September 22, 2006

Adventure Cycling Association Celebrates 30th Anniversary With New Underground Railroad Bicycle Route, National Bikeway System, and Ultralight Bike Travel

Missoula, Montana – With the momentum of a fully loaded cyclist hammering down a mountain pass, Adventure Cycling Association celebrates its 30th year at the vanguard of bicycle travel. With its membership, cycling routes, and guided trip offerings at all-time highs, plus ever-growing media coverage, Adventure Cycling looks ahead to the next three decades—and more—of inspiring people to travel by bicycle.

"It's an exciting time for bicycle travel," says Jim Sayer, Adventure Cycling's executive director. "Our membership is growing and we're working harder than ever to help people experience the fun and adventure of traveling under their own power in the great outdoors."

For the 2006 Interbike trade show, Adventure Cycling announces three significant new projects:

Underground Railroad Bicycle Route
After two years of planning, route research, and map-making, Adventure Cycling is proud to announce the completion of maps for the southern section of its newest routing project — the unique Underground Railroad Bicycle Route. Starting in Mobile, Alabama, the southern section of the UGRR traverses the Deep South on scenic back roads, traveling 867.5 miles to Owensboro, Kentucky, on the Ohio River. A heritage route in the spirit of the Lewis & Clark Bicycle Trail, the UGRR follows one of the many historic paths of the Underground Railroad, the most storied trek to freedom in American history.

"The Underground Railroad Route celebrates the bravery of freedom seekers who escaped and the countless Americans who offered aid on their route to freedom," says Carla Majernik, Adventure Cycling's director of routes and mapping. "It also happens to have lots of incredible riding."

To learn more about the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route, visit www.adventurecycling.org/ugrr/index.cfm. The maps, which feature historical sites as well as field notes on points of interest, can be viewed at www.adventurecycling.org/routes/undergroundrailroad.cfm and purchased in Adventure Cycling's online store at www.adventurecycling.org/store/category.cfm?Category=98.

National Bikeway System
For the past year, Adventure Cycling has been working with state and federal transportation officials and non-profit leaders to create a designated U.S. Bikeway System that will rival the great cycling networks of Europe. Building from the nation's existing bicycle routes and trails, Adventure Cycling, along with state bike officials and cycling advocates, has mapped out a draft national corridor system of potential bike routes. They envision a spider's web of cycling routes that will criss-cross the nation and connect every major metropolitan area in the country.

"This year is the 50th anniversary of the Interstate Highway System and we feel it's time America had a national bikeway system to match," says Jim Sayer, executive director of Adventure Cycling. "We look forward to a future of signed and mapped routes that offer cyclists scenic, safe routes across every state and every region in America."

For more information on the U.S. Bikeway System, go to www.adventurecycling.org/routes/nbrn/usbikewaysystem.cfm or email Ginny Sullivan, Adventure Cycling's new routes coordinator at gsullivan@adventurecycling.org.

Ultralight Bike Travel
The "travel light" gear revolution is moving from backpacking to bike travel. New breakthroughs in lightweight gear combined with new gear-carrying strategies mean cyclists can now ride for days at a time with only fifteen pounds of gear or less. For road bikers this means easier, more pleasurable riding, whether you head out for the weekend or a cross-country ride. For mountain bikers, the ability to ride with minimal weight — and without panniers or trailers — opens a new world of possibility for backcountry exploration.

"It's the next level of backcountry biking," says Aaron Teasdale, deputy editor of Adventure Cyclist magazine, which features a four-page ultralight gear review, titled "Seeing the Light" in its August issue. "With this new style of bike travel, the exploration and adventure potential is off the charts. I'm not sure what charts, but if anybody keeps adventure-potential charts, it's way off those."

Adventure Cycling has also created a new section of their website — www.adventurecycling.org/features/ultralight.cfm— devoted to exploring the concept of lightweight bicycle travel. It contains gear ideas, tips, and resources, as well as a photo gallery from the four-day ride that took its riders on mountain-goat-path-like singletrack along spectacular alpine ridgelines. 

The Adventure Cycling Association is a 501(c)(3), 43,000-member, nonprofit in Missoula, Montana dedicated to inspiring people of all ages to travel by bicycle. For more information, please visit www.adventurecycling.org. To request an Adventure Cycling press kit, contact Aaron Teasdale, media liaison, at 800-755-2453 x237 or ateasdale@adventurecycling.org.