Photo by Solifesyle.com
What a way to kick off National Bike Month – two bike shows in NYC! The New Amsterdam Bike Show last weekend and now the Bike Expo New York this week are showing us that cycling is for everyone! These dynamic shows have something for everyone and give people a chance to share their love of bikes, celebrate the progress that has been made politically to improve bike lanes, and put the FUN back into riding a bike.
Check out the photo coverage of the New Amsterdam Show here: http://www.solifestyle.com/2012/05/new-amsterdam-bike-show-recap.html
Light & Motion will be at this year’s bike show on April 28th & 29th – look for our Urban lights on the runway!
http://newambikeshow.com/
We were at the Portland Bike Show this last weekend where 5,000 bike-riding enthusiasts converged to see and sample the best of bike gear, gadgets, and fashion. Portland based companies like Nutcase, Sweet Pea Bicycles, and Sugar Wheel Works, plus a plethora of small manufacturing industries showcased their high-quality and handcrafted wares. And for the kid in all of us there were brand-new bikes to ride, a fashion show by Molly Millar, and amazing stunts demonstrated by Ryan Leech! Portlanders know how to enjoy everything bike!
If you have not experienced a Consummer Bike Show you are in for a treat! A friend of mine summed it by saying, a bike show is “part art, part community, and all heart!”. Take a look at the shows coming up in the next couple of months:
The Scottish Bike Show, April 13 – 15th http://www.thescottishbikeshow.com
The Sea Otter Classic, April 19th – 22nd http://www.seaotterclassic.com
The New Amsterdam Bike Show, April 28th-29th http://newambikeshow.com
Bike Expo New York, May 3rd – 5th http://www.bikenewyork.org/bike-expo-new-york
Irish Cycling Show May 19th – 20th http://www.irishcyclingshow.com
By Jake Branch
What better way to escape the car traffic and narrow or nonexistent bike lanes than a 24 hour mountain bike race in the Sonoran Desert? Joining a four man team for the 24 hour old pueblo mountain bike race has proven to be one of the best decisions I’ve made this year. It also allowed the perfect control to see if the nocarsgo experiment was working in the training department.
I woke to a cold arizonian sunrise with my mind spinning. A disgustingly warm winter has left the normally frozen Missouri single-track trails completely unrideable. Has riding to work every day prepped my legs for the challenge the desert about to dish out? Will my legs hold out for 24 hours? I’m officially past the point of sleep, so time to track down some coffee and make this day official.
There’s something about riding a full suspension 29er down to the local coffee truck that just feels right. A daily commute of single track that requires a mountain bike = commuter-lottery-winner. As my coffee sinks into my bloodstream, waking my brain, I’m thinking the desert life isn’t so bad, at least in February when the high is 72 degrees.
It’s 9am and the “town” is buzzing with excitement waiting for the race to start. . . This time tomorrow, I’ll know if the experiment has been successful so far.
Jake Branch is a regular contributor to the Light & Motion blog and now a 24-Hour ”diehard” after his respectable finish on the Team “Die Trying” this past weekend. Jake has given up his car to ride his bike to work for one year.
By Chris Horton
My bike racing career started as a triathlete. After a couple years of passing people on the bike and then getting passed by them on the run I realized maybe I should focus on my strengths and just ride the bike. When I first moved the Colorado I lived in Denver and on my road bike while working as a tech in a shop. One October I went out to 24 Hours of Moab to be support crew for my buddies. Even though I’d only mountain biked once or twice I immediately felt I should be racing not wrenching. The entire feel of the race was exhilarating, starting with the infamous La Mans start. The next year those friends asked me to join their team and I bought a used mountain bike and they taught me how to mountain bike on those uphill rocky switchbacks filled Front Range trails. 24 Hours of Moab was my very first mountain bike race, it helped me fall in love with the sport of mountain biking with the great community that shows up to it every year. (That was the year of the great flash flood where the race was canceled in the middle of the night)
After that year I moved away and was unable to make it. This year was my first back but will it also be my last? A couple weeks before the race its director Laird Knight sent out a race communiqué explaining this may be the last 24 Hours of Moab. Like many races it has been hit hard by a little mismanagement in this unpredictable economy where registration and sponsorship money are down. 24 Hours of Moab is a race that has hosted the National Championships and the legends of endurance racing and beloved by many of us “average joes”. It seems a race that would never disappear, but unfortunately its future is dim. That didn’t bring a down mood this weekend. My camp had two teams of four and a team of two and a bunch of dedicated friends to make us food and fixed our wrecked bikes in the middle of the night. The camaraderie of not only my friends but other racers is one of the things that makes mountain biking special and this event exemplifies it. When you ride by someone at 3am you are both sharing that odd tired, excited state of mind and can’t help but cheer each other on. Bissell’s Andy Jacques-Maynes won the solo category after being dared by his twin brother to race it. Osprey Packs sponsored Honey Stinger team ran a clinic on how to race a four man 24 Hours team, in the process setting the fastest laps of the weekend. And my two friends, who taught me how to mountain bike and brought me into this wonderful sport, found time to train when they weren’t hanging with their kids to take second in the Duo Pro category.
Now that I’m back I don’t want this race to go away. I will be sending Laird an email today promising a team next year. I encourage all of you to do the same.
Email heygranny@grannygear.com and tell them you will be there next year with a team and the expectation that the race will continue and that everyone including the racers and the race organizers will have a new appreciation for the event and how special it is.
Check out the video clip from Momentum’s Urban Fashion Show: IMG_MomentumFashionShow
A treat from 2010 Interbike riding with Mash SF.
Are YOU going to Interbike? Look for the after-hour rides and races. Cutthroat Racing is helping to sponsor the Vegas Goldsprints at the Double Down tonight and look for the Mobile Social Ride with Bike Hugger on Thursday after the show http://bikehugger.com/mobile-socials.
The Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme Adventure Race is set to kick off next week in the West Kootenay mountains of BC. This isn’t your average race either… it’s a 6-day race through wilderness that includes mountain biking, paddling, trekking and fixed-rope rappels and ascents.
The No Boundaries blog caught up with one of the teams racing in next week’s event, the DART-nuun-SportMulti team and asked Light & Motion athlete Cyril Jay Rayon them a few questions…
What is your team doing to prepare for the big race?
Nothing different. We train and race all year. RTNX is going to be a big one so we make sure we taper enough.
In a longer race you’ll surely need to catch a bit of sleep; can you talk about your sleep strategy?
Nope, maybe afterwards 
OK, here’s a bit… We’ll try to sleep more than we usually do.
How about footcare during a race?
Condition before the race, lubricate, and dry off when possible.
What does your gear box include in regards to:
- pack – We use the Gregory line of rugged packs.
- bike – Our trusted full-suspension Turner Flux
- lights (headlamps and bike lights) – Light and Motion Stella 300, Seca 900, and Solite. We’ll be the best lit team on the course.
Read the rest of the interview here and stay tuned for live updates from the race here.
By Cary Smith
The USA Cycling National Cross-Country Championships were held on Baldy Mountain in Sun Valley, Idaho last weekend. These races were the culmination of a week-long celebration of cycling in the bike friendly Wood River Valley. Bikes were everywhere about town all week, but they all converged to one place on Saturday: the starting line.
The 7:30 a.m. start time for the Category 1/singlespeed men seemed mighty early, but with hundreds of eager racers toeing the line the energy level was sky-high. Every racer knew that the start would be very important on this course as the first lap began with a short dirt road climb which immediately dove into a singletrack descent, leaving no room for passing until the course exited the woods onto the only flat section of the loop. Even this flat section had been doctored by the course designer to include a wooden “overpass” over the pedestrian tunnel and a “rock garden” filled with boulders that was only about 100 meters, but seemed like an eternity as we bounced and weaved our way through, trying to stay upright and out of harm’s way.
Shortly after the rock garden, the racers funneled onto the meat of the course: a 1,000-foot singletrack climb with plenty of roots and rocks, forcing multiple mounts and dismounts. Again, there was very little room for passing until the trail opened up a bit and finally onto a very steep doubletrack.
From the top of the doubletrack, it was all grins as we descended the 1,100 feet down the River Run Trail, finishing with the intimidating “rock drop,” a very steep, boulder-strewn 30-foot drop to the lawn in front of River Run Lodge. Passing under the Start/Finish banner we sprinted around the maintenance building to start the second lap, which would bring us to the finish.
The Saturday morning races were kind to two Light and Motion athletes as Cary Smith won the Men’s Singlespeed race and the Women’s Singlespeed victory went to Rebecca Rusch, in her first foray into the world of singlespeed racing! We were both excited to be part of such a wonderful event and Sun Valley did a wonderful job of rolling out the red carpet for all the cyclists.
Cary Smith is a Light & Motion sponsored athlete who rides for Hammer Nutrition.
By Meredith Miller
It’s mid-July and that means only one thing in the cycling world — the Tour de France is in full-swing. Unlike any other sport, the cyclists “play” for 5 to 7 hours each day for three consecutive weeks (with only two rest days).
Each team starts with nine riders and each one of the riders has been chosen for a specific reason depending on his strengths. A rider may be selected to win a stage, take the sprinter’s jersey, contribute to a strong team time trial, help a teammate win a stage, or, even better yet, win all the glory — the maillot jaune (The yellow jersey worn by the leader of the le Tour). Each team will have different goals at the Tour and each team will build its roster accordingly, but one thing that is necessary on every team is the support rider, or domestique. Regardless of the stage profile, domestiques are just as important as the rider slated for victory.
Katy Crane on 
Charles Allen on 
