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Adventure Cyclist a publication of ADVENTURE CYCLING ASSOCIATION THE FUTURE IS ELECTRIC10 $6.95 APRIL 2021 Vol.48 No.3 I’ll never finish. © 2021 Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries. COMPUTERS NEVER POWER STOP HANDHELDS RALLY™ XC200/100 EDGE® 1030 PLUS INREACH® MINI VARIA™ UT800 LIGHTS CYCLING 20-MCJT32671 Never Stop Cycling Ad_RallyXC-8.125x10.75-AdvCycling.indd 1 2/23/21 9:20 AM Letter from the Editor online GLOSSARY THE FUTURE IS ELECTRIC The era of reluctance is over, THERE WILL BE A QUIZ We neglected to include a eBikes are here to stay reminder link to our Bike Touring Glossary in last month’s Cyclists Travel Guide — but this ➺While I was never among those who counted eBikes handy reference is online 24/7 at as “cheating” or “not really cycling,” I was also far from adventurecycling.org/glossary. an evangelist. I’d ridden a few early models and they were … fine. Fun even, but they didn’t move me in the figurative way that purely human-powered bikes could. But they did move, so I could see that perhaps with a different life, different commute, different topography, BECOMING BIKEPACKERS sure, maybe. But not for me, not now. ON THE BEER TRAIL TO Bear with me for a moment here while I talk about ASHEVILLE cars. My unremarkable suburban childhood block was considerably This North Carolina mountain changed around the time I hit my teen years when a young couple biking mecca packs great moved in across the street. Mr. Steve was a car enthusiast, and in trails, great beer, and plenty possession of a few classics that set my teenage pulse racing. A canary to offer a bikepacker learning yellow 911 with ear-splitting exhaust? A race-prepped BMW? An MG the ropes. Read about Mike with a Mazda engine shoehorned in the bay? Be still, my beating heart. Bezemek’s ride in the region So imagine my surprise one day not long after I got a driver’s license of at adventurecycling.org/ my own when Mr. Steve was lamenting the low price of gas. “Cars are becomingbikepackers. fun toys, but as transportation they’re insane. Until gas is prohibitively expensive, people will never understand that,” is more or less what he said. My still-unformed brain nearly exploded (because of confusion, not some deeper understanding). Some 20-plus years later, as personal electric transportation reaches the mainstream, I think about my former neighbor’s prescience almost daily. Up until even a few years ago, I was thinking about it all wrong: eBikes aren’t destined to be toys, they’re tools. And they could change the whole damn world. This is a bike travel magazine, and in the following pages you’ll read about how eBikes are changing just that — electrified versions of a well- loved vehicle for exploration and fitness and continued access for riders who enter their golden years and leave their golden legs behind. Just avoid the mistake I made by thinking of eBikes as simply electrified bicycles. Bicycles are toys and tools, machines of freedom and equality that change lives — they’ve sure changed mine. But eBikes can be something more, they’re time machines, and they’re aimed straight at a better tomorrow. COVID-19 UPDATES We can’t wait to delete this reminder from our list of online Alex Strickland Editor-in-Chief, Adventure Cyclist resources! But until that time, [email protected] visit adventurecycling.org/covid- 19 for the latest impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on bike travel and Adventure Cycling. 03 contents VOLUME 48 ∞ NUMBER 3 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG RIDING HIGH A father-daughter journey from Lake Michigan to Key West, on high wheels. by Amy Oleynik 18 OUR COVER: Beth Nobles and Stephanie BACK IN THE SADDLE 10 DEPARTMENTS LETTERS COLUMNS Puello ride Tern Vektron and 08 Waypoints 03 LETTER from the 34 Road Test HSD eBikes along Alameda Two senior riders rediscover Editor Dan Meyer Parkway in the iconic Red their love of touring on eBikes. 25 Annual Impact Report Specialized Turbo Rocks Park west of Denver, by Keith Wetzel 38 Geared Up 05 LETTERS from our Colorado. Readers Como 3.0 Photo by Natalie Starr. and Suzanne Painter 42 Life Member Profile 06 LETTER from the 44 Classifieds/Marketplace Adventure Cyclist is Director America’s only magazine MOTORING ALONG 16 50 Companions Wanted dedicated to bicycle travel. 51 Open Road Gallery It is published nine times After knocking out a lifetime’s each year by Adventure worth of bike tours, this couple Cycling Association, a nonprofit organization for is at it again — on eBikes. SPECIALIZED TURBO COMO 3.0 recreational cyclists. Individual by Alex Strickland membership costs $45 yearly A major-brand eBike to U.S. addresses and includes made for cruising. a subscription to Adventure $3,250 Cyclist and discounts on ELECTRIC DIRT 40 Adventure Cycling maps. Public lands are opening For more information, visit 34 adventurecycling.org or call their gates to eBikes, creating 800.755.2453. opportunities for electrified Adventure Cyclist exploration off-road. accepts stories, articles, by Dan D’Ambrosio and photographs for publication. Learn more at adventurecycling.org/submit. 04 ADVENTURE CYCLIST APRIL 2021 Letters from our Readers RE: CTG BACK TO BASICS Evans. And in the course of my career, broke completely, limiting me to coasting A thought on what might be a helpful I have also rebuilt and given away quite only. That was the end of my trip; a kindly article for tourists and wannabes. a few others (the issue here, as some stranger gave me a ride to Lynchburg What are the five or 10 most Frenchman put it, is that “you’re always from whence I took the train back home. common mechanical problems that the responsible for those you have tamed,” At this point I have to hand it to Phil — tourist faces, and what are the quickest and if the recipient rides it to the ground they really stand behind their products. and easiest solutions? Anything basic within a couple of years and then expects Even though I was not the original owner, and straightforward would help. I you to restore it again ... enough said). for $80 they rebuilt that hub, restoring ride with lots of PhDs, MDs, lawyers, Now to the main course of my story. the original performance. etc., and most could not make heads My first try at wheel building landed There remained one more glitch: or tails of the technical stuff in your me on the doorstep of a bike shop rather shortish distance from the bottom bike reviews: stacks, reaches, drops, somewhere in Massachusetts, on my bracket to the front wheel, resulting in brackets, ratios — nuclear sub manuals return trip from the Cape, after a couple my toes hitting the fender and the wheel might be easier. I really enjoy those of spokes in the left side of my newly while maneuvering at a slow speed. There essays, but a different approach for built wheel had busted. I bought 18 happened to sit a pair of pedal extenders helping non-gearheads would be useful. spokes, borrowed the tools, and rebuilt it. in my junk box, which I installed, I was talking to my wife yesterday Sometime after that, on a whim, I bought reducing the problem significantly — and about the idea. She rides a lot with a used Phil Wood rear hub on eBay for never mind the Q-factor! friends, but none of them has much cheap, which had a 145mm width. And Meet my mongrel of a bike. This of an idea of basic mechanics. How to then it all came together when I saw an was after a test climb of Platte Clove change a tire? I asked. Well, take the ad on local Craigslist: someone was selling Rd and Glade Hill Rd in the Catskills wheel off, not realizing that you first a Dean Ti touring frame with a 145mm (nothing really to brag about, as its put it in the smallest ring and cassette, rear dropout. Bingo! Never mind that the lowest gear ratio at the time was 20T then release the brakes, etc. guy was quite a bit shorter than myself. front to 40T rear). I realize the difficulties now with the Mikhail Bronstein | Hackensack, complexity of the modern bike, but it New Jersey might be possible to do, accompanied by photos or line drawings. I know I LESS GUIDE, MORE TRAVEL would find it useful. I think the March cover is quite Joe Super | Morgantown, West Virginia misleading: “Cyclists Travel Guide.” I expected articles on travel in parts of the Ed. note: There are some amazing resources world and how it is affected by COVID-19. along these lines on adventurecycling.org, The faint placard in the lower left should but it might be time for a few to work their have been featured prominently. way into print. John Dunkelberger | Urbana, Illinois For the maiden voyage, I picked the USED BIKE GUIDE Blue Ridge Parkway. A few days into it, Ed. note: John has a point — we’ve called In 2000, I rode over Independence my chain started to skip occasionally, our annual tech dive the “CTG” for some 15 Pass on an undersized green Nishiki which really had me stumped. I wound years, but we’re not sure it’s a very accurate (originally bought on a garage sale for up in a bike shop in Roanoke, Virginia, name anymore. Food for thought! $40 but upgraded to a triple and 8-speed where the mechanic troubleshot it down CONTINUED ON PAGE 48 brifters).
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