This is the 430th issue of Bike Bits, Adventure Cycling’s twice-monthly bicycle bulletin. Bike Bits is delivered to you, and 67,518 other readers, because you’ve signed up for it at the Adventure Cycling Association website. We want to inspire you to dream and to live your own bicycle adventures.

“Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes,’ otherwise you'll lead a very dull life.”

Ian Fleming

North America, Top to Bottom

Ever dream of quitting your job, selling your stuff, and cycling the Americas? Chris and Sophie are doing just that. Follow them on their journey from Alaska to Argentina. Read more

Celebrating the Great Divide

Twenty years ago, Adventure Cycling altered the bicycle touring landscape by releasing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, the longest mapped, off-road bicycle route in the world. To celebrate, Adventure Cycling’s cartographers have updated and redesigned the maps with bidirectional narratives and 400 more miles of off-road goodness. The maps and digital data are available now from the Cyclosource store. Read more

We’ve Reached Peak Portland

Bicycles in the fast food drive-thru — it had to happen sooner or later. Read more

From the Archive of Rad Maps

There are maps, and there are maps. An 11-foot-long ribbon map of the Mississippi that unspools from a cylinder? Very cool. If only someone could make a ribbon map of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route … Read more 

MIT Spokes

Remember those students from Stanford riding across the country to teach science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)? Turns out eight students from MIT are doing something similar, riding from Washington, DC, to San Francisco to spread the good word of STEM. Read more

USBRS for Everybody

You can now ride over 13,000 miles of designated U.S. Bicycle Routes, including new routes in Nevada, Missouri, Kansas, Georgia, and Pennsylvania! Find maps and more information at the following link. Read more

Living in a Cyclist’s Paradise

If only all towns could be like Houten. Read more

Building (and Rescuing) Bridges

The Big White River Bridge could be the longest cycling and pedestrian bridge in the U.S., but the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department wants to tear it down! Convince them to keep it up — sign the petition. Read more

When Everything Goes Wrong in All the Right Ways 

Touring the Oregon Outback Trail with friends old and new. Read more

With a Little Help from My (Solar-Powered) Friends

From France to China on a tandem recumbent eBike powered by the sun. Oh, did we mention that the rear occupant rows instead of pedals? And faces backwards? Read more

Until next time, click here for vicarious adventures in southern Spain.

Adventure Cycling Association is North America’s premier nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring and empowering people to travel by bicycle. Membership is open to anyone and includes a one-year subscription to Adventure Cyclist magazine and discounted pricing on maps from our Adventure Cycling Route Network, which now includes 47,282.5 miles. To join, go here.

Illustrations by Greg Siple