Tag Archives: triathlon training

Haul-a-Day Camping Adventure

Who said you couldn’t put a Cargo Bike on a car rack? Elle Steele refused to listen.

Elle Steele packed up her Bike Friday Haul-a-Day, along with her kids, and came to Eugene for the Kidical Mass Camping Trip.

Read her adventure here.

Seeing Eye to Eye

Members of the Lane Regional Program for the Visually Impaired enjoy an afternoon in the sun riding Bike Friday Family Tandems along the Willamette River, thanks to the Northwest Association of Blind Athletes.

By Raz

On the surface, Alan Scholz and Billy Henry might look as though they have little in common.

Alan, a Baby Boomer with gray edges up top, is Co-Founder of Bike Friday.

Billy, a Millenial with his hair spiked to a point in the middle, is Co-Founder of the Northwest Association of Blind Athletes.

Spend a little time chatting with each, and their kindred spirit shines as one.

Alan started his first bike shop as a teenager in his parent’s basement in Fargo, N.D.

Billy started his non-profit organization in his parent’s garage in Vancouver, WA.

Alan designs Bike Fridays to extend the wonderful experience of cycling to others.

Billy just took delivery of his first fleet of Bike Fridays to deliver the wonders of cycling to others like him.

“I started with six kids in my garage, doing powerlifting,” Billy said about the organization he started to get visually impaired individuals out and active. “This year we’ll touch more than a thousand people. For a lot of them, it will be the first time they get to experience the joy of riding a bike.”

It’s known as the power of one.

“We like to do whatever we can to help organizations like this,” Alan said. “We actually sell quite a few tandems that allow visually impaired individuals to get out on a bike. In working with Billy’s organization, we’ve been able to come up with a discount program for fleets of tandems, and we want everyone to know that opportunity is out there.”

A fleet of eight Family Tandems sat in the Bike Friday Showroom awaiting delivery to the Northwest Association of Blind Athletes.

Billy couldn’t wait to see his new fleet in action. He picked up the bikes at our Factory in Eugene, and drove them to the Rose Garden on the River Bank Bicycle Path for use by the Lane Regional Program for the Visually Impaired.

Each summer the Eugene-based program gets its students out for a day of riding. Billy was pleased to be able to provide the new tandems. On the same day, his organization had a ride going on in Portland. In coming weeks they will have rides in Salem and Albany.

Staff members of the Lane Regional Program for the Visually Impaired, parents and volunteers prepared for a ride on a wonderful summer afternoon in Eugene.

“We spend the summer organizing rides throughout Oregon and Washington,” Billy said. “Last year we had a 60-year-old go on his first bike ride ever. This year a 55-year-old did the same. We have a lot of programs, but without question, bicycling is our most popular.”

The smiles and excited chatter among the group reflected the popularity of cycling. The Bike Friday Family Tandems are highly adjustable, allowing saddles and handlebar heights to be set for different captains and stokers. The 20-inch wheels provide a low center of gravity, and give small children more comfort being closer to the ground.

“The bike was great,” said Joel Phifer, a braillist with the Lane Regional Program. “It was nice to have a bike that fits someone smaller like me. In the past we’ve had to try to ride some bikes that were a bit too big for some of us.”

Billy smiled as he heard the review.

“I can’t thank Bike Friday enough,” Billy said. “This first fleet is just great, and I can’t wait for people to ride these. I’m going out and see how much money I can raise to get another fleet as soon as I can.”

 

Jonathan Gault steers while Mark Miller provides horsepower from behind. Jonathan’s wife, Kristin, works with the Lane Regional Program and they have a son who visually impaired. They bought a Bike Friday tandem last year. Joel Phifer captains while Kenza Minkler rides as stoker. All shapes and sizes enjoyed pedalling along the Willamette River on a toasty summer afternoon.

 

 

 

Triathlon Training, Bike Friday style

Thom and Pam Dodd on the cycle track out east overlooking the Pacific Ocean in New Zealand, 2011.

    Thom Dodd is our Bike Friday Dealer in New Zealand, and is using his Bike Fridays to prepare for an Ironman distance triathlon.
     Here’s an update on his training:
     I am half way through a year of preparation for the Challenge Wanaka, an Ironman length triathlon that will be held in Wanaka, near Queenstown on the south island of New Zealand January 21, 2012. 
     I have a few goals for the event:
  •     Complete the new Ironman length tri here in NZ (I have previously completed  the New Zealand Ironman in Taupo, North Island.)
  •     Get to the start (and finish!) injury free and healthy.
  •     Do all of my training rides, runs and swims in beautiful settings here in New Zealand
  •     Do swim training all in the Marine reserve near my house in Hahei to prep for the 3.8k (2.4 mile) lake swim
  •     Do training runs all on trails in the area as the 42k. (26.2mile) run in Wanaka is mostly off road, and rides mostly along the coast and through the coastal hills
  •     Prepare for the 180k (112 mile) ride throu the Otago area.
  •     Enjoy every minute of the preparation and the event.
  •     Perform all of my cycle training on my Bike Friday (I have done more than 5,000 kilometers in 2011 on either my New World Tourist or my Pocket Llama, depending on weather and road conditions).
  •    Compete on the actual day on a Bike Friday, either my New World Tourist or my wife’s Pocket Rocket.
  •    Raise awareness among triathletes about the versatility and quality of the line of bikes Bike Friday produces.
     My rides so far have taken me to some of the most scenic places on the planet, and my favourite 120k ride hits 14 of the most beautiful beaches (plus more bodies of water) that you could imagine. 
     For those of you with Googleearth, they are:  Hahei Beach, Hot Water Surf Beach, Hot Water Main Beach, Cooks Beach, the Purangi Estuary, Lonely Bay, Flaxmill Bay, Ferry Landing, and across on the ferry to Buffalo and Brophy’s Beaches, Wharekaho Beach, Kuaotunu beach (after a 200 + meter hill), Greys Beach, Rings Beach, and Matarangi Beach and then back home. 
     I do that ride most weeks, with an alternate ride going the other way over a 240+meter hill, via Tairua and Pauanui Beaches, along the Tairua estuary for about 10k and over two more 200+ meter hills to Opoutere Beach and then onto Whangamata, which has a great surf beach, and back home over the same route. 
     I like to get both rides in each week, and want to give you all the idea that it doesn’t have to be a grind. 
     This time of year (winter down here) I hardly see any vehicles — maybe 20 per hour or so, and the weather here isn’t much different than Santa Cruz, CA, where I lived until 16 years ago when I moved south (about as far south as possible)
     I will post something every once in awhile — maybe fortnightly — until the event (on rainy days). 
     So unfold that bike in a gorgeous place, hop on and have a great ride!!
      PHOO INFORMATION: Pam and I rode around the Coromandel Peninsula where we live — about 300k (180 miles).  The road up the west side is only connected to the road up the east side (both dirt roads for the last 40-50k) by an 8k stretch of cycling/walking single track.  Very remote — it is the site of the Kona Colville connection mountain bike race in March every year. 

Pam at the north end of the track at a place called Fletcher Bay -- which is a campground and hostel but is bring your own food or a fishing pole.

A hiker we met en route under a low frowing ancient Pohutakawa tree, complete with ephitic plants hanging off it in a real jungle scene.

Our Bike Fridays at a Pohutakawa tree at the other end of the track, Stony Bay -- another camping ground with excellent ocean and stream swimming spots.