Bike Hugger 

Hugga was invited to Novara’s 09 product photoshoot in Boise. We hung out, rode, blogged, and took lots of photos. That’s me with the photographer sprinting a Strada down Bogus Basin Road.

I finally have my geared option for my One One Pompino cyclocross bike. I worked with Scotty down at uBRDO to finally dig up a Shimano Nexus 8 Speed hub and convert my single/fixed cross bike into sunny day road cruiser. I’ve been planning on doing this for quite some time, but was re-engerized to make the move after seeing the Hiawatha Cyclery bike.

With all the (well deserved) concern over the recent Aloha Incident on this month’s Critical Mass lots of people have been wondering what they can do to promote civility, cooperation and good feelings between motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. I’m sure there are many good ideas, but please take the opportunity to demonstrate your civility on our next RideCivil ride.

Note: RideCivil doesn’t cork or block traffic, and I’m not at all clear where KPLU heard that we do. Thanks to Byron for the plug on KUOW.

Meet at: Westlake Center park
When: Starting around 5:30, but generally not departing until 6:15. Aug 8 (2nd Friday of the month)
Route, Destination, Duration and Pace: Determined by participants, including a post-ride sit down someplace with food and drink. We usually ride more than an hour at a no-body-left-behind social pace.

Apologies Boise for not noticing you earlier. We were preoccupied with the better known Portlands, Seattles, and Minneapoleis. With your low buildings, wide roads, big bike lanes, and flat dowtown, you’re a natural for urban cycling. Like an attractive and unappreciated little sister to those better known cities, when noticed you smiled and showed us treasures like a Pashley Delibike and Paul Frank.

Out of the city and on your roads, we climbed and descended Bogus Basin Road – carving the turns and flat-out flying the straightaways. Also talked to some locals that are all good with cyclists.

We’ll return another day Boise: ride more and tell our friends about you.

Just finished a KUOW interview on Critical Mass and RideCivil. I’ve been traveling and wasn’t totally prepared, but we’ll post more about RideCivil, as soon as we’ve got details.

Related Posts

• Critical Mass
• RideCivil
• Please Ride Legally

Cool t-shirt with an articulate expression of my feelings about cycling:

Available from Print Brigade.

The third running of the FSA Grand Prix drew cyclists from around the country to the pacific northwest. Over $14,000 in prize money was awarded, while cyclists battled to secure their spots at Elite Track Nationals. This was a special event, however regular season track races can still be seen at Marymoor on Friday nights through September 12th. You can check out more photos of the event after the jump.

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

On the way to LOOK’s Media Day in California, I saw this magazine cover in the airport. I thought, Holy Crap! Next thing ya know, they’ll be using fixies to sell toaster strudel and McCoffee!

I’ll give props for having an anatomically correct fixie with a front brake, CX lever, and toe straps. However, the cover of the magazine did not convince me to buy the magazine….I wouldn’t want others to think that I would lower myself to read anything other than Tolstoy and porn.

I stopped by Bothell Ski & Bike today and met the owners Greg and John. Greg’s ride - a Scott Addict with SRAM Red all grammed out with Zipp cranks, Zero Gravity brakes, and all the greatest roadie bike porn. A hot bike for sure, but I think he was almost more excited to show me his single speed Tommasini.

The single speed was given just as much attention to detail as his road ride. Phil Wood track hubs, Campagnolo Chorus Ti post, Deda Zero stem, White Industries freewheel, Nitto B125 Steel track bars - the works. It was the first bike I’ve lifted in a while that actually listed forward because of the heavy steel bars. The lugs, the vibrant paint. That bike is art. I didn’t get a chance to ride it so I may have to stop by again when I have more time.

Check out the audacious Look 596 time trial/triathlon bicycle in this Huggacast video 45.

While in Los Gatos CA, I talked to Ming Tan of LOOK Cycle USA about the 596’s development. I was interested in how Look designed the bicycle as a whole. They windtunnel-tested the bike with rider and rotating wheels, measuring the value of mounting brake calipers in odd places and also of having very tight gaps between the tires and frame. They also considered the demanding work environment of professional team mechanics and how the bike would actually handle and function. What Look created after asking many questions was a bike that uses several bold proprietary features but is surprisingly practical in the details. As a successor to some of the boldest aero bikes used at the highest levels of competition, the 596 stands out among the trends in time trial design.