Tariffs=Pandemic 2.0? (For Cycling)

Last night, Donald Trump held a rally celebrating his first 100 days in office.  As he is wont to do, he made exaggerated or simply false claims about the positive effects of his actions (or inactions) during that time.

Of course, since he was in Warren County, Michigan--literally next door to the automotive industry capital--he talked up the tariffs he's imposed.  All along, he's claimed they would bring manufacturing back to the US.  During his speech, he defended his steep tariffs on cars and auto parts--just hours after the White House announced it was reducing them.

A bicycle company might provide one of the best examples of why he backpedaled (this will seem like a bad pun in a moment) on his earlier actions.  Most of you, I imagine, are not riding Kent bicycles, but you may have had--or your kid might be riding--one.  You may have assumed, as I did, that they are made in China or some other low-wage country.

In 2014, however, the Bicycle Company of America--Kent's parent, which has also made and sold bicycles under the BCA brand--has produced bikes in its Manning, South Carolina facility.  Notice that I used the word "produced:"  Although the machines produced in Manning bear "Made in USA" labels ("with domestic and imported parts" appears in smaller type), almost everything on the bikes--including the frames--comes from someplace else.  For example, the rims, hubs and spokes come from Asia but are assembled into wheels in the South Carolina plant.  And because the headsets and crank bearing races are pressed into the frames--and those frames are painted--in the same facility, they qualify for the label.

That scenario puts Kent and other bicycles made by BCA in a bind:  They have to pay higher prices for all of those parts, but they can't pass those costs on to customers unless bike prices are increased outright to "levels consumers may not want to pay" said Kent chairman Arnold Kamler. 

According to Kamler, the tariffs and duties total around 175 percent of pre-tariff prices.  As a result, he said, the company stopped importing parts--and bicycles--from China on 18 April.  Unless those tariffs are reduced, as they were for auto parts, in the next 30 days, Kamler says "we will need to suspend production later this year."

Since very few bicycle frames--save for custom and extremely high-end models--and virtually no parts--save for small-batch varieties of hubs, bottom brackets, headsets and pedals from the likes of Phil Wood, Chris King, White Industries and other small companies--are made in the US, it's easy to imagine that shops, distributors and online retailers could experience a run on current inventories.  And, when those are exhausted, bikes, parts and accessories could become very difficult to find and expensive.  In other words, we might see a re-run of what the cycling world experienced during the worst days of the COVID pandemic in 2020-21.

This Hits The Spot!

Today's email brought me one of the most pleasant surprises I've experienced:

Midlife Cycling has been chosen as one of FeedSpot's  top 100 midlife blogs and websites of 2025. This blog not only made the list, it is listed at #19.  That's even better than any class rank I achieved!

Thank you, dear readers, for following my journey over nearly 15 years and more than 4700 posts. 

Taking One From The Team?

 The other day, while pedaling into wind toward Rockaway surf, I spotted this:

It’s called the “Queens Flyer.” Lots of things related to New York City’s most diverse borough bear that color scheme because Queens is home to the Mets.

I have to wonder, though:  Was this bike an attempt at fandom without paying a licensing fee?* You tell me.

*-Although I have been a Mets fan for about as long as I’ve been a cyclist—which is to say, most of my life—I won’t lose any sleep over the team’s owner (reportedly the richest in sports save, perhaps, for members of Middle Eastern royalty who own European football teams) losing a licensing fee or two.

Would You Buy A Bike From This Man?

 Call me a monster, if you will. There are a few people and things that make me wish abortion could be retroactive Two of them are so-called musical groups:  Chicago and Nickelback. Another is a so-called singer: Debby Boone.

Also within the realm of noise that people will listen to, and pay for the privilege, I would include most of today’s Republican Party.  As for the family of the Fake Tan Führer, I would extend my wish a couple of generations back.

Another “Exhibit A” in the case for retroactive abortion, to my mind, was Pee Wee Herman. 

Of course, not everyone felt the same way I do. Otherwise, why would there be a market for his most famous prop:  the bicycle he used in the movie “Pee Wee’d Big Adventure?”

It will be up for auction in a week, and is expected to command a price between $30,000 and $60,000. Just in case you might be interested.

By the way:  He never had any children. Someone might see that as “proof” a rumor that circulates every decade is true: Cycling causes male sterility. Maybe someone secretly installed an undetectable birth control device!

Plays of Light, Riding Through Seasons

This afternoon I took another ride from one season to another, though the change wasn’t quite as drastic as what I experienced last Saturday. 

Actually, when I began the ride, the temperature was 72F (22C), which would be normal about three or four weeks from now. But once I crossed the bridge to Rockaway Beach, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees F, which would’ve been normal about a month ago.

I

I didn’t mind: I got to enjoy plays of light through clouds and on waves along the south shore from Rockaway Beach to Point Lookout and back across the Rockaways to Riis Park, Sheepshead Bay and Coney Island.

If A Cyclist Falls Into A Pothole...

 A few days ago, I was riding home from one of my bread runs in the Little Italy area of the Bronx.  After stopping at one of the fruit stands in Fordham Plaza, I proceeded up Webster Avenue.  A bit more than a block north of Fordham Road, I noticed a pothole so deep that I could see, on one side, the bedrock underneath and on the other, what looked like utility pipes.

That hole was there when I first moved into the neighborhood, just over a year ago.  The one good thing I can say is that because I know it's there, I barely have to look for it in order to dodge it:  It's as if an image of it, or its location, is lodged into my mental GPS, if you will.  But I wonder whether someone who isn't familiar with that stretch of Webster has been pitched off their bike when their front wheel dropped into it.  

That idle thought led to another:  If the person's bike was damaged or destroyed--or if they were injured--could they sue the city?

I don't know what New York City regulations say, or don't say, about such a scenario.  But I imagine that some lawyer could make a case for someone being reimbursed for a damaged or destroyed bike, medical bills and lost wages.  

In Palo Alto, California--home to Stanford University and a major technology hub--Peggy Hock-McCalley is bringing such a lawsuit against the city.  Last September, Roderick McCalley, her 81-year-old husband, was riding along Park Boulevard when he fell and sustained a major head injury and neck fracture.  Two days later, he died.

Cyclists on Park Boulevard, Palo Alto.  Photo by Gennady Sheyner for Palo Alto Online.

The city claims Mr. McCalley had entered a lane closed for construction when the accident occurred.  The suit filed by his widow maintains that he fell into an unmarked open construction ditch in the asphalt. So, while I have no firsthand knowledge of the case, I can understand--especially given my near-encounter with the pothole on Webster Avenue--how he or someone else could ride into a hole or depression he couldn't have seen, or wouldn't have known to look for, as he was riding.  

Also, Ms. Hock-McCalley maintains, "There were no warning signs" which made the ditch a "hidden hazard" for "persons who use the road every day."

She is seeking more than $35,000 from the city for creating dangerous conditions, negligence and wrongful death.  Whether or not she wins, if you'll indulge me a cliché, it won't bring back her husband.  And unless Palo Alto--and other cities--are more proactive in addressing road hazards, there will be other tragedies like the one that befell Roderick McCalley.

Earth Day Obsrvsnce

 What better way to observe Earth Day (today) than a bike repair class?

A Ride From One Season To Another

 It was still April.  But I took my first summer ride on Saturday.

Well, it was summer for part of my ride, anyway. I began early in the afternoon. After about 25 kilometers, I glanced at a NYC municipal public service announcement kiosk in Maspeth, Queens.  Temperature:  85F (29.4C)

At least I avoided one mistake I’ve made during other unseasonably warm and sunny spring rides:  I applied sunscreen to my arms, face and neck.  So at least I ended my ride without the sunburn I’ve incurred in previous summer-in-spring rides.  Those burns were particularly tiring and painful, I think, because at this time of year, areas of skin that were exposed for the first time in months are exceptionally pale and vulnerable.

Although I was prepared in one way, I was unprepared—or at least underprepared—in another. The air temperature in central-western Queens may have been a vernal ruse, but the ocean has just barely left winter behind:  the water temperature is still only about 45F (7.5C). So, as soon as I started pedaling into a headwind on the Addobo Bridge from Howard Beach to Beach Channel, the temperature seemed to drop about 10 or 15 degrees F, and further still when I transversed the Veterans’ Memorial Bridge to Rockaway Beach. 

Turns out, my perception wasn’t far off:  another kiosk near the beach reported a temperature of 58F (14C). Later, I saw an identical reading at Point Lookout, Long Island, where I turned around. 

I didn’t feel cold. In fact, I was enjoying the tingles I felt as the wind rippled my shirt—and the irony of my being dressed for summer while others wore parkas and scarves. But it was still surprising, if not disconcerting, to pedal from mid-summer to early spring in not much more than an hour!

Happy Easter!

From Emily Batty’s Facebook page.

Arni Nashbar

 You were young (or not) and poor. Your local bike shop carried only the most basic stuff. If it was a Schwinn dealer, it might’ve had a Super Sport, or even a Sports Tourer/Superior on its showroom floor. But if you wanted a Paramount—or, perhaps, a Superior/Sports Tourer—it had to be ordered. Ditto for any bike lighter and more refined than, say, a Raleigh Grand Prix or Peugeot UO-8. Likewise, the shop might’ve had a Campagnolo derailleur in its showcase, but if you wanted other Campy parts—or even, sometimes, a SunTour VGT derailleur—the shop had to send for it.

Many of us lived and cycled in the circumstances I’ve described during the ‘70s Bike Boom and its aftermath. Online retailing was a quarter-century in the future. So the only alternative to brick-and-mortar stores (which some cyclists, mainly in rural areas, didn’t have) was mail-order catalogues.

Even during what Sheldon Brown has called the “Dark Ages” of US cycling (roughly two decades after World War II) mail-order companies like Cyclopedia catered to the relatively small and scattered community of American cycle enthusiasts. But, perhaps not surprisingly, many new mail-order retailers began during the Bike Boom.  Some were started by entrepreneurs who saw an opportunity; others were cycling enthusiasts for whom quality bikes, parts and accessories were either unavailable or very expensive at local shops—if indeed there were any.

Arnold “Arni” Nashbar was a cross between the two types of mail-order pioneers I’ve described. He had a background in advertising and marketing that, arguably, began when he sold T-shirts he airbrushed to finance his education at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Youngstown State University.

Arnold “Arni” Nashbar

He and his wife loved cycling. It was that passion, he said, that led them to form Bike Warehouse, which later became Bike Nashbar.

The original name offered a clue as to why he could offer merchandise many brick-and-mortar shops didn’t or couldn’t, and why his prices, even with shipping costs, were often considerably lower.  He and other mail-order companies like Bikecology (which became Supergo) and Performance had warehouses, which allowed them to buy in much greater volume than any local shop could. That purchasing power also enabled the mail-order companies to offer items, mainly high-end, most shops couldn’t. For example, Bike Warehouse/Nashbar could buy crates full of Campagnlo, and SunTour parts, or Mavic and Super Champion rims, whereas the friendly neighborhood shop could afford to keep one or two of any such items in stock.

Of course shop owners hated mail-order companies, just as they hate online retailers, because they couldn’t hope to match their prices. (Most shops have survived, then and now, by doing repairs.) But shop owners I’ve known and worked for have said they “can’t blame” people for buying online.

One reason I looked forward to getting catalogues—apart from prices—was that they offered glimpses at stuff I might not see in local shops. Even if I had no intention to buy or ride them, it was fun to see the “screwed and glued” Alan frames and ultra-light parts from cottage industries like Hi-E.

Bike Warehouse seemed to have a particular penchant for highlighting such items. But most of all, I eagerly awaited those Bike Warehouse catalogues because, shall we say, they had a particular charm evidenced by a page from this 1976 edition.

Oh, and it was printed on newsprint, in all of its black-and-white glory. When I learned of Arni’s background, I wasn’t surprised.

But surprised I was to learn of his passing last Saturday. Surprised in the sense that one is upon learning of someone’s death. Then again, he lived 83 years, which is a bit older than a typical American lifespan. And, to be fair, his legacy includes what he did to support cycling in his native Ohio and the US, and charity work.

But if anyone mentions him, I probably will think of those catalogues before anything else.

Have You Broken It?

Every mountain biker (at least the ones I've known) has done something the oppressed people of this world strive, and sometimes manage, to do.  What is it?

Break their chains.

All right, that's worse than a dad or prof joke. And if any of you are oppressed, or descendants of people who were, and are offended by the joke, I apologize.

OK, so here's a difference between mountain bikers and at least one oppressed group of people.  Of the latter, Karl Marx said that if they united, they had nothing to lose but their chains.  On the other hand, I don't know of any cyclist who wants to lose their chain.  For those in bondage, getting rid of chains is the first step, so to speak, of mobility.  In contrast, a bike without a chain goes nowhere.

During my first two years of mountain biking, I broke or wore out more chains and sprockets than I did in two decades or so of road riding.  Bombing down trails, hopping over rocks and skipping over small streams definitely was harder on drivetrain components, and bikes in general, than "hammering" on pavement, even if both kinds of riding exerted my body in more or less the same ways--though I don't think I got cut, bruised or banged up on the road unless I crashed, which I didn't do often.

As hard as off-road riding was on my equipment, I never broke or even significantly damaged a frame.  Then again, I rode only steel frames. (The Cannondale mountain bike I bought a few years ago, and gave to an emergency room doctor early in the pandemic, never saw dirt, mud or rocks while I rode it.) Some, including, perhaps my younger self, might say I wasn't riding hard enough.

What got me to thinking about my experiences with mountain bike equipment?  I came across a survey Jeff Barber posted on the Singletracks blog. He asks, "Have you ever broken a mountain bike frame?"  Not surprisingly, some readers responded with their stories.  

Image from Ruckus Composites

So now I'm wondering:  Are mountain bikers--or BMXers or other riders who make their bikes hop, jump and absorb all manner of impact--more or less likely to break their frames than other riders?  And do they still, as I did, find that their drivetrain components don't last as long as those of road bikes?

Ancient Wisdom

 The unexamined life is not worth living.

That pearl of wisdom has been attributed to Socrates and Plato. What we know about Socrates comes from his pupil Plato because the itinerant teacher never wrote anything down. 

Anyway, the exact quote goes something like “a life without introspection, self-reflection and critical thought is meaningless." At least, that’s what I’ve heard from folks who know more ancient Greek than I know—which is to say, any at all.

Anyway, if Socrates and Plato knew about cycling, they might’ve added it to their list of what makes a life worthwhile.

Tariffs Against China, Via Norway

 The other day, I recounted some of the ways Trump’s tariffs, particularly the ones levied against China, could affect the US bicycle industry and community.  Some retailers, distributors, importers and even manufacturers have said the new taxes could “devastate” or even “destroy” the industry. Whether or not those predictions are too dire, there will be ripples or even tidal waves no one will have predicted.

Case in point:  On Tuesday Norwegian company Bike Finder announced it is pausing exports of its devices to the US.  According to the company, the decision was made “not out of necessity, but strategy.”

So why is a Norwegian company essentially boycotting the US over its trade war with China?  You guessed it: While the bike tracking devices, which fit into the handlebars, and the software in them, are designed and developed in Norway, they are manufactured in China.

Other bicycle accessories (especially electronics)—and bicycles—have similar stories behind them: they are created and marketed by companies in North America and Europe but fabricated in China.

Does Trump Believe “Tariff” Is A Beautiful Word Because He Hates Bikes?

You know the world is not the one in which you grew up when beliefs that might’ve been dismissed as conspiracy theories only a few years ago actually seem like reasonable explanations of what’s going on.

To wit:  I can’t help but to think that Trump’s tariffs are intended, at least in part, to induce a worldwide economic depression so that he, Elon Musk and their cohorts can buy (through proxies in the case of Trump and other elected officials) stocks, real estate and other commodities at a fraction of their previous costs.  Some very wealthy people did exactly that in response to the market crashes of 1929, 1987 and 2008.

Also, Trump’s claim that he’s imposing tariffs to bring manufacturing back to the United States is, at best, a partial truth.  For one thing, it will take years, or even decades, to re-shore the fabrication of goods.  And, when (or if) industry “returns,” it won’t be in shuttered Detroit auto plants or Pittsburgh steel mills—if indeed they’re still standing.  Instead, new facilities—whether in those industries or others—will open up in the so-called “right to work” states, where unions are weak or nonexistent.  So, the jobs, which will be fewer In number because of automation, won’t offer the standard of living, health and other benefits or protections (in case, say, a worker is disabled because is working conditions) that workers enjoyed until about the 1970s.

In other words, the tariffs that are supposed to “Make America Great Again” will only make the wealthy wealthier and fewer in number but make everyone else poorer—and many of them more fearful and therefore willing to submit to onerous demands.

Oh, and nobody involved in the US bicycle industry thinks any good will come of those tariffs. The vast majority of bikes, e-bikes and anything related to them come from China and other countries that have been slapped with the largest tariffs. Of the 10 million or so bikes sold annually in the US, fewer than 500,000 (five percent) are even assembled in the US; virtually none are made entirely in the US. 

I recall that about thirty years ago, one of the mountain bike magazines tried to build an all-American bike. It was, of course, wildly expensive, as most of the parts were after-market items made by small companies (or even in someone’s garage). Even with a no-limit budget, an all-American mountain bike could not be built because, as I recall, no tires or inner tubes were (or are) made here. I imagine that at least some makers of the parts that went on that bike are no longer in business or were bought by bigger companies that are making the parts in—you guessed it—China or one of the other countries Trump is bullying.

On top of the situation I’ve described, many shops and distributors are sitting in inventory they bought after the COVID boom cleared out shelves and warehouses. Many consumers who wanted to buy during the pandemic, but couldn’t, waited. But when inventory finally arrived, they were no longer interested. So, in a cruel irony, after shops closed a few months into the pandemic because they couldn’t get inventory, others are now closing because they can’t get rid of it—or had to sell for less than what they paid.

The tariffs probably won’t affect the prices of what dealers already have. But it will most likely deter some from bringing in new bikes, helmets and the like, as consumers will be less interested in buying.

So..in keeping with the original premise of this post:  I don’t think I’m being a conspiracy theorist when I say, given his anti-bike rhetoric, Donald Trump had the bike industry in mind when he imposed tariffs—which he called “the most beautiful word in the dictionary “—that could potentially double the prices of bicycles, e-bikes and anything related to them. And he probably believes that by punishing cyclists, he’s rewarding the fossil fuel-related industries.

100 Years Later, It Really Is Fine

 The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all of the people who say he is very good.

So opined Robert Graves. I could make a similar remark about something many of you have read:  The Great Gatsby really is a fine novel in spite of generations of teachers pounding just how fine it is into their students’ heads.

A few years ago, I winced when I learned that when my freshman and sophomore college students told me that, when they were in high school, they had to write essays about the symbolism of the green light Jay Gatsby sees across the harbor, on Daisy's dock. Before those students' parents—and, possibly, grandparents—were born, I had to write an essay on the same topic.  While I found it interesting—it was one of the first things that made me realize literary interpretation wasn’t just a pursuit for people with too much time on their hands-- it probably “killed” the novel, and perhaps any interest in literature, for many other students.

So why am I talking about such things today when spring “classics” are in progress and there’s all sorts of important news in the world of cycling? Well, 100 years ago today, The Great Gatsby was published.

To me, it’s an appropriate time to invoke my “Howard Cosell Rule

The Councils Are Going Broke. Blame Cyclists.

"Americans can be trusted to do the right thing once all other possibilities have been exhausted."

That remark has been attributed to Winston Churchill, though experts on him can't find any tape, transcript or other record of him saying it.

Whoever said it, I wish that it were true of today's right-wing politicians.  Coaches, trainers, athletic directors and boosters sexually abuse athletes, yet the Fake Tan Fuhrer and his allies blame transgender athletes on girls' and womens' teams--which number something like ten in the whole United States--for endangering innocent young female gymnasts, skaters, basketball players, cyclists and other performers.  I have yet to hear of any anti-LGBTQ politician who went after the real perpetrators. Perhaps some day....

Or maybe they never will.  It seems that these days, a strategy of the far- and even center-right around the world is to scapegoat people, organizations and movements that are very small in number or limited in scope, much as Hitler targeted Jews (who, even where they were the largest presence, still represented a small fraction of the population), Romani and other minorities including, yes, LGBT people.  I still recall how the Reagan Administration targeted the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, ostensibly as defecit-reducing measures, even though they represented something like .005 percent of the Federal Budget and, as even the Wall Street Journal noted, contributed far more to the economy, not to mention the culture.

Now it seems that one of right wing's targets, in the UK as in the US, is bicycle infrastructure.  It's one thing to blame a bike lane for a loss of parking spaces or emergency vehicle access.  But it's simply ludicrous to attribute the sorry state of a local government's finances to the money it spent on a bike lane, mainly because it's almost invariably a tiny part of the budget but also because (at least in the US), those funds may have come from a state or the Federal government, usually as part of an allocation for transportation.

But that hasn't stopped politicians on either side of the Atlantic.  Among the most recent is Nigel Farage, the Reform Party leader and former member of the UK Independence Party--you know, the folks who campaigned for Brexit.  This morning he claimed that local councils are "on the verge of bankruptcy" because of "huge departments of people dealing with climate change" and the "tens of millions of pounds" those councils "wasted" on "cycle lanes nobody uses."

Image credit:  Simon MacMichael/Gage Skidmore via the BBC

Now, I can't argue against, or vouch for the last part of his assertion.  But a look at the charge that the councils are throwing money at bike infrastructure is, to say the least, exaggerated.  Some councils spend little or nothing on bicycle infrastructure or other "active travel."  But even for those that spent the most, like Kingston, spending for active transport (which includes walking and other non-motorized modes as well as cycling) is only around 4 to 5 percent of the total budget, with around a third of that coming from core funds and the rest from grants.  As a whole, the UK spends about two percent of its transportation budget on cycling infrastructure. 

All of this leads me to believe that if Nigel Farage were in Winston Churchill's place during the Blitz, he would have turned his ire toward Dame Myra Hess.

“Funeral” For A Bike Lane

 Jewish traditions include the levaya, a public burial ceremony for a Torah scroll or script that has been burned or otherwise damaged beyond repair. The Torah is often buried beside a Torah scholar as a sign of respect.

I thought of the levaya when I saw a news story out of Houston. That city’s cyclists didn’t bury a bike lane. They did, however, hold a “funeral” for the Austin Street lane the city abruptly removed from its Midtown district.

The penultimate word of the previous sentence describes what rankled Ursula Andreeff, who organized the event. “We wanted to mourn the loss of bike lanes, loss of critical infrastructure in this city and also to bring attention,” she explained. 

The city removed concrete barriers, often called “armadillos,” citing concerns from residents and first responders about reduced access for emergency vehicles, blocked trash collection and limited parking. Houston Public Works claims the move—and painting “sharrows” to indicate shared use of the road with motor vehicles.

Critics argue that the “sharrows” won’t offer the same level of protection and might deter some from cycling. They also lambasted the city for not giving advance warning about removing the Austin Street lane, or others. People went for their daily commute or fitness ride only to find that their familiar route, in which they felt safe, gone.

Some Houston cyclists held a “funeral” for a bike lane. I imagine that some were hoping the next funeral they attend won’t be for one of them.

Always Together

 When some couples ride, one member has trouble keeping up with the other.

Here’s one way to solve that dilemma:

A Cherry Blossom Canopy In The Bronx

The bike lane under the Bruckner Expressway isn’t more than a couple of years old. But I believe I can safely say that I’ve ridden it dozens, if not a hundred or more, times.

While pedaling Tosca, my Mercian Dixie, near the lane’s southern end, I caught a glimpse of this:

On a grimy industrial block of  East 140th Street, some men enjoyed a canopy more beautiful, to my eye, than any offered at the entrances of the most sumptuous Park and Fifth Avenue buildings.

Of course, those men may not have seen it that way: I couldn’t tell whether they live, work or simply hang out on the block. And I didn’t try to take a closer image of them because one of them eyed me suspiciously.  Perhaps it means I’m not really an artist or even journalist after all: My respect for his privacy won out over my desire to “create” or “make a statement.”

Or maybe I am: The inherent beauty of that cherry blossom, and the cloak of light and graceful curves it offered in a space bounded by concrete, asphalt, chicken wire and steel girders, impressed enough on me, however imperfectly I’ve captured it on my iPhone camera.

RAGBRAI Moves North

 The Tour de France has veered into—and even had its prologues—in Italy, ,Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, England, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. The other Grand Tours (Giro d’Italia and Vuelta à Espańa—haven’t visited quite as many countries mainly because they don’t border as many as France does.

The Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) isn’t a race. Also, it isn’t as long:  Each edition of RAGBRAI lasts around a week and covers 400-500’miles (640-800 kilometers). It first crisscrossed the state in 1973, or seven decades after the first Tour. And, unlike the “Big Three” races, it has stayed entirely within the geographical entity in its name.

That will change this year. RAGBRAI LII, which will run from 19 to 26 July, will take a 15 mile (25 km) “detour” into Jackson County, Minnesota on Day 2.

“For over five decades, we have explored every corner of Iowa,” RAGBRAI Ride Director Matt Phippen explained. “We know this will be an incredible ride.”

Neither he nor anyone else involved with the ride gave a specific reason for this new “twist.” Then again, Tour de France organizers never have to explain why they begin a stage, or the race itself, in another country.

A Ride At The Beginning of Color

 Was March pretending to be April? Or was April reluctantly taking March’s place?

For the past few days, the answer to either of those questions could’ve been “yes.”  One moment it seemed that Winter didn’t want to loosen its grip; in another, Spring wanted to deliver us from the lessons of mud and bare branches.

And those lessons—what is to be learned from them?  That buds open to rain that pokes them; colors spring from old wounds.

While pedaling into, and with the wind, I realized that I look forward to cherry blossoms and wildflowers not only because they’re pretty, but their vibrancy is so hard-won after months of cold and darkness.

Food For Thought

 Forget everything you’ve ever heard about nutrition .

According to researchers at the University of Tihsllub,, the best diet for high-performance cycling is high in refined sugar and carbohydrates.

Because the university trained Michele Ferrari,Richard Freeman and other doctors and trainers who have helped to enhance the performance of the pro peloton, team and race organizers are taking the Aerican university’s research seriously.

A separate study at the same university has questioned the importance of aerodynamics.

The directeurs sportifs of several teams that are competing in the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España are therefore equipping their riders’ bikes thusly:

The university specifically chose today to release the researchers’ findings, but didn’t explain why.