Thank you and congratulations to everyone who has registered, this event is going to be a great one!

See you on a bike.

The bike loving city of Davis has invited WM on a private tour of the U.S. Bicycle Hall of Fame! We’re thrilled to be joining curators of the BHF on the morning of March 15th before heading off to Stockton.

It’s an inside look at the history and glory days of racing, manufacturing, and bicycle culture in the United States.

When riding in a group, it’s important to communicate with your fellow riders.  When slowing or turning you should signal the riders near you let them know what you intend to do. When slowing, put your hand out behind you, palm flat, and say “slowing”, or “stopping”.

When making a turn, point to the direction you plan on turning, and tell the riders around you “right”, or “left”.  The riders in the front of a group have a much better view of the obstacles in the road than those in back.

Here’s what the bikers are saying:

If you are riding in the front and see something you don’t want to run over, like a pothole, gravel, or road debris, point to the area to avoid and tell the riders around you what the obstacle is so they can avoid it as well. This is most effective when you give everyone a lot of time to react.

Sudden swerves and braking can be dangerous in a group. It’s wise to keep roughly a bike and a half worth of distance between your front wheel and the rider ahead of you. Especially if you don’t know them or how they know their bike. New roads and new riders need space and time. Take some.

Riding in traffic requires your full attention.  Keep hold of those brakes when it gets thick. Everything has a way of happening so fast in the city.

Just as cars are required to signal, bikes are as well. Indicating your intentions to the cars around you, whether you’re turning, stopping, or merging is important for your safety.  Not all cars signal turns, but you can give yourself an edge if you watch a car’s “body language”. Cars turning right will usually edge to the right and brake as they approach the turn, whether or not they signal.

Another thing to watch for is parked cars opening doors. You can avoid being doored by giving parked cars a healthy amount of space, if its available.  If not, watch for cars that have just parked, and be aware of the passengers inside the vehicle.  If you get caught by a door and can’t avoid it, its safest for the rider to aim for the flat side of the door rather than the edge… Then politely ask for their lawyers name.

On the open road, there are some techniques you can use to help you ride safely.  When turning to look behind you, it can be hard to keep a straight line while riding.  A good way to minimize the tendency to drift as you look behind is to tuck your chin into your shoulder, rather than turning your whole upper body.  Crossing train tracks should be done as perpendicular to the track as practical to avoid having your wheel slip into the trough along the track.

Similarly, when crossing from a lower level of paving to a higher one (this happens often at the shoulder of a repaved road) you should approach the level change as obliquely as possible to avoid having your wheels wash out at the paving lip.  Also, take a safe amount of road. if you ride too close to the shoulder, you’re in danger of drifting off the road, which can cause you to wipe out (see above).

Descending safely means not exceeding your ability to control the bike.  When you carry extra weight, your brakes won’t be as effective, so brake earlier than usual.  Brake before you enter a turn.  Look up the road instead of directly in front of your wheels.  Pick a line ahead of time and ride it while you continue to scan ahead.  Watch for blind turns- (when you can’t see the end of the turn) if you can’t see what’s coming, you can’t react to it.

There is real science when it comes to descending, in the end there is nothing more important than time on the hill. Ride with confidence.

Bonking is as awful as it is easy to avoid. Brad bonked for his first time when he was eight, and as he says, ” it’s been terrible ever since.”

In endurance sports such as cycle touring, depleting your body of glycogen leads to astounding fatigue and memorable foul moods.

According to the Wiki article “exhaustion can reach the point where the cyclist is unable to stand without the support provided by the bicycle. Symptoms of depletion include general weakness, fatigue, and manifestations of hypoglycemia, such as dizziness and even hallucinations.”

Typically in a mild bonk, rest, food, and drinks with carbohydrates will perk you back up. Bonking can be avoided by keeping your glycogen levels high from the start of your day, and by listening to your body, feeding it, and drinking carbohydrates. Or just by take it easy and float back to the SAG party coming up behind you.

]]> http://www.wheeledmigration.org/blog/2010/03/where-you-riding-to/feed/ 0 http://www.wheeledmigration.org/blog/2010/03/cyclesport-supports-wm-riders/ http://www.wheeledmigration.org/blog/2010/03/cyclesport-supports-wm-riders/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:57:44 +0000 Ryan Laine http://www.wheeledmigration.org/?p=300

We’re proud to introduce our new sponsor in the bike shop world. The good folks at Cyclesport are helping outfit WM riders with fresh gear at a 10 to 20% discount! We encourage all our riders to head down to Cyclesport and grab up some gear to get you down the road.

Take your WM logo sticker down to 148 Main Street for some great support and gear to boost your kit!

Meet “The Domies.”

Straight from their Vision Statement it says members of the Domes Community choose:

• To Promote and exemplify a lifestyle that incorporates the following:

living practices including organic agriculture and permaculture, low-impact construction, energy efficiency, alternative forms of waste management and the general reduction of our ecological footprint, which allow us to meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

interdependence on levels ranging from emotional to economic.

understanding of differences and conflict resolution through the consensus process.

• To encourage creativity, inspiration, initiative, personal growth and diversity.
• To structure our place and our community as an accessible educational resource for each other, the University of California at Davis, and the greater community of the world

To learn more about the great people of The Domes community, visit their site on the Davis Wiki.

Students, teachers, bike lovers, artists, activists, and musicians alike will be there keeping the fire. Look for more news, photographs, and information from our time with the students of UC Davis here and on the WM Facebook!

And a resounding shout out to the great work and examples of responsible living from the Baggins End community! See you soon!

There’s talk of having a few projects available to do in the garden, and word of other exciting events. Like…supervising the release of ladybugs by grade school students in the area(!), pot-lucking with a local nonprofit environmental organization, and enjoying breakfast with the church! There’s even the whispered idea of a fire-pit (in town? yeahoo!).

I just spoke with Ray, who’s involved with the South Baptist Church in Stockton and its community garden. This guy is great! I believe the church is located downtown, not far from UOP. They’ve got rooms for us to lock our bikes up  in and plenty of outdoor space for us to make ourselves comfortable! We’ll be staying the night of Monday, March 16th.

Snap your fingers if you love Stockton!

Mark’s a guiding light to Wheeled Migration and a spark in the life of thousands of students. His big intention with this event is to see students meet up and share skills and learning with others at UOP.

The man’s a wealth of connections and wisdom on everything from college football and California cultural geography to anarchist philosophy and green building.

We’re stoked to have his love and support and are happy he’s rolling in the pack.

Click to see full route art map!

We are going on migration! From March 13th to the 20th we will be en route to El Capitan!

This years Spring Sojourn is presented in two parts: a three day student tour from Chico to Stockton- and the after party in Yosemite.

Student leaders, activists, educators, and artists of all stripes are encouraged to attend. This is our offering to riders new to touring. We welcome you to a different quality of leisure and excitement. It’s a fresh page in the life of WM, we hope to share it with you.

On the first leg, WM is hosting a delegation of student leaders between Butte College, Chico State, and University of the Pacific. This event will bring together both universities and their  colleges of Business, Agriculture, Humanities, and Natural Sciences, with graduate students, professors, and members of the Chico community.

This “rolling summit” will focus on water and food issues of the Sacramento valley while looking at community solutions along the way. We will follow the Sacramento River until we meet up with the American River near the capitol and turn south to head into the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta region.

Along our way we will roll in the usual Wheeled Migration style with music, networking, feasting, skill sharing, and our mobile gift community. The tour will wrap up in Stockton with a student convergence on the UOP campus.

The second leg will be an informal after party tour. Wednesday morning we set off to the south-east and the Yosemite valley. People will hop on and off along our way and a whole different ride will emerge. Of course we’ll still be around to keep you tuned up but this is where we lay back, let our hair down, and ride.

WM is pleased to announce the ambient/Mactronic experience of Thief Chief will be live in Camp 1!

Hailing from Chico, Thief Chief will help bring day one to a close with an evening of melodic symphony of strings, piano, hip-hop, and soaring synthesizers. All this and chilled beer.

Thief Chief composer Martin Svec is thrilled to be on the road with WM. “What drives me to make this music is self reflection, so begin on an non-traditional tour like this where people will be doing a lot of that feels like a perfect fit.”

Martin was attracted to the WM by the environment created on tour. “Performing in a space where people are passionate about what they are doing is inspiring. To be a part of that as a musician is very special.”

Martin will be joined by his sister, pianist Cristina Svec, at the Colusa-Sacramento River State Recreation Area on March 13th. A brother and sister chemistry to sooth your freshy legs to sleep.

It’s all happening on the Pacific Flyway, come find us!