It’s time to celebrate; May is National Bike Month! That means wherever you live, no matter what city or state, you can take part in something as simple and beautiful as riding your bike.

The League of American Bicyclists has a fantastic website with all of the key dates for this month’s happenings, so if you want to stay in the loop, check here. If you want to partake in an event in your neck of the woods but don’t have the inside scoop, search here by city, state or zip code.

Looking for more National Bike Month info to digest? Check out the League of American Bicyclists blog for inspiring, motivating and informing posts centered around cycling. And while you’re at it, check out the video at the top of this post, a PSA of sorts created by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition that asks the question: “Why ride a bike?”

Happy cycling!

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March came with the onset of spring. April comes with the opportunity to ride your bike every single day. It’s time to throw out your excuses and pull on your bike shorts! 30 Days of Biking has a motivational vid (above) and all the information you need to get started (below):

30 Days of Biking, whose fourth year begins April 1, has one rule: Bike somewhere every day for 30 days—around the block, 20 miles to work, whatever suits you—then share your adventures online. We advocate daily bicycling because we believe it enriches lives and preserves the Earth. A worldwide, thousands-strong community of joyful cyclists has been forming around that idea since April 2010—and will further amass in 2013! We ride our bikes every day.

Sign up at 30DOB.com

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Snow on the LaSal mountains make a beautiful backdrop for the slickrock of the Moab Brands trails.

Spring has sprung in Moab, UT and Poison Spider Bicycles celebrated this past weekend with their annual Moab Thaw event. Osprey supported the event with a fleet of demo packs that were available for riders checking out the latest and greatest bikes from Yeti, Niner, Pivot and Ellsworth. Thaw HQ was at the Moab Brands trailhead where food and drink were provided so riders could focus on getting as many demo rides in as their winter legs would allow. Conditions were perfect with blue skies, calm winds and temps in the 60s.

The Poison Spider event really is a great way to thaw out from a cold, snowy winter and get excited about the approaching cycling season. This one is worth putting on your calendar and scheduling a trip from wherever you might be. Watch the Poison Spider web site next winter for 2014 registration details. In the meantime, check out some of the shots from this year’s event below.

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In most of the country, today just happens to be the last day of February. But in Durango, CO, it’s not just the end of another month, it’s the Third Annual Winter Bike to Work Day. The event itself is put in place to honor the bike commuters who battle the winter elements in Durango, and the festivities surrounding it are open to cyclists of all kinds. The City of Durango’s Multi Modal Department is the key sponsor, and will be offering up hot drinks, food and giveaways today from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. in front of Durango Coffee (at 730 Main Avenue). There’ll be a bounty of cyclists and commuters there to celebrate. What’s more, there will be schwag to give away, including T-shirts, scarves and even an Osprey Pack for the day’s raffle winner! For more information on bicycle commuting and Bike to Work Day in Durango, head here.

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Need an excuse to get out for a weekend of riding bikes, trying out cycling gear and entering to win rad prizes? We didn’t think so. Hence, our announcing that the second annual Southeast Bike Expo is right around the corner! For the second year in a row, the SE Bike Expo will head to Conyers, GA for a three days of cycling festivities; the weekend will kick off with a free dealer-only day on Friday, February 22, followed by open public access on the 23rd and 24th.

Here’s some background from last year’s event, as well as what to expect this year, via Cycling News:

In 2012, there were over 600 bikes of all types for demo by attendees. With the addition of other major bike brands, up to 1,000 demo bikes are expected to be available for the weekend.

The expo will again include not only mountain bike and road manufacturers, but also other cycling industry vendors.

“Our goal is to put on a fun event in a great location for very low cost to manufacturers, retailers, and consumers,” said Brian Molloy.

Part of the excitement of the SE Bike Expo is that it allows consumers to see the newest and most exciting gear out there. There will be a ton of new product there, including Osprey Raptor/Raven and Viper/Verve packs available for demos. What’s more, if you join IMBA at the Osprey booth, you’ll be immediately entered in a raffle to win a brand-new pack. And even if you don’t win the raffle, there will be plenty of take-away schwag (think: stickers and tire levers) to take home with you.

There will be tons of vendors and fantastic bike companies to check out at the Expo, including Vee Rubber, Felt Bicycles, Rocky Mountain Bicycles, and Skanunu Lubricants. Add to that companies such as Tifosi Optics, Light & Motion, Camelbak, Shimano, Kenda and Thomson — and you’ve got the world of bike gear and garb nearly at your fingertips. We’ll see you there, rain or shine!

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Mountain 2 Mountain’s Shannon Galpin has spent the past several years pedaling in Afghanistan, and in the midst of her journeys, she’s observed the following: “… usually the only bikes I see are simple Pakistani made commuters bikes, ridden around the country on dirt roads and highways by men and boys of all ages.” But last November, Shannon met the Men’s National Cycling Team, which made a huge impression. As Shannon put it, “They have a real love of the sport, racing in Kabul and in Pakistan.  Several mentioned their hope to compete one day in the Olympics.” What’s more, even though it is culturally unacceptable for women to ride in Afghanistan, Shannon found out that there happen to be 10-12 women on the Cycling Team with the support of the coach.

While the cycling community in Afghanistan is there (and slowly gaining ground), it remains fact that those riding are doing so with virtually no support, on bikes that don’t always suit their needs and with gear that’s less than ideal. That’s why Mountain 2 Mountain is organizing a month-long bicycle gear drive that will begin on Friday, February 15th. Here’s the full run-down of details:

The most-needed items (i.e. suggested donations) are, for both women and men, both road and mountain bike: “helmets, pedals, shoes, cleats, seats, chammies, long pants, jerseys, gloves, jackets, windbreakers, sunglasses, socks, tools, tubes (no 29′ers please), tires, lube, air pumps.  Lightly used old gear and new gear is welcomed!!” Cash donations to help with transport costs will also be accepted. There will be four drop-off locations in Colorado (Denver – Salvagetti Bicycle Workshop, Boulder – Boulder Cycle Sport, Golden - Rise Above Cycles, Frisco – Podium Sports). Additionally, individuals are welcome to send a box of their gear donations directly to Mountain 2 Mountain (PO Box 7399, Breckenridge, CO 80424). All gear will be picked up on March 15th, so gather your goods and get them out the door ASAP!

You can follow what’s happening with the drive and check for updates on Mountain 2 Mountain’s Facebook page.

If you want to make an online donation to support the teams or our upcoming Strength in Numbers program you can do that here!

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It’s that time of year again: National Geographic Adventure has nominated ten individuals to stand in the running for 2013 People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year. This year in particular, we’re incredibly proud to announce that the outstanding Shannon Galpin of Mountain2Mountain is one of the Adventurer of the Year nominees — and you can vote for her now!

M2M, which Shannon founded in 2006, “believes in the power of voice as a catalyst for social action,” and has touched the lives of many since its inception. In its latest project, Streets of Afghanistan, M2M utilizes the power of photography as the voice of change.

In 2009, Shannon became the first woman to bike in Afghanistan, challenging societal norms and gender perceptions in that part of the world. In general, Shannon’s work has seriously highlighted the significance of perpetuating equality for women and girls in conflict regions, and will continue to impact generations to come.

For good reason, Shannon is nominated as Humanitarian of the year. Via Nat Geo Adventure:

The 38-year-old has braved some of the most violent periods in Afghanistan—a country considered by many humanitarian agencies to be the worst place in the world to be a woman—to work on women’s education and health. She fostered midwife training to combat infant and maternal mortality in the Panjshir Province. In Kabul and Kandahar, she helped develop reading programs for the daughters of women in prisons, some of whom were jailed for adultery after they were raped or for escaping arranged marriages.

She has used her bicycle as an icebreaker with village elders in remote mountain villages, and in a particularly bold fundraising act, she’s mountain biked 140 miles across the Panjshir Valley. In Afghanistan, women cannot ride bikes because of laws and social customs, a fact that Galpin believes has hindered women’s education by preventing them from being able to independently travel to school. As a foreign woman, Galpin was able to cross this boundary and turn it into a conversation starter.

Women’s rights are personal for Galpin. At 19, she survived being raped and knifed while coming home from work in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“I couldn’t think of anything worse beyond what had happened than being labeled a victim,” says Galpin. “I was petrified that I would be viewed that way and would have to wear that label for the rest of my life.”

Want to vote for Shannon Galpin? Go here to do so through mid-January.

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Castle Valley Overlook on Upper Porcupine Singletrack

It has been a very busy but extremely productive event season for the Osprey Packs bike crew. We spent much of the summer traveling thousands of miles in our Sprinter van to attend bike events throughout the country and provide attendees with the opportunity to browse and demo Osprey cycling packs. This past weekend our event season came to a close with one of our favorite events. Outerbike takes place in Moab, Utah, just over 100 miles from Osprey world headquarters in Cortez, Colorado.

Outerbike is one of our favorites for many reasons; the spectacular location in Moab, the awesome team at Western Spirit that organizes the event, the amazing participants from around the world, and the opportunity to get some end of the season rides in before snow starts flying. This year marked the third annual happening of Outerbike and it was the best yet. Temperatures were in the 70s with sunny skies and light breezes each day, which provided absolutely perfect riding conditions. There were plenty of demo bikes to keep participants busy on the trails and out of lines awaiting a ride. Osprey had a very successful event, sending out a record amount of demo packs and raising funds for the Moab Trail Mix. Moab Trail Mix has been responsible for most of the new trails that have sprouted up over the past couple of years and reviving Moab as the mountain bike mecca. Extensive new trail systems such as the Bar-M network, the Klondike Trails network, Magnificent 7 and Pipe Dream are well worth a trip to Moab if you haven’t been recently.

The 2013 line up of packs in the Osprey cycling line were very well received by all. This is great news for us as the participants of Outerbike are dedicated cycling enthusiasts and their feedback means a lot to us. With the largest concentration of customer interactions coming first thing in the day and repeating at the end of the day, we were fortunate enough to get a few spins around the local trails ourselves. Here are a few pictures from a fabulous weekend:

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Our friends over at 5 Gyres are always doing amazing things. Most recently they’ve embarked on The Last Straw Plastic Pollution Solutions Outreach Tour — a trip that will take 5 Gyres staff 1400 miles by bike down the East Coast in an effort to educate more than 50,000 people about what they’ve discovered in their voyages to our world’s oceans and lakes. You can follow the tour and find specific event dates and locations via the 5 Gyres Facebook page and its Blog. What’s more, you can pledge one cent per mile to support the tour and even take part in the 5 Gyres I Am The Sea Change challenge and win prizes for doing so.

Have 5 minutes? Take the challenge!:

To enter, follow the instructions on the flyer pictured above. That is: 1. Print the flyer out. 2. Spend at the very least 5 minutes cleaning up your environment (street, gutter, riverbank, beach). 3. Have someone take a picture of you holding your sign and your garbage up for all to see. 4. Like 5 Gyres on Facebook and share the contest link (encouraging friends and family to do so as well!) 5. Email your photo to betheseachange@5gyres.org with the subject ’5 for 5 Gyres’.

Do the above and you could not only win some awesome prizes, but help 5 Gyres and the cause to clean up our environment immensely. The contest runs from October 3rd through November 6th.

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Interbike is one of the world’s largest bike industry gatherings; a two-day affair that consists of not only panel discussions, seminars and clinics, but also a humongous showcasing of the best bike gear, apparel and accessories out there. It’s only natural, then, that Osprey attends every year to present our awesome bike packs to the bike industry world.

This year, we showed off our Spring 2013 collection, including the second generation of the Raptor 10 pack with the new Osprey reservoir. Watch the above video for a demo from Jeff Fox on the newest Osprey bike packs we have to offer!

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