Tag Archives: grinduro

Although these Adventure Bikes may look like a road bike, they offer features that allows for ridding off road trails.

Adventure bikes are super capable. Are they the right bike for you?

John Brown, HaveFunBiking.com

Over the past few years, a new category of bicycle has been developing – The Adventure Bike. Although these Adventure Bikes may look like a road bike, they offer features that allows for ridding off road trails. With such versatility, could these bikes really do it all?

Why are these adventure bikes different?

Where adventure bikes differ from a road bike is the overall position. adventure bikes typically have a higher bar and shorter top tube than its road counterpart. Also, some Adventure bikes can handle a mountain bike tire. Now you may be wondering “if you can fit mountain bike tires in these bikes, what makes them different from a mountain bike?” I’m glad you asked. Rather than a mountain bike geometry that is focused on quick handling and maneuverability, Adventure bikes geometries focus on stability.

Where can you ride an adventure bike?

Adventure bikes can be ridden anywhere. The general position on these bikes allows the rider to be comfortable and in control on all types of surfaces. Therefore, riding off road can be as manageable as riding on the pavement. Additionally, adventure bikes can accept narrow road tires, large mountain bike tires, and every size in between. These tire options lend to the Adventure bikes versatility. Also, keep in mind that Adventure bikes all use disc brakes as well, so stopping won’t be an issue even if conditions get poor.

Can You Carry All Your Stuff?

The adaptability of an Adventure bike is another great reason to own one. Assuming you want to take multi day trips and need to carry camping equipment, food, clothing, etc. Adventure bikes are built with dozens of braze-ons (threaded inserts that allow you to bolt racks, bottles and fenders to your bike). Many adventure bikes come stock with front and rear racks, so carrying your gear is never an issue. Don’t be concerned if you aren’t into the rack and fender look, all these bikes still look great unloaded.

Is There Anything an Adventure Bicycle Can’t Do?

Yes and no. Technically, an Adventure bike is stable enough to be ridden on almost any surface, but it won’t excel on all of them. For instance, while they look like a road bike, they don’t have the same efficiencies. In the same fashion, Adventure bikes are not as nimble as a mountain bike and won’t offer the quick handling you would want to attack your local singletrack riding. Therefore, while an Adventure bike may be the best choice to tackle all terrains, it won’t offer the same ride as a bike built with a more specific purpose.

Has your interest been piqued? If so, I encourage you to head over to your local bike shop and take a test ride. Because of the versatility, efficiency, and comfort of the Adventure bike, more shops are stocking them than ever.

Springtime is coming and some great rides and races are coming with it. A Bike & Barge cruise in Europe is another fun option .

Great rides you may have never heard of will be this summer’s fun!

by John Brown, HaveFunBiking.com

Springtime will soon be here and some great rides and races are coming with it. We all know about the standard rides and races. These rides start when you put your feet on the pedals, follow a leader and finish a few miles later. What you may not know is that there are heaps of other ride and race types out there and they all are really fun.

Food and drink are great rides

Riding to dinner or the bar is a great way to integrate a bicycle ride into your weekly habits. If you want to take that concept to the next level there are guided rides that will help. I recently wrote about a doughnut ride I went on which fits this category and it was a blast. Other such rides include the Sojourn, Sonoma wine tour or the H+I Taste and Trails mountain bike tour of the Scottish Highlands.

bike rides

Mountain biking through Scotland at day, and touring distillers at night.

Poker rides

Unlike the food and drink rides, a poker ride isn’t a tour of underground high stakes poker games. Sadly, you won’t be rubbing elbows with mafia kingpins while donning Lycra. Instead a poker ride is a mountain bike ride, with checkpoints. The checkpoints (5 or 7 depending on the type of poker) gives out a playing card to each rider as they pass each station. At the very end of the ride, hands are compared and a “winner” is declared. Because of gambling laws these rides often generally offer products as prizes and are fun for all, because the “winner” doesn’t have to be the fastest rider.

bike ride

The fox hunt rides

The most popular version of this ride is the Redbull Fox Hunt (check out the video). Basically, all the riders start down a course at once (the foxes). After a few minutes, the “hound” (a really fast rider!) is let loose down the same course. The “foxes” job is to not get passed and the “hounds” job is to try and pass everyone. While still small in numbers, because they end up being so fun, the amount of these rides are growing.

Bike and barge are another type of great rides

Popular in Europe, bike and barge rides are just what they sound like. Sleep and stay in a barge on a canal and ride different portions along  the canal during the day.

Sleep on a barge at night and then ride your bike, passing windmills during the day is a fun way to see Europe.

Sleep on a barge at night and then ride your bike, passing windmills during the day is a fun way to see Europe.

Many of these rides (including one in our Amsterdam review) are similar to food and drink rides in that they dock the barges near great locations.

Enduro Races

An Enduro is probably the most popular new race type in mountain biking. The basic idea here is to ride and race at the same time. How it works is you ride up the hills within a pre-set time then race through timed, downhill sections. At the end, all the timed sections are combined, with the lowest time being the winner.  Overall, these races have a fun and cordial environment, with lots of conversation and community during the un-timed sections.

Grinduro and Gravel Grinders are another option for great rides

Like an Enduro, the Grinduro events have ride and race sections. Unlike an Enduro, Grinduros are ridden on gravel bikes rather than mountain bikes. Gravel bikes also find a home in gravel grinder events. A gravel grinder is either a bike tour or race that covers dirt and gravel roads. Events can be as short as 20 miles and as long as a few hundreds.

bike ride

A scene from 2016’s California Grinduro.

Mountain biking  stage races

Mountain bike stage races are events that take place over a series of days. Each day is a different course and each course often starts and ends at approximately the same place. For most, the Idea of winning one of these races is not the reason they come out. With so much downtime each evening and because most of the lodging or camping is close together, these races take on a sort of festival atmosphere. Additionally, these events are often run in family friendly locations so the whole family can come along.

Hopefully this is the year you will find yourself at a new ride or race. With so many options the fun you and your family can have is nearly limitless.