Winter

Winter is one of four seasons that the world experiences during the 365 days that constitutes a year. Due to the tilt of the Earth (23.5 degrees) we, in the northern hemisphere, are further away from the sun. As a result, we experience colder temperatures, shorter days, and, in Colorado, snow.
Today we decided to skip a day of work (from our imaginary jobs) and get out on the snow bikes. A few days ago Littleton got a few inches of the fresh stuff and we wanted to get our “cost per tire” down a bit. Also, after pedaling so many miles outdoors on our big trip, we can’t get motivated to use the treadmill in the basement. Who really gets psyched to do that anyway?
We got started early since the temperature was supposed to rise above freezing today. Mud and studded tires don’t mix well – picture Fruita after it rains. Leading the way to our favorite trail destination, I rolled over a variety of frozen terrain. I encountered glare ice, frozen snow, and powder. The first two weren’t a problem but the last one was a pain in the you-know-what.
After riding a few times on our winter tires, we are very pleased with the performance. We’ve found them to be very suitable for almost all conditions. On pure ice they grip well and we can even accelerate. On the varied terrain like packed or frozen snow, the tires are still very grippy, but do slip laterally in some instances. Powder seems to be the downfall of the spiked-enhanced rubber; you spend the same amount of time going sideways as you do forward. What you lose in distance, you more than make up for in workout intensity.
Ultimately, we have really enjoyed the winter landscape. In the past we have spent our time hiking to hang on frozen waterfalls or driving to escape the snow. I kind of like this part of reinventing ourselves; it’s new, it’s challenging, and it keeps us outside on the bikes.
Life is good,
LK

The Bicycle Commuting Diaries: Studded Tires and Snow Plows

Winter is approaching and in Colorado that usually means one thing; snow. In our previous life, we usually parked the bikes in the garage and set up the stationary trainer as the last fall leaves were hitting the ground. This year we decided to “buck up” and keep riding through the ice, snow, and freezing temperatures.
Enter the snow tire for bicycles. We ordered the Ice Spiker Pro from our good friends at Schwalbe and Chris got them installed this morning. Neither one of us has rolled a bicycle with studs before so we decided to go for a test run. The tires require a break in period on pavement so, per the instructions, we started the “running in” process by riding to the post office.
Even though the route was the usual urban adventure of paved path and busy intersections, we found ourselves very excited for the adventure. With a new blanket of snow and a clear blue sky we navigated our way south with smiles on our faces. Intersections were a little crazy as we had to crash our way through the snow piled up from the cleared roads. We must have garnered some attention because most cars gave us the right away.
The only scary part came when we were faced with a wave of snow being thrown from an on-coming plow. I was about the head into a snow bank when the driver looked our way, slowed down, and lifted his plow. I guess that will be rule #1 on the Winter Riding Guide – “watch for snow removal equipment”.

Here’s to snow crunching under your tires,
LK

Thanks to the Sponsors

Back in January of this year we decided to pursue sponsorship opportunities for our Bicycle Geography trip. We did a lot of research and decided to go for it even though we planned to fund the whole adventure ourselves. We realized it would be good professional development to seek out gear sponsors. In addition, we knew it would provide opportunities to share our trip with others besides friends and family.

Working off the best examples we could find, a small set of media materials was developed. See the Sponsorship page on our website for our bread and butter; a introductory postcard and press release: http://bicyclegeography.googlepages.com/sponsorship
Drop us a line at bicyclegeography@yahoo.com if you'd like an example of the detailed media letters we sent out.

Here are some things that worked for us as we sought out sponsorship:
Keep it simple – get to the point and be direct
Be professional – spend a little extra time to make your materials and message worth reviewing
Believe in your cause – be committed to your goal when you share it with others
Take Chances – all they can say is no – go for it!

We’ve had a couple good laughs about going through this process. Why? Because we really don’t take ourselves that seriously. A press release? Come on, isn’t that for important people…

Anyway, after we had our materials together, we (Chris) started contacting vendors. Through phone calls and emails he followed up on every postcard we sent out. He knew that it would be up to him to keep up with them, not the other way around. Of the people he talked with, Chris was pleased to find out that they were generally interested in our trip even if they couldn’t help us. Those positive responses really kept us motivated when things were getting too surreal and chaotic.

So, after starting with about 30 gear companies we ended up receiving “pro deals” from four different sponsors. See below for a short description of each one:

Honey Stinger: Makers of honey based energy foods.
We’ve been using the bars and gels all spring and summer. We like the instant energy without the sugar rush.
Favorite flavors: chocolate and strawberry gels and apple-cinnamon bars.

Outdoor Research: Outdoor gear company based in Seattle, Wa.
We loved our OR gear well before we partnered with them. This summer we’ve been able to test a lot of our trip gear. Overall, we really like the simple design of every product.
Some of our favorite products so far:
Hydro DryComp AirX compression sacks
Exped Ibis Sleeping Bag
Alias Cap
Wool T-Shirts – Men’s Sequence, Women’s Essence
DryComp Summit Sack - compression stuff sack that doubles as a backpack

In addition to producing quality gear, OR is involved in the outdoor community. Through the website, HumanPoweredAdventure.com, they promote “self-propelled adventure”.

Schwalbe Tires: Bicycle Tire Company started in Germany in the early 1900s.
Just about everyone doing an extended bike tour is using Schwalbe tires. We’re ready to find out what it’s all about.
This summer we’ve been running the Racing Ralph tires on our full suspension bikes. They ride really well on the hard-packed, smooth trails. Once the trip starts, we’ll be using the Marathon XR tires.

Brunton: Wyoming based company that makes quality camping gear and instruments.We’re really wanted to incorporate solar power into our trip and were really excited to partner with Brunton. Chris has done a fair amount of research to connect the Solaris solar panel with our computer, camera, iPods and miscellaneous batteries.

Once again, we'd really like to thank the companies that have decided to partner with us. It has really raised the level of excitement for our trip.

We also hope this post is helpful to anyone who is planning a big adventure and might be interested in acquiring sponsorship.