Road Read: True Fans

by Kelly Amabile on

In 1999, filmmaker Dan Austin, along with his brother and a friend, hopped on their mountain bikes and headed east
from California, enroute to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. Their coast-to-coast bicycle trip was a
tribute to America and the game of hoops, and became a roaring success with fans across the country. Austin’s
documentary about the trip won praise at the Banff Film Festival.

He has now written a companion book which documents the
4,800-mile ride of a lifetime —

True Fans: A Basketball Odyssey, and has a new documentary premiering next month. On November 9th, in Salt Lake
City, there will be a screening of True Fans Forever, which chronicles
Austin’s trip to the land of his ancestors — Scotland, England, Ireland — with his brothers. You can learn more about
upcoming book appearances and film screenings at the True Fans
website.

Velo Mondial and Cape Argus Tour

by Kelly Amabile on

The Velo Mondial is an
international organization which celebrates the bicycle, promoting it as the world’s most economic and environmentally
sound mode of transport.

Every six years the group holds an international bike planning conference. Mext March, the Velo Mondial conference
will be held in conjunction with the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle
Tour in Cape Town. Over 35,000 cyclists from 60 countries will participate in the “largest timed cycle race in the
world”, which will follow the cycling conference. It sounds like a perfect combo vacation — participate in a world
class adventure cycling event and do your part to promote a healthy lifestyle for a healthy planet. The Velo Mondial
Conference kicks off March 5, 2006 and the
Cycle Tour takes place on March 12.

[via Treehugger]

NYT Adventure Travel Guide to the Caribbean

by Erik Olsen on

This is a very well-done means of showing
how/where to go in the Caribbean. Snorkeling, windsurfing, diving, mountain biking…you name it. If water sports
in warm climes are your forte, this is a neat way of looking at what’s available to you in the region. Click on the
sport and get a useful little write up, then download the PDF for printing. Some of the entries have photos. The Times
consistently does excellent Flash interactives, and this is one to bookmark if you are headed to the Caribbean.
 

Bicycle New Zealand

by Erik Olsen on

The Denver Post travel section takes us
to New Zealand, where the mountains are verdant and
steep and the mountain biking is eopic. The writer, David Swanson, a newbie to the biking-tour thing, has some fat
tire fun in Arthur’s Pass National Park and takes a multi-day cycling trip through New Zealand’s South Island.

Gallery: Biking To Hell You Ride

by Erik Olsen on

A fine
series of photos at
the WAPO from a mountain bike trip that took two hundred miles from Telluride, Colorado to Moab, Utah.

 

All those aches and pains, the lactic acid build up in the thighs, the harsh sun. And you don’t have to deal with
any of it, because here are the pictures.