Bike Hugger 

New York Mayor Bloomberg is in France, and apparently considering a bicycle rental program similar to the popular parisian Velib system. Bloomberg doesn’t sound very optimistic unfortunately. Apparently NYC tried this out on a much smaller scale earlier this year. Chicago and Portland are evaluating a rental systems too.

I rode Seattle Critical Mass on Friday, great time and and a nice ride as always. The weather was lovely for a ride, could be the last rain-free mass of the year. We ended up cruising from downtown through Ballard, up Stone way past Greenlake and down University ave. I had to peel off a bit early, would love to hear where the ride ended up.

I was a bit surprised at the amount of antagonism between drivers and riders, it seemed quite a bit more than I’ve seen earlier this year. One comes to expect a certain amount of frustrated car drivers, but it really seemed like the level of animosity was on the rise.

I managed to snap a few photos along the way, here’s my set from the Bike Hugger Photostream

We’ll tell legendary stories for the next 20 years about the Industry Cup race with Team Bike Hugger, the Hugga Hookup, and Cipollini. Read Andrew’s race report, Velonews, and see more photos in our photostream.

photo: Matt Carter, Velonews. Cipo in red, Andrew in Bike Hugger green, and Tim Mulrooney from Hed Cycling.

“Ah, nothing’s to chance,” Gary Fisher said and we talked briefly about the Simple City, the bike revolution, politics, his travels, and more. We met at the Vegas Airport. He just finished his meal and we were getting ours.

I hope we can talk more with Gary. We had a lot in common and I think more than just chance.

That was a great hookup with Andrew placing second in the media division at the Industry Cup. And, to the roar of the crowd, racing with Cipollini. We couldn’t get connected live, but have photos, videos, and posts to follow …

The Flyby with the Umbrella Girls at the USA Crit Championships, Industry Cup, and Hugga Hookup.

– UPDATE from Andrew - Race Report just posted –

Team Bike Hugger in the Industry Crit raced with Cipo and others. Reports to follow and photos from the Hugga Hookup.

[UPDATE from Andrew - CRAZY race. Crashes everywhere including Cipo going down on the bell lap by rolling his tubular and taking 5 guys with him. I snuck around the carnage and finished…top 15? 120+ starters - great race, and great exposure for BikeHugger I’m sure because I was GLUED to Mario’s wheel most of the race. Check the Hugger Photostream for more.]

Busy cyclocross weekend coming up in Seattle – The Seattle Cyclocross Series #1 is on Sunday the 30th in Snohomish (directions) and promises to be a great event.

If you’re looking to do a bit of brush up before the race you can get some tips from Jonathan Page and Frank McCormack on Friday (28th) and Saturday (29th). Herriott Sports Performance and Cascade Bicycle Studio will be hosting the Jonathan Page Cyclocross Weekend, including two 3 hour workshops on Saturday and a evening presentation and auction on Friday. Page is America’s premiere cross racer and the best American in history in this discipline. Great chance to see a master at work!

From the Xtracycle booth at Interbike.

Just in time for the Industry Cup Criterium tonight and the Hugga Hookup, Hed Cycling, sent us their latest wheels and we’re breaking the news here. The deal with these wheels is that they’ve got a 23MM wide aluminum rim and what that does is change the profile of the tire: wider is better. And, you’ve got to ride it to believe it, but they roll like tubies. Not only that, but the wider rim makes for one stiff, strong, and bombproof wheelset.

Follow all of our Interbike coverage.

This year, with Andrew, Mark, and Mike covering their angles at Interbike, I’m spending time cycling and blogging Vegas. The Nevada RTC has just completed a 14-mile bike expressway from Vegas to Red Rock Canyon.

A few years ago, Pam and I rode to Red Rock right from our hotel and thoroughly enjoyed it. Off the strip, Vegas has these massive bus lanes that we rode in and miles of bike lanes, signed routes, and shared-use trails. It’s surprising, yes, but Vegas is a bike-friendly town.

Last night, I rode the Strip – not something I’d want to do more than say once, but it was an impromptu, rock-the-bike, longtail parade. Also, all that smut you get in Vegas, the girls-in-your-room cards are delivered by couriers on bikes.