http://www.bicyclefreedom.com Ride out and meet whatever limits you Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:28:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I was biking downtown, and when I stopped at a red light someone rolled down their window and said, "I'll bet you're saving a lot of money riding that thing." Indeed. Probably tens of thousands of dollars over the last 15 years. Before the motorist took of at the green light, ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/10/02/think-adventure-not-recession/ I just heard the bad news about Ian Hibell. If you don't know about him, and you ride a bike, check out this link. Better yet, check out his book, Into Remote Places. It's a classic. I can only hope that when I'm 74 I'll be able to ride from the ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/09/18/a-daring-world-traveler-slain-by-a-careless-driver/ I woke up to a cold fog, and couldn't wait to get back on my bike and start moving. I was in the Pontine Marshes, and the Romans were in a hurry to get through, too, when they built the via Appia. Here the Appian Way shoots forward in a perfectly ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/09/16/umbrella-pines-and-the-pontine-marshes/ Even just a 10 minute bike ride a few days a week will have you looking and feeling better by the end of the month. But if you're a beginner, you might feel daunted. Fear not! I can show you a safe bike ride in your home town. I've been networking ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/09/09/want-an-easy-bike-ride-to-start-out/ Riding out of Rome on an old Raleigh 10-speed, you're going to feel like a gladiator that just walked out into the ring. It's a battle getting out. In fact, you are in a ring, the Grande Raccordo Annulare, the highway that circles the outskirts of Rome. Several main roads ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/08/19/the-first-day-biking-via-appia-a-place-clean-and-civil/ Dottore Pascuale Grello was incredulous when I showed up at his office unannounced one morning and told him what I wanted to do. "Impossibile!" he insisted, pronouncing the word with long vowels: eem-poh-SEEEEEE-bee-lay! Nobody knows how many millions of nobles, senators, philosophers, soldiers, merchants, prisoners, slaves, poets and bandits have followed the ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/07/28/impossibile/ "In Appia is my salvation," I wrote in a journal entry shortly before I rode diagonally across the southern half of Italy, from Rome to Brindisi, following the historic route of the via Appia as accurately as possible. Why do we make these trips, anyway? You've got your own personal ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/07/02/in-appia-is-my-salvation/ There are true heroes in this world. If you want to meet one, check out Ted, who is doing something very few people have tried. There have been a lot of bike rides to raise money and awareness to fight diseases, but these have always been for the benefit of ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/06/25/saving-dogs-fighting-cancer-and-having-a-killer-long-distance-bike-ride/ I read all those recommended training routines in Bicycle Magazine, but even when I have the time to try and follow them (which is rare and inconsistent) I'm usually not up to snuff. But I've found a way to really benefit from the saddle time I have. Nearly all of my bike ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/06/17/same-bike-same-route-different-bike-ride/ I've been getting a lot of emails (as well as a few comments added to old posts) from people wanting tips and advice on biking in southern Italy. Some of you are riding (or even hiking!) the Via Appia, and it's a shame that it's so hard to get a ... http://www.bicyclefreedom.com/2008/06/05/now-you-can-ride-with-me-in-italy-even-if-you-dont-ride-with-me/