone' he'd rather be with.

That's right. Josh would rather be with his bike.

It's OK. I've come to terms with being second. Besides, I know I too possess some valuable assets, even if I'm not constructed of carbon fiber. But in honor of Valentine's Day, I'm going to suggest that everyone lavish a little TLC on their bikes: after all, it's been a long winter! Clean off some of grime, lube the chain, polish that saddle, and fix anything you've been neglecting for awhile.

And then? Go spend some time with your real boyfriend or girlfriend.

Photo by Sarah Raz

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SHIPPING NEWS is brought to you by Sarah Raz, sales representative/outreach coordinator/lover of all things outdoors

Explore Utah

If you’ve not visited the magnificent and otherworldly part of the country that is southwestern Utah, you are in for quite an adventure. With a wild range of awe-inspiring landscapes spread over numerous public lands including Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, this red rock country offers a colorful mix of towering cliffs, canyons, hoodoos, pinyon-juniper woodlands, and panoramic vistas around just about every corner.

This year, Adventure Cycling is offering two different tours exploring this unique region: the inn-to-inn Red Rock Ramble, which mixes lightweight, self-contained touring with the comfort of indoor dining and accommodations; and the fully supported Cycle Utah, which combines the convenience of catered meals with a support crew and daily transportation of your luggage. Both tours still have space available and offer plenty of on- and off-bike time to explore this breathtaking part of the country.

If you'd prefer doing a tour on your own, and are equipped to tackle some rugged, off-pavement terrain, Adventure Cycling's Utah Cliffs Loop Route offers a unique loop out of St. George that explores Zion National Park and its surrounding cliff country using a combination of paved roads, bike paths, and backcountry dirt roads.

Photo of Zion National Park by NateOne on Flickr

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ON THE ROAD is written by Paul Hansbarger and Mo Mislivets, tours specialists and intrepid bicyclists, covering all things related to Adventure Cycling's tours department. Check out our 2011 guided tours today.

My First Bike Trip (part 3 of 4)

Having ridden from Missoula to Deer Lodge, Montana, Nancy and I were engaged in a yard-work project for an elderly lady when a cyclist riding by on an expensive-looking Italian racer spied our heavily laden bikes. He pedaled up and introduced himself as a local high-school teacher, then told us he was the official “Bikecentennial route liaison” for Deer Lodge, explaining how this oddly named grassroots group had recently sprouted over in Missoula. The organizers’ goal, he said, was to run 10,000 cyclists across the country in 1976. (It ended up being closer to 4,000, and the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail bypassed Deer Lodge altogether.)

Nancy and I thought this sounded great, so we obtained Bikecentennial’s mailing address from our new acquaintance. I tucked it away, thinking that when we finished our adventure maybe I’d contact them to see if they needed help.

Soon we were pedaling through Yellowstone, the world's first national park. It was still early in the season, and the roads were all but deserted — in fact, they were probably emptier than at any time in years, and at any time since. We had obliviously hit the roads of America during the infamous year of long gas lines, the result of price controls and/or the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74. Whatever caused it, traffic counts were definitely down that summer.

Crossing the Bighorn Mountains was our stiffest test yet, as the steep grade up Powder River Pass seemed endless. But we finally made it over and down to the other side. After a visit to Devils Tower National Monument (where I would wind up working as a ranger four years later), we landed a relatively lucrative short-term job in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, helping the city doll up for its Fourth of July blowout by applying a fresh coat of yellow paint to fire hydrants and no-parking zones. We were on the receiving end of a few dagger stares and ‘subtle’ hints from a couple of the full-time city workers, who thought we were working too hard too fast.

At night we camped in the town park, where for the first time I disassembled our bikes to clean them. I found that they came apart a lot easier than they went back together. One morning, I remember, a blizzard of white stuff emanating from the surrounding cottonwood trees blanketed every horizontal surface — the ground, the picnic tables, the merry-go-round ... — in several inches of cotton fluff.

Zipping across the South Dakota prairie in the early mornings was a heavenly feast for the senses: Meadowlarks whistled their melodious call and the cool air carried on it the sweet scent of Russian olive, that ubiquitous imported windbreak tree of the Great Plains. But afternoon cycling was hell, with temperatures reaching as high as 104, and scant shade to be found in which to sit out the heat.

In the tiny town of Faith, the proprietor of the local drive-in movie graciously allowed us to camp on his fenced-in grounds — but only after we screened the now-classic flick The Paper Chase. A bike-in movie followed by a night under the dazzlingly starry skies of the Mount Rushmore State ... if you've never tried it, I heartily recommend it as a fine way to spend half of a 24-hour day.

Next time: We go waterskiing on the St. Croix River, enjoy Sheboygan bratwursts and Leinenkugel beers on a Wisconsin Fourth of July, and end our nearly three-month journey several states shy of our intended goal.

Photo caption: There’s nothing quite like the elation felt on that first-ever bicycle ride over the Continental Divide. Photo by Nancy McCullough.

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BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling’s field editor, and highlights a little bit of this or a little bit of that — just about anything, as long as it’s related to traveling by bicycle. Mac also compiles the organization's twice-monthly e-newsletter Bike Bits, which goes free-of-charge to some 40,000 readers worldwide.

Rear Derailleur Adjustments

The derailleurs on a bike may seem pretty complex, but once you start fiddling around with them you'll find them surprisingly easy to troubleshoot. When you're on the road, and away from a bike shop, knowing how to tweak your derailleur can save you a lot of skipping gears and frustration.

In most cases when a derailleur moves out of adjustment it's the rear derailleur. It's more exposed to being banged around than the front derailleur; moreover, for crisp shifts the rear derailleur needs to be dialed in more precisely than the front. If your bike and/or cables are relatively new, the derailleur could be coming out of adjustment simply because the cables are settling into their new housing. In other cases, mis-shifts may result from a bent derailleur hanger, worn out chain/cassette, or frayed cables and housing. These are issues that would ideally be worked out before you head out on a tour, but still worth keeping in mind.

Before I get into making adjustments, a quick note about a bent derailleur hanger. To find out if your derailleur hanger is bent, look at the two derailleur pulleys from behind your bike, and make sure that they lineup vertically. If they are skewed one way or the other, you probably have a bent derailleur. At this point, it is a good idea to try to adjust your derailleur the best you can without bending it back, and then have a bike shop mechanic line it back up for you. If you absolutely have to bend it back, be sure to remove the derailleur before going after the hanger. For steel and titanium frames, bending the hanger into place isn't much of a problem. For aluminum and carbon frames, the derailleur hanger will often be replaceable, in which case carrying around a spare hanger isn't a bad idea.

Alright, now onto the actual adjustments. Almost all derailleurs are set up in a similar pattern for making adjustments. You have two limit screws and a barrel adjuster. The limit screws are often marked with an 'H' for high, and 'L' for low. The high limit screw adjusts your high gear (smallest rear cog), while the low limit screw focuses on the low gear (largest cog). Once initially set, these generally don't need to be adjusted very often, but they are a good thing to look at. Shift into the biggest gear up front (largest chainwheel), and the biggest gear in back (smallest cog) and look at the pulleys from behind the bike. The pulleys should be directly in line with the small cog. Do the same for the low limit, shifting into the low gear up front, and large cog in the rear. If the pulleys don't line up with their respective cogs, turn the limit screw clockwise to move the pulleys toward the center of the cassette body, or counterclockwise to move the pulleys outward. You don't have to make big tuns of the screw, only about quarter (90-degree) turn at a time.

If the limits look good, you probably only need to play around with the barrel adjuster. In some cases this is located on the back of the derailleur, while in others it's near the cable stops on the downtube. The easiest way to accomplish this is with your bike in a repair stand, but since you probably aren't carting one around, see if you can hang the bike on the low branch of a tree, or have a companion hold it up for you. Spin the pedals and shift the gears one at a time. If the chain struggles going from a larger cog to a smaller one, turn the barrel clockwise. If it struggles moving from a smaller cog to a larger one, turn the barrel counterclockwise. As with the limit screws, make small turns of the barrel each time and progressively check your progress.

If at this point you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, play around a bit and observe what happens when you make small adjustments. It may be frustrating at first--but you won't break anything, and what I'm talking about here will become much more clear.

Photo by Josh Tack

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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.