Pay For College With Your Bike
Thursday January 15, 2009
Did you know that college cyclists can earn scholarships through the USA Cycling Development Foundation? Two programs, the John Stenner Collegiate Cycling Scholarship and the Joshua Kuck Memorial Scholarship Fund, together awarded four $1,500 scholarships to student-athlete cyclists with the winners of the most recent awards recently announced.
And it's not just about going fast. The John Stenner scholarship recognizes students who have succeeded in academics, competitive cycling and community involvement with an emphasis on team development. The Joshua Kuck scholarship awards two scholarships each year to student-athletes who excel in the areas of cycling safety, advocacy and education.
Stenner Scholarship winners were Kimberly Turner (Boise, Idaho) of Seattle Pacific University and Kyle Englund-Krieger (Hummelstown, Pa.) of the United States Naval Academy. Fort Lewis College's Teal Stetson-Lee (Durango, Colo. and shown in photo) and Jeffrey Salvitti (Lewisburg, Pa.) of Bucknell University each were awarded the Kuck Memorial Scholarship, which was established to honor a collegiate cyclist killed in 2007.
With applications available in the fall and awards announced in December, it's not yet time to apply for the next round. But you can bookmark the page where you can get the forms here when they come available.
The programs are funded by directed donations to the USA Cycling Development Foundation. Interested student-athletes as well as those who would like to support these programs should visit www.usacdf.org
Photo of Teal Stetson-Lee from USA Cycling Development Foundation
Best Beer for Bicyclists
Monday January 12, 2009
For many riders, bikes and beer drinking go hand-in-hand. Standing around at the end of a long ride, telling stories and having a cold one can be almost as much fun as the actual day on the bike.
Maybe you think of fixed gears and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Or mountain bikers who have conquered some sweet singletrack, and at the end of it they're "heading for the mountains" of Busch beer next to a clear, icy cold stream. Then there's the classic Miller High Life commercial on alternative fuel. "That's the way, patriot. Let the OPECs keep their gasoline."
How about Fat Tire Ale by New Belgium Brewery? Those folks go all out for cycling, decorating with colorful classic bikes all around their brewery and promoting the joy of bikes and brews at festivals across the US, even celebrating bike commuting with one of my favorite videos of all time.
What beer do you think best embodies cycling? Or that makes you think of happy times on the bike? Take the poll, and then comment below, especially with your favorite if you voted "none of the above".
Friday January 9, 2009
Imagine hitting "start" on a program on your phone at the beginning of a ride and then when you finish, having a complete map of your route with speed and distance information that uploads automatically to the Internet. That's what AllSport GPS can do, a subscription mapping/GPS application for your cellphone.
It tracks your route as you ride and creates a detailed training log with speed, distance and elevation statistics. From the website, you can then share your route and browse rides created by others. All that is very cool and useful and can benefit you in a variety of ways.
The application also allows you to download these route maps to your phone, in theory to guide you on new and wonderful rides. However, that part doesn't work so well for cyclists. You can find out why, along with other observations we've made as we've used it for the past month, riding and running hundreds of miles to figure out what's great about the AllSport GPS for bike riders and what's not much use in our complete review of the product.
Tuesday January 6, 2009
Added provision means cash back for those who bike to work
New in 2009 is a provision in the US tax code that allows bike commuters to be reimbursed up to $20 per month for expenses tied to their bike commuting from participating employers.
The reimbursements can be for just about anything related to bike commuting - from replacement tires to routine tune-ups at the bike shop to a whole new bike.
How do you get your hands on this cash? Read the article here.
Related Articles
