Goldstream Sports Fairbanks Alaska

Come out and help create Alaska’s first Mountain Bike Pump and Skills Park!

Work Shop Schedule

Goldstream Valley Lions Club Bike Park

Participants and community volunteers may come and go as necessary. The Bike Park work party is open to all community members, families and children.  The work parties will be helping to construct the boardwalk skills area using hand tools. Participants will also assist with shaping the dirt pump course using shovels, rakes and compactors.  We are hoping to have lots of people all day long in order to finish the park by Sunday!   So come on out and help create Alaska’s first Mountain Bike Pump and Skills Park.

Friday Morning 9:00-1:00 July 22, 2011

·       Indoor Workshop: From Concept to Ride-Ready and Beyond. (Presented by Ben Blitch of Alpine-Trails)

·       Indoor Workshop: Trends In Community Bike Parks Present by Ben Blitch and Goldstream Sports)

·       Partnering with the borough for community driven projects (Steve Taylor- FNSB Rec Department)

·       Indoor Workshop: Risk Management, Liability, Insurance (Presented by Ben Blitch)

Friday Afternoon through Sunday evening  (Daily start time 9:00- End at 5:00)  July 22, 23 and 24

·       Outdoor workshop: Design! Build! Maintain!

·       Create two jump lines (beginner and intermediate)

·       Create mirrored pump track

·       Create small wooden board walk skills area

·       Provide maintenance demonstration and documentation for sustainability

·       Demonstration by local bike experts: emphasis on safety and skills

·       Celebration: Volunteer picnic and ride time (Sunday afternoon 4:00 PM)

*******  Please, if you have them,  bring  shovels and steel rakes. (we will have plenty of tools if you do not have them).  The Lions will provide snacks, lemonade and water.

Hey Paulette! Here is the report of tonight’s ride:

The second meeting of the Dirt Dev(iants) was held on the Birch Hill Ski trails with a crew of 6. We were lucky enough to “book end” our ride between two light evening showers and only got a bit of mud on our bikes and shorts (though one member seemed to have a few more spots on her jersey than the rest of us….name omitted here to protect the guilty party). We cruised around the Relay loop as a warm-up and then high-tailed it out the White Bear where we chugged our way up to “SCUM” corner to have a look around the new Sonott access trail; it is nicely seeded, and a yellow caution tape kept us from even thinking about descending it. Save that one for another day. The rest of the ride on the WB trail was uneventful and pleasant, except for the swarm of mosquitoes which followed us up “heartbeak hill”; we quickly ditched ‘em with a little help from a handy wipe that Chris had in her seat satchel….now THOSE are the BOMB!! They should be required equipment for all Diva rides! The trail was in good shape, thanks to a single pass of the Borough’s mower, but we shied away from the section below the range anticipating a bit more mud there, and re-traced our tracks back up to the Access signpost. Finished up with a section of the Warm-up Loop where it looked like a small army had spent a week or so marching. Those crazy disc-golfers!!! Looks like fun though, and I’d recommend a round or two after we ride here again. Until next week!!! Dev(iant), Nancy

Many riders suffer from frequent tingling in hands on longer rides (2+hours). If, after having a professional bike fit at a bike shop like Goldstream, Sports, the problem persists, you may need to look at other sources of the discomfort. Sometimes an old injury may be the source, like a shoulder injury, can cause the sensation, but not always .

A question to ask is could the numbness and tingling in my hand be related to the shoulder, or is it more likely a bike fit thing?

Hand numbness, also known as cyclist’s palsy, can be tricky and persistent.

While it is possible that a shoulder history is contributing, it is unlikely. More likely is nerve compression of one of the nerves in the wrist. If you’re getting numbness in your pinky and ring finger, it’s probably the Ulnar nerve being compressed. This is the most common due to its location, at the bottom of the wrist, close to the bars and hoods of a road bike.

Next is the Median nerve. This nerve runs in the middle of the wrist and compression can cause the pointer, middle, and ring fingers to feel numb. This tends to be more problematic on a mountain bike, however neither is mutually exclusive.

Radian nerve compression is also possible; this nerve runs through the wrist near the base of the thumb, on the top of the hand.

So why would a nerve in the wrist get compressed? The hand and wrist aren’t very good weight-bearing structures, yet some is required for riding a typical bike. Here at BCSM we see many extrinsic causes of hand numbness, and not all are related to the handlebars. To be sure, bar position can play a role in this, and having the handlebars too high can be just as detrimental as having the bars too low.

We also see improper saddle position, saddle shape and support causing hand numbness issues. Rotational orientation can cause hand numbness, too. For instance, if you are sitting with your right hip forward, this can translate to a slightly different reach to the right shifter, and possibly more pressure.

There are some good products to help distribute the pressure on the hands. Properly fitting gloves, cushy gel under the bar tape, even switching to a different-shaped hood or grip can help mask the pressure, but not one fix works for everyone.

Finally, some factors causing hand numbness while cycling are intrinsic. Weak core musculature, insufficient range of motion of hamstrings, hip extensors, or degenerative changes in your cervical spine can also cause hand numbness. If you have a known factor, or have exhausted all of the mechanical causes, seek a medical provider that is conversant with cycling to delve into the medical considerations.

If you are having numbness or pain in the hands, come and speak to us.  We can work with you to alleviate the issue!



Thanks to all the hard work by the volunteers who went out and swept and cleared the trail on Friday, and thanks to the warm weather which dried up most of the trail.  I personally rode the trail on Saturday morning and had a blast!!!  There are some wet spots still, and and apparently the new outer loop has some exposed roots.

Enjoy the trail, and let us know what you think!

Often times we end the summer season with complaints about our bike.  Most of the time it is fit issues causing the complaints. We hear about hands going to sleep, saddles putting very painful pressure on the nether regions, neck pain, back pain, and other items of distress.  Why not start this season with a properly fitting bike!

We have a fit area in the store, and Joel has been through many fit training clinics over th past few year. And, he has been fitting bikes for 20 years.  Our fitting services start with the basic fit for the recreational and occasional rider, and we also offer the pro fit for the more serious rider.

We guarantee our fits as well, so if something just isn’t right, come on back!

Please call ahead to ensure we have a fit specialist available for when you want to come in!

Say “Be Gone!” to those nasty pains and pressures!

Clearing your nose is part of cycling.  Fact #1 – your nose will run and you will need to clear your nose.  Fact #2 – knowing how to snot rocket without getting it all over yourself or riding partner is cool, and is even considered sexy. Before you attempt to snot rocket, there are a few etiquette hints to help you clear your nose safely and with style.

1. Make sure you are aware of what is behind you – if you are in a paceline or a group of riders, be sure there is not someone directly behind you.  If you are in a paceline, either pull to the side, or drop to the back.  The last thing the guy or gal behind you wants is your nasal discharge in their face.

2. Even more importantly, make sure the coast is clear in front of you.  When you do actually let one fly, you will need to turn your head to the side, so ensure the coast is clear in front of you as you will not be able to see ahead for a few seconds.

3. When you are ready to clear your nose, decide which side of the nose you would like to clear first. Joe likes to do everything from the right side.  You can clear your nose from each side, or all from one side.

If you are going to clear your right nostril from the right hand side, you can do the over the shoulder technique where you use the back of your hand or index finger and shoot over your shoulder.  There is the under the arm technique where you drop your head down, lift your arm up and you can either use your right hand over your nose, or your left hand across your body.  We will let Joe demonstrate.

Snot Rocket to the right

Snot Rocket to the left

Snotting under the arm

Schedule of Events

8am – 3pm Bike Swap
8:30-10am Equipment check-in
10.30am Sale Begins . Find that special bike or gear item at amazing prices!
10am -2pm Volunteers in Policing bike rodeo
1:00 pm Bike repair clinic – On the road repairs
1:30 pm Bike repair clinic – Home maintenence

Bring your old bike, your still good clothing, gear and componentry! Bring your items in the morning and take home a nice fat check in the afternoon!

Come and find a bargain, find a new best friend.

Bike Rodeo
Volunteers in Policing will hold a bike rodeo to emphasis bicycle
safety for kids. Kids learn skills to ride safely and ultimately build
confidence in their riding abilities while staying safe! This very fun
clinic allows kids to learn in an environment that promotes healthy,
safe kids, while having loads of fun at the same time!

Save Time – fill out the consignment form ahead of time.

Want to earn brownie points and the respect and loyalty of your peers?  Volunteer by showing up at 7am!

Call 455 6520 for more information!

Goldstream Sports is looking for customer service employees. Applicants must be available to work weekends and evenings. We need a full time employee or a couple part time employees that can work a minimum of 20 hour per week. Basic bike knowledge is needed. Please drop off resume at the store.

At Goldstream sports, we pride ourselves on our knowledge of skis.  With over 50 years of expert experience between the employees, you can trust us when looking for the right ski for you.  Our ski technicians take great pride in their work, and work hard to make sure your skis perform as well as possible to give you the best ski experience, every time!

But, if your skis are not fitting right, there is not a whole lot that ski preparation can do.  Some things to look for in a good fitting ski include the camber.  Performance skis are designed to have a specific camber based on the style of skiing, weight of skier, and even trail and snow conditions, and terrain. The camber of the ski is important in the performance of the ski, and your pleasure of skiing.

Camber too soft: In a classic ski if the camber is too soft, your glide will be minimal to none, and you will wear your kick wax off quickly leaving you with no real kick either.   Touring skis do not need a whole lot  of camber, and a soft camber in this instance is good, as you will get plenty of kick on uneven ground.

In skate skiing, a too soft camber will reduce your gliding and will even make your ski handling very squirrely.This is not fun when you are trying to ski in a particular direction and your tips have a

mind of their own.

Camber too stiff:  In classic skiing, camber is really important.  When you are standing evenly on your skis, the area that is not touching the ground (or fitting table in our case) is called the wax pocket.  This is an area measured using different thickness feeler gauges.  The different thickness gauges mark the limits for different kick wax such as binder, regular, and klister. Now, if your classic skis do not ‘close’ when standing on the ball of one foot, you can apply all the wax in the world and you might as well be doing the Looney Tunes run!  Your wax pocket will not engage with the snow and you will have no means to propel yourself forward.

In skate skiing a too stiff camber wont hurt you as much as in classic, though you may be thrown around when pushing off.

Bring your skis in for a free camber test!  We will use our professional fitting table and feeler gauges and let you know how well your current skis fit you.

Have fun on the trails!