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.

Give ‘em a bike and look what you get?

The Outspokin’ Cyclist: Women’s liberation through bicycling

Posted on March 6, 2008
Filed Under columns 2008, politics, columns, bikes

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun

For many, the nineties were a time of political advancement and financial success. The economy was doing well, failed policies from previous administrations were being turned back, manufacturing was on the increase, and progress was the buzz-word in board rooms and parlors.

This national excitement had something, more than a little, to do with the fact that the 1890s were also the height of the bicycle boom in the United States. In 1897 alone, approximately three hundred manufacturers in the US sold more two million bicycles, doubling production from the previous year.

The bicycle had been invented only thirty years earlier, and the constant stream of improvements to its design was a celebrated sign of progress. The bicycle’s adoption by women of the era made the bicycle literally and metaphorically a vehicle of social change.

Read More 

Now here’s a challenge: cycle around the world. You tourists types will enjoy reading about the trip made to benefit five charities and set a new Guiness World Record.

On Friday 15th February at 1530, Mark Beaumont completed his 18,000 miles circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle. Mark arrived back at the Arc de Triomphe 194 days and 17 hours after leaving there on 5th August 2007. Total distance cycled was 18,297 miles through 20 countries. Guinness World Records have verified all the data and confirmed Mark is the new Guinness World Record holder!

Trek Bicycle founder Richard Burke dies

by Gene Bisbee at 05:00AM (PDT) on March 12, 2008  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

Go to most bicycling events where there are more than a couple of dozen bikes and you’ll  find Treks, Lemonds, Gary Fishers, and Kleins.

The bikes can range in price from about $400 to more than $7,000. What they all have in common is that they’re all made by Trek Bicycle, the world’s largest bike company.

Read the rest of the story. 

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

You’ve seen ‘em–wheels with only 16 spokes. You may be riding ‘em. Road Bike Rider discusses ‘em this week. And as a bonus, Doug sends along the bicycling article about Shimano’s Malaysian wheel buiding factory.  –Corrie

 

Wheels of Misfortune

 

At RBR we’ve stated our opinion of low-spoke-count wheels a few times. We consider them “event wheels” and believe they should be used that way — for special rides or races, not for everyday cycling or training.

 

Read the rest of the discussion on “event” wheels.

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 

Riders pass Tiananmen Square during the Olympic Men’s Road Race test event in August 2007.

Feng Li/Getty Images

Profile of the Olympic Road Bike Race Course

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

Preview of the Road Race at the Beijing Olympics

Remember the brutal conditions for the bicycle road race at the Athens Olympics in 2004? Searing heat had competitors dropping like flies as the riders wound their way through Athens for over five and a half hours. But current opinion from teams who have scoped the course that riders will face Beijing this summerat the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is that the Beijing route will make Athens seem like a cakewalk, as it is widely considered one of the most challenging in Olympic history.

Read More

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. 

A Guide to Individual Events in Olympic Track Bicycle Racing

Going back more than 100 years, track bike racing has long enjoyed a passionate following since the first world championships were held in 1895. That tradition continues in the 2008 Olympics, which offers a total of ten different track racing events, the most of any of the cycling disciplines.

Read the guide

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.

Do visit Jill’s blog. He’s right about the writing. ‘Course it helps to have 50 mile an hour headwinds to write about. Also learn how you may support her through purchasing gear on UltraRob’s page.

Helping Jill Do the Iditarod Trail Invitational Race

Courtesy of Jill
In a couple weeks, Jill from Juneau, Alaska will doing the Iditarod Trail Invitational Race. If you don’t read her blog, you really should. She’s an amazing writer and posts really great pictures.

Take this quiz to see what you know about bike safety. It isn’t always what you think it is. –Corrie

Bike Safety Institutie

Quoting Joe Friel, MS a highly respected cycling expert: “There are only two kinds of cyclists, regardless of whether they ride a road or mountain bike: those who have crashed and those who are going to.” Please see the below chart and take the short quiz to check your safety knowledge. Click the shift/brake levers on the bottom image for the safety quiz answers.

This site features daiily coverage of the show.–Corrie

North American Hand Made Bicycle Show

Portland, Oregon, USA, February 8 - 10, 2008

Main Page Next Part

Part 1 - Talented hands converge on the Pacific Northwest

By James Huang in Portland, Oregon

Photo ©: James Huang

This year’s North American Handmade Bicycle Show opens its doors this weekend with its longest exhibitor list yet and a new venue in downtown Portland, Oregon. According to show organizer Don Walker, the 2008 NAHBS will host 155 exhibitors as compared to just 23 in the inaugural show just three years ago. Given the host city’s notoriously bicycle-crazy population, last year’s figure of approximately 4000 figures is also almost guaranteed to be eclipsed by a wide margin.

“What’s happened is the NAHBS has taken me in a whole new direction,” said Walker. “I spend twelve months a year working on the show now. I didn’t really intend to be a show promoter, it just happened that way. My vision was always to make it more of a show than a seminar. The main focus in my mind was to raise awareness of the handmade frame building industry, and so far I think we’re doing a fair job of accomplishing that.”

Read the rest of the story

I don’t read Dear Abby. Honest. I remember my mother reading those letters to Dad every day. Linda spotted this column. I remember her saying it was all about bicycling but I never checked it out. This Abby column is all over the web the morning so it might as well be here–we do a fair amount of riding on bike paths.–corrie

Bike Path Etiquette According to Dear Abby

Dear Abby had a bunch of letters in her column one day this week about bike path etiquette. Don’t know if ol’ Abby is a cyclist or not, but she sure seemed interested in the way that bicyclists and walkers interact out on the trail.

Under the heading “Common Courtesy Conquers the Perils of the Bike Path,” Abby and a bunch of helpful letter-writers trade advice. One guy offers tips on how to notify walkers that they’re about to be passed (”When I’m on my bike, I always slow down and call out “On your left!” to warn the walker that I’m passing”) and another urges users of a shared path to have the slowest traffic keep to the right, so that there’s no interference between joggers, cyclists, walkers and roller-bladers.

It’s a nice switch from the normal advice to the love-lorn that dominates the column, and from now on, when I’m on my bike I’m definitely keeping an eye out for Dear Abby on the path. I think yeah, maybe she is cyclist. At least her hair-do would imply so.

Jim McCracken sends this notice from the Seattle Times. The infamous “right hook” claims another cyclist.

Danger in the bike lane

By Mike Lindblom

Seattle Times transportation reporter

PREV 1 of 3 NEXT

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Seattle is trying to address the number of dangers bicyclists face on city streets. One of the most common accidents is the “right hook” — a bike going straight enters an intersection and is hit by a car turning right. Above, bikers ride cautiously after crossing the Fremont Bridge.

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Bicyclists say the signs at the Fremont Bridge telling motorists to yield to bicyclists enhance safety. Seattle is trying to make some bike lanes more noticeable by painting them green.

Related

• How can we make the streets safer?

Safe cycling

Be visible. State law requires a headlight and rear reflector after dark, but riders should add a solid or blinking rear light. Wear bright or reflective clothes and reflective leg bands. A flag is good for short or recumbent cycles. Use a rearview mirror. It can be mounted on a helmet or handlebar. It will be easier to gauge whether you can move out into the roadway, and whether approaching drivers are likely to pass you at a safe distance.

Avoid blind spots. Bicyclists on sidewalks, or who pass cars on the right, become virtually invisible to drivers.

Be predictable. Stake out a clear position. Don’t weave frequently between the main roadway and the curb.

Use residential streets that run parallel to traffic-heavy corridors.

“Take the lane” when it’s safer than being squeezed to the right, especially riding downhill.

Educate yourself. Two good online articles are “How to Not Get Hit by Cars” at bicyclesafe.com, and “Avoid the Suicide Slot” on Kent’s Bike Blog.

Sources: BicycleSafe.com; Kent Peterson, Bicycle Alliance of Washington

Matt Corwin was pedaling home from work on his usual route when he approached the University Bridge. A line of cars waited at the red light, as Corwin cruised past in the bike lane.

As he entered the intersection, an SUV turned right — into Corwin’s path. Corwin squeezed his hand brakes. He stopped 2 feet from the SUV. The driver never saw him.

Sheldon Brown: A Tribute

The cycling world lost a giant recently. I was very saddened to hear that Sheldon Brown passed away. The world needs more Sheldon Browns.

I never had the chance to meet him in person, but I spent hours pouring over his web site. He was a cycling advocate, photographer, and journalist amongst other things. His web site is an encyclopedia of information that I am sure has amused and informed thousands of those trolling the internet for information on cycling related issues, techniques, and hacks.

He was an optimist to the “nth” degree. He even saw being afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis as an opportunity to shine. He had this to say about MS:

If you live on the Palouse, you may want one of these independent shops to build you a snow bike. Most will be at the Homemade Bike Show in Portland

Alaska snow bicycles

By Fritz

I think we’re all familiar with the Surly Pugsley and it’s well know that Moots custom builds snow bikes. Plenty of other options are available for fat tire bicycles for snow and sand riding.

See more bikes