2011 Speedwagon Classic in Polson

Casey has been known to go on a biking adventure or too. In Montana, regardless of the weather, there are plenty of people who like to go on some two-wheeled adventures as well. Today it was rugged, it was muddy and it was windy but still a large group of Mission Valley bikers suited up for the Speedwagon Classic. Good times for those sitting and watching them bike (myself and coworkers), and here are some images I captured.

Mexican mountain bike course

Now this is a mountain bike course! I love that it even went through someones house.

Climbing bike lock

If you own a bike then I'm sure you own a bike lock. But even the best of bike locks can be broke or cut and your bike stolen.

But what if you were able to lock your bike to a pole, say 10 feet in the air?

Then no one could steal it.

That's the idea behind the German company, Conrad, and their new pole climbing bike lock.

The lock uses motorized rollerblade wheels to scale up a lamp post. All you need to do is attach the lock to the post, hook your bike to the lock and let the robot climb the pole.

Here's a video about the making of the lock. If you don't want to watch the whole video, you have to go to 1:20 in the video, so you can see the contraption in work. It even is complete with the familiar car alarm "beep".

People's Coast Classic videos

Here's the week of the People's Coast Classic in videos taken by the Northern Rangers. Thank you again to all who donated to the Arthritis Foundation. As at team we raised more that $7,500! Thank you again! Hope you enjoy.

(BTW Day 5 is probably my favorite)

Day 1: Astoria to Garibaldi



Day 2: Garibaldi to Lincoln City



Day 3: Lincoln City to Yachats



Day 4: Yachats to North Bend



Day 5: North Bend to Port Orford



Day 6: Port Orford to Brookings

People's Coast Classic: Day 2 and 3

Sorry for no post yesterday but the place we were staying at in Lincoln City didn't have wireless internet. So no update.

But here's how the trip has been going.

Yesterday was going to be the longest and have the most hills of the entire trip. It was just under 70 miles. We took off at about 7 AM and decided that since it was goign to be a tough day Team Brooklynn would "go postal." See the photo. USPS all the way!

We saw a number of sites including the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We took a tour. Ate some cheese and then went on our way.
We had some great views through out the day of the Oregon coast.

Near the end of the ride was a big big big hill that we had to climb. Once getting to the top it was nice rolling hills into Lincoln City.

At Lincoln City we camp in a baseball field. We claimed left field.

Today we took off at about 7 again and had a shorter day. We had hoped to stop and look for whales but the fog never lifted the whole day. However we did get to stop at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and view all they had. It's a pretty neat place if you ever get the chance to stop.

We arrived in Yachats after a little over 50 miles. The fog is still here and its pretty chilly with the wind. The mist swirls through camp.

Tomorrow is going to be about 65ish miles. And we'll be able to stop at the Sea Lion Caves.

Total miles is just over 178.

People's Coast Classic: Day 1

Today my dad, Jeff and I started on the People's Coast Classic.

We started in Astoria and boy was it cold. (See Jeff in blanket) He rode with the blanket for a ways, and it turned into a cape. I pretended that I didn't know him.

The ride today was a little over 58 miles. The sun eventually burned off the clouds and we rode the final part in the sunshine. Now it is sunny at our camp in Garibaldi.

Tomorrow is the longest and toughest day of the ride which should be about 70 miles and offers a number of hills. Here's to hoping that Jeff doesn't have to pull me up them.

We shot some Northern Rangers videos along the way and I'll get those up when we get back.

But for now I'm going to go find some dinner and then probably go to sleep.

Bicycle training update

Today I headed out on my final training ride for the People's Coast Classic before the wedding and honeymoon. I'll have one more training ride when I get back before the PCC. Just a quick ride the week before.

However on today's ride I felt great. A quick 40 miles and the legs felt strong. Some climbing, some flat, some rolling hills.

Also, on my ride outside of Issaquah I saw these two cute little mini horses.

Biking over Snoqualmie Pass

Figured I'd give you guys an update on how my training for the People's Coast Classic has been going.

This week I rode up Snoqualmie Pass. It was 71 miles round trip and hot, hot, hot.

Now I'd never ridden on Interstate 90 before. And now that I can say I've rode over the pass, I don't think I'll ever do it again. Or if I do I'll bust out the mountain bike and head up the John Wayne Trail.

I didn't like the Interstate. Too loud. There was just a constant noise and cars flying by. Most were pretty good though and gave extra room on the side. Others weren't so good. Also there was construction going on the side on the way up, so I had to watch for cars and cross over the left.

But now I can say I did it. Sure hope I'm ready for the ride in September!

MC Spandex is at it again

If you're into cycling, you might have heard about Robin Moore aka MC Spandex. He's the guy who made the music video last year about Performance.

Well he's at it again. This time he's off the road and hitting the woods. And it's awesome.

Here's his first video from 2009. Performance:



And now...Get Dirty:

Bike training

While Lance Armstrong, Tyler Farrar and Alberto Cantador are getting ready for Stage 4 of the Tour de France, I've been doing some training of my own.

I'm still training for the People's Coast Classic.

This week I decided that since the weather was finally nice I'd do some back to back days of training.

Four days of 30 mile rides.

Today was day two. Yesterday I did the loop around Lake Sammamish and through Issaquah. Today I rode the Issaquah-Hobart rode out to Hobart and back.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure where I'll go.

But I'll tell you one thing, I am loving this nice weather! Thank goodness summer seems to finally be here.

2010 Tour Divide winner

Earlier this year we told you about the Tour Divide. Well, Matthew Lee claimed his sixth Tour Divide victory in the early hours of today.

He covered the 2,745 miles, through snow, rain, hail, winds and intense heat, in 17 days, fifteen hours and 13 minutes.

Oh, and a bike thief.

While in Grants, New Mexico Lee stopped for a burger.

To paraphrase the story as I understand it (as reported on the race forum), Matthew was eating a burger, watching his bike out the window, when an unsavoury character strolled up, stared Matthew in the eye and cycled off. Thankfully, the bike was recovered during a chase through town and brought back to McDonalds, where it was recovered by Matt.

You can keep track through the official SPOT leaderboard as the rest of the racers attempt their finish.

As for the Washingtonians in the race, three of the original six remain. Those are Dave Preston, Seattle, WA; Mike Prochaska, North Bend, WA; and Derek Richert, Seattle, WA.

Prochaska is ahead of the other two, with all three having recently crossed into New Mexico.

Biking Snoqualmie Falls

Today was another beautiful day in the Seattle area so I decided to continue my training for the People's Coast Classic with a bike ride.

I headed out of the Lake Sammamish area up to Fall City. From there I headed up to Snoqualmie Falls.

There is a lot of construction going on up there. But don't worry, it's on the generators and not the visitor area.

Seth Truscott wrote an article about the Snoqualmie Falls upgrades for the Snoqualmie Valley Record.

After snapping a few pictures up there and getting asked if I bicycled up the road (keep in mind I'm wearing biking gear and pushing a bike) I headed back down the road.

The toughest part was the climb out of Fall City toward Klahanie. That hill kicked my butt coming up it. If you know the area it's the one by Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park. (Jeff and I still have to head out to Duthie Hill. Just been busy with training for other hikes but we'll head out there and get a video up soon.) However, my buddy Paul over at Washington Adventures wrote a review a few weeks ago so check that out.

After much determination, I made it up the hill and headed on down through Issaquah and out to Poo Poo Point. I turned around there and made my way back home.

The ride ended up being 41 miles with lots of climbing. It took me a little over 2 1/2 hours to complete. So I was happy about that.

And I couldn't ask for a more beautiful day. It was awesome.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Carbon road bike stunts

My dad sent me this video and it was just too cool not to share.

It's not every day that you see a carbon road bike being used as a stunt machine -- hopping over boulders at the beach and styling it up at the skate park.

British trials legend Martyn Ashton does just that and more in his latest video, The BikeRadar Roadie.

The clip sees Mountain Biking Hall of Fame member Ashton hit the tarmac on his carbon Raleigh Avanti Team on his way to the UK's premier bike festival, BikeRadar Live -- which takes place on 10-11 July.

Wii Bowling Tournament

This weekend was very productive around here on Just Northwest.

Saturday Jeff and I hosted a Wii Bowling Tournament with the proceeds going to our ride with the People's Coast Classic.

Here's our site if you couldn't make it but would like to donate.

We had a number of great prizes that local businesses had donated or Jeff and I picked up in our journeys.

Here's the prize table from that night:

Everyone seemed to have a great time (I know I did) and enjoy the "all you can eat" taco bar that we provided.

Sunday I headed out to my parents house for a 20 mile training ride with my dad. It was beautiful weather with mid-70's and sunny. It was perfect riding weather.

Thanks to everyone who made the Wii Tournament a success! And congrats to all our winners.

Bicycle training

I'm still training for the People's Coast Classic and figured I'd update you guys on how it is going.

Fund-raising

First off let's start with fund-raising. We've been hitting the fund-raising trail and right now our team is sitting at just over $2,000. Keep in mind we need to raise $7,500 as a team. To all those who have donated THANK YOU! And if you haven't and have a few dollars to spare, please consider doing so.

The funds go to a great cause and are TAX DEDUCTIBLE. The funds are broken down pretty simply and again, we are riding in honor of my niece who went blind in one eye at the age of six due to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

For each dollar that I raise, 49 cents goes toward funding research, 19 cents goes to public education programs (such as camps for kids), 8 cents goes to patient and community services (such as Lifestyle Improvement exercise programs, 4 cents goes toward updating medical providers on the latest in arthritis treatments and 20 cents goes toward fund-raising costs.

So please donate and SUPPORT our ride! You can visit my ride site to donate. Thank you.

TRAINING

As for training I am slowly adding the miles. On Tuesday I rode into Seattle for a round trip 25 miler.

So far I've put on just over 200 miles of training. I know, I know. Not a tone. But it's been raining like a monsoon for most of the summer so far and to compensate I've been hitting the gym.

My bike has been holding up nicely. The tires however have not. Haha.

I got my first flat with it on a 50 mile ride two weeks ago. Glass on the trail. Since then I've had two more flats for a total of three. And you know what they say, "bad things come in threes." Let's hope that is true for flat bicycle tires!

On Sunday I'm meeting up with my dad for about a 50 mile ride. If the weatherman is correct should be a beautiful day.

That's all I have for an update at this time. Tune back in for more soon!

Interurban Trail ride

How did you spend the last day of May?

Since it was the last day of National Bike Month, I figured what better way to spend it then, well biking!

I met up with my dad and one of his friends and we did 50 miles on the Interurban Trail. We rode from Tukwila to Sumner.

Along the way I hit some glass and got a flat. So luckily our stop in Sumner was right next to the Bonney Lake Bicycle Shop of Sumner! I got a patch for the tire as the glass had put a hole through to the tube and had them do a quick tuneup since I was there.

But our main goal in Sumner was to get a fresh Strawberry rhubarb shake from a small shake/burger joint. It was AWESOME! If I did food reviews, I'd write a better review than that. But it was great. Promise.

The ride as a whole was great. We hit some rain but it was a warm rain so not bad at all. On our way back the sun came out and dried up the trail really nice (oh and us).

The trail is paved, maintained and pretty flat the whole way. So not very hard going. You can get a good pace throughout most of it. Some sections get a bit annoying as there are multiple cross streets that you have to wait for traffic fairly close together (mostly in Kent). But for an urban trail, this one is very nice.

All in all it was a great way to spend the last day of Bike Month.

Epic Video: Top 10 Tour de France moments

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Epic Video: Ride the Divide

If you happen to be lucky enough to be in the Vail, Colorado area you should check out the Vail Film Festival this weekend (April 2-3).

One film that will be featured is called, Ride the Divide.

"Ride the Divide," a film about the Tour Divide race held annually on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, premieres April 2 at the Vail Film Festival in Colorado. Narrative found on the documentary's website describes it like this: "The film weaves the story of three characters' experiences with immense mountain beauty and small-town culture as they attempt to pedal from Banff, Canada, to a small, dusty crossing on the Mexican border." One of the trio of characters is Mike Dion, the film's executive producer; another is Matthew Lee, who has raced the route an amazing five times and also serves as the Tour Divide organizer. Word on the street is that Adventure Cycling's field editor Michael McCoy, the guy who mapped the Great Divide back in the mid-1990s, makes a silent cameo appearance near the beginning of the flick.

Here's is the sweet trailer for the film:

(This is from Just Northwest)

Seattle Bike Expo 2010

This weekend was the Seattle Bike Expo. I headed out there with my dad and saw a lot of vendors, some awesome bikes and some great shows.

They even had a classic bike exhibit featuring tons of bicycles.

Like the "Lemon Peeler":


The highlight of the expo was by far the World Champion artistic cyclists from Germany. They were Corrina Hein, Stefan Musu and Lukas Matla.

Here's a picture of Corrina performing a stunt:

And since I realize that pictures don't do their performance justice, here's a video from the event that I found over on BikingBis.

Prepare to pick your jaw up from the floor. I'm just warning you.



(This is from Just Northwest)

Alice Telford

My dad directed me to an article about Alice Telford.

If you have a moment, you should check it out. It's a great story and very inspiring one.

Here's a snippet:

She’s petite, quick to smile, and full of energy. In spite of a knee replacement, some arthritis issues and a recent 86th birthday, Alice keeps up a schedule that would make Jack LaLanne proud. She begins her mornings by carefully working on her knee, putting it through a little physical therapy to aid its recovery from the surgery, then she climbs stairs—a full sixteen flights before breakfast.

Oh and by the way, she had to recently reduce her maximum daily riding distance to ONLY 70 miles.

You can read the rest of this great story over at Cycle and Style.

(This is from Just Northwest)