July 2007 Archives

Perfect for hilly Seattle and I live on a steep hill.

This Mondo Nuvinci review was written by Val Kleitz, originally posted to phred.org, and is blogged here with permission. Below are related links and videos.

Since before the turn of the twentieth century, the development of gearing systems for bicycles has inspired a vast amount of technical invention and innovation. The overwhelming variety of drive train styles has been the subject of many articles and several books, and new developments continue to appear. One goal that has obsessed inventors almost from the beginning has been the creation of a continuously variable drive system. There have been many attempts to build such a system, which would allow the rider to change the gear ratio throughout the range without being limited to specific gear increments. Until now, all the imaginative approaches to this mechanical conundrum have been either completely unworkable, or inappropriate for use on bicycles.

Gizmodo | Trek Madone: The Bike That Owned the Tour De France

Great Tour for Discovery Channel, taking 1st overall, 3rd overall, the team competition, the white jersey, and two stage wins.

But it was an even better Tour for US frame manufacturers, who swept the jerseys and two of three podium places.

Discovery Channel was responsible for much of that success on Trek's Madone and Equinox TTX frames, with Contador in yellow and white, Leipheimer in 3rd with a win in Stage 19's time trial, and Yaroslav Popovych in 8th on the overall classification.

One of the most liberating things about Bettie is the big tires; Big Apples from Schwalbe to be exact. They’re like that cruiser bike you had as a kid, where you just roll over everything: through a field, over a curb, on gravel, potholes … whatever. They also have a magic carpet ride about them and Schwalbe calls big-apple equipped bikes, Balloon Bikes. Not sure how that marketing program is working, but we’re seeing bikes with big tires on The Ride, Batavus Diva, and even Dahons.

Big tires are cool, bigger is better, but what I’m don’t know about is the 650B wheels (which measure 27.5” in diameter, half-way between 26” and 29” wheels) discussed this week in Bicycle Newswire.

Question is whether or not the world needs another wheel size?

I saw valet bike parking in Beijing at nearly everyplace cars would park. I’ve heard about the very particular bike parking in Japan and now from Streetfilms, we’ve got parking at Giants Stadium …

It’s been a while since we ran a photo of the day, until I saw this photo from Swobo’s blog … Oh yeah! Reminds me of Chris Farley’s Fat Guy in a Little Coat.

While some would argue that Ti frames never left, they don’t get the respect they used to with all the industry focus on carbon these days. But in the latest issue of Road Bike Action they feature top Ti frames, including a new Litespeed that’s sub 800 grams. I’ve owned 3 ti frames and another, our Modal project, is being built now.

I race on carbon, just like any roadie, but when it’s time for a tour, all-day ride, endless hours in the rain, or just commuting, Ti is it for me.

It was well timed that I’d ride with David Hiller and Patrick McGrath (from Cascade) down the bus and bike-only thoroughfare on the same day the city announced it was permanent. We weaved in and out of the buses, cursed the few cars that had strayed onto the street, and urged the cops to ticket them.

A few turns later, in a sad amount of traffic, we went our separate ways, and back later for Critical Mass. Before our ride, we met at Zeitgeist Coffee talked advocacy, bikes, and more. Their bikes are pictured below.

We rode with Critical Mass last night, representin’ the hugga, kitted up and on our race bikes. Critical Mass meandered through downtown, towards Fremont via HWY 99, Stone Way, and then onto Golden Gardens. It was a fun, festive event, and massive.

from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Is doping the ruination of professional cycling? Some people seem to think so, and are taking it to the streets like so many latter-day Nancy Reagans.

At least it’s not “Just Say No” or “Get Doped on Life.”

The parallels between doping prohibitions and other kinds of prohibitions are unmistakable. Doping bans certainly are just as effective as alcohol and drug prohibitions have been, and the primary beneficiaries are those who violate the bans. Doping is big business, and making it scarce through bans makes it more lucrative.

Athletes have a powerful, rational desire to improve their performance using all methods available, and one can’t help but wonder if lifting bans on “illicit” performance enhancement wouldn’t be a better way to deal with the problem. What, after all, is the problem with doping? That it can cause harm to the dopers? That it makes for an uneven playing field? That the resulting performances aren’t real?

Wouldn’t each of these problems be addressed, each in its own way, if athletes could dope openly?

Flame away.

As if there weren’t enough cars on the roads, the upcoming lane closures on I-5 for the better part of August will push hundreds of cars onto alternate surface streets and push already crowded roads over the curb. With the effects of the construction expected to cause extensive regional and downtown traffic nightmares, what’s a cyclist to do?

Preceded by this weekend’s traffic madness; including the SeaFair Torchlight Run & Parade, two home games at The Safe and the Capitol Hill Block Party, this town’s in for a world of standstill.

There’s a part of me that isn’t looking forward to weaving my bike through all the craziness during my daily routine. And yet, as I witnessed a cyclist fly by a twenty-car backup today from the driver’s seat of my overpriced SUV, I realized that I’d still rather be on my bike.

The racing continues for Team Bike Hugger at Toona. They’re 8th overall in the Team GC with Julie Beveridge in the top 20 and Nicole Wansgard made an appearance on Cyclingnews with this photo.

Photo credit: Kurt Jambretz/www.actionimages.cc

In our latest Huggacast episode, we check out Novara’s new Buzz Fly By. The Fly By is a folding bike designed by Dahon that features a Nexus hub, unique graphics, seatpost pump system, and lots of attention to detail. Of all the bikes Novara showed us, the Fly By is my fav.

Cool to see the front page of the Seattle paper to have 2 lead cycling-related stories.

The Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board has overturned a law in Lake Forest Park restricting the development of the Burke Gilman Trail through their city. As the front page lead article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer states, they have been trying for years to limit trail (of thousands) in favor of the locals who live on the trail (much less than thousands).

While Le Tour continues, in chaos, this photo reminds me of “Le Tour de life,” where we just love bikes, that’s our dope.

Yes, no helmet, but the photo speaks for itself and also what you’re telling us in comments.

Karlee the Mavic rep called the other day and asked if I wanted to see the new R-SYS wheelset, the new top-of-the-line all-around wheels from Mavic. These puppies are slotted to come in above last year’s $1200 Ksyrium ES wheelset (ya know, the black wheels with a single red spoke). Yeah, bring’em.

Update
We Ride: Stone Way/Fremont Wednesday August 1
Meetup:4:30 (Gasworks) Ride:5-6pm

Join Seattle Likes Bikes tonight at 6:00 pm, leaving from Gasworks for a ride through lower Fremont to draw attention to the Stone Way gap. The plan for complete streets along Stone Way North, as outlined in the Bike Master Plan, has been under attack, leaving a gap between North 40th and 34th streets without any bike facilities.

Today from Cacade’s Breaking News:

Should anti-bike efforts succeed, it would set a horrible precedent. Moreover, it would embolden cycling-opponents to strip other corridors from the plan. If this happens, no part of the $240 million, 450-mile bicycle facility network is safe.

Show your support now and contact the Seattle City Council! The future of the Bike Master Plan depends on it.

The Seattle bicycle community enjoyed a huge victory this week, many thanks to Cascade and their work with the Burke-Gilman Legal Defense Fund. Finding in favor of a petition challenging the City of Lake Forrest Park’s Ordinance 951 (organized by Cascade), the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board agreed that the route is an important part of the regional transportation and recreation facilities.

The Burke-Gilman trail serves as a vital non-motorized transportation artery throughout the City of Seattle and connecting residents to cities north and east. The current trail running through the City of Lake Forrest Park is horribly managed and in need of serious attention. Crossing many residential streets, trail users face poorly-placed stop signs every couple hundred feet in addition to severely cracked and dangerous pavement. This ruling allows King County to bring the current section of trail up to current safety standards, better serving walkers, runners, roller-bladers and cyclists alike.

An excerpt from the press release:

“The stakes were huge. Today, we closed the door on cities that want to apply unsafe or non-standard conditions to regional trails, thereby impeding the development and maintenance of trails according to accepted, uniform standards,” said David Hiller, Cascade Bicycle Club Advocacy Director. “This case sets a precedent for all future trail development and reconstruction.”

This quote from Merckx says a lot

“This new scandal has left me K.O.’d. Since the start, they talked only of doping on Belgian television. And now, I learn that Vinokourov has played with his blood and that he’s leaving. It might be a good thing. We know now that it’s difficult to cheat and those who break the rules are caught. But, for me, that’s the end of cycling. And, I hope, the start of other things”

Reactions continue (rider protests and Rasmoo was boo’d) and I spoke to lots of people in the bike industry yesterday and the consensus was, “yes, sad, but our market doesn’t care too mich about le Tour or racing and that’s who we’re focusing on.”

With Interbike coming up, the Fall, and another bike season, I expect many are thinking of “other things” than racing. Like, comfort bikes, SUBs, cargo bikes, and the like.

Do you feel like Merckx after this latest scandal?

Check Kent’s Bike Blog for posts about his tour around Washington State, including this update from Monday

“This is just a quick post to let everybody know I’m still trucking along. I’m in Naches now, about to head up to White Pass and then down around Mt. St. Helens. I’ll be out of internet contact for a while. Good times in the Tri-cities and Yakima. Details and pics later.”

Kent’s posts are nostalagic for me, as I start riding — way back in the day — in Eastern Washington.

Note that when Andy told us about building a RAGBRAI bus for Lance, we thought that was so cool we invited him to post about it. He’ll also post later about Paris-Brest-Paris.

I’m driving down I-35 tomorrow to meet up with RAGBRAI and ride a couple days. I first went on this ride 29 years ago and it is what got me into riding. It wasn’t about bike culture, it was just riding. There was bike culture back then - I saw guys in the showers shaving their legs, and noticed guys on one speeds (I figured out later they were track bikes). I was only 12 years old, so for me, culture came later.

Now I’m “in the industry” and I haven’t been back to RAGBRAI for years. I’m excited to go back, and this year I have a bigger connection. Here at work we’ve been kitting out a Livestrong bus for the LAF to take on the ride.

Continuing with our bus theme today, just heard that Lance will have an LAF bus at RAGBRAI this year and it’s being customized by Hed Cycling — watch for pictures and more posts.

(note, I didn’t set out to have a bus day at bike hugger, but sometimes topics just fall into place …)

The City of Seattle is begining to implement the Bicycle Master Plan, including “sharrows” (shared arrows) and the West Seattle Blog posted a photo and report. Check Andrew’s post from last year on sharrows, and sharrows in Pittsburgh, San Francicso, controversy in Toronto, and a pro-sharrow video on YouTube … .

Where I was calling Vino a MOFO and Badass!, the news flash today may mean he’s a vampire blood doper.

Coverage

• Velonews
• Cyclingnews
• BBC sport

Our sister publication, TDFBlog, will cover this in full, and we’ll get back to the bike huggin’.

In a USAToday article, Richard Sachs credits blogs and customers with disposable income for a craft bike boom. That’s also the longtail at work, where an industry pumps out carbon bikes to the masses and Independent Bike Dealer making unique custom bikes are flourishing.

Are you seeing your local IBD flourish?

Team Bike Hugger is racing at the tour de Toona and posting about the 120% effort, a 7th overall, and discovering your inner couch potato.

In rdf1249’s photostream, you’ll find a bonanza of bike photos, including James’ New Davidson pictured today, 1950s Raleigh catalog, and much more.

From SRAM’s blog, we get an inside look at a team bus, Team Milram’s mechanic drives the bus, and Cyclingnews reports on the autobus, where all the sprinters and nonclimbers ride the mountain stages. The magic of the autobus is making it to the finish within the time limit, helping each other out, and there’s safety in numbers. Maybe next year OLN’s coverage will show more “extended” coverage about such topics as the autobus.

Over the weekend, Pam had control of the DVR and made me watch thong boy over and over again … payback for all the podium girls oogling, who I admit I’ve noticed repeatedly that they are in sporty new outfits this year.

Props to Coach Curly for finding the full-frontal view.

Despite a rain-dampened crowd, CycleFest had a lot to offer this year including this fascinating Tour de France mural presented by the Alliance Française de Seattle.

While there, with a downpour looming, Andrew won the Street Sprints; I spoke with David Hiller, Advocacy Director Cascade Bicycle Club, at length about Stone Way and Pam heard all about the Boise Twilight Crit from Team Group Health.

An absolute must-do for any local bike enthusiast, Cascade’s annual Cyclefest promises to be bigger and better than ever this year. With events kicking off earlier and including everything from bike polo matches to sprint racing, the Tour de France Stage 14 viewing is simply icing on the cake (or great head on the beer, as it were). And with New Belgium on tap, it’s a cyclist’s paradise. So turn on your headlight, adjust your fenders and bring a blanket to watch the peloton climb Plateau-De-Beille.

I LOVE Seattle summers. We go through months of dreary clouds and drizzle making our summers that much more enjoyable. We usually gets weeks of uninterrupted sun from June to September, but this week…not so much.

So this morning I did the “mixed-mode” commute. I hopped on the bus and headed into the office just as it started raining. I fired up the BlackJack IM on my way in to start my morning bitching to Byron. Argh - I wasn’t prepared to ride home in the wet.

Anyway, the story gets better. As I was riding home with threatening skies, it was actually pretty pleasant. It started to rain, and the warmer tempuratures actually made passable - almost enjoyable. Sure I had to do a little more bike cleaning once I got home, but it was a nice change to feel the slog of wet shoes and jersey again. Even with the wet, my ride home on two wheels was far better than anything I’d get out of sitting on the freeway with the rest of the Seattle drivers.

There’s a whole lot of Bike Huggin’ going on this week (and it’s freakin’ raining!), so here’s a summary “hugg it out” post for today, July 20th.

Huggacast

Updates from our video podcasts * Huggacast Episode Three is out and features Novara Buzz Bikes * Huggacasts are now available in the iTunes podcast directory * Next up in the Huggacasts are Novara’s new Flyby, a folding bike

Hugga Comfort

From our super stylin’ and super comfortable clothing line * Socks are shipping * Shirts are back in stock (again) and shipping * Both are en route to Amazon.com for fulfillment * Jersey designs are complete and being made

Cyclecide, the alter-bike mechanics, mariachi-punk musicians and psychotic clowns freak bike rodeo is coming to Seattle to ride the 11th Annual Downhill & Messenger Challenge and make an appearance at Bumbershoot.

That just make the ridiculously-priced Bumbershoot worth one day. I’d also like to see Cyclecide go ripping right through the Tour de Fat Seattle, like a scene from Road Warrior, ‘cept the treasure is beer instead of fuel … ride that rocket bike right down the Burke-Gilman Trail — hooah that’d rule.

Anyone seen Cyclecide?

Banana peels always indicate a popular route (or there’s a crazed monkey on the loose). Seeing this, I’m guessing 2-day old peel, while riding the Olympic Peninsula reminded me of our Southeast Alaska tour where we’d see the bananas and other fruits from a cyclist we nicknamed, “the fruit eater.”

In this short clip, Pam and I ride the roads of the Olympic National Forest near Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort.

After my half-assed approach to last year’s two-day ride, I wasn’t entirely convinced that the One Day Rider patch I coveted so much would actually be worth the time and training required. By the time spring came around, I had hung up my running shoes and decided that this was the year.

So how does one go about surviving two hundred miles on a bike? Glad you asked. Read on for the answers to the most common questions I’ve gotten throughout training and after the finish.

The socks are in, as shown here by our sexy professional male model (ok, that’s actually just me), and are shipping now directly from Hugga HQ. In a week or so, Amazon.com will fulfill them for us.

SockGuy custom made the socks for us in one size fits most (sizes 7-11). They feature 75% Ultra-wicking Micro Denier Acrylic, 15% Nylon, and 10% Spandex for exceptional comfort and strength. The comfort was confirmed yesterday during a tough tour of the Olympic Pennisula.

The socks sell for 9.95 and join our shirts in the Hugga Comfort line. Next up are jerseys and kits …

Check the Masi Guy’s blog for preview photos of the new Masi fixie

Not specifically bike-related news, but check the striking photo of a mama chari passing a minivan crushed by a house in the NYTimes today.

(Photo credit Franck Robichon/European Pressphoto Agency)

Paris launched Velib, a bike share service, over the weekend. Velib is a combination of velo and liberty and for Parisians is another public transport option. Check our posts on Bike Share, Velib in the news, on Flickr, and blogs.

“This is about revolutionizing urban culture”

NYTimes also reported on the story.

… and that makes Seattle’s Master Plan even more depressing. Photo credit malias.

The Hugga send wishes for a speedy recovery to Gerald Marvin, a 24-year-old cyclist hit on Hwy 30 on his way into Portland Sunday morning. More information at King5.com.

Update

• The Seattle PI’s reports on the hit-and-run with comments (surprisingly light on the anti-bikeness)
• Oregonian report
• KPTV’s report

Also see Pedaling Portland for posts about STP.

Critical Mass is a paradox. In Manhattan, there’s nothing but turmoil and in Seattle a knife was pullled during the last one or arrests get made. In Brooklyn, for 3 years now, they’ve critically masssed with no arrests, no tickets, and the NYPD is even called “friendly.” StreetFilms just published a short film on the subject. I’ve only ridden a Critical Mass once, by accident (all kitted up with my race bike, feeling totally out of place) and it was fun and festive with tall bikes, longtail bikes, old schwinns, and everything else.

In Arizona, the next Critical Mass is on July 21st where they’ll meet around 6:30 pm at @ Tempe Beach park and ride to the Lost Leaf Tavern at 5th & Roosevelt. After the mass they’ll alleycat race with the winner taking all in the fixed race. Don’t know if they’re friends or foes with the police there.

With my heart set on a One-Day Rider patch after last year’s STP, I rode into Portland last night to claim my prize. 204 incredible miles and I cannot believe that I survived without so much as a flat tire. Complete ride review will be posted in the next couple of days. For now, congrats to the many other STPers out there this weekend and many, many, many thanks to all the Cascade staff and volunteers.

Borat makes an appearance at the Tour de France motivating the riders to pedal a few strokes harder or at least forget their pain while laughing (where’s the Angel to purge that scene from our minds?). Here’s another shot.

What’s your favorite crazy fan? Spiderman from last year was good, as well as hook ‘em horns from 2 years ago — the guy with the long-horn hat that’d run next to Lance.

(Photo credit FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images)

Seattle is already struggling with its road diet and this week the Cascade Bicycle Club, Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board, Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, Fremont Neighborhood Council and many others, including Bike Huggers, called on the Mayor to intervene.

The urgent call to the Mayor resulted from the Fremont Chamber of Commerce successfully blocking new bike lanes on Stoneway that would have linked to the Burke-Gilman Trail.

A neighborhood that considers itself the “center of the universe” apparently thinks that universe is car-centric with fat, clogged roads.

What’s your thoughts on the Master Plan and Road Diets?

It’s that time of year in Seattle, when the STPs are riding from Seattle to Portland and the Tour-inspired Euros are out in team kits, on old race bikes, riding around the lake and climbing the hills. The STPs are easy to spot in their colorful gear, Tyvek jackets, frame numbers, and assortment of bikes from the comfort cruiser to a custom Seven.

When someone passes you on the trail in a Rabobank team kit, or any or Pro-Tour kit, that’s usually a “euro.” In a few weeks, after the Tour and after STP, that convergence of riders will slow and it’ll return to normal, and towards the late summer, then Fall.

Caught this number outside a street boutique in Shibuya.

this weekend I had intended to ride STP. I’m not saying that I had been training super-hard, but I had felt that Japan had toughened me up enough for me to roll those 200 miles in a single day. But then I ate something bad earlier in the week…something really bad. I’ve barely eaten anything in four days and I’ve been chronically dehydrated…which by the way, is NOT the optimal preparation for STP. Instead of STP, I am posting a little more of my trip in Japan

So there we were on the road out of Takayama, headed east through the mountains to Matsumoto. We roll through little neighborhoods of modest houses and rice paddies, the road almost imperceptibly growing steeper as it led us to the first climb of the day. Homeboy says it’s only 870 meters total elevation, but to be honest, all these numbers are meaningless to me. The total distance in kilometers makes no impression on me….. I can’t see my cyclo-computer because the map case obscures it and as a child of the flatlands of Florida, I don’t even understand vertical gain in either metric or US measures. All I know is that it’s gonna be steep and long today, but I don’t know if my knee is gonna let me do it.

In the Northwest, we know, ride, and race with the guys from Novara and they invited us to REI HQ to check out their 2008 product line. For the first episode of the Huggacast, Steve Gluckman, Novara Brand Manager, and Chris Mahan, Senior Graphic Designer, show us their new carbon Squadra with SRAM’s gruppo.

Download now for iTunes and your iPod or watch the embedded file below. Subscribe to our new Huggacast Feed for more episodes.

Note: REI is not a sponsor of Bike Hugger, they’re just into bikes as much as we are and they’ve got some cool stuff to show in follow-on episodes, like their new folder … .

Riding home last night, I took this photo of Kelli chilling on Alki Beach with her feet up on the saddle of an old Schwinn.

Floyd Landis is signing books tonight at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park @ 7 pm. I’m at a family picnic and can’t make it. If any of our readers are going, please leave comments.

UPDATE FROM ANDREW: My mom called me all excited today from the filming of KOMO TV Northwest Afternoon. It turns out Floyd stopped by the afternoon local variety show to explain his story and promote his book. They usually post their content on their site so I’ll link the clip once it’s up.

MORE UPDATES:
(Photo from ESPN.COM)

Holy cow - how did I miss this? It seems Floyd was cruising around Seattle yesterday with Jim Caple of ESPN.

We’re working on getting a set of Lew wheels on the hugga’s bikes for a review; especially after they announced a sub 1,000 gram wheelset made with their PRO VT-1 tubular rims, Tune hubs, Sapim spokes, and hybrid-ceramic bearings. Weight weenies can customize the wheels further to sub 880 grams with various upgrades. Also check the Tech Talk video with Paul Lew (Windows Media).

“It was just something like Mount Everest. It was there, and you felt you had to do it.”

Reading about 80-year old Leroy Varga’s (subscription) preparation for the Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur in the New York Times, reminded me of the time I stopped to help a cyclist near the top of Snoqualmie pass. I was driving over the pass to Eastern Washington and saw a old cyclist, with touring gear, walking his bike up the pass. I stopped to check if he was ok and he said, “yes, my knees just hurt, I’m 85, and rode from Maine.” Rode from Maine at 80 I thought, man, and I struggle just to train a few days a week.

That certainly changed my perspective and on the hugga to-do list are randonnées. This year, we’ll have a blogger riding and posting about Paris-Brest-Paris this year.

From the, “huh, what?” department comes the news that the Kestrel RT700 is winning awards from Outside magazine, IDSA , and BusinessWeek. The “huh” part is this award-winning feature

“Even the seatstays have been considered; here they’re designed to present an easily-discernible hourglass silhouette to riders behind, which is important during group rides or pack races where cyclists behind you need to be able to see you.”

Followed with a “what?” I’ve read that passage several times and still don’t understand it. How is that better than just seeing their butt, legs, or entire body? This bike must attract the tri-athletes and I’m sure is a really nice bike, but that’s an odd winning observation, especially with the amazing advances in technology coming from Trek, Specialized, Scott, and Issac. Or the custom carbon work from Parlee.

Here’s an interview with the designers and a post from Core77.

Call it guerilla marketing, street marketing, blog marketing, or guys just digging what they’re doing, it’s fun to watch SRAM make an impact on the road and at the tour. Check the photo of them unfurling the Make the Leap flag on the podium.

Spent the morning photographing Bettie at Elliott Bay Bicycles and the Olympic Sculpture Park. The professional shots we’ll post about later. This photo is one of mine with Bettie next to Richard Serra sculptures. See more photos from this series in our photostream.

While braking with one hand using the Brake Director, you can use the other hand to gesture wildly at motorists, admire your bling bling, sip an espresso, make a call, and push the buttons on your power meter.

Joking aside, the Brake Director was invented to address the needs of riders with upper body limitations, like recovering from a broken collarbone. It works by activating both brakes with one lever.

In Japan they’re called Mama Chari, or mom’s bike, and are used to get groceries, ride to the train station and according to “halloween” in the Bike Forums, they’re considered disposable by the Japanese consumer.

They’re also quite useful and even raced in a 12-hour endurance marathon (translated) — check the aero bar basket option and more on Flickr.

The bigger the basket, the more groceries, and surprisingly the more aero.

I know everyone watching the Tour is thinking, “man, I need a set of love the hugga socks, while I listen to Phil, Paul, that annoying guy, and the ramblings of Bob Roll.” Well, we’ve got ‘em coming! The Bike Hugger socks are arriving this week, we’ll sell them directly right away, and next week Amazon.com will fulfill them for us.

More post-dated entries from me, Mark V, Bikehugger’s colorful and suave international man of mystery

This is a little bit out of sequence, since this is from the Shibuya area in Tokyo before we left for Kyoto…but check it out, they freakin’ named a place “Mark City”…in my honor obviously. Also, here’s a picture of yet another type of “mini velo” we saw on the way.

Set to roll out for STP bright and early Saturday morning, I thought it wise to start prepping things and run down a checklist. As important as preparing your body to ride, one should invest some time into putting together a ride “strategy” prior to rolling out. The plan of attack needn’t be elaborate, in fact the simpler the better.

Why bother? Because when out on the road, there’s much temptation to stop and chit-chat during every stop. Not necessarily a bad thing, many will argue that the culture and camaraderie of such events is far more exciting than the actual ride. Even if your goal is to take the miles slow and steady, you’ll still need to keep an eye on the clock to ensure that you’re not stuck out on the road after dark with a mechanical issue. Plan your ride. Plan your stops. Have a back-up plan for both. Read on for additional considerations and some of my own “must haves” in surviving STP.

While it’s not like a Tour de France crash at 40 mph, that involves the leaders, but how many times do you see one from a racer’s perspective? At our local Tuesday Night World Championships, the Native Planet racer with the helmet cam crashes with the camera taping it all. Crashes happen that fast … on Saturday at Redmond Derby days, I fishtailed right by one.

Le Tour in London …

More from Flickr’s Tour Photostream.

Alright, then…at the time of posting, I’m actually back from Japan. Yes, I’m so glad to be back in Seattle because….because….the,uh…..hmmmmmm….actually I’m not at all happy to be back. Well, there is pizza, of course… I’m happy about having good pizza again. Well, I’m back anyways, so how about we all try to make the best of this, and in exchange I’ll tell you some more bullshit stories about me in Japan.

You can super-style yourself into the Fall with these knitted ear warmers and I think they’re cooler than the Slipstreamz, cause your spouse, partner, or you made them.

Updated

• As noted by our astute readers, the title was corrected to knitted from crochet.

Frank is getting his “tour on” and had some fun with the Disco Dream Ride — a flash app that can put you or a friend in the middle of a Discovery Channel highlights reel. Frank created a dream ride for me, with the added the touch of a Team Bike Hugger Kit, cigarette (or joint), iPod, and a really big head. See it here and note how well the Hugger style fits into Discovery’s Go Green program.

This afternoon I wandered over to Denver’s City Park to join in the festivities at the annual New Belgium Brewery Tour de Fat. As expected, it was a freak show assortment of balloon swallowers, jugglers, tall bike riders, and off-the-wall burlesque performances. Less expected, however, was that I would run into an Ellsworth Ride—probably the only one in the state.

As soon as I entered the grounds, the Ride’s unmistakable form jumped out at me, so I walked over to admire it in person and to introduction myself. It turned out the owner was Lee Davis, a member of the Fallbrook Technologies board of directors—they manufactur the Ride’s Nuvinci automatic (CVP) hub. We chatted about the bike, fiddled with our Blackberrys trying to take a picture, and while Lee told me about the Ride’s magnificent ride, we probably had three or four groups stop to ask about the bike. It is impressive to see in person.

Considering I’m going to watch ads on the Tour de France thousands of times, over the next 3 weeks, the first run is always important to figure out what I don’t mind, totally dig, and despise. Like say, those Flomax ads or, from way back, the extreme mountain biking ad which featured someone running into a tree …

Today, the SRAM Force ads rock and I’m seeing their gruppo show up in the peloton. At the Tour, they’re blogging away.

Update

• Michelob dancing girl cyclist ad is always a fav, as noted last year.
• SRAM’s 60 second spot video.

As part of their Planet Green initiative, Discovery is racing green at the Tour de France and doing so by planting trees to offset their carbon. As good as that sounds (do they carve their names in the trees for evermore?), I’d hope for something more like a biodiesel caravan or putting the Michelin Man in their Zero-Pollution Car or how ‘bout a domestique bike trailer guy who’d follow them around? Ya know, put a little electric motor on that bike, a silly outfit, and he’s green tech support on a sport-utility bike.

A couple of years ago at ICFF, I met the guys from Flavor Paper. In the middle of a Javits center bursting with enough brilliant design to keep a junky like me enthralled for weeks, Flavor Paper’s booth stood out—as did the slightly disheveled guys with an unmistakable passion for wallpaper.

The New Orleans-based maker of boutique wallpaper had a thrillingly over the top booth swathed in a crazy quilt of their eye-popping patterns. Periodically I check their site to find a wild new pattern for my notional dream house and so stumbled across the following titled “Flower Pedal.”

Designed by Dan Funderburgh and perfect for your home bicycle workshop.

I’ve seen a couple of these shirts around lately and I love the message. There have been a couple articles that try to quantify the actual mileage of a cyclist - most put it around 800-1000 miles per gallon equivalent. Not infinity, but still pretty darn good!

Enjoy the Speedplay gallery that “chronicles the start-to-finish construction process of my modern replica of the 1961 Masi Special.”

During the Tour de France, the Forum for Urban Design and Storefront for Art and Architecture “is revolutionizing transportation networks and greening the urban fabric” with a Bike Share Project demonstration. That’s about the coolest thing to do in NYC that I could imagine and can only hope the demonstration turns into a project like Pamplona, Lyon, Paris, Barcelona, Stockholm and Oslo. On a more local scale, with less design aesthetic and catchy slogans, is Buffalo Blue Bicycle or the Vancity Bike Share.

Updated

A reader pointed us to a newswire story today on Paris being a city of lovers and bikes, with the whole city becoming a bike zone.

From Bike Biz, a pledge from the Mayor of London to give le Tour an “unforgettable send off with” 11 million pieces of schwag. Expect some of that schwag, like the Transport for London bracelets, to find their way onto eBay or at least hanging on a shop wall somewhere. And we’ll check flickr for the photos and the spectating blogs who’ll watch for the Specialized Angel, the Devil, and the el Dope penis graffiti.

While the sport destroys itself with scandal after scandal, le Tour looming, and Landis coming to town later this month with his book, I couldn’t help but think these kids lining up for their race at Matava were the future of cycling.

As for the race, the boy in the red helmet was seriously under-geared and spun his little legs out, but kept falling off the pace so I stayed with him. Junior Hugga raced her first race and got 3rd.

Put a trailer on that propeller trike and you’ve got one hell of a Sport Utility Bike pushing 300 rpm at 20 mph with fancy, rave-quality LEDs. Linked from Slashdot to a Popular Mechanics article, the propeller trike qualifies as a freak bike and an guaranteed spot in a future Road Warrior film, but I don’t think it can beat the crane bike, which is well a pedal-powered crane and used by the Red Moon Theater.

Stopped by the bike shop to check on the Modal and there was Mark! Freshly back from Japan, not limping on a bum knee and with the usual surliness and lots of tales to tell from his tour of Japan.

Just in time for the 4th, an email from a Chinese distributor of the QQ bike that says, “Forward and Back by hand. Control direction by feet. To inspire kid’s intelligence and build the bodies from funny exercise.” Well that was fun just posting about it and watching the animation. Also check the video.

Last night at the Tuesday Night World Championships in Kent Washington, I noticed a Native Planet Race Team team member kitted up with a helmet cam and corresponding camera near the finish …(one tip: move to the front)

Checked in with Surly Bikes yesterday on the Big Dummy and learned from Dave Gray, the Product Design and Development dude, that new factory samples are en route. Those samples should address much of our concerns with Bettie

• Stand-over height
• Rohloff’able
• Whippiness
• Disc brake compatibility

In my long-term Bettie notes, I’d complained about the stand-over height and whippiness as the two biggest issues. Cargo bikes should drop the top-tube right to the bottom bracket so you can easily step into and out of the bike, especially with a load or kids or both: the latest Big Dummy uses the Instigator’s top-tube design. The whippiness is an obvious problem and inherent to trailers whether attached or not. Any longtail should make that better, and Surly is making it stiff.

Now that it’s sunny and dry without a drop on the 10-day forecast …it’s time to start thinking about the rain bike. Some people dread the thought of getting back on the winter bike, but right now is probably the best time to get started with improvements and maintenance. I know that Brian Marcroft is already starting to get requests for Custom Rain bikes, and I’m about to order some new Velocity DeepV rims for my disc brake wheels. The best way to ensure a trouble-free winter of riding is good prep work!

Fredric King, producer Fountainhead films, sent us a B.I.K.E. The Movie pre-release packet with DVD and I dug the artwork so much I scanned and uploaded it for this post.

I couldn’t believe it either, when I read that John Spurgeon road RAAM on a single speed built by Ira Ryan cycles in Portland. I was checking in on the results, there’s a mention, and Bike Portland posted earlier on it as well…

To me that’s sorta like using a fully-loaded track bike to tour, but then again the roadies I know probably think the Bettie is stupid.

That’s Greg and Sirikit Valentin at the Des Moines Crit.

Bike Hugger Photostream

My biggest problem with bike racing is that it keeps you from riding your bike as much as you might like (huh?). We are in full-swing “Crit” season right now. The general rule to do well is race, and rest, or maybe do short, intense intervals. Races usually comprise of 60-75 minutes of a lung-busting tour around 4 city blocks. I like crits, I tend to do ok at them, but it’s days like today (Sunny, 78deg) that I get a little miffed that I have to race a crit. I spend a solid 4 hours driving to the race, getting ready, racing, and driving home. What a waste of a perfectly good day?!

I’m tempted to race getting the Tandem back together and rolling to Portland with my wife in the STP. At the least I think I’ll be taking some time off the circuit to get back into those long, sunny rides that I miss.

Rode with the iPhone in my jersey pocket yesterday. It fit well in my old Timbuk2 strap pouch that I carry in my jersey. Also fits their large cellphone holder for shoulder straps.

As other reviewers have found, the iPhone is a breakthrough device that does all that you’ve read or heard about. I’m struggling with the touchpad now and I’m not going to try and ride and talk with it for a while (not that you should do that anyway).

Check our Photostream for a set of photos taken with our iPhone.