Bike Michiana

resources, news, observations and ideas about bicycling in the Michiana area

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Back Door Friends are Best

Posted by bspitzer on July 6, 2009

Just inside the back door of the home I grew up in hangs a small, artsy-craftsy sign that reads, “Back door friends are best.” I suppose that sign still hangs by that back door; truthfully, I haven’t checked in years. But I think that’s a very true sentiment. Only your best friends approach your house at the back door. Formal visitors and strangers would never presume to knock on the back door, and most of us would get creeped out by strangers lurking around the back of our homes.

So what does this have to do with biking . . .

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Commentary, Ride Reports | 1 Comment »

A Sermon for the Choir

Posted by bspitzer on June 30, 2008

My wife and I spent this past weekend doing a bit of biking in Northern Michigan. Charlevoix-Boyne City-Petoskey is beautiful with a wide variety of biking opportunities from paved path riding to some great single track.

Out for coffee one morning, I picked up a copy of the Northern Express Weekly, a free, independent newspaper. What caught my eye? Splashed on the front page was a picture of a guy with a single speed and the headline, “A Bike’s Best Friend: John Robert Williams Offers a New Direction for Commuters.” What bike commuting enthusiast wouldn’t grab such a publication?

The title of this post is “A Sermon for the Choir” and Anne Stanton’s article about Williams, his bike fleet (over 20 bikes), and his commuting habits is just that: a sermon about bike commuting that we’ll all read and nod our heads to in agreement.

Here’s a link to the whole article; I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A Bike’s Best Friend

Posted in Advocacy, Commentary | Leave a Comment »

RAGBRAI: The Granddaddy of ‘Em All! July 20-26

Posted by bspitzer on June 23, 2008

If you’re a touring cyclist looking for the best cross-state ride in the country, look no further than our neighbor two states to the left. The Des Moines (Iowa) Register annually sponsors a rolling festival of biking with its ride, R.A.G.B.R.A.I. . . . the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. Now in its 36 year, this rolling party of 10,000 cyclists and probably as many supporters attracts folks from all corners of the world.

For the past two years, and with plans to head over again this year, Team Velodox (http://velodox.blogspot.com) represents the South Bend area on this adventure.

Averaging about 70 miles a day, and always riding from West to East, RAGBRAI moves from town to town, stopping to overnight in some of Iowa’s best small-town communities. In 35 years, they’ve begun, passed through or stayed overnight, or ended in over 68% of the towns in Iowa.

Check out their web site, http://www.ragbrai.org.

If you’ve ever had a desire to bike from “sea to shining sea” (or in this case from the Muddy Missouri to the Muddy Mississippi), then RAGBRAI is your ride.

Posted in Group Rides: Special | Leave a Comment »

 
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