Biking & Cycling

Rebecca Ruiz of Forbes investigates the starkly beautiful landscapes, natural history, and challenging trail riding opportunities near Fruita, CO.

“Embedded in the valley floor and its cliffs are shark teeth and dinosaur fossils. To the south ordinary-looking hills are a false front for the topography of the majestic Colorado National Monument. Also unseen are the hundreds of miles of mountain bike trails carved into the landscape.”

photo credit: Tim Brink

Scottish pro rider Danny MacAskill in Chamonix, France filming his upcoming trick film Perfect Moment.

Produced by watch26.tv

The BMX documentary The Birth of Big Air (part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary film series), directed by Jeff Tremaine and produced by Johnny Knoxville–both of Jackass fame, pays tribute to freestyle rider Mat Hoffman (“The Condor”) who has been instrumental for more than 20 years in progressing bike tricks, vertical-ramp riding, and helping to promote Freestyle BMX events worldwide.

At the Tribeca Film Festival, Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times interviews Hoffman, Tremaine, and Knoxville about the origins of their film, Matt’s experimental surgeries, and what it’s like to be knocked unconscious after an enormous jump:

“The first thing I learned, whenever I’m starting to come back to consciousness, is remember to never try to remember anything. All your most impactful and devastating memories come back first. You don’t have all those great memories to balance it out. But I got knocked out in Japan, and I wake up and look over to the side. And my wife is six months pregnant. And I’m like, We’re having a baby?” Mat Hoffman.

• Riding San Francisco’s Sunday streets: San Francisco Chronicle
• 5 Mountain bike trails near Pittsburgh: About.com
• Transportation Department embracing bikes: New York Times
• Fargo Street–one of L.A.’s sharpest grades: Los Angeles Times
• Academic courses in downhill biking? BBC News

Adam Riser of Backcountry Beacon helps tune your mountain bike for the upcoming riding season, with attention to tubes/tires, brakes, air suspension, and the drivetrain: “Your drivetrain usually needs more love than anything else, so it’s a logical place to start. Kick it off by thoroughly oiling your chain, cassette, front chainrings, and rear derailleur cogs. This gets everything moving smoothly and lets you actually tune the derailleurs.”

In his City Room Blog, David Goodman of The New York Times reports that in 2009 nearly 236,000 New Yorkers were riding a day, “up 28 percent from 185,000 daily riders the year before.”

“‘More and better designed bike lanes, that’s clearly what’s fueling this growth,’ said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for the bicycling and pedestrian advocacy group, which has conducted an annual cycling estimate for nearly two decades.”

In his City Room Blog, David Goodman of The New York Times writes about New York’s “two-wheeled tribes”: “a collection of finely divided sub-subcultures, each with its own uniform, lingo and attitude toward the bicycle’s place in the urban landscape.”

Emily Kreisa, a 27-year-old former triathlete, bike commuter, and city planner for the Denver Public Works, is hoping to make her city the most bike-friendly in the country.

“Kreisa’s personal tale of ‘love at first bike’ testifies to her belief that a bike can suit different purposes throughout your life, whether it’s to keep up with older siblings, cope with not having a car, fuel a competitive nature or get some low-impact exercise,” reports Sheba R. Wheeler of The Denver Post.

“…Kreisa is spearheading several multi-agency initiatives between Public Works, Parks and Recreation and numerous organizations to help residents shift gears on how they choose to get around town.”

Chris Akrigg takes his Mongoose Teocali on a ride through the Yorkshire moors.

Produced by Chris Akrigg

Dara Kerr of The San Francisco Chronicle reports on a Bay Area biking group that “organizes secret, competitive rides covering varied terrain from highways to steep dirt trails to mountain roads with hairpin turns.”

“As the bikers pull up to their meeting spot at the base of the Oakland hills, I overhear them say things like, ‘Well, at least it rained two days ago,’ and, ‘Hopefully we’ll get some mud.’ Apparently, the more mud, the better. It makes the ride slippery, fast and dangerous. And this is a group that can appreciate a challenge. These are self-described bike geeks from every niche of the Bay Area’s cycling scene.”