People with serious afflications occasionally bicycle across the US to show that their conditions can be overcome. Few, if any, have biked cross-country with terminal cancer.

But that's what the 42-year-old UK resident Jane Tomlinson is doing. Diagnosed with incurable metastatic breast cancer in 2000, Tomlinson has put the pain and exhaustion behind her and reached the halfway point of her trans-America bike tour. ...   more »

"C" average college students rejoice! You too can grow up to be head of the largest bicycle company in the US and the second largest in the world with $600 million in sales.

Richard Burke, the chairman of Trek Bicycles, tells Inc. Magazine in the July issue that he didn't really excel in his studies at Marquette University, and he quit his first two jobs right out of college before he was fired. ...   more »

Since a doping allegation is no frivolous matter in the sport of cycling, Floyd Landis skipped the Jay Leno show Friday night for an interview by Larry King on CNN.

"I'm going to do my best to defend my dignity and my innocence," the Tour de France winner told King.

Lance Armstrong spoke on the show in support of Landis' character. ...   more »

The Seattle Weekly newspaper takes a look at bicycle commuting this week in an article aptly entitled "Vicious Cycle."

Reporter David Neiwert is right on target as he writes that even though Seattle has a reputation across the country for being bicycle friendly, that doesn't mean there's plenty of room for improvements. ...   more »

We may know as early as Monday the results of an analysis of Floyd Landis' "B" sample and whether the American cyclist will be able to keep his 2006 Tour de France championship.

Making his first public appearance on Friday, Landis told a press conference that he has naturally high testosterone, and that he would undergo further testing to prove the high testosterone ratio is due to natural physiology. ...   more »

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis -- who has tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone -- denied that he took the performance-enhancing drug to gain a boost during the bike race, which ended Sunday.

When asked by Sports Illustrated columnist Austin Murphy if used testosterone, Landis responded: "No, c'mon man." ...   more »

There's a certain sound that accompanies Lance Armstrong on his ride on a couple of stages of RAGBRAI. It's a roar.

As 7-time Tour de France winner Armstrong rides his bicycle in the Wednesday and Thursday stages of the RAGBRAI bike ride across Iowa, bystanders and other riders cheer. ...   more »

Say it ain't so, Floyd. Was winning the Tour de France so important that you had to resort to cheating? Let's hope not.

Even after several top cyclists were expelled prior to the Tour over doping allegations, I'm still shocked to hear that Floyd Landis tested positive for the banned substance testosterone in a sample taken after his historic Stage 17 victory. Another analysis is scheduled.

It's like talking with a friend on a bike ride and getting blindsided by a low-hanging branch at the side of the road. ...   more »

Remember all the talk last year regarding the biographical movie about Lance Armstrong? The celebrity and movie blogs are now saying Armstrong's new pal, Jake Gyllenhaal, is interested in playing the lead role in that Armstrong movie.

Gyllenhaal, who starred in Brokeback Mountain, has been cycling with Armstrong in southern California and met him to Paris to see the end of the Tour de France last weekend. ...   more »

Committed to riding the Thursday stage of RAGBRAI, Lance Armstrong showed up early on Wednesday for some pedaling between Waukee and Newton.

A 7-time Tour de France winner, cancer survivor and all-round celebrity, Armstrong's appearance is likely to cause a ruckus wherever he goes, but no more than at a bicycling event that draws nearly 10,000 cyclists. ...   more »

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, left, is trying to curb speculation that he's changing teams; he says he'll stay with his current team, which is switching its title sponsorship to San Francisco-based iShares next season.

Meanwhile, US cyclist Levi Leipheimer signed with the Discovery Channel team. ..   more »

RAGBRAI bicycle tourists get parties and pie. Cycle Oregon cyclists get warning signs and tacks in the road.

At least those are the extremes of two separate bicycle tours that started last weekend in Iowa and Oregon.

The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa is legendary. ...   more »

I woke up at 5 o'clock this morning, just like I have every morning for the past three weeks to happily watch the Tour de France live on OLN out here on the West Coast.

After putting on the coffee, I turned on OLN partly out of force of habit and curiosity. No Phil or Paul. Just some guy sitting there wearing a "gimme hat" talking about how to catch big-mouth bass. That was the final realization. The Tour de France is over. So, after trundling my daughter off to day camp, I jumped on the bike for ride instead of prying open the laptop. Now I'm OK. Are you OK?

After the ride, I found an article at DepressioNet that espouses physical activity, especially bicycling, as a good treatment for depression. ...   more »

Bicycle riders in Portland, Oregon, are fuming over comments made by a radio program's host who broadcast insensitive remarks about cyclists injured in traffic accidents.

The remarks, reported in Jonathan Maus' BikePortland blog, set of a firestorm of protests from cyclists who are variously seeking an apology, a retraction, or retribution. Portland cyclists who battle traffic everyday aren't taking this lying down. ...   more »

"I'm glad we didn't have to make that choice. Church is very important to us. We felt in our hearts he was going to win. He is not one to take second place." ...   more »

For the eighth straight year, an American took the podium on the Champs-Elysees Sunday as native Pennsylvanian Floyd Landis won the Tour de France championship.

The 30-year-old leader of the Phonak team thanked his teammates for supporting him, especially for his comeback in the final Alpine stage. Later he told OLN: "I'm proud of the way my team raced, and I'm proud of the way I raced." ...   more »

The 2006 Tour de France for Floyd Landis has been a series of ups and downs. Unlike the well-directed affairs that marked the latter years of Lance Armstrong's domination, this has been more like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Here's a recap of some events in Landis' Tour:

Prologue -- Landis loses 8-10 seconds as he shows up late to the podium. It turns out that the team mechanic had to change a cut tire at the last minute, rather than risk having a flat on the road. (9th place -- 9.26 seconds behind Thor Hushovd) ...   more »

American cyclist Floyd Landis has been riding bicycles provided by BMC at the 2006 Tour de France.

The bicycle Landis will likely ride to Paris on Sunday is this carbon BMC Pro Machine SLC01, specially tricked out in the colors of his yellow jersey. ...   more »

American Floyd Landis will ride to Paris in the yellow jersey on Sunday after finishing second in Saturday's individual time trial, unseating the two rivals ahead of him.

As the race for Paris is traditionally for a sprint win, not the overall title, Landis is destined to become the third American to win the Tour de France since Greg Lemond broke the barrier in 1986 and Lance Armstrong won a record 7 Tours between 1999 and 2005. ...   more »

After the emotional rollercoaster that is the Tour de France for Floyd Landis the past two days, Friday's Stage 18 was relatively uneventful.

Three cyclists attacked a 15-man breakaway about 10 miles from the finish in Macon. The three shadow-boxed for the last kilometer until Matteo Tosatto of QuickStep jumped and took the finish. ...   more »

Organizers of the second annual Amgen Tour of California have announced the host cities for the 8-day stage race next February, to be broadcast on the Versus network.

The list comprises 12 cities, some new for 2007, for the 650-mile bicycle race that's scheduled from February 18-25 ...   more »

I would have to go back to 1989, when I watched the taped broadcast of Greg Lemond's final-day victory over Laurent Fignon, to recall a more exciting stage of the Tour de France.

It seemed that even Floyd Landis had accepted defeat after his disasterous Stage 16 collapse. What happened Thursday wasn't a miracle, it was pure guts. Here's a sample of what's been said and written in the past 24 hours about Landis: ...   more »

Bicycle Illinois is launching a multi-day bike tour this year that piggybacks on the completion of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).

The Northern Illinois Ride begins in Muscatine, Iowa, the day after RAGBRAI ends. The four-day bike ride will cover about 260 miles and end in Chicago ...   more »

American Floyd Landis rode his bicycle back to the leaders of the Tour de France on Thursday with an amazing effort to win the stage and claw back up to 3rd place, just 30 seconds behind the leader Oscar Pereiro.

The American cyclist's gutsy attack over four mountains on Thursday was as remarkable as Wednesday's ride was abysmal. That's when 1st place Landis cracked on the final climb, dropping back to 11th place and 8 minutes behind the leader. ...   more »

(Update: On Thursday, Floyd Landis attacks on the first climb of the day and wins the stage. What did Mark Twain once say? "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.")

From 1st place to 11th place in 15 kilometers or less. That's the tale of the tape for Floyd Landis at the 2006 Tour de France.

Everyone knows Landis cracked on the final climb of Stage 16, struggling uphill as every rival passed him by. What happened? ...   more »

Oscar Pereiro is back in the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, but this time it was no gift from Floyd Landis and the Phonak team. The Spanish cyclist earned it.

Now American cyclist Landis, who started the day in the yellow jersey with a fairly clear path to Paris, sits in 11th place, more than 8 minutes behind the leader. His dreams of winning the Tour de France are shattered -- scattered about the roadside like those of fellow US contenders George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer. ...   more »

Bicyclists are always coming up with ideas on making their outings just a little more trouble-free.

Here's one from the Instructables website: Insert two innertubes, one deflated, in your tires. If you get a flat, just remove whatever caused the puncture, then pump up the other tube. ...   more »

American cyclist Floyd Landis' gambit to let another rider's team lead the Tour de France peloton worked -- at least for Tuesday -- as he climbed back into the lead on the slopes of fabled l'Alpe d'Huez.

Now it's his beleaguered Phonak team's turn to control the race as it struggles through two more days in the Alps before the final time trial on Saturday and Sunday's finish in Paris. ...   more »

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong visited his former teammates in Gap before the start of Tuesday's first day in the Alps.

There's nothing like a visit from the champ to inspire the troops. Long-time Discovery teammate George Hincapie went right out Tuesday morning and joined a breakaway 23 miles into the race ...   more »

Stage winner Pierrick Fedrigo and Salvatore Commesso raced into Gap as the survivors of a war of attrition against the breakaway, which at one time numbered six Tour de France cyclists.

Oscar Pereiro held onto the yellow jersey, with his Caisse d'Epargne team laboring in the heat over the climbs while American Floyd Landis' Phonak team had an easier time in the peloton. ...   more »

Some 9,000 cyclists of all shapes, sizes and ages left early Saturday morning for the 27th annual Seattle to Portland bike ride.

This 200-mile bike ride a big event in the Northwest; many newspapers along the route are filing stories about the ride, as are bloggers.

The participants ride for many reasons. The Seattle Times reports that one of them, Gordon Gill, is riding to honor his uncle, Robert Gill of Edmonds, who was killed in a collision with a tour bus while bicycling last year in New Zealand. ...   more »

Oscar Pereiro, left, and Jens Voigt made the most of a 129-mile breakaway Saturday; Pereiro winning the yellow jersey and Voigt winning the Tour de France's longest stage.

Maybe not so much that Pereiro won the yellow; it was pretty much handed to him by Floyd Landis and his Phonak team after they tired of driving the peloton Saturday and probably didn't relish the thought of keeping up that effort on Sunday. ...   more »

I recall reading a few times that cyclist Floyd Landis is a huge fan of Kid Rock.

I found a picture of Kid Rock on the Internet and compared it with Landis' official Tour de France website photo.

Isn't that an uncanny resemblance? ...   more »

With everything looking bleak for the Discovery team, Yaroslav Popovych has given them something to cheer about.

The 26-year-old Ukranian cyclist won Friday's stage after repeatedly attacking the three other cyclists who accompanied him on a 70-mile breakaway. American Floyd Landis held onto the yellow jersey, his Phonak team controlling the peloton on a rolling stage through southern France.

The stage win by Popovych moves him into 10th place, 4:15 behind Landis. That's a big gain, considering he started the day in 23rd place, 9 minutes behind, after cracking in the mountains on Thursday. ...   more »

"The general (classification) is over for me," a dejected George Hincapie announced after his 44th place finish on Thursday dropped him to 40th overall in the Tour de France, 23 minutes behind the leader.

The Discovery team stalwart and the only cyclist to participate in every one of Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France wins had high hopes coming into the race. He was often mentioned as Armstrong's successor on the Discovery team and among the shortlist of contenders to win this year. ...   more »

American cyclist Floyd Landis battled on the final climb to take the yellow jersey in the Tour de France on Thursday, highlighting the most exciting stage so far in this year's race.

Russian Denis Menchov, riding for Rabobank, won the stage in a small breakaway of three survivors that also included Landis and another American, Levi Leipheimer.

Leipheimer, who sat in 58th place Thursday morning after a lackluster early Tour, catapulted himself to 13 place overall -- 5:39 behind -- at the end of the stage with his gutsy 2nd place finish ...   more »

How interested are Biking Bis readers in this year's Tour de France?

The responses were tied -- 36% each -- between "less interested than last year" and "same as last year." Slightly fewer than 1 in 4 -- 22% -- voted that they were more interested in this year's Tour than last year.

I voted in that latter group, "more interested," and after watching Stage 10, I'm wondering why. ...   more »

Although today it looks like fenders and rain gear will be necessary for the 2006 Seattle-to-Portland bike ride this weekend, don't worry. It's all supposed to clear up by Saturday.

The weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday bicycle riders calls for sunny weather with highs in the mid-70s in Seattle to low-80s in Portland. No rain. ...   more »

The French regained the lead of the Tour de France for the first time since 2004 as Cyril Dessel, left, joined a breakaway on the first climb of the day and jumped from 28th place and into the yellow jersey.

T-Mobile working at the head of the peloton for the first time in what, seven years, was torn between helping its yellow jersey teammate Serhiy Honchar and limiting damage to two or three other team members.

This is what happens in the Pyrenees when no dominating cyclists are left onboard. Cyclists like Dessel (AG2R) and Juan Mercado (Agritubel) -- who won the stage in a sprint against Dessel -- ...   more »

The news reports that Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis had a deteriorated hip joint that would require hip replacement surgery intially drew a reaction of shock and awe.

Now comes the question: If it's been a problem for a year or more, why mention it now? Discovery manager Johan Bruyneel says if you're a favorite, you hide your weaknesses, not publicize them. ...   more »

As expected, the sprinters' teams put their guys at the front on this completely flat Tour de France stage between Bordeaux and Dax in southern France.

The picture perfect mass sprint resulted in a photo finish showing Oscar Freire taking his second win of this year's Tour from Australian speedster Robbie McEwen. Tom Boonen, boasting 17 wins this year before the Tour, ended in 4th place, just behind Erik Zabel. ...   more »

Bicyclists riding en masse through a city. Bicycle advocates demanding safer streets. Bike messengers racing around with documents. Cheap imports. Is it the 2000s or the 1890s?

An interesting story printed Monday in the Akron Beacon Journal about the bicycle craze in that city in the late 1800s reads like it could have been written about the bicycle issues of today.

Cyclists were the first to seek better roads, according to author Mark Price.

Cyclists were early promoters of street improvements. They argued that bad weather made Akron roads nearly impassable for six months a year. ...   more »

Now that the first week of the 2006 Tour de France is behind us, I'm curious about your level of interest compared to last year. The blog poll is posted at right;  feel free to explain your answers below this article in a comment if you wish.

This is certainly a Tour in turmoil.

The vacuum left by Lance Armstrong's retirement has sucked away a lot of US fans. OLN reports the viewership of its first four live Tour reports is down nearly 50%. ...   more »

A troubling secret about Floyd Landis' health is coming out just the day after he climbed into 2nd place overall in the 2006 Tour de France.

The highest placed American cyclist in the Tour, and a favorite to win the race, suffers from a degenerative bone disease that gives him chronic pain and will require hip replacement surgery a few weeks after the Tour. He adopted his unusual time trial position on the bike to reduce the pain. ...   more »

French cyclist Sylvain Calzati showed us why there's a group of cyclists who gamble on a breakaway at the Tour de France everyday -- sometimes the peloton doesn't catch up.

That's what happened Sunday on the 112-mile stage from Saint Meen le Grand to Lorient. Calzati and 5 other cyclists broke away from the peloton about 25 miles into the stage, and the AG2R cyclist stayed ahead the rest of the race. ...   more »

Here's a bigger shock than the Stage 7 results on Saturday: Lance Armstrong says he's showing up to support the sport of cycling and his Discovery teammates for the final week of the Tour de France.

Didn't he say at one time that he never wanted to step foot in France again, or words to that effect? ...   more »

T-Mobile cyclist Serhiy Honchar won the individual time trial on Saturday, gaining the yellow jersey and beating all the top contenders who had planned to use the stage to catapult themselves into the Tour de France lead.

In fact, the only favorite who could afford a smile at the end of the day was American Floyd Landis (at left in Tour of California), who finished 2nd in the stage and boosted himself to 2nd in the overall standings. ...   more »

Felt Mountain Bicycles is recalling about 700 bikes sold during the past two years after reports that the steel brake attachment can come off the frame.

The Lake Forest, California-based company imports the bikes made by Kinesis in Taiwain. ...   more »

Riding in an organized bicycle tour means lots of camaraderie, prepared meals, luggage and maintenance services waiting at the end of the day, even police motorcycle escorts at times.

Just don't let down your guard about the dangers posed by motor vehicles. Three cyclists on group bicycle tours -- two in Colorado -- have died in collisions with motor vehicles in the past few weeks ...   more »

It's Robbie McEwen crossing the finish line first at the Tour de France again and again this year. The Australian cyclist followed Davitamon-Lotto teammate Gert Steegmans on a perfect lead out for his 3rd victory on Friday.

In fact, after a number of miscues in earlier stages, it looked like the sprinters' teams were finally getting it right as the peloton drove into Vitre at the end of the 117-mile Stage 6. ...   more »

This shouldn't surprise anyone. The number of viewers tuning in to the first four stages of OLN's Tour de France coverage has been nearly cut in half this year with the retirement of Lance Armstrong.

Tour coverage at the Outdoor Life Network, once known as the Only Lance Network, has crashed 49% to 207,544 people. Combining the number of people watching live and taped replays raises viewership to 749,472. But that's still a 47% drop. ...   more »

A flat stage into Normandy featured a classic contest for the sprinters Thursday as Spanish cyclist Oscar Freire won Stage 5 of the Tour de France.

Teams from Milram, Liquigas, QuickStep and Credit Agricole set the pace as the peloton sped into Cain, but the racer from the Rabobank team grabbed the victory from yellow jersey holder Tom Boonen of QuickStep ...   more »

Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen zipped past the field at the finish in Saint Quentin on Wednesday to take his second win in the 2006 Tour de France.

Marking his 10th career win at the Tour, the Davitamon-Lotto cyclist said, "This one is for Freddy Rodriguez." The American -- and the team's lead-out specialist -- crashed in Tuesday's stage and suffered a concussion. ...   more »

Nobody in recent memory could report a human interest story better than the late CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt. His "On the Road ..." reports are noteworthy not only for briefly shining the spotlight on unheralded Americans, but also for the simplicity and directness of his writing.

In more than 600 segments of "On the Road," at least twice Kuralt touched on bicycling. One was about June Curry, the Cookie Lady of Afton, Virginia. Another was Jethro Mann, the bicycle man. ...   more »

Belgium's Tom Boonen gained the yellow jersey by one-second as the Tour de France continued its race of attrition on Tuesday.

One of the major contenders, Alejandro Valverde, crashed out with a broken collarbone while cycling in the midst of the peloton. Earlier in the 3rd stage, American cyclist Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) and Erik Dekker (Rabobank) left the race after crashing. ...   more »

A lot of cycling junkies, myself included, are blogging about the Tour de France. Here are some interesting posts I've come across recently.

The first is from a cyclist. I don't know the origin of this picture at the Bobby Julich blog. It's cool to see two of the decade's top American cyclists -- competing on different teams -- marking an historic event in cycling.

These are two of the peloton's workhorses over the years. Hincapie is racing his 11th Tour de France; Julich his 9th. ...   more »

Australian cyclist Robbie McEwen won the sprint in Esch-sur-Alzette to take the 2nd stage of the Tour de France on Monday, as Norway's Thor Hushovd regained the overall leader's yellow jersey from George Hincapie.

Pity poor Matthias Kessler, though. The T-Mobile rider attacked with about 3.5 miles to go, gaining a 15-second lead that he lost within sight of the finish line. George Hincapie sits in 4th, 10 seconds behind. ...   more »

You're sitting at your computer terminal at work. You wonder how George Hincapie is doing in today's stage. Is he in a breakaway? Is the race nearly over?

You can pick up just about as much real-time information off the Internet as you can from watching Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen on OLN. Here are some resources for keeping up to date ...   more »

American cyclist George Hincapie found out what he can do in the Tour de France as he rode into the yellow jersey on the second day of the three-week race.

Disappointed on Saturday at finishing a split second behind the winner in the prologue, Hincapie on Sunday won a 2-second time bonus at an intermediate sprint 9 kilometers from the finish on the 115-mile race around Strasbourg. ...   more »

The Murray Lock and Dam Bicycle Pedestrian Bridge -- also known as the Big Dam Bridge -- opens in Little Rock, Arkansas, this fall as the nation's longest bridge built for such use.

The 3,463-foot bridge links 25 miles of bike-hike trails in the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock, as well as connecting two recreation areas -- Murray Park and Cooks Landing. ...   more »