Monthly Archives: April 2012

More Exposure in the Local Media

Posted on by

The News Tribune’s Fitness writer Craig Hill Talks about the different Cycling Club options available in the South Sound. Looks like Bike Month is doing a good job getting people talking about Cycling in Tacoma:

When it comes to joining a bike club, the biggest challenge is showing up for the first ride.

Carole Bernhardt, promotions director for the Capital Bicycling Club of Olympia, says “people can be shy about joining a new group.” Apparently, she says, some people aren’t sure they’ll fit in with a bike club. To test this out, I did a little research to find out exactly who South Sound clubs want.

I found these clubs only offer rides for those who fit into the following categories: fast riders, slow riders, veteran riders, beginners, people who look good in spandex, people who don’t (most of us), racers and recreational riders, men and women. In other words, “There’s something for everybody,” Bernhardt said.

Saturday Ride Roundup

Posted on by

9am leaving from Tacoma Bike (@tacomabike):

There are a couple climbs on the ride: ramping up to 14% on one and a slightly less going up Little Italy. There will be three riding options: a 30 mile route which will be riding at around 14 mph; a second distance option average 14 – 16 mph; and the third option is an average speed of 18 – 20 mph. When you start with a group please stay with that group, or let the group leader know you are leaving. Riders will wait at each major turn to regroup.
The pace & distance varies depending on which group you start in, and do expect to climb and descend hills. No matter your riding skills we have a no drop rule so feel free to join in. Strongly recommend bringing full water bottles and energy food, picture ID and checking your bike and equipment before the ride Saturday. Please contact Mike Brown or Jim Ahrens if you have any questions. Map

10am from Celebration Park, Federal Way for the Wheelmen’s Spring Training Ride

Starting at 10 AM from Celebration Park in Federal Way. Most of the rides will be between Federal Way and Sumner by various routes and distances from 12 to 30 miles one way. We will start slow and flat and gradually add hills and distance as well as time. This first ride will be approximately 30 miles total with a few hills so code 2B. No one will be left behind, but if you are fast you can go ahead. Map

8am from Forza at 27th and Bridgeport for the Spokie Cycling Club (@OldTownBicycle):

This is the Saturday morning Spokie Cycling Club Ride. We average about 17 MPH for the entire ride going about 20-25 MPH on flat roads. No lunch stop. Route is decided at Forza on the morning of the ride. We begin and end every ride together and have a lot of fun. Coffee and conversation at Forza at the end of every ride. If this kind of riding sounds like fun come join us! For more information call Robert Deehan (253) 272-9682. Map

9am MBT ride in Capitol State Forest with the Capital Bicycling Club

XC or Shuttle Trail Rides, depending on what the group wants to do. Pace varies. Everyone waits at the fire road crossings for you no matter your pace. Usually 15 plus riders. Rain or Shine. Map

Bike Month: Tacoma Bike Swap – Saturday 10-2

Posted on by

From the Pierce Trips Page:

SATURDAY, APRIL 28TH 10AM-2PM
University of Puget Sound Memorial Fieldhouse – N 11th Ave & Union Map
Want to sell one of those bikes cluttering up the garage? Looking for that perfect vintage cruiser? Whether buying or selling, join us for this exciting community event! While you’re there, check out these highlights:

  • Free Intro to Bike Maintenance Clinics with REI at 11AM and 12PM (registration required at REI tent on the day of the event)
  • Low-cost adult and children’s helmets and free helmet fittings
  • Children’s Bike Rodeo

For more information or to register as an individual seller or vendor email: bikeswap@cityoftacoma.org.

Sponsored by University of Puget Sound and Tacoma Wheelmen’s Bicycle Club

Following the Bike Swap at 3pm, Tacoma Bike Polo club will also be hosting an Exhibition Match in the Memorial Fieldhouse Parking Lot. Should be a blast!

Both Matt and I will see you there. Matt will be at the 2nd Cycle booth and I’ll be helping out at the Coral in the afternoon.

Introducing a New Team Member

Posted on by

Ride Tacoma is proud to introduce a new member of the team.

Matt Newport has been an active member and catalyst of Tacoma’s bicycling community. He’s been a member and organiser of the Harmon Bicycling Club, affiliated with 2nd Cycle and their efforts, and recently represented cycling at the South Sound Sustainability Expo. In contrast to my passions for the pro-peleton and 90s Italian racing bikes, he’d rather be reading about the bicycling culture of Copenhagen and Amsterdam and shop-talking bucket bikes. Matt’s going to bring a fresh perspective to RideTacoma, writing about riding as a community, kids on bikes, commuting tips and tricks and more. I can’t wait to see what he has to write! Welcome Matt!

Light Train Derailed in Downtown Tacoma

Posted on by

Heavy rains washed gravel from the 9th Ave roadworks onto the tracks along Commerce, derailing the Light Rail Train. Fortunately no one was hurt. No word yet on a timeframe for getting that intersection fully open. Be careful riding through that area if you’re commuting in the morning.

Pictures from Rob Mcnairhuff and Caroline Dennewith (Facebook)

Tacoma Cycling Featured in Weekly Volcano

Posted on by

The Weekly Volcano have featured Tacoma’s bicycling community in a recent article. A few local favorites were talked about too:

Climb into my head for a moment: The venue is the farm country of northwestern Ohio where I grew up.

A rural school, books to read, a BB gun to shoot and a dog to play with were my reality. Oh, and thousands of acres of corn, wheat and soybeans filled out the picture.

But no bicycle.

Fast-forward in my cranium a number of decades, and everywhere I look in T-town I see people riding bicycles.

Some change from then to now.

“It’s the most efficient way to travel under your own power,” Mike Brown, the owner of Tacoma Bike, told me a couple of Saturday mornings ago after a ride. “You have such a sense of freedom and independence on a bicycle.”

In the peloton of bike-friendly cities, Tacoma is slowly but steadily peddling its way to the front as it goes wheel-to-wheel with West Coast bicycle burgs like Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.

Read more about it here: http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/mudroom/features/2012/04/Checking-in-with-the-Tacoma-cycling-community/

Sunday Rides

Posted on by

Spring is in full session, because there are rides going on all over the place! Get some miles in this weekend.

9am from Celebration Park, Federal Way with the Tacoma Wheelsmen Off the Couch Series:

The ride starts at 9am this SUNDAY (we are back to our normal schedule) and provides us with 63 miles of great riding, and 1 mile to forget. The route has one healthy climb, one good climb and lots of good scenery. I have not checked Cascades schedule but in the past we have run in to some of their rides (not literally) which gives them the opportunity to see how to have fun. As with last week I ask anyone who has fenders mounted, please leave them on! This really worked last weekend so lets keep it up. Map and cue sheet can be downloaded from http//rollieherman.com/twbc/ More info | Map

11am from Tacoma Bike Proctor. From Mike Brown:

Join me in Proctor (N26th and Proctor) at 11am Sunday morning for a long slow ride. The route is south to the small hamlet of Rainier and back through DuPont. Map

1.30pm with the Capital Bicycle Club:

The Sunday afternoon ride series continues with a 10 to 15 mile ride starting at the Chehalis Western Trail Parking lot on Fir Tree Road. The ride leader will be Doug Hutcheson The ride meets at 1:30 PM. Map

Saturday Ride Round-up

Posted on by

9am leaving from Tacoma Bike (@tacomabike):

For this ride we will be heading west over the bridge and then north of Gig Harbor along Reid Road, up Dana Dr and along Halstrom Drive to Banner Road at this point all routes will vary but will be completing a loop back to Tacoma. There will be three riding distance/speed options for this ride. There will be a 30 mile route which will be riding at around 14 mph. The second distance option will be 60 miles which will average 14 – 16 mph and the third mileage option will be 100+ with an average speed of 18 – 20 mph. The 60 mile route will have approximately 2400’ of elevation and the 100+ mile ride will have approximately 7000’ft of elevation gain. When you start with a group please stay with that group, or let the group leader know you are leaving. Riders will wait at each major turn to regroup.
The pace & distance varies depending on which group you start in, and do expect to climb and descend hills. No matter your riding skills we have a no drop rule so feel free to join in. Strongly recommend bringing full water bottles and energy food, picture ID and checking your bike and equipment before the ride Saturday. Map

10am from Celebration Park, Federal Way for the Wheelmen’s Spring Training Ride

Starting at 10 AM from Celebration Park in Federal Way. Most of the rides will be between Federal Way and Sumner by various routes and distances from 12 to 30 miles one way. We will start slow and flat and gradually add hills and distance as well as time. This first ride will be approximately 30 miles total with a few hills so code 2B. No one will be left behind, but if you are fast you can go ahead. Map

8am from Forza at 27th and Bridgeport for the Spokie Cycling Club (@OldTownBicycle):

This is the Saturday morning Spokie Cycling Club Ride. We average about 17 MPH for the entire ride going about 20-25 MPH on flat roads. No lunch stop. Route is decided at Forza on the morning of the ride. We begin and end every ride together and have a lot of fun. Coffee and conversation at Forza at the end of every ride. If this kind of riding sounds like fun come join us! For more information call Robert Deehan (253) 272-9682. Map

9am MBT ride in Capitol State Forest with the Capital Bicycling Club

XC or Shuttle Trail Rides, depending on what the group wants to do. Pace varies. Everyone waits at the fire road crossings for you no matter your pace. Usually 15 plus riders. Rain or Shine. Map

More on the Criterium Move from the TNT

Posted on by

Article posted today on the Tacoma News Tribune (who’s Mike Baker?):

Hundreds of bike racers and fans converged on downtown Tacoma last summer for a day of bicycle racing known as the Tacoma Twilight Criterium. They won’t be back this summer.

Instead they’ll have the third annual race on a closed course around the Proctor Business District, where the new lead organizer has a new store. He said Thursday that the district is more welcoming.

“I didn’t want to do it downtown because it doesn’t have the right vibe,” said Tacoma Bike owner Mike Baker, who has taken over the planning from the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission after budget cuts forced it to pare down its events.

Baker, whose original location is in the Dome District, said downtown’s “streets are too wide. There are too many open spaces.”

“And, I never got a truly warm and fuzzy feeling from the downtown business owners,” he said.

You can read the rest of the story here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/04/20/2114460/feeling-unloved-downtown-backers.html#storylink=cpy

Twilight Criterium Moving to Proctor

Posted on by

Looks like Tacoma’s Twilight Criterium will be moving to Proctor. It’s set for the 30th June. From the Tacoma News Tribune:

At least 300 bike racers converged on downtown Tacoma last summer for a day of bicycle racing known as the Tacoma Twilight Criterium. They won’t be back this summer.

Mike Brown, owner of Tacoma Bike and one of the organizers of the race, says the event is moving to the Proctor neighborhood after two years downtown.

He said excitement about the race by Proctor businesses was the primary reason for moving the race that requires closing about a mile of roads.

This year’s race is scheduled for June 30, according to the Washington State Bicycle Association’s racing calendar.

Last year’s Crit was my first ever race and while it’s a shame that the downtown is losing out on a fantastic opportunity I know Proctor will be a most excellent host! TacomaTwilight.com is down right now, but hopefully we’ll find out more soon. I look forward to racing again.