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Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
October 13th, 2005

DURHAM — In April 2004, I took a road trip to the Grand Canyon. Just inside the Arizona state line, I stopped for gas. I’d always heard that gas is more expensive on the west coast, and here was proof. The price of “premium” gas began with a “2″ — I cleverly took a picture of the sign so that my friends back home could have a good laugh at gas prices in excess of $2 per gallon.

Now, the joke’s on us.

Gas prices are hovering around $3 per gallon, and that’s reason enough for me (and my wallet) to think twice about driving my car to Raleigh to go mountain biking. An October 6th Washington Post commodities article reports that while “SUV sales plunged in September more than 50 percent, U.S. bicycle sales have outnumbered car sales.” Sounds like mine is not the only wallet taking a hit.

On my route to work, I’ve met more first-time bicycle commuters in the last two months than in the last two years. Heck, probably more than I’ve met in the last 5 years. But at most, my experience merely anecdotally suggests that ridership numbers may be up.

Is the national bicycle-sales trend holding true for Durham as well?

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in sales this year” says REI-Durham’s store manager Jim Bennett. “And we certainly have seen a bigger increase in the last three months. The [Durham] store showed a 39% increase for the year through June, and since June we’re up 59% over last year’s sales.”

Durham’s other full service bicycle retailer, The Bicycle Chain has evidence to support the same trend. Chris Hull, the new general manager of the The Bicycle Chain’s Durham store, says the store has definitely seen one of its best fall seasons in a long time. “Sales are up, business is up,” he said.

But just as the New York Times bestseller list for books tells you nothing about whether people actually read the books they buy, new bicycle sales don’t necessarily indicate new ridership.

An increase in business for bicycle repair shops, however, would suggest that people are riding the bikes they have.

“When people ride their bikes, they need to be repaired,” says REI’s Bennett. “Revenue we’ve taken in from the bike shop shows that people are riding their bikes as well.”

Hull says The Bicycle Chain has also seen a significant increase in business for the service department. “People are dusting off their old bikes that have been sitting in the garage and bringing them in to get them in shape to ride,” he said.

Whereas service customers are famous for making requests along the lines of, “just do the minimum to get the bike running again,” Bennett says that customers are now taking bike maintenance more seriously.

“When people are willing to spend more money on their bikes, it’s often because they are riding more regularly,” Bennett says. “They’re riding to work or school and need their bikes to be reliable.”

Separating the effect of gas prices on bike sales from the effect of Lance Armstrong winning a 7th Tour de France may be difficult.

But Bennett says that REI has also seen an increase in the sale of commuter-specific accessories like fenders and racks. Although manufacturers are producing newer bike models with frame geometries designed specifically for commuting, you can also retro-fit just about any bike with the components that turn your sleek road bike or heavy duty mountain bike into a more utilitarian commuter – semi-slick tires for mountain bikes, locks, racks, panniers (saddlebags that hang over the racks), baskets, lights, and even reflective vests.

Components like fenders and tires with low rolling resistance make your everyday ride more comfortable. Cargo racks, panniers, and baskets make your bike more useful.

So, whether or not there are more folks riding to work due to higher prices at the gas pumps, there are more folks investing in bicycles and in the kind of equipment you’d use to ride to work.

Are there more new riders in Durham? I don’t know. You tell me. And come tell me at the next Bicyclist Breakfast.

–
The Durham Bicyclist Breakfast happens on the last Friday of every month. Drop by Mad Hatters (1802 W. Main Street) between 7:30 and 9AM.

 

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
September 22, 2005

DURHAM — This July, my nephew visited from Canada. Matt, 15, is a skilled athlete – a hockey star, a track phenom, a confident snowboarder – and like most teenagers, difficult to impress. As often as he’s heard me talk about mountain biking, though, I realized this summer that he’d never ridden singletrack.

I took him for a spin around the trails at Lake Crabtree County Park, and by the fifth mile he was hooked. I could see it in his face. He confessed later on that he’d never experienced anything like it before. I was excited to introduce something meaningful to his life.

Mountain biking can teach riders young and old an appreciation of the natural environment, responsibility for the trails, and a lifetime of active, healthy habits.

These are just a few of the reasons why Congress, for the second year in a row, has designated the first Saturday in October “Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.”

North Carolina and Colorado senators and representatives co-sponsored a joint resolution (SR 195) to support the International Mountain Bike Association’s youth-oriented outreach effort.

At 10AM, Saturday October 1st, the Triangle Off-Road Cyclists (TORC) are sponsoring events at three local favorite trail systems.

Volunteers will be on-site at Lake Crabtree County Park in Raleigh, Legend Park in Clayton, and Little River Regional Park in Durham.

Get there early for a skills-building session, where experienced mountain bikers reveal the secret techniques of log-crossing, bunny-hopping, and hill-climbing. Once you’ve got your skill-set built up, ride leaders will be available to show you the way through the woods.

In their petition to Congress, IMBA cites heightened levels of childhood obesity as one of its reasons for reaching out to kids. In a July press-release, IMBA states its belief that mountain biking builds self-confidence and offers kids and adults “an adrenaline-packed adventure while giving them an effective workout.”

IMBA reports that in 2004, thousands of kids participated in more than 100 events nationwide and in several other countries. The international organization expects even greater numbers of participants this year.

At the TORC events, kids age 14 and under need to be accompanied by an adult, and the parks require all riders to wear helmets.

If you need to come up with a set of wheels for the weekend, the Bicycle Chain’s Durham and Chapel Hill stores rent mountain bikes for $25-35 a day. The stores also allow you to use up to $50 of rentals as credit toward the purchase of a bike.

Aside from a bike and helmet, bring lots of water and an adventurous spirit.

So c’mon out and bring a kid with you for some good, clean fun in the dirt. Whether you’re in elementary school or just a kid at heart, “Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day” will be a fun, active outdoor event.

 

The Herald-Sun
March 24, 2005

DURHAM — Picture yourself riding a Six-13 — the bike so light, Cannondale claims they had to “add weights to the frame just to make it UCI-legal.” A plush blend of carbon fiber (hence the six – check your periodic table of elements) and aluminum (the thirteen) not your style? Then how about taking a spin on the Prophet – Mountain Biking Magazine’s pick for Bike of the Year?

Next week, you’ll get your chance.

Cannondale is touring the country, showing off its latest technology by bringing it with them. On Thursday, March 31st, Cannondale will be at the Durham Cycle Center with a full fleet of Six-13s and Prophets. Guaranteed, they’ll have one that’s your size. They’ll be back in the area, at the Clean Machine in Carrboro, on Sunday, April 3rd, to let you test ride the Prophets on some Orange County singletrack.

Demo tours offer you the chance to take one of these beauties for a “longer test ride than on an in-store bike” says Brian Bergeler, store manager at Durham Cycle Center. He adds that Cannondale’s visit promises to bring together some top-of-the-line “bikes that aren’t normally found in great quantities anywhere.”

The Prophet, with five inches of travel in the fork and the rear swing-arm, is the current pinnacle of full-suspension technology. It’s “super plush” says Matthew Lee, Carrboro resident and member of the Cannondale Mountain Bike Team. And at just under 28 lbs, the Prophet is “a lot lighter than other 5-inch travel bikes.”

The Six-13 is the bike of choice for the 2005 Lampre-Caffita team, a professional road racing team in the European circuit. The Six-13 combines aluminum downtube and chainstays with carbon fiber top tube and seatstays. The result is a rigid powertrain with a more humane, more comfortable seat.

Cannondale has long been the most innovative of the major bike manufacturers. They made their name establishing aluminum as a reliable frame material in the late 1980s. The single-pivot rear suspension design pioneered in their “Super V” model is one of the the most unique and most mimicked frame designs ever. Named for the unusual V shape to the frame, these are the beefy-but-light bikes that both the Duke and Durham Police Department’s Bike Units rely on. Advanced as the Super V was, Lee says the Prophet is a tremendous improvement.

Lee will be riding a Cannondale this summer, when he rides in the Great Divide Race for his second time. The GDR is a 2500 mile mountain bike race from Canada to Mexico along the Continental Divide. Lee did well last year; this year he’s out for a record.

But you don’t need to be a pro to visit with the Cannondale representatives next week. A longer test ride on these Ferraris of the cycling world gives you more of a feel for the bike in case you want to take one home with you. For most of us, Cannondale’s visit is a chance to throttle some of the nicest bikes in the industry. For free.

 

The Herald-Sun
Mar 9, 2005

DURHAM — If he sees one or two fresh sets of tire tracks on a wet, muddy trail, Stewart Bryan of the Durham-Orange Mountain Bike Organization gets frustrated. Three or four sets and he’s angry.

“Five or more,” Bryan jokes, “and I heat up the branding iron.”

As DOMBO’s trail construction coordinator, Bryan knows that even the best-designed trails are more delicate when wet. Keeping the flow of a well-designed trail depends on riders respecting the trail by taking a minimal-impact approach to their rides.

But recently, conscientious mountain bikers have noticed more and more ruts in the trails. Whether this is due to inexperience or to riders who just aren’t watching the weather, the local mountain bike community is now paying more attention to this issue.

The International Mountain Bike Association recommends waiting at least 24 hours for every inch of rain before hitting your local trails.

But these are just rough guidelines, since drying times might be longer depending on other factors. Freezing temperatures, for example, can extend a trail’s drying time to a week or more.

It’s taken many years of volunteer organizing and thousands of hours in meetings with politicians and land managers for mountain bikers to shake loose the “Mountain Dew” image of the sport’s youth. Repainting our bikes (and ourselves) with mud “reinforces the negative stereotype that we are destructive and unconcerned for the environment,” Bryan said.

That’s why DOMBO is more than a mountain bike club — it’s an environmental organization “dedicated to building and maintaining low-impact sustainable” trails.

Triangle cyclists bent on proving that you don’t need mountains for mountain biking still have to admit that trails in the area don’t have the benefit of steep slopes. As a result, water drains more slowly from local trails than from trails in the western part of the state. Each rut carved into a trail is a pocket where rainwater pools, and every puddle extends the drying time of the trail.

Since fewer than half of the trails in the area are managed by park officials, mountain bikers need to develop their own awareness of trail conditions. If the dirt singletrack is too wet to ride, cyclists can still ride their knobby tires on the gravel trails in Duke Forest or at Umstead State Park.

There’s always asphalt too. Yes, some mountain bikers are also roadies. “Better yet,” says Bryan, “take up another form of recreation like weight training, yoga, or table tennis, and watch [your] riding improve.”

So, the next time you’re tempted to steal a few laps in or soon after a rain and you come out muddy on the other end, remember that you’re sharing this trail with others, including your future self.