February 2017 Top Talk

President Chip Kyle

Well, once again the weather deities have not been kind to us.  Record cold in Portland; extended snow on the ground and ice.  It kept me off the bike for much of the first half of January.  When I’m stuck indoors and get bored with riding the stationary trainer, I look for interesting articles pertaining to bikes.  In case you missed them, here are several in the news of late concerning cycling achievements.

Under the topic “you are never too old” a Guinness World Record was just awarded to Lynnea Salvo who began riding from Oceanside, CA last August with the goal of being the oldest female to ride across the country.  She arrived in Bethany Beach, DE on the Atlantic Ocean in late October.  Her age: 67 years, 32 days.  She was not riding simply to set a record, but for a cause – juvenile diabetes.

Again, under the topic “you are never too old” a 105 year old (yes, that’s correct 105!!) Frenchman, Robert Marchand, set a distance record for his age group of completing 92 laps around a velodrome covering 14.1 miles.  Will we still be riding at 105, or even be alive?

Under the topic “you can always go faster” Denise Mueller set the woman’s speed record on a bicycle at the Bonneville Salt Flats by a documented 147.75 mph!   That’s not a typo!  On each turn of the crank, her bike covered 125 feet.  This coming September, she will try to set the overall speed record with a goal of reaching 175 mph.

Finally, under the topic “you are never too weird” Hank Van Weeldem of Edmonton, Canada has built a titanium frame, 18 speed, disc brake bike equipped with four, count them four, 5.5-inch-wide Vee Snowshoe tires (tubeless; 2 psi) giving him an effective tread width of 11 inches.  His goal:  to ride from the South Pole to the Antarctic coast (why?  because most people do it other way!).   Oh incidentally, his bike weighs a mere 61 pounds.  (Now add to that his trailer and the weight of all his frigid weather gear . . . )

As I write this in late January, the weather is becoming more tolerable and it’s time to be back on the bike.  I hope to see you out there as well.  Please ride safely!