I confess, I do not follow the high end racers nor do I have any opinion really other than a generalized dismay over the question of drug use in cycling. But some of you do. Perhaps you might like to sign the petition to let Levi ride.I picked this up on Road Bike Rider.com.

I’m sure it is legitmate but I’m not sure how much good signing a petition does.–Corrie

Click if you’d like to sign a petition to allow Levi Leipheimer and Team Astana to compete in the 2008 Tour de France.

While we all are dismayed at what drug-cheating has done to cycling and other sports, vigilance can go too far. Steve sends along this note:

Corrie, here’s an overly aggressive stance on drug testing.  I would have thought that an impossible position to reach, but bureaucrats found a way!

I wish all those wanting to police others could use sound judgement and good sense. –Steve

 http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/03/18/drug-war-goes-crazy-cyclist-forced-to-provide-sample-at-sons-c/

This is Belgian cyclist Kevin van Impe. His wife gave birth prematurely this year, and their son died hours after he was born.

Last week van Impe was at a crematorium, making arrangements for his son’s funeral, when a drug tester representing cycling’s governing body showed up. Van Impe asked whether the tester would be kind enough to give him some space during his grieving process, but the tester would have none of it, telling him it was provide a urine sample immediately or be banned from the sport for two years:

“He wouldn’t even come back later in the day. It was either do it right on the spot or it would be taken as if I had refused,” van Impe said.

Excuse number one for not commuting.

The ladies of the safety committe have been hard ar work gathering information on safety and ways to encourage biking to work. They are creating their own pages on the google groups site or you can find a link to their pages from the advocacy page.

Bet they don’t have this yet.–Corrie

One of the biggest problems that people tend to look at is the idea of getting sweaty an stinky after a bike ride. I think this has to be one of the turn-offs that people have with bike commuting.

Read Tips on handling this smelly problem.

No one’s immune to squirrel vs. bike collisions by Gene Bisbee at 11:01AM (PST) on February 5, 2008 | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Riding the Green Belt Trail is positively scary with suicidal squirrels.–Corrie

When I rode my bicycle out in the Central Valley of California, I always had to keep my eyes open for ground squirrels.

Those big, fat suckers would hang out in the shade of a haystack at a roadside dairyfarm, then kick up a small cloud of dust as they scampered across the road. It was always the squirrel’s agility, not my bike handling skills, that averted disaster.

A 61-year-old wasn’t so lucky. In spite of four transAmerica bike trips, Anthony Ricupero lost his first squirrel vs. bike tangle last weekend on a club ride near Greenwich, Conn.

Read more

Someone BikePortland attended the National Bike Summit in Washington DC and wrote these blog entries.

National Bike Summit 2008

Welcome to BikePortland.org’s special coverage of the 2008 National Bike Summit. Read all the articles by clicking on the headlines below. You can also view my photo gallery here.

This coverage is sponsored by Planet Bike.

Entries are at bikeportland.org/cats/ridesevents/bikesummit2008

The granola types over at the Sierra Club understand the bicycle a bit differently than most of us but they make a pretty good case for commuting. Maybe that isn’t so different. Think maybe the ladies of the safety committee might find a use for this page.–Corrie

Two-Wheeled Wonder
The glory of lungs, legs, and steel
March/April 2008

THE BICYCLE IS A MASTERPIECE of physics. It harnesses human muscle power directly to that old-time marvel–the wheel–and yields a vehicle more energy efficient than any other devised, ever, by anyone. A human on a bicycle is more efficient (in calories expended per pound and per mile) than a train, truck, airplane, boat, automobile, motorcycle, skateboard, canoe, or jet pack. Cycling is more efficient than walking, which takes three times as many calories per mile. Pound for pound, a person riding a bike can go farther on a calorie of food than a gazelle can running, a salmon swimming, or an eagle flying.

Read the rest of the story

Well, it’s not as easy as it sounds. First you’ve got to take the Road I course. I’ve been interested in this since I saw a course offered in Spokane a couple of years ago. I expected one would be offered the following year but if it was, I missed it.

The League of American Cyclists present a number of courses around the nation as well as League Certification Seminars. Taking Road I won’t certify me and I might like to take other courses if I can find them within reasonable distance before taking the certification Seminar. This Road I course will focus on Commuter skills in conjunction with Bike to Work Month activities in Spokane.

Road I takes place in Spokane on Tuesday, May 6, from 4?30 to 8 in the evening and again on Saturday, the 10th from 10 to 4pm.

This program is highly thought of. I’d hesitate to speak authoritatively without this training.

Let’s consider sending several of us up for the course. Information is available at Road I cours.

Will they successfully demonstrate even in bike friendly Marin County that spending money can increase ridership?–Corrie

MARIN BICYCLE advocates are convinced they can move the needle and get more residents to walk and ride bikes instead of driving cars.

The federal government has given the county $25 million to show they are right.

The pilot program is about more than wishful thinking. A report to Congress last week established some important baseline data by measuring travel behavior in Marin andthe three other communities selected for the $100 million Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program.

Read more

Just when I thought it was safe to use MapmyRide to keep track of my mileage, Cyclist Nexus sent me an update so I’ve got to go play with their gps import. MapMyRide doesn’t always get my Garmin mileage corrrect. Now this guy makes me take another look at Excel. Remember Steve has his 2008 Excel spreadsheet all prepped and ready for your new cycling season. See my reviews and down load Steve’s spreadsheet over at the Journal page. Follow the tips below to make it give you nice glitzy charts too. –Corrie

I am guilty of being a dork concerning a great many things. Bikes are at the forefront of my dorkiness but my obsession with Microsoft Excel is at the top of the list as well. So why not combine the two? If you are a hardcore Excel user, skip all the text and just look at the pictures and you’ll get the point. If you only have cursory knowledge of Excel, this entry should give you the basics to get started.

Read more about using Excel to track your mileage 

Safe Bicycling for Young and Older Children - Tips

Although it’s still cold out there, it will get warmer soon being the perfect time for children to ride their bikes. If you live in one of those lucky cities like Washington, DC, where it was Spring time this past weekend, chidren of all ages were riding their bikes.

More

Linda, Carol and Jen are working on coming up with safety projects that we can reasonably manage. Carol created the Helmet flyer that I posted yesterday. I thought those ladies might appreciate a second mention and doay’s three safety posts. –Corrie

Bike Mom Leads Safety Program

HBL Members doing great things

HBL’s 2007 Advocacy Volunteer of The Year winner Natalie Iwasa had a wonderful write-up recently in the Honolulu Advertiser. She was featured promoting the Bicycle School Bus program in Hawaii Kai. Natalie has started this program and is looking for students in the area that want to ride to school as well as adult volunteers to help out with the project. If you want to help with the Bicycle School Bus in Hawaii Kai, or want to start a Bicycle School Bus in your neighborhood, please contact Natalie at the-green-one@hawaii.rr.com

So how are the TRCers going to celebrate? Lots of ideas here.

Read more 

As a club, the board thinks we need to do more promotion of cycling. I have a Wash State Bicycle License Plate and I used to have a Share the Road bumper sticker. This article raises some questions about what that phrase might mean and also about what is the best way to promote cycling.–corrie

Share the road?

By Fritz

James in Greenville wants “Share the road” messages on local buses to help reinforce the idea that cyclists belong on the road. He especially likes the campaign in Atlanta, Georgia, where real people are pictured in the ads instead of just stylized, impersonal bike icons. The real faces humanize cyclists as real people instead of just obstructions in the road.On the Thunderhead Alliance mailing list there’s a discussion about the pros and cons of the “Share the Road” message. Patty Vinyard, executive director of the St. Louis Bike Federation, wants to make biking irresistible. She feels the basic messages of “Share the road” are negative. Consider her points:

The President’s ‘First Mechanic’: Cycling Store Owner Remembers Times With Bush

Published February 12, 2008 by The Hoya.com

Although President George W. Bush calls him “the Pinkster” in letters, Santiago Gonzalez goes by “Pinkey” to the Georgetown residents who visit his store on M Street. Gonzalez, who immigrated to the US from Spain, is a bicycle mechanic and co-owner of Revolution Cycles, a four-store chain of bicycle shops in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. About 10 years ago, Pinkey started Revolution Cycles, now reputed as the chain that supplies Bush with his bicycles and bicycle maintenance. They also provide similar services to the Secret Service, John Kerry and locals. This week, THE HOYA sits down with the man who Bicycling Magazine dubbed “The First Mechanic.”

Read the rest of the interview 

Steve sends this along.

RIPON, Wis. (AP) — A tiny liberal arts college here hopes it has found an answer to a nagging shortage of campus parking: a bicycle giveaway.

If incoming freshmen promise not to bring a car to campus for a full year, Ripon College will give them a Trek 820 mountain bike, a helmet and a lock - a $400 value.

“We’re a residential college with a beautiful, historic campus in the middle of a small town,” said President David Joyce, an avid cyclist. “Paving it over was not an option I was willing to consider.”

He hopes the 1,000-student campus’ “Velorution Program” will protect it from building more parking lots.

“We obviously live in a car culture. That’s not about to change,” Joyce said. “But if a significant number of students learn that a car isn’t a necessity at this stage of their lives, that’s good enough for me.”

Last fall, for the first time in Ripon College history, the number of parking permit applications exceeded the 400 permits available, Joyce said. The city approved a measure to close overnight street parking on every street through and adjacent to the campus.

Read the rest of the story. 

Annie Londonderry’s amazing bike trip around the world

by Gene Bisbee at 05:00AM (PST) on February 14, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

If you’re familiar with the world of bicycle touring, you probably already know that the first cyclist to pedal around the world was Tom Stevens, who left San Francisco on a penny farthing in 1884.

But who was the first woman to accomplish the feat?

Let me introduce you to Annie Londonderry, a Bostonian in her early 20s who undertook the journey 10 years later in 1894. Credited with accomplishing the bicycle journey by Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and countless other newspapers at the time, her story is one of high adventure and extreme risk for a woman travelling alone in the late 19th century.

Read the rest of the story and find a link to the book on Amazon. 

Italian Paolo Bettini won the road race in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

(c) USA Cycling

How to Earn a Spot in the Road Bike Race at the 2008 Olympics

From David Fiedler,
Your Guide to Bicycling.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

Your Path to Glory: Making the Team in the 2008 Olympic Road Bike Race

Competing in the Olympics is a dream for many athletes, and that’s no exception for road bike racers. Here’s how the selection process works to pick the cyclists who will ride in Beijing Summer Olympics road bike race, and what you need to do to claim your place among them.

Picking the Competitors - Road Race

 Read the rest of the story

Officials with the 2008 Boston Marathon have confirmed that Lance Armstrong will be competing in the April 21 event, considered one of the world’s premier marathons, after qualifying for it with his performance in New York inNovember 2007.

Finding bike love on Valentines Day

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on February 4th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

In Portland, Valentines Day should be called Velotines Day.

Sure, we love our bikes year-round, but this time of year an extra-special feeling permeates the bikeways.

Here are a few events to make your Velotines Day memorable.

Do you suppose this is what Linda had in mind for Valentine’s Day? –Corrie

Enlarge image

Valentine Bicycle Chain Bottle OpenerSize: 2″ x 6″ Price: $12 You or your heart’s delight will find this bottle opener easy to use. Its flexible handle is made from a recycled bicycle chain and the head, imprinted with a special heart design, is made from aluminum. Limited edition. Artist Bio In 1991, cyclist Graham Bergh got a flat tire and used the flat inner tube to hang his stereo speakers. Intrigued with the notion of reviving discarded bicycle parts, he founded a company based on just that: creating functional products from recycled bike parts and other “rescued” materials.