Friday, April 3, 2009

On bike touring magazines....and other stuff

Spotted on the ACA website, a little video donation pitch for their map department.



Also on the ACA site was a link to a Bikecentennial Flickr group! Ah the good old days!



And speaking of the good olde days, I just took a peep at a friend's copy of Bicycle Quarterly and its chock full of historical photos and stories about touring in Europe in the 30s! (As a side note, I think we're primed for a touring re-birth! The economic conditions are just right for people to start to look at simpler, less expensive and more adventurous ways of travel!)

If you like EC, you'll love Bicycle Quarterly Magazine (subscribe today!). Jan writes some of the most thorough reviews of the most interesting bikes and bike accessories I've ever seen. It really puts that other "bicycling" magazine to shame (you know which one). It's sort of like reading Shakespeare after flipping through the National Enquirer.

5 comments:

Jack and Raquel said...

I really enjoy Adventure Cycling’s magazine much more than “the other” bicycling magazine. I'll check out BQ. The “the other” bicycling magazine never covers anything related to bike commuting, touring (and heaven forbid, bike camping) and seems more focused on perpetuating the unrealistic racing mentality that so many have bought into.

Really, when you think about it, “the other” bicycling magazine is about the only source for carbon fiber bike builders to influence riders to buy a new improved bike every two years in hopes they can shave a milliseconds or two off their weekly club ride…ooops, sorry I was ranting.

Off my soap box, Jack

RussRoca said...

You guys will love Bicycle Quarterly....one of the best reads since the Reader

The current issue is really fascinating from a tourer's perspective!

Scott said...

Thanks for posting this Russ. I have been on the fence for EVER about joining the ACA, and they send me letters every three months to join, but what pushed me over the edge was the flickr page. I loved seeing those people, the young ones (my age) especially, having so much fun touring. Something about those smiles and cut-off jeans finally pried the 40 bucks out of my pocket. Nice work Russ.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I was very disappointed by the magazine. What I thought was to be informative, was in fact nothing more than posed pictures, and attempts to sell, sell, sell their own products and services. I paid for a subscription to receive sales pitches. Yuck. Any data they have can be had for free with a quick search of the web, and at no cost or flood of junkmail.

skvidal said...

BQ is wonderful to read. I don't always agree with Jan's assessment of things but I am always informed by the articles. I'm itching a little to buy the rest of the backissues I don't have and sit down for a while.