DemocracyBike.com is the site for Sustainable Energy in Motion Bicycle Tours, a small tour company that leads cycling vacations with a purpose.

Part adventure, part learning experience, these eco friendly bike trips follow either Oregon's Coastal Scenic Bike Route or head inland to sustainable living communities like Aprovecho where cyclists are immersed in projects involving alternative building techniques, sustainable energy production, organic farming and more. In the process, participants of these long distance bike tours learn about nutrition, health and fitness while riding your own bike through Oregon's beautiful scenery.

Labels: bike tours, Oregon

As winter is ebbing here in the USA, thoughts of bicycle touring are on the minds of many cyclists. With this in mind, here are two recent stories with advice on bike touring. (Photo right: Ride The Rockies)

- Nathan Ward's "How to Mountain Bike Tour on Singletrack" offers specific suggestions on what to bring on the trail; his advice is based on his experiences with several previous single track mountain bike tours in the wilderness.

- Denver Post staff writer Jack Cox's "Ride early and often to prepare for a bike tour" is a story with tips explaining how to condition your body for grueling long distance tours such as the 2007 Denver Post Ride The Rockies (an annual bike tour that covers 400+ miles of mountain riding in a week).

Labels: bike tour advice, bike tours, mountain biking, Ride The Rockies

Yvonne Armstrong is a 48 year old Australian cyclist that recently toured southeast Asia solo via a Bike Friday. In Vonny's blog about her bike tour, she mentioned taking a Bangkok bike tour with Jason Williams, a bicycle tour operator in Thailand. (Photo right: Vonny & Jason after their tour.)

Curious as to how a tour company in Asia (where most folding bikes are actually built) could afford to rent pricey, custom crafted Bike Friday folding bikes made in the USA, I wrote Jason to learn whether Grasshopper Adventures led any tours renting Bike Fridays or other folding bikes. Following is his reply.

"I am the founder of Grasshopper Adventures and am the proud owner of a Bike Friday 'New World Tourist' which I use whenever I lead tours.

We don't use Fridays as rental bikes, they are just too expensive to use for tours in our price bracket (a Friday would actually cost more than the tour!). I would love to be able to do this though and perhaps when I by myself a new Friday I will make my old one available to people to try out. It is so hard convincing people that they are fantastic to ride and no you don't have to pedal harder :)

I used to use cheap Dahon folding bikes for a tour in Bangkok but they proved too cheap for the regular tours. I would love to by some of the better Dahon's that are now available here in Bangkok but I need all purpose bikes and these city commuter style ones cannot be used on long multiday tours so for now it's regular old mountain bikes...

As I lead many tours on my Friday I have managed to influence a few people into buying their own. The Friday in the blog you read is a "son" of mine plus there are a few others now be ridden in Australia that I inspired.

Here in Bangkok I am a member of the Thailand Cycling Club. A few years ago a turned up to a 6 day, 780km ride on my Friday - there were many funny faces being pulled but after the first day of me being near the front they started to come around. On the final 2 days which were all in the mountains I was easily out in front of everyone. Now there are many people riding folding bikes in the club. I (not too modestly) take part of the credit for convincing them :)

Regards
Jason Williams
Grasshopper Master"

Thanks Jason for writing back. I look forward to cycling around Bangkok with you one day.

For more info about Grasshopper's bike tours, visit GrasshopperAdventures.com. And if you've recently returned from an exceptional bike tour, email me at the link displayed below. Perhaps I'll feature your story.

Cheers,
Larry

Labels: bicycle tours thailand, Bike Friday, bike tours, folding bikes, Grasshopper Adventures, Thailand

Recovery czar, Ed Blakely, will take a bike tour of Gentilly on Saturday to chart a course for the revitalization of the neighborhood. He will be joined by New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, who will focus on points of interest along the route.

Blakely said in January that after reviewing preliminary neighborhood plans, he intended to bicycle through the city's neighborhoods, talking to residents and getting a detailed view of life in Gentilly, eastern New Orleans, Lakeview and the 9th Ward. This will be the first of those bike tours.

The tour begins at 11 a.m. at a shopping center on Elysian Fields Ave at Gentilly Blvd. Cyclists will head west, turning right at Norman Mayer Ave., then merge into St. Anthony Avenue. They will then head north and make a right at Mirabeau Ave., then continue to Elysian Fields and turn right again onto Gentilly Blvd. The tour will end at Dillard University’s Chapel.

Residents who are not interested in biking may attend a briefing at the Dillard chapel at noon, where Blakely will discuss his impressions and gather input from residents.

All Gentilly residents with bicycles are invited to join in. For more information call Hedge-Morrell’s office at 504-658-1040.

Labels: bike tours, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, recovery