I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the annual KendaFest mountain bike festival in the Berkshires. Because of my prostate cancer care, I’d missed out on the last couple…so it was great to go back. My abilities to climb on the bike seem good…so it was an extra treat that the ole’ cardio system was roaring.
The Fest is in a farm field between two mountains. It’s a beautiful view! There are a couple thousand people in a temporary tent city, bike manufacturers with test bikes, food, music, and lots of riding.
The mix in the crowd has changed. In the past, it was ‘fat tire freaks’ (serious riders and pros). Now there is a noticeable group of families and young couples, many of them just beginning to get fit. They were there, I think, as part of the new interest in nutrition and fitness, as well as renewed interest in commuter cycling.
Our crew, which consists of 15 or so of our local riders, has several folks that work at bike shops as mechanics. We were also discussing that all of us notice that the shops are being deluged with people starting to ride or ride commute. They want bikes in the $200 to $400 range…or bring in the ancient Schwinn to ask if it can be fixed. Most of the shops have doubled their mechanic crews in the last year.
We all saw this as great for our American bodies, both from the fitness and from the energy use perspective.
This is great news of course. I am also hoping that this trend will increase ridership in charity events: MS150, PanMass Challenge and others. I know, there are a lot of riders there already, but considering what kind of charities these events support – the more riders we have the better.
BTW, July 13 Ironman RI attracted a record number of participants – over 1600. That means that over 1600 people rode 56 miles on their bikes between the swim and the run.