Bicycle frame painter extraordinaire, and pal Jason Sanchez and I rode our bikes to vote this morning.
At the neighborhood polling station we ran into the internationally famous DJ Blick doing the same, which provides conclusive proof that great minds think alike.
While growing up in Racine, I remember taking my Schwinn Typhoon out for “long rides” on the bike trail that ran from the north side to just outside the Oak Creek power plant. As a pre-teen, riding the crushed limestone that far seemed like an epic adventure and those rides began the life-long integration of bicycles into my life. By the time I was 16, I was doing self-supported century rides on my Schwinn Traveler. I wonder if my parents probably had any idea of how far away from home I was back then.
Evidence of the old railroad can be found along many spots of the trail.
Fall foliage surrounds and covers the path in early November.
I kept exploring the world by bike even when I went to school at UW Madison. I spent much of my free time riding through the lovely countryside of Dane County on my road bikes. After college I moved to the southwest suburbs of Chicago and Sycamore, IL. With all the heavy traffic in the area, once again I found myself drawn to crushed limestone trails that I cut my teeth riding. Trails such as the Prairie Path and the Great Western Trail offered many traffic-free miles and hours of pleasant off-road riding. I am happy to report there are even more trails now.
In 1994 I moved back to Wisconsin with my wife and we began looking for an apartment near a trail. We found one in Muskego, and over the years I have found enough routes that interconnect various bike trails that I can ride the 96 miles from my home in Muskego to a friend’s home in Glen Ellyn, IL with only about 20 miles that isn’t an off-road bike trail. The latest addition to my cache is a newly opened section of the White River State Trail from Burlington to Kansasville. I use it to extend my ride from the “Seven Waters Bike Trail” in Racine County (another map here) that ends in Riverside Park.
At the western end of this section, looking west towards the old railway bed and what will hopefully connect the two sections of this trail.
It is so new, the DNR website shows it on the state park/trail map, but has no maps or description on the specific page ( (http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/
Looking south to the trailhead at Bushnell Park.
This section of the trail runs between Bushnell Park in Burlington east to Vendenboom Road. Bushnell Park offers parking and facilities and is recommended as the starting point as the eastern trail head has no facilities. It covers about six miles and travels along an old railway right of way though a quiet, rural portion of Racine County. An underpass has been built under the Burlington Bypass, so no need to worry about crossing busy roads or waiting for traffic. At the eastern end, you can use the roads to get to the Richard Bong State Recreation Area.
I hope you can take the time to ride this wonderful, but currently under-utilized addition to the trail network in southeastern Wisconsin, and be sure to say hello if you see me and Lauren our riding (that means you to Dave 
And if you have a favorite trail, suggest it in the comments section below. We can all use a little encouragement to ride somewhere new. Happy trails! – Todd Jensen
Me with with my wife Lauren at the WI-IL state line of the 96-mile route I mentioned in the post.
Some people will do anything to get another ride in...
Last year, just shy of 4,500 people logged a bit more than 1.2 million miles in the Wisconsin Bike Challenge. You can see those results here (you need an Endomondo account). That is a lot of gas and money saved, or if your mind works like mine, about 137, 551 donuts that could be eaten guilt free (at about 300 calories per donut).
In the first five days of the 2012 Wisconsin Bike Challenge, 3,943 people had registered and logged 73,338 miles. That is pretty awesome, and if we extrapolate a straight line graph, we will beat last yeas total miles at this rate. If you haven’t already registered for the Challenge, please do so right now by clicking here.
Since the challenge has only been going less than a week I’m betting a lot more people will register, and we can hit 2 million miles this year. Now there is no reason why we have to double the miles recorded last year, except that it is fun to try. After all, the Bike Fed is all about encouraging more people to ride more often. The Challenge fits right into that and adds a bit of fun competition. If the miles increase each year, it also allows us to show the increasing popularity of bicycling in Wisconsin. Statistics like those are invaluable to bicycle advocates.
Endomondo has free apps for most smart phones and they are super easy and addictive to use. I have mine set to start with a 60 second countdown.
I log my miles with the free Endomondo app for my iPhone. Even though the website is a lot easier to use this year compared to last, the app is so easy that I find myself looking for excuses to ride and logging even very short trips. Eight blocks to 68th and North for donuts from Cranky Al’s or a chocolate croissant from Rocket Baby Bakery? I log the ride there and back. Heck, sometimes my wife and I ride our tandem the three blocks to Juniper 61 for delicious fresh-baked pie a la mode, and I log those trips too. It almost feels like if I don’t log the trip, I didn’t do it. Sort of like the tree falling in the woods metaphor.
I have my app set up so it starts with a 60 second countdown. Now I’m no speed demon keeping track of my average pace, but I found it made me oddly nervous to hit the start button and then fumble to put away my phone and get pedaling on the bike. I like the feeling of having that one minute buffer so the counter starts when I am actually riding. I know, this makes no sense at all if I look at it rationally, but who ever said I was rational? The app lets you choose any sort of trip, from mountain biking and sport cycling to transportation related trips. The Challenge logs all the miles, no matter what kind. It is fun to see your stats, the miles for your workplace, community and others on the leader board. You can even compare how Wisconsin is doing to other states in the Country since the Challenge went national this year.
I wish I was doing more long recreational rides, but somehow life has gotten in the way lately, and I’m only booking purely utilitarian trips. I hope that changes soon, but until it does, I’m logging every single trip I take on a bike, even if it is only three blocks. Let’s just say that I am doing my part to log enough miles so we can eat a quarter million donuts without gaining a pound!
So if you are looking for more ways to add miles, you don’t have to go out and do a century, just try downloading the app for your phone and hit that countdown button for every little trip you make to the corner store, down the street to the park, or even the trip to the laundromat.
Yesterday my co-worker and local bicycle icon Jake “Polo” Newborn, wrote up piece about his experience waiting in line for the Riverwest 24. Today, our frequent guest blogger Kierstin shares her thoughts below. She came in from Madison to sign up for the what I may start calling “The Greatest Race On Earth.” I did not enter this year so I could put all my energy into documenting the race. I can hardly wait.-DS
Riverwest 24 2011 Photo by Peter D'Antoni
If I played the lottery, I would choose the numbers 242. Picture this: My husband and I head over to Milwaukee to sign up for Riverwest 24 mid-day on May Day. We knew it would sell out since last year it filled it’s 600 spots in a few hours. Registration was to open at 3pm. We made the grave mistake of eating a leisurely lunch and then spinning over to the Public House on Locust at 2:40. Here is was we showed up to: Riverwest 24 registration video
241 people in front of us in a slinky shaped formation, winding everywhere through the park next door. “Where is the end of the line?” was the question asked over and over, followed by, “Oh my god, will we get in?”
The race organizers announced that they would up the entries to 750 participants this year…yet we still weren’t sure we’d get in. Looking through the line I spotted several teams from Madison that were, gasp, ahead of us by a good margin. At 3pm the line began to creep into the Public House. An hour and a half later it was all over. We made it into the building and heard, “We’re at 700. Start counting!” We knew we didn’t stand a chance. There were about 20 people in front of us with team sizes up to 6 riders. As we inched closer and closer to the table, we heard rumors that they were upping the cut off number to 800. We held our breath. As the guy came by with the number counter, “click, click, ‘How many people in your group?’, click, click”, we watched his facial expression. Was he smiling? Are we in? Out of sheer luck we made it. Team 242…second to the last team to get in (later we would find out that the team in front of us contained a good friend as well). I’m not religious even though our team name is Church of the Spoken Wheel (blessed by our Sunday ride leader, Michael Lemberger), but some form of bike god was looking over us. I wouldn’t have to hang my head in shame and tell my team mates the reason we didn’t get in was because I wanted to eat at a Middle Eastern restaurant. No, we were good to go for the last weekend in July.
What is Riverwest 24 you ask, and why did we drive from Madison to sign up? Here’s a little excerpt taken from their website giving a brief explanation of what it’s all about:
By encouraging bikers and spectators to come out for a full day we hope to show off Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood and encourage biking in an urban environment.
Through this exercise in stamina, team work and merriment we hope to build an event that all people in Milwaukee and beyond can enjoy by participating in, volunteering for or by cheering on the riders.
This is an event for anyone who wants to participate. You don’t need to be a bike racer to join in. Check out the race route, call your neighbors, grab some lawn chairs and join us this July! This race is for people who enjoy biking, want to push themselves, or just want to participate in an event that is like nothing else you have encountered.
Where the line started the night before
Imagine 800 riders and several hundred volunteers coming into your neighborhood to celebrate what makes your neighborhood so special. Then imagine them riding for 24 hours during the hottest part of the summer. All ages, all abilities, just coming together to play.
I will of course be blogging about our actual race, but until then, meet our team: Aaron Crandall (our net-worker extraordinaire and beer connoisseur), Nathan Vergin (our photographer and speed king), Dan Hobson (our medic and musician), my husband, Markham Dunn (our mechanic and map reader) and me (our fearless leader…other titles may be used by the team). We won’t win, we won’t even try. We will, however, have the best damn time not trying to win!
Although Riverwest 24 is full, you can still volunteer. Just go onto their website for information. Another amazing race in the Midwest that follows a similar format is Powderhorn 24 in Minneapolis. Can’t make one of these races? You know the old saying, “Build it and they will come.”
I have a different bell each of the 5 commuter bikes in our family stable because I dislike yelling ON YOUR LEFT at people on trails or WATCH OUT to pedestrians stepping off the curb. Yelling ON YOUR LEFT has an implied instruction “you need to move to the right,” that I find is often lost on people. They seem just as likely to move to the left and expect me to go to the right. When two people are walking side by side, what do you yell? COMING BETWEEN YOU? Besides, shouting, even if you try to do it politely, always feels rude to me. Ringing a bell on the other hand seems much more civilized.
The Planet Bike Courtesy Bell is my latest dinger.
Ringing a bell implicitly alerts people that a bicycle is behind them and lets them decide which way to move. If they yield to the left, you pass them on the right. If they yield to the right, you go by on the left. I typically then say a quiet, but audible, “thanks” as I pedal by. The entire exchange, from dinging my bell to passing the pedestrian leaves me feeling like I had a brief pleasant conversation with someone.
The lucky four leaf clover bell that Russell gave me.
The brass Crane bell
Our bell collection includes a beautifull brass Crane bell that I have on my ’36 Raleigh, a modern classic Ding Dong bell on my Schwinn Dutchie conversion, a mini Ping bell on our Workcycles Omafiets, and a couple different classic Dring Dring bells with different images painted on them on our other bikes. I like all of them for different reasons. The Crane Bell has sustain like a ’59 Les Paul. The Ding Dong bell puts a smile on my face every time I ring it. I like the Dring Dring bells because they are cheap enough that I can swap them out for different occasions: a flag bell for Independence Day, a four leaf clover for St. Patricks Day, etc.
99 db is as loud as most of the larger bells on our other commuter bicycles.
The newest bell in our collection is a Planet Bike Courtesy Bell. For reasons explained above, I really like the name. The diminutive bell is made of brass and comes with either a chrome or brass finish. It is about the same size as most small Ping bells, so named because the hammer only strikes once to sound a simple PINGGGGG. Don’t let the Napoleonic stature of this bell fool you, it rings very nearly as loud as bigger bells. I did a little test with a decibel meter and the Planet Bike Courtesy Bell registered a peak of 99 dB, which is just a bit lower than larger bells.
Not only is it plenty loud enough to be heard on the bike path and city streets, but the ring on the Planet Bike bell really carries due to a harmonic waiver in the tone. That slightly dissonant vibration seems to help the sound of the bell cut through urban background noise. I have the chrome plated version. If you can’t decide which bell to get for your bike, a couple other features might persuade you to purchase a Planet Bike Courtesy Bell. If you care about supporting local jobs, Planet Bike is a Wisconsin company located in Madison. Finally, Planet Bike donates 25% of their profits back to bicycle advocacy organizations like the Bike Fed. You can read more about them on their manifesto page here. That’s right, a bike company that has a manifesto, how awesome is that?
Yesterday I arrived at the small park next to the Riverwest Public House just before 8:30am to get in line to register for the Riverwest 24 bike race. I figured I’d be first in line for the registration but Tony had slept overnight to guarantee himself pole position. He was 2nd position last year after I was the first to arrive.
My teams have won the Team A category (6 racers, one bike) 3 out of the past 4 years. Position in this race can mean almost an entire lap if you are taking this seriously, and even a 24 hour race can come down to minutes or seconds separating the top competitors. Many people ride the race just for fun, to hang with friends, and to experience one of the best days of the year in the Milwaukee. The RW24 is about more than bikes. It is really about how bikes can bring together a community and spread good vibrations during the last weekend of July each year in the Riverwest neighborhood.
He's got the oil on his chain, for a ride in the rain, no baloney. Ride around on my bicycle like a pony. I'm waving hi, hi, hi, hi, hi Gu-gu-gu-Gimme a scream! Give me, give me the theme of Tony! Photo by Peter D'Antoni
Yesterday around noon the line began filling in fast, which got lots of looks from drivers along the busy stretch of Locust St. as it moves through the tightened blocks of Riverwest. Some likely knew what we were all there for, others pondered if we were part of #occupysomething. In a way it is the preface to Occupy Riverwest as the 24 hour race brings community together. The excitement grew as folks in line reminisced on past years, discussed what the race would like in 10, 20 or 50 years. Even on a foggy 50-degree day, spirits seemed high. By 2pm I said to a few folks that the line was full and you could tell there would be people turned away and most likely upset.
Me working while I wait in line.
FlavorCycle provided those who couldn’t leave their spot with sustenance and Fuel Cafe provided some morning coffee for the early risers. Even people who weren’t waiting in line came by to hang out and see friends and neighbors.
As a Bike Fed staff member my commitment to cycling is obvious, so much so that I made sure to attend a conference call with all our full-time staff via the Public House wifi and my laptop as well as my phone with some borrowed headphones.
I don’t know how fast other bike races fill up, but this one filled all 750 spots in 80 minutes. This not only speaks to a quick and efficient line and registration system, but the popularity of a fantastic community event. Some people were upset at not getting a spot. I even saw on Facebook that folks were sending race organizers complaint emails. That upset me a bit. The organizers do so much to bring this event to the public it’s not fair to harass them.
If you underestimate this event you will be left in the cold dust. It has been called the best 24 hour bike event in the state, in the country, and in the world. That may be debatable, but I dare you to attend The Riverwest 24 Hour as a volunteer, rider, or fan and tell me it’s not.
As for my team, MKE Bike Polo, you can find us in Pole Position #3 defending our Team A category championship on July 27th-28th, 2012.
The Lap board at last year's RW24
Recently there was a thread on the Milwaukee bike to work listserv about some problematic stretches of bike lanes on a couple different city streets. The thread began with a complaint that motorists were ignoring a bike lane and just driving in it like it is a regular travel lane. The thread shifted to another street where cars are encroaching into the bike lane at a curve. The law is pretty clear on this:
(12) Driving on bicycle lane or bicycle way. No operator of a motor vehicle may drive upon a bicycle lane or bicycle way except to enter a driveway, to merge into a bicycle lane before turning at an intersection, or to enter or leave a parking space located adjacent to the bicycle lane or bicycle way. Persons operating a motor vehicle upon a bicycle lane or bicycle way shall yield the right-of-way to all bicycles and electric personal assistive mobility devices within the bicycle lane
Rather than just complain, the person who brought up the bike lane at the curve got proactive and suggested cyclists band together, ala Common Ground, and make an appointment with the local alderman to ask that he do something about it. While Common Ground techniques may be effective, based on my experience as a professional bicycle advocate and my insider bureaucratic knowledge gleaned as a former City Bike Ped coordinator, I have a few suggestions on how to increase the chances of getting what you want. Rather than respond directly to a relatively small group on the MILBTW listerv, I thought I would use this comment thread as a foil to offer some suggestions to the much larger blog readership on how to be an effective advocate.
Highland Avenue as it exists today with bike lanes where it curves just east of the bridge over the railroad tracks.
Let’s start by taking a look at the initial comment about the problematic bike lane:
“My personal “bad spot” lately has been Highland Blvd. west of 35th Street where it curves at the bridge. People take that curve far too fast and often veer into the bike lane. I had one moron give me three feet (gee thanks) and then right in front of me veer into the bike lane, his passenger side tires right in the middle of my lane. It’s a bad spot because that’s a blind curve. I curse everytime I see said behavior because there could be someone in that lane and the driver would not see them as they come whipping around that corner. I was mere inches myself from a guy’s side mirror as he came around that curve 15 over the speed limit, hurtling well into the bike lane. This is the prime spot for the city’s next raised or protected bike lane. Who do I call at the City to get this done?”
This was the final comment in the thread that prompted me to write this post:
“How many are familiar with the work of Common Ground? This grassroots organization achieves change by simply placing large numbers of people in front of politicians. They have found that when you pack 20 people into the office of an alderman or State Rep, they listen. They even managed to get DuetchBank to pony up millions to relieve the foreclosure crisis in the city. Surely if people power can make this happen we can get a protected bike lane on Highland Blvd. Let’s get 20 people who live in Alderman Murphy’s district (Washington Heights and Sherman Park) to pack into his office and demand that something be done to make the said Highland curve safer for us cyclists. Mike is my alderman and is a good guy. He will listen. And let’s stick on him like white on rice until it happens. Who’s with me?”
Ostensibly this sounds like a reasonable plan, but let’s take a look at what Common Ground does. This is from their website:
Issue Campaigns are the work we do. Members of Common Ground identify problems and concerns in our communities. Through research, relationships and action these problems and concerns become our Issue Campaigns. We usually have more than one active campaign at any given time. The more Issue Campaigns we win — the stronger we get.
Let’s use that strategy for the Highland Ave bike lane issue:
Identify problem and concern: Person expresses concern to fellow cyclists on the MILBTW listserv that it is sometimes unpleasant and scary to ride in the bike at the Highland Ave. bridge. Some others second those thoughts.
Research: Missing
Relationships: Organize a group around this problem and meet with the alderman regularly until a protected bike lane is installed.
The key problem here is that the research is missing. I can help a little with that, because I worked on the bike route spot improvement project that resulted in the initial installation of bike lanes on Highland Ave. I also worked as the bike coordinator for Milwaukee Dept. of Public Works when the Highland bridge was reconstructed.
When the bike lanes were first retrofitted to Highland Ave., they would not fit on the section where the bridge crossed the railroad tracks at the curve because the road narrowed. This was a real drag, but we decided that it was better to put in the bike lanes where they fit and worry about the bridge later, as it was scheduled for repair.
The top Google street view image shows the old lane configuration were the bike lane ends just prior to the bridge. The lower plan view Google image shows the new bike lane and the new bridge with a bike lane.
This street view image of the old bridge shows there was no place for bicycles. At the time I commuted daily on this bridge and you had to be a very assertive cyclist to take lane in order to ride it safely.
A few years later, the bridge did get reconstructed and it was widened to fit the bike lanes. Widening a bridge is quite expensive, so this was no small thing. I think it demonstrates the commitment of the City of Milwaukee to improving conditions for bicycles in that they took this bicycle bottleneck seriously and made quite reasonable efforts to fix it.
I think you can see by the photos that the bike lanes really did make a huge improvement for bicycle conditions. Given all that the City has already done, is it reasonable to ask that they do more? Certainly it is reasonable if a significant number of people still feel unsafe pedaling through the area, but the first thing traffic engineers are going to do is look for crash statistics. I am willing to bet there are virtually no crashes involving bicycles and motor vehicles at the bridge. Assuming that is true, what can cyclists do?
I would still suggest people contact the alderman, but begin by thanking him for his support of all the bicycle improvements the city has already done on Highland and the bridge. Then mention that despite all those improvements, the curve remains a scary bike lane to many people on the bike to work listerv because cars are taking the turn too fast and entering the bike lane. Ask the alderman to request a peak hour traffic study that includes the following:
If that traffic study backs up the complaint, then it would be time to suggest improved signage to take the curve slowly and stay out of the bike lane, perhaps install a colored bike lane in the most problematic areas. Ask for increased enforcement, and if all that doesn’t work, suggest that the City bike plan includes protected bike lanes and that given the importance of this bike route, this might be a good place to pilot a flexible bollard protected bike lane.
When the inevitable “how will we plow it?” question comes up, suggest the flexible bollards could use recessed mounts and be removed prior to winter.
When he is not “engineering” for Dero Bike Racks, Minneapolis transplant Joel Greenblatt builds Clockwork Bikes and components out of his basement shop in my neighborhood on Milwaukee’s west side (the Best Side). A week ago or so I stopped over to see what he has been up to lately. Joel had a number of cool stainless bikes in production, as custom Columbus XCr and KVA bikes seem to be in vogue right now. In the near future I plan on doing a builder profile of Joel and will feature some additional photos of his excellent work with stainless.
While I dig the stainless look and understand the additional skill it requires to machine and braze, what caught my eye the other afternoon was a mountain bike with old school style. Like custom stainless bikes, retro style mountain bikes are gaining in popularity. Sort of like Fixed Gear Gallery, the Museum of Mountain Bike Art and Technology (MOMBAT) website is dedicated to documenting sweet vintage mountain bikes and preserving the history of mountain bike evolution.
Call me a retro-grouch, but I still have a Zoom stem and Onza bar ends, on my 26″ wheeled mountain bike. I replaced the Manitou elastomer fork (but I still have it) with a Specialized “Future Shock.”
I remember seeing a few Cunningham, Ibis and WTB mountain bikes at the southern Kettles with the LD (look at it and you figure out what it stands for) stems and Wilderness Trails Dirt Drop bars. I still run similar either Nitto Mustache or On-One Midge flared drop bars on my Waterford 1900.
Note the countersunk hole.
Anyway, Joel built himself a very nice mountain bike frame, complete with his LD style stem, seat post and some genuinely retro components. With the upright stem, drop bars, vintage short travel Manitou suspension fork and 1.75 tires, this bike seems ideally suited gravel road racing (monster cross) that Denny discussed in his post about the Dairy Roubaix yesterday.
Tubes after coming from the bender
In order to make the tight radius required for the LD stems, Joel has tubing mandrel bent. He then cuts them to length, cuts and files the slots or the clamps at the steerer tube, and adds the braze-ons and bar clamp. If you have a good eye, you may notice that Joel adds one more useful feature not found on the old LD stems. His stems feature a countersunk hole for bolts so they work with Aheadset compression or star washers. You can also get them sized to fit modern steerer tubes.
Original LD stem
The only feature on the original LD stems I prefer to Joel’s is the double bolt handlebar clamp, which allows you to remove the bars without taking off the tape, shifters or brake levers. I have a Waterford built All Rounder with S&S couplers for travel, and I need to be able to pop the bars off at the airport. I’m sure if I asked politely, Joel could build me a stem with the clamp I prefer.
Sadly, I am still saving (and waiting) for a new Nikon D800 I ordered, so the sweet LD stem is going to have to wait until I hit it big at the casino. Come on Little Joe, baby needs a new pair of shoes…
I love the variety of ways by which I can enjoy riding a bike – from commuting, to touring, to road racing, mountain biking, charity rides, and cyclocross. I also love the fact that something that I’ve done for almost 20 years can feel completely new just by changing the landscape or tweaking a variable like distance or terrain.
Apparently, I’m not alone. For proof, take a look at the emergence of ultra-distance road and mountain bike events such as the Wisconsin Endurance Mountainbike Series, the Horribly Hilly Hundreds, and Dairyland Dare. Recently, another kind of ultra-distance event is growing in popularity and blurring the distinction between road and off-road. Sometimes referred to as ”gravel grinders”, “monstercross”, or “ultracross”, these long-distance rides and races take place on a mixture of paved and unpaved roads. Many of them have names that evoke the spirit of Paris-Roubaix, a race that takes professional cyclists over ancient cobbled roads in northern France. Known as “the hell of the North”, Paris-Roubaix is generally regarded as the hardest, most punishing event on the professional road racing circuit.
The Midwest has become a hotbed for these types of events. I’ve done two this spring – Barry Roubaix in western Michigan and Dairy Roubaix in the driftless region of Wisconsin. Barry Roubaix has been around since 2009. I first did it in 2010. Back then, it was already a popular event, and it drew some of the area’s top road and mountain bike racers. This year, the event’s growing popularity was evidenced by the number of participants and the level of competition. 1,536 racers took part in this year’s event, most doing the 23 and 35-mile routes. 217 racers completed the 62-mile route. To illustrate the increased level of competition, consider that in 2010, my time was 3:54:45, and I finished in 42nd place. This year, my time was 3:08:54, but 53 people finished ahead of me. Both of my experiences at Barry Roubaix were extremely positive. The atmosphere is similar to that of a mountain bike festival, and things like registration and the posting of results are absolutely top-notch.
Denny Yunk at Barry Roubaix (photo by Andrea Tucker)
Dairy Roubaix was an equally excellent event, but in a very different way. It was more of a social ride, with no race numbers or mass start. Instead, people set out at their own pace, with either a paper map and cue sheet, or with the route programmed into their GPS computers. Since it wasn’t a competitive ride, I took time to enjoy the scenery and talk with fellow riders. My friends and I had family obligations in the evening, so rather than doing the full 102-mile route, we chose the 67-mile option. After we finished, we all agreed that we would have needed more than just extra time to have done those last 35 miles. Something like a motorcycle or Tom Boonen’s legs…
The (gravel) road goes ever on and on...
Despite their differences, these two events had a lot in common. Both drew participants of widely varying backgrounds and levels of experience. This could be seen in the diversity of their machines, from time trial bikes to fat bikes. Another common element was the abundance of what might be referred to as “recovery beverages” for the 21-and-older crowd. Most significantly, there was a palpable sense of fun and shared adventure.
There are plenty more gravel events on the 2012 calendar. The most comprehensive list can be found at a website called Gravel Grinder News, which is maintained by a legend of gravel riding who goes by the name Guitar Ted.
Seriously, the first post below is about a women’s mechanics night Carloyn Webber is organizing for Mondays at the Bike Collective in Milwaukee:
Hi Ladies! I organize ladies/women’s night at the Bike Collective, 2910 W. Clybourn, every Monday night from 6pm to 9pm. I’ll be riding out from Truly Spoken Cycles at 5:30pm, with a stop at The Milwaukee Public Market on Water and St. Paul at 5:45(ish)pm if you want to meet up and ride together.
In the classes we will cover changing flats, brake work, shifting and tuning up bicycle. We will provide time to work on your own bikes and/or volunteer fixing Collective bikes. Come and learn more about how your bike works!
-Carolyn Webber
bikecollective.org
