Boyle Bikes Across America

Looking to get in shape for this year's Preservation Pedal? Why not bike across the United States as a warm-up! If you'd rather not tackle the entire TransAmerica Bike Trail all at once, please team up with the local cycling community as we attempt to collectively ride the 4,241 miles together before the Preservation Pedal on July 7th.

Getting involved is easy:

1. Sign up for an account at www.bikejournal.com
2. Select "Bike Boyle County KY" for your Club Affiliation
3. Next configure your journal, selecting as many variables as you'd like to log for each trip. For our purposes, all you'll need to include are "Ride Date" and "Distance"
4. Once you're logged in and registered, simply navigate to "Journal" and click "Add Ride"
5. Log the date and distance of your ride and - voila! - it will be added both to your personal total and to Bike Boyle County KY's total
6. Click on "Clubs" to see the community's total mileage... and smile as you see it steadily increase!

Of course, if you'd prefer not to register at Bike Journal, you can simply e-mail your mileage to us at info@dbfky.com and we'll add it in for you.

Let's see how far we can go!

The 2nd Annual Preservation Pedal

When Boyle County was chosen to host the 2nd Annual Preservation Pedal, Preservation Kentucky asked us to help conceive and organize the 2012 ride, scheduled for July 7th. Last year's Preservation Pedal in Springfield had around 200 riders from all around the state... and this year's goal is to double that number.

We had the pleasure of designing three routes of varying difficulty that incorporated historic sites and scenic stretches of Boyle and Mercer County. You can take a more detailed look at each of the proposed routes here:

24 miler

42 miler

60 miler

You can view a larger version of the master map by clicking here. Right-click and choose "save image as..." to download.

To make this ride a success, we'll need a team of volunteers who can help out at rest stops along the route. If you're interested, please contact us at info@dbfky.com.

Also, Preservation Kentucky is looking for nice pictures taken along these routes to promote the ride. If you have some and would like to share them, please send them to info@dbfky.com.

Whether as a rider or volunteer, we hope you'll participate and make this year's ride a success. Let's do our best to show off Boyle and Mercer to our visitor's this summer.

More info coming soon as we finalize plans!

2012 Red Tag Bike Sale

Have a great ride in 2012 on one of these high-quality, clearance-priced 2011 bicycles. Call us at 859-238-7669 or e-mail at info@dbfky.com to see if your bike is still in stock.

Climbing Clingman's Dome

Recently we took a field trip to Tennessee to climb Clingman's Dome, an iconic mountain challenge for cyclists in the Great Smoky Mountains. The ride was the longest, slowest 21 miles of my life... followed by the fastest 21 miles.

After much planning, we finally had an opportunity to head down to Tennessee and give Clingman's a try. On a sunny afternoon, we carefully loaded up a van with our four bikes and by the time night fell we'd arrived at Uncle Jim's place in Morristown, our staging ground for the next day's carnage. The next morning, we drove through the high stripmall splendor of Pigeon Forge to arrive at the Sugarlands Visitor Center at the base of Clingman's.

Ernst, Jeff, Rick and Andrew before the climb. Jeff must not have gotten the memo about matching uniforms...

 

Well, I started off ambitiously keeping up with Jeff as he attempted an under-2-hour climb. Pretty quickly the relentless incline cooled my own ambitions and I snapped this photo of Jeff as he pulled away, never to be seen again during the climb.

Each turn in the road brought nothing but another view of another steep ascent. My legs were starting to get the message that relief would not be forthcoming. As an excuse to rest, I snapped a picture of Rick as he left me in his wake.

And soon after, Dad graciously passed me as well, giving me one more breath respite.

 
But after a few tunnels...

One loop-de-loop...

And a few more breaks...

I made it to the top - where Rick, Jeff and Ernst had been waiting for a longer period of time than I'm willing to publicly reveal.

After taking it in, we flew back down and added our names to the guestbook of other likeminded climbers. Next time I'll train more - but I highly recommend the experience.

Winter Tune-Up Special

BEAT THE SPRING RUSH WITH AN 11-POINT TUNE-UP
- Adjust Derailleurs
- Adjust Brakes
- True Wheels
- Lube Chain and Derailleurs Pivots
- Frame and Fork Inspect
- Check Nuts and Bolts for Proper Tightness
- Frame Wipe
- Tire Inspection and Inflation
- Cables Lubed as needed
- Bearings Adjusted
- Test Ride