Biketoberfest

by Kelly Amabile on

It’s less than a week till
Biketoberfest rolls into Florida. This is the fall festival version of
Daytona’s well known spring Bike Week. There are demo rides, expos, track events, street fairs, live music and plenty
of partying for the motorcycle crew.

Biketoberfest began in 1992, and although much smaller than the premier spring event, it still attracts 80,000 –
100,000 riders. (Thanks to GAMT for that stat.) Seems
there are two “official” websites for the event, which runs October 20 through the 23. Here’s
another site to get more info about events and where to stay if you’re
driving down.

Take It Outside: Blog

by Erik Olsen on

Joe Miller, an outdoors writer for the Charlotte Raleigh-Durham (thanks Monty) News-Observer writes
an excellent little blog called Take It Outside that
covers the outdoors in North Carolina. Right now, he’s covering the Cycle
North Carolina (CNC) event, a statewide bike ride, that this year covers some 462 miles between Asheville and
Wilmington. But there are also some posts on
paddling (North Carolina has some epic white
water), camping and, well, pretty much anything dealing with the outdoors. It’s well-written and definitely worth
checking out of you’re from the region…or even if you’re not.

Quad Biking in Africa

by Dave (Blogsmith Old) on

Quad biking the sand dunes of Namibia – what a cool way to explore the land! Writer Marie Javins recently shared her African adventure biking tale, which sounds like loads of fun. I’m not sure which company Marie used for her excursion, but I did find this one operating in Swakopmund and it could very well be the one she went with.

Marie does mention that she realizes that quad biking might not be the best eco-friendly sport for the Namib dunes to endure. I did find this dated article about a proposed green tax for adventure companies using the bikes, but could not confirm if it is in place. These are also efforts underway to create an eco-park encompassing the coastal dunes. In many cases, there are specific areas designated for these bikes, which some say are far less damaging to the terrain than most off-road vehicles.

I still think this is a neat way to get around, but I do try to be informed about the environmental impact of activities like this before I decide to hop on board. In this case, I’d probably still do it if given the chance in my travels. Would you?

Great American Motorcycle Tours

by Kelly Amabile on

In 2000, motorcycle enthusiast and writer Gary McKechnie wrote the widely acclaimed
Great American Motorcycle Tours, the first guide of its kind. A second edition
was released in 2002 and Gary is now preparing to publish the third early next spring. To celebrate this upcoming
release, Gary is auctioning off the dedication of the newest book on Ebay this week. The winner of the auction (already
in progress here) will have up to 50
words to write his or her own dedication at the front of the guidebook. Proceeds will go towards a scholarship in honor
of Gary’s mother (Get additional details on the dedication
here.)

Gary’s goal was to write a

book that would make planning motorcycle trips easier that surfing the net. I think he’s done an excellent job,
providing detailed itineraries for twenty tours, including address, phone and website information for lodging, food and
attractions, which makes it easy for readers to head to the web to do further research or book reservations. Inspired
by traveling correspondent Charles Kuralt, Gary has created a guide that even non-motorcycle riders can use to plan
exciting excursions through the backroads of America. 

The “two-wheeled vacations” included in the book range in length from 100 to almost 500 miles, and offer additional
side trip suggestions. Gary provides plenty of details on what to see and do for each of the tours, peppering his
write-ups with humorous asides and special tips catered specifically to riders (like how to handle repairs or keep your
leg muscles loose on long drives). Each chapter ends with a resources page that includes a list of bike shops for the
states covered in each particular tour, as well as general travel information for the regions covered.

I enjoyed Gary’s review of his favorite US city, Saratoga Springs (since it’s
one of my favs too), and liked the creative themed tours,
like the Blues Cruise musical route or the Civil War Run. Gary’s very open to receiving feedback and additional
suggestions from readers and riders. After the first edition, readers requested a more varied accommodations listing,
so Gary made an effort to include independent hotels, inns and B&B’s in the second edition. We already know that
the third edition will have five new tours, as well as the most
current travel data for his existing tours. Watch your local bookstore early next year to grab a copy…and see who bids
highest for a bike lover’s book dedication!

Ray’s MTB

by Erik Olsen on

Along the lines of my earlier post about Ski Dubai, I
did some more poking around and found another interesting example of man’s endless passion for helping finish God’s
work ;-).

In Cleveland, a place not really known for it’s epic forests and single-track (though someone correct me if I’m
wrong…haven’t done much mountain biking in Ohio), you camn find Ray’s MTB, a
renovated warehouse where they have built a mountain-biking park fully equipped with bridges, a rock garden, and all
sorts of other features to satisfy fat tire fanatics who can’t afford a ticket to Moab or the Pacific Northwest.

The park has apparently been closed for renovations, but is reopneing on October 28.
Here’s a map of the course. Amazing.