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Women who want to find out more
about biking are invited to a series of
free clinics sponsored by the Spinners
and Performance bicycle shop. The
clinics will be held at the shop at 7
p.m. each night beginning Monday,
and ending Friday. Seminars on
mountain biking and road biking will
be held Saturday and Sunday, respec
tively.
For those of you who want to strike
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for everyone, only those in good physi
cal shape and with a genuine sense of
adventure. Tours generally last from a
few days to several weeks, costing any
where from a few hundred dollars to
several thousand.
You need not be Tour de France
winner Greg LeMond to enjoy such trips,
however. "If a person is in good shape,
they don’t have to be a cyclist to enjoy
the trip," Jackson said.
Tours typically cover from 35 to 45
miles of cycling daily, but most people
can cycle more than they think, once
pacing themselves in a group, Jackson
"It's possible to go
almost anywhere in
the world with a
little planning."
Gladys Young
said.
The group can really enhance a trip,
since bikers will spend a lot of time
together. Jackson advised checking into
a group before commiting to a trip,
because "a college age student may not
want to spend two weeks cycling with a
group of 40-to 50-year olds.”
Aside from camaraderie, structured
out on your own, Wayne Pein, a re
search associate for bicyclist and pe
destrian studies at the Highway Safety
Research Center, offers these tips:
■ "If you are going to be on the road
it is important that you follow the rules
and be predictable” by not making any
sudden turns and by using hand sig
nals.
■ Take a map with you, especially if
you are biking off-road. (Maps can be
obtained by calling the N.C. Depart
ment of Maps at 733-7600.)
■ Wear a helmet.
■ Ride with a partner.
■ Take a basic repair kit, which
should include a tire patch kit, a pump,
tire levers (to remove the tire from the
wheel) and perhaps a spare tube.
■ Carry a water bottle.
Also, it is important not to be too
ambitious, especially on the first few
rides, Pein said.
"Pick a distance that you feel you
can easily accomplish for the first time,"
he said. "Push your horizons later."
tours offer some advantages over tradi
tional "grab-a-backpack-and-go” inde
pendent expeditions. Knowledgable na
tive tour guides, planned accomodations
and meals, and good directions are usu
ally included with company planned
tours.
But some bikers prefer tackling vaca
tion destinations on their own.
Gladys Young, a cycling enthusiast
from Greensboro, pedalled throgh
Germany’s Mosel Valley this summer
with a companion. She said she found
the experience "more of an adventure,
since it was easier to meet people, due to
no insulating wall between you and the
locals." Young cycled about 35 miles per
day, but the freedom to wander off and
linger meant that she did not go as far as
planned.
Young also plans to publish a guide
she wrote detailing the summer trip, of
fering tips to other cy
clists setting out with
out a guide.
"It’s possible to go
almost anywhere in
the world with a little
planning," she said.
"Marco Polo did all
right."
Whether alone or
with a tour group, bi
cycle vacations do
have a lot to offer.
Jackson cited several
reasons that he pre
fers biking over more
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You may have to get your fingers dirty; make sure you are all alone
Recommended Biking Hotspots
Off-Road Biking
■ Near Chapel Hill High School
■ Behind the Forest Theater
■ Falls Lake in Raleigh
■ Umstead Park
■ Duke Forest
■ Seawell School area
Road riding
■ Calavander Road area west of
Carrboro
■ Near Jordan Lake
Bike Types
Road Used for road touring, road
bicycles have drop handlebars, a light
frame, a long wheelbase and 14 or 21
gears.
Hybrid More popular among stu
dents, hybrids have upright handlebars
and a heavier, mountain bike-type
frame with road bike wheels.
Mountain Also popular among
students, mountain bikes have upright
handlebars, heavy frames, smaller
wheels and thick tires for rough off-road
adventures.
traditional land travel.
"Travelers get a better feel for the area
and see things a lot more in depth," he
said. Bikers set their own pace and have a
lot more options of routes to take, he
added.
So why isn't everyone grabbing a bike
and signing up for a tour? Fisher said
more young people would probably be
interested if the economy was better and
the dollar had more value in Europe. But
if you have the bucks and the cardiovas
cular strength, consider several factors
before signing up: the degree of difficulty
(terrain and mileage), cost, people in the
group, and length of the trip.
Try a bicycle tour and come back with
not only memories of your adventures
with the locals, but also with buns of steel.
photos by Andrea Braddus
and DTH file
mister
Although Mr. Omni is about four feet too
short to ride a bike, he nevertheless was able
to tackle the pressing cycling questions we
got this week:
Dear Mr. Omni, Why do the chains on
your bike always pop out when you're right
in front of a bunch of people? How do you
get them back in?
Dear Reader, Your luck just sucks, I guess.
Bike chains occasionally pop out, says Tom
Davis, manager of Precision in Carrboro,
because the shifters are out of whack. You
just need to have them adjusted. But you
can just stick 'em right back in line, Tom
assures me. "But you might have to get your
fingers kind of greasy."
Dear Mr. Omni, what’s the deal with
tires? They’re thin, they’re thick, ... they’re
thin, they're thick. Why not just pick one
thickness and stick with it?
Dear Reader, seems you have quite a
complex. You need a hobby. According to
Tom, the thinner the tire, the more "high
performance" biker you’re dealing with.
Really big thick tires are for people who like
to ride their bikes up and down mountains
(gee, what fun), while the moderate-thick
ness tires are for getting around town and
campus.
Dear Mr. Omni, How often do I need a
tune-up, and how much do they cost?
Dear Reader, a tune-up will set you back
about S4O at most places and includes ad
justment of brakes, gears and bearings. How
often depends: if you rode your bike back to
Chapel Hill from home or wherever during
last weekend's "Storm of the Century," you’re
probably due a tune-up. For fairly avid bik
ers, every 6 months to a year. For those who
just bought a mountain bike to fit in with
the rest of the student body, less often.
Dear Mr. Omni, how come you never see
banana seats anymore?
Dear Reader, same reason you don’t see
the Donny & Marie show, Slip-n-Slides or
Shawn Cassidy anymore. They're part of the
social depression you knew in your 1970s
childhood.
Dear Mr. Omni, what's the coolest color
bike to get?
Dear Reader, word is, they have salmon
colored bikes at Precision. Imagine. A salmon
colored bike.
Dear Mr. Omni, what's up with the little
air pumps attached to the bars of some
bikes? I mean, if you're that scared your tires
are going to pop, shouldn't you stay in your
house?
Dear Reader, I suppose so. Say, when's
the last time you got out or your house?
Dear Mr. Omni, is it cool, or is it a bike
foul to have a bell?
Dear Reader, I personally can't think of
anything cooler than a bike bell. Actually,
they aren’t terribly effective, because if you’re
riding along a crowded sidewalk or trail,
ringing a bell isn’t going to endear you to
any of your fellow bikers, and they're not
going anywhere. If you're riding alone, who
are you going to ring your bell at?
Dear Mr. Omni, how about a basket?
Dear Reader, baskets are a great idea.
Someone at UNC has an ingenious one. He
or she has bungeed a plastic milk crate to the
back of a bike, providing a dandy-sized
basket that looks really cool.