It was 8:20 a.m on a Tuesday. I was biking south down 11th Street in Washington, D.C., during the morning rush hour.聽 Up ahead, half a dozen cyclists were stopped at the U Street intersection, waiting for the light to change. As I took my place at the back of the disorganized pack, a guy riding a bright red Capital Bikeshare rig and wearing a thin black suit with a pink tie flanked my left side, passing close enough for me to get a whiff of his Old Spice. When he reached the head of the crowd, he attempted to bring the 42-pound bike to a standstill without removing his feet from the pedals. He teetered awkwardly, swung his handlebars wildly, almost fell left into the opposite lane, and then crashed into the cyclist to his right, who naturally fell to his right, into another cyclist.

That domino crash was one of the more ridiculous bike-on-bike accidents I鈥檝e seen in over ten years of biking, but I鈥檝e witnessed near-endless litany of idiotic cycling behavior. In that time, two things have become increasingly clear: urban biking is on the rise, and there are more clueless cyclists on the road now than there has ever been.

Every serious commuter has had the moment when they realized that urban cycling has started to go mainstream. For me, that moment came in 2009, when Urban Outfitters started selling custom single speeds online and GQ magazine鈥檚 Sartorialist recommended equestrian helmets as the most fashionable alternative to bike helmets. Immediately, I started to pay attention.

Bike riding in the nation鈥檚 capital has grown 80 percent from 2007 to 2010, buoyed by bike-friendly streets and an increase in dedicated bike lanes. A similar increase has occurred around the country; a 2011 survey conducted by The Atlantic found regular bike commuters in 55 major U.S. cities from 2000 to 2009.聽 In D.C., when Alta Bike Share launched the program in September 2010 with 49 bike stations, bike riding went into overdrive. Today the program boasts 110 stations and 1,100 bikes鈥攚ith 25 new stations coming in early 2012. Paris, Melbourne, and London have similarly successful programs, and both and NYC are slated to launch bike shares in 2012. With this civic encouragement, the number of blissfully unaware bikers will expand exponentially, leaving riders like me worrying not only about crazy drivers, careening busses, jaywalking pedestrians, glass-strewn side streets, and potholes鈥攂ut the clueless as well.

I don鈥檛 care if you鈥檙e swaddled in enough latex to conquer Alpe d’Huez or wearing jeans tight enough to reveal the colorful waistband of your worn boxer briefs, I just ask that you know how to ride. Right now there are too many people on the streets who think that cycling should be as easy and carefree as it was when you were a kid. It鈥檚 not that I want you to get off the streets; studies have shown an increase in the number of bike commuters actually leads to a . I just want you to follow a few basic rules. To that end, here a few tips to keep all of us safe in the saddle.

First and foremost, act like you鈥檙e in traffic. That means no head phones on your ears and no Starbucks in your hands. If you get a phone call, don鈥檛 answer鈥攐r stop before you answer it. The same goes for texting, which should go without saying, but apparently needs to be screamed in bold text. This past winter, the city of Chicago , putting in place fines ranging from $20 to $500.

If you do need to stop your bike, don鈥檛 stand in other cyclists鈥� line. Other cyclists are your allies, but don鈥檛 cut them off or try to draft behind them in an effort to slingshot through a yellow light. Know your pecking order. Don鈥檛 stand front and center in pack of commuting cyclists if you鈥檙e not going to be the first off the line when the light changes.聽 聽

If you鈥檙e bold enough to go the wrong way down a one-way street, yield to the cyclists going the right way. Also, make yourself visible at night. Cross-guard vests may qualify as gear overkill, but blinking tail and head lights help other riders see you. Wear a helmet. Your vanity shouldn鈥檛 trump the fact that weren鈥檛 wearing them.

And please, stay off the sidewalks. Last month I saw an army of tourists on bikes who corralled a group of pedestrians into a near-collusion with a Metro bus. Sidewalks are the sole domain of the pedestrian, at least until you reach your destination.

Lastly, get used to biking when the streets aren鈥檛 frenzied before you start commuting during rush hour.聽 Go on a cruise on a dedicated bike path. Learn the bike鈥檚 weight and turn radius. Figure out how to come to a complete stop without tipping over. Then edge into the urban realm with off-hour rides on weekends and聽 when traffic is light on weekdays. Eventually , you鈥檒l be ready to blend into the chaos of daily commuting. Lucky for you, late winter is a great time to get used to biking; the number of bikes on the street drops as much as 60 percent. Check into classes. For example, the offers everything from adult learn-to-ride classes to seminars on commuting and confident city cycling.

鈥淲e need new cyclists to know that they don鈥檛 know enough about biking in the city,鈥� says Daniel Hoagland, DC Bike Ambassador and Coordinator with WABA. 鈥淵ou need to think like a cyclist, not a motorist or a pedestrian.鈥�

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The thing that perpetually drives me to head-shaking confusion? The prevalence of those damned white earbuds. The subway, the city streets, the office cubicle, the gym—they’re everywhere! Of course, their profusion is linked to Apple’s (understandable) monopoly on the digital audio market, but it never amazes me that people are willing to drop $400 on the latest iPod Video only to plug in speakers that are the technological equivalent of taking an overseas phone call on twine and tin cans—admittedly, the earbuds are free, but that doesn’t make using them right.

Sennheiser PXC 300 Noise-Reduction Headphones

Sennheiser PXC 300 Noise-Reduction Headphones

As audiophiles already know, your system is only as good as your speakers. Listen to your tunes through the noise-reducing Sennheiser PXC 300 and you too will join the ranks of white-earbud scoffers. And, unlike most noise-reduction headsets, these don’t make you look like you’re directing air traffic. The narrow, ultralight, ergonomic headset has circular padded speakers that fit snugly and comfortably around your ears, delivering sound so true to the original, you’ll be looking around for the band. A new world of subtle details is suddenly there, from a child’s voice lurking in the background of Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” (creepy) to the full orchestral power of the 15-plus-member Broken Social Scene.

This sound clarity is typical of Sennheiser’s high-end audio products, and the noise reduction feature here amplifies your high-quality audio experience tenfold. The reduction comes from the NoiseGuard system, a fountain-pen-size device attached to the headset’s speaker wire. Insert two AAA batteries, flick the switch, and a series of small microphones detect the external noise, then emit inaudible, low-frequency sound waves through the speakers to cancel out that ambient sound. You won’t be enveloped in absolute silence, but the high-pitched squeal of that crying child across the airplane aisle will be transformed into a whisper. And, despite my expectations, the battery pack did not get in the way, even in the ever-shrinking world of digital audio; a full-swivel metal clip lets you secure the NoiseGuard to your pocket, belt, or backpack strap sans tangle. Better still, the headphones work even if the noise-canceling function is off. In other words, if the batteries drain as you’re two hours into a long-haul flight, you can still fall back on that high-quality surround sound, which is, surprisingly, not a common function in other noise-reduction systems.

The PXC 300s are also ideally suited for travel—the speakers swivel 90 degrees and the headset folds to fit neatly into a soft, padded case the size of a small paperback. An airplane headset jack is also included, which brings us to the glorious salvation of the in-flight movie. If sleep has become a jetlag casualty or a farce thanks to a screaming toddler or boorish neighbor and you’re longing for solace midway through a trans-oceanic flight, plug the PXC 300s into the speaker jack, dial up a mindless action movie or romantic comedy, toggle the noise reduction, and voila! But during the opening credits, do yourself a favor and turn off the noise-reduction for a few seconds to see just how good you’ve got it. Appreciate how much the PXC 300s numb the howling tunnel of airplane noise, then dive back in. The only thing that’ll keep you from thinking you’re not in a stadium theater will be the miniscule movie screen. That, and the leg room. $220;

For more adventure electronics, including Apple’s latest iPod, read from the March 2006 issue of 国产吃瓜黑料.

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MOST PEOPLE HAVE a fuzzy notion of Sri Lanka as an exotic island nation with beautiful beaches that had the bad luck to be in the tsunami zone. But with the January completion of the Ceylon Tea Trails, a collection of four swanked-out colonial-style bungalows on working tea estates in the country’s verdant south-central region, would-be travelers are now looking past the sand.

After two decades of fighting, the long-awaited ceasefire in 2002 between Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan government triggered a cautious wave of tourism to the southern part of the island, particularly to the coast. There are still periodic flare-ups of rebel-government conflicts in the northeast, so, as with any country experiencing political turmoil, you should check the U.S. State Department’s Web site () before making plans. But the Tea Trails area is considered safe for travelers, and since the 2004 tsunami it’s become Sri Lanka’s next hot adventure ground. “More than 20 years of civil war have kept the backcountry pristine,” says Peter Stewart, founder of Colombo-based 国产吃瓜黑料 Asia. “It’s almost like a time warp compared with other Asian countries.”

The Tea Trails bungalows, former residences of British tea-estate managers in the vicinity of 1,198-acre Castlereagh Reservoir, sit at an elevation of 4,000 feet near miles of hiking trails. Complete with teak floors and private gardens, each abode—Summerville, Castlereagh, Tientsin, and Norwood—has been thoughtfully renovated to include amenities like heated towel racks, beds with mosquito nets, fireplaces, personal butlers, and gourmet chefs. When not being pampered like royalty, you can witness the tea-making process from leaf to cup and sample various brews picked less than 14 hours earlier. When it’s time to amp it up, jump on a mountain bike to grind ribbons of singletrack, sea-kayak the reservoir, or hike through undulating emerald hills where local women handpick the prized “two leafs and bud.” Or rally for daylong outings like a trek through Horton Plains National Park, rafting the Class III Kelani River, where director David Lean filmed The Bridge on the River Kwai, or a sunrise climb of 7,360-foot Sri Pada (also known as Adam’s Peak), the country’s second-highest mountain. Back at your bungalow, cap it all off with evening sundowners, fresh-roasted cashews, and dishes like basil-pumpkin soup, New Zealand lamb loin, and a slew of Sri Lankan curries.

While the bungalows are open year-round, it’s best to avoid the summer monsoon months. To get to the Tea Trails, located near the mosquito-size town of Hatton, three hours east of Colombo, you can hire a car and driver through the resort. But we suggest you ride in style. SriLankan Airlines plans to begin seaplane charters from Colombo to Castlereagh Reservoir, transforming that scenic drive into a 30-minute puddle jump. Tea has never been sweeter.

Access & Resources
The Ceylon Tea Trails (011-94-11-230-3888, ) offers 20 rooms within the four bungalows. Doubles start at $165 per night, including meals and drinks. 国产吃瓜黑料 Asia (011-94-11-536-8468, ) handles all active outings for the Ceylon Tea Trails and specializes in custom itineraries throughout the country. Seaplane operator SriLankan Airlines plans to charge $150 for one-way flights from Colombo to Castlereagh Reservoir (011-94-19-733-5555, ).

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Ignorance may be bliss, but once you’ve been educated, you can never go back—as I was reminded after first picking up Indigo’s Epic Adjustable ski pole. In my foolishly uninformed universe, I thought all ski poles were created equal: As long as they fit the Goldilocks requirements (not too long, not too short), pole selection was more of an afterthought. To me, this also meant that leaving the slopes with two poles bent like deranged pieces of licorice was just part of the gig—ski hard (or, in my case, crazily) and your poles bend. As long as they didn’t approach the 90-degree mark, it was back into the lift line.

Indigo Epic Adjustable Ski Poles

Indigo Epic Adjustable Ski Poles

Using the Epic for the first time was a revelation. I’d dig deep, push off the poles . . . and they’d spring back rather than transforming into some Escher-esque series of angles. Constructed with a 90 percent carbon-fiber lower and an aluminum upper, these poles flex and bend with Flubber-like consistency but always return to their original rigidity, inspiring a cartoonish boing sound in my head. The I-grips fit my gloved hands, well, like a glove, and the wrist straps have quick-release clips, should a tumble take you one way and your poles the other. Pole size is also a refreshing variable on the Epics—simply press a spring-loaded button and slide to adjust the pole to your preferred length. Durable, weatherproof plastic over the buttons halts unwanted snow from penetrating the mechanics. The tips are a carbide/steel composite, durable enough to penetrate the iciest of East Coast slopes.

These poles are so responsive, so essential, that I’ve taken to traveling with them, even when I’m not planning on being on the slopes. Should you find yourself similarly gear-obsessed, here’s how to travel with the Epics: Simply drop the poles to their shortest length, unscrew the flexible plastic baskets, slip the poles and baskets into a cardboard tube designed for mailing posters, apply duct tape, and check it with the rest of your luggage. Yes, I’ve become the freak who travels with his ski poles. But once you’ve used the Epics, you’ll never want to leave them behind. $100;

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OK, I admit it: The closest I got to being a Boy Scout was becoming a Webelo—and I made it through that penultimate stage mainly because I wanted to shoot the Arrow of Light, a decidedly anticlimactic experience. Perhaps that’s why I never learned to adhere to the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared. But I’ll be damned if those two words don’t offer sage advice, as I discovered two decades later at the far end of a ten-mile figure-eight singletrack loop, where rugged terrain left me with scratched legs, a bruised ego, and a blown rear tire. I did have patches, but no pump; and since even my heavy breathing can’t penetrate a presta valve, I was left with a very long walk.

Crank Brothers Power Pump Ultra

Crank Brothers Power Pump Ultra

If only I’d had the wisdom back then to carry Crank Brothers’ new Power Pump Ultra. This 5.6-inch-long device proves that size doesn’t matter, thanks to an innovative dial setting at the base that lets you switch between high-volume and high-pressure modes. The former gives you more huff and puff than an army of hungry wolves, and saves your arms from pump fatigue, while the latter mode allows for that extra push as the tube reaches maximum capacity. The twin-head construction accommodates both presta and Schrader valves without the hassle of manipulating the guts of the pump, and seals air-tight with the twist of a T-shaped toggle to deliver 115 psi of pumping pressure. It doesn’t come with a frame mount, but at 4.2 ounces, the all-aluminum pump is light enough for stow-and-forget convenience in a backpack or jersey pocket. Simply put, dealing with midride flats has never been easier—and the lifetime warranty and modest price tag make the Power Pump Ultra a solid long-term investment.

Since that long walk back to the car some four summers ago, I have learned my lesson. The Power Pump Ultra (along with patches and a spare tube) joins me on every ride, from half-day singletrack grinds to round-the-corner grocery runs. And while I certainly don’t welcome another flat, I know that the pump will provide when the inevitable happens once again. $30;

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After a long winter of sporadic road cycling, the first day on singletrack can be humbling. My first fat-tire ride of 2005? It made humble seem downright outlandish. And I shudder to imagine how much worse things could’ve gotten without Pearl Izumi’s new Viper mountain-bike shoes. They’d already exceeded the comfort-level requirements during several early-spring forays across the paved sections of Washington D.C.’s Rock Creek Park and weaving through the harried cherry blossom crowds on the Tidal Basin. And on my first day in the dirt, the Vipers stuck every performance element I needed. Mesh uppers kept things cool and light, the carbon-fiber I-beam design proved stiffer than my postride lower back (which is saying something), and the dial-in lacing system kept things snug with nary a pressure point—a few rotations and your feet are more secure than with any standard lacing method, period. Hard plastic around the front protects the toes like modern-era plate mail, and aggressive treads keep you sure-footed in those rare (or not so rare) moments when you gotta hoof it. These Vipers even come with fangs—screw-in toe spikes for days when the trail becomes a quagmire of mud.

Pearl Izumi Viper Mountain Bike Shoe

Pearl Izumi Viper Mountain Bike Shoe

As expected, the Vipers are compatible with most clipless pedal systems. I paired these admirable kicks with Crank Brothers Candy TIs, not necessarily new to the scene, but still one of the best clipless systems around. (They weigh a feathery 252 grams—reason enough.) But the four-sided-entry “egg beater” titanium spindle makes it easy to trigger that audible click, while the narrow platform will let you grind forward even if you can’t get the shoe and pedal to marry.
The Viper’s only drawback is slight—the airy mesh construction above the hard plastic makes these shoes ideal for the sweltering, humid swampland of the D.C. area. But come colder temps, the Vipers will require thick socks or—more likely—shoe booties (neoprene sleeves that slip over the shoe) to armor up against the cold. Also, when you pedal through a creek, expect a footbath; refreshing for the dog days of summer but perhaps an unwelcome addition on a crisp fall day. Again, waterproof booties or Gore-Tex socks will remedy such situations. So, while I’m forced to wait for the swelling of my softball-size right knee to subside (don’t ask), it’s clear that the Vipers will be able take all the punishment I can dish out… even if I have to wait a week to get back to the grind. $199,

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