Category Archives: Cycling

In Praise of My Own “Retro” Bikes

The frames of all my bikes were designed 20+ years ago, so qualify as “retro.” Several of them are based on the early mountain bike, so here is a brief introduction to that design,followed by four of my “variations on … Continue reading

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My Adventures on a Bike Friday

The inspiration to begin biking in Latin America and later Europe came from the arrival of my 50th birthday in 1997. A few years before, I had written a story for Oregon Cycling paper about ATP (Advanced Training Products) in … Continue reading

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2014: Cycling Historic Waterways from Quebec City to Buffalo

(Cycle-Touring the St. Lawrence, Lake Champlain and Erie Canal) If you are a regular reader of Bicycle Paper, you may recall I’ve written about my discovery of the lost art of canal biking in my home city of London, and … Continue reading

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2014: Escape to the Olympic Discovery Trail

Have you ridden the Olympic Discovery Trail? I hadn’t even heard of it until I reached Washington’s North Olympic coast on a “last-minute” bike tour this past September. In fact, it took a string of coincidences to put me on … Continue reading

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Chasing the Tillamook Steam Train — by Bike!

Some of my most memorable cycling moments have been entirely unexpected … like the time I found myself participating in that classic western scene — the train robbery! It was last summer and I was staying at Rockaway Beach on … Continue reading

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PM: My World on Wheels

My World on Wheels: By coincidence, 1962 was the year I discovered both bikes and boats and I have bounced between both sports/passions ever since. I have to admit it is a lot easier to practice cycling every day–for the … Continue reading

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Mule Packer-the D.I.Y. Bike that Really Packs!

The  Mule Packer bike is definitely the simplest method of building your own low-cost demountable travel bike using only common hand tools. It consists of a pair of demi-frames cut from two 1980’s mountain bikes, one larger than the other … Continue reading

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Biking Chiloe Island – Off the Beaten Path

If you can find Chile on the map, then you must be aware of its outstanding physical feature. It is, of course, by a large margin, the longest, narrowest country in the world. So narrow, in fact, that it’s only … Continue reading

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Chile – Top to Bottom

 The Atacama Desert to Puerto Montt Chile, that amazingly long South American country, extends in a narrow band 2,700 miles down the Pacific coast of the continent, from 18 to 54 degrees of latitude. Its northern border is the Atacama … Continue reading

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1997: Cycling from the Snake River to the Willamette

The cycling business has profited immensely from encouraging us cyclists to think in terms of grams when it comes to bike parts. (Exactly how big is a gram anyway? Could you feel one if I dropped it in your hand?) … Continue reading

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