Summer Dreamin’ (& Mini-Giveaway)
02. Mar, 2011 
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Last week, winter weather took a swipe at much of the US, even dusting the San Francisco hills with some snow. As February moves into March, we all hope the winter is winding down and spring and summer are around the corner. Are you in the mood for sunshine and a bit of summer? We are too! So Cycle & Style has a sneak peak for you of some especially great sun-splashed cycling items. Check them out:
Let’s Go Cruisin’
Isn’t the ultimate summer bicycle a cruiser? Some of us love our fast bikes, yet still have a soft spot for the comfortable and pretty cruisers. Most of us are too young to remember the popularity of the cruisers back when the Beach Boys were one of the country’s most popular musical groups. The original cruisers inspired the first mountain bike designs and things came full circle when cruisers came back into popularity in the early ’90′s. As Electra founder Benno Bänziger, noted “People realized they didn’t need a mountain bike to go to the grocery store.”
Thanks to this resurgence in cruisers, you can easily find a great looking and well-made cruiser that will make riding pure pleasure . We love the fun tropical-inspired graphics on these cruisers that are coming to bike shops near you as part of the Spring/Summer 2011 line.
Nirve
Nirve is a company that makes great stylish handmade bicycles that are comfortable and fun to ride. At the Outdoor Retailer show, we got a chance to check out their great new line of bikes with new graphics and colors. Nirve’s Coco-Loco with its Hawaiian design was a bike that caught our eye. It’s a 3-speed cruiser with full-length fenders, ergonomic handlebars, hand brakes, and 26-inch aluminum wheels. (Retail Price: $459.99) This bike defintely will have you thinking “Summer!”
Electra
Electra
is the company which led the reniassance in cruiser bikes in the early 1990′s and today they offer a huge variety of modern cruisers that are stylish, affordabe and fashionable. These bikes are absolutely irresistable to ride! How could they be? Take one of these bikes out for a spin and expect to recieve many admiring glances and compliments on your bike. Here are two fun-in-the-sun bikes that caught our eye at Interbike last fall : Electra’s Hawaiian Cruiser and from Electra’s Dutch bike series, the Amsterdam with a beautiful sunny artistic motif inspired by artist Alexander Girard.
- Electra Amsterdam “LA FONDA DEL SOL”
Keen Arroyo
If your summer plans include time on trails that skirt lakes or oceans or perhaps take you across sandy desert, you’ll want a mountain bike shoe that lets your foot breathe just like a sandal. New for Spring 2011, Keen’s versatile Arroyo Pedal shoe is part-sandal, part trail shoe and part bike shoe. Ride across the shallow creek and climb the bluff to get that perfect photo of the setting sun! The Arroyo is made from waterproof nubuck leather and features a comfortable compression molded midsole and a trail-gripping rubber outsole.
Cycle Around Hawaii (In the comfort of your own home!)
If you’re training to get fit for that spring race or triathlon and the weather isn’t cooperating, you can put your
bike on the trainer and work those pedals from the comfort of your own home. It’s even better with a DVD that you can turn on and get some inspiration from both great cycling scenery, a motivating coach to push you hard and some energetic music as you get yourself race-ready!
I’ve reviewed one of Gene Nacey’s Global Ride Virtual DVD’s before and a year later, I still like it and want to get more! He travels the world and gets some of the world’s greatest rides on these DVD series and makes them into fantastic workouts. The cycling workouts are followed by yoga sessions aimed at helping loosen stiff cyclists. If you’ve always wanted to ride the hills of Maui, in Hawaii, you will love the latest DVD in the Hawaii series of the Global Ride Virtual DVDs: Maui Rollers.
Global Ride is offering Cycle & Style readers a 10 % discount off of any of their DVDs!
Just use this coupon code: ICIPRODVDs
Making some Summer Plans?
If you want to immerse your self in the experience of the surf, sand, and sounds of summer on a breathtaking bike tour along Southern California’s coastline with your gal pals, then check out The Beach Babe Bicycling Classic in Long Beach, California! July 24th is the date for this girls-party on wheels with stunning costal views, amazing beach homes, great rest stops, bike taxis, and a Beach Party & Expo at the finish line. Check out more details on our women’s only rides page or the Noble Pursuit website.
A Spring Care Package GIVEAWAY!
We’d love to give one of our readers a little summer-inspired care package to get them through the remaining days of winter. We’ve got some energy bars and products that have a tropical taste such as GU’s Roctane Ultra Endurance Gel in the new pineapple flavor, the all natural, gluten-free LÄRABAR in the new Tropical Fruit Tart flavor and one of LUNA’s new flavors: Chocolate Dipped Coconut. There is a fabulous Headsweats performance visor (Supervisor Semi-Custom) and these great-looking cycling socks from our new friends at Lin Socks–with a Hawaiian Flower print. And some sunscreen and Natural Lip & Face Screen from Beyond Coastal.
We’d love to give this great assortment of prizes to one lucky reader! To enter–just tell us about your favorite summer cycling memories: where you like to ride, the great experiences you’ve had, etc. What makes a great summer on the bicycle for YOU? Comment below and please give us your real first name, e-mail and we’ll choose a winnner by March 20th (the first day of SPRING!). We can mail to addresses within the USA or Canada only. Good luck!!
I give up my car and bike all spring, summer and fall. The best part is biking on the hundreds of miles of trails and around the lakes in Minneapolis. Then stoping an getting a glass of wine or two with my friends!
Last summer I did a 3 day bike tour with my father. It was so much fun and a great bonding experience. We’re going to do it again this May.
First of all, I can say from experience that those chocolate-dipped coconut Luna bars are *fantastic*! I really hope my local store starts carrying them soon.
My favorite summer biking memory is probably the one that started my days as an adult cyclist. My boyfriend and I rented bikes and cruised around Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We had a lot of fun that day exploring historical buildings, enjoying the vistas, cruising down hills, and even seeing a group of black bears! When it was all over, we returned our bikes and celebrated with some well-deserved soft-serve. I look forward to many more such trips!
My favourite summer cycling memories are from when I was a kid and had a lot of free time. My friends and I liked to bike to the river to go swimming.
I’m new to cycling as an adult so I’m looking forward to all of the memories I’m going to make. My favorite biking memories are also from my childhood. My friends and I used to have bike races every week on a track close to our elementary school.
Ahh.. summer biking! Can’t wait for those hot days of riding. Once a month I start at dawn for a leisurely century ride. My favorite route is leaving from home, riding across the Missouri river over a bridge up to the Mississippi River – cross by a ferry – ride the river road with the most amazing scenery of bluffs, eagles, and ICE CREAM! Back on the ferry across the Illinois river and back home. Can’t wait!
Sooo can’t wait for summer to get here so we can bring our bikes out again! My husband and I have a nice long 30 mile bike ride that involves about half on roads, half canal towpath. We ride 15 miles to a cutesy little town, have lunch, and ride back.
That chocolate dipped coconut larabar sounds fantastic!
I have to check out those Keen sandals, they look perfect.
Well, I’ve still fairly new to Mtn Biking so I hope to continue to make great memories. The first real mtn bike ride I had was with my husband in the Morristown, VT area right before we sold our home.
It was a gorgeous day and the trails were so much fun. Another fun time was riding with my husband and his friends at Dirtrag Dirtfest last year. It was my first experience riding with a group of riders. Good trails, good company, and good beer. Can’t really go wrong!
I love riding my bike around the South Lake Tahoe area . . . I sold my car when I moved and haven’t looked back! I recently moved to SLT from Sacramento where I created many great memories riding with friends up and down the American River Bike Trail, up and down the backroads between Davis, CA and Winters, CA, and even early morning workout rides with a dear friend! She was the only one willing to hit the bike trail at 5:30AM for a pre-work workout!!! Nothing beat waking up early on Saturday mornings to meet friends for a long ride followed by a delicious lunch and afternoon coffee! I’m looking forward to building a community of new friends in the SLT area that will join me for rides around beautiful Lake Tahoe!!!
Here in Utah we have a couple of women only bike rides. Goldilocks, Little red ridding hood, and Wonder Woman. My biker babe friends and I go out and ride all dressed up. It’s a great time to spend with friends. The hubbies can always volunteer and be the bad wolf, or bears.