Month: May 2009

Tour de Peninsula 2009

Richard MasonerMay 20, 20097 Comments on Tour de Peninsula 2009

SAN MATEO, CALIF. (May 20, 2009) – After a one-year hiatus, the Tour de Peninsula recreational bike ride and family social gathering will return to the Bay Area on Sunday, August 2, in scenic Coyote Point Park, San Mateo. 
 
A highlight of the Bay Area social calendar for nearly 20 years, the Dirty Shirt ride is back with a great new location, a variety of bicycle routes to suit every type of cyclist and full day of family outdoor activities. Proceeds benefit the San Mateo County Parks Foundation and Bicycle Sunday – car-free biking on Canada Road.
 
Registration is now open at www.supportparks.org/tdp. 
 
Bicycling
 
The Tour de Peninsula offers four fully-supported route options on beautiful courses designed to suit everyone from young children and first time riders to serious cyclists. The rides – Kids, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced – will take riders on popular Peninsula bike routes that visit numerous San Mateo County Parks, with breaks at rest stops and scenic sites along the way. Route options include: 

  • Kids/Family Route – 1-3 miles on bike trail in Coyote Point Park
  • Short Route for beginner to intermediate cyclists – 20 miles
  • Long Route for intermediate to experienced cyclists – 31 miles
  • Metric Century for advanced cyclists – 63 miles   
Family Events and Activities
 
The Tour de Peninsula is more than just a ride – it’s a fun, social outdoor experience for the whole family. After the rides, participants will gather at Coyote Point’s Captain’s House Picnic Area, a beautiful location nestled in a shaded eucalyptus grove, for a day of family activities including: 

  • The Coyote Point Museum for Environmental Education, open at no charge to all TdP participants and their families. www.coyoteptmuseum.org
  • MagicMountain, an award-winning playground with 6 slides and play features for toddlers through teens
  • The Bike Skills Demo Area, a short course of entry-level bike challenges for kids, provided by San Francisco Urban Riders 
  • Live band entertainment
  • Picnic tables and grills (bring your own food and beverages, or purchase from concessions on site)
  • Networking and lively conversation with other Bay Area residents and families

Benefit

Apart from providing a great day out in beautiful scenery, the main purpose of the Tour de Peninsula is to raise funds for the San Mateo County Parks Foundation and Bicycle Sunday – car-free biking on Canada Road.   The San Mateo County Parks Foundation funds projects that restore habitat, provide environmental education, improve trails, support volunteer efforts, and encourage recreational use of parks. Since its founding in 1998, the Foundation and its members have provided millions of dollars for San Mateo County parks.
 
History
 
Having unexpectedly grown out of Mark Simon’s newspaper columns about an imaginary bike ride, the Tour de Peninsula was founded circa 1991 by Mr. Simon and his friend Rick Sutton (Sea Otter Classic founder). With catch phrases such as “no pain, no pain,” and, “It’s not a race, it’s a ride,” the event was a semi-spoof of the Tour de France and ran through the campus of Stanford University. An instant success, 150 riders showed up with beaten-up old bikes and were told cheating is OK. People took short cuts and made frequent stops for donuts, taking up to three hours to ride a 15-mile course. Over the years, the ride continued to grow and in some ways became more reverent (although some people still dust off their old clunkers for it), but the jovial spirit has continued. Dirty Shirts are still seen among all the spandex and sport-wool.
 
Registration
 
Rates: Kids 11 and under are free. 13-16 year olds are $20. Adults 17 and over are $40. Registration includes TdP t-shirt (no t-shirt for complimentary registrations 11 and under). 
 
Deadline: Participants are encouraged to register online by July 31, by visiting www.supportparks.org/tdp.  Ride-day registration is also available for an additional $5, beginning at 6:30 am.

Posted In Uncategorized

Maine law: Cyclists stop for school buses

Richard MasonerMay 20, 20099 Comments on Maine law: Cyclists stop for school buses

Legislators in Maine want to change the bicycle law in that state to specifically spell out that cyclists are required to stop for school buses.

Current state law doesn’t specifically exclude bicycles from stopping for school buses, and Maine’s bicycle statutes note that “a person riding a bicycle or scooter on a way has the rights and is subject to the duties applicable to the operator of a vehicle,” so I’m puzzled why lawmakers feel like they need to write a law just for cyclists for something that’s already covered.

Hat tip to Chris in Maine.

Posted In law 2009

Steve Larsen RIP

Richard MasonerMay 20, 20093 Comments on Steve Larsen RIP

Velonews reports that athlete Steve Larsen passed last night of a heart attack during a work out. He was 39 years old.

Larsen raced with Lance Armstrong on the Motorola team in the 90s, he won the NORBA National Cross Country title in 1998 and 2000, and competed in world class triathlon events in 2001, finishing well.

Steve Larsen owned WorldTri.com and was a regular contributor to Xtri.com, where he did product reviews.

This reminds me of runner Jim Fixx the runner and author of The Complete Book of Running who died of a heart attack after his daily run in 1984. I was a runner back then and I followed his running advice in his book religiously.

The cause of Larsen’s death has not been determined.

I’m saddened at the loss of Larsen, who leaves behind five children and his wife Carrie. More at Bike Radar.

Posted In Uncategorized

Grease Monkey wipes

Richard MasonerMay 19, 200917 Comments on Grease Monkey wipes

Disposable latex gloves are one of those things you’re supposed to carry on your bike for the inevitable flat tire repair. You slip them on your hands to keep them clean.

It’s an obvious tip, but for whatever reason latex gloves often don’t work for me. They disintegrate over time. In hot weather, the gloves get sticky, especially when they’re scrunched up inside of my saddle bag.

A few weeks ago I stuffed a few packets of Grease Monkey Wipes into my saddle bag. I haven’t flatted since I installed the Kevlar belted Hutchinson Fusion 2 tires on my bike, but I did snap my chain near the California Avenue Caltrain Station just as a train was (fortuitously) pulling into the station.

I ran into the train, found my chain tool and removed the damaged link. Because 10 speed chains aren’t easy to link together without a master link (bah!), I gave up after a few minutes of wrestling with the chain. I keep my chain fairly clean but grease and grime is still a fact of life when handling the chain.

At this point I usually ruin my pants by wiping my hands on them, but on this day I had Grease Monkey wipes. They’re small wipes in single wipe packages with a citrus degreaser (to remove the grease) and aloe, lanolin and Vitamin E to temper the harshness of the degreaser on my skin. My hands smell like oranges instead of petroleum distillates, and the wipes effectively remove the grime from my hands.

They work as expected, the packaging is handy and I can stuff several into my saddle bag. Grease Monkey Wipes are available at some local bikes shop or online.

Posted In review 2009