Vermont Goldsprints is pleased to announce Burlington's own indoor bicycle racing party series- MAD DASHES- for winter 2017. Exact dates are TBA, but racing will take place at Brio Coffee, Switchback Brewing, and Maglianero. No racing experience and really, no bicycling experience is required to participate! Proceeds from Mad Dashes keeps the racing gear running and gets BIKES in front of KIDS at Open Street BTV, Safety Days, and other bike advocacy events around Vermont and beyond - and it's a heck of a lot of fun!

I ride my bike to commute to work no matter the weather. I have found that the key to dressing for winter riding is having a cool torso as you start off on your ride. Your upper body will warm up quickly and it is all too easy to start sweating even in the coldest temperatures. 

My ears are very sensitive to cold, so I often cover them up when it is only moderately cool. I use an adjustable helmet so I can accommodate a variety of different hats. I use wind proof hats fleece hats that cover my ears. As it gets colder that hats get thicker. In the thirties and forties I wear the hats in combination with a neck warmer, either a merino wool neck warmer or a thicker fleece one. Until it gets very cold, the neck warmer also serves to cover my face and nose until my breath warms up my face. When it gets into the twenties and colder, I add a balaclava to the mix.

I have poor circulation, so in the winter my hands get cold. I see people riding with no gloves when the temperature is in the 40's and I wonder how their hands feel. I want to stop them and say, "There are these great things called gloves, you put them on your hands when it is cold and the keep your hands warm!" I sometimes feel that I should carry around gloves to give away, but who knows if the gloves would even be used. 

Over the Labor Day weekend, events- both business and pleasure- conspired to take me to of all places, Bangor, Maine. As usually happens, I find myself drawn to libraries and this trip was no exception, ending up at the Bangor Public Library on a Friday afternoon. In amongst the other bibliophiles and bohemians, I chanced upon a bicyclist who had stopped to avail himself of the sanitary opportunities that a library provides. His bicycle was burdened down with panniers both fore and aft and yet he seemed to enjoy the extra ballast. He was of average height and average build, dressed in average clothes, but with an enthusiasm that tipped into above run-of-the-mill average. We struck up a conversation and it wasn’t long before I learned he was on his way back to Boston from an excursion to Bar Harbor by bike. He was a bit circumspect about his current itinerary, but felt he’d find his way home in a week or so.

And so I thought of him as a boy on the Bummel...

VBike just debuted its adaptive bike fleet! It's all about rolling out our "Bike Transportation Without Limitations" program - bicycle mobility with virtually no barrier to age, physical condition, or experience level. On Saturday, Oct. 1st, VBike volunteer Farid Quraishi and VBike director Dave Cohen headed down to Bethel to participate in Bethel Better Block and debut this fleet. 

Local Motion staff and volunteers hit the streets in Burlington last night to get high-quality bike lights on "ninja" bikes. We counted about 80 riders coming through the intersection of Pearl Street & Winooski Avenue in the space of two hours.  The good news?  Two-thirds of them already had lights on their bikes! Check out our Twitter feed for photos, reactions, and more.

The first ever Vermont Forest Fondo is set for Sunday, October 9th, 2016! Registration is limited to the first 50 riders. NO DAY OF EVENT REGISTRATION WILL BE AVAILABLE. A portion of your registration fee will be donated to Little Bellas Mountain Biking. Registration is available on BikeReg.  This year’s Vermont Forest Fondo will be a social ride with limited support (1 stop) and a BBQ afterwards. Join us on what will be one of the most beautiful events all year (peak foliage season)!

The Fall 2016 application period is now open for the Outdoor Gear Exchange Charitable Grant Fund! OGE is accepting applications until October 15, 2016 primarily to fund tangible acquisitions related to land access, conservation, or sustainable outdoor recreation. Grants will be awarded to qualifying organizations for amounts up to $1500 (up to $1000 for our education grant). To learn more about past projects or to apply for a grant, please visit www.gearx.com/grants/.

Burlington resident Peggy O'Neill and Local Motion were featured in NPR's recent series "Boundbusters" about empowering citizens to make changes Burlington's streets through tactical urbanism. Tactical urbanism is an approach to creating temporary projects that get to "lighter, faster and cheaper" changes on the ground.