Bike Hugger 

Just in time for a Fall storm in Seattle, Ibex sent us their Merino Wool Knickers. During the course of an 1.5 hour ride, I rode in gray dampness, a squalling storm cell with 40 MPH winds, blindingly-bright sun, and some bonus hail – I was soaked through in about 3 minutes. Merino Wool and Ibex’s Climawool (stretchy, breathable, wool/synthetic blend) is perfect for a wide range of temperatures.

The Ibex knickers feature Climawool over the knees and mid-weight Merino in the back. They also have a “sansabelt” style elastic in the waist, like their shorts.

A bicycle caravan – with the theme, “Money or Life” – travels 500 miles across Europe to join protests in Prague against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Caravan/Prague is a feature-length documentary about the caravan and is available now on DVD.

While you were still asleep, nestled cosy in your warm bed (Ok, maybe it was just me) the hardmen of Woodland Park were doing hard core CX Training in the rain, coached by Todd Herriott and Russell Cree of Herriott Sports Performance. And they’re making it look easy.

Tree Hugger posted on Bike Mowers last week (thanks for the tip Paul), including this one from Eastern Washington sent in by Montana Mike. Amazingly, that post still get hits, a few serious comments, and pedal-powered mowers are apparently growing in popularity.

Always on top of the urban bike trends, maybe we should design and manufacture a hugga mower.

While entertaining a crew visiting from Bike Freak Magazine, the Chinook Cycling Club took them on various rides and introduced them to the famous tackweed (goathead) and a site dedicated to eradicating it. That reminded me of all the tackweed flats, running Slime, Mr. Tuffy’s, and it was usually better to leave a goathead in the tire until you got home.

In Seattle, most flats are caused by pinches, glass, staples, nails, and it’s much worse in the rainy season. Starting last year, I stopped using Mr. Tuffy, and instead roll the best tires with the most rubber and replace them as soon as they wear. I carry two tubes, and a tire boot for sidewall blow outs. I’ve also got fast patches and regular old Rema Tip Tops.

SeattleLikesbikes.org is organizing another Ride for Freemont (2.0) tomorrow evening starting at 4:30 in Gasworks park. Ride starts at 5 and lasts an hour, see the link for a map.

The goal of the follow-up ride is protest the extended closure of the Burke-Gilman trail in Freemont and the broken-promise sharrows on Stone Way. Hopefully the ride will help influence an upcoming city council meeting on these topics. Attire is ‘every day wear to work clothes’. There’s a planned route, established message, and clear guidance on cycling behaviour on the events link.

Seeing the Bike Hugger Jersey in a shop window was cool – a sense of accomplishment.

Get your Jersey directly from us, from Amazon.com, or now at Elliott Bay Bicycles.

We could post for a month about Interbike 07, the Industry Cup, and the Hugga Hookup, but I’ll highlight a few topics, produce several podcasts next week, and resume our regularly scheduled programing on Monday. Also see the posts from our Interbike feature blog.

Urban Theme

While much of Interbike was the same this year, Urban Bikes were the overall theme with a big presence from Batavus, Dahon, and bikes finally shipping with Alfine, like the glorious Sycip.

I paused for a long-time at the Brooks booth to look at the most expensive basket ever made and it’s based on a 100-yr old design from Mr. Brooks himself. Also see the Brooks waxed-canvas messenger bag.