The Tour de France will be heading to the countryside of Downton Abby – namely Yorkshire, even if the show isn’t filmed there. And even if you can’t ride with the pros you can get a chance to head out on some of the same roads in a guided tour. Olympic silver medal-winner Lizzie Armistead will be leading tours of the Yorkshire countryside in advance of this year’s race.
[Via BikeRadar: Lizzie Armitstead to lead Tour de France fan rides]
The above photo isn’t a pill you take to give you super speed – instead it is a concept bicycle that could enable a rider to break the record for the fastest non-motor paced bike. The ARION1 is now being developed by students at University of Liverpool and inside the bean-shaped shell is a full set of wheels and bicycle drivetrain.
With the ARION1 the University of Liverpool Velocipede Team hopes to break the world record of 83.13 mph, which was set last September. The ARION1 will gets its chance to try for the record at the September 2015 IHPVA event. Video after the jump
The nation’s largest bike-to-school challenge will start next Monday. The 7th annual Century Cycles’ Bike to School Challenge will see 4,000 students from six schools try to “rack up” the most bike rides.
The program is sponsored by local retailer Century Cycles with support from Raleigh Bicycles, and this year each rider is eligible to win daily prizes from PeopleForBikes and other gifts from Century Cycles. At the end of the challenge, students are entered to win grand prizes including new bikes from Raleigh. Raleigh is donating one bike per week, either a Talus 3 or Retroglide, to each of the six schools. Raleigh also is hosting a water bottle day with Century Cycles, giving away 700 bottles to participants.
Last year the participating middle school and high school students rode more than 57,627 combined miles, which reportedly added up to 975,000 calories burned as well as $10,125 in saved gasoline. Last year’s participation in the three-week program was up 11 percent of the prior year.
[Via Bicycle Retailer: Nation’s largest bike-to-school challenge starts Monday in Ohio]
Younger riders can’t always be seen in traffic and they might not always see what is coming at them. Even on bike paths parents often need to tell their children to slow down or stop. Now the MiniBrake, which was designed by a team of inventors in Hungry puts the brakes on the kid’s bike.
This is an easy to attach braking unit that is being developed through an Indiegogo funding campaign, and the idea is that it lets parents control the brakes and stop a child’s bike remotely. It can also be automatically activated should a child be more than 50 meters away. Continue reading Put on the Brakes
If you’re heading to the water you should do so with Aqua-Bound line of stand-up paddles from Branches. The new stand-up paddles include “The Spark,” for beginners, “The Freedom,” for intermediate paddleboarders, and “The Challenge,” for more seasoned paddlers.
This offshoot of the 1960s surfing culture in Hawaii has a true Polynesian ancestry, but only arrived in California in 2004. The sport has since migrated throughout the United States, including to inland lakes and rivers, and Branches is finding that it is increasingly be paddled by women of all ages.
With this in mind Aqua-Bound has created StandUp Sisters to inspire and support women who don’t want to be up a creek (river, or on any body of water) without a (Standup) paddle! Continue reading Up a Creek With a Stand-Up Paddle
Strider, the maker of child-sized balance bikes, is hosting a new national racing series geared towards toddlers. This will include a full season of races, and will culminate in a “World Championship” race in September! There will be categories for 2, 3, 4 and 5-year olds.
Races will begin on May 10 in California and continue through August. In September races can go for the big title at the Strider World Championship in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Strider World Championship Official Website
[Via GearJunkie: Toddlers Compete On Push-Bikes… Strider Launches ‘National Championship’ Series]
Whether you hit the waves a few times a year or chase the endless summer looking for the big one, the Rip Curl Search GPS Surf Watch will let you track how many waves you rode, your top speed and even your location. This waterproof watch features built-in GPS and motion sensors that will allow you to get real time data, and back on the beach you can sync it with your mobile phone.
CYLO has rolled out what it claims to be the “Ultimate Urban Bicycle,” and it could live up to the claim with its lightweight yet durable 6061 aluminum frame, dynamo hub that powers the front and rear integrated lights and Gates Carbon Belt Drive with 3-speed Shimano Nexus hub. This bike was designed by ARRO.studio in Paris, but will be manufactured and assembled in Portland, Oregon.
The CatEye Rapid X safety light won’t leave you in the dark. It can switch from steady mode to flashing mode automatically when the battery power decreases by 20 percent while the flashing mode can provide riders with a full extra hour of light.
Both the front and rear modes are USB-rechargeable and offer Lithium Polymer batteries to go the distance. The lights feature a total of six modes, and will run in high mode for about one hour, low mode for about five hours and in flashing mode for about 30 hours. There is a “Rapid” flash mode will run for about 16 hours, “pulse” flash for about the same amount of time and even a “vibration” flash mode will run for about eight hours. CatEye claims that the pulse mode is “peloton friendly” so fellow riders won’t be blinded by the light.
Since the dawn of mankind tents have pretty much remained the same: a pole holds up the entire thing. There have been solutions to refining the system but most still revolve around a tent pole! Setting up a tent can thus cause some tension around the camp site.
However, Brooks-Range takes the concept of “Tension” in a different direction with a tent that sets up easier and reduces the stress involved. While the Tension 30 Tent doesn’t completely ditch the poles it does lessen the reliance on how these hold up the tent and more importantly does so by providing more space.
It does so by featuring a single carbon pole and two cross poles that provides headroom and creates an open space inside. Best of all this means a large tent for two people that weighs just a fraction of similar sized tents. More space, less weight and fewer poles – that might mean less tension thanks to Tension in the poles.
From Runner’s World: When Passing Another Runner in a Race, Should You Offer Encouragement?
They might appreciate it. But, then again, they might not. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (05.03.2014): Passing Lane, Feature Friendly, Sit Back
The Eddie Bauer First Ascent Sorcerer Pack isn’t exactly magical – so it won’t hold 10 times your weight or anything fantastical like that. But it is somewhat mystical in how it provides a unique blend of strength, weather resistance and light weight. It is made from CTF³ monofilament fiber using welded construction methods, so it can be seriously packed.
It is ideal for the next outdoor journey, but it isn’t rated for exploring dungeons or fighting orcs.
The League of American Bicyclists looks to take action. It has addressed the “Vision Zero” campaigns for cities including New York and San Francisco.
There is only one acceptable number: 0.
While cities like New York and San Francisco have set decisive “Vision Zero” targets to dramatically reduce bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities, the U.S. Department of Transportation has just released proposed safety measures that have no goal, no accountability and no attempt to reduce the 16% of all fatal crashes that include people who walk and bike.
League of American Bicyclists Action Center Official Website