$6.95 DEC 2015/JAN 2016 Vol.42 No. 9 A publication of ADVENTURE CYCLING ASSOCIATION EUROPE 1968 20 NAHBS: STATE OF THE ART 30 BIKEPACKING THE KNIK 36 seeking snow in Oregon(but finding rain) CYCLING AND SKIING THE CASCADES 10 Letter from the Editor FROM THE SADDLE TO SIN CITY How do you leave a bike tour for a tradeshow? With great difficulty. ➺Walking the hallways of the Mandalay Bay Convention CONTRIBUTORS Center in Las Vegas in mid-September, I was surrounded by the latest and greatest bicycles — including more touring and WILLIE WEIR has bikepacking-specific bikes than anyone could remember seeing written about "The for ages. But my mind was far from the crowded booths, still Incredible Zeke" three buzzing from a bike trip the week before. times now (the latest Interbike, North America's largest bicycle tradeshow, is in on page 46), but while many ways the hub of the bike industry in the U.S. The annual readers may love gathering is a chance to see the evolution of gear and reconnect hearing about their WILLIE WEIR travels together from with partners, friends, and colleagues. But it’s still a tradeshow. our long-tenured columnist, you now have You may imagine the shock, then, of the stale casino air and crowded aisles a chance to hear the other side of the story. coming immediately on the heels of a week-long tour through the incredible We're publishing a special Final Mile from San Juan Islands. I’d been on an Adventure Cycling-run Inn-to-Inn trip where ZEKE GERWEIN online at adventurecycling. I enjoyed more oysters than a person should be allowed to eat, and the always- org/zekesfinalmile. Willie might have some surprising camaraderie that flowers among strangers traveling together. competition for column space! Differences in age, career, and homes be damned, the rhythm of the road and just the right amount of exertion creates an easy familiarity that quickly dispenses with There's a first time for everything, as the awkwardness of introductions and conspires for a bittersweet parting. photographer DAN After a decade at the helm of Adventure Cyclist, Mike Deme has built that kind BAILEY discovered BAILEY DAN of familiarity with many of you through the pages of this magazine, especially this when he got home from one. He hasn’t gone far — he's taken on a larger role managing our print and digital the Knik Glacier (photo content — and remains involved with everything we publish. Ditto for Co-Founder essay on page 38) and Greg Siple, whose romp around Europe is featured on page 20. Though he’s realized something was stepped away from magazine layout, his influence on Adventure Cyclist is profound. missing. "One of my cards was missing, and Just like heading out on tour with a dozen folks you don’t know, it’s a little I quickly deduced that it was the one with all intimidating to take over this page. So I’ll start the way I would with any new group: the cool glacier and northern lights photos," Hey, I’m Alex. Let’s go for a ride. he wrote. "In all my years as a photographer, I’ve never lost a card on location." Lucky for him, and us, it was right where he left it. Read Alex Strickland about how it was found at danbaileyphoto. Editor-in-Chief, Adventure Cyclist com/blog/the-tale-of-a-memory-card-that- [email protected] was-almost-lost-forever. EXECUTIVE EDITOR LEAD DESIGNER COPY EDITOR Michael Deme Cassie Nelson Phyllis Picklesimer [email protected] CONTRIBUTING WRITERS ADVERTISING DIRECTOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Dan D’Ambrosio Rick Bruner 509.493.4930 Alex Strickland Patrick O’Grady [email protected] [email protected] Willie Weir ART DIRECTOR Jan Heine DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Greg Siple June Siple Volume 42 Number 9 [email protected] Josh Tack ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 03 VOLUME 42 ∞ NUMBER 9 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG contentsDECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 36 is America’s only magzine dedicated to bicycle travel. It is published nine times each year by the Adventure Cycling Association, a nonprofit service organization for recreational bicyclists. Individual membership costs $40 yearly to U.S. addresses and includes a subscription to Adventure Cyclist and discounts on Adventure Cycling maps. For more information about Adventure Cycling Association and Adventure Cyclist magazine, visit adventurecycling.org or call 800.755.2453. SUBMISSIONS INFORMATION: Adventure Cyclist accepts stories, articles, and photographs for publication from various sources. We publish stories about bicycle travel and other recreational cycling subjects but do not cover competitive cycling. If you features are interested in submitting a story or article to Adventure Cyclist, please visit us online at adventurecycling.org/submit SKIING THE CASCADES BIKEPACKING THE KNIK for further information and guidelines. BY BIKE 10 GLACIER 36 ➺ Riding from Portland to ➺ This popular fatbiking Bend the hard way. Don’t jaunt near Anchorage CURRENT ISSUE NOTES: forget your skis. by Ben delivers a big adventure “As we pull together each issue of Adventure Cyclist, opening a fresh Horan under the Northern Lights. 30 batch of images is a little like finding by Dan Bailey gifts under a tree. The imagery in this issue is no exception, and exceptional: EUROPE 1968 20 Tom Robertson delivers the goods on a rain-soaked Oregon bike-and-ski ➺ A three-month romp THE CHALLENGE 20 trip, while Dan Bailey’s photos speak around the Old World 48 for themselves on a stunning and OF THE C&O similarly soggy bikepack in Alaska. searching for the soul of ➺ Congress has Our own Greg Siple rounds out this cycling. by Greg Siple issue with his images from a bicycling consistently cut funding for quest through late-1960s Europe, the National Park Service, including a brush with cycling royalty — and the photograph to prove it.” STATE OF THE ART 30 leaving C&O Canal National – Cassie Nelson ➺ The North American Historic Park struggling to Lead Designer, Adventure Cyclist Handmade Bicycle Show maintain a viable trail. showcases bikes too by Dan D’Ambrosio OUR COVER: Waking up to a dusting of snow, Phil beautiful not to ride. Grove grabs a stove to make the first by Karen Brooks coffee of the day on a bike-and-ski trip from Portland to Bend, Oregon. Photo by Tom Robertson 04 ADVENTURE CYCLIST DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 This Month Online ➺ For more Adventure Cyclist-related content, be sure to visit our website at adventurecycling.org/adventure-cyclist. 10 HOLIDAY GEAR GUIDE Finish your holiday shopping for the cyclist in your life with Adventure Cycling’s Holiday Gear Guide at adventurecycling.org/2015-holiday- gear. DEPARTMENTS LETTERS COLUMNS THE WELL-READ CYCLIST 08 Waypoints 03 LETTER from the 40 Road Test We've added a "books" section to 46 Travels with Willie Editor Tom Robertson Trek 920 our Holiday Gear Guide, so pick out 50 Life Member Profile 06 LETTER from the a comfy spot, grab some hot cocoa, Director 42 Road Test 52 Classifieds/Marketplace and travel the world on two wheels 07 LETTERS from our Patrick O’Grady Companions Wanted from your couch. adventurecycling. 57 Readers Opus Lagato 58 Open Road Gallery org/2015-holiday-gear-books. DEADLINE EXTENDED TREK 920 The 7th Annual Adventure Cyclist A drop-bar beast 40 Photo Contest is staying open two from the biggest extra weeks. Get name in bicycling. your submissions $2,090 in by Dec. 15, 2015, for a chance to win! Enter at adventurecycling. org/photocontest. @xxxxxxxxxxxx: @Tktouringcyclist tk tk tk tk : @advcyclingassoc@parktool thx for hosting tk tk tk @xxxxxxxxx: Tk tk @greg_may: tk thetk tk @advcyclingassoc tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tkCome tk tk payday tk tk tk I'lltk be @ tkregional tk tk tk tkmeeting! tk tk tk Greattk tk tk advcyclingassocordering a lot of. Tk new tk tk tk tkfacility tk tk tkand tk excellenttk tk tk tk tk tk tk mapstk tk tk from tk tk the tk tk tk tk presentation!tk tk tk tk tk tk! @advcyclingassoctk tk tk tk tk tk. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 05 Letter from the Director DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Volume 42 Number 9 adventurecycling.org MISSION Adventure Cycling Association inspires and STEPPING UP empowers people to travel by bicycle. AREAS OF FOCUS Provide the premier tools and inspiration for people to travel by bicycle. Expand and integrate bike travel networks for North America. Create the best possible conditions for bicycle travel. ➺ SEVERAL YEARS AGO, we started HOW TO REACH US planning for Adventure Cycling’s (and To join, change your address, or ask questions about membership, visit us online Bikecentennial’s) 40th anniversary. at adventurecycling.org or call We got fantastic input from you, our 800.755.2453 or 406.721.1776. EMAIL members. We pulled together an exciting [email protected] program. Now we’ve spent the last year SUBSCRIPTION ADDRESS laying the groundwork for what should Adventure Cycling Association P.O. Box 8308 be the most remarkable year for bike Missoula, MT 59807 travel in North America, at least since HEADQUARTERS Adventure Cycling Association Bikecentennial in 1976, and possibly in 150 E. Pine St. history! Missoula, MT 59802 I write “should” because what will STAFF make this year truly extraordinary is your EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jim Sayer involvement. Our overarching goal is to [email protected] motivate tens of thousands of cyclists CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER — of all ages and abilities — to travel by appeal. If you can, please donate to help Sheila Snyder, CPA bike all over the U.S. and Canada for as us pull off this big year of adventure MEMBERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT Julie Huck Annette Stahelin much of 2016 as possible.