Cycling

On Bicycling: Pedaling Canyon Scenic Drive Amid Soaring Walls Of Rock At Zion National Park

From LVSportsbiz.com

By Alan Snel

Heaven is a mere three hours from Las Vegas.

I’ll get to the punch line quick here — it’s bicycling Zion National Park in southwest Utah, a heavenly piece of nature that wows, inspires and drops jaws with its to-the-sky walls of rock, are-you-kidding Angels Landing trail, The Narrows and its dramatic, steep red cliffs. And yes, it’s only three hours of driving from Las Vegas.

On August 27, 2022, Anna and I drove to Zion. And here is our story.

We left Las Vegas very early. As in 3AM early and we rumbled along Interstate 15 north of Mesquite when Anna caught a nap.

She draped a sheet over her head and the Shroud of Anna was snoozing nicely as the first light of the day edged its way above the eastern horizon in St. George.

The Shroud was up and at ’em when we drove through Springdale, the doorstep into Zion, and waited only five minutes to enter the park at 7 AM.

Anna is a mountain bike ninja, but we pedaled road bicycles on the floor road of the Virgin River valley.

Photo by Danika Perkinson on Unsplash

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6 Cycling Mistakes You NEED To Avoid

There are plenty of pitfalls to trip up on when you’re getting into the beautiful sport of road riding. Wearing the wrong kit, forgetting to eat, and the list goes on! Conor is here to share a few of these so you don’t make the same mistakes as him!

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‘Cycling is my meditation.’ For the CEO of this health care startup, bike rides bring mental clarity

From Fortune.com

In our CEO wellness series, we ask executives about their day-to-day habits to gain insight into the tactics they use to minimize stress and maintain their well-being.

Adrian Aoun is founder and CEO of Forward, a startup aiming to be the first health care system to deliver high-quality health care to a billion people for free. Before founding Forward, Aoun was head of special projects for Larry Page at Google/Alphabet, where he founded one of the Alphabet companies, Sidewalk Labs.

Coffee or tea? And what do you put in it?
I’ve never been a big coffee guy, but a cup of tea every now and then is nice. Truthfully, I’m mostly just consuming industrial quantities of water constantly. The colder, the better.

What is your go-to breakfast?
If I’ve been cycling, a big morning glass of orange juice post-workout is a must. I usually skip breakfast unless I’m meeting friends on the weekend. If I do find myself somewhere for breakfast, I’m usually looking for whatever their closest equivalent is to a “grand slam,” if I’m going to do it, might as well do it right!

Tell us about your workout routine.
I work out almost every day. Occasionally it’s going for a run, but most often it’s cycling. I live in San Francisco, near the Golden Gate Bridge, so most days I bike up north into Marin and through the mountains.

How many hours do you sleep on a typical night?
The Slacks usually stop coming by 10 p.m. or so, and I’m up around 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. It often takes me a while to fall asleep, so I sometimes need to delve through Reddit or tech news on my phone to help calm down my brain and help me fall asleep.

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Cycling Trends We Need To Bring Back Now!

Was cycling better back in the day? The likes of the Giant MCR, Lotus 110 and Pinarello Espada pushed the boundaries of bike design, we didn’t have the same obsession with data and aero everything, and Tom Last was a GCN presenter too! Si and Dan discuss the top cycling trends they want to see make a comeback, as well as bringing you all your other favourite GCN Show segments.

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From Galway To Guinness: 9 Reasons Cyclists Will Fall In Love With Ireland

From TravelAwaits.com

By Joan Sherman

Lots of people have Ireland on their “bucket list,” and we were among them. Biking the Emerald Isle offers beautiful countryside and scenic views along a dramatic coastline.

My husband, Dean, and I combined a trip to Ireland with our love of cycling and booked a June VBT biking vacation: Ireland: Galway & Connemara Coast. This was our third VBT trip, having traveled with them to Acadia National Park and again to Slovenia, Austria, and Italy. Spectacular trips!

If you are a cyclist, here are some reasons why I think you’ll fall in love with cycling in Ireland.

1. Epic Scenery

Part of the joy of biking is being in the scenery. You’re not cruising along on a narrow road gazing out the window as you fly by, you’re on a bike, and you’re in it. Of all the things to love about cycling in Ireland, at the top of the list has got to be the epic scenery and landscapes. Here are two of the many highlights.

The Wild Atlantic Way

It was thrilling to bike along the western coastline called The Wild Atlantic Way (WAW), the longest coastal route in the world. It’s named for rugged Atlantic storms that roll in along the western coast. The WAW covers some 1,600 miles from the northern Inishowen Peninsula to the southern town of Kinsale in County Cork.

The Burren

The Burren is a large limestone plateau along the west-central coast of Ireland that was shaped by glaciers. The name “the Burren” comes from the Gaelic Boireann meaning “place of stone,” and at about 200 square miles, they aren’t kidding. It is truly unique among all the landscapes we saw. We hopped off our bikes and took an uneven, craggy walk to enjoy this unique, rugged beauty.

Photo by Nils Nedel on Unsplash

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Best Gifts for Cyclists: 10 Great Presents for Your Favorite Biker

From GearJunkie.com

By

 

Cycling is heavily gear-oriented, and cyclists can be very particular. But don’t worry — we know some gifts to make them happy.

The GearJunkie staff have been deeply rooted in the two-wheel world for decades. Let us help you find the gifts that will be used and appreciated by even the pickiest pedaler in your life.

As you probably know, prices in cycling can be astronomical, but we cover every budget along the financial spectrum in this buying guide.

Happy holidays, and here’s to being the best gift-giver a cyclist could ask for.

Respond to texts, map your route, and more all while hands-free with this smartphone mount ($23+). It was designed primarily for use while cycling, meaning it is designed to be durable and supportive.

Nite Ize Wraptor Rotating Smartphone Bar Mount

The Wraptor’s 360-degree rotation allows you to secure your phone in an upright or landscape position. The brand claims that the phone harness is compatible with both standard and oversized phones, with and without cases, making it an option for just about anyone.

Image courtesy of Park Tool

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Aiming for good bicycle lighting

From CyclingSavvy.org

by

We are now in the time of short days and long nights, and so it’s a good time to talk about bicycle lights.

And there’s good news. Thanks to efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs), bicycle lights can be bright while drawing meager power from a small battery or generator.

Even better news — they won’t draw all the cash out of your wallet.

Like the horsepower race…

The trend can go to excess. Some of today’s bicycle headlights have product names like “Atomic”, and I kid you not, “Blinder” — only too true. Brighter, brighter, brighter… 200, 400, 1000 lumens. (The lumen is a measure of light output.)

The lumen war reminds me of the mid-20th-century horsepower race among big American cars. As in “my car is better than yours because it has a V8 engine with more horsepower!”

Why beam pattern matters

Lumens count light in every direction, but it matters in which direction the light goes. Any bicycle headlight bright enough to light your way should have a special beam pattern, like a car headlight, for at least four reasons:

  • Efficiency:  There is no point in using electrical power to produce wasted light.
  • Clarity: Light thrown upward illuminates dust, fog, mist, rain, snow — washing out the bicyclist’s view of the riding surface.
  • Glare reduction: a headlight that spews light upward glares into the eyes of oncoming bicyclists, motorists and pedestrians. Stray light from a properly-designed headlight is still bright enough to reveal you.
  • Even illumination: a well-designed, shaped headlight beam tapers down in brightness closer to the bicyclist, avoiding a hotspot.

Image courtesy of NiteRider

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We Cycled To Work Every Day For A Month & This Is What Happened!

For the last month, six GCN employees, and many of you viewers, have been taking on a commuter challenge. The idea: ride to and from work every day for a month, to see if they could save money, get fitter and happier. Si and Manon caught up with our star volunteers Harriet, Steve, Alice, Harry, Allie & Kai to see how their month of commuting went!

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7 Things That Will Make You A Happier Cyclist!

Here at GCN we love cycling, but there are days where we are just a bit grumpy out on the bike. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Conor and Manon show you 7 things which make them happier cyclists.

 

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Top 14 Cycling Faux Pas to Avoid

From WeLoveCyling.com

By Andrea Champredonde

Like any other activity or community, road cycling has a set of understood rules of the road. You won’t find them printed in an official rulebook. They are insights that come with experience. The longer you’ve been in the sport, the more obvious they are.

If you are new to the sport, it’s an opportunity to learn them the easy way. As a seasoned rider, don’t be shy in politely pointing them out to new cyclists in your entourage. Someone probably took you under their wing, so pay it forward. Some are for safety reasons, others are pure cycling culture.

1. No pump or spare, food or water

Cyclists should be self-sufficient on the road. If you get a flat and you don’t have a pump or a spare, a fellow rider will probably bail you out. Lending you a pump is one thing but giving up a spare? Helping you out means they may be left with none. Don’t put other cyclists in this precarious situation, carry a patch kit and a spare tube.

You also need to carry sufficient food and water to complete the ride. Riders that bonk, meaning they run out of gas because of poor fuelling and hydration, slow down to a fraction of their normal pace or worse, suffer a more serious reaction. If a fellow cyclist comes to your rescue by giving you a gel or bar, be gracious and tell them you’ll replace it the next time you see them.

2. Littering

When you flat on your ride and change your tube, don’t leave it as trash on the side of the road. Roll it up and tuck it in your back pocket. Used inter tubes can be put to good use in many useful ways, including being patched for reuse.

Stuff the wrappers and pull tabs from consumed gel and bars into a rear pocket or tuck them under the band of your short leg or sleeve but don’t litter. A used food wrapper can be used to boot a damaged tyre to get you home. If this happens to you, you’ll be happy to have one handy.

Photo by Coen van de Broek on Unsplash

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