Biking Comes of Age

No longer just a step on the way to a driver's license, bicycling has earned its place as a rewarding, healthy activity on a par with skiing, running and tennis, with bonus applications--commuting and long-distance travel.

Nearly 40,000,000 American adults ride bikes. It improves aerobic fitness, is easier on the joints than running and has no bone-jarring skeletal impact. Thousands bypass stale summer vacations and hit the road for days or weeks at a time. Dozens of local cycling clubs, mostly offshoots of the League of American Wheelmen, and about 50 organizations lead tours all over this country and the rest of the world, pedaling between country inns and campsites. State tourism boards have caught on in a hurry: Minnesota, for example, uses computers to track the least traveled, most scenic and historic areas of the state and then prints maps of those as the best biking routes.

Bicycles are vehicles of business as well as pleasure. Since 1975, the number of bike commuters has quadrupled to more than 2,000,000. Of course, it helps if one's employer provides a guarded bike parking area, showers, free towels and lockers, as some companies do for their employees who bike to work regularly.

What kind of bike you ride and how much you pay for it depend on how you plan to use it. Expect to spend $200, or you might wind up with something less than a biker's dream. If you want to do nothing but ride to and from the office and the grocery store, check out the Rugby Sports Deluxe European Three-Speed for Gentlemen by Steyr Daimler Puch, $285; Fuji's new Cambridge VI, $295; and Schwinn's World Tourist, under $200. If you want a more versatile vehicle, something for day trips and short tours as well as errands, look for a ten-speed, 12-speed, or even 18-speed, between $200 and $400. Models include Japanese bikes such as Univega, Fuji, Miyata, Nishiki and Panasonic; old European favorites at moderate prices include ten-speeds by Motobecane, Raleigh and Peugeot.

In bicycling, less costs more: The lighter the bike, the higher the price. Bicycles costing between $400 and $650 are attracting a lot of attention among bikers with an appreciation for fine design and the more specialized needs of touring. That kind of money buys between 23 and 27 pounds on name-brand frames: Columbus, Ishiwata, Reynolds, Vitus, Tange--made of chrome-molybdenum-alloy steel; name-brand components--Campagnolo, Shimano, SunTour, Dia-Compe; and a good leather seat by Avocet, Brooks or Ideale. If you plan to tour seriously, Trek, with its hand-built frames, is a good brand to look at, along with Bob Jackson, Mercian and Stella.

The upper end of this price range is the taking-off point for custom-built bikes, which average around $1200 but can shoot up to $3000 and weigh only 15 to 19 pounds if all the latest components and oval-tubed frames are used (the latter being more aerodynamic than round tubing). For serious cyclists with big budgets (or bodies not of average proportions), a custom bike is the way to go. Some of the top brands are Rossin, Colnago, Klein, Eisentraut, Cinelli and Guerciotti.

Whatever your price range, make sure the bike you lust after fits you. Wearing bike shoes, straddle the frame; if you can lift the bike an inch (gently!) before it hits your crotch, you were made for each other. But before you buy, remember that touring bikes have longer wheelbases, fork rakes and chain stays than racing bikes, and their head-tube and seat-tube angles should be between 70 and 73 degrees. Ask your dealer to translate. If he looks at you funny, put your checkbook away and shop elsewhere.

Savvy consumers may want to take their business to bicycling specialty shops or to mail-order houses such as Palo Alto Bicycles and Bikecology. Salespeople in those places tend to be hard-core bikies who can fine-tune and fix what they sell, and advise on where to ride, too. Also, the bike-accessory market reports terrific demand for racks, packs, clothes, shoes, helmets and such--in some cases, sales are up 80 to 100 percent over the past year. Many variations on a few basic styles are available; Eclipse and Kirtland/Tourpak panniers and handle-bar bags are the best of the batch--and the most expensive at about $110 for top-of-the-line rear touring panniers. Kirtland also has a good line of commuting bags, as does Hartley Alley's Touring Cyclist, whose line includes a biker's briefcase.

Close-fitting bike clothes aren't just for racers anymore: American and European designers are now selling touring outfits at the corner bike store. Granted, the stuff looks a little silly to the untutored eye. But take it from us: Riding a bike feels 300 percent better when the seams of your jeans don't chafe your crotch and when the pedals don't claw through your tennies.

It pays to wear the right stuff: the mid-thigh knit cycling shorts with a seamless chamois crotch, to be worn sans B.V.D.s; a wool or synthetic (not cotton) jersey; stiff-soled biking shoes, to transmit your muscle power to the pedals most efficiently (make sure the bike has toe clips); cycling gloves; sunglasses; and a helmet, the better to keep your head together if you land on it. The whole setup will cost about $150. Brands to look for include Vigorelli, Baleno/Santini and Kucharik in clothes; Sidi, Detto Pietro, Bata and Adidas in shoes, and Bell, Skid-Lid and Pro-tec in helmets.

Even if you've ridden a bike for years, as most of us have, a couple of things will make it easier and more enjoyable. First, stifle the impulse to push your highest gears. Straining is not good exercise, and you'll tire faster. Pedal at a comfortable, brisk cadence--70 or 80 revolutions per minute at first, 90 or more with practice. The rapid spinning improves circulation, which, in turn, prevents lactic acid from accumulating in your muscles and offsets fatigue. Also, spinning may help you avoid knee injury. (On that subject, make sure your seat isn't too high, or you risk hyperextending your knees. If your buttocks rock laterally when you pedal, lower the seat.)

Second, when you ride with a lady, be gracious and take turns leading. Besides giving her an unobstructed view of the scenery once in a while, you can enjoy the advantages of drafting her. Watching those taut thighs and that firm derrière in motion will keep you in cadence.

bibliography

Bike Touring (Sierra Club), by Raymond Bridge. Comprehensive, readable and full of solid advice. After an overview of touring styles, techniques and training, it launches into the anatomy of a touring bike and tells how to find the best one for your purposes. Other chapters cover clothing, helmets, camping gear and tour planning.

Bicycling Magazine's Buyer's Guide and Complete Guide to Cycling: Touring, Camping & Equipment (Rodale Press). These magazine-format guides let you in on the specifics of gearing up and getting out there, respectively.

Bicycle Touring USA (Bicycle Touring Group of America, P.O. Box 7407, Richmond, Virginia 23221, $2, postpaid). Short articles give a good quick introduction to the sport. How to pack, eat, ride efficiently and safely and transport your bike, among other things.

Where to Go

These bicycle-touring organizations can take you for short or long rides, with board varying from a tent on the beach to a country inn with meals, beds and full-service bar. Many use sag wagons, which haul your gear so you don't have to. The League of American wheelmen (P.O. Box 988, Baltimore, Maryland 21203) will mail you a complete list of tour operators and the name of the nearest cycling club, if you send it a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

East:Vermont Bicycle Touring (Bristol, Vermont 05443; 802-388-4011). Bike Vermont (P.O. Box 75J, Grafton, Vermont 05146; 802-843-2259). Country Cycling Tours (410 West 24th Street, New York, New York 10011; 212-255-4580).

"Central:Suwannee River Bicycle Tours (P.O. Box 319, White Springs, Florida 32096; 904-397-2757). Bike Dream Tours, Inc. (P.O. Box 20653, Houston, Texas 77025; 713-783-9526).

West:Backroads Bicycle Touring Co. (P.O. Box 5534, Berkeley, California 94705; 415-652-0786).

National:Bikecentennial (P.O.Box 8308, Missoula, Montana 59807; 406-721-1776).

Foreign:Rocky Mountain Cycle Tours (P.O. Box 895, Banff, Alberta, TOL 0C0; 403-762-3477). Pascal's Bicycle Touring (175 Freeman Street, No. 515, Brookline, Massachusetts 02146, 617-232-5227), International Bicycle Touring Society (2115 Paseo Dorado, La Jolla, California 92037; 714-291-1258)