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Riding Tip: Posture And Static Joints

I want to begin by pointing out that I am not a doctor of any kind. However, I ran a bike shop for years and helped people get comfortable on their bikes. See a doctor and/or get a proper bike fitting if you have serious riding pain or similar issues. This is another in a series of beginner riding tips. You would think the simple answer would be to stop riding with locked joints and that would…

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#bicycle #bike #cross train #eBike #electric bike #how to #joint pain #position #posture #therapy

Riding Tip, Beginner Level: Foot Placement When Coasting

eBiking has brought many new riders into the two-wheeled world. Some are young people who are riding on the street for the first time. Some are older people who are enabled by their electric steed. In many cases, the eBike has enabled them to propel their bikes forward but little else, i.e. they never learned some of the basics of riding. This is one in a series of articles about the basics of…

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#bicycle #bicyclist #bike #efficiency #handling #help #how to #pedaling #riding #safety #skill #technique

Motorists Who Consider Themselves Green Should Show More Respect To Cyclists

If respect for human life is not a good reason to respect cyclists, maybe caring for the planet is. I live in California, where a large percentage of the population consider themselves “green” or “environmentalists” or “tree-huggers.” The streets here are brimming with Teslas and Priuses, and buildings are festooned with solar panels. We vote in favor of gas tax increases by large margins and…

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How To Make An eBike Triangle Battery Cradle

eBikes are getting more popular all the time, so it is easy to buy a complete ready to ride eBike. But it wasn’t always so. For years I have been making eBikes by converting regular bikes with a kit consisting of a motor, battery, controls and electronics. Ready made eBikes often have specific mounts for the battery, but for conversions you need to get creative. The most popular ways to mount a…

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#eBike

Hugging The Mendocino Coast: Day 4 Of My Northern California Bike Tour

I awoke on the morning of day 4 in Westpoint Union State Park greeted by a classic California coastal scene visible outside of my tent. From the seaside bluff where my campsite was set up, light fog drifted lazily up from the beach below, cresting in slow motion wave over my campsite. The warmth of the morning sun poked through the fog here and there, but it was still a little cold and damp at…

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A Local Multi Surface Meander

It has been a while since I have blogged on a ride, but certainly not since I have ridden. I busted out the camera for a blog and it’s time to share a few local secrets from this gravel ride.

My current gravel steed is a Diamondback Haanjo Carbon 7c. It is not included on most lists of gravel bikes to consider and that is a shame, but it is OK by me. I have updated most everything on my ‘jo,…

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Tackling The Leggett Climb: Day 3 Of My Northern California Bike Tour

On Day 3 I awoke to an empty campsite, though there had been another cyclist there the night before: Reuben. But I knew that Bigfoot had not scared him away during the night. Reuben had left camp early for something far scarier: the climb from Leggett.

To be fair, Leggett IS the biggest climb along the Pacific Coast Route. Accounts of cyclist tours often portray it as truly horrific. But I…

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Dwelling In The Land Of The Ancients: Day 2 Of My Northern California Bike Tour

Day 2 was the day of my tour where I had the least amount of riding planned. I normally covered about 50 miles a day. If I rode at that pace, I would pass through the redwood region without spending much time there. So day 2 was a relatively short sightseeing, tourist day. Oddly that is a challenge for me physically. I can ride long distances on my bike, but stopping for long breaks and starting…

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#adventure #adventure bike #bike tour #california #california redwoods #camp #campground #camping #cycling tour #eco travel #exploration #explore #pacific coast highway #pacific coast route #shoreline highway #tour #touring #travel

Eureka, I Found The Giants! Day 2 Of the 2019 Northern California Bike Tour

Day 1 started as expected: in a cute coastal town with overcast damp weather. I was pleased to find that I had not forgotten anything, which I usually do on bike tours. I would not be 100% sure until I made camp for the night, but it was “so far, so good.” I made a quick stop at the local drug store for a few extra items and I hit the Waterfront trail. The trail kept me off of the roads and…

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Searching for Giants from the Sky: Getting To The Start Of My Norcal Bike Tour.

As I prepared for my trip to northern California to start my bike tour, it seems like I went over my checklist about a dozen times. Each time I found something that I needed to pack or change. Somehow I ended up feeling confident that everything was good to go. I packed my bike and gear into a bike box I got from a local dealer (thanks, “Buy My Bikes” of San Juan Capistrano!). I shipped it using…

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#adventure #adventure bike #bike tour #california #california redwoods #camp #campground #camping #cycling tour #eco travel #exploration #explore #pacific coast highway #pacific coast route #shoreline highway #tour #touring #travel

Countdown To The Northern California Tour

My tour of Northern California starts in less than a week. I will be riding from Eureka to Oakland along Pacific Coast Route. It will take me through Redwood forests, right along the coast, across the Golden Gate Bridge, through San Francisco, and finish with a ferry ride to Oakland. I will be flying to Eureka and meeting my bike there which I will ship separately. Then I will return home with my…

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#adventure bike #adventure ride #bicycle #bike tour #california #california redwoods #camp #campground #camping #cyclist #pacific coast highway #pacific coast route #planning #preparation #tour #touring

San Diego Coast to Crest Ride. Well, Some Of It

Ken is a great guy. He is the organizer of an occasional bike overnight camp trip in San Diego, using social media to make them happen. If that sounds informal, it is. I missed Ken’s most recent trip: a ride through Carrizo Plain National Monument at the peak of California’s wildflower bloom this year. But then he organized an…

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5+ Ways to Make a Super Wide Range 11 Speed Drop Bar Drivetrain - Only 1 With an Adapter!

5+ Ways to Make a Super Wide Range 11 Speed Drop Bar Drivetrain – Only 1 With an Adapter!

There are classes of drop bar bikes that some riders prefer with a wider range of gearing than a standard road or mountain bike group offers. Road tandems, touring/trekking bikes, gravel/adventure bikes, to name a few, can be ridden in a wide enough range of conditions that it can be good to have a big gear nearly as big as a roadie 53/11 and a small gear nearly as small as a mountain bike…

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#11 speed #adventure bike #brifter #chain #compatability #drivetrain #drop bar shifter #friction shift #gravel bike #index shift #Mountain bike #touring bike #trekking bike

"Virtual Flyover" of the 2019 Ride For Rwanda 2019 50 Mile Route. I am going to join the Ride For Rwanda this year as I have for many years.

#50 mile ride #charity ride #moutain bike ride #ride not a race #rwanda #virtual flyover

Commuting, Riding for Charity, Mountain Biking, Vlogging, Episode 1

I like to use multiple social media formats to share my riding experiences. Blogging is great for going into details. I love capturing moments in pictures. But I also have fun making videos of my adventures. I have a YouTube channel called, shockingly, Two Wheel Lifestyle.

My YouTube channel has a lot of motorcycle content on it, but I have begun to add some bicycle videos now too. BTW, I hate…

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Cycle Tour Carpinteria to Oxnard: The Final, Perfect Day

The last day of my tour began at the very full Carpinteria State Beach campground on a Memorial Day weekend Sunday. I had a short ride planed for that day that would take me to the Amtrak station in Oxnard where I would ride my bike right onto the train then be dropped off just a few miles from home. So I was in no hurry around the campsite that morning. I wanted to explore the boardwalk trails…

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On The Passing Of American Classic Wheels

Last week I was commuting to work on my lightweight race bike. I have a commuter bike but it was undergoing an upgrade and in pieces in my workshop. On the final leg of my ride I crossed a pedestrian plaza and came back out into a quiet parking lot. I was riding slow with my head on a swivel and WHAM! My front tire hit a newly placed concrete parking stop. I should have had a bobble head motion…

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