Man lifts car off of trapped cyclist

Real life Incredible Hulk Tom Boyle saw Kyle Holtrust pinned underneath a Camaro after Holtrust was struck while riding his bike in Tuscon. Holtrust, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 300 pounds, ran over and lifted the front end of the car off of the boy so he could be pulled out. Read more here.

More bicycle news

UCI President Pat McQuaid: "A crusade against doping". Phil does a good job capturing how I and many other cycling fans feel about the latest scandals over at Spinopsys.

Phonak to drop sponsorship of cycling.

And Dick Pound sounds like a broken record but maybe he needs to.

Expert claims there's no way Floyd's positive can be the result of naturally high levels of testosterone.

How do you get the funk out of your helmet? Guru Grrl washes hers in the shower.

Transportation and the Hegelian Dialectic

Thesis.

Antithesis.

Synthesis.

Thank you to CycleDog for the inspiration.

BlogHer and bicycles

Richard Masoner -- 750 female bloggers ("BlogHer," get it?) have gathered at the BlogHer 2006 conference in San Jose to talk blogging, nearly quadrupling attendance over last year's inaugural conference and attracting major corporate sponsors Yahoo, MSN, GM, and Johnson & Johnson along with a pile of other smaller brands.

BlogHer member Pam of Nerd's Eye View higlights some of the XX-chromosone bicycle bloggers out there: Toronto Tanya the Crazy Biker Chick, This Old Bag, and Jill in Alaska.

I guess MasiGuy has a feminine side too, as the masiguy blog will be featured in a panel discussion about Masi's success with marketing and blogging.

Tags: blogher, blog, women, bicycle, cycling

Portland judge: Brakeless fixie is bad

BikePortland Blog reports that a Multnomah County judge has ruled that the ability to skid with a brakeless fixed gear bicycle does not meet the Oregon statutory requirement for a bicycle, which "must be equipped with a brake that enables the operator to make the braked wheels skid on dry, level, clean pavement strong enough to skid tire."

Many fixed-gear bicycle enthusiasts ride without brakes, using technique and strength to stop their bikes. Because fixies do not freewheel, locking the legs stops the motion of the wheels. Hopping up or "skipping" the rear wheel a moment before locking the legs makes this a lot easier.

Many armchair cycling lawyers have argued that skid stops on a fixie meet the law's requirement that a brake must be able to induce a skid.

From the comments, it appears Portland Police are now cracking down and ticketing brakeless fixie riders instead of cracking down on the real traffic problems in Portland. Automobiles killed somewhere around a dozen cyclists last year in Portland; how many deaths were caused by brakeless fixed-gear riders?

Tags: fixed+gear, fixie, portland, brakes, brakeless, law, judge

Landis Fails Test

It'll be interesting to see where this goes, hopefully it's a natural positive...

From CNN.com:

LONDON (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site, raising questions about his victory.

The team suspended Landis, pending results of the backup "B" sample of his drug test, just four days after Landis stood on the victory podium on the Champs-Elysees, succeeding seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as an American winner in Paris.

The Swiss-based Phonak team said it was notified by the UCI on Wednesday that Landis' sample showed "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when he was tested after stage 17 of the race last Thursday.

"The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result," the Phonak statement said.

Landis made a remarkable comeback in that Alpine stage, racing far ahead of the field for a solo win that moved him from 11th to third in the overall standings. He regained the leader's yellow jersey two days later.

Landis rode the Tour with a degenerative hip condition that he has said will require surgery in the coming weeks or months.

Arlene Landis, his mother, said Thursday that she wouldn't blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but "if it's something worse than that, then he doesn't deserve to win."

"I didn't talk to him since that hit the fan, but I'm keeping things even keel until I know what the facts are," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Farmersville, Pennsylvania. "I know that this is a temptation to every rider but I'm not going to jump to conclusions ... It disappoints me."

The Phonak statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's world governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.

Phonak said Landis would ask for an analysis of his backup sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake."

Landis has been suspended by his team pending the results. If the second sample confirms the initial finding, he will be fired, Phonak said.

USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee said that organization could not comment on Landis.

"Because it's an anti-doping matter, it's USA Cycling's policy not to comment on that subject out of respect for the process and Floyd's rights," Lee said. "Right now, we have to let the process proceed and we can't comment on it."

Carla O'Connell, publications and communications director for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said: "I'll make this very brief: No comment."

Under World Anti-Doping Agency regulations, a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone greater than 4:1 is considered a positive result and subject to investigation. The threshold was recently lowered from 6:1. The most likely natural ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in humans is 1:1.

Testosterone is included as an anabolic steroid on WADA's list of banned substances, and its use can be punished by a two-year ban.

Landis wrapped up his Tour de France win on Sunday, keeping the title in U.S. hands for the eighth straight year. Armstrong, long dogged by doping whispers and allegations, won the previous seven. Armstrong never has tested positive for drugs and vehemently has denied doping.

Speculation that Landis had tested positive spread earlier Thursday after he failed to show up for a one-day race in Denmark on Thursday. A day earlier, he missed a scheduled event in the Netherlands.

On the eve of the Tour's start, nine riders -- including pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso -- were ousted, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

The names of Ullrich and Basso turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who allegedly had contact with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who's at the center of the Spanish doping probe.

Floyd Landis

*sigh*

When the news first came out about the anonymous A sample from Stage 17, I had a very bad feeling about it.

An American Trend?

With Floyd Landis winning the Tour de France today, it seems like Americans are revolutionizing the sport. After the first win for Greg Lemond in the 1986, it seems like it is impossible for an American to win the Tour de France in peak condition. Greg Lemond for example was shot by his brother-in-law and almost died. He came back to win the Tour de France two more times, with shotgun pellets still in his body. Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer, beat the cancer, and won the Tour de France a record seven times. And now Floyd Landis has won the Tour de France as he suffers from "aseptic bone necrosis", a degenerative condition that will require replacement surgery.

What will the next American winner fight through? Only time will tell, but for right now, you could easily say that American cyclists are the toughest in the sport.

Heat and exhaustion

Fritz here.

I got into cycling in the mid 80s in Texas at about the same time and same locations that Lance Armstrong dropped out of football and began tearing things up in road races in north central Texas.

I commuted -- by bike -- 20 miles every day from the north side of Fort Worth to my job in Irving, crossing through North Richland Hills, across the Mid Cities of Hurst/Bedford/Euless, through DFW Airport and to my job on Valley View Lane in Irving.

Texas residents know that Texas can get and stay hot through the summer time. I'd arrive home covered with white salt -- the leavings of my evaporated sweat. But I didn't have a hard time with the heat because I was acclimated to the heat.

I live near Santa Cruz, California now, inland from the beach about five miles and 600 feet higher. I am not heat acclimated now. Because of my past experience, however, I didn't think riding around in the heat would bother me. It did.

I cycled downhill the Santa Cruz, went west a ways to Capitola and Aptos, circled back to Santa Cruz, then took Graham Hill Road up straight up to Felton. Up in elevation and in temperature.

Foolish me, I only had one water bottle with me. I kept it full by stopping at gas stations for water and gatorade. It's only six miles to Felton while I climbed to an elevation of over 700 feet before dropping back down into Felton. In the meantime, the temperature soared from 87 degrees to 110 degrees in Felton. I ran out of water at three miles but I was still feeling good, pushing myself at 15 mph on the uphill grade. At four miles I started feeling a little weak and slowed down to 11 mph. When I finally reached Felton I was dying, coasting on the downhills and barely staying a 7 to 11 mph on the uphills segments. I stopped at Safeway and bought a liter of water and a liter of PowerAde and sucked about half of it down right away.

I still had another five miles of mostly uphill to go for home. After a short rest I thought I felt better, but as soon as I hit the hot sun the weakness set in again, along with some nausea. I removed the foam insulation from my head and pressed on the mostly uphill ride home at 5 to 7 mph.

I got home, obviously, and took a nice cool shower. Then I jumped into the pool. Important tip: NEVER jump into a cold swimming pool after exerting yourself in the heat. Doing so may will result in very painful leg cramps.

After that, I slept a full twelve hours. My dog woke me up begging to be let out for a walk.

Today is another hot day. I'll wait until after 4 p.m. before going out again. I also read Tournez à gauche's tips on riding in the heat. Hat tip to Cycling Dude for the Tournez et al link.

TdF 2006: Floyd reclaims Yellow Jersey!

The Individual Time Trial doesn't make for the best live television, but Kloden's blistering performance in Stage 19 put him on the podium as he knocked Sastre into fourth place.

As expected, Floyd Landis pulled ahead of Pereiro and Sastre to retake the Yellow Jersey. Everybody is already proclaiming Landis the winner. Yay!

It's nearly 100 degrees F / high 30s C outside today -- I'm walking to the beach to go cool down.

Hit the 'play' button below and tell me about the tune you hear.

Double Edge Films: Spin

This is a fantastic, professionally produced video from Double Edge Films in Denver. A DJ witnesses a car hit a bicycle. He uses his equipment to turn back time and fix the damage. Hat tip to Waxy Poetic for this.

Hayward, California Critical Mass Tonight

Richard Masoner -- The East Bay city of Hayward, California joins several other San Francisco Bay Area cities in having a Critical Mass. The alleged non-organizers of this CM have organized the start time and place of this spontaneous, non-planned gathering to be at the Hayward City Library at 6 p.m., July 21, 2006. Directions from Hayward BART: Get on to B Street and go east until you reach Watkins St. Turn Left On Watkins For One Block and The Library Will Be On Your Left.

Critical-Mass.Org.

From Boulder to Africa: A Bicycle's Journey
The Commons @ The Boulder Co-Op Market
1904 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302.
7:30pm on Tuesday July 25th.

Spokes Community Bicycle Project and Community Cycles is proud to sponsor an evening with, "The Village Bicycle Project" and it's Leader, Dave Peckham. Come and learn about, Poverty Reduction, Rural Development, Empowerment, and Sustainable Affordable Transportation for Africa. In 2005, the Village Bicycle Project served nearly 1000 rural Ghanaians with bicycles and basic repair skills. Learn how Boulder County can make a difference in Africa.

Spokes and Community Cycles has collected over 300 bicycles thus far and we are very close to out goal of 400-450 bicycles for Africa. Join us on Tuesday evening and learn of the bikes journey from Boulder, CO to Africa. Donations will be excepted and a fantastic Cruiser Bicycle will be auctioned as a Fund Raiser to help offset bicycle transport to Africa!

Spokes Community Bicycle Project
Community Cycles.
Village Bicycle Project.

More bicycle news

Lost in Tour de France news is the announcement that the AMGEN Tour of California has announced the 2007 host cities. Here they are:

Prologue: Sun., Feb. 18, San Francisco
Stage 1: Mon., Feb. 19, Sausalito to Santa Rosa
Stage 2: Tue., Feb. 20, Santa Rosa to Sacramento**
Stage 3: Wed., Feb. 21, Stockton** to San Jose
Stage 4: Thu., Feb. 22, Seaside** to San Luis Obispo
Stage 5: Fri., Feb. 23, Solvang** Individual Time Trial
Stage 6: Sat., Feb. 24, Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita**
Stage 7: Sun., Feb. 25, Long Beach** Circuit Race

AMGEN Tour of California website.

BroadbandRacer.com is a new site bringing video highlights of bicycle racing action. Via Blue Collar MTB.

The UK Bike For All project selected six demonstration cities to showcase cycling in the United Kingdom and increase levels of cycling in those cities. The demonstration city project is a bit like the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Community program, with cities selected based on cyclist-friendliness, receptive city councils, and so forth. The video showcasing this project features interviews with people who don't bike for transportation, with followups after instructions. Pretty good stuff for cycling advocates everywhere.

San Francisco Chronicle: Bike touring easier than it looks.

Have a great weekend! Allez Floyd!

The environmental paradox of cycling

Wharton School of Business professor Karl Ulrich presents a tongue-in-cheek analysis demonstrating that cycling for transportation is actually bad for the environment. "Substituting bicycling for driving is frequently promoted as a means of reducing energy consumption
and the associated degradation of the environment," Ulrich writes. "The environmental benefits of human power are, however, strongly coupled to the environmental costs of increased population, due to increased longevity of those who engage in physical activity. Paradoxically, increased use of human power for transportation is unlikely to reduce substantially the use of energy."

Andrew Leanard responds in Salon magazine, pointing to a research paper from Dr. Paul Higgins, a research fellow at U.C. Berkeley. Higgins writes that "exercise-based transportation reduces oil dependence, carbon emissions and obesity." The improved health of cyclists results in potentially lower carbon emissions just from lowered health care costs.

The summary in Salon is more than a summary, with Leanard drawing his own conclusions. After, paradoxically, viewing a BMW ad. Maybe we'll have to go to a Logan's Run type of world if we all switch to bicycling.

Tags: carbon, emissions, health, population, cycling, advocacy, research, ulrich

Stage 18: "Recovery day" for Floyd Landis

A breakaway that grew to almost eight minutes from the peloton resulted in a stage win for Quick Step-Innergetic cyclist Matteo Tosatto of Italy.

The GC leaders stayed with the peloton today, using the 120 mile race today as a "recovery day," in Floyd Landis's words. For the top three contenders, the time differences remain unchanged from yesterday, with Pereiro retaining the Yellow Jersey, fellow Spaniard Saste 12 seconds behind at second place, and Floyd Landis 30 seconds behind Pereiro in 3rd place.

Andreas Kloden is just shy of two minutes behind Floyd. Unless Floyd is involved in an accident or mechanical, he very well may have the Yellow Jersey wrapped up. Pereiro concedes that Landis is better in Time Trialing, but we've already seen what mental determination can do. "I'm going to go all out," says Pereiro of Saturday's stage.

Bicycle music

The music accompanying yesterday's Floyd Landis post was Chris Izaak's "Going Riding." I'm shocked -- shocked! I tell ya -- that nobody picked up on this song's significance to the road racing community! Click to listen and then tell me where you've heard this song before.

In honor of Tosatto's stage win, today's musical selection is a piece from Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, AKA "The Italian." Click here to listen.

Tags: tdf, tour+de+france, floyd+landis, matteo+tosatto, mendelssohn, italian, oscar+pereiro

T-Mobile breaks off with Jan Ullrich

Jan Ullrich was notified Thursday that he has been formally removed from the T-Mobile Cycling Team. He was suspected of using the services of doctor Eufemiano Fuentes whom Spanish police believe is at the heart of a blood-doping network. The 32-year-old Ullrich had been under contract with T-Mobile until the end of the year, but like most pro rider contracts, Ullrich's included an escape clause, allowing the team to sponsor any rider suspected of doping.

Ullrich responded to the notice with a statement on his website: "The notice of T-mobile is not acceptable for me. I am very disappointed over the fact that this decision was communicated to me not personally, but by the T-mobile-lawyers only by fax. I find it a shame that I after so many years of good co-operation and after everything which I did for the team, how I was treated with a fax."

Ullrich promises to sue if T-Mobile doesn't change their mind.

For Ullrich, who patiently bided his time until Armstrong's retirement and for which 2006 would be his last chance at competition, this has to be a disappointing end.

With the excitement of the 2006 Tour de France, it's easy to forget about the drug scandals looming over this year's event. After the hurrahs are over this weekend, L'Equipe and other media will go back to analyzing who was associated with Doctor Michele Ferrari.

Jan Ullrich's website.

Tags: jan+ullrich, tdf, tour+de+france, t+mobile, cycling, ullrich

Video: Biker hit by car and lands on his feet with ninja-like smoothness

This guy gets hit by a car running a red light, lands on his feet and walks around yelling. I got hit by a car once almost exactly like in this video, except I was on a bicycle. I rolled onto the hood, bounced off the windshield and landed on my feet on the street. The adreneline rush was amazing beyond description.

Tour de France: Let's look at the standings

1. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B. 3248.6km in 80:08:49
2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 00:12
3. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 00:30
4. Andréas Klöden (G), T-Mobile, 02:29
5. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 03:08
6. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 04:14
7. Cyril Dessel (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, 04:24
8. Christophe Moreau (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, 05:45
9. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 08:16
10. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 12:13
11. Frank Schleck (Lux), CSC, 13:48
12. Michael Boogerd (Nl), Rabobank, 13:52
13. Pietro Caucchioli (I), Credit Agricole, 15:46
14. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 17:18
15. Marcus Fothen (G), Gerolsteiner, 17:23
16. Tadej Valjavec (SLO), Lampre, 20:50
17. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, 21:04
18. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, 22:01
19. Azevedo José (P), Discovery Channel, 34:01
20. David Arroyo (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 37:11

Stage 18 tomorrow will depend a lot on teamwork. Floyd's done great as a Lone Ranger in le Tour this year, but it remains to be seen if he can use his team to help him out. Some talented sprinters are still in the running; like today's race demonstrated, anything can happen and it would be foolish to count anybody out.

That said, Pereiro and Sastre are both dead meat for the time trial stage coming up on Saturday.

What do you think? Who will win tomorrow and Saturday, and how will the standings change?

Holy Comeback King, Batman!!

What an absolutely astounding comeback by Floyd Landis in Stage 17 of the Tour de France today! I was in the bike shop this morning and we were all stunned by Floyd's amazing win today, coming within 30 seconds of overall leader Oscar Pereiro. I'm glad Floyd Landis was able to overcome his mental funk yesterday, get his groove on and hammer away, destroying a breakaway and playing an incredible mental game with the other top contenders.

This year's Tour, folks, is what sports is all about.

Other reports:

• TdFBlog: Epic! Landis rides their wheels off; takes Stage 17!
  
• Tidbits: True Grit.
  
• Mike Zellers: Tour de Wow!
  
• Pez: Lazarus Landis!
  
• OLNTV Daily Tour de France Videos.

Please feel free to leave a comment pointing to your own blog entry about Floyd's win today.

Singlespeeds: Two on the train

I shared the train with two singlespeed riders this evening. On the right is Katie in Palo Alto with her brand-new Bianchi San Jose singlespeed cross bicycle. She tells me that about four of her co-workers at Facebook also ride singlespeeds and fixies.

On the left is Kyle in San Jose with his Centurion. He bought the bike for eighty bucks and replaced the rear hub to convert it to singlespeed. He plans to get a flip-flop hub so he can freewheel on one side and go fixed on the other side. Rock on.

Click on the photos to see Flickr comments.

Tags: singlespeed, palo+alto, san+jose, commute, california, bay+area, commuters, bianchi, centurion, facebook

Shimano recalls QR skewers

Cut-and-paste from CPSC. How do I tell if I own one of the 8500 faulty skewers?

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Shimano Quick Release Device

Units: About 8,500

Manufacturer: Shimano Inc., of Osaka, Japan

Hazard: The quick release skewers can unexpectedly fail or break when locked in position. When this happens the rider could lose control and fall.

Incidents/Injuries: Shimano has received one report of the quick release breaking. No injuries have been reported.

Description and Models: This recall involves quick releases supplied after November 1, 2005 with Shimano front hubs and front wheels on the following road racing and MTB bicycles. Model numbers included in the recall are: HB-5501, HB-5600, HB-6600, HB-7800, HB-HF-08, HB-M756, HB-M760, HB-M760, HB-M960, HB-M965, WH-7801, WH-7801C, WH-7801C50, WH-7801SL, WH-R600, WH-M965, DH-2N71, DH-3N71 and DH-3D71. Only quick releases with silver skewers and without a round sticker on the back of the quick release lever are involved in this recall.

Sold at: Bicycle specialty stores and dealers nationwide from November 2005 through March 2006 for between $13 and $44.

Manufactured In: Japan

Remedy: Consumers should stop riding immediately and take the quick release device into their local bike dealer or retailer for a free inspection and repair.

Consumer Contact: For more information, contact Shimano American Corp. at (800) 353-4719 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at bike.shimano.com

Floyd Landis: The next great U.S. cycling hero?

Great story on FOX Sports about Floyd Landis.

The condition virtually cripples Landis off the bike, but since cycling is not a weight-bearing activity and doesn't place as much strain on his hip as, say, walking or getting in and out of a car, he claims he's able to manage the pain while on the bike. The fact that he is able to ride at all is utterly remarkable. That he is able to compete at the highest level of his sport with a dodgy hip approaches the miraculous.

More bicycle new

Cyclists complain about all the pedestrians on Santa Monica bike paths.

"The pedestrians are out of control," said Sabrina Champi, of Venice, echoing the sentiments of a large number of cyclists growing ever-more frustrated by the throngs of walkers on the pathway. "They clog up the path and it leads to trouble. I've nearly crashed into pedestrians several times. Mostly, it's people that don't realize it's a bike path. It's not the locals."

Ironically, Champi and her boyfriend Jim Embrescia were roller skating on the bike path at the time, walking their leashed dog Frankie -- also a violation.

This Australian bike bus is like the Walking School Bus, except it's for adult commuters. Some bike mentor programs in the U.S. and U.K. have similar programs. Via.

OIFS is amazed that Christians would visit his site. Being a fundy myself and a subscriber to his blog, I'm not sure what to think of his thinking. Oh well.

Lot's of depressing, bad news today.

For those who haven't heard, there's a bike race on. Go Floyd!

Ritchey Logic blog

Richard Masoner -- Gary Boulanger AKA Gaansari Gary is now doing marketing and PR work for bicycle-component company Ritchey Logic in California. Gary writes the Tour de Ritchey blog, chronicling the five Ritchey-sponsored teams participating in the 2006 Tour de France. Tour de Ritchey supplements Ritchey's existing Break Away Today blog.

Bicycle Friendly Community application deadline August 18

The next deadline for applications to be designated as a Bicycle Friendly Community is Friday, August 18. The application form has been amended to include more questions related to access to single-track riding and other mountain bike riding opportunities. New and renewing communities should go to www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org for more details.

From personal experience, it may be a little late if your own community hasn't started the paperwork process already, but visit the BFC website anyway to get the process rolling for next year. If you are involved in cycling advocacy in any way in your community, the BFC program is a pretty good way to get bicycling on the minds of your city planners.

Name this tune

If you know this tune and who originally did it, leave a comment. No prizes this time. This partly just a random post, partly a test.

Update: I've replaced the MP3 of the Gary Jules & Michael Andrews with a link to the Tears for Fears music video on YouTube. I found the mp3 from this blog.


TJMG: Here's the code to make music play automatically. I'm not sure this is all correct -- somebody with a little more HTML knowledge than me feel free to correct this:

<EMBED src="yoursong.mp3" autostart="true" hidden="false"> <NOEMBED> <BGSOUND src="yoursong.mp3"></NOEMBED></embed>

Sock Guy blog

Sock Guy has a blog. I own this American Flag sock, along with a half-dozen more designs. My wife has about a dozen Sock Guy socks, with designs tending toward the cute. Via the Kook Aid Krew.
Photo info: Sock Guy socks by richardmasoner.

Pound says, "You're not trying"

As a result of the Spanish doping investigation a team was completely dismantled, and several top riders were summarily suspended from competing in the Tour de France at the behest of the UCI. The response from Dick Pound, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)? "I see no serious progress in the UCI's effort to gain control of the existing doping situation."

Read about the WADA and Dick Pound's comments here.

Monty Python: Bicycle repairman

This is more than a few years old but still funny.

Bicycles and Engineering & Life

Bill Hammack is a Chemical Engineer at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. When I lived in Champaign County, I used to listen to his three-minute "Engineering & Life" program on Illinois Public Radio. Bill tells the stories behind the material stuff that surrounds us - tupperware, spam, skyscrapers, and plastic bottles. His show is on hiatus right now, but he did a couple of stories about bicycles. In this story, Bill tells us the role bicycles played in creating our mass consumer society. And here, Bill talks about Terry Bicycles and designing for women.

I link to the transcripts, but the RealAudio are more interesting in my opinion. If you're a geek like me, enjoy a few minutes exploring his archives.

Tags: engineering, bill+hammock, public+radio, npr, bicycles, terry+bicycles, design, urbana, champaign, uiuc, university+of+illinois

Trek Singlespeed 69er

Trek's prototype "69er": A Singlespeed mountain bike with 26 inch rear tire and 29 inch front tire, seen at NORBA USA National Championships in Sonoma, California this weekend. Like PB&J says, "why carry one spare tube, when you can carry two?"

TdF: Pereiro holds Yellow on Stage 14

Bobke, Donna, and Masiguy have gotten me to say it now too: The Tour Day France.

Floyd Landis starts the week a minute and half behind Spaniard Oscar Pereiro, who currently wears the Yellow Jersey. After a rest day tomorrow, le Tour heads into the mountains, where the climbers where battle it out for the Yellow Jersey. Just about everybody in the top 10 right now are good to excellent climbers, so the Yellow Jersey can go to anybody and very well may change from day to day.

The 2006 Tour has been extremely interesting to follow. I didn't mention it the other day, but Masiguy has excellent Tour coverage, the Cub Reporter providing le Tour updates direct from France now.

Whipping handlebars

Steve wrote about whipping handlebars, complete with photos and everything, just for me. Thanks, Steve.

Bike Friday Walter: New Location

Virtually, that is. Bike Friday Walter is the Bike Friday guy with the fixed-gear Friday. He's moved his blog from here to here.

Recent posts include a report about a bent Friday and his thoughts on the Tour of Utah.

Cross Country for Cancer

Check this:

Cross Country for Cancer is a daily blog of the journey of six international college students cycling 4000 miles from San Francisco, CA to Baltimore, MD. We are attempting to raise awareness and donations for cancer research at John Hopkins University. The website sports entertaining blogging, GPS tracking of the riders using Mologogo, photos and journaling, as well as an online donation system and all that sort of thing. We are in our 12th day of 45 days of riding.

This link may belong on cyclelicio.us because: (A) there is delightfully entertaining cycling content, (B) GPS is used to track the riders across America, (C) the vicariously-accessible adventure is all for a good cause... beating Cancer.

The blog link: http://www.crosscountryforcancer.org

Includes photos of guys sticking their hands in their shorts for warmth and one of the World's Most Sophisticated Gaydar.

I suppose I should mention

Everybody else has already mentioned Floyd Landis and his yellow jersey. I wasn't going to say anything, but I'm pretty stoked. Floyd is the fifth American to get the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France, so go Floyd Go! And how about Levi Leipheimer in his 2nd place finish today yesterday (later than I thought)?

Handlebar tape adhesive

It's 10 p.m. and it's time for me to re-wrap my handlebars. I tear the old stuff off, open up the Cinelli box, and dump the contents onto a table. Although I know better, I carelessly peel the backing from the adhesive. Naturally, the adhesive tape sticks to the backing as I remove it, not to the cork wrapper.

From past experience I know that this no-adhesive bar tape will last about a week at the most. Do I wrap the handlebar anyway then go back to the store this weekend for a replacement? Do I leave the handlebar bare so I have contents to return with the opened Cinelli box?

Such a dilemna. Help me out here.

700 Club Update: I should have know this, but Jonathan had previously mentioned the 700 Club visiting Portland and shooting some video for the bike story.

A new twist on high school shop class

Remember shop class in high school, where you learned those useful vocational skills? Harbor High School in bike-crazy Santa Cruz, California will offer a bicycle shop class. Part auto shop and part drivers’ education, teenagers will learn repair and maintenance skills, road safety and how to protect their bikes from thieves.

Berri Michel, owner of Bicycle Trip Shop and developer of the class, hopes the new class will provide a pool of mechanics for the bike industry in Santa Cruz County. The Santa Cruz County Bicycle Industry Coalition said there are more than 500 bike industry jobs in the county.

"There’s a shortage of bike mechanics," Michel said. "If kids could learn before they come in, there’s a lot of opportunity. The rest of the industry takes from bike shops for design, research and development, manufacturing."

Where in the world are Cyclelicious readers?

This map shows the location of Cyclelicious visitors from the past week.

Click on the map and, if you're a Flickr subscriber, leave a note tagging your location.

700 Club says "Ride a bike"

Amish Country by Scott's Shots.

The lead-in story for the 700 Club last night was useful information about how to save money by bicycling to work! In their online edition they don't link to Cyclelicious, but they do link to Bicycling Life, the League of American Bicyclists, and the late Ken Kifer's bike pages. That's the Good News for today, folks. Thank you to Eric R for the pointer. Go visit Eric's Cycling Shots site when you have a chance.

Tags: good+news, 700+club, christian+broadcasting+network, bicycle+news, bicycle

Kirsten Gum non-nude

Kirsten Gum has gotten extremely popular lately, I presume because of her new show on the Travel Channel.


Kirsten Gum? Masiguy says a lot of people visit his site looking for naked photos of him with sportscaster-hottie Kirsten Gum. Click here for the nasty details. *pause* -- Back to the action: Made you look! But I have some pictures of pretty girls on bicycles here if you want to look.

If you're really desperate, here's the comprehensive list of links to all things Kirsten Gum.

Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness designation

In Federal legislation proposed by Colorado Representative Mark Udal and Colorado Senator Ken Salazar, 250,000 acres of Rocky Mountain National Park will be designated as Federal Wilderness Areas, meaning mountain biking would be completely banned within the park boundaries. But after negotiations between the National Park Service, the Wilderness Society, the Headwaters Trail Alliance and the International Mountain Bicycling Assocations, the bill was revised to exclude the East Shore Trail, a 6 1/2 mile route that runs south from Grand Lake along the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Although mountain bikes are not currently allowed on RMNP trails, Park Service rules do allow for the possibility of mountain bikes. The IMBA has been working with local, state, and federal agencies for a bike trail connecting the villages of Grand Lake and Granby, and the East Shore Trail is the option most people are talking about.

Read more in the Rocky Mountain News.

Cyclelicious mentioned in Wall Street Journal

Woo hoo! Rich Layman just told me that Cyclelicious was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal last Friday in an article about fixed gear bikes:

'Look Ma, No Brakes'

By Hannah Karp

Forget about 28-speed mountain bikes, cruisers with huge seats or $3,500 bicycles that shift gears automatically. Cyclists seeking an adrenaline boost on their commute are increasingly climbing onto a model straight out of the 19th century: a bike that has just one gear, can't coast and often lacks a feature prized by most cyclists and law-enforcement officials -- brakes.

Taking a cue from velodrome racers and city bike messengers, a growing number of riders are buying so-called fixed-gear bikes. Unlike standard 18- or 21-speeds, fixed-gear models have pedals chained directly to the rear wheel so that whenever the wheel spins, ...

Sites including fixedgeargallery.com, cyclelicio.us and Sheldonbrown.com contain tales of stuck digits, even pictures of severed fingers.

Fixedgeargallery and sheldonbrown are excellent company! Subscription is required to read the full article.

Update: Graham at GoClipless mentioned this article and he has a link to the full article. I emailed the article author, Hannah Karp, and she told me that she found Cyclelicious after searching for web pages about the hazards of fixed gear bikes. If it bleeds, it leads.

Tags: hannah+karp, wsj, wall+street+journal, blog, cyclelicious, fixed+gear, fixie

Motorcycles in the bicycle lane?

The Motorcycle Riders Association of Australia (MRAA) wants the law changed to allow motorcycles and scooters to ride slowly in bicycle lanes. Read more here.

Spinopsys and commentors have a few words about this idea.

Independence is riding a bike

I'm busy this week. Visit Flickr to see what I'm up to a thousand words at a time.

For bikey stuff:

• Wheels of Justice is an Australian cycling advocacy site.
  
• You probably have your favorite Tour de France resources, but a couple of the blogs covering the Tour are Cycloblog and TDFBlog.

There are several other great blogs covering the TdF and other cycling news, I know, but the coffee shop I'm at closes in 20 minutes and then I'm off for some barbeque and then some fireworks.

For my US readers, I hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July Independence Day holiday.