The Madsen - A pretty cool bike!

MADSEN Cargo Bikes

The Tour Divide 2009 Race has started!

The Tour Divide has started for 2009.

I for one am rooting for Deanna of http://ultrarunbikevegan.blogspot.com/ YOU GO GIRL! This young lady is going for it as she always does! Banff Ca. to Antelope Wells New Mexico! Cheer her and all the racers on!

Tour Divide is a solo, self-supported mountain bike race on all 2,745 miles of ACA's epic Great Divide MTB Route. With an average time-to-completion of three weeks in the saddle, this grand tour is the longest, most challenging MTB race on the planet. It's a contest for the ultra-fit but only if ultra-prepared for myriad contingencies of backcountry biking.

Towing a bike with an Xtracycle bike

Ok I was reading in the Yahoo Group called "Rootsradicals" about how some folks did some creative stuff with hitches on their X's. Then it hit me "Hey I have that old front fork doo-hicky." So with some gorrilla tape to thicken up the diameter of the "No step" bar I attached my fork holder. Well the Gorilla tape started to twist so I McGivered zip ties to prevent it from sagging under load. A more permanent solution would be needed long term. I also learned that the towed bike will tend to sway all the to the ground. A rootsrad posting explained this and I thought of a solution. Wide loader tie straps from xtracycle.com.org they are so very cool and thought out see this link (Cam Straps) So I tried out the whole get up and found that I can tow a bike with a bike. Yes it swayed so with some adjustments I got it to a manageable point. But word of warning! I tested it w/o being cliped in at the pedals and rode around a lot at slow speeds. It can be a very dangerous thing so double check all connections and straps before you take off. It would have been easier if I had the double kick stand "kickback"