Sometimes you read a quote and it just hits you. The words contain a self realization you had yet to discover. Like the secret of life was just handed to you. That’s what this video did to me. But instead of being the secret of life, this is the secret to life. If Jed can’t inspire you to change direction of your life, it’s already too late for you.
I’m usually at no shortage for words. This is no exception. Rather than talking about what this means to me, I want you to find what this video means to you. If you’ve made it to this paragraph without watching the video, stop here and watch it. If you watched the video before reading, nice work. Now remove as much routine from your life as possible and get to living.
A joint effort between Brent Steelman and Mitch Pryor, the S&P Randonneur Project is a fully-featured, light-weight, event-ready randonneuse that is equally at home on remote gravel roads or your local chip-seal. Built by a factory of two between Redwood City and Chico, California with the finest raw materials available today. Available in 7 stock sizes.
Low-trail front end geometry and custom-fitted racks, optimized for front loading and intuitive handling provide a solid foundation. Provisions for generator wire routing, and ideal clearances for 650B x 42mm tires and fenders ensure supreme comfort over mixed terrain. Optional detachable low-rider racks for light touring. Extreme versatility in a bicycle that sacrifices literally nothing.
Standard features include:
Proven randonneuring geometry optimized for front loading, intuitive handling, and long-distance performance without sacrificing comfort.
Brazed 1″ threaded fork utilizing Kaisei Imperial fork blades and Grand Bois fork crown, with low-rider bosses and generator wire path.
Headtube tube ring reinforcements for frame longevity.
Path in frame for wired tail light.
Internal top tube cable routing.
Braze-ons for Compass centerpull brakes.
Brazed on chain stay slap guard protector.
27.2mm seatpost with brazed on stainless steel collar.
130mm rear end spacing.
Optional braze-on for seat tube mounted tail light and frame pump.
Top quality wet paint finish in a wide array of colors.
One of the most informative articles I have read about touring and bike trips. That double pannier setup (yes I have one of those too) is being cast asunder by the new touring setup which relies more on the evolution of Bikepacking than anything else….
Dutch corner on one of the more difficult climbs to access gives you an Idea of the crowds at this iconic race but ever wondered about the organisation and total numbers? Peleton scratches the surface….
With over 4,500 people, organizers, teams, media, partners, advertising caravan, service providers and more, the numbers truly speak for themselves. Enjoy the Tour de France by numbers.
Riders
198 riders at the start (22 teams of 9 riders)
300 support staff
15 members of the race jury
2015 Route
3,360 km (21 stages)
3 countries visited (The Netherlands, Belgium and France)
26 French departments visited
37 stage sites
624 municipalities crossed (568 in France, 17 in The Netherlands, 39 in Belgium)
Organization
100 A.S.O. staff
300 temporary staff
1550 beds reserved every day for the organization and the sports teams
Medical Services
10 doctors (all specialties), 5 nurses
7 ambulances, 2 medical cars, 1 motorcycle, 1 radiology truck
Security
48 members of the Republican Guard motorcycle division
13 officers on duty as the permanent police of the Tour
14,000 gendarmes / 9 000 police officers and CRS riot police mobilized
1,000 agents from the General Councils
Accredited Media (2014 edition)
2000 journalists, consultants and photographers
637 media organisations
373 newspapers, press agencies and Internet sites
92 television networks
114 photo agencies
58 radio stations
TV Broadcast
Broadcast in 190 countries
100 channels, including 60 live
8 stages broadcast in full
80 hours of live broadcast produced (international signal)
6,100 hours aired worldwide in 2014
Internet / New Media
32 million unique visitors / 146 million pages viewed on letour.fr in 2014
4 languages: French, English, Spanish, German
1,700,000 fans on Facebook
1,300,000 followers on Twitter
500,000 on Google +
100,000 on Instagram
1, 1 million downloads of applications dedicated to the Tour de France
France Télévisions coverage
Daily programs
Start Village – on France 3 at 12.45 every day – Special 10 year show on July 12
Le Direct – (Live Broadcast) on France 3 from 1.50 PM and on France 2 from 3 PM
Vélo Club – on France 2 following the stage just until 6.40 PM
Stade 2 sports – program on France 2, live broadcast from the Tour de France on July 5, 12 and 19 at 5.30 PM
L’image du jour – on France 2 at 8.40 PM
Le film du Tour – (stage summary) on France 3 every night at 8.10 PM after the Tout le Sport sports round-up programme
Documentaries
Poulidor Premier, June 29 at 8.45 PM on France 3
Hinault, part one July 13 at 3.20 PM and part 2 July 21 at 4.40 PM on France 2
Jacques Chancel, le Grand Chancelier, July 21 at 5.30 PM on France 2
8 stages will be broadcast in full
1: Utrecht – Utrecht / Saturday July 4
2: Utrecht – Zealand / Sunday July 5
3: Antwerp – Huy / Monday July 6
9: Vannes – Plumelec / Sunday July 12
12: Lannemezan – Plateau de Beille / Thursday July 16
19: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – La Toussuire / Friday July 24
20: Modane Valfréjus – Alpe d’Huez / Saturday July 25
21: Sèvres-Grand Paris Seine Ouest – Paris Champs-Elysées / Sunday July 26
La Course by Le Tour de France
Sunday July 26th, from 1.50 PM on France 3
Partners
42 partner brands with 5 new partners (Dimension Data, Le Gaulois, Bostik, Cornetto, GoPro)
5 Club Partners
7 Official Partners
16 Official Suppliers
5 Technical Partners
2 Official Supporters
2 Media Partners
2 Official Broadcasters
3 Institutional Partners
Advertising Caravan
154 vehicles
34 brands
600 people
14 million objects handed out
12 km of procession
35 minutes of show
55 people to supervise the caravane, including 13 officers of the Republican Guard motorcycle division
Spectators on the side of the road (2014 edition)
64% of men and 36% of women
54% under the age of 50, with 10% under the age of 25
80% of French spectators and 20% from abroad
More than 40 nationalities identified
6h30 of presence on the road side (6h on flat stages, 7h for mountain stages)
92% come accompanied (on average 5 people per group)
The chaps at Funeral Cycling has been cooking up a new project with support from GT Bicycles, bringing a bunch of familiar brands along for the ride. With such a focus on the perfect bikepacking setup these days, this project harks back to a time – not long ago – where you just got out and got over your heads.
Head over to the Adventures section on their Waypoints site for the full Sloquet Hot Springs story.
This new bike from Cannonade is taking off where the Salsa Fargo and others like it failed to deliver. This more speed focussed but very nice (repeat after me I don’t need a 6th Bike) ….
What do you do when an accomplished athlete backs you on a gamble and encourages you to do something different. Something that might change the face of “all-road” cycling forever? Or at least for a little while anyway…
The story of the bike goes back to March in 2014, when Tim Johnson and his wife Lyne were riding in Louisville along the bourbon trail. David from Cannondale put one of these bikes under Tim and watched the atavism take over. Tim hit every curb cut in sight, skidded around corners and sprinted like he was riding his EVO… Tim’s a cross racer through and through, so dirt and speed are his top priorities. Oh and fun. Having fun too. Right Tim?
Slate is the first for Cannondale in some time. It’s not a race bike, but rather an “all-road” bike, meant for long, multi-surface rides. That doesn’t mean it’ll ride like a turd though. The wheelbase and chain stay length maintain Cannondale’s regarded handling characteristics. Because Cannondale stepped down to the 650b / 27.5 platform, they could fit a 42mm tire in the frame, without removing a lively ride quality. With a 405mm stay and a 71.5º head tube angle, you come in with a 1015mm wheelbase. Trail is snappy, yet confidence-building with 66.3mm. Throw the Lefty Oliver road suspension fork in the mix with 30mm of travel and suddenly those numbers mean a lot more (more on that stuff to come.)
How did I come upon this bike? There I am, at Cross Nats in Austin when Tim Johnson comes up and introduces me to David from Cannondale. He said something in passing along the lines of “David’s got something special for you to ride.” I’m thinking it’s either some mountain bike or a new cross bike.
We set a time to meet up, I brought my road bike because I was told it was a road ride, which surprised me coming from Tim. After I got to the coffee shop, this strange bike comes rolling in. It had a Lefty, 650b tires and drop bars. It looked like a blast. Or was it some kind of sick joke?
David introduced himself, the bike and we began swapping pedals over. I was going to get to ride the mule, later to be called Slate. The guys only had an hour to ride, so we took to one of my favorite loops, the only Cat 3 climb in the city of Austin. It’s a gut punch on the way up and a ripper on the way down.
My initial thoughts were how zippy it felt. Granted, I usually ride a 58cm and this was a 56cm sample bike but it was easy to feel what Cannondale’s intent was. Sure, it looks wacky but isnt this what everyone’s trying to do, without actually doing it? You always see these little damping systems inserted into bikes to “soften” the ride. Even in the pro peloton. Races like the Roubaix have caused companies to experiment with suspension for decades. So why not introduce an actual fork to the consumer market using the Synapse’s tried and true geometry as a launching pad?
I’m totally aware that you’ve got questions. Truth is, I have a few answers, but I’m not willing to disclose them just yet. It’s easy to get stoked on something new, quirky and fun, but how would it handle for a long, multi-surface ride? Time will tell for me. All I know is the Lefty Oliver road suspension fork is something that I’ve never felt from a fork before. If I could compare its ride quality to anything, it’d be the RS-1. More on this bike to come…
Slate is almost ready to be out there. Full models will be released June 20th to Cannondale dealers and Sales.
Up to the point he punches the beach and dislocates his hand – OUCH
The Red Bull King of the Air stole my heart from when I first saw the photos appear on the Internet around 2003. Massive jumps performed by pioneers such as Flash Austin, Max Bo and of course Robby Naish. The guys were flying huuugggee in Hawaii… and that was my inspiration.
For years I competed at the Freestyle World Tour, which was awesome… 16 years old, traveling the world to master the most technical tricks and ride with the world’s best talent. A rollercoaster ride, that’s for sure.
It wasn’t until the Red Bull King of the Air in 2005 when I really found out what I loved about the sport so much. Going big!
Now ten years later, the Red Bull King of the Air runs again… this time in Cape Town and it’s a great platform for the sport with some epic riders involved. It pushes and promotes the sport, the brands, riders and lifestyle big time, so I love it. Sharing the passion with the world!
For this year Red Bull King of the Air Mother Nature didn’t supply us the proper goods and was messing around with us for 3 days! On top of that four other things happened which eventually threw me off of balance resulting in me not performing the way I wanted. Two of my hardest crashes ever put me into a bit of a downward spiral and I ended up getting pretty upset… learning a lesson or two and now I am happily moving on as a Freerider! 😀
On Sunday I hopped down to Glentress taking both my Fat Bike and 29er down the trails.
both in the van
Moving from the fat bike with its wide bars back to the 29er i was shocked at how narrow the bars seemed. Took me two runs to feel comfortable – so stopped into the shop armed with a 20% discount and bought some wide Renthal bars and fitted them.
old ones in front new fittedW I D E
I will need to cut them a bit so google and came across this interesting article (BIKERADAR) on how wide I should be ….
Handlebars have been trending wider for many years. Few of us are riding the 580mm-wide Answer Hyperlite bars that were the rage fifteen years ago, but that doesn’t mean you should rush out and buy a handlebar that’s wider than a Honda Civic just because it’s what your favorite pro downhiller is riding.
If you’re thinking about going wider, do it for function, not fashion. And before doing it at all, weigh the pros and cons.
Specialized fit professor Aaron Post recommends balancing biomechanics with terrain and riding style to find your ideal handlebar width
The Evolution of Wide Bars
Like the rest of the components we ride, handlebars have evolved dramatically since the early days of our sport. In the beginning there were just ‘mountain bikes,’ today we have all manner of species of knobby-tired machines—cross-country, trail, all-mountain, enduro, freeride, downhill—along with components designed specifically for these breeds.
Noel Buckley is the owner of Knolly bikes. He has a background in engineering physics and has seen the mountain bike market diversify over the past two decades. “The changes in riding style, advances in full suspension bike geometry and suspension travel, the rise of new applications (e.g. downhill bikes) have allowed handlebar manufacturers to go wider than the standard cross-country bar of 20 years ago,” said Buckley.
His engineering background lends itself to an analytical view of handlebar width, though he admits there’s no hard science to finding one’s ideal handlebar.
“There are no simple answers here: even making a table of rider height versus frame application versus suggested bar width would be difficult and probably not overly useful. Local factors such as trail design, trees, rocks, and the balance of climbing versus descending might sway a given rider’s preferred bar width by 25-50mm,” said Buckley. “The obvious argument towards using longer handlebars is that they give you more leverage (or torque) to steer the front wheel: this is supposed to make controlling the direction of the bike easier. In general, this is correct. At the end of the day, it is very difficult to say anything more than wider bars = shorter stems, smaller riders = narrower bars, and low and slack bikes can typically get away with wider bars than steep, tall bikes. But even these dogmas are being challenged by the increase of 710-740mm bars in the trail bike market—bar widths that were decidedly DH oriented less than half a decade ago.”
Wider Does Not Necessarily Equal Better
Like most things in life, handlebar width is best approached with an eye towards moderation and practicality. If your trails are very tight, heavily wooded, and lack high-speed sections then a wider a bar may be a hindrance. If your handlebar is so wide that you are riding with your arms extended and your elbows locked you will find it very hard to react to obstacles. Likewise, if you’re slight of frame with narrow shoulders, wider bars may cause discomfort.
You shall not pass!
Aaron Post is a fit professor with Specialized. He notes that while there are tangible benefits to going wider, wide bars are not for everyone, and my have little to no benefit, depending on how and where you ride.
“The wider trend has come from riders who are riding very technical, very fast terrain, where the trail is literally starting to pull the bar out of the rider’s hand. If your trails are not particularly technical the need for a wider bar diminishes. More often than not, it is biomechanically easier for a rider to support themselves with a narrower bar, you would want to go wider as the terrain dictates,” said Post.
Post uses push-ups as an example. It is much easier to do a push-up when you hands are placed just to the outside of your shoulders than it is when your arms are splayed out to your sides. Signs that you may have gone too wide include pain or discomfort between the shoulder blades and upper back.
Handlebars, Stems, and the ‘Golden Ratio’
As your handlebar length increases your reach decreases. A wider bar will shift more of your weight forward. Hence the need to run a shorter stem to keep your weight centered.
A stubby stem helps to keep your reach relatively consistent when running a wider bar
The general rule of thumb is to maintain a 2:1 ratio of handlebar width to stem length: for every 20mm increase in handlebar length you should reduce your stem length by 10mm. So if you’re running 660mm bars with a 100mm stem and want to try a handlebar that is 700mm wide you will need to pair that 700mm handlebar with an 80mm stem to maintain a relatively consistent position on the bike.
Like most rules of thumb, this is 2:1 ratio is by no means absolute. And, as Post points out, it is only useful if you’re starting from a comfortable fit position. “If you’re already unhappy where you are all bets are off.”
Test Many Times, Measure Twice, Cut Once
It’s important to remember that just because you bought an 800mm-wide handlebar does not mean you’re locked into this length.
“Manufacturers often try to make the bar a bit longer than required to give users the option to shorten it to the correct length. Riders may mistake this extra length as being appropriate for their height, bike setup and riding application,” said Buckley.
Work outward from your existing position to find your ideal width
It’s easy to experiment with handlebar width, particularly if you are running lock-on grips. With a wider bar installed, mount your controls in the same position they were on your narrower bars and gradually move them outboard until you find a position that’s to your liking. (This may require the use of several different stems, too.)
Kiteboarding right of way rules are really easy to remember:
Other water users with limited manoeuvrability (yeah such as tankers!) are always right. The same goes for slower water users e.g. swimmers or sometimes even windsurfers.
Kitesurfer on a starboard tack (right hand forwards) has right of way. (I find pointing at the kiter approaching then pointing to the side I want them to pass helps with the newbies)
Kitesurfer on a port tack (left hand forwards) must yield right of way which is typically going downwind, however it’s the person on the starboard tack that decides where he or she wants to go.
When two kiters are on the same tack, kitesurfer that’s upwind must give way to the kitesurfer downwind – e.g. if he’s faster, let him pass.
That does’t mean that if you’re downwind you shouldn’t be mindful of the guy upwind – not everyone knows these simple rules.
When two kitesurfers are passing each other riding in opposite directions
– upwind kiteboarder must keep their kite high,
– kiteboarder downwind must keep their kite low.
In the surf: kitesurfers leaving the shore have the right of way.
In the surf: kitesurfers riding a wave have the right of way, except when the other person is leaving the shore.
When you’re riding behind someone stay vigilant as they might not look back before manoeuvring.
Above all – always assume that the other person might not know the rules so stay wary of them.
Here is my Salsa Ti Fargo fully loaded and ready to go.
What better way to explore the world than from the seat of your bike? Knowing how to pack small and light on the bike can make all the difference when it comes to hauling your traveling home around. I’ve experimented with several different set ups and have found that there really is no best set up. It’s all situational. However, there certainly are best practices to follow to ensure you are getting the most out of your gear. The good news is, if you’re already an ultra light hiker, the gear transitions beautifully for bikepacking.. I’ve careened down valleys in the Ozarks and explored the forest roads of Northern Minnesota aboard my bikes. My weapon of choice these days is the Salsa Ti Fargo. This is my spirit bike.
Cycled aberfoyle over dukes pass and around the loch. Not the longest ride – I wanted to go out from glasgow and do this but we kept it shorter as Jim not been out much this year. He normally tows me on rides but I was doing most the pulling on this ride.
Did a good pull post stodgy cake. Got home to see a Strava (3rd fastest time 2015) and don’t think we were really hammering at any point ….
Got back to aberfoyle bikes on car and drove through a massive rain storm – phew
Specialized fit professor Aaron Post recommends balancing biomechanics with terrain and riding style to find your ideal handlebar width
Kiteboarding right of way rules are really easy to remember:
Sturdy Bike – daily transport
Here is my Salsa Ti Fargo fully loaded and ready to go. 
Kite*Surf*Bike*Rambling 