Fashion

Things are heating up, this is not a drill people.

From MassBike

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We told you late last week that the crisis in federal transportation funding was only getting worse, and to stay tuned for an Action Alert. This is it. The consensus among advocacy groups, like the Alliance for Biking and Walking, Transportation for America and MassBike, is that there is no chance for salvaging the House transportation bill. MassBike is in close touch with the Massachusetts delegation and is confident that we will have their unanimous opposition to this horrible transportation bill. (Which is why we are not asking you to contact your House Representatives about killing H.R. 7 – but you can if you want.)

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Hope, then, lies in the Senate. Over the past few days, two amendments have been proposed to the Senate’s transportation bill (MAP-21, or S. 1813) that would fix many of the problems relating to bike funding. Without these amendments, the three key sources of funding for biking and walking (Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, and Recreational Trails Program) will no longer receive dedicated funding and will instead be forced to compete with many other programs for a smaller pot of money.

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Today, we need you to contact Senator Kerry and Senator Brown to ask them to support the Cardin-Cochran Amendment and the Klobuchar Amendment.

Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) are co-sponsoring an amendment which would give local communities more access to Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School. In Massachusetts, this amendment would likely make it easier for towns and cities to access this funding.

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Senator Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) amendment would restore dedicated funding to the Recreational Trails Program, a key resource for off-road trails.

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In Massachusetts, these programs have been leveraged into hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in off-road trails, paved multi-use paths, and improved signage, drainage, and crossings that remove barriers to biking. Just a few examples of worthwhile projects that received funding were:

• The Independence Greenway in Peabody for path construction;
• The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail in North Adams for trail construction;
• The New England Mountain Bike Association for maintenance and improvement of numerous off-road facilities around the state.
• The Jamaica Pond Trail in Boston for both construction and land acquisition.

We are asking you to do two things:

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1. Call and/or email your Senators TODAY, tell them why bicycling is important to you, and ask them to SUPPORT the Cardin-Cochran Amendment and the Klobuchar Amendment to MAP-21 (S. 1813).

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Senator John Kerry: (202) 224-2742, Email (select “Transportation” as Topic)
Senator Scott Brown: (202) 224-4543, Email (select “Transportation” as Topic)

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Don’t have time to write your own email? Click here to send a pre-written email message.  
2. Email action@massbike.org and let us know you contacted them!

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We know that we have been sending out a lot of Action Alerts on federal issues, but we want you to know that it’s only because the situation has grown that dire. Thanks so much for adding your voice to this crisis – and stay tuned for more developments!

I don’t usually list “for profit” rides, but this one sounds fun, and you can ride it without fundraising if you like.

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Bikes Can Beat Childhood Obesity – Join the CYCLE Kids Breakaway Charity Ride on May 20th

· Choose from a hilly 62-mile metric century (perfect for an early season challenge), a scenic 36-mile route, or a fun 5-mile family ride to nearby Codman Farm.

· After the ride, enjoy live music, lawn games, and a gourmet lunch under a tent at the beautiful deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA.

· Acclaimed Chef Paul O’Connell of Chez Henri will be grilling a fresh, savory lunch on site – we’ll bet this is the best you’ll ever eat at a charity ride.

· You decide whether to fundraise or not, depending on which registration fee you choose – it’s up to you!

Celebrate Bike Week 2012 in a meaningful way – give the gift of bicycling to the next generation of CYCLE Kids!

For more information or to sign up today, please visit http://conta.cc/breakaway-2012

PS: we also offer a fantastic “Wellness Sponsor” program if your workplace would like to reward employees with free entries to the ride. Please contact us to learn more about this exciting employee benefit.

Got this in the email, looks like fun.

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“The LIFT Bike Project, an organization dedicated to donating refurbished bicycles to homeless and low-income residents of Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville, will be holding“refurb nights” Every Wednesday from 7-9 PM, volunteers will gather at Quad Bikes (http://www.quadbikes.org) to help fix up bikes for a giveaway on the Green Streets Initiative’s April Walk/RIde Day, when 100 people will become the proud new owners of a great
set of wheels.

Refurb nights are both fun and a great way to meet a range of people with a passion for community service and biking. While no mechanic experience is required, volunteers should come prepared to learn something new. Whether you’re a refurb night veteran or hearing about this opportunity for the first time, come on down – everyone is welcome.

For those who can’t make it to refurb nights, there are other ways to help. Maybe you have an old bike lying in your basement – LIFT would love for you to donate it.

Please feel free to contact Ben at liftbostonbikeproject@gmail.com with any
questions, visit liftbikeproject.blogspot.com, or check us out on facebook
at http://www.facebook.com/LIFTbikeproject“

From the latest product news to details of routes and events, our news round-up is a collection of short snippets of information in one handy article.

Today we bring you the stealth options from 3T, a new enduro race at Glentress, web tracking developments at Australia’s Kona Odyssey, the new boss at CTC and more.

Product and team news

3T go under the radar

A new “stealth” colour scheme is now available for 3T’s Team Road and MTB cockpit components for 2012. The Black Series features a matte black finish complemented by a gloss black 3T logo and affects the Ergonova comfort bars, ARX stem, Dorico seatpost, and Rigida Fork in the road range, and the Extendo and Xida bars, Doric seatpost and ARX stem on the mountain side.

Routes, racing & rides

“Official ruler” of Glentress to be crowned

Sunday 27 May will see the crowning of a new king and queen of Scottish trail centre Glentress, thanks to a new enduro race. The King and Queen of the Hill, sponsored by Swedish kit brand POC, is part of the ten day TweedLove cycling festival and will be a serious test of each competitor’s all-round bike skills.

The course will take riders to near the summit of Glentress Forest’s big hill, then right back down again by way of a series of timed races and linking stages. The race also features a huge final descent stage, running from Spooky Wood down to Peebles along a large proportion of natural trails. Riders must include at least one uphill stage included in their overall points score. They must also be savvy in their equipment choice too, with no change of bike or tyres allowed during the race.

Best in show for the Exmoor Beauty

Fashion conscious cyclists will be rewarded for their sartorial elegance in the Exmoor Beauty (22 April) sportive, organisers have announced. The Beauty, the newest event from the organisers of the vicious Exmoor Beast, is designed to ease riders into the new season and this latest quirk is sure to mark it out in a crowded calendar. The Concours-de-Elegance competition will award the top three male and female riders judged to be the sharpest dressers on show with spot prizes.�

Live web tracking for Kona Odyssey

Supporters of the Kona Odyssey mountain bike marathon will be able to track race progress from afar in this year’s edition thanks to the introduction of live tracking. It will be applicable to the elite male and female riders in the 100km race in Victoria, Australia, with live splits at the six checkpoints available on the web for all competitors.

CTC appoints new chief executive

UK national cyclists’ organisation CTC has appointed Gordon Seabright as its new chief executive. Seabright, who has a stint as Commercial Director of English Heritage on his CV, replaces Kevin Mayne, who has taken up the post of Director of Development for the European Cyclists’ Federation after 14 years in the hot seat.

Seminars look to inspire cyclists new and old

A new series of motivational seminars designed to get people on their bikes has been launched by Cyclevox. Spoke ‘n Word hopes to help new and seasoned cyclists prepare their body and mind for the season ahead. The first event, Preparing for the Road Ahead, will be presented by Olympic cycling medallist Bryan Steel and cancer survivor James Golding, and take place on Wednesday 29 February at the Frontline Club, London.

Spank Industries gets into bed with Dirt Wars UK

Dirt Jump series Dirt Wars UK has unveiled Spank Industries as the title sponsor for 2012. In just its third season, the five-round series gets under way on 12 May with Adrenaline Alleys Dirt Jumps in Corby, Northamptonshire and winds up on 8 September at Penshurt Off-Road Club in Kent.

The board of California-based Marin Bikes have agreed to sell the company to a�European investment firm, they announced this morning.

Founded in 1986 in Marin County, California�– the place widely regarded as the birthplace of mountain biking�– the business is currently owned by its staff and the family of founder and president�Robert Buckley. No date has yet been announced for its acquisition by Minestone Limited.

“The acquisition of Marin by Minestone will allow us to strengthen our brand through increased investment in product innovation, marketing and human resources,” said Buckley, via press release. “We’ll continue to operate from our Novato headquarters, designing and testing on the trails and back roads that have inspired us for over 25 years. I greatly look forward to accompanying our talented and dedicated staff during this exciting new phase in our company’s history.”

Britain has always been a big market for Marin, and many of the company’s full-suspension bikes have been designed on these shores. Ross Patterson, sales and marketing director at Marin’s UK distributors, ATB Sales, said: “This is excellent news. The investment this acquisition will strengthen Marin’s position globally and we look forward to the exciting times ahead for Marin in the UK.”

It’s not yet known how much Minestone are paying for the business, or when the sale will go ahead. We’ll bring you further details as soon as we get them.

Marin Bikes timeline

1985:�Bob Buckley�teams up with�Joe Murray, who’s working in a local bike shop, to start a bike company. Buckley had been working in the fashion industry but was inspired to change career after trying a mountain bike on his doctor’s advice to help�heal a nagging knee injury.�

1986:�Marin Bikes launch their first�bike, the Madrone Trail hardtail. They go on to become big players in the late ’80s and early ’90s mountain bike scene.

1992: The company unveil their first full-suspension bike.�The Ti FRS used a titanium front triangle mated to a Manitou twin shock rear end. It squatted badly under acceleration and sported negligible damping but�was still one of the better designs of the early ‘90s.

1995:�At a time when Marin are losing ground to rivals like Specialized, Kona and Trek, Bob Buckley meets Formula 1 suspension engineer Jon Whyte at a UK dealer presentation. Impressed, he contracts Whyte and Marin’s UK distributors ATB Sales to produce a new full-suspension range.

1996:�Paul Lazenby wins the UK cross-country championships on a Whyte designed single-pivot Marin Mount Vision, silencing the full-suspension sceptics for good. The long-travel B-17 also proves a success. Marin’s hardtails continue to be designed in the US.

2006: Jon Whyte retires from the bike industry and hands over the reins to Ian Alexander, his apprentice since 2002.�

2008: Marin’s latest four-bar full-suspension bikes garner high praise from the cycling press, with�What Mountain Bike�naming the Mount Vision as their Bike of the Year.

2011: Marin unveil a new suspension platform for 2012,�Quad Link 3.0. You can see it in action on the new Mount Vision XM8 in the video below:

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I couldn’t help it, that picture is so romantic. Nothing says I love you like “I will carry you and the bike back after you flat out.”

With valentines day right around the corner I was wondering how many of you ride with your sweeties? If so how do you work that relationship? If not, how do you deal with your “two loves” so to speak?

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I couldn’t help it, that picture is so romantic. Nothing says I love you like “I will carry you and the bike back after you flat out.”

With valentines day right around the corner I was wondering how many of you ride with your sweeties? If so how do you work that relationship? If not, how do you deal with your “two loves” so to speak?

You can’t have good cycling without good public transportation, it’s that simple. Save the MBTA.

from MassBike.
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You hopefully saw our first report on the MBTA fare increase and service cut proposals, which will have a negative impact on anyone who uses public transportation, bicyclists included. But in addition to hurting bicyclists who use transit for part of their bike trip, all other bicyclists will also be affected. With fewer transit options, there will be more cars on the street. With more cars on the street, bicyclists (and everyone else) will have to deal with more traffic and more frustrated drivers. More traffic means more exhaust and reduced air quality that we breathe while riding. The MBTA has already conceded these points. Basically, this is a bad deal for all users of the road.

MBTA riders gathered outside the State House for a rally.

We have been hard at work with MassDOT’s Transportation Advisory Committee, Transportation for Massachusetts, and our fellow advocacy groups to try to find a better solution. In a recent meeting, the choice was framed in the following way:

1. Massive service cuts, substantial fare increase; or
2. Massive fare increase, fewer service cuts

But this is a false choice, because neither option will solve the MBTA’s underlying financial problems, and both will have unacceptable impacts on transit riders and everyone else. Without a more comprehensive solution, within a year we will be back discussing further fare increases and service cuts.

The public meetings so far have been totally packed, and also full of anger directed toward the MBTA. The reality, however, is that the T’s options are limited; it can only raise fares or cut service to balance its budget. If you don’t like either proposal, the real audience is the Legislature, because they are the only ones who can allocate more funding to the T.

What You Can Do To Help

1. Contact your state representative and senator and let them know that you want them to find a permanent solution for the MBTA and transportation funding.

2. Go to one of the ongoing MBTA public meetings to demonstrate to the T and to legislators that there is a widespread call for a real solution to this problem.