Bike Hugger 

Trailer from A Ride with George Hincapie, a documentary DVD

Spanning his early years as a junior to the disappointment of 2009 Roubaix, this unadorned everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-guy portrait puts a microscope on the silent man of cycling, George Hincapie.

We've ridden with George and it was a pleasure. We'll ride with him again later this Summer during the USPro and Style in Motion weekend. Hincapie Sportswear partners with us on our Hugga Comfort gear, including jerseys, socks, and sunscreen.

During our Tour de France coverage we're giving away this DVD and also selling it soon on our Amazon Store.

George is racing his 14th tour this year with Team Columbia-HTC. Follow him on Twitter during the race.

The owner worked construction and found this bike in a basement. Aaron's Bicycle Repair fixed it up for him. According to Sheldon Brown, the Dunelt was a second-tier brand in the Golden Age of 3 Speeds.

I don't think that mattered to him at all.

They say that the Tour de France can be won by mere seconds, but that's only what Cadel Evans' friends tell him to cheer him up. No, the cold, cruel truth of the matter is that second place is just #1 loser. With that in mind, here are my predictions for second places at the 2009 Tour:

Yellow Jersey (General Classification): Though Evans (Silence-Lotto) seems to have a stranglehold on the step on the podium one down from the top, I'm gonna have to tip my hat to Schleck (Saxo Bank) this year. Which Schleck brother, you ask? Well, um, Andy Schleck, I think...I don't know...all Luxembourgers look alike to me.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): For the jersey that no one cares about, second place is less bitter if only because people don't keep asking how it felt to come so close to winning the climbers' award. On the other hand, you can probably get away with claiming you were second and then were later awarded the polka dot jersey when 1st place was busted for blood doping. Who's gonna really remember? My 2nd place climber pick is David Moncoutié or some other French dude.

Green Jersey (Sprinter): My pick for second is Tom Boonen. Even if he has discovered a renewed passion for finish lines before coke lines, Cavendish (Columbia) has taken the sprint crown for big bunch finishes.

Just a reminder, we're doing our first Live Chat in the Hub during the live Versus coverage of Stage 1 of the Tour de France on Sunday, from 8am EDT until the stage ends.

We're going to Live chat other stages as well, and we'll have some industry guests on to chat with us. This moderated chat will let us talk up the Tour, discuss the teams, bikes, tactics and more. I'm really looking forward to hearing from Bike Hugger readers during this stage.

We'll also play Paul and Phil bingo for prizes.

Enter your email address below and you'll be reminded when the Live Chat starts (as if you could forget when the Tour launches).

schwartzsheldon tweeted the caption for this photo.

Dude shoulda got out of the way of the Chalkbot!

Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Isabelle visits Mrs. Rose at the Flower Shoppe from the Picture Book collection with bicycles.

Illustration: Sharon Watts.

Also see

• Armadillo
• Mom and Son
• bicycletta

Pitching this now as gate for the new Hugga HQ . . .

Found on the unique Garden Gates Squidoo.

With vampires being the new James Dean, we were wondering if Vampires ride bikes? You'd think there's a juncture between, fashion, pop culture, vampires, hollywood, and bikes. Bikes are in everything else. We found Count Chopula

but no sightings yet of a vampire on a bike. It's either fixed or steampunk or cargo maybe to carry a casket around. It would have fire wheels for sure.

Hollywood can have it's dreamy vampires, our favs are Count Chocula and Count von Count.

Spotted at a bike race in Oregon, a Raleigh Tourer. Updated over the years, but still the original owner. Now it runs with a flip-flop hub.

The Seattle Sports Blog picks up the Tyler Farrar story (local races in the Tour) with quotes from me on being a sprinter.

"They're like gunslingers -- they don't have any fear," Byron said. "They know what they need to do and they do it."

Links

• Tyler Multimedia Site
• Seattle Times: A year of ups and downs
• Bike Hugger Hub: Watching the Tour