Note to self:
Yellowstone National Park staff begins plowing snow from roads the first Monday in March.
Cars and other vehicles aren't allowed onto park roads until the third Friday in April.
In the meantime, the roads are open to bicycle riders.

The Yellowstone ride sounds like a magical journey. There are other national parks that sometimes restrict motor vehicles, giving cyclists free reign. The Smoky Mountains and Grand Canyon are two places where I've bicycled on roads closed to cars.

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The turf battle for bicyclists using Mercer Island's roads and trails has made it to City Hall.

The island's councilmembers are looking for ways to deal with cyclists who use the island's narrow, winding loop road and sometimes scare pedestrians on the cross-island bike-hike trail.

Mercer Island is both a popular destination and thoroughfare for cyclists. A narrow loop road offers scenic views ...   more »

For many years, neck pain had become such a normal part of riding for a bicycling buddy of mine that he had come to expect it -- just like getting thirsty on a hot day or getting out breath on a long climb. He's not alone. Neck and back pain is a common ailment for cyclists, according to an excellent article in Roadcycling.com. The authors explain in detail the causes of neck and back pain and give some suggestions on how to treat it.   more »

I started my TransAmerica bicycle tour at the ripe old age of 34. That doesn't seem so old to me now.

Apparently the age of 55 didn't seem too old for Al Galletly, left. That's how old he was in 1993 when he rode his first bicycle trip cross-country, covering 4,500 miles and raising $300,000 for Alzheimer's research.

The Stamford (Conn.) Advocate...   more »

Registration for this Sunday's Daffodil Classic has moved down the street in Orting (WA) from the elementary school to the City Park. Two bicycle rides also are scheduled in Oregon.   more »

"When I was a high school student, I was riding my bicycle to school and a car hit me on the side, struck my leg. It didn't break, but it was very swollen. I couldn't play for a month."

Ichiro Suzuki, All-Star rightfielder for Seattle Mariners, talking about being hit by a car in Japan. The silver bicycle with scraped handlebar is on display in the Ichiro museum in Toyoyama, Japan.

Baseball Quotes website, from March 4, 2004, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Bellevue is going ahead with a plan to build a multi-use trail for bicyclists and pedestrians on West Lake Sammamish Parkway, instead of marked bike lanes for cyclists and a separate path for pedestrians. By a vote of 5-0, the City Council directed the staff to find ways to fund the estimated $20 million project. Earlier in the meeting, a bicycling advocate had testified that Bellevue would find it difficult to compete for funds because the project didn't meet generally accepted professional standards concerning bicycle facilities.   more »

George Hincapie became the first American ever to finish on the podium in the classic Paris-Roubaix bicycle race on Sunday, beaten at the line by Belgian Tom Boonen.

Hincapie, The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team's favorite to win the race, raced at the head of the 3-man lead group as they entered the Roubaix velodrome. Boonen, fresh off a win at the Tour of Flanders last weekend, attacked with a half-lap ...   more »

The school year started Friday for teacher Joe Bowen as the 62-year-old Kentuckian began his cross-country bicycle tour. He's recreating a 14,000-mile bicycle tour he took in 1967 from Lompoc, California, to his home in Eastern Kentucky. Along the way, he's teaching kids about America.   more »

Here is the letter detailing Redmond's objections to Bellevue's use of a multi-use trail instead of bike lanes in improvements to West Lake Sammamish Parkway:

"Redmond does not agree that the alternative currently identified as Bellevue's staff preference should be the option selected for construction ..."   more »

That plan to "improve" the dangerous stretch of West Lake Sammamish Parkway without adding dedicated bike lanes is scheduled for a vote by the Bellevue City Council on Monday night.

The staff recommendations are opposed by the Cascade Bicycle Club, the Friends of Lake Sammamish, and Bellevue's own Pedestrian and Bicycle Citizens Advisory Group (CAG), and the City of Redmond.

The Cascade Bicycle Club is urging ...   more »

When my friends and I learned to ride bikes, our parents told us to ride against the traffic. Today, we know that wrong-way cycling is terribly unsafe, don't we? Wrong-way cycling actually makes it harder for motorists to see the bicyclists. And it's motorists seeing bicyclists that we should be most concerned about. The issue of "wrong-way" cycling comes to the Bellevue (WA) City Council on Monday night when it considers the staff recommended plan to make improvements to West Lake Sammamish Parkway.   more »

It looks like Tucson police are closing in on a major bicycle theft ring.

Police raided a house recently and seized 350 stolen bikes, according to the Tucson Citizen. No one has put an estimate on the haul, although just six bicycles identified by police through stolen bike reports were valued at $14,000.   more »

Six-time Tour de France bicycle champions who make $15 million a year from endorsements must watch what they say.

For instance, when Lance Armstrong told the French press a couple of weeks ago that Paris deserved to host the 2012 ...   more »

It looks like cyclists in Colorado will be able to ride side-by-side afterall.

Legislation (HB 1218) that allows bicycle riders "to ride two abreast whenever the normal and reasonable movement of traffic will not be impeded" has passed the House ...   more »

The Seattle-area cities of Bellevue and Sammamish will be considering proposals for bicycle access on the parkway around Lake Sammamish in the next week. While the Bellevue proposal is going to a City Council vote and has bicyclists up in arms, ...   more »

What's the draw for electric-powered bicycles? They look cumbersome and heavy. It makes sense that you'd need the extra boost from an electric motor to get over hills because of all the weight from the electric motor -- a self-fulfilling prophecy. A doctor in the UK, however, says they're very useful for patients recovering from knee surgery or those with circulation problems in their legs.   more »

The peloton chasing Lance Armstrong in the past year is just as likely to comprise court process servers as bicycle racers. Armstrong's rise to prominence in not just bicycling, but the sports and celebrity world as a whole, has created problems that are more likely to be seen on Court TV than the Outdoor Life Network's Cyclysm Sundays.   more »

The BikeTown USA project is offering 50 free bicycles to commuters in Seattle and 9 other metropolitan areas in the US. All you have to do is explain -- in 50 words or less -- how using a bicycle to commute to and from work would change your life. Are there strings attached ...    more »

Belgian cyclist Tom Boonen must have used his home field advantage Sunday as he won the one-day Tour of Flanders classic in Belgium, reports VeloNews.

Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team rider George Hincapie finished seventh, about one minute behind.

Boonen, a ...   more »

The 4th annual Cycle Zydeco bicycle tour is spinning through Louisiana's Cajun Country this weekend.

The Daily World reports 350 bicycle riders showed up for the 200-mile fully supported tour that starts in Lafayette and ends in Grand Coteau on ...   more »