Oprah of Mountain Biking’
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SPECIAL EDITION L ISSUE L A ANNU www.OutdoorsNW.com FAT BikEs Evolution of a Revolution Page 8 + Buying Your First Bike Washington Earns Top Cycling Award Profile: Mountain Biker Lindsey Voreis Cycling the Oregon Coast Nutrition for Rides and Races Bicycle Vacation Tips Page 31 10 Bike Essentials • Resources • New Gear • Books • Buzz BIKE CALENDAR check off your adventure list Plan a Eugene Ale Trail getaway at EugeneCascadesCoast.org/Trails | 800.547.5445 Follow us! A special edition of www.facebook.com/ @OutdoorsNWMag www.pinterest.com/ OutdoorsNWmagazine OutdoorsNW Volume 28, Issue 2 EDITOR’S NOTE By Kris Parfitt . 6 FEATURES FAT BIKING . 8 By Dutch Franz THE ‘OPRAH OF MOUNTAIN BIKING’ . 13 By Suzanne Myhre Johnson BUYING YOUR FIRST BIKE . 16 By Rebecca Agiewich NW KIDS - CHOOSING A BIKE FOR A CHILD . 17 By Amy Whitley TOURING OREGON’S COAST BY BIKE . 18 By Megan Maxwell GEAR CHECKLIST . 21 Compiled by Megan Maxwell PRO TIPS FOR First-TIME BICYCLE VacaTIONERS . 22 By Todd Starnes GEAR RevIewS . 24 By OutdoorsNW Staff BOOK RevIewS . 25 By Kris Parfitt BIKE ADVOcacY IN WASHINGTON AND OREGON . 26 By Rebecca Agiewich RIDE FROM SEATTLE TO SNOQuaLMIE ON ONE TRAIL . 28 By Kris Parfitt BIZ BUZZ - ELLIOTT BAY BICYCLES AND SPEEDY REEDY . 29 By Carolyn Price HEALTHY LIVING - A CYCLIST’S FOOD GUIDE . 30 By Kris Parfitt RESOURCES BICYCLE AND MULti-SPORT CALENDAR . 31 BICYCLING RESOURCES . 36 By NW Cyclist Staff SPORTS MEDICINE WEIGHT LIFTING IMPROVES CYCLING STRENGTH . 39 Sponsored by Therapeutic Associates COVER PHOTO: Retired professional mountain bike racer and current Fat Back Bikes brand Mountain bikers, Dave Stergar and Emmett Purcell, pedal through the hills surrounding Helena, Mont. Photo by Bob Allen manager, John “FuzzyJohn” Mylne, rides a Fatback Corvus in Bend, Ore. Photograph by Colin Michael, www.colinmichael.com, courtesy of Fat Back Bikes, www.fatbackbikes.com 4 NW Cyclist • 2015 New Arrivals for 2015 - In Stock Now!!! Specialized Enduro Expert Carbon 650B Electra Ticino 8D $6599 $849 Trek Dual Sport Kids Trek 920 Disc $1899 $499 Northwest’s Largest Serving the Seattle Selection for Bikes, Cycling Community Accessories & Clothing for 83 years! PlantingPlanting aa Forest...Forest... OneOne TestTest DriveDrive atat aa TimeTime Test drive any Subaru at Carter and we’ll plant a tree Plus, only Carter Subaru offers The Carter Advantage, in your name in the Mountains to Sound Greenway. including Hassle-Free courtesy loan cars, Bluetooth So far we’ve planted over 110,000 trees! programming, free annual inspection & much more. Shoreline 17225 Aurora Ave (206) 542-1166 Ballard 5201 Leary Ave NW (206) 782-7475 A documentary service fee up to $150 may be added to the sale price or capitalized cost. CarterSubaru.com NW Cyclist • 2015 5 Editor’s Note PUBLISHERS: Carolyn Price A Writer’s Life Post [email protected] Greg Price [email protected] Training Wheels ART DIRECTOR: Chuck Schultz By kris Parfitt [email protected] o say that I am excited to introduce MANagiNG Editor: Kris Parfitt myself as the new editor of [email protected] TOutdoorsNW magazine, a sister publication of NW Cyclist, would be a gross ADVErtiSING: [email protected] injustice to the word “excited.” If I had a Jennifer McLaughlin-Shavey tail, it would be wagging uncontrollably. [email protected] Our annual NW Cyclist edition inspired Kellie Carstensen me to think back to my first experience on [email protected] a bike. Over Christmas of 1973 I was given ADMIN: my first two-wheeler (with a groovy green Megumi Price and yellow banana-seat, no less!). CONTRIBUTORS: It was clear from the start that until I Rebecca Agiewich, Bob Allen, Brian Borrello, Brian Cole, Dutch Franz, mastered the art of balance while pedaling Greg Herman, Suzanne Myhre Johnson, and braking (minor details in the mind of a John Lynn, Megan Maxwell, Managing Editor Kris Parfitt is all smiles after Colin Michael, Sarah Rawley, five-year-old), training wheels were in order. removing her training wheels. Circa 1974 Kristen Smith, Todd Starnes, Jennifer McLaughlin-Shavey, Naomi Tsurumi, As stubborn as I was about learning to it still requires a certain type of support to Kirt Voreis, Amy Whitley, Ward Whitmire ride without training wheels (I wanted to edit our outstanding contributors’ stories, COMING EditoriaL: keep them on), my mom didn’t give up on upgrade the magazine and engage with a Annual Event Calendar! Also, Hiking near Victoria, BC, Kids Fun Runs, me. And despite the mutual frustration with broader readership. Strategies for Race Season, On the Run: Why Race?, each other that sunny April afternoon when While the OutdoorsNW team has big Photo Contest Announcement, we took them off, we were both elated plans for the future of this magazine, we Festival Previews when I successfully rode to the end of the will not lose sight of the fact that we are cul-de-sac without falling. writing for you, our adventurous outdoors- Advertise! Oh the freedom! The wind tussling loving readers. Send your message to over 100,000 my short blonde hair (bike helmets were I invite you to help us share the stories Northwest bicycling unheard of in the early 1970s), and my you find most inspiring, engaging and enthusiasts. big toothless grin were evidence that I had educational by connecting with us by Please email us at graduated into Big Girl status. email, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and [email protected] Now some—ahem—40 years later I’m soon via Instagram. We love hearing from Price Media, Inc. feeling the same excitement. I’ve been a you about the good, the bad and the ugly 10002 Aurora Avenue North, #36 writer since the same age I learned to ride, because our commitment to a quality Seattle, Washington 98133 and a published writer for a little less than publication is anchored in your voices. (206) 418-0747 fax: (206) 418-0746 a decade. My editors have been my training Thanks for the support and I look [email protected] wheels for making my work look like it forward to seeing your photos, hearing www.OutdoorsNW.com came from a somewhat decent writer. about your road-trips and race experiences, Price Media also publishes: Now that I’ve graduated to editor- and reading your pitches for story ideas. status it’s my publisher and you, dear With tail a’wagging, OutdoorsNW readers, who will keep me Kris Parfitt balanced and pedaling forward. You see, [email protected] ©2015 Price Media, Inc. 6 NW Cyclist • 2015 Fat Biking THE EVOLUTION OF A REVOLUTION By Dutch Franz Jame Stull rides a Fat Bike 9:ZERO:7 Carbon Whiteout on a ridge in Kincaid Park, Anchorage, Alaska. Photo by John Lynn Photography, courtesy of Fat Bikes, www.fatbikes.com ou will wonder, sometime soon, when the sport What makes these bikes unique are the extra-wide tires inflated to of fat biking became so popular. The answer just 4–10 psi and mounted on light is: Now. poly-carbon frames. The wide tires Y and low tire pressure keep the bikes stable in traditionally hazardous For the uninitiated, fat-biking is like mountain biking conditions and help bikers enjoy only done on sand, snow or ice, and the sport is fast environments formerly reserved for skiers, snowshoers and hikers. becoming popular. Continued on page 10 8 NW Cyclist • 2015 OPEN FOR ADVENTURE EXPLORE HUNDREDS OF EPIC TRAILS VIA BIKE, MOUNTAIN BIKE OR FAT BIKE! Twisp River Suites Riverbend RV Park City of Pateros 855-784-8328 509-997-3500 509-923-2571 twispriversuites.com riverbendrv.com pateros.com START PLANNING YOUR ADVENTURE 888.431.3080 • www.okanogancountry.com guru, started looking at fat bikes to compete in the grueling Susitna 100, an endurance bike race outside of An- chorage. Both Pedersen and Whitmire were seeking ways to extend their cycling experience in all conditions and they found it with the fat bike. Now Pedersen and Whitmire, along with the help of resident fat biking trail expert David Nelson of Spokane, run the Fat Biking Northwest Club and Facebook page. The group plans meet-ups several times a year in different parts of Washington state to ride and discuss trends in the sport. Members come from throughout the state, Oregon and Canada. Members of the Northwest Fat Bike Club take a break outside a Rendezvous Hut in the Methow Valley, Wash. Photo by Kristen Smith, courtesy of Methow Trails, www.methowtrails.org The secret to Fat Biking Bike shop owner Julie Muylaert of Originally developed in Alaska as Pioneers of Fat Biking Methow Cycle and Sport in Winthrop, reliable transportation during winter Shawn Pedersen of Seattle and Ward Wash. says, “You can’t ride one of months, the fat bike migrated south a Whitmire of Yakima are two local and these things without smiling.” few years back and is quickly becoming early pioneers of fat biking. Besides the grins, another big popular with biking enthusiasts in the Pedersen, a long-time REI bike-shop reason for fat bike success is that Northwest. Races,Races, concerts,concerts, andand festivalsfestivals all summer!summer! A HIGHER – Check online for details – POINT OF VIEW DH + XC ALPINE BIKING TRAILS Photos: Steve Riffel, Kelly Funk, Adam Stein Miles of cross country trails—including chairlift access—and one of Canada’s top rated lift-accessed Bike Parks awaits. Just 5.5 hours north of Seattle in beautiful British Columbia, you’ll find a mountain community that’s home to endless adventures both on and off your bike. Stay mountainside in the village, with over 30 restaurants, cafés and shops. www.SunPeaksResort.com/Bike 1.800.807.3257 Photo: Kelly Funk 10 NW Cyclist • 2015 families can do it together with no additional skills or lessons required; if you can ride a bike, you can fat bike.