As the end of summer rolls around, I get this terrible feeling that there's something out there I'm forgetting about; something undone.

Oh yeah. Floyd Landis. Guilty or not guilty?

We still don't know, but ... VeloNews reports that a decision may be coming in mid- to late-September. ...   more »

Although September's cooler weather means it's been dubbed "Century Month," there aren't many long rides planned for this Labor Day weekend. There are some exceptions I've found in Georgia and Pennsylvania:

Atlanta One Love Century

One is sponsored by the Metro Atlanta Cycling Club. The One Love Century begins Saturday at Stonewall Tell Elementary School and follows a course through south Fulton, Rico, Palmetto, and Cowetta County. Includes maps, cue sheets, T-shirts, etc. For information, check the One Love Century registration (.pdf).

MACC was founded in 1987 with the noble mission to "promote cycling in the black community and build camaraderie among all cyclists." They do this by sponsoring rides and taking road trips to the Hotter'n Hell (next is Aug. 23, 2008) in Texas and Seagull Century (Oct. 6) in Maryland....   more »

If you're still interested in pro cycling, the 2007 Vuelta a Espana kicks off Saturday for a three-week tour of Spain.

The online bicycle racing network Cycling.tv is webcasting the race and offering a low-resolution webcast for free to those who don't know if they want to shell out 21 Euros for a better view.

Only three Americans are competing in the event, as it conflicts with the US Cycling Pro championships that run Saturday and Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina, and the Tour of Missouri (Sept. 11-16)....   more »

It's inspiration time.

When getting passed by an elderly bicyclist in the state of Missouri, you should check the back of his shirt as he flies past. If it says, "You've just been passed by an 80-year-old man," then that's Charles Brinkmeyer.

An active cyclist for the past 20 years, Brinkmeyer recently celebrated his 80th birthday with an 80-mile ride ...   more »

The LiveStrong Presidential Cancer Forum is underway today and Tuesday in Iowa, where Lance Armstrong strives to make the fight against cancer a top issue in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Democrats Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich spoke Monday at Cedar Rapids; the Republicans get a shot on Tuesday. Noticeable in his absence was Democrat Barack Obama and Tuesday's expected no-shows Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. ...   more »

When you read about bicyclist Saul Raisin, it's easy to draw comparisons to two former Tours de France winners; Greg Lemond, who fought back from gunshot wounds in a hunting accident, and Lance Armstrong, who beat cancer.

Raisin has been battling back from severe head trauma he suffered in a race in 2006 to compete on Saturday in the individual time trial at the USA Cycling Pro championships in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Dalton, Georgia, cyclist for Credit Agricole has come a long way from laying in a coma in a hospital bed in France. Still, Raisin's team is being cautious about his ability to make a full recovery to the pro peloton...   more »

A reader recently emailed me to ask if I knew the oldest bicycle club in the US or the oldest race. I didn't, but the question sent me down an interesting road.

It turns out he had acquired a bike racing invitation dated Sept. 15, 1884, from the Keystone Bicycle Club in Pittsburgh and was researching it for sale in eBay.

That set me off on a wild-goose chase of my own, where I stumbled across some old sports newsletters that mentioned bicycle racing from that era   more »

Websites like Craigslist and eBay could be unintentionally sparking a rise in bicycle thefts, reports the Washington Post on today's front page story, "As web fuels bike thefts, victims turn vigilante."

That's probably not much of a headline to people who regularly visit these websites, often in search of their stolen bikes.

There are a few websites, however, that list stolen bicycles that you should probably check if you're thinking of buying a used bicycle online...   more »

Team Slipstream/ Chipotle got some more mountain muscle with the signing of Discovery Channel's Tom Danielson this week.

He joins David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde (both of Team CSC) from the US and the UK's David Millar (Saunier Duval) on a team that appears to be filling the void of the departure of the pro cycling team sponsored by Discovery...   more »

Bruce Friedland at bpfphotography
Mountain Thunder runs alongside Allegheny Highlands trail

It will be lung power vs. coal power when the Western Maryland Wheelmen challenge the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad's Mountain Thunder on Oct. 13.

The 16-mile race from the Cumberland to Frostburg train stations pits man and machine on the Allegheny Highlands trail and the adjacent tracks of the scenic railroad. Along the way, the route gains 1,300 feet of elevation.

While the bicycle races will be struggling up the grade under their own power, they have an advantage in knowing that the locomotive will pulling 8 or 9 railroad cars filled with passengers and cannnot exceed 20 mph...   more »

A bicyclist from Scotland is out on the road to try and beat the record for an around-the-world bicycle tour of 276 days, 19 hours and 15 minutes.

Mark Beaumont of Fife set off from the Champs-Elysees in Paris on August 5 to set a new world record in under 210 days.

There's no sag wagon to carry Beaumont's stuff or help him over the high passes. Beaumont is lugging more than 66 pounds of gear on the 18,000-mile expedition on his bike, a Koga-Miyata Signature ....   more »

I was rewarded with a quite a shock recently when I stumbled across the Preston-Snoqualimie bike trail while bicycling in eastern King County.

On bicycle maps, the trail looks like it doesn't go anywhere, ending at a dead end in the forest. But that dead end affords a spectacular view across the Snoqualmie Valley to Snoqualmie Falls and the Salish Lodge against the backdrop of Mount Si.

The 5-mile rail-to-trail is part of the old Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad. It was built in 1890 and abandoned in 1974. I encountered as many day hikers as cyclists on this trail. ...    more »

The Dinkytown Bicycle Connection has reopened in Minneapolis just downriver from the fallen I-35 bridge, although the east access remains closed and there's no through-traffic allowed.

Even so, bicyclists and pedestrians are using the bridge to view the wreckage of the collapsed bridge over the Mississippi River and maybe pay their respects to those who died.

The Dinkytown bridge, also known as Bridge No. 9, connects the west and east sides of the University of Minnesota. Access from the western side was reopened on Tuesday, although the east access is shut down while construction is underway....   more »

East Lake Sammamish Trail

Regional bike trails in Seattle's King County won big in measures on Tuesday's ballot.

Two propositions to raise $108.5 million each over six years for maintenance and expansion of parks and regional trails won easily.

The East Lake Sammamish River Trail will be one of the big benefactors of the funding. The 11-mile chipped limestone rail-to-trail project that opened in March 2006 connects Redmond and Issaquah. It will be upgraded and paved ...   more »

Looking for a way to cut air pollution in its capital city before it hosts the 2008 Summer Olympics, Chinese officials have hit upon a bike rental scheme that will involve 50,000 bikes.

The government recently imposed a "car reduction test" that improved the area's air quality during the Good Luck Beijing games, a preview of next year's Olympics. The IOC has said that endurance sports, like cycling, could be postponed on days with high pollution levels during the Summer Games.

The city has been running a test bike rental program at 31 locations. ...   more »

Australian authorities have apparently solved the mystery of a missing European tourist when his skeletal remains were found next to his bicycle in a remote part of Queensland.

The remains of the 47-year-old Slovenian were discovered by a helicopter pilot who first saw the bicycle, then spotted the body. Police found the skeleton, clad in a tracksuit ...   more »

The 2007 Bicycle Film Festival is currently making its way on its worldwide tour. The next stop is Toronto, running Wednesday through Sunday.

This is the seventh annual tour for the film festival, which features independent films glorifying the world of bicycling. Other North American stop are Portland, Minneapolis and San Francisco before it heads overseas.

One film should be of interest to Toronto residents: Monkey Warfare, a film about two ex-activists in Toronto whose lifestyle involves selling junk online and riding their bikes....   more »

Don't have speed or agility on a bicycle? Then here's a contest for you.

The Veloist is sponsoring the Bad Tan Contest. The only requirement is that you have a biker's tan.

The winner gets a $100 gift certificate from Performance Bikes....   more »

Illinois is the latest state to join those that require passing motorists give a three-foot margin to bicyclists.

Three-foot laws are on the books in nearly a dozen states, while a few others are pursuing it.

The measure, signed into law Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was included in Senate Bill 80. The bill also allows cyclists to signal a right turn using the right hand, instead of using their left to signal left, right and stop....   more »

Bruce Friedland at bpfphotography

Here's an inside view of the Big Savage Tunnel on the Great Allegheny Passage trail that runs for 150 miles from Cumberland, Maryland, to Pittsburgh.

My cross-country cycling companion took the picture while riding through it on a visit to his hometown in Western Maryland recently.

The completion of the rail-to-trail bike path through this old railroad tunnel was one of the last obstacles before the GAP opened last year. ...   more »

Regular readers of this blog will remember that I recently had been off my bicycle for a few weeks for blood tests and biopsies related to my prostate.

Since then I've received quite a few supportive messages, which I certainly appreciate, and I have returned to regularly riding my bike.

Unfortunately, I also received news from my urologist earlier this week that my prostate biopsy was positive. There's a tumor on the right side and my urologist is recommending complete removal of the prostate....   more »

Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans won the individual time trial at the 2007 Good Luck Beijing Road Cycling International Invitational on Sunday.

Michael Rogers, Evans' teammate from Australia, finished in second place and Alexandr Dyachenko of Kazakhstan finished third.

Cyclists raced on the same course that will be raced at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The 14.6-mile route on Sunday will be extended for next year's competition.....   more »

The 2008 Summer Olympics are only a year away, and cyclists raced on the bike course Saturday to test the conditions.

Bosisio Gabriele of Italy won the 2007 Good Luck Beijing International Road Cycling Tournament in Beijing.

The 108-mile course follows the same route that cyclists will take in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. However, the course will be longer as three laps will be added to the circuit, making it 152 miles. ...   more »

Long before the owners of the pro cycling team sponsored by the Discovery Channel announced they were abandoning their search for sponsors, they had promised to race in the inaugural Tour of Missouri (Sept. 11-16).

Now they've announced that US cyclists Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie will be racing in Missouri, as will Tour de France winner Alberto Contador.

Other Discovery teammates slated to race in Missouri include Americans Tony Cruz, Jason McCartney, and John Devine, and Fuyu Li (China) and Yaroslav Popovych (Ukraine). ...   more »

With the nation's cities choked by more and more cars, it's interesting to hear from US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters that she considers bike paths just so much pork barrel.

Peters says that earmarked funds going to pay for -- among other things -- bike paths and trails should go instead to support the infrastructure.

What Peters must not realize is that more commuters are turning to bicycles all the time to beat traffic, reduce pollution and make themselves more fit (just check out this crowded bike parking lot in Seattle). They use bike paths. Doesn't that make paths and trails for bicycles and pedestrians part of the infrastructure? ...   more »

When I first wrote about Thomas Beasley in 2005, the cyclist was in the midst of his 53rd cross-country bicycle tour and said it might be his last.

Two years later and Beasley is still bicycling. And he's still saying it's his last tour. We'll see.

The 39-year-old is riding to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. So far he has raised $108,715 and logged more than 197,000 miles......   more »

What do you really think about the automobile?

That's no mystery for the 2,000 bicycle riders who took to the streets in suburban Chicago last month in support of The Spindle.

Eight cars spiked on a 50-foot metal pole is a piece of art located in the parking lot of the Cermak Plaza shopping center in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn. A landmark featured in the movie Wayne's World, the thing is scheduled to come down soon to make way for a Walgreens.

Earlier this week, National Public Radio interviewed the artist, Dustin Shuler. He said, "I'm not a gearhead. Cars are something that you notice everyday... and they're probably the hazardous thing you deal with in your life everyday. ...   more »

Usually I lurk in a Wi-Fi enabled public library and do some freelancing or blogging while my daughter attends summer camp.

Facing a limited number of bicycling days, I took advantage of some rare sunny, dry, mild weather in Seattle and gave myself a bike tour between Green Lake and downtown.

I spotted the nattily dressed gentleman who had parked his bike at a park bench, above, along the Elliott Bay waterfront. His cap kept the sun out of his eyes while he gazed south along the busy harbor to Safeco and Qwest fields and Mount Rainier in the distance. What a perfect place to relax....   more »

Cookie Lady 1984

A blog reader recently left a comment that "Cookie Lady" June Curry's fabled Bike House in Afton, Virginia, was closed earlier this month when the bicyclist stopped for a visit.

To find out more details about what was going on, I contacted her good friend Joyce Cooke, formerly of the Milepost Zero Bicycle Club. Among other things, the bike club assists June with keeping the Bike House clean and well-provisioned for cross-country bicyclists who pass through.

Joyce said that the Cookie Lady is not doing well and has been sidelined with severe pain associated with sciatica. ...   more »

If you expect to hit heavy traffic because of this month's roadwork on I-5 just south of the I-90 interchange for the rest of the month, you should really consider using your bicycle.

The Cascade Bicycle Club is doing all the hard work, except the actual pedaling, to help bike commuters find the easiest routes to and from work and the latest information on successful and safe city riding.

The Cascade Bicycle Club's "Survive I-5" website has links to eight route maps on Bikely.com that are appropriate for cyclists making their way into downtown....   more »

David Wiens, the 5-time winner of Colorado's Leadville 100, set a course record on Saturday as Floyd Landis finished in 2nd, also within the course record time.

The much-anticipated match-up between Landis and Lance Armstrong never developed, however, as the 7-time Tour de France champion didn't show up. There was speculation that Armstrong was training for the race, but his ...   more »

There's nothing like inhaling the mountain fresh air on a bicycle trip, unless you're caught downwind from a smoky wildfire.

With 40 fires larger than 500 acres burning in Montana, Idaho and Washington, Adventure Cycling Association is alerting touring bicyclists about road closures on some of its routes.

There are also health threats due to wildfire smoke, and the Montana health department has posted some information about that....   more »

One thing we should all try to remember is that all these bike lanes and bicycle paths and the rules that give cyclists the right to use the roads didn't just happen.

They're the result of tireless work by bicycle advocates who hammer away at City Hall, appear before the county board of supervisors or lobby the legislators in the State Capitol.

One of those advocates -- Berkeley's Alex Zuckermann -- died recently at age 86. He founded the now-1,400-member East Bay Bike Coalition and fought for a bike path around Oakland's Lake Merritt and the right for cyclists to take their bicycles on BART...   more »

Tailwind Sports is abandoning its search for a sponsor to replace Discovery Channel at the end of this season.

After putting two cyclists on the podium in the Tour de France last month, the team that Lance Armstrong made famous will race for the final time at the Vuelta a Espana and Tour of Missouri in September.

That means current members George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Alberto Contador and others are free to find other cycling teams to ply their trade....   more »

If you bicycle around the State of Washington or ever thought of visiting here to ride your bike, you should check out Kent's Bike Blog.

A couple of weeks ago, Kent Peterson loaded up his bike for a loop around Washington. If you check his blog, you'll see that a ride around Washington encompasses rides along coastal highways, high mountain passes, lots of fertile farmland, arid grasslands and just plain desert.

Peterson is commuting programs manager at Bicycle Alliance of Washington, so he thought he'd check in with other bike advocates around the state by bicycle. What a great business trip. Wish I'd thought of it....   more »

A while back the Gorp.com travel website published its "Top Ten U.S. Road Biking Routes." I counted 12 on the list, but I'm sure they struggled to whittle the list down to so few.

When I scanned the list, I was surprised and amazed that I'd ridden on 5 of the routes and been very close to 2 others. At first I felt proud, then I wondered if I'm ever going to ride the rest.

I have to agree that they chose some great rides, but I'm not much of a critic when it comes to good bike routes. Any road where there's not a lot of traffic is a great bike route for me. Here's their 12 (starting with the rides I did) ...   more »

Redmond Derby Days

A wave of melancholy sweeps over me whenever I see anyone riding a bicycle these days. I also get a slight ache in the groin.

I've been ordered off the bicycle twice in the past month by doctors: the first time to get a better reading in a prostate screening exam; and the second time to aid my recovery from a prostate biopsy (don't know results yet).

I'll be free to start riding again later this week. Mentally, I can't wait to start cycling again. Physically, I'm still a little too sore to look forward to climbing back onto the saddle....   more »

Today is the 62nd anniversary of the day that the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

On a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum several years ago, Russ Couprie took a picture of this twisted bicycle and posted it on his website. The bicycle was found 2 kilometers from the ground zero.

At this year's commemoration, thousands of elderly survivors, children and dignitaries laid wreaths and flowers at Peace Memorial Park. They bowed in a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m., the time that the Enola Gay B29 bomber dropped the bomb....   more »

You never know who you're going to meet on a bicycle at a 10,000-foot mountain pass in Colorado.

Howard at the Why Howard Laughed blog, for instance, stumbled across Floyd Landis at the Tennessee Pass rest stop on the Colorado Cyclist Copper Triangle bike ride on Saturday.

That's why you should always carry a camera. Howard did, and now he has a picture on his blog of Landis posing....   more »

Raleigh America is recalling about 1,200 Cadent style bicycles with carbon fiber forks after receiving reports that the forks broke under normal use.

The recall, in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, involves the 2007 Raleigh Cadent 1.0, Cadent 2.0 and Cadent Carbon (pictured) bicycle models with carbon forks.

Raleigh received three reports of forks breaking resulting in riders suffering a dislocated shoulder, a concussion and a broken jaw...   more »

The province of Quebec is opening the longest network of bicycle paths in North America with the ribbon-cutting of La Route Verte this month.

Under development since 1995, the Green Route stretches from one end of the French-speaking province to the other. It encompasses 2,695 miles of bike lanes, trails, and abandoned railway right-of-ways that touch 320 towns and cities.

Bicycle tourists can take short tours from base cities, or do the entire route from the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region in the west to the spectacular Gaspe Peninsula in the east. The route brushes the US for access from New York, Vermont and Maine....   more »

I always marvel at the cyclists on tall bikes. How do they build them? How do they ride them? How do they stop and dismount?

Tim Anderson, a regular contributor at Instructables website, answers the first question with his recent contribution "Build Your Own Tall Bike Without Welding."

The welding aspect of making a tall bike is certainly a drawback to most garage bike mechanics. No welding? This is interesting ....   more »

Photo by Nanobiker

Deep in the news stories about the I-35W bridge tragedy in Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon are reports about the roles played by several people on bicycles.

For instance, one family felt their car drop several times as the bridge collapsed. It came to rest rear-end down on top of another car. The Star-Tribune reported:

"Someone yelled that we should get out," said granddaughter Logan Winegar, 18,  A passerby on a bicycle helped them climb out. ..   more »

I'm sure bicycles will come into play in coming days as workers in Minneapolis consider bicycling to solve a congested commute situation caused by the loss of  the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi.

According to the city's website, Minneapolis already has the second high rate of bicycle commuters -- 2.4% -- behind Portland's 3.5%.

If you're thinking of bike commuting, I've put together some links that might be helpful. There are links for bike maps of the Twin Cities, some "bikeable" bridges and buses and trains that carry bike racks...   more »

Tour of Missouri organizers say nine North American cycling teams will compete among the 15 that will race around the state from Sept. 11 to 16.

In addition to the Discovery Channel team, which announced earlier, the North American teams are Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle, Toyota-United, HealthNet presented by Maxxis, Navigators, Colavita Oil/Sutter Homes, Jelly Belly, BMC and the USA National Team....   more »