Results tagged “Biking” from Intelligent Travel Blog

The world is a blur this month for the swift competitors racing in the Tour de France, and most of them have been pedaling faster than ever since with the introduction of ever-lighter carbon bikes each year. But for biking enthusiasts who crave such top-notch speed and durability, a whole new eco- and budget-friendly option will be soon available through an innovative partnership between non-profit Zambikes and elite bike builder Craig Calfee: the bamboo bike.

The story of the bamboo bike began right in the States -- Santa Cruz, to be exact -- where Calfee designed a bamboo bike for a publicity project. His audiences loved the artsy-crafty look, and requests and rave reviews soon started rolling in. Thus began a small, brand new production line.

Then Calfee remembered a trip he took in Africa, when he noticed a lot of bamboo, a shortage of bikes, and even fewer jobs. Wouldn't it be great, he thought, if developing countries could use one of the few natural resources they do have to create state-of-the-art bikes that everyone could enjoy and use? This became the inspiration for his Bamboosero project, which first took form in Ghana, where Calfee introduced the bike design to the local people and helped them set up the supply chain.

Watching the Tour de France the past few days has me dreaming of pedaling along the French countryside. (We'll just ignore the prospect of taking on the Alps for the sake of this post - I'm no Lance.) Which is why I was so intrigued to hear about the latest offering from the swoon-worthy Tour d'Afrique. This tour company, which specializes in trans-continental bicycle trips that let you transverse Africa, slice through Europe, follow the Silk Road, and ride around South America, is now letting you plan your own cycling "DreamTour."  Touting "if you can dream it, you can do it," these trips incorporate a web 2.0 touch and seem pretty incredible.

Here's the deal: You log on to their site and design and name your trip, plotting the route, uploading photos and picking out the places you'd want to visit. You set the costs for the number of riders, plus hotels, food, crew, and support, and if it's a "do-able" trip, Tour d'Afrique will set you loose to convince your friends and family -- via the social web of course -- that they need to come on board. They can comment and make tweaks, and if you get enough to commit to going, Tour d'Afrique will make it happen, and better yet, you'll get to go for free.

Convinced that this was a novel way to make my dream trip happen, I immediately got the scoop from Henry Gold, the founder of Tour d'Afrique and builder of the Dream. Check out the interview after the jump.

What better way to explore some of the country's greatest natural treasures and historic sites than a bicycle tour through the back roads of Florida? And now, you can do it any time of the year! In an effort to help make Florida tourism greener, non-profit organization Bike Florida is bringing back year-round, long-distance bicycle touring for the first time in 25 years.

To inaugurate the new initiative, Herb Hiller and Linda Crider, co-founders of the modern-day Florida bicycling movement, will lead a week-long bicycle tour this October 10-16, starting and ending at Palatka, a rural county seat by the St. Johns River in northeastern Florida.

"For too long there's been no organized comfortable cycling way to discover backroads Florida," says Crider.  "These tours are organized for that, but also for fun."

A Caribbean sunset? Not quite...it's Vermont.

I'm just back from a trip to the islands...of Vermont. While the Green Mountain State may foster thoughts of skiing, snow and perhaps maple syrup, Vermont is a blast during the non-summer months. And yes, there are islands in the state, the foremost of which are North and South Hero, located just a few miles north of Burlington in the middle of Lake Champlain. It may not be the Caribbean, but these bucolic islands are absolutely lovely, and just as much of an escape.

I ventured north to attend a wedding on South Hero, and the bride and groom chose an innovative option, booking the entire Eagle Camp, a family campground open during the summer. Aside from the staggering views of the lake, which also provided a perfect spot for bonfires, the camp was a hit with us wedding-goers, with a mix of cozy cabins and tents and plenty of room to spread out and play croquet, bocce ball, and shuffleboard (W. Shore Rd.; +1 802 372 4242).

If you prefer to wait until the fall, be sure to visit during South Hero's Applefest, which is the largest apple festival in the state, and will take place October 10-11 this year. I visited years ago and still swoon when I think of the many varieties of apple goodies -- cobbler, cider, candied, pie -- that I sampled while there. A friend and I spent a good part of the afternoon walking through an orchard, pulling apples off the trees, awash in sensory overload. It was hedonism at its best.

Freda Moon gives us the scoop on some not-so-common forms of kinetic transportation.

You could imagine this past weekend's Kinetic Grand Championship as Tour de France meets Burning Man. But really this 3-day bicycle race in Humboldt County, California is an event all its own. In place of traditional bicycles, racers pedal "kinetic kontraptions"-- part sculpture, part bike. Instead of smooth road or velodrome, racers navigate land, sand, mud and water in people-powered art machines built to look like everything from Octomom (an octopus with a baby gripped in each tentacle) to a fire-breathing metallic dragon constructed from discarded aluminum, to a tie-dyed Hippy-Potamus with wiggling ears and batting eyelashes.  

The event, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, began when one local sculptor, Hobart Brown, challenged another to a race down the main drag of Ferndale, California. Forty years later, the route is 42 miles long, and takes racers across sand dunes (including one called "Deadman's Drop"), across a bay, up and down a mile-long hill with a seven percent incline and across a river. The race, which draws thousands of spectators each year, has spawned similar events across the country and as far away as Perth, Australia.  

As May draws to a close, there are only a few lingering days left of Bike Month, and some good news on the bike front. It turns out that in the first quarter of 2009, Americans bought more bikes than cars, about 2.6 million vs. 2.5 million, according to Dennis Markatos, founder of Sustainable Energy Transition, in a blog on the Huffington Post.

Markatos says that even though the economic downturn has also impacted bike sales (they're down 30 percent from last year) they're still doing better than car sales (which are currently down 35 percent). What does that mean for Americans? More exercise, less CO2 emissions, and more money in your pocket since you're not paying for gas. So if you haven't taken advantage of bike month to tune up your ride, why not try to do so before the month's end?

Events are still happening this weekend in Sacramento, New York City, Colorado, Austin, and Greenville, among other cities. Visit  the calendar available at the League of American Bicyclists to find events in your area.

To get you inspired, we gathered the bicycle photos from our Intelligent Travel Flickr group. Get riding!
 

• What can you squeeze out of a throw-away item? That's what Google asked college students for its Juicy Ideas Competition. The competition winners--four guys from Appalachian State University, and one a good friend of mine--designed a bike with a frame made entirely out of plastic bottles. Their concept: "Bicycling is an economic and eco-friendly mode of transportation. Merge the two together and you create a self-sustainable business model that turns trash into treasure in the form of affordable, carbon-reducing community bikes." Check out their video (above) and website, and read more about the competition here. Congrats Andrew and team!
  
  
• In more biking news, cyclists across the United States should check out RentABikeNow.com, an online bike reservation tool that allows bike-enthusiasts in 37 states to reserve bikes to their own specifications.
  
  
• Everyone knows that Amsterdam is the city of bikes, but other European metropolises are making it easy to see the city on two wheels, too. Vienna's CityBike program allows visitors to rent bikes for as little as one euro (if you reserve long enough in advance), and the euro is even returned when you pick up your bike. Likewise, Milan's BikeMi program has nearly 90 bike stations around the city. If you rent a bike for less than 30 minutes, your rental is free (minus a one-time rental fee).
  
  
• And in case you caught on to my theme, New Zealand is getting its first national cycleway. In the next three years, the government will spend some $50 million linking cities (and the hotels between them) with safe bicycle routes for both residents and tourists, in hopes to strengthen New Zealand's travel/tourism industry.

We don't just talk the talk when it comes to being green here at the National Geographic Society. We're constantly working on reducing our impact on the environment, from using compost bins in our cafeteria, to switching all desk lamps to energy-efficient CFL bulbs, to purchasing wind power instead of getting our electricity from coal-fired plants. But even we were impressed when we heard about our colleague Fabio Amador's sporty new ride. Called the Go-One, it's a three-wheeled "trike" with a removable top -- making it a convertible of sorts. Weighing in at about 50 pounds, it pedals like any other recumbent bike. Fabio (whom we can't help but think is aptly named, given his sleek, racing car-styled vehicle) received a special parking place in the NG garage and uses the trike to commute the two miles between his home and the office.

"I figured this was a great way to show personal initiative in an organization that cares about conservation," he says. "No gas, no insurance and no permits. And I wanted to make an effort to leave no carbon footprint."

We asked him to tell us a bit more about his ride.

So what does it feel like to get around in that thing?

Moving through a suburban and urban cityscape, you're very low to the ground and you're moving between cars at a high speed. You can seem invisible, though the vehicle itself gets noticed quite fast once people do see it.

What's kind of response do you get?

Mostly amazement, laughter. I've been a shy person all my life, but this is not the way to continue living anonymously. But I see it as a way for a person to motivate others to do something, whether it's fighting against diabetes or not leaving a carbon footprint. One person can change the world.

Senior editor Norie Quintos recently visited New York City with her teenage sons, trying to go as green as possible. Here's Part 2 of her report. To see Part 1, click here.


What to do

We picked up bikes from Bike & Roll (from $10 per hour), which has several locations, including one at Pier 84 along Hudson River Park. New York's Greenway is a bike-friendly series of linked waterfront parks that hug lower Manhattan. The kids loved the ride, filled as it was with pockets of green, waterside views, and joggers. It was sightseeing on steroids, just the way teens like it: We blew by Chelsea Piers, the Frank Gehry-designed IAC building which locals call "The Ice Cube," the Meatpacking District, Battery Park City, the crane-dotted site of the World Trade Center, and ended up at Battery Park, just in time to lock up the bikes to get on the ferry for our rendezvous with Lady Liberty. After a relatively quick howdy-do (purchase your tickets online to cut the waiting time), it was back on the bikes for the ride back.

The rest of the time we walked or took the subway or bus everywhere, just like the locals. Parents: Pick up a subway map (available at hotels or subway stations), hand it to your teens, tell them where you want to go, and let them figure it out; it's good for them.

So much city, so little time: like lots of air travelers, I'm often forced to shoehorn my sightseeing into a few hours of leisure and a few square blocks. That's when I get homesick for my trusty purple Schwinn, which hardly ever fits in the overhead bin. But I do tote a laptop, and that makes finding a local bike easy. Today RentABikeNow.com launches an online reservation site for cycling rentals at 200 locations nationwide. It's a quick-click solution to the only-one-afternoon-in-a-new-town dilemma--enter your destination, find a convenient location, and book your bike.

Gearhead George Gill of Chicago says he came up with the idea on a recent plane flight and promoted it at last year's Interbike trade show. The site lets cyclists reserve the bike of their choice, from a recumbent to a BMX, for just a few bucks (plus a surcharge that starts at $5). You can specify size and accessories (even, at some shops, a GPS to guide your way), and the dates, from a day to a month. The site pre-sifts available locations to make sure that the shop is open when you need it and responds with a confirmation that includes directions to the rental site and suggestions for area attractions nearby.

There are gaps--search for Cleveland and you'll be matched with a shop 35 miles away in Barberton--but bike-friendly spots like San Diego, Tampa and Chicago are well served and the site is adding locations daily. RentABikeNow has also enlisted shops at rural trailheads for the fat-tire crowd. Log on today, ride tomorrow.

--Chris O'Toole

Photo: Biking along Lake Michigan in Chicago, by meryddian via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool        

It's no secret here at Traveler that we'll go just about anywhere for a good cupcake. So when our Geotourism Intern Christina Stockamore told us about an actual bike tour with cupcakes built in we immediately demanded she share the details.

Will work for baked goods: Christina, far left, poses with the group.

After purchasing my first road bike a few months ago, I was anxious for the weather to turn a little warmer to join a group bike ride. I noticed that City Bikes, a full-service shop in D.C., offers a weekly 18-mile bike ride called the Cupcake Ramble. The route starts at their shop in Adams Morgan, passes through Rock Creek Park and ends at their other location in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The best part: The ride is led by pastry chef Sol Schott, of the popular D.C. eateries Open City, Tryst, and The Diner.  

So on a recent weekend I decided to try it out, and I met the group at 11 a.m. on Sunday outside City Bikes in Adams Morgan. Sol arrived a few minutes later apologizing for his delay--he had just wrapped up his work in the bakery. I noticed we had a mixture of bikes--road bikes, hybrids, cruisers--and as we got moving, I was grateful that mine had gears.  

A few quick links from our travel radar this week...

- Now on display at the Testori UK Gallery in London: several works of art made from chewing gum. Artist Maurizio Sauvini used "American gum," as it's called in Rome, to shape a buffalo, bear, and a man. [Telegraph]

- Unleash your inner Viking at the Up Helly Aa Festival in Scotland's Shetland Islands, held the last weekend in January. [The Circumference]

- Treehugger points out that throwing trash out your car window creates the "finest All You Can Eat Buffet that Bambi has ever seen," which unfortunately is why so many animals are hit by cars. Stop roadkill by cleaning up your act. [Treehugger]

- Seattle Airport announces that it will begin using mobile air conditioning and heating units to keep planes cool while they're on the tarmac - reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the planes. [USA Today]

- We're all for safe cycling, so when we came across the Light Lane, which projects a laser bike lane on the ground surrounding the rider, we couldn't help think it brilliant. [Boing Boing]

Photo: via the Telegraph