Author Archives: BF Admin

Bike Fridays for a good cause

PHOTO: Bike Friday owners Adam Arlan and David Nestvold raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Vermont.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Bike Friday owner Adam Arlan sent us this note and photo about his travels and fund-raising on his Bike Friday.]

“Hello Bike Friday Team,

“I wanted to share this picture with you. Front row is me (Adam Arlan) and David Nestvold with our Bike Fridays.

“We are both bike coaches for the northwest chapter of JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). We help riders train and prepare for destination rides as we raise money for the cure of Type 1 Diabetes.

“The photo is from our trip to Burlington, Vermont from Seattle for a century ride. In this picture we’re in the southern part of Burlington overlooking Lake Champlain.

“I purchased my Bike Friday from you in January 2014. So far it has been to Hawaii, California, Arizona, Nevada, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

“Last November we traveled to Arizona with several JDRF riders as well. We rode El Tour de Tucson and raised money for JDRF on my Bike Friday.

“I’ll be taking it on another JDRF ride this fall to Death Valley. We also got another JDRF rider to buy a Bike Friday.

“Here is the link to my fundraising site for the JDRF ride this fall.

Greetings,”

Adam

 

Peninsula Trails Coalition wins Haul-a-Day

To celebrate Bike Month, Bike Friday will donate a Haul-a-Day to the Peninsula Trails Coalition.


Bike Friday owners voted overwhelmingly for the Peninsula Trails Coalition to be the deserving Non-Profit to use the versatility of an adjustable Cargo Bike to further its cause.

The Peninsula Trails Coalition is the 501(c)(3) that is developing and maintaining the Olympic Discovery Trail on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. The trail, when complete, will go from Port Townsend (on Puget Sound) to LaPush (on Pacific Coast), spanning approximately 130 miles. They currently have approximately 70 of the miles completed.

They are in their 27th year of this effort. As the trail grows, their maintenance needs have gotten larger and larger. In getting to some of the trail areas where there is little road access, they have developed trail equipment that uses bicycles and trailers to move blowers and tools. The Bike Friday Haul-a-Day will help them to get needed items and supplies to where work parties need them. Learn more on their website.

Please don’t forget the other deserving finalists, and consider helping their causes if you have the means.

Relief Nursery, Eugene, Oregon
Learn more on their website.

Pennsylvania Center for Adapted Sports
Learn more on their website.

Neighborhood Bike Works Philadelphia
Learn more on their website.

Community Bikes Santa Rosa
Learn more on their website.

Bici Centro/Santa Barbara (CA) Coalition (SB BIKE)
Learn more on their website.

Early Childhood CARES, Lane County, Oregon
Learn more on their website.

Imagine Dragons on Haul-a-Days

The Imagine Dragons riding Bike Friday Haul-a-Days during the shooting of their new video for Shots (Broiler Remix) at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas.

The wildly popular band Imagine Dragons recently spent most of their time shooting their latest Shots (Broiler Remix) music video on Haul-a-Days in Las Vegas.

Stuart Farmer, whose company Open Air Cinema uses Bike Fridays as the foundation for its mobile cycling cinema bike, hooked up the band with four Haul-a-Days for the video shoot.

The video made its premiere on June 3rd on Access Hollywood, and you can view it here.

According to Stuart, the band saw him roll up one day on his Haul-a-Day and they were smitten.

“I’m friends with a guy who helps manage the band, and I rode my Haul-a-Day over to his house one day,” Stuart said. “The band was there, and they all said, ‘Wow, those are cool bikes.’ ”

According to Stuart, the band immediately jumped on his bike for some test rides around the block.

“They loved the bike,” Stuart said.

A few days later, Stuart got a call from his friend who was directing the Imagine Dragon’s latest video.

“I got a call on Thursday and he asked if I could get four Haul-a-Days to the Stratosphere in Las Vegas on Saturday,” Stuart said. “I just couldn’t pass that up.”

Stuart drove the bikes to the video shoot and got to hang behind the scenes, where he got these photos.

“It was pretty cool,” Stuart said. “They rode the bikes around the block for the video, singing their song. Then rode them through the Casino and all around. They rode them to the elevator, and then took them up to the Observation Deck and rode them around there.”

Once up on the Observation Deck, they turned on LED lights that Stuart had attached to the bottom of the frames.

“It really looked cool,” Stuart said.

As soon as we have the link to the video, we will set it up here.

You can view the Cinebike video here.

Bike Friday Gravel Grinders

By Raz

It’s nearly impossible to forget the first time I felt the exciting crunch of gravel beneath the wheels of my bike.

The summer sun beat down on us, four junior high renegades bombing around on our bikes with a thirst for exploration and adventure.

That’s a fancy way of saying we were looking for a shortcut to my friend’s new digs, hoping a closed road would pay off.

We skirted around the wooden barricade, and soon charged down a thrilling, winding, hill. That’s when the pavement disappeared beneath our rubber and gravel introduced itself at the most inconvenient of moments.

A quick, terrifying glance at my speedometer showed we were pushing 30 mph as we whipped through a tight corner.

My buddies, with more appropriate bikes for this, slammed on their coaster brakes and roared to a stop with their fatter tires. Meanwhile, on my less than ideal 10-speed with rim brakes and thin tires, I didn’t dare touch the brakes for fear of my wheels skidding out from under me.

With some sketchy fish-tailing not to mention Divine Intervention, I somehow managed to stay upright through the turn, but before the road could level off and I could breathe easy, reality hit.

I found no wooden barricade on this end of the road. No, I faced a 6-foot tall berm of dirt to discourage visitors. A small, foot-wide worn section showed I wouldn’t be the first to slip over this impressive obstacle.

Instead, I would just be the first to do so at 30 mph.

Here I bow to the reports of my witnesses, who say I launched 20 feet high and 20 feet out before flipping over my front wheel with my elbow somewhat softening the impact of my face on, you guessed it, more gravel.

Of course, by this point in my life I was well acquainted with the emergency room and stitches. So you understand how gravel sparks memories for me.

 

The emergence of Gravel Grinders as popular cycling events — my aerial acrobatics notwithstanding — makes sense to me. Especially having spent the better part of the past 10 years in Oregon exploring countless gravel fire roads.

My Bike Friday Pocket Llamas (yes, I have two) have proven to be perfect for Gravel Grinding, and after my recent trip to Sea Otter in California, I learned our Bike Friday Diamond Tourist might even be more hungry for that type of terrain, and for a more affordable choice we have our Bike Friday Pocket Expedition.

The greatest value of my Bike Friday comes from the travel aspect that few consider at the outset: Its ability to remain folded in the back of my SUV, under a blanket, giving me constant access to my bike without anyone knowing I have it with me.

Here in Oregon, that means endless opportunities to steal away an hour or two, simply riding up the nearest fireroad.

The ability to go to wider tires make the Llama, Expedition and Diamond Tourist perfect for this joyriding. Toss in a Thudbuster seatpost and you’re ready for action.

After countless miles on Schwalbe Big Apple tires, I’ve spent the past year enjoying Maxxis Holy Rollers, that give me a little bit of knobby tread that, I hope, might come in handy if and when that next berm rears its ugly head.

Here are two great resources for Gravel Grinding:

Travel Oregon’s RideOregonRide.com
Riding Gravel website

You can read more of Raz’s adventures in his ebook “You Can’t Cook a Dead Crab and Eat It”

Sprocket Podcast Features Bike Friday

Brock Dittus of The Sprocket Podcast in Portland recently interviewed Bike Friday Special Projects Manager Raz for a podcast

You can LISTEN HERE

 

Sharing the Love of Cycling

Maria Contreras Tebbutt (center) runs the Bike Garage in Woodland, California, inspiring people to ride bikes.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Maria Contreras Tebbutt was one of the first to order a Bike Friday Haul-a-Day, which she uses to promote cycling in her Hispanic Community in Woodland, California. To help celebrate Bike Month, Raz visited her shop on a Saturday morning.]

By Raz

The sunlight pokes through some scattered clouds on an early Saturday in Woodland, California.

It’s a perfect morning to climb on your bike and hit the inviting roads that spread into the beautiful countryside around the Sacramento Valley.

About 10 miles south, in the cycling haven of Davis, many cyclists are doing just that. You can see them on the backroads, clad in lycra and rolling in bright bunches.

Behind Douglass Middle School in Woodland, a small posse of volunteers arrives and soon used, refurbished bikes pour out of a small garage. A handful of volunteers work on bikes.

Maris Contreras Tebutt arrives with two bikes on the back of her car. She bounces out and invigorates everyone with her boundless energy.

Maria runs The Bike Campaign & Bike Garage, a program of the Center for Families. Her goal is simple: Get the folks of Woodland to embrace cycling.

“Davis has a strong cycling community, and Woodland is next door, just 10 miles away,” Maria said. “Yet we are worlds apart.

“The schools here are 75 percent free lunch. It’s about 50 percent Hispanic. I chose to make this my target audience. I target Hispanic women because I am one, and I speak Spanish.”

She targets them because she sees an opportunity to make a real difference.

“Introducing them to cycling I can have an impact,” Maria said. “I tell them you have to spend $10,000 for a car. Imagine what you could have with $10,000 for food. Bikes can make a big impact to a family’s finances.”

Once Maria heard about the Haul-a-Day she had to have one. It is a great example of what a bike can do for a family.

“Parents not knowing what their options are, or being able to pay for them, pose an obstacle to reducing car trips to schools,” Maria said, pointing out the conga line of cars at schools each day is something she is targeting.

“When bike-riding young parents start driving themselves around during pregnancy, this trend may continue until they drive their kids off to college, and give them a car, too.”

Maria points out that the exhaust output of one minute of car idling equals the output of three packs of cigarettes.

“If I did that in a classroom wouldn’t people be throttling me,” Maria said.

On this Saturday in April, Maria spends time teaching a young parent how to ride a bike. She does that a lot. She also encourages people to try to ride.

She spent 15 minutes talking about the benefits of bike riding to Andy, a parent who came to learn more about bike riding. A few days later, she heard back from him.

“I’m excited,” Andy said. “I’ve finally ridden my bike to work this morning, and politely — and proudly — declined a car ride from a co-worker for lunch to that new sandwich place downtown. I got there (on my bike) with no time wasted on looking for parking.”

Maria has two Haul-a-Days that will be the foundation of a Family Bike Lending Library she is working on to allow families to borrow bikes and learn how they can change their lives.

Andy will be one of the first to borrow the Haul-a-Day to pedal his 9-year-old daughter to school.

“People can change,” Maria said. “They just need to know what all their options are.”

Haul-a-Day fits on Chicago Metra

A Haul-a-Day on Chicago Metra.

This from owner KayCee Millitante:

“My first time taking a bike on the Metra — ever — and the only problem I had was that the conductor wouldn’t stop asking me about my very cool bike smile emoticon (and I’d been nervous because I heard some were cranky about bringing on bikes!)”

— KayCee Millitante