i found a few more pix from my Japan trip
This is the commemorative stone marking the finish line for the 1990 UCI World Championships in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Maiko’s dad made sure we stopped here on the way from the train station to the hotel. Maiko’s family really went out of their way to entertain us.
Some people love shopping for clothes. Me? I hate it. Usually I have to buy clothes because I wore holes in something very comfortable but no longer available. Thus I gotta buy something that is often less comfortable and more expensive then what I had before. So when I had to admit that one batch of riding shorts was dead and that the replacements weren’t getting any less ill-fitting, I gave in and ordered up some new bibs from my old time favorite, Castelli.
Yes, yes, I know that I’ve been back from Japan for two months, but I had one more story to post.
So after taking the train back to Tokyo from Matsumoto, homeboy and I dropped off most of our stuff at the embassy and jumped another train to Nikko. Done with bike touring, we could do some sightseeing and then fit some rides in between.
Nikko is a small town due north of Tokyo best known as the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate that united feudal Japan for 250 years of peace and isolation from the outside world. The temples and shrines under ancient trees are the mystical heart of Japan, nestled in the mountains of Tochigi Prefecture. Yet despite Nikko’s emerald tranquility and ancient refinement, I would soon be engaged in a highspeed dogfight above the shogun’s tomb.
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Well folks - our tiny little sport is now “mainstream”. No, this isn’t in reference o the articles in the New York Times. We are now getting front-page coverage in theonion.. The best part is the focus is on the “clean” cyclists!
Cyclelicious tipped us to a prototype Cannondale Folding Bike, which looks remarkably like Pong’s Magic Motorcycle Prototype from way back.
Via the Bike Show, I started reading about Godfried-Willem Raes’ Symphony for Singing Bicycles, a rotating peloton of sound with specially-equipped bikes.
Now imagine performing a symphony on Stone Way … and having the Rock the Bike crowd close the performance.
After seeing this 70s folding bike with integrated rack, taking some photos, and chatting with the owner, I googled italian folding bike and found several versions of the same bike with different names. There’s the Cinzia, Hyda Bike, Barbarellas, Safari, and sometimes Bianchi. Fascinating. Anyone know the history of these bikes?
The Goat commends to our attention Cycle Chic, an informative blog around since June, devoted to documenting "Copenhagen Girls on Bikes."
Thank god for the Internet.
[Via the Goat]
1200 yellow bikes were donated to Burning Man for a Burning Bike Share program with lots of reaction from the community.
Also check the Burning Man Bike Ride on YouTube and Simone’s Burner Bike below.
Alan Durning, executive director of Sightline Institute, and Chuck Ayers, executive director of the Cascade Bicycle Club wrote an editorial this week on Stone Way, which is the cause célèbre for Seattle cyclists.
“The fate of Stone Way is particularly important to the future of green, healthy transportation in Seattle. The Seattle Bicycle Master Plan, which calls for an extensive network of new bicycle lanes, originally flagged Stone Way as a key link, connecting the increasing residential and commercial density of North Seattle to the region’s most popular bicycle route: the Burke-Gilman Trail.”
Predictable comments in the Soundoff, reminded me of this YouTube video about funding bicycle projects.
Does Stone Way matter to you? Is it your cause célèbre?
For a while there I was enjoying the end of the season, but looking at the start list for the Interbike Industry Cup race, I’m getting increasingly nervous.
Team Bike Hugger will race it along with ex-pros, and “ringers.” Formulating our strategy now, it’s mostly to “not get dropped.” And if you do get dropped, try to make it a legendary drop … like by at least trying to hang onto Ned Overend’s wheel. And definitely not by some old-timer, traditional magazine!
Finally someone figured out how to charge batteries with a trainer. Now, if you could adapt that to the Fisher-Price Smart Cycle, and put your kids to work for their allowance, that’d be great.
When I rode in Colorado, it was up in the mountains, towards ten thousand feet, and a very hard ride — I suffered and climbed and was scared by the sheer drop-offs in hairpin corners, and shivered the whole time.
Heading back towards the airport, later in the trip, I saw miles of bike trails from the highway and thought, “I should come back and ride those!”
Denver’s got 650 miles of trails and quite proud of them.
In Zagreb, Croatia, bikes are in fashion and seen everywhere in the city.
Out of the city and towards the coast, on dirt roads near Istria, in the region where James Joyce exiled himself, cyclists are touring.
Check with Saddle Skedaddle for more on cycling in Croatia.
Reporting for CBSNews.com, Christine Lagorio, writes that
“In this city where less than half of residents own a car, bicycles are not only in vogue; over the past two decades it has become downright common to ride one every day. They are chained to every pole or knob on every major thoroughfare. They crowd apartment building lobbies. They dominate the flow of traffic in intersections. Bicyclists have power in numbers; a major fantasy of U.S. cyclists has come to pass in Berlin: cars yield to bikes.”
That is indeed a fantasy and one I escape to every time I ride down Alaskan Way with semis next to me, potholes, train tracks, and cruise ship traffic. You ever want to experience raw, urban biking, navigate through container traffic at the east side of the Swing Bridge when a cargo ship is in town.
Ah, but back to Berlin, or Copenhagen where Jason lived out the urban bike fantasy commuting with parcels and smartly-dressed business women ride bikes to work.
Timbuk2 is bringing their dog & pony show to Seattle for a one-time Artist Originals event at EVO on August 31st, 2007 with food, drink, djs, and bikes.
Speaking of the opposite of training or the off-season, check the Bike Hugger shirt in the Beer Garden at the Health Net Criterium
Also see a hugga fan that had to have her shirt right away and another hugga at the Tour de France.
I was off most of last week, enjoying a few weekday rides, and getting detoured along the way, for this week …
For the Fall we’ll have to put together an urban bike shootout, as manufacturers announce products like the Masi Speciale SoulVille! — all the specs aside, I’ve just been staring at those fenders. What more will we find at Interbike? I’m thinking a lot.
Note the Bianchi Milano influences, a bike that was ahead of its time, by about 7 years.
When the sun reigns in the Seattle sky, the citizens suddenly remember their sadly neglected bicycles. The bike shop is packed. I’m splitting time between tune-ups, the phone, sales reps, and everyone who wanders in off the street. I’m running on enough diet cola to kill an entire laboratory of mice.
Everyone wants to bring his or her machine in for service because they want to use the bike tomorrow, yet they’re all surprised at the backlog for mechanical work. I mean, it’s not my fault you waited until the last minute to have your bike fixed. Oh, but you were really hoping to go riding this weekend? Yeah, those guys who dropped off their bike last week had the same idea….a week before you.
... Read more »By removing the spouts from the bottom of an espresso group with “lasers”, the pour is all creme …
Using a bottomless portafilter is like mainlining, freebasing, or the crack of caffeine and it takes practice. I blew threw a pound of beans working on the right grind, tamping, and fill. Occasionally channeling will occur, that’s the splashing you see on the Rancillio, but when you get it right, the perfect pour, it’s a cup of creme.
Chuck and I were detoured during our ride yesterday to here and wondered for a while which way to go …
An event we plan on attending next year is Eurobike, a sprawling, massive, bike love-in that unlike Interbike is open to the public. Of course the bikesphere will blog it, including Treehugger, and manufactures like 3G, who market the Stepper, a stairmaster with wheels, bike, something, don’t really know … but following the links, I arrived at Randy Ross and then saw this stepper-thong video, and thought, “how did I get here?” Ah yes, the serendipity of the internet, much like finding odd things at a tradeshow.
Spotted on Cyclingnews, the Gary Fisher Simple City … will post more details as we find them. Interesting the bike falls under their Fisher brand and not Trek proper, joining their Fast City line. Photo credit: Tim Maloney/Cyclingnews.com
I worked out of Copenhagen a couple years ago. I lived in a hotel downtown and was amazed with the cycling-specific infrastructure the city provided as my bike was my only real means of transportation. WorldChanging.com reports on an effort in Portland to study cyclists behaviors so that other cities can use the findings to best cater to the needs of cyclists. If the results are anything like Copenhagen I’m all for it.
It seems that Hollywood is stepping back into the bike messenger scene. Looking at the photos from “Blonde Ambition” it looks like a far more glamorous portrayal of the lifestyle than we saw in the ’80s flic Quicksilver. Of course how real can it be if the troubled female in the movie is played by…
While Beijing announced it was selectively banning cars (odd/even days) to clean up the air for the Olympics, Cadel Evans was there riding the road race course and said, “my lungs hurt to breathe … .”
Taking a claimed 1.3 million cars off the road is impressive and they’ll also blast the sky with rain cannons, encourage more mass transit, and of course just ride their bikes. Don’t know if that’s going to make it any easier to breathe, but at least they’re trying.
When you’ve been building frames for over 38 years, like Bill Davidson has, there’s lots to talk about, including the current obsession with carbon (used to be aluminum), what’s new is actually old, Paragon drop outs, the boomin’ business in S&S-equipped frames, and Parlee’s custom carbon frames (again with the carbon obsession).
I’m nowhere near this hard-core, but P-B-P starts Monday. It’s 1200k in 90hrs for those of you unfamiliar with this old-school test. I know a couple people who are out there doing it. If you run a google blog search, you’ll find more than a few people blogging about their adventure. The coolest feature: Check out the P-B-P site where you can track rider’s progress along the route! I tracked the guy I know, and it correctly told me that, “le participant est inscrit mais non encore parti” (he hasn’t started yet). Good luck!
We haven’t heard from him yet, but Andy is planning on blogging P-B-P for us.
Quality Bicyle Products (QBP) launched a new line of bikes this month under the name Civia Cycles. From QBP.com they are described as “High-end bikes and products designed for practical everyday transportation”. No pictures yet, but the blog on the Civia site notes that they will be launched at Interbike 2007. We’ll be sure to get right on it and get some pictures up to BikeHugger as soon as we can track them down.
For those of you who don’t know QBP - ask any shop. They describe themselves as “the shop behind the shop”. They provide special order and stock for most smaller shops (and probably the bigger ones too).
... Read more »Adam Carolla took his humor a little off track this morning. During a bit about “This Week In Rage”, a caller brought up cyclists riding in the road (omg - the horror). I think the caller explicitly stated spandex-clad cyclists riding 3 wide, but it sort of went downhill from there. Adam was mostly tongue in cheek about most of it, but the co-star of the program, Danny Bonaduce was a little less careful and offered to mow down cyclists for entertainment purposes. This sort of stuff isn’t new and has gotten plenty of attention in the past. Most of the show is usually available for download later in the day.
In front of the Whole Foods, at 2201 Westlake, there was a fixie, electric bike, and dutch cargo bike, all in close proximity. The photos are merged here and also available in our photostream.
I’m slowly piecing my tandem back together so my wife and I can get back out there, but it’s not nearly as cool as this beast. Cool eh?!
From what I’m hearing, the traffic, it’s not so bad. But remember it’s just getting started …
“The bike commute was about 2x as crowded as usual but not a hindrance at all. I did notice light auto traffic the entire way from the lower bridge to Pike Place, so if you all get stuck in future days during “The Clog” you may want to consider the Avalon/lower bridge/Pike Place route.”
How goes your commute?
Just spotted the “affordable, cool, and cheap city bikes” in Fall Colors from importer J&O. They’re also available from Dutch Bike Seattle, and at this rate, wherever fine bikes are sold.
For another flavor of Dutch Bikes, Seattle Bike Supply has Batavus in stock now and they’re shipping to their dealers after a delay.
Mercer, Wisconsin is trying to get their kids to school - by bike. I remember riding to school a couple times a year, but never made much of a habit of it. It’s a great opportunity to open kids up to the sport and better yet - to a healthy lifestyle. Anything we can do to help pull them away from the XBox or PS3 is good by me.
Tomorrow evening, join Seattle Likes Bikes, FeetFirst and PedInRoads for another event protesting the elimination of an uphill bike lane on Stone Way North. Meetup at Gasworks @ 5:00 pm, ride from 5:30 - 6:30.
Here’s the guy that made your Control-Tech stem, back when Control-Tech wasn’t just a brand name on an import. He told me that when we first met, he was checking out Bettie, and our stoker stem and said, “I made that stem.” Cool.
He’s now welding titanium frames for Davidson and I bet has lots of industry stories.
Back I think in 97 or 98, I bought a tri-color messenger bag from Alki Bike in West Seattle from a dude named Marcus. The bag was a shop sample, I got a bro-deal on it, and more importantly started a long-term friendship with Marcus. He wrenched my bike for years and also drank lots of beer with me. I rode with that bag just last week and today is Marcus’ birthday.
Tonight at Beveridge Place, we’ll drink with beers from Schooner Exact, his craft brewery and celebrate.
NAHBS 2008 is set to roll into Portland next February 8-10. I’ve wanted to attend the show that has been in San Jose in recent years. Now that it’s only 200mi away, I have no excuse. Maybe we’ll need to organize a ‘Hugger ride down - our own STP (and back) in February. Fenders would be a must.
I still try to stay tuned in to my other home-town, the Second City - Chicago! The Bicycle Film Festival 2007 will be rolling through later this week.
We rode over to the South Lake Union Block Party on Friday and spotted the new Jones Soda Pedicab. Made by Main Street Pedicabs, a version of their Pedal Pickup, Jones will load those up with sodas for the Seahawks games this Fall.
Anyone at Tour de Fat this weekend? We’re in Portland, racing, while others are riding the Portland Bridge Pedal.
Enough readers have sent us bike drifting videos that it’s time to post, especially this one from Tokyo. Note, back in the day, especially on big wheels, we called it “skidding.”
In light of the news from Tailwind Sports and the end of Discovery Channel, thought we should just put it out there to the ex-Disco pros that don’t have a job, that we’ve got Team Bike Hugger. The team deal is shirts, socks, kits (on the way), and you get to blog all about your racing plus ride around on the Bettie!
Car drivers are already seeking alternative routes around town, anticipating what we’re calling the traffic apocalypse. Yesterday, one of my normal routes was so jammed with traffic that I turned around and got right back onto the bike path.
So what’s a bike hugger to do when Ken Schram’s commentary is about cyclists? Call him out and no need to go negative with Ken. Just say, “how bout you ride with me during the traffic apocalypse next week?” Don’t need no spandex, I’ll show you a sharrow, maybe join a bike bus, we’ll get a cup of coffee, and share a cyclist’s perspective on traffic, the cops of Lake Forest Park, SUV drivers, and the shame that is Seattle traffic.
The sharrows on Beach Drive in Seattle were painted northbound, as I discovered on my ride yesterday. I rode 2 abreast with another cyclist along the sharrows and got buzzed by one car, another zoomed past, and one waiting until it was clear in the other lane to pass. Sharrows are wide enough for 2 abreast, but I wouldn’t do that necessarily in heavy traffic.
Cycle@Staiths, an urban renewal project, launched a bike share program. In the video, Wayne Hemingway sums it up well with his statement that he’s working to end “car-dominated developments in a sea of black tarmac.” Continuing his quest to get Brits on bikes, Wayne Hemingway’s firm has designed an inexpensive folding bike (not online yet), and a bike shed.
With the primary election moved up to August 21st, many Seattleites find themselves flipping through election pamphlets, researching candidates and bombarded with advertisements. Cascade released their 2007 Primary Endorsements today, offering up another perspective on the many transportation issues currently faced by Puget Sound residents.
The Cascade Bicycle Club ventures into politics and elections for one vitally important reason - policies that effect bicycling begin and end with our elected representatives.
However, good answers can’t tell the whole story. We also evaluate a candidate’s past votes, talk to local activists and, when necessary, interview them face to face.
Critical votes for incumbents spanned a range of issues impacting bicycling, including: child safety, bicycle lanes and trails, transportation funding, land-use and sprawl.
Finally, we ask ourselves, “If elected, will they work with us to improve conditions for bicycling?”
Remember, Cascade’s endorsement process is strictly non-partisan.
The Bike Master Plan has yet to be approved by the City Council and the Stone Way Gap is an issue that impacts city residents across the board, far beyond us crazy cyclists.
Make people-moving a priority over moving cars. Get out the vote!
Corresponded by email today with Robin Sansom, Kona USA, about the Ute and learned more. The kona.cz photo we posted is an early version from Kona’s product launch and some changes have been made to the final production version (new image below is from their catalog and more current), including
And Robin shared the insight that, “I see these types of bikes blossoming over the next couple of years, with the rise in fuel prices, green awareness and the escalation of overseas economies.”
Word.
Click for full-size version
The 26th Almost-Annual Big Wheel Rally is coming up, in Boulder, on Saturday August 25th. During the last critical mass ride, a dude was there on a big, big wheel and it reminded me of all the power-sliding I’d do on my big wheel, way back in the day — I led the big-wheel gang in the neighborhood, knocking off lemonade stands, demanding lunch money for safe passage, that sort of thing (I also had a big Green Machine, which was made just to spin). I’d have to check that delinquent big-wheel past at the Rally, as it’s for fun and benefits Saint Joseph Hospital Foundation.
Seabiscuit posted a comment to my Dorky Little Folding Bike post with a link to a folding fixed! That’s the massive awesome … .
The Ditty Bops are back in town playing at the Triple Door on 08/10/07 at 7:00 pm. Last year, at the end of the summer we met and rode with Abby and Amanda on their tour.
Something about a canopy-covered, water-cooled, bike path seems really Blade Runner like … but hey, they’d ride bikes in the future as well or at least replicants would (well, we hope).
I didn’t find any updates on Qatar’s million-dollar bike paths, but construction should have started.
While the “worst traffic ever” media coverage builds in Seattle, I heard one mention of “ride your bike,” on the news last night, the Seattle Times offered cycling tips, and mentioned Cascade’s “bike buses,” groups of riders will meet in outlying neighborhoods and pedal downtown together (more on that, when we find the details).
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I’ve had a couple people ask me about, “those bike messenger rims”. They come in all sorts of colors, are rather deep sectioned, and tend to find their way onto the masses of fixed gear bikes rolling around downtown.
Velocity Deep Vs. I’ve never even owned a pair, but I’ve ridden them and there’s a reason they are on messenger bikes. They are solid, and dependable, and seemingly bombproof. For someone who earns their living with their equipment, you’d expect nothing less.
Spotted on kona.cz, by a hugga reader, the KONA 08 Ute — that’s just beautiful …
Reader Sherry Katz wrote it to tell us about their Xtracycle built with a RANS Dynamik, a crank forward bike
“The advantage of the RANS is that the bike is designed so that the rider can put both feet on the ground while sitting on the seat. This makes the bike very easy to start and stop with when carrying a load. It also means the top tube is reasonably low and the bike is easy to step over.”
More photos here. Sherry uses her SUB to promote her business and has ridden all over town with it. As she says, “I call this bike my “truck” and find it very useful and lots of fun.”
Unsure if folding bikes will supplant fixies as “urban and fashionable,” but they sure are selling and attracting attention. Dahon reported record sales, the ridiculously-small A-Bike launched, and I heard that during a recent catalog photoshoot the Fly By was the “shiznit.” (Photo Credit: “The Folding Bike Fairy ,” Frank Jackson)
From Treehugger, an ode to a 100-year old water bottle design.
“When I was a kid, I’d fill it up for my bicycle trip, soaking the canvas completely and letting it hang off the back of my bicycle seat springs with the built in belt hooks.”
Riding through the Georgetown Neighborhood this morning, we saw several piles of bikes just like these … remainders of the race, we figured.
More photos from the race on flickr.
The Swing Bridge opened and the Dead Babies Race paused for a short while.
Design Within Reach sent us their Biomega AMS 8-Speed Bicycle a couple weeks ago and we’ve been admiring, questioning, and discussing it ever since. The bike features a shaft drive, Nexus hub, powdercoat finish, is built to just get around town, and is featured in this week’s Huggacast.
The latest tube set in the shop is Reynolds 953. Called Super Steel, for all it’s wondrous properties, 953 also makes surprisingly fine trumpets.
Cyclists Ride for the Right to Bike Lanes - Seattle Times
Mayor Greg Nickels said Wednesday he intends to triple the city’s bike lanes, but they’re not the answer for every location, and the Stone Way decision will be re-evaluated in six months.
Also Wednesday, the city announced that a closed stretch of the Burke-Gilman at the Fremont Bridge will reopen this month, instead of being blocked by a private construction project through mid-2008.
From a Pop-Sci article there’s a case study on Ellsworth Bikes’ self-powered factory.
“A geothermal system heats and cools the building, and electricity is provided by rooftop solar cells, which feed excess energy back into the local electricity grid to be credited at full retail value. “
With the bonus of, “… watching the electric meter run backward.”
From Nuvinci’s blog, we’ve got an assortment of CVT goodness, including an ATC NuVinci bike at le Tour (video here) The Nuvinci also just won the R&D 100 award.
There’s been a lot of buzz here (and elsewhere) about Stone Way. So, why should you care? Perhaps you’re not a hard-core cyclist and simply enjoy a stroll with the family along the Burke-Gilman. Or maybe you’re a roadie who can’t stand to ride in-city. Maybe you don’t even own a bike. Here’s why you should care.
Cascade’s Advocacy Organizer, Pat McGrath writes:
Most people don’t normally spend a lot of time thinking about the configuration of the roads on which they drive or walk. But the factors that you nevertheless register subconsciously – the width of the lanes, the layout of the sidewalk, the presence or absence of bicycle lanes – influence the way we live. For example, wide roads tend to induce speeding and more severe crashes. The presence of bicycle lanes has been linked to increased bicycle use and its attendant benefits. The length of crosswalks is positively correlated with your likelihood of being struck in one. These behaviors and factors take on a particular relevance when we consider their impact on issues like global warming, public health, the obesity epidemic, and personal safety. Roads literally shape our lives. ... Read more »
REMINDER: Today’s Seattle Likes Bikes ride leaves tonight at 5:00 from Gasworks!!!
WHAT: A ride of enough cyclists in a loop thru lower Fremont at rush hour . This will be a legal ride, which means we ride two by two and obey all traffic laws.
WHY: The city has caved to pressure from businesses and developers and decided to go against the recommendations of the Bicycle Master Plan and leave a six-block gap in bike lanes between 34th & 40th on Stone Way N, leaving this vital corridor unsafe for cyclists.
If the city feels they can eliminate bicycle lanes as desired for commercial interests, no part of our bicycle network is safe! Read the Cascade Bicycle Club’s excellent description of the situation here.
WHO: All cyclists who are concerned about responsible community-planning and preventing private interests from trumping public safety.
WHEN: Wednesday, August 1st, 2007. We’ll meet up briefly at Gasworks Park at 4:30 (like now…oops, long day). Then we’ll start riding around the following loop, counter-clockwise, following all traffic laws. If you can’t make it until later just join in on the loop!
My neighbor Billy got me into cycling some 20-odd years ago. He had a fancy 1987 Trek 400 Elance (still does) that he upgraded with cool black and yellow Mavic components. He helped me through my first Chili-Hilly and STP. The year I graduated college – I rode from Seattle to San Francisco, with Billy helping me plan the route.
... Read more »A hugger reader wrote in this morning to say …
“Have you ever put your foot down at a light on a bike trail right into a pile of dog shit? It happened to me this morning and pretty much put a damper on the morning commute. “
Well no, but that does suck. I have ran over a seagull (and felt horrible about it), seen a crow fly into another cyclists wheel, and then saw a squirrel jump up onto a fender rack, the person’s butt, back, shoulder, and off into a tree. That was a total trip.
What’s your weirdest or gross commute story?
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