SOAR Blog

While attending the first annual Salt Lake Bicycle Summit this weekend, I had the chance to meet the fabulous Tara Mckee, organizer of the 2009 Cycle Style Show-Salt Lake City.

The Cycle Style Show is a local outdoor fashion show that will show off functional and fashionable commuter cycling clothing and accessories (see preview here), in action, on some really cool commuter-friendly bikes.

Whether attendees currently commute into town for work, to shop, to hang with friends or (gasp!) do not ride a bike at all, this show is sure to inspire folks to dust off the bikes in their garage and get out on a bike this summer.

The Cycle Style Show is Friday, May 15 at 7 p.m. at the Gallivan Center in SLC. Hope to see you there!

Courtney enjoys the signs of Spring on the Electra Amsterdam with the tulip design

I pledge to reduce my greenhouse gas emissions by 450 pounds during May, which many U.S. cities, including Salt Lake City, recognize as Bike Month.

I have the farthest commute of all the SOAR team members (about 30 miles), so I’m not going to attempt to commute the entire way by bike. But I will take the bus two to three times per week, and stop asking my husband to drop me off and pick me up from my home bus stop (I learned at the Bicycle Leadership Conference that 40 percent of trips in the U.S. are just two miles and are the most polluting). If I do this during the month of May, UtahCommuter.com tells me that I can reduce my vehicle trips by 450 to 680 miles and my greenhouse gas emission by 380 to 575 pounds.

Me prepping for the Momentum bike fashion show at Interbike

I first started using mass transit because it was cheaper than buying snow tires for my 1988 California-raised Volvo. Even though the threat of snow is gone (let’s hope), I still try to commute by bus twice a week. The entire commute from point to point takes about 30-40 minutes longer than it would if I drove by myself, but I think it is worth the extra time spent. One-way bus fare cheaper than a gallon of gas and the time I have on the bus to read Newsweek and study Portuguese is priceless. Plus, I get home to my husband in a much better mood not having fought traffic for 45 minutes.

I’ll also reduce my green house gas emissions by biking around town more. I’ve been assessing every road I drive on for its bikeability and often think, “I could totally bike this. Why am I even driving a car?” I see bike trips to the gelaterie are in my not-so distant future.

You can learn how many pounds of carbon emissions your commute reduces by registering at UtahCommuter. com (hint: if you only commute by a car alone, your commute reduces NONE! Think about it.)

Woollen bloomers at their best

The first bikes were manufactured in America circa 1878. It took over 15 years of women experimenting with these new devices, breaking their bones trying to ride them with full, ankle-length skirts, before fashion began adapting to the self-propelled women. Even then society resisted the look and function of the woollen bloomers that allowed the female rider to bike safely and modestly.

This reaction born of the 19th century, Western mentality doesn’t surprise me. However, it does surprise me that only 10 years has passed since major bike companies began seriously accommodating female cyclists.

A recent Deseret News article “More attention being paid to women’s biking needs” quotes this figure. However, the article doesn’t address the huge time lapse between the bike’s inception and the establishment of the women’s cycling market.

As the DN article explains, 21st century designers are developing ways to make bike equipment and paraphernalia better fit the female anatomy and active lifestyle. Too embarrassed to go to the grocery store with your Lyrca shorts? Throw on a matching sarong! Leave your woollen bloomers at home! Even the statistics show that cycling women, who occupy 42% of the world’s cycling arena, deserve such attention from the cycling marketplace.

Still, you can’t fully appreciate this achievement without knowing at least a little bit of its arduous back story. Annie Londonberry, for example, finished riding her bike around the world a year before the first Olympic cycling event took place in 1896. Ironically, it took 98 more years for women’s cycling to become an official Olympic event.

This era is the most convenient one in cycling history to be a female cyclist, but not entirely because of progressive designers. The women who caught their dresses on their bike pedals, who competed in the first women’s Olympic cycling event and who dared to wear Lycra shorts into the grocery store deserve the bulk of the credit for this victory.

Let me say from the onset that I’m a fred when it comes to cycling. But, I’m hoping that changes with a little time, road time and patience.

I’ll back up a bit here, with all the time I spend in the office with our resident roadie, Chip, it was hard not to get infected with the cycling bug, so when the opportunity to get a new bike, at a terrific price, came along, I jumped at the opportunity. So, after we figured out what kind of a deal we could get and I perused the different bike manufacturers — and tried not to faint at some of the prices. Some of these bikes are priced at $1,000,000, okay, not quite that much, but take a look at the price on some of the cyclocross bikes, and be sure you’re sitting down.

My new ride

It was a great day when my bike arrived, little did I know it would evoke the same kind of excitement in Chip as a young boy on Christmas morning about to get his first Red Flyer wagon. Chip explained to me that, as part of cyclist culture, I needed to become “one” with my bike by putting it together. With tools in hand, Chip and I set out to get my bike together and begin the process of symbiosis.

Well I think I will never buy a bike from a big box retailer again. There is something to be said for dealers, bike pros, etc.; there are just so many things that can go into tweaking and tuning a bike so it runs like a top notch, two-wheel machine. I could tell Chip was stoked to help me out when his pupils turned into little bicycle wheels. We got the bike set up in about an hour and then Chip gave me and the bike his master cyclist’s blessing.

Here’s the list of new terms I learned:

• Cassette (I thought we’d moved on to CDs by now)
• Sprocket (not new to me, but a cool word all the same)
• B spring
• Fred (what I am ’til I ride down a mountain)
• Crank
• Pedal (okay, I knew this one too)
• Lawyer Tab (it seems the legal system is everywhere)
• Headset (not the white earbuds coming out the sides of my head)

I’m excited to get riding, as odd as that sounds during the Winter, but I’ve got enough insulation, I should be fine. Chip informs me that now that I’ve got my bike, it’s time to accessorize, I’m game — after I learn all these new words! (Seriously though, thanks for your help Chip.)

[If you want to learn some of the popular cycling slang, check out these sites MTB slang and roadie slang.]

Samson Riders Bicycle Club

Considering the plethora of well-established mountain biking cultures that exist worldwide, it is telling that Trips for Kids (TFK) would establish its first international chapter in Israel. In addition to the typical complexities that challenge childhood, Israel’s youth faces the challenge of developing tolerance for the variety of ethnic, educational, socio-economic and immigrant groups in their communities.

I imagine this is true even in Beit Shemesh, Israel, where Trips for Kids Israel- Samson Riders Bicycle Club (TFK Israel-SRBC) has been established.  This community in the heart of the Judean Plains merits a group like TFK Israel-SRBC that encourages young people to understand and unite with their peers of all backgrounds. Before Samson Riders Bicycle Club became the foundational group for TFK Israel, it had already been successful in bringing Jewish and Arab youth together to ride, learn about each other, break down barriers, discover new interests and respect the land. The club’s new relationship with TFK will make it possible to expand this program, Riding for Co-Existence, to give more underprivileged youth in Israel a chance to experience mountain biking and involve youth from other local ethnic communities in the bike ride planning and implementation.

Come late November, riders with TFK Israel-SRBC will take their first tour of the monasteries, water springs and olive groves as an official chapter of the Marin County, Calif.-based non-profit organization. For many of them, it will be their first time exploring their historic surroundings. For some, it may be their first time riding side by side with a peer who claims a different culture than their own.

You can learn more about Trips for Kids at www.tripsforkids.org.

Debbie Reid, founder and director of Bikes for Kids Utah, was a guest Thursday afternoon (5-29-08) on 1280 the Zone (1280 AM), the most popular sports talk radio station in Utah.

Thanks to the team at 1280 for letting Debbie come on the “Jake and Jim Show” to talk about Bikes for Kids Utah and what a difference a brand new bike can make in the life of any kid.

We at SOAR Communications are proud to support such a fantastic non-profit, a 501(c)3 status corporation. In case you didn’t know, Bikes for Kids Utah has donated 1,000 brand new bikes each year (since 2006) to underprivileged children in Utah, along with helmets, bike locks and assorted other items.

After holding the bike giveaways in September in 2006 and 2007, this year’s giveaway will be held this Saturday morning (5-31-08) at Intermountain Healthcare’s fantastic new Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. And once again, yours truly — Poppa P — got snagged to do the emcee duties. 

Anyway . . . here are a couple of the photos from Debbie’s interview on 1280 the Zone on Thursday.

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Debbie Reid, founder and executive director of Bikes for Kids Utah, being interviewed Thursday, 5-29-08, on 1280 the Zone (Utah’s No. 1 sports talk radio station in Utah).

Jim Fuchuck, one of the hosts of the “Jake and Jim Show” on 1280 the Zone (the best sports talk radio station in Utah), interviews Debbie Reid, executive director of Bikes for Kids Utah on Thurs., 5-29-08.

I’ve now been “officially” working in the Sports, Outdoor, Athletics and Recreation industries for slightly more than 3-and-a-half years now, and I must say I continue to be shocked at the overall lack of new media sophistication I see within these industries.

Understand that this is not meant as a slam against all companies in these markets (although it may come across as such).

I also recognize that almost every company I now find in any industry has a Web site. But for many companies, that’s it. And in some instances, companies have little more than a brochure-ware Website.

Others are beginning to step forward and are beginning to embrace newer forms of interactive media, sometimes known as Web 2.0 technologies. These solutions and tools include

• Blogging,
• Online video,
• Social networks (MySpace and Facebook being the most popular, but not the only ones),
• Microblogging (through such tools as Twitter and Pownce, to name two), and
• Podcasting.

What’s even more amazing to me, however, is the seeming lack of interactive / Web 2.0 sophistication among the media companies serving the outdoor and recreation industries. Here again, I’m not attacking every media-publishing company serving clients and/or end-users in the recreation, sports, athletics and/or outdoor industries. Just most of ‘em.

Continue Reading »

If you ever need a boost of inspiration about the potential of diet and exercise (specifically cycling) to overcome one’s weight challenges, you’ve got to read yesterday’s story on The Gear Junkie: “Large Fella on a Bike” (4-18-08).

In summary, Scott Cutshall went from 501 pounds to 232 pounds by strictly following a self-imposed regimen of cycling and a 1,200-calorie per day diet, and he did so in a little more than two years.

I won’t go into more details here, but major, major props to Cutshall for his shining example to all of us, weight-challenged or not.

In addition, thank you “Gear Junkie” Stephen Regenold for bringing Scott’s story to light. I loved it!!!

David, Maura and I visited Delta 7 Sports in Payson, Utah last Friday. Things are going pretty good for the start-up. They are putting the finishing touches on the first few Arantix IsoTruss mountain bike framesets going out to distributors in the UK and Australia, a dealer here in the U.S. and the first frame to a consumer (a doctor in Texas). The photo to the left is of Tyler Evans, Delta 7’s bicycle program manager, tapeing off one of the frames for its final clear coat.

We met with Delta 7’s executive team to check in on them. They are pretty happy about getting some bikes out the door!

Tuesday on BicycleRetailer.com I read that Dick Burke, founder of Trek Bicycles, died Monday night, March 10, due to complications from heart surgery. It was sad to hear the news. It made me think about what Dick and Trek have accomplished and about what bicycles have done for me.

When I was in high school, my brother Steve was an Italian fanatic who had an Alfa Romeo Spider and a Pogliaghi road bike. I wanted to ride road bikes like him, so I bought a Japanese made Centurion (I couldn’t afford a nice Italian bike). I didn’t ride the Centurion too much. Riding bikes wasn’t the cool thing to do in high school. Continue Reading »