The person reputed to be the first mountain bike enthusiast in the US has been missing for seven months and is believed to be a victim of murder.

John Finley Scott, 73, is considered one of the earliest mountain bike pioneers by the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, located in Crested Butte, Colorado.

All the way back in 1953, Scott used a Schwinn World diamond frame, balloon tires, flat handlebars, derailleur and cantilever brakes to build his "Woodsie Bike." That was 20 years before ...   more »

Last year's winner of the Tour of California, Tour de Georgia and Tour de France has pretty much ruled out professional cycling this year, Floyd Landis said in an interview at ESPN.com.

The pokey pace of his doping case means he's written off the 2007 season, even if he's vindicated.

I'm glad Landis has stayed motivated the past few months and held onto the prospect of cycling this year, but it doesn't seem much of a surprise that this case has dragged out so long. ...   more »

Organizers for the 2007 Breakaway to the Beach MS150 bicycle tour are changing the route for the first time in 12 years.

The Breakaway -- touted as the largest bicycling event in the Southeast with 2,500 riders -- ended tragically last year when 15-year-old Rachel Giblin and her brother, Tommy, were struck by a passing pickup truck pulling a trailer. Rachel died.

Instead of taking a two-day route from Columbia to North Myrtle Beach, this year the Breakaway to the Beach starts, overnights and finishes at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The fund-raiser for the Multiple Sclerosis Society is scheduled for Sept. 15-16.

Anne Marie Forbes, president of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter, told me about the change of plans ...   more »

The Withlacoochee State Trail's 46-mile length makes it the longest rail-trail in Florida and a great route for bicycling.

Featured as Trail of the Month by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the path runs between Citrus Springs in the north and Trilby in the south in an area generally between Tampa and Orlando.

While the trail is open to all, its path through small towns, ranches and natural areas of the Withlacoochee State Forest means bicyclists have the trail all to themselves for long stretches ...   more »

Italian cyclist Ivan Basso's first race appearance in a Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team jersey will be at the Tour of California, where he'll ride against former teammates on Team CSC.

Basso, who once again is aiming to win the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in the same year, hinted that he'll ride the Tour of California (February 18-25) in support of another Discovery team newcomer, American Levi Leipheimer.

You can be sure that all eyes will be on the 29-year-old from the opening prologue in San Francisco to the finish in Long Beach to determine his level of fitness and how well he gets along with his new team ....   more »

Newspapers in California are beginning to pick up on the proposed legislation that would require motorists to give bicycles three feet of space when they drive past.

A story, "Cyclists like push for safety in bill" (that unfortunately quotes just one cyclist), printed by several MediaNews newspapers around the state reports that the same opponents to an earlier version of the bill that was defeated last April are lining up again.

From what I read, here's the major argument posed by the opponents: ...   more »

Just when I think I'll be wearing my rainjacket for the rest of my bicycling life, we get hit with a day like this -- sunny, temp in the high 40s, calm, did I mention sunny?

After suffering through weeks of windstorms, snowstorms, freezing temperatures and rain, lots of rain, cyclists up here by the hundreds emerged into the sunshine for their rides on Saturday.

Here's what I enjoyed on today's bike ride ...   more »

Something from the insider shop-talk department:  Two bicycling blogs have been nominated for this year's seventh annual Weblog Awards.

Up in Alaska has been chosen in the Best Sports Blog category. Jill mentioned it in her ride post on Thursday, then let the matter drop.

Fat Cyclist has been nominated in the Best Kept Secret category for the best underrepresented weblogs. Fatty's gone to the opposite extreme and is begging people to vote for his blog. A flashing advertisement on his site shouts, "I need validation." ...   more »

Looks like the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin might be searching for a new executive director.

The Wisconsin bicycle advocacy group's executive committee has removed Darwin Ward, executive director since the fall of 2002, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. No explanation was given for the removal.

Members were surprised by the action and some were disturbed by the way it happened....   more »

Here's one of the best reasons for towns to support bicycling -- those sweaty, sunburnt cyclists usually have money in their wallets and they're hungry, thirsty and looking for some off-bike activity.

Small towns across Iowa know this; they compete to be named host cities to 10,000-plus cyclists on RAGBRAI every year.

Cumberland Mayor Lee Fiedler knows it too; he's busy convincing downtown businessmen that the opening of the Great Allegheny Passage will deposit some 250,000 hikers and bicyclists on the city's doorstep this year and they need to keep businesses open on weekends. ...   more »

The French anti-doping authority has dismissed proceedings against Spanish cyclist Oscar Pereiro for failing two doping tests during the 2006 Tour de France.

He showed them a note from his doctor. End of story. Everything is forgiven.

Last week a French newspaper reported the leak that Pereiro tested positive for the banned substance salbutamol (an asthma medication) during the Tour ...   more »

This year's RAGBRAI -- Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa -- is going to be the flattest bike ride ever.

Organizers issued that good news when they announced the host towns for RAGBRAI's 35th annual rolling party across Iowa, scheduled for July 22-26.

Following a 478-mile west-to-east route, RAGBRAI will start this year in Rock Rapids ...   more »

You can turn your steel, carbon fiber, aluminum or titanium bicycle into a "woody" with the addition of these wooden fenders.

Cody Davis of Bend, Oregon, has been making these wooden bike fenders in his garage for about three years now after getting involved in furniture wood working just for fun.

I stumbled across his website -- Woody's Custom Cycling Fenders -- recently and e-mailed him to learn more about how he got into it and how his fenders are made ....   more »

Dan Sheret goes over the equipment he must pack when he leaves on his around the world self-supported bicycle tour -- Ability Trek 2007 -- in June.

Panniers. Satellite phone. Water filter. Freeze-dried meals. Below-knee prosthesis for the right leg.

You see, the North Carolina man underwent an amputation of his lower right leg about five years ago because an ankle injured in an accident would not heal correctly. That didn't stop him from bicycling cross-country in 2003, and it won't stop him from bicycling around the world beginning in June 2007.

Sheret is a long-distance endurance amputee cyclist whose problem has turned into his strength and an inspiration to all ...   more »

We're not talking entry level bike mechanics here, although that job is demanding enough. A Washington state bicycle advocacy group and the nation's leading bicycle racing publication are looking for new bosses.

VeloNews is looking for an editor-in-chief. The position oversees the biweekly bike racing magazine and website. The editor is in charge of pretty much everything and everybody on the news side of the publication. The successful candidate must be deadline and detail-oriented.

The position is based in Boulder and some travel to worldwide cycling events is anticipated. ...   more »

The Lance Armstrong Foundation has announced the dates for three LiveStrong bicycle rides in 2007 to benefit cancer research.

The 2007 LiveStrong Challenge bike events are:

The Austin ride also includes the annual Ride for the Roses celebration for the top fund-raisers.

On the LiveStrong website, the 7-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor talks about his participation ...   more »

Thomas Stevens might have been the first around-the-world bicyclist beginning in 1884, but he certainly wasn't the last.

The Pattersons, at left in Morocco, took the plunge in 2002 after Pat had turned 62 and Catherine had recovered from a heart attack.

Their nearly four-year bicycle tour took them through 57 countries on 4 continents. They made many friends and covered thousands of scenic miles, but also had to endure a collision with a truck in Portugal and a hold-up at gunpoint in Peru ... It's all at their website, WorldRiders2. ...   more »

A 49-year-old New York state man has been indicted on second degree murder counts in two slayings associated with the bike path rapist case.

Buffalo police arrested Altemio Sanchez last week after receiving a tip and DNA samples from a glass he used in a restaurant.

The case gets its name from the series of 11 rapes, and two killings, that occurred on bike paths in the Buffalo, Amherst and Hamburg as far back as 1981. The case went cold ...   more »

What's one activity that is growing among Americans 45 years and older, while it declines among the population as a whole? Bicycle riding.

The finding is in a report entitled "Global Aging and Sports: The Impact of Aging of the World's Population on the World of Sports." It was prepared by The Consilience Group, LLC, for SBRnet, a Princeton, New Jersey-based sports marketing research firm.

I'm a little surprised in the findings that bicycling has declined among the population as a whole since the early 1990s. However, the National Bicycle Dealers Association reports that the peak participation year for cycling was 1992 with 54.6 million participants. The most recent estimates available are for 2002, when 41.4 million Americans took to their bicycles. Sales figures, however, show steady growth. ...   more »

When Tom Stevens stepped off the Alameda Ferry in Oakland to begin his around the world bicycle ride in 1884, there were a couple of things he didn't have to worry about -- cars and trucks.

Of course, that meant he had to do without roads, too.

National Public Radio ran an interview this weekend with Thomas Pauly, a University of Delaware faculty member who wrote a forward to a re-release of Stevens' travelogue -- "Around the World on a Bicycle."

In that interview, I was struck by some of the connections between Stevens' ride of 120 years ago and our rides today. ...   more »

Before Thomas Stevens could become the first person to bicycle around the world, he had to cross the United States. He did so in 1884, completing the first TransAmerica bicycle tour.

During his around the world bike ride, Stevens sent dispatches to Harper's Weekly. In 1887, he published a book about his journey, "Around the World on a Bicycle."

Here are some excerpts from him trip across California, leaving from Oakland and heading up to Sacramento, then across the Sierra Nevada

"With the hearty well-wishing of a small group of Oakland and 'Frisco cyclers who have come, out of curiosity, to see the start, I mount and ride away to the east, down San Pablo Avenue, toward the village of the same Spanish name, some sixteen miles distant. The first seven miles are a sort of half-macadamized road, and I bowl briskly along ...   more »

What makes someone a Trail Angel? In Gillian Hoggard's case, it's providing free lodging to cross-country bicycle tourists who have made it to Ordway, Colorado.

The Adventure Cycling Association named Gillian as the recipient of the 2006 June Curry Trail Angel Award. In its fourth year, the award goes to an individual or group that makes bicyclists' journeys easier by their acts of goodwill.

Word of mouth on the TransAmerica Bicycle Route has identified Gillian's home at the end of a gravel driveway on the north side of Ordway as a welcome respite while passing through the often hot, dry eastern Colorado plains (that picture was taken enroute to Ordway in 1984) ...   more »

In the irony of ironies, Spanish cyclist Oscar Pereiro is being questioned by French anti-doping authorities for two failed drug tests during the Tour de France.

The number 2 finisher in last year's Tour, Pereiro, left, had been all but annointed with the yellow jersey as 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis fights accusations that he doped during the Tour. If Landis loses the fight, he loses the Tour title.

If Pereiro can't satisfactorily respond to the doping accusations, the title might go to -- bear with me while I look this up -- No. 3 finisher Andreas Kloden (Germany) of T-Mobile. But the French newspaper Le Monde says six other unidentified cyclists are being challenged.

As we go down the GC, we don't get to a Frenchman until AG2R's Cyril Dresser in No. 7. That might sound a little fishy, but Le Monde reported that some of the cyclists being challenged were Frenchmen. ....   more »

Bicyclists and motorcyclists have more in common than just their desire to tool around on two wheels. Along with pedestrians, both types of bikers are extremely vulnerable to mistakes motorists make.

The American Motorcycle Association has taken a leading role in pushing for traffic justice through state capitols across the nation. When the League of American Bicyclists meets in Washington DC for its annual National Bike Summit March 13-16, representatives from the motorcycle association will be on hand to discuss their efforts.

The motorcycle group's Justice for All Campaign focuses on inadequate sentencing of drivers who injure or kill others on the road. They seek 3 changes in state laws ...   more »

Maybe you have your own bicycling frustrations. Breaking off valve stems has been mine.

The first time occurred after I patched a flat during Cycle Across Maryland, pumped up the tire, and the innertube started leaking at its connection with the valve stem. It happened twice on that trip.

I chalked it up to "bad innertubes," but this has continued to plague me year after year, regardless of brand. Ever since I became a firm believer in Mr. Tuffies and graduated up to Armadillo-style tires ...   more »

One month to go and the Amgen Tour of California has announced the 18 professional bicycling teams for the Feb. 18-25 stage race from San Francisco to Long Beach.

The list of cycling teams includes 10 US-based teams and 9 teams on the UCI Pro Tour.

I'm looking forward to this. Last year's inaugural race included wins by George Hincapie for Discovery and Levi Leipheimer, above, for Gerolsteiner (he's now with Discovery also).  Notably absent in 2007 will be overall winner Floyd Landis, who is fighting blood doping charges.

The teams listed for the 2007 Tour of California, and links to websites where rosters can be found ...    more »

UPDATED: Jan. 16 -- South Carolina police said Monday that no charges will be filed in the bicycling death of Rachel Giblin, a 15-year-old girl who was struck by a pickup truck during a MS 150 bike ride last September.

Rachel and her brother, Tommy, were riding a tandem bicycle in the Breakaway to the Beach fund-raiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society on Sept. 16, 2006, with their parents.

In the months following the fatality, Highway Patrol investigators determined that Rachel and her brother fell and were hit as the pickup truck passed.

Rachel's parents dispute that version and want the case reopened. ...   more »

Last week I wrote about some of the advantages of shelling out the extra money to buy a custom bicycle instead of a model off the shelf.

Here's the opposite idea: buy nothing new. Instead of plopping down money for a spanking new bike, search around and get one that someone is giving away. You might not get the exact selection you're after with your unique specifications, but the price is right -- $00.00.

Over the new year, a story circulated about a group of folks in San Francisco who started a "buy nothing new" movement, called The Compact. Except for food, toiletries and other health and safety items, the group pledged to stick to finding free or used items.

There are a few websites that deal in free stuff, and of course there's Craigslist ...   more »

Chalk up 85 straight hours of bicycling on a stationary cycle for 49-year-old Aurora, Illinois, resident George Hood.

As he broke the previous Guinness World Record of 82 hours Saturday evening, he passed the equivalent of 1,000 miles.

Hood was riding the solo endurance event to raise $25,000 for the Illinois COPS (Concerns of Police Officers), a group dedicated to raising money for survivors of police killed in the line of duty. You might remember two policemen on bikes died in a COPS fund-raising bike ride in neighboring Indiana last year. ...   more »

Apparently there was more for bicycling at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this past week than a Motorola CEO pedaling around on a yellow bike to sell cell phone chargers.

In a weekend wrap-up, a couple of Seattle Times reporters told about the helmet camera, a PCGamer bike and iPod bicycle speakers they stumpled across at the event.

Oregon Scientific had the ATC2K Waterproof ActionCamera (above, not on bike helmet). The half-pound camera ...   more »

Slowly but surely that movie based on Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About the Bike" is making its way onto the screen.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony's Columbia Pictures division is looking for a treatment that's more like the personal drama of  "Raging Bull" than a bicycling story that would be reminiscent to the inspirational "Chariots of Fire."

Producer Frank Marshall, currently filming another sequel to the "Bourne Identity" and in pre-production for sequels to "Indiana Jones" and "Jurassic Park," maintains the Armstrong film won't be a puff piece. "This isn't going to be Lance the beauty queen" ...   more »

"I have a high threshold for pain."

That's George Hood of Chicago explaining how he can ride a stationary bike hour after hour in his attempt to achieve a place in the Guinness Book of World Records by bicycling for 83 consecutive hours -- nearly 3 1/2 days.

Hood must also have a high threshold for boredom. ...   more »

How is Italian bicycle racer Ivan Basso trying to fill Lance Armstrong's shoes on the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team?

By signing a two-year contract with shoemaker Nike.

Basso, who finished second to the Armstrong in the Texan's last Tour de France in 2005, signed on to race with Armstrong's Discovery Channel team in November.

2006 started out as a good year for Basso, but turned sour. ...   more »

When you attend most bicycling events, you're probably doing more than just improving your health. A nonprofit group usually gets a share of the event proceeds.

But there are hundreds of major bike rides sponsored by big health foundations throughout the US where the top goal is fund-raising, often through a system of pledges for participating bicyclists.

Many of the larger health-related nonprofits have a series of rides in different venues throughout the US. They include Multiple Sclerosis, Leukemia, Lung, Diabetes, and LiveStrong bike tours. Here, in no particular order, are some of them:

Bicycle ride series:

MS Bike Rides (National Multiple Sclerosis Society)

Marking its 28th year, the MS Bike Rides sponsor about 100 bike tours in 48 states ...   more »

A brake problem with some 2007 model year bicycles prompted Cannondale Bicycle Corp. to recall about 700 bikes, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

(Update: Cannondale asserts the number of bicycles "recalled" at 145. Although the number of bikes with the flaw was 700, the problem was caught before most of the bikes made it out the door, and the other affected bikes remained at the warehouse. Cannondale also told Bicycle Retailer and Industry News that the company or retailers have contacted all the customers.)

Apparently the front brake can fail; no injuries have been reported. The bikes sold for between $3,200 and $4,500 ...   more »

That bike-mounted cell phone recharger that Motorola CEO Ed Zander announced a couple of days ago at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) isn't the first one to pedal down the road.

A Sweden-based company named Ikon Global Ltd. marketed a cell phone battery recharger named Pedal & Power up until a year or so ago, but has now apparently dropped off the face of the Internet.

The invention by Kieron Loy received write-ups in TreeHugger, Wireless Business and Technology, Engadget, and BikeBiz (back in September 2000) ....   more »

In his continuing efforts to make the fight against cancer a leading election campaign issue in 2008, retired pro cyclist Lance Armstrong penned an opinion article that appeared Wednesday on the CNN website.

In it, he chastises politicians for cutting funding for cancer research. He also says political candidates ignored the nation's No. 2 killer as they tried to get voters to the polls last November.

Armstrong also is a main guest on a CNN one-hour special on the fight against cancer airing Saturday and Sunday.

In the op/ed piece, "Armstrong: Washington weakens fight against cancer," the 7-time Tour de France winner writes:

"The political ads didn't tell voters that earlier in the year funding for cancer research was cut for the first time in 30 years...   more »

Bicycle advocates in California and Texas are lobbying for state laws that would require passing vehicles to give at least 3 feet of clearance when passing bicycles.

Efforts to pass 3-foot legislation have failed in both states before.

The California bill, entitled AB 60, was introduced by Assemblyman Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara in memory of a cyclist killed by a passing truck on a narrow road. The Texas bill has yet to be filed. If the bills pass, the two states would join seven others that currently have similar laws ...   more »

Construction on a 6-mile bikeway across Lance Armstrong's adopted hometown of Austin is expected to start this spring.

Talk about the Lance Armstrong Bikeway started in 2000, but the plans, access and funding has taken this long for approval. It's expected to be completed in 2008.

Another bikeway in Austin is the Veloway, pictured at left. Allocation of funds made it controversial when it was built in the '90s, but it's said to be well-used now.

For those familiar with Austin....   more »

I'd say this is definitely a bicycle used as a decoration.

Motorola CEO Ed Zander rode this yellow comfort bike onto the stage for his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Monday.

Was it left over from Interbike in September? Maybe. The boss of the $35 billion electronics giant (2005) wanted to make the point that digital content is portable, even in countries that rely mostly on bicycle transportation.

(Update: Motorola plans to sell a bicycle-mounted cellphone charger that will broaden its cellphone markets to developing countries.)...   more »

Photo by Bruce Friedland at BPF Photography

Here's a bicycle my friend Bruce shot outside a restaurant on Orcas Island up in the San Juans on Puget Sound. At first it looks like a prop, but there is air in the tires.

I always thought custom bicycles just so much froufrou. They're critical equipment for bicycle racers, but the rest of us citizens would do just fine with something off the rack at the local bike store.

An everyday guy like me owning a custom bike? That would be like buying a Range Rover to drive to the local grocery store.

An article in the LA Times today goes a long way to changing my mind. The writer makes several good justifications for buying a custom bike which all boil down to this: If a custom bicycle gets you out on your bike more often, it's worth it.

Here are some of the advantages of a custom bike mentioned in the article....

The results are in for the 2006 bike mileage survey, and I see there are quite a few long-distance cyclists who voted. Nearly one in five responded that they had bicycled 8,000 or more miles this year.

I'll do the calculations for you: 8,000 miles is an average 154 miles per week. Wow. Even if the bulk of the miles were tallied on long summer rides, you'd still have to put in a good weekly average to get your miles up there.

I'm also impressed that more than half of you -- 57% -- bicycled more than 3,000 miles last year ...   more »

For more than 30 years, June Curry has been serving cookies and lemonade to TransAmerica bicycle tourists on the steps of the Blue Ridge mountains in Afton, Virginia.

Her efforts earned her the nickname "Cookie Lady" to more than 14,000 cyclists who passed through. After they ate the cookies and drank the lemonade, or spent the night in the "Cookie House", June would snap a Polaroid picture of her visitors. They'd sign the photo and the guest register and be on their way.

Most of those Polaroids are now available online at The Cookie House Registry at the Crazy Guy on a Bike website...    more »

Where is it that a main thoroughfare has stop signs, but private driveways have none? At car crossings for the Burke-Gilman trail in Lake Forest Park near Seattle.

For years, bicyclists on the heavily used paved trail have had to stop at numerous driveways and minor street crossings that access waterfront properties on Lake Washington. At times, police have even issued tickets to cyclists who didn't come to a full stop.

Now that Lake Forest Park has upheld this law in Ordinance 951, the Cascade Bicycle Club is appealing that decision ...   more »

Today marks the second-year anniversary for the Biking Bis blog.

This thing got started when I filed a short piece about my birthday bike ride. The website was called Bikin' Bis then; I changed the name because most of my hits came from google searches for "bikini."

I quickly figured out that people probably didn't want to read about my bike rides, so I thought about other themes for a bicycling blog. I finally hit on the idea of focusing on general bicycling news in the blog, so that readers taking a break during a recreational ride could say ...   more »

More week-long bike tours are updated at my Across State Bicycle Tour page.

While checking the dates and routes, I unearthed the minor news that Bicycle Idaho has been scrubbed this year, replaced by the new Washington Bicycle Ride in 2007. The organizers, the same folks who do the Oregon Bicycle Ride, moved the operation across the border for a ride through rural eastern Washington.

Fear not, Idaho bicycle lovers. The Treasure Island YMCA is putting on Ride Idaho for the third year with a 400-some mile loop starting in Coeur d'Alene.

Here are the other updated tours, listed by state ...   more »

What would you do if you were out of money, you had a family to support, your job required a bicycle, and someone steals it your first day at work?

How far would you go to get it back?

That's what Vittorio de Sici sets out to answer in The Bicycle Thief, filmed in Rome in 1948.

Our "hero", Lamberto, searches all over Rome for his bike -- following leads into missions and brothels -- until he puts aside his conscience ...   more »

How many miles did you ride your bicycle in 2006?

Vote in the poll in the right column and see where you stack up against other Biking Bis readers.

Right off, I'm ashamed to admit that I barely skimmed 2,000 miles. Looking back over my monthly bike logs, I see notes for serious bike mechanical problems in February, the commitment of managing youth baseball in March through mid-June, and illness this fall.

They're all flabby excuses ...   more »