Features
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Metabolic Testing
By Bruk Ballenger, Real Rehab Did I put in enough base miles? Why don’t I lose any weight with all the riding I do? Is my anaerobic threshold high enough for race season? These kinds of questions can be addressed while there is still opportunity for training changes using metabolic testing. Sometimes called VO2 testing, exercise metabolic testing is when the air that a cyclist inhales and exhales undergoes real-time gas analysis, along with heart rate and power monitoring, while riding. Read More
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Lumberyard — It’s Time to Play Inside
By Samantha Shimogawa For years now, the Pacific Northwest has had a lack of adequate indoor bike parks, although a few can be found in run-down warehouses or old stores, but the closest legitimate parks are located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Canada, and Cleveland — but no longer. The Lumberyard officially opened in the Northeast part of Portland, Ore., this past Mother’s Day, and it already has been a huge hit among the locals. Read More
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Homemade Sports Drinks
By Ellen K. Chow, MS, RD, CSSD, CD Sports drinks typically contain both electrolytes for increased fluid retention as well as carbohydrates to fuel energy needs. For those reasons, they are suggested for endurance and combination sports athletes that exercise for more than one hour. There are many commercial products to choose from, but for those interested in natural foods or fine-tuning the amount of electrolytes and carbohydrate to fluid ratio, try making your own. Read More
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Bern G2 Helmet
By Rick Peterson During this past winter and spring I was given the opportunity to test Bern Unlimited’s G2 model, which is their entry into all-season bike/snow helmets. his lightweight helmet is made from Bern’s exclusive Zipmold® foam, which to quote from their website, is a “liquid foam injection process that provides a better weight to strength ratio.” And light it is, as the small-medium models weigh 17.8 oz, and the large-XLarge are just 18.2 oz. Read More
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20 years of Padden Mountain Pedal
By Mark Peterson It never occurred to me when we proposed to host the first mountain bike race in the City of Bellingham parks system that I would still be at it 20 years later. Two solid decades! It’s quite a feat in itself to keep a race going for that long with, for the most part, the same crew, same course, and many of the same volunteers. Read More
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NuVinci N360
By Jay Stilwell First invented in 2007 by San Diego’s Fallbrook Technologies, the original NuVinci hub (N170) was bulky and heavy. They since have developed more innovative designs, culminating with the N360. This model is 30% lighter than the original version, weighing in at 2,450 grams, and is 17% smaller in diameter than the N170. Offering both 32- and 36-spoke configurations, it is perfect for utility, commuting, or for electric bikes. Read More
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Racing Through the Dark — A Memoir
By Claire Bonin Perhaps the best thing that ever happened to David Millar was getting arrested, ten days before the start of the 2004 Tour de France, in the wake of the Cofidis doping scandal. Without that, there wouldn’t be this book, everything would have remained a secret; Millar would have gone through his cycling career as a clean rider, then a doper and back to clean with very few people knowing the truth. He would be a different man. Read More
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The Goose Project
By Samantha Shimogawa Within the peaceful Willamette National Forest near Eugene, Ore., there brews a heated debate. Since 2009, the US Forest Service has been planning a 2,134-acre logging operation called “Goose Project,” centered in and around the unincorporated community of McKenzie Bridge. Despite several attempts to placate residents, the Forest Service has found itself in the midst of angry disputes regarding the project’s motives, assessments, and consequences. Read More
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Working Toward a Cycling-Friendly County
By Margaux Mennesson, BTA Communication Director Washington County is known throughout the Pacific Northwest for its hundreds of miles of road cycling routes that wind through scenic farmland, small towns, and Oregon wine country. Drawn by the easy access to great rides, many dedicated cyclists end up staying to start families and found businesses in communities like Tigard, Beaverton and Hillsboro. But when it comes to making bicycling part of the daily commute, these same fearless road warriors and racers agree that Washington County’s automobile-dominated roads have not provided the kind of safe, comfortable facilities that encourage new riders, kids and families to bike to school or work. Read More
Opinions
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Stupid is as Stupid Does
By Maynard Hershon She rode on the left side of the path, the wrong side, the side oncoming cyclists, skaters and runners use. There was no reason for her choice of the left side, but that’s where she’d stay. Occasionally, she’d drift to the right but soon she’d be back on the left. I remember wondering if she drives her car on the wrong side of the highway. Read More
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Custom Bicycles: A Passionate Pursuit - Book Review
By Meghan McCausland “A bicycle frame builder is no ordinary man. He has given man the ability to travel under his own power at speeds in excess of 100 kilometers per hour.” The book features 39 builders from Australia, Europe and the United States. Colorful photos of handcrafted bicycles fill up over 200 pages, some as beautiful, sleek and thin as a Calvin Klein model. Read More
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Bicycle Dreams: The Race Across America
By Jana Moseley The Race Across America (RAAM) is seen as the single most difficult challenge in the endurance cycling world. It is a testament to the human spirit and the pinnacle of physical limits. Of all who attempt, less than half will finish. For those who do complete the race it’s the accomplishment of a lifetime. Read More
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Mud, Sweat and Gears: A Rowdy Family’s Canadian Adventure on Seven Wheels
By Joe Kurmaskie We got the jump on James, but he came roaring back. It’s quite difficult to outpace a 16-foot, 438-pound bike train going downhill. The Metal Cowboy's second installment of James and the Giant Peach Bicycle. Read More
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Put in Some Distance
By Maynard Hershon Cyclists are different. We feel unjustly persecuted on the road, abused by callous motorists. So we ride tense, anger barely suppressed, tight-jawed, primed, ready for someone, anyone, to offend, so we can act out that anger. Why are we so tense? Read More
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Mud, Sweat and Gears: A Rowdy Family’s Canadian Adventure on Seven Wheels
By Joe Kurmaskie Nothing so large and exuberant has ever gotten the jump on me, at least not in broad daylight, during good weather while riding a bicycle with not one, but three clean, unobstructed views through rear facing mirrors.... Yet, there he was, just off my left as if beamed in from the planet of gigantic Irishmen. Read More
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The Natural
By Maynard Hershon As I lean my old Lighthouse bicycle against the railing, a guy at the next table ... asks me if I had the bike made. He’d asked about my Lighthouse as an icebreaker, but he’s not interested in it except as it relates to his search. Read More
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Into Africa to Help the Kids
By Joe Kurmaskie When August rolls around and the summer is ripe and full in this hemisphere, after we’ve wrapped up another season of trips for Camp Creative, I will travel halfway around the world to help raise awareness and funds for a program that, in many ways, mirrors the one we’ve started in the Pacific Northwest. Read More
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What Would Nancy Do?
By Maynard Hershon When you hear people call new-tech bikes names like throwaway bikes, “fragile bikes” or “compromised bikes,” ask them if they have owned any recent bikes or have ridden them a few miles. It’s my hunch that the honest answer will be no. Read More
