10.5.2013 IMBA "Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day": Here's info on 3 of the KIDS routes!

Saturday October 5th is International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) "Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day".

In Roanoke our IMBA chapter (RIMBA www.roanokeimba.org) is planning an incredibly fun event from 11am to 2pm at Fishburn Park (Map/Directions to the Park: http://goo.gl/maps/2Wbxq).

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER for this FREE event!

Among the fun and festivities, ride leaders will be continuously leading kids (and their adults) on short loop rides that are appropriate for their age and experience level.

Following are videos and information on four of the routes that will be guided. Every kid that comes will have a blast, or they will receive a 100% refund ... oh wait, the whole event is FREE!! :D

PRE-Level 1 (0.3 miles, 13 feet of climbing) http://youtu.be/SDUdp4fWeQM is a super-easy, and very short loop that's really fun for kids and novice riders of any age - plus it's great for skill, fitness and confidence building!

RidewGPS: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1843605
Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/84867009

(Note: In this video I'm riding an old mountain bike with our 9 month old baby (Ryder) in an iBert bike seat. Even though this is a very easy trail, for everyone's safety I recommend riding this loop solo.)


Level 1 (0.5 miles, 42 feet of climbing) http://youtu.be/LAIVL6rrwyA is an easy, short, introduction to mountain biking loop for kids and novice riders of any age. After a short climb up Mt. Fishburn, riders are treated with fun, flowing, contour line singletrack. The course is identical to the one used in the wildly popular Fishburn Park Youth Mountain Bike Series.

RidewGPS: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1812481
Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/82965446

If you had fun on Level 1, then give Level 2 a try!

Level 2 (1.0 miles, 76 feet of climbing) http://youtu.be/mjR3ftZdfe8 is a little longer and more advanced loop than the Level 1 course. Level 2 includes most of the fun Level 1 course and it adds a sweet section of trail along the stream, a very short steep pitch that kids can try to carry their momentum up, and a couple of challenging exposed root crossings. This route is great for acquiring new mountain bike skills and improving confidence.

RidewGPS: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1812480
Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/82965440



If you enjoyed Level 2, then you're ready for and you're going to LOVE Level 3!

Level 3 (1.2 miles, 136 feet of climbing) http://youtu.be/i7R_sEl8aig includes most of the Level 1 and Level 2 courses and it adds a great little climb and two downhills that are blasts to ride. In addition to adding a little distance, more climbing and a few more roots crossings there's one sharp right turn on this course that kids will enjoy conquering.

RidewGPS:http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1812479
Strava:http://www.strava.com/activities/82965438

Inexpensive way to re-gear 7-speed road bikes for mountains.

You may be thinking "7-speed road bikes, what's this guy even talking about?"

In the 90s it was very common for road bike to have 7-speed rear shifters, 42 tooth small chainrings and 12-23 or similar cassettes. The bikes were great and even the entry level offerings often featured handmade in the USA steel or aluminum frames that were beautiful, rode really well and functioned reliably.

Many are still functioning reliably even now - roughly 20 years later! This is important to note since the starting price for new road bikes is commonly at or near $1000. Many people interested in giving road biking a try are just not able to spend that much.

However, someone wishing to try road biking can often afford a used 90s era road bike ... but the gearing that was common to stock bikes would only be suitable for a novice rider who lives in a flat area. If you live in a hilly or mountainous area a 42-23 low gear could be misery inducing for a new cyclist.

The good news is that very inexpensive new gear can breath mountain-goat-like climbing potential into a classic flatland road machine. Here's how ...

What you'll need:

• SRAM PG-730 Cassette - $18
• SRAM PG-830 Chain - $10
• Shimano Altus Rear Derailleur - $24

These items, when caringly installed, create this transformation:

A total upgrade cost of just over $50 - and the difference in climbing ease between a 12-23 cassette and a 12-32 cassette is absolutely enormous.

So if you know of someone that interested in road cycling, but they don't have the funds for a new bike, keep a look out for something used on craigslist or check with your local bike shop that sells used bikes. I've personally purchased excellent quality 90s road bikes complete for $50 and $75 on craigslist, so a mountain-rideable road bike can be acquired for $100 or less.

And, if you're truly a novice be sure to have a bike shop or a friend that's a knowledgeable and good bike mechanic perform this upgrade and a complete bike check-over before you 50+ mph descend off of that mountain you just climbed ;)

Creating pedestrian & cyclist access to Garst Mill Park

Loads of families live within easy walking distance of Roanoke County's beautiful Garst Mill Park but they never walk or bike there. The reason? A lack of simple and inexpensive pedestrian and cyclist accommodations make it dangerous to do so.

Image 1: Families that live very near Garst Mill Park but
cannot safely walk there. (Click on image to enlarge)

If you know of anyone that could potentially help implement small changes to enable foot and bike access to Garst Mill Park please share this posting with them. Thank you!

For hundreds of families to walk or bike to Garst Mill Park they just need to be able to safely cross Garst Mill Rd and walk or bike 0.1m along Halevan Rd.

That's it! 

This seems simple enough, but the following factors make this 0.1 mile journey dangerously unsafe, especially for slower moving people (children and the elderly):

1. Blind Turn: There's a blind turn right before the place where pedestrians cross Garst Mill Rd to Halevan Rd.
2. No Pedestrian Crossing: The pedestrian crossing point has no road markings and no signs to alert motorists that they're approaching a pedestrian crossing point.
3. Speed Limit Too High: The speed limit is 35mph, which means motor vehicles are commonly travelling at 40mph+ around the blind turn and through the pedestrian crossing point.
4. Heavy Traffic: Since Garst Mill Rd is heavily used by motor vehicles, the dangers posed by all of the above factors are amplified.
5. Halevan Rd is not pedestrian / cyclist friendly: Halevan Rd is narrow and there's a ditch along the roadside.

Click here http://db.tt/B7f7mngv to view an illustration of the current situation, using my family as an example, and literally hundreds of families are in the same situation. 

The great news is that all of these factors can be easily and inexpensively addressed, opening up foot and bike access to Garst Mill Park to hundreds of Roanoke County residents, taxpayers and voters.

Here's how: 

• Install a pedestrian crossing + 
• Reduce the speed limit near the crossing area + 
• Create a simple grass walking path alongside Halevan Rd.

Click on the image below to see what these changes would look like. Full size image: http://db.tt/a5JXHPMK

And additionally, while Fleetwood Ave is the best available bike / walk route to Garst Mill Park for all of the families in this area, Fleetwood is not particularly bike / PED friendly.

Fleetwood is narrow with no shoulders, and often motorists are either a) not expecting to see cyclists / pedestrians and therefore not adjusting their driving enough to overtake them safely, or b) motorists are driving in excess of the speed limit.

Sharrows provide a fantastic and effective visual notice to motorists that a road is "shared use" with cyclists and pedestrians. For the safety of the community, it would be ideal if sharrows could be added along Fleetwood:
Click on the image below to view a larger version. Full size image: http://db.tt/etkrf5ls

Road Sharrow Example: 

Sign Sharrow Example:

All of these changes are very inexpensive to implement, and the returns on this tiny investment would be enormous! Just imagine the incredibly positive effects these inexpensive changes would have on the communities in this area!

Thank you for reading and if you can help us work to accomplish these changes please comment here or email me robertissem at gmail dot com.

Bike Month 2013: Join "Warmshowers.org - A community for touring cyclists and hosts"

From www.warmshowers.org "The Warm Showers Community is a free worldwide hospitality exchange for touring cyclists. People who are willing to host touring cyclists sign up and provide their contact information, and may occasionally have someone stay with them and share great stories and a drink."

Hosting touring cyclists is an ongoing highlight for our family. Travelers from all over the world stay with us and share stories and laughter. Our children are regularly exposed to different cultures without leaving our home! Earlier this week we hosted a young woman biking from New Orleans to Montreal, and tonight we're hosting two travelers, one from South Korea and another from Australia, on separate bike tours, whose paths will intersect in a few hours at our home.

Presently there are 6 people listed as willing to host touring cyclists in Roanoke, VA on www.warmshowers.org. Wouldn't it be wonderful if that number doubled or tripled during bike month 2013?!!!

Roxy about to resume her tour as my wife Lisa and
our neighbor's 3 year old Genevieve say farewell.
Genevieve said "I wanna go!" and ran alongside Roxy
for the length of our driveway, in easily the cutest
scene in the history of our hosting touring cyclists!

I can't recommend joining this touring cyclist fun highly enough! Because the Blue Ridge Parkway and numerous other popular bike touring routes go through our beautiful Star City we, as a community, have many opportunities to host touring cyclists.

If you have questions or just want to chat about what it's like to host please message Lisa Ann Thomas or me.

Oh (that's his name) spent his 1st Halloween
with us! We even costumed him and sent
him trick-or-treating with another touring
cyclist Alex!

 I rode with Moon for about 10 miles
along his route after his stay with us.

Blast from the Past: Feb 2001 Price Mountain Expedition

My mother found this email I'd written about a 2001 adventure ride on Price Mountain with 7 friends that included 20 pictures (albeit small and low resolution).

Step in the time machine ... welcome to 2001!

The Ride:

2-4-01 Price Mountain Expedition - the ride was hell, but we had a great time and everyone was glad they did it but none of us are planning a ride back there for at least a few years. the lee's creek horse trail was fun, we made one slight detour but otherwise it was just a good trail to ride. then we climbed up 606 to the ridge of price mt. where we passed up a perfectly good and legitimate trail (the stone coal hollow trail) to ride the barely discernible price mt. trail which looked like pain and suffering waiting to happen, and it did not disappoint. we hiked and carried and sunk into thigh deep leaf traps and scrambled and, as often as possible, attempted to ride our bikes on the incredibly technical terrain. on one pitch i rode a climb up to a big log and then put my front tire on it and attempted to dismount but i couldn't get unclipped so i fell over backwards and my bike's the left chainstay smashed into a rock denting and bending it into one of those fancy s-chainstays. that hurt because i'm spiritually connected to my x-cal. 100 yards later, to add insult to injury, my rear derailleur snapped completely off (see photos). the ferrier trial is in perfect shape. a nice loop can be had by riding out lee's creek horse trail, left on 666, left on 606, left on stone coal hollow trail (begins as a fire road), left on 183 back to cars. in spite of all work, pain and damage...myself, joe dudak, brian batteiger, todd reighley, jeff cheng, dean freeman, ian webb and kyle inman really had fun. it was a good time largely because we all knew we were signing up for an adventure wrapped in an ass whoopin', but we all just wanted to do it. as the 8 of us sat at the trailhead looking up at his ridiculous trail, i said to myself "rob, do you really think this group of reasonably intelligent individuals are going to attempt this?" but the next thing i knew, everyone had their bikes on their shoulders and was scrambling up the pitch. all i could do was smile and follow...

  

The Planning & Preparation:

stage 2 (2013 note: I have no idea what stage 1 was) of the captain insane-o's spring mtb festival currently plans to include the ferrier trail and the price mountain trail in the new castle district of jefferson national forest. this weekend i will lead an exploratory expedition on these trails to determine whether they 1. can be found, they're on the forest service map but my understanding is that they're very infrequently used... and 2. whether they are reasonable to traverse on mountainbikes. the expedition will begin at 10am, at a meeting place which i will determine within the next 48 hours (it will likely be in the area of the north west end of north mountain along route 183). during the mountain bike expedition we will move deadfall on the trail that moves easily but primarily we will exploring and planning for future trail work days. the more people that come the better as we will use the leap-frog method of moving easy deadfall to cover ground as quickly as possible. we will be returning via fire roads and the lee's creek horse trail, 20-30 miles on trail i've never been on before so it is very important this starts at 10am and that everyone is prepared (bikes ready and plenty of food and
water).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
meet at the park and ride next to the exxon off i81 exit 150 at 930am sharp.
from there, we'll take 220n north to daleville, then left on the scenic 779
along tinker creek all the way to 600, right onto 600, quick left onto 748
(which becomes FR183) and we'll leave our cars at the gated entrance to the
lee's creek horse trail on the right. from there (by bike) we'll ride up 183
to the ferrier trail, take it less than a mile before making a right onto
the price mountain trail, then along the price mt. trail until it intersects
FR606, at this point the price mt. trail crosses 606 and continues for a
long ways but we will go right on 606 to FR666, then right on 666 to the
lee's creek horse trail, along the lee's creek trail back to our cars.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
what do you think about this... to try to find the price mt. trail in the
way i've described, BUT if we don't, we'll head back to the cars and ride
the lee's creek trail out to 666 or 606, then try to find the price mt.
trail from the other end. if we have no luck from that end, we'll ride the
stone coal hollow trail back to 183. isn't it fun to plan an adventure!

A young man struggles to embrace his superpowers.

May 13, 2011: On this morning, a boy decided to try something that none of the nearly 800 kids in Hidden Valley Middle School have attempted ... riding his bicycle to school.

He loved the feelings of freedom, independance and accomplishment that came along with being propelled on two wheels thru cool morning air by the strength of his own legs. He also understood the deeper potential of this type of action ... fun, zero pollution and nearly free transportation, increased fitness, happiness and peace. A boy and a bicycle ... making a difference.

Though with this power came a sense of unease. While he wanted to do this, he was acutely aware that currently he is the only one. He didn't want others to know of his superpowers - so he locked his bike to a pole just out of site.

For the moment, he's taking this potentially culture changing action on his own.

But that may change ...

UPDATE#1: January 6, 2012 - Principle Nicely did call me, I connected him with Ride Solutions who provided and installed a FREE bike rack at the Hidden Valley Middle School!

UPDATE#2: January 31, 2013 - Our hero has only bicycled to school a couple of times over the last year. It has turned out that the emotional Bike-to-School obstacles are the toughest ones. Wanting to fit-in, not wanting other kids to think you're weird, concern about being made fun of ... these are real deterrents for a 13 year old whose parent is encouraging them to bike to school. 

If you or your kids have words of advice or encouragement ~ for kids and parents that are considering bicycling to a school ~ where literally everyone else rides the bus or is driven ~ please post your advice and encouragement as comments to this blog post. 

Thank you!

UPDATE #3: February 5, 2013 - Andrew and I have talked about this some more, and he says that while he does like biking, he doesn't like riding at 7am in the morning and he doesn't want to bike to school. So, I'm dropping it and he and I will mountain bike together, and adventure ride together ... and I'm really happy with that. ;)

Related: 25JAN13 - Davis Bicycles!: ‘Car children’ learn less in school

*Updated* 2013 VA Dirt Cycling Endurance Events

All events listed are long, awesome, endurance rides or races that range from backcountry adventure mountain biking to epic road cycling events that include extensive dirt road sections.

• February 10 - Pantani Ride, Earlysville, VA FREE
• March 3 - The Terrapin Mountain Predicament, Arcadia, VA FREE
• April 7 - Double Dawg Dare, Blacksburg, VA FREE (date changed to 4/7 to coincide with the Spring MTB Festival)
• April 14 - Dragon’s Tale, New Castle, VA $45
• May 5 - Middle Mountain Momma XXC, Clifton Forge, VA $25
• June 9 - Massanutten HOO-HAA! XXC, Keezletown, VA $30
• June 16 - Craig County Crusher, New Castle, VA FREE (date changed to 6/16 to move out of conflict with the Iron Mt 100k)
• June 30 - Iron Mountain 100k, Damascus, VA $80
• August 18 - Star City Vicious Randonnee, Roanoke, VA FREE
• September 2 - Shenandoah Mountain 100, Stokesville, VA $150
• September 15 - Jeremiah Bishop Alpine Loop Gran Fondo, Harrisonburg, VA $105
• October 6 - Escape! XXC, Craig County, VA
• October 27 - Rowdy Dawg XXC, Blacksburg, VA