WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE - Spokes Magazine

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COLUMNS Growth: A Pleasant Dilemma “Look it is a family with little children! Have you met the other family with the two little children, they have a boy and a girl”. That was the response we got when we first went to the Kent County Spring Fling nine years ago. There were not many families with children and we tended to start clustering together. Over the years we have seen a growth in the number of families coming to this and other biking events. When we first started coming, there were only about five families that were coming with about nine children. Last year there were 31 and this year there 43 children attending between the ages of 3 and 16. This has been by small gains every year. Three years ago I talked Neil Sandler, the publisher of SPOKES with his wife Sonja and two children, Emma and Nathan, into attending. This year he talked a neighbor with two children into attending. We also had a family that had read about the Spring Fling in SPOKES attend for the first time this year. And not only is it parents with their children, there are a number of cases with three generations of grandparents, parents and grandchildren attending. As confirmed by the increasing numbers, the family friendly atmosphere generated by Frank and Kathy Anders and the sponsoring Baltimore Bicycling Club encourages families to continue to attend year after year. One of the interesting things was the change in some of the family riding styles. When we first started on the Spring Fling, most of the children that had out grown the trailers were either on tandems or taga-long bikes. While I continue to see many of the families with tandems, I am seeing more young riders like Jeremy. That has created a pleasant problem for TANDEMS = Sharing 24 July 2009 WHY RIDE A TANDEM? It’s sharing the fun and experience with a partner, a child, a parent, or a friend. Sharing exercise, sharing adventure, sharing the joy of accomplishment, and creating a shared memory. We sell and rent tandems because we’ve shared these things and found that bicycling can be even more fun when it is shared. We’re fi ghting “oil addiction” with human powered transportation. Join the fi ght – park your car and ride your bike. bikes@vienna, LLC 128A Church St, NW Vienna, VA 22180 703-938-8900 www.bikesatvienna.com COME TO OUR WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT OUR UNUSUAL PRODUCTS AND CLICK USED BIKES FOR PHOTOS, DESCRIPTIONS, AND PRICES OF OUR PRE-OWNED BIKES. FAMILY CYCLING 101 by KEVIN BRUGMAN kbrugman@cox.net the family rides at the Spring Fling: too many riders for a single group ride and an increased difference in capability. There is the original family ride led by two families, one leading and one trailing which had over 30 riders. A second family ride led by Gordon Peltz and assisted by Bill Hester was started for families with younger riders on their single bikes. After an instructional class on Saturday morning, they led a 14 mile casual ride. There were 26 riders including some riders as young as 6 and 7 on their singles as well as some on tandems. Riding is not all that this event offers for families. The city wide official events include boat races, parades, festivals and a tea party. This is not a tea party with little sandwiches and delicate cups of finely steeped tea. This is a Boston style tea party with scuffles between the British and the Colonials and things being tossed off the ships into the river. Chestertown. Md., proudly celebrates the lesser known second tea party of the Revolutionary War. After the incident in Boston, the British decided that their cargo ships were no longer safe in the Annapolis harbor so they sailed them across the Chesapeake and up the Chester River to Chestertown. Unfortunately for the British merchants, they soon found their cargo floating back down the Chester River back towards Annapolis helped on its way by the citizens of Chestertown. The boat races on Sunday afternoon generate a lot of interest for the young and old alike. There is always a question of whether some of these boats will even float let alone zip around the short course. This year’s entrants included some conventional styles as well as the children’s favorite caterpillar that ate its way through the week, trailer home on pontoons, and an out-house with a customer. There were even two that had some form of bike power. Unfortunately none of those won but it was still fun to watch. In the evenings there are other activities for the young and old alike. There is a desert bar every night, and what child, young or old does not like ice cream or cake? Then on Saturday and Sunday evening there is a dance to finish the night off. While this occupies the time of many, there were also big grassy areas that were just right for different ball games and Frisbee. For the older teens there were lots of quiet areas just off the main thorough fares but still near all the other activities where they could congregate. It is also interesting to see the interaction of the folks without children watching the children grow and become active cyclists. One cyclist that had watched our children grow up at the bike rally was heard to playfully grumble about “Things are getting bad when the family ride is passing us by!” As he said that, the child that was in a trailer nine years ago, was leading the ride at a respectable pace and ended the ride with Jeremy in a five mile burst averaging over 18 mph ride. Jeremy was just eight years old when we met his family six years ago. He was on his single but could ride a full 20 mile ride. He would be the youngest rider on the family rides and all the adults would be watching out for him, taking turn riding behind him. Many of the kids, my boys included, who were just a year or two younger were admiring him for being able to ride on his own.
Last year I was without a stoker for a ride at the Spring Fling and Jeremy volunteered to stoke for me. We got a late start on the ride but with Jeremy’s power on the back we soon caught up. It was Jeremy’s first time on the tandem and he was having a blast. That was when I found out that while the other kids were admiring him, he was envious of them being on the tandem. I would not be surprised that when he becomes a dad, one of the first things he does for his children is to buy a tandem to go riding with his children. He was already talking about the possibilities of riding with younger relatives on a tandem. This was the year that my oldest son’s bike riding seemed to explode. He has been a strong rider for some time. When he was eight, he was doing 30+ miles and he has done some short tours with me over the past couple of years. While he is a strong stoker, he prefers the independence of the single. This year he was eyeing his mother’s bike and thinking he could ride it. I countered that he was only 12 and still had some growing to do. With that admonishment, he threw his leg over the bike and took off, once again, proving me wrong. So for the rest of the weekend, he rode his mother’s bike, his mother rode my single and I was left to happily ride the tandem with my younger son. Being on a full size road bike seemed to invigorate Jonathon. He was out in front on all of the rides, and asking for more miles. On the Sunday picnic ride, he and his mother did an extra 12 miles with an adult group to expand his limits. The time with Jeremy allowed him to really push himself to see just what he could do. As some of the other adults, other than Mom and Dad, started riding with him, they convinced Jonathon that he needed to try clipless pedals. So now that is the next item he wants to try. Surprisingly as a 12 year old, he fits into my size 12 cycling shoes, so clipless pedals are probably not far away. One of Jonathon’s other goals has been to captain the tandem. He did try to get on the front of the tandem but quickly realized that he was not tall enough to stand over the top tube on the tandem. Fortunately for him, there were several folks with Bike Friday tandems. He quickly talked his way on to a friend’s Bike Friday. The big question was whether little brother would get on the back. A month earlier in a friendly game of touch football Jonathon had broken Jason’s arm so there was not a lot of trust in the relationship. After watching Jonathon tool around the parking lot a couple of times, Jason said “Let’s Go!!” and away they went. Starting was a little touch and go to begin, but that is normal as any new tandem team will attest. Soon they were whizzing around like a veteran team, which they probably were. After we rode our Monday morning ride with several other families on a farm ride with obligatory stops to see the cattle, we finished packing up and said good bye to many friends that we only see once a year but often e-mail or share holiday cards with. For the new friends that came for the first time, all planned on coming again next year confirming the family friendly atmosphere. For those planning on attending in 2010, the Spring Fling is held every year over Memorial Day weekend in Chestertown, MD. Registration generally opens early January and generally sells out by mid April and it seems to sell out earlier every year. For more pictures from this and previous year’s events go to the BBC web page for the Spring Fling to see the picture galleries. http://www.baltobikeclub.org/index.pl/kcsf SINGLETRACK continued from p.22 trail to the ridge. This gets you almost 5 extra miles of riding on the beautiful ridge trail before joining the regular route at the top of the fire road climb. If you’re looking into the longer route, you’d be wise to leave a car with extra food, water, and supplies or to use as a shuttle at the end of the final downhill, as this ride is almost 70 miles and 8-10 hours of riding when done as a complete loop. The 19th annual Shenandoah Fall Foliage Bike Festival October 16-18,2009 �New rides for all skill levels from easy family rides to a challenging century � Enjoy spectacular cycling in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley �For more information and to register go to: www.shenandoahbike.org Call 540 416 1267 or Fax 540 885-0269 For ride details, see the IMBA website at http:// tinyurl.com/imbatraverse and make sure to have a copy of the National Geographic Trails Illustrated Staunton/Shenandoah Mountain map (#791). If you’re interested in either route, I’d suggest talking to the guys at Shenandoah Bicycle Company in Harrisonburg before you head out. They’re great at helping with directions and you can pick up a copy of the Trails Illustrated map. July 2009 25
Page 1 and 2: Serving Cyclists in the Mid-Atlanti
Page 3 and 4: SITTING NEXT TO MY NEIGHBOR LESLIE
Page 5 and 6: Experience the ride of your life! N
Page 7 and 8: BRENDA RUBY Feature Writer & Spokes
Page 9 and 10: THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE
Page 11 and 12: A-1 Cycling TWO LOCATIONS OPEN 7 DA
Page 13 and 14: courageous souls had made. Of cours
Page 15 and 16: More resources for riding the Under
Page 17 and 18: AVAILABLE AT THESE DEALERS: DELAWAR
Page 19 and 20: Out-of-towners dominated the pro re
Page 22 and 23: COLUMNS Going Big in Your Own Back
Page 26 and 27: DEPARTMENTS World Naked Bike Day Th
Page 28 and 29: CALENDAR OF EVENTS Griffi n Cycle 2
Page 30 and 31: COLUMNS ...a look at women’s cycl

WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE - Spokes Magazine

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