Category Archives: Bike Touring

Apr
11
On The D&R Canal Trail

Before starting this trip, I couldn’t help but have flashbacks to our touring experience in New Zealand. In the winter of 2007 Boris and I went on a 1-month cycling trip around New Zealand’s South Island on traditional bikes. It was inspiring, beautiful and certainly challenging!

So, having had some bike travel experience as a reference, on the Trans-American tour I was anticipating muscles that were immediately sore, followed by unforgiving and steep hills — all compounded by the addition of fewer road shoulders and endless traffic.

I remembered us cycling at the speed of a whopping 4 mph up an incline in the heat of the day in New Zealand, and the passing vehicles honking at us to cheer us on. But I’ve realized in the last few days that this trip is — and will be — very different from our past experience. It took some time for us to really get it – we’re riding electric bicycles, which means that barriers like steep hills and headwinds are not altogether removed, but certainly made easier. Continue reading

Apr
07

And We’re Off!

posted by Frances
Day One of TransAmerican Electric Bike Tour -- At The Ferry

First post from the road.

Here are Boris and Anna taking a picture of their bikes  packed and waiting for the ferry into New Jersey and then onwards!

More details later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apr
06

“You’re leaving in a week? Man, you’ve got a lot to do!” said a trusted bike mechanic at a Brooklyn bike shop, as he replaced our tires, adjusted our disk brakes, installed a chain tensioner and roamed all corners of the shop looking for spare parts. My sentiments exactly. “Ahem, usually people come to me months before going on a trip like this,” he said, eyeing us in good humor, as if to say, “come on guys, really…in a week?” But, a week is still a week, and if we say we haven’t been running around in a daze like the cast of Monty Python, trying to get everything in order, it would be a major understatement. So, here is how we’ve been preparing for a two- and-a-half-month, 4,000-mile bike excursion: Continue reading

Apr
06
Team Evelo Prepares for Trans-American Electric Bike Tour

Just as we were finishing up final preparations for the beginning of our two-month long trip across America, we were interviewed by Irving DeJohn of the New York Daily News.

With the use of electric bikes in New York City a sometimes contentious issue that prompts heated discussion, it was a great opportunity to spread some information about electric bikes in general and the tour in particular. As the article states, even NYC councilwoman Jessic Lappin, who has concerns about bike use in the crowded metro streets “gave Mordkovich her blessing, as long as he follows the rules of the road. ‘It sounds like quite the adventure and I wish him well,’” said Lappin (D-Manhattan).”

Mar
21

Why Travel on Two Wheels

posted by Boris

I remember the time I did my first 60-mile bike “tour” with a friend a few years back. We left Brooklyn on a crisp Saturday morning and just decided to head to New Jersey. There was no particular reason for it, but this abstract and random destination gave us a sense of purpose and a goal to strive for. The truth was that it could’ve just as well been Connecticut, Long Island or any other destination within half a day’s bike ride – as for us, the ride itself brought the pleasure.

We’ve rode thorough the bustling downtown of Brooklyn and then crossed the Manhattan bridge filled with picture-snapping tourists. From there, we’ve weaved through the maze of Chinatown and have eventually emerged on the West Side Highway. Stopping for snacks and coffee whenever the mood stroke us, we’ve slowly headed North towards the George Washington Bridge. A couple of hours later – with a detour through Central Park – we’ve reached the bridge and decided to go over the river to grab some lunch. A diner that would’ve likely barely have registered in our minds if we were in a car, turned out to cook up one of the most delicious lunches we’ve tasted. It was only when the sun slowly started to set that we have decided it was time to turn back. Continue reading