GTNP Park Rides Saturdays & Sundays

You have an entire MONTH of car free bike rides in Grand Teton Nation Park! Conditions are great, though with some of the recent storms, they may still be clearing certain areas. The Park Road is open through April to non-motorized travel only. This makes April one of the nicest times to enjoy the park road! You can enjoy riding with a group too!

What: Park Road Group Rides

When: 11am - Saturdays & Sundays through April

Where: Bradley Taggart Parking Lot

Petervary Shatters Iditarod Race - 5,900 miles remain

What is the No Idle Tour? It’s what happens when someone decides to race the 3 longest human powered races in North America in one season. The No Idle Tour is the culmination of Jay Petervary’s 18 years of endurance racing and a team of people with a vision. A vision to help educate Americans about the harmful effects of vehicular emissions, and the unanimous value of bicycling.

When did it begin? It began when a young man named Willie Neal decided to volunteer his time to raise environmental awareness. Willie was a high school student when he began going from business to business in Jackson, WY with “Please Don’t Idle” signs. He was also a decorated Nordic Skier featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” while representing the USA Olympic Development Team all over the world. In June 2009, while roller ski training, Willie was struck by a driver who was reaching for his phone, and was instantly killed. The No Idle Tour exists to continue Willie’s dream, with his fervor, to amplify his message.

3 Rides - 7,000 miles - 1 Goal:

• Iditarod Trail Invitational, AK - 1,100 mile Snow Bike Race - first place
• Race Across America - 3,100 miles from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD - June
• Great Divide TT Ride - unsupported, 2,745 miles from Banff, Canada to Antelope Wells, NM (Mexican Border) - August

Iditarod Trail Invitational - first place, shatters course record!

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (March 21, 2011) – Endurance cyclist Jay Petervary started his 7,000-mile No Idle Tour with a record shattering ride on the southern route of the burly Iditarod Trail Invitational. On March 16, Petervary eclipsed the previous record of 22 days with a time of 17 days, 6 hours.

“It was pretty epic for sure,” says Petervary. “It was the best year ever with favorable weather as well as good riding conditions.”

This year marks the fifth year Petervary raced his snow bike in Alaska. Last year Petervary completed the 1,100 mile northern route of the Iditarod Trail with his wife Tracey, who also set the women’s course record this year and in 2010. Petervary is one of only 33 riders to ever complete the route to Nome by bike.

Petervary’s record ride didn’t come without a few mechanical issues with his pedals. Near mile 300, Petervary’s right pedal exploded which forced him to ride on a narrow piece of metal until he reached McGrath - 50 miles away – to get a replacement. Then, Petervary broke another pedal 250 miles from the finish line after having to walk through icy trails.

“I had to hold my foot in the right position, but the bumpy trail made it difficult to keep my foot on,” says Petervary.

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358 Days until St. Patty’s 2012

And yes, we’re already planning! Why? Because you are awesome and Fitzgerald’s Bicycles exist to bring community events like this to you! Huge thanks to everyone involved: KHOL - Jackson Community Radio, Nick Wilson’s, the Village Cafe, JHMR, Snake River Brewing, JH Limo Lounge and especially everyone who came and partied with us!

The Irish tunes came from Slip of the Jigs & The Foundation - couldn’t imagine two better bands to celebrate St. Patty’s with!

One of the long standing traditions with Fitzgerald’s Bicycles and St. Patty’s Day is the infamous Wheel of Fortune! Every year we bring prizes for you to win from the wheel - and for the past 3 years, we have helped raise money for KHOL! Without the generous help from Optic Nerve, Bell, Zoic, Surly Bikes, Detours Bags, Terry Saddles, Giro, Park Tools, Sugoi, QBP, Chrome Bags, Orbea, Decide2Ride, Rudy Project and Continental Tires we would not have been able to do this. Thanks guys!

If you have any photos or videos that you want published, you can send them to andy[at]fitzgeraldsbicycles.com. Can’t wait to do it again next year! Until then, see you on the trails!

Patience is a Virtue

Press Release
From: Teton County / Jackson Hole Community Pathways
Date: March 22, 2011
Re: North 89 Pathway Project Seasonal Closure

The seasonal closure of the North 89 Pathway between the Town of Jackson and Grand Teton National Park will be in effect through April 30. The pathway, which is still under construction, is subject to an annual closure between October 1 and April 30 in order to reduce impacts to migrating and wintering elk and other wildlife on the National Elk Refuge.
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Bicycle tires – puncturing the myths

We all thought that we knew everything about bicycle tires. Think again! Wider is better? Inner tubes matter? Higher thread counts don’t always help? The folks at Bike Radar found some stellar information that will leave you wondering where all of your “facts” came from - and it’s all good news:

Tucked inside a small industrial complex in Nastola, Finland is the nondescript grey building that’s the base of independent third-party tire testers Wheel Energy.

Using a battery of purpose-built machines, founders Petri Hankiola, Veijo Pulkkanen and Marko Savolainen are addressing some of the common questions surrounding bicycle tires. They’re coming up with some interesting answers that no longer have to rely on word of mouth, tradition or intuition for their veracity.

Take these conclusions for example:

Puncture-resistant belts work but they’re not created equal: Nylon, aramid and other belts placed under the tread do help ward off flats but there are benefits and trade-offs to the various materials. Tougher ones like aramid are durable and highly cut- and puncture-resistant but their stiff nature sucks up a lot of energy, contributing to rolling resistance. More flexible ones like nylon aren’t as bulletproof but offer a better compromise if you still want to retain good performance.

Wider tires roll faster than narrower ones: Riders have argued for years that narrower tires – especially on the road – roll faster and are more efficient than wider ones when in fact, the opposite is true. According to Wheel Energy, the key to reducing rolling resistance is minimizing the energy lost to casing deformation, not minimizing how much tread is in contact with the ground. All other factors being equal, wider casings exhibit less ‘bulge’ as a percentage of their cross-section and also have a shorter section of deflected sidewall.

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Pole Pedal Paddle this Saturday!

The Pole Pedal Paddle is one of our favorites races to sponsor - again Fitzgerald’s Bicycles is the official sponsor of the bike leg!

The 36th annual Pole Pedal Paddle is a tradition in Jackson Hole, held this year on the 2nd to last Saturday of skiing at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

The four-event race, where contestants compete either individually or in teams, consists of an alpine ski leg, a cross-country ski leg, a bicycle leg, and a boating leg.

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL TUESDAY!
Visit www.polepedalpaddle.com for more information and to register.

Let Fitzgerald’s Bicycles help you get ready for the bike leg!

The New World of Bottom Brackets

Here’s a post from our friends at Park Tools.
Yeah, my head hurts too, it’s ok, this is important:

Any mechanic with some history in this industry will recall changes to the headset with the introduction of the 1-1/8″ and 1-1/4″ threadless standards. This caused a bit of a stir at the time, and now we are seeing similar stirrings in the bottom bracket world.

The BB30, so-called “BB86″ or “BB90″, Press Fit 30, and the proprietary designs of various manufacturers should best be thought of as “sideways headsets”. Threadless frame shells hold bearings by either a slip or a mild press fit. The axle system (spindle) will have some sort of pre-load system. These preload systems vary in sophistication from fine threaded adjustments, to compressible rubber washers, steel “wavy” washers, to simply by shoving an arm further along a press fit to load against the bearings. We have of course seen similar attempts at this from older Fisher bottom brackets, Klein, and even BMX standards such as Mid and Spanish.

Click here to learn more.