Feb 19th, 2009 at 1:00PM: Every cyclist dreams of pedaling through l'Arc de Triomphe and claiming endless glory. Short of that, there is nothing wrong with viewing the action first hand. Great Explorations has put together two trips for the coming year that deliver the latter (to ride it yourself, you have to earn it).
The first itinerary offers great views of at least three stages of the race, including the mountain ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
bicycle posts
Got what it takes to wear the yellow jersey?
Feb 19th, 2009 at 1:00PM: Every cyclist dreams of pedaling through l'Arc de Triomphe and claiming endless glory. Short of that, there is nothing wrong with viewing the action first hand. Great Explorations has put together two trips for the coming year that deliver the latter (to ride it yourself, you have to earn it).
The first itinerary offers great views of at least three stages of the race, including the mountain ...Play chicken in Helsinki traffic
Feb 6th, 2009 at 9:00AM: I was pretty impressed by Helsinki's public transportation, which was more than ample with trolleys, subways and buses. There were few SUVs, and the bike lane was rarely empty. While the Finns got the ingredients right, the mixing was ... well ... suboptimal. The least menacing of the interesting transportation overlaps involves the bike lanes and sidewalk. Neither is clearly defined, and I ...Ecotourism comes to Cambodia
Jan 5th, 2009 at 9:00AM: Mountain bikers can reclaim wilderness that once belonged to illegal loggers and poachers. Hidden in the foothills of Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains, the village of Chi Pat is now home to a mountain biking experience that is unparalleled in trail and impact. This new program is the result of cooperation among Wildlife Alliance (formerly known as Wild Aid), Asia Adventures (a Cambodia-based ...King bed comes with wheels at some hotels
Dec 21st, 2008 at 9:00AM: Hotels naturally have trouble going green. Think about the really granular details of how they operate; there's a lot that you might miss. How often do you see a bar of soap you used once replaced with a new one? Rolls of toilet paper are swapped when only a fraction is used. You have the option to use sheets or towels more than once, but the choice is yours ... and how often to you choose to ...Wanna Ride in the Tour de France?
Oct 1st, 2008 at 9:00AM: Unless you are willing to dedicate your life to either training or discovering undetectable performance-enhancing drugs, chances are you won't be competing for that yellow jersey. Maybe you could get a job as one of those guys who rides on the back of a motorcycle with a camera. Or you could just travel to France during the race and take in the proceedings through a haze of wine and cheese. But ...Velibs are the new box of chocolates
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Sep 18th, 2008 at 11:00AM: If you've been to Paris any time in the last few years you've probably noticed the ubiquitous bicycle rental kiosks. Called Velibs, the concept has become so popular that the model has been replicated elsewhere. Just this past summer in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, the city outfitted the downtown area with a variety of stands. With such a large user base and number of units on ...Riding a Penny Farthing Around the World
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:13AM: Joff Summerfield is biking around the world. Not only is his feat impressive -- to date, he's already cycled more than 8400 miles! -- but he's doing it on a 19th century penny farthing bicycle, one of those bikes that boast a front wheel with a 47-inch diameter; sport a tiny little nubbin of a back wheel; and has neither chains nor gears. Much like Rosie O'Donnell, he's top-heavy and dangerous. ...Take A Seat And Help Me Pedal...Please!
May 19th, 2007 at 2:46PM: Dominic Gill is attempting to cycle 20,000 miles from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in South America. Lots of people (well, not lots, but some) make this trip; what's so special about Gill? He's tackling this journey on a tandem bike -- and he's asking the people he meets along the way to help pedal! What a fun idea. Claiming one of the most interesting aspects ...A Canadian In Beijing: Two-Wheeled Matrimony
Apr 24th, 2007 at 3:08AM:
I've been here for three weeks and I'm pretty sure that yesterday was my first "bad day." Okay, perhaps "bad" is the wrong word for it. I'd have to say that what started as a good day became a low day, a sad day, a frustrating and annoying day. . . a day when I wished I were home and not here. . . for just an hour, perhaps. I could have even found solace in twenty minutes. (They need to invent ...A Canadian in Beijing: Righteous Bikes
Apr 11th, 2007 at 4:55AM: The thing about bicycles in Beijing is that they're fearless, they're everywhere, they're irreverent and they're their own characters. I know that it's people who ride these bikes, but there seems to be a network of bikes themselves, like a secret society of Beijing bikes that meet at "koumen" (intersections) at all hours of the day to discuss how to better rule the roads. You can almost see them ...World Naked Bike Ride Day, 2007
Mar 28th, 2007 at 2:35PM: Giving new meaning to "underground" railroad bicycle route, on March 10th, organizers staged a World Naked Bike Ride to protest against oil dependency and car culture. Missed it? Me, too. Don't fret, though. There are more to come.
On June 9th and 30th, the organizers are staging additional WNBRs all over the world to continue their protests against indecent exposure to automobile emissions and ...Underground Railroad Bicycle Route
Mar 14th, 2007 at 10:48AM: If you're looking for a theme for your next cross-country bike ride (aside, of course, from the obvious theme of "cross-country bike ride"), then you might want to check out the Underground Railroad route. Though there are a number of routes that made up the historical Underground Railroad network -- clandestine paths by which slaves attempted to escape both before and during the Civil War -- the ...The New Way to See Paris: On A Bicycle
Feb 1st, 2007 at 6:58AM: Recently, Paris announced plans to make bicycles available to the city's commuters, strollers, and tourists for free. Working with French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux SA -- which received access to more than 1600 publicity sites in exchange for providing the bikes -- the City plans to have in excess of 14,000 bikes by this summer, and more than 20,000 by the end of 2007. To borrow a bike, ...Travel by Rocket Bike
Nov 12th, 2006 at 12:00PM: Gear heads will love this article in the Sunday Times. Jeremy Clarkson, host of the super-cool British TV show about high-end autos (Top Gear) has gotten himself the ultimate travel vehicle: the JetCat Cycle. It's powered by a model-aircraft jet (the JetCat P-180), which produces up 1100 lbs of thrust, running on a mixture of wax and jet oil.
The engineers claim that the bike might be able to ...
