Customer's Ride: Bike Touring Machine

We sell the Carradice Super C pannier bags pictured above right here on www.benscycle.com!

New Tires in Stock: Schwalbe Marathon Touring/Commuter Tires

  Now available on Ben's Cycle.com is one of the nicest tires for the money when it comes to durability and quality.  See our selection of urban/touring tires here!

Product Updates: Carradice Bagman Supports

New redesigned Bagman Q/R support racks are in stock.  They are now made out of aluminum and have extra support struts allowing for heaver loads.  Both non quick-release and quick-release versions are available here!

Go here to view all our available Carradice Bag products.

Ride Recap: Reveal the Glacial Drumlin

From left:  Andy, Anton, Myself, Dan, Arthur. 

We left from the infamous Ben's Cycle alley way about 6:30pm last Friday evening and rode to our destination stop, Lampham peak, while chasing the sunset on the New Berlin trail.  It took us around 2.5hrs to our camp site with a couple pit stops along the way, which one was at Le Duc's Frozen Custard.

Our campsite was superb with plenty of area to pop up multiply tents and two trees ideal for my hammock in the clearing.

Dan had the heaviest bike when we left the shop out of the 5 of us, but when we loaded two bundles of fire wood in his rear pannier bags and a twelver on his front rack, he tipped the scale for sure.  My surly Junk strap came in handy when securing our beverages to the his rack.  Thank you Dan for hauling like a pro up to the peak!

Picture to the right showing the preferred spicy brown sauce for the night.  I can say only one of us was bold enough to wake up and relive it's qualities the next morning.

The four of us weren't willing to tough it out and wake up at sunrise like our friend Arthur, who had a hot date in Madison the next day, so we left the park short a man.  

 Anton is happy as a lark while cruising through Lake mills.

We stopped at one of the trail headquarters, which was converted from an old railroad station, for a water and peanut M&M break.  We stopped in briefly, but mostly stayed in the shade outside.

We passed through a hand full of tunnels that were about 20-30 yards long.  Overall trail conditions for great, they weren't too dry or too wet.

We were greeted with this nice message when reached the end of the trail just outside Madison.

I had by far the least amount of gear and had the lightest setup out of the group.  I'm running an Shimano Alfine 8sp with a 42/18t drive train.  I used a Revelate Designs Viscacha saddle bag and an Outdoor Research horizontal dry bag rigged to my handlebars.  Both systems worked wonderfully and I am completely happy with them and how they performed.  I admit using a hammock over a tent made using only these two bags possible, but I'm really looking forward to running this same setup in the coming weeks.

We see our first signs of the capital in the distance. 

We made it!  Beer and popcorn await us!

The director, Mike Dion, and the soundtrack artist, Dominique Fraissard,  spoke prior to the film and gave a some insite

Earl directed us to a much needed fuel filled breakfast at Lazy Jane's in Madison Sunday morning.  Super good!

Most of the next morning I followed the smell of Italian cheese.

We saw a fair amount of Wisconsin wildlife.  Beavers, great blue herons, Peregrine Falcon, Hawks, and a white tailed doe on the New Berlin trail 25 yards in front of us!

The obvious last check point before we all retreat back home to our lady friends, who had dinner waiting for us btw, was Frank's Power Plant for tall boys and muscle relaxers.

Reveal the Glacial Drumlin

If you haven't seen Mike Dion's first movie, Ride the Divide, than I recommend you check it out, and if you aren't going to see the premier of his second Reveal the path, than you should start thinking about buying your ticket soon!

"Reveal the path explores the word's playgrounds in Europe's snow capped mountains, Scotland's lush valleys, Alaska's rugged coastal beaches and Morocco's high desert landscapes.  Ride along and get lost in the wonders of the world… Meet the locals living modest yet seemingly fulfilling lives, leading us to question what it means to live an inspired life – however humble or extravagant. Filmed across four continents and featuring Tour Divide race legends, Matthew Lee & Kurt Refsnider, this immersive film is sure to ignite the dream in you.
Join in as the creators of Ride the Divide take you on an adventure that will leave you with an eager desire to chart your own course to far away lands or simply to discover with eyes wide open what’s right around the bend." 

Photo from bigoakbikes.blogspot.com

Above is a photo taken on the Glacial Drumlin.  One week from today myself and a handful of buds are riding to Madison to see the premier for ourselves via the Glacial Drumlin trail.  It won't be quite like what we'll be seeing on the big screen in Madison, but a trail never the less.  We're going to leave late Friday and make it to camp along the way at our undisclosed site.  Then, continue the journey Saturday morning to the capital!  I'm looking forward to trying out my new Dynamo Supernova E3 Pro front and E3 Tail lights! I'll have a re-cap of the weekend on the blog come next month, and if you're in the area you should check out the Reveal the path.

Have a great memorial day weekend!