Indholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2016 i Bicycling

ONE The community of cycling forms the center of my friendships and my day-to-day life, and is the key driver of my improvements as a rider. I read a reliable study recently that said about 21 percent of cyclists only ride alone—missing out on that connection. Some can’t shape their lives around set schedules, or are put off by the character or politics (or mandatory ugly kit) of local groups. Joining the Rapha Cycling Club is a way to belong while also reaching beyond your neighborhood. Among the most notable fiscal paybacks of the $200 annual membership are free coffee at any of the worldwide clubs (easy to see cyclists drinking back their membership fee in a year) and the ability to book a $25 daily rental of a high-end…

Every two years we sift through Census and department of transportation data on more than 100 cities, consult with experts from organizations such as People for Bikes and the League of American Bicyclists, and talk with bike advocates and everyday riders to identify the 50 most bike-friendly towns in the United States. We look at everything from miles of bike lanes to the percentage of cycling commuters who are female—a key indicator of safe bike infrastructure—to the number of cyclist-friendly bars. The goal is not only to help you plan your next relocation but also to inspire riders and municipalities to advocate for more of the forward-thinking changes you’re reading about on these pages. (“Shaming works,” admits one city planner we spoke to this year.) For detailed info on this…

A Goldsprint event feels like a combination of a punk show and a cyclocross race—you’re as likely to spot a Sex Pistols patch as anything made from spandex. Riders pedal track bikes with forks mounted to stands, and electronic rollers show each racer’s speed and progress on a projector screen for the benefit of a raucous crowd. Goldsprints’ predecessor, roller racing, dates back to the early 1900s. One of the sport’s oldest known photos (above), from 1901, shows Charles “Mile-a- Minute” Murphy (left)—best known for drafting a speeding locomotive. Today bike shops and clubs can build their own hardware using kits sold by OpenSprints of Salt Lake City. They’re named after a beer—probably. The 1999 Cycle Messenger World Championships in Zurich featured a stationary bike race sponsored by Swiss brewer…

HEAD You don’t want to mess with a possible concussion or bleeding on the brain. Get checked out if you have a cracked helmet, headache (even if it comes on later), confusion, vision changes, or if you lose consciousness. CHEST If it hurts to breathe deeply, you might have a broken rib and should see a doctor. “Cracked ribs can have sharp edges,” Martin says, “and if it’s an unstable fracture and it shifts, it can puncture a lung.” BELLY Palpate your abdominal area gently. A tender spot could mean internal damage to soft tissue or vital organs. If your belly becomes distended or firm, that’s a sign of possible internal bleeding. Seek medical attention. SPINE Spinal cord injuries need immediate attention. If you have numbness and/or tingling in your…

So you started in San Francisco, and you’ve never been there before? Nope, I’ve never visited any of the states or towns (with the exception of Pennsylvania) on my tour. Why is that? I grew up with addiction. My dad was an alcoholic. He made poor financial choices, had trouble keeping jobs. My parents relied on family members to keep us afloat. And we didn’t always have extra money for things like travel. But now you’re out West, and what exactly are you doing? I’m doing a cross-country bike tour to raise money for a nonprofit I began called In the Saddle. It’s a play on the addiction term “on the wagon,” and also the sentiment “I’m doing good. I’m back in the saddle.” The other piece, of course, is…

OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, I started using my ’cross bike as my road bike. It allowed me to piece together loops mixing paved and dirt roads where I saw more squirrels, rabbits, and deer than cars. A skilled rider could take a regular road bike with 28mm tires on routes like these, but not everyone is comfortable with that, and some may want to venture into terrain, like singletrack or rugged fire roads, that would challenge even seasoned riders. That’s why the Open U.P. exists. It lets you match tires and wheels to your skills and local routes. U.P. stands for unbeaten path, and Open’s carbon, multisurface road bike took me to places I’d ridden by but never explored before. It feels natural on pavement and somehow still takes…

FOX TRANSFER PERFORMANCE SERIES PRICE $314 POST, $65 LEVER WEIGHT 643 GRAMS* (30.9MM DIAMETER, 150MM TRAVEL) The Transfer offers two lever options—a leftside under-bar mount for 1x drivetrains and a left- or right-side barmounted lever for 2x or 3x setups. Infinite height adjustments can be made through the travel, and although return speed is fixed, it can be modulated at the lever—the farther you push, the faster the return. It offers excellent overall performance at a relatively low price. The only caveat: It is 10 to 15mm longer than many popular posts, potentially limiting how far it can be inserted into some seat tubes.—RON KOCH ROCKSHOX REVERB STEALTH PRICE $471 WEIGHT 609 GRAMS (30.9MM DIAMETER, 150MM TRAVEL) Other than a new, gold logo at the top, the second-gen Reverb looks…

QUALITY GEAR MADE IT POSSIBLE for me to ride outdoors all winter long last year in Eastern Pennsylvania. Of the few key items in my winter kit, my jacket was the most valuable. A good one blocks the wind and insulates, but breathes so that you don’t become a sweaty, freezing mess. My go-to—the 7mesh Strategy softshell— works beautifully, but costs $225. That’s why the $150 price tag of the new women’s Meraj S1 Softshell caught my attention. It skips some costlier features like taped seams and a waterproof zipper, and the front-facing panels are constructed of softshell material by 37.5, a newer player in the market than Gore, the company that makes the Windstopper fabric used in many premium jackets like the Strategy. The S1 is designed to keep…

Not. Funny. // An SUV in Columbus, Ohio's satirical July 4th Doo Dah Parade displayed a bike on the hood, a pair of legs sticking out of the sunroof, and a sign that read, “I’ll share the road when you follow the rules.” #BikeLaneFail // After widening Austin Bluffs Parkway, a six-lane arterial, Colorado Springs striped a questionmark- shaped bike lane that forced cyclists to stop at an off-ramp. The city’s transportation manager told the Colorado Springs Gazette that the idea was to tell cyclists that it is their responsibility to yield to motorists, and that “you might want to be a fairly experienced cyclist before tackling Austin Bluffs.” Blaming the victim // In July, Matthew von Ohlen was killed while riding in a Brooklyn bike lane, by a hitand-…

I grew up skateboarding. It was the mid ’80s, and back then it really meant something to be a skateboarder. It was very much a fringe sport—there was a specific uniform and we wore brands that identified us to each other. That’s where I picked up my interest in clothing. We’d skate in the heat for two, three hours wearing jeans and T-shirts and flannel. So people started to make stuff to skate in that would allow you to be mobile and look the part. I’m 44 now and my style has definitely matured over the years, but I still want pieces that are comfortable and allow me to be active. The brand is named for my uncle, Gene “Skip” Parker Dusseau. He was the guy who introduced me to…

LOOK AT YOUR BIKE. Really look at it. Does your bike reflect your inner light? When I bought a road frame a few years ago, I was in the throes of a depressive episode and couldn’t muster the energy to select anything but satinblack paint. This is not normal for me. Bikes are exciting, and I like them to look that way. Though I love my bike, the paint had always bugged me. I wanted it to look brighter, lighter, more joyous—which is what it feels like to ride it. One of the greatest things about bicycles is how easily you can transform them. A new handlebar or set of tires will make a bike feel different. New paint doesn’t change how the bike fits or performs. But it seems…

GO WITH WIDELY SPACED, TALL KNOBS WET MUD Cyclocross racers can get very granular about mud: wet mud, slippery mud, clay, soup, peanut butter— the list goes on. A good mud tread will have tall blocks to cut through the soft stuff and reach down to any hard earth underneath. Spacing should be wide enough to keep the tire from packing up (holding mud and clogging the tread), and balance traction and stiffness so as not to be squirmy under load. The side knobs will be taller and aggressive for good grip in corners. RECOMMENDED Clement PDX Blurs the line between mud and allrounder with fast-rolling, closely spaced center treads and aggressive knobs. If you can buy only one set of tires that works in every condition, this is it.…

No. 1: America’s Most Bike-Crazy Mayor Bicycles mean business as well as fitness, says Fort Worth’s Betsy Price For bike love with a Texas twang, head to Fort Worth for one of Mayor Betsy Price’s rolling town hall meetings. Each week, the 66-year-old hosts a casual, 7- to 8-mile ride to meet residents—some on their own bikes, others using B-Cycle bike share—and chat about their ideas on how to improve the city. “When you put spandex on a body like mine, people will tell you just about anything,” she says. On weekends, you might spot Price at a group ride, answering questions from new cyclists. The mayor got into cycling more than 40 years ago, when she and her husband bought bikes to celebrate their first anniversary. In 2011, she…

MAKE THIS RIDE FUEL MY DAD, ROBERT RODALE, who bought BICYCLING magazine in 1978, watched his first track cycling race at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, where he competed on the American skeet shooting team. He came back determined to build a velodrome near our home, in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. So we went to Montreal to see a sixday race. We went to Vienna, Austria, for the junior world championships. And after my dad opened his velodrome, lots of cyclists came through our house. When I was 16, I served as Eddy Merckx’s driver. (Fortunately he enjoyed risk, so we got along fine.) Eventually my dad bought a house where visiting racers could stay. My sister Heidi was hired to cook for them and sometimes I helped. I still remember…

EXCUSES “I’M NOT FAST, ATHLETIC, OR INTO TRAINING PROGRAMS.” BUSTED Regan averages about 13 mph and takes time to stop and smell the wildflowers. She doesn’t follow a program or log miles—she just rides. “I prefer to enjoy riding for what it is,” she says. She advises new cyclists to start slowly: “If you can do 30 miles the first week, do 40 the next.” “BUT I’VE NEVER RIDDEN THAT FAR.” BUSTED Regan, now 25, was a new cyclist when she completed her first ultra ride, in 2012. Bored during a break from Iowa State, she left her home in Davenport, Iowa, and rode 70 miles north, hauling a $25 tent from Walmart. One week and 500 miles later she was at Lake Superior—and yes, she rode back. “You don’t…

CAMPAGNOLO HAS MADE no secret that its new midrange Potenza group is intended to go shifter-toshifter with Shimano’s Ultegra. It’s a tall order: Ultegra 6800 is a stunning combination of price, weight, and performance that has made it the dominant drivetrain on bikes costing (most commonly) about $2,500 to $5,500. For Campy to unseat Ultegra as original spec on more midrange bikes will require some behind-the-scenes business, but before that, Potenza has to match up against Ultegra in the stuff that matters to riders. So, does it? At retail, Potenza would cost you about $115 more than Ultegra ($1,050 versus $935). But bike manufacturers get volume discounts, so it’s possible that a bike built with Potenza could be the same price as the same bike built with Ultegra. The Potenza…

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Two versions: Race, with 44mm head tube and Enve carbon fork with tapered steerer; and Classic, with straight head tube for externalcup headset and steel fork with 1.125-inch steerer ▪ Frame color comes in blue, red, white, or yellow ▪ Buy it as a frameset starting at $2,295 or complete bike starting at $4,255 with Shimano Ultegra ▪ Tire clearance for 28mm tires, and a bit more THE NEW FAT CHANCE Slim Chance is a TIGwelded steel road frame, which isn’t a big deal: Hundreds of builders all over the world crank them out daily. But 25 years ago, when the first Slim Chance arrived, a welded steel road frame was special. In the early 1990s, steel frames were almost all joined with brazed lug…

JULIANA “JEWELS” SMITH 35, comic book creator and cofounder of Red Bike and Green cycling collective NEW YORK CITY 1. Light bikes are less ridiculous to carry up stairs. I live in New York! 2. I’m into community-oriented rides like Clitoral Mass. Being involved in organizing such a large women’s ride in only a few months was exciting. Creating a space for an intergenerational, interracial group of women to support women-owned businesses was a bonus. 3. In comic book art, a pen means the page is inked and closer to being done. 4. Two words: Black. Panther. 5. It’s really easy to get fame nowadays, but I want whatever I do to be dignified. 6. Always. Always. Always. That’s not a question.…