What could be better than a bike ride along the Pacific Coast Highway, with ocean views, rest stops, and support vehicles the whole way?
How about a huuuge party at Hearst Castle, after getting a post-ride hot shower and free massage on the beach! And a free up-close-and-personal concert by performers like the Beach Boys or the Black Eye Peas!
It’s fall, and you know what that means: pretty much overnight, we go from complaining about the relentless Central Valley summer heat to complaining that we’re cold. This is especially true if you’re out riding bikes! One day, you’re wondering if this is the year that 100-degree days just stick around forever, the next, you’re shivering and complaining to your riding partners that you’re freezing. I am not making this up. It happened last weekend.
Mention to people that you ride bikes and undoubtedly someone will respond with, “There’s no way I’d ride my bike in the street with all those crazy drivers!” It would be irresponsible for me to pretend like distracted drivers aren’t a cause for concern. Of course they are—whether you’re on a bike or in a car, I might add! I’m just not willing to live my life in a protective bubble paralyzed by the fear of what if. As with most things in life, riding is a calculated risk. I take very intentional precautions, and then I confidently go out and enjoy the freedom that only riding brings me. I want to share some of the safety measures I take that give me peace of mind while I’m out on the road.
—Your staff is amazing! Thanks for the great service!
—We had so much fun on the bike ride you organized! We can’t wait to go on another one!
We love hearing comments like these from our customers, and we consider ourselves pretty lucky that we get to hear them pretty regularly. Since opening our first bike shop in 2002, we have worked hard to do and be our best. We are constantly evolving, continuously educating ourselves, and improving our business.
The Kaweah Oaks Preserve is located in our sweet home of Tulare County, just east of Visalia, and not far from the Kaweah River. According to the Sequoia Riverlands Trust website, the Kaweah Oaks Preserve spreads across 344 acres and is one of the few remaining valley oak riparian forests in the San Joaquin Valley.
The little green creatures have made up their minds that they aren't going to sit silently through another Earth Day while their own planet remains unrecognized. No siree!
Garrett Levy already knew more than he wanted to know about composting toilets. Environmental engineering had sounded like a glamorous career when he signed up for it, but the reality had been…well, he should have known that cleaning up a planet wouldn’t be a walk in the park. Garrett had spent his years in graduate school learning how to treat various forms of toxic sludge, which meant that he’d spent an entire semester researching the intimate workings of composting toilets.
In this our Earth Day issue we are featuring e-books and books that somehow tie in to Earth Day. What could be more Earth friendly than bicycling, so this week we have a review & giveaway of Braking for Bodies by Duffy Brown, along with an interesting biking and Earth Day related guest post from Duffy. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Braking for Bodies, along with a link to purchase the book where a portion goes to help support KRL & an indie bookstore.
We have a sign in our front window that reads, “The bicycle is a simple solution to some of the world’s most complicated problems.” With Earth Day approaching on April 22, we are reminded just how true this statement is. Earth Day is a chance to bring renewed attention and energy to what should be an everyday conversation for those of us living in the Central Valley: What can we each personally do to help improve the quality of air that we and our loved ones are breathing?
The last person attorney Carrie Martin would have expected to see in her office on a Sunday morning was her mother. It had been twenty-six years since Charlotte Martin walked out on her family, and Carrie has had no contact with her mother since that heart-breaking day. Charlotte claims that she is fulfilling the promise she made to her husband; finally deliver a letter to Carrie explaining why Charlotte had to leave so long ago.
