Category Archives: Cycling News and Events

Cycling Events and Bike Trail Articles Delay – Leg Injury

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This is the time of year when I am usually out blazing new bike trails and taking photos (and even videos sometimes) but if you are wondering why I haven’t been posting new trail pages and photos recently it is because I am currently on the Disabled List. 🙁

I have had leg injury that I have had for months now but seemed to be in remission. Well, it acted up again and I have been unable to ride (and even having a hard time walking) for the last few weeks now (since just after Easter weekend). It is driving me crazy to be missing out on all this good riding weather! Actually April has been a little chilly (March was better this year) but it is still quite acceptable riding weather.

Anyway, as for the injury, I am off to the chiropractor this afternoon. I am hoping that he can perform some of his voodoo and speed up the recovery time a little.

Door County Dentury Ride

Door County Century Ride

The other thing that I wanted to mention today is that I just updated my Cycling Events Calendar Page with a new ride that I just heard about from a contact that I have at Livestrong who I just discovered is also a pretty major cyclist.

The ride that I just heard about is the Door County Century Ride which takes place this year on 9/9/12. Although, I am not really into a lot of organized rides myself, this one sounds very interesting to me. I like that there is no formal start time (they suggest between 6:30am and 10am) and you can do the full Century or they have routes for 28.5, 50 and 70 mile rides. The ride is not until September but registration is open and there is a link to the website on the Cycling Events Calendar page.

I have also rearranged the Cycling Events Calendar page so that the events that are coming up first are at the top of the page. Initially I did not have many events or rides out on this page so it really didn’t matter but as I add more this makes a lot more sense.

As I was rearranging this page I noticed that the Bike The Drive event is coming up next. This is the ride where they close down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago to cars and trucks and open it up for cyclist for a few hours in the morning. So if you are considering doing this ride this year it is coming up soon!

I have always wanted to do this ride myself but it is always so early in the morning (yawn) that that kind of discouraged me. Maybe this year… Just maybe ~ well, I have to get my leg back first anyway.

Good Information on Exercise for Cancer Patients

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I had a request recently to post an article on our website related to exercise reducing fatigue for cancer patients. I received the article yesterday and it is a good article with some nice references so I have posted this article on our site.

I actually do believe that exercise ~ like cycling ~ is an excellent way to reduce fatigue for anyone so I’m sure that it would have great benefits for cancer patients whenever that is possible.

I had some more thoughts on this but rather than ramble on myself I would rather just direct you to the article that was submitted to our site. You can find the article “Exercise Lessens Fatigue for Cancer Patients” ~ Here.

This article was contributed by David Haas, Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance.

About-Bicycles Page and Blog Posts on Facebook

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About-Bicycles.com is Goin Social!

Yep, I finally launched the About-Bicycles.com business page on Facebook so for the many of you that have subscribed to this blog you now have another way to get our updates and read these blog posts.

The About-Bicycles Facebook Page.

The About-Bicycles Facebook Page.

Here’s a link to the new About-Bicycles Facebook page. This page is new so we really don’t have much content out there just yet, but there will be soon.

Also, if I did the setup correctly, these blog posts should automatically be posted to the About-Bicycles Facebook page so if you choose to Follow About-Bicycles on Facebook, you can get our blog posts right there in Facebook instead of visiting us here on our website ~ of course, you are always welcome to come out here as often as you like too :-).

I have also setup this blog to be tweeted via our Twitter account About_Bicycles.

So come on out to the  About-Bicycles Facebook page and “Like” us and Follow Us! Let’s get social!

Our Free 2012 Bike Calendar in Available – PDF and Excel formats

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I just completed creating the 2012 Bike Calendar from about-bicycles.com. This calendar includes scenic bike trail photos (from Illinois and Wisconsin), cycling events (that are posted for 2012) and is designed to fit each month, with the photo on top and the calendar grid underneath, on one standard 8.5 x 11 piece of paper when printed (12 pages total).

2012 Bike Calendar

2012 Bike Calendar

You can find the PDF and Excel versions of the calendar at 2012 Bike Trail and Cycling Events Calendar.

I realize that we now have numerous calendar programs available to us online, on our personal computers and electronic devices and that at many B&M businesses also give you free calendars in different formats.

I have a couple of different calendars that I use (hard-copy and PC versions) but I like having the printed version, with a nice scenic photo and with the holidays and cycling events (as well as my own personal updates) to hang on the wall above my desk, for easy reference, so I use this one also myself (of course!).

The 2012 Bike Calendar Photos

Most of the photos have been contributed by Dale Kiffel who rides a lot of bike trails each year (some with me), has a nice DSLR and has a good eye for scenic photos. Dale has had quite a few photos featured on Brant Miller’s weather photos on our NBC station, has had 3 photos published in the Winnipeg Free Press and has a number of photos on this site. The remaining (3) calendar photos  were taken by me.

I tried to match the photos with the typical weather (Chicago area) for each month as much as possible.

The 2012 Bike Calendar Cycling Events

Since I am more familiar with and more involved in local (Chicagoland area) cycling events, the events on the 2012 Bike Calendar are mostly from the Chicagoland area although there are some cycling events from other parts of the country.

We also have a Cycling Events Page where we post information and links on cycling events.

If you have 2012 cycling events that you would like posted on the calendar or on our cycling events page, please go to the Cycling Events Page and send your information to me via the email address listed on that page.

Customizing the Calendar

The PDF version of the 2012 Bike Calendar is designed to be the easiest to view, download and/or print. You will not be able to modify your copy of this version though unless you have the Adobe software that allows you to modify PDFs (Acrobat).

If you would like to customize the calendar, then the Excel version will be the best choice although this version may be more difficult to use if you are not somewhat proficient with MS Excel. You can customize the Excel version and “Save As” a PDF for a more easy to use version.

Don’t Miss the 2012 Tour of Elk Grove! – Chicago Cycling Events

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Chicago Area (and midwest) cyclists don’t miss the 2012 Tour of Elk Grove! (like I just did with he 2011 Tour of Elk Grove).

I live in the Chicago area (Palatine) and I just saw the Tour of Elk Grove on CSN last night. I was actually not aware that Elk Grove even had this event until last night and I am so disappointed that I missed it last month!

Therefore, I wanted to be sure to get the word out for this event for next year (and I will definitely be there!)

According to the Daily Herald, The 2012 Tour of Elk Grove is planned for August 3-5, 2012.

Also, if you missed this year’s event, there is one more airing on CSN tomorrow, Oct 1, 2011 at 1:00.

OK, I have been known to joke around about my rides calling them the “Tour de this” or “Tour of that” (with respect to the Tour de France). For example, I have done the “Tour de Paul Douglas Forest Preserve” (TDPD) and the “Tour de Fox River” (TDFR) many times now! 

The Tour of Elk Grove however, is no joke! This is a major international event, sponsored by AlexianBrothers Hospital,  that also supports a number of worthy charitable organizations. They also have a very informative and well organized website at www.tourofelkgrove.com.

Unlike le Tour de France, The Tour of Elk Grove (TOEG) has a men’s and a women’s race. The winner of the men’s 2011 TOEG was Luis Amaran of Cuba and the winner of the women’s 2011 TOEG was Canadian Leah Kirchmann.

The professional men’s 3 day race is recognised by the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale, based in Switzerland) and the TOEG is 1 of only 6 cycling races in the US to be sanctioned by the UCI.

There are also entry level races so if you are a racer  be sure to sign up before the entry level races are full. There is even a big wheel race for the kids (I didn’t check up on status of that one but that could be fun too).  And, of course, if you are into racing and would like to train for the TOEG, check out the Tour de France Indoor Cycle.

In my opinion, if cycling keeps gaining in popularity in Chicago, the Tour of Elk Grove could become as popular in the Chicagoland area as the famous Bike The Drive event (which will be held on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago on May 27, 2012 starting at 5:30am).

The TOEG has a major sponsor (Alexian Brothers Hospital) and as I mentioned, supports a number of charities, so hopefully the village of Elk Grove will continue to support this event and it will continue to be sponsored and to grow each year.