July 2008 Archives

Hugga was invited to Novara’s 09 product photoshoot in Boise. We hung out, rode, blogged, and took lots of photos. That’s me with the photographer sprinting a Strada down Bogus Basin Road.

I finally have my geared option for my One One Pompino cyclocross bike. I worked with Scotty down at uBRDO to finally dig up a Shimano Nexus 8 Speed hub and convert my single/fixed cross bike into sunny day road cruiser. I’ve been planning on doing this for quite some time, but was re-engerized to make the move after seeing the Hiawatha Cyclery bike.

With all the (well deserved) concern over the recent Aloha Incident on this month’s Critical Mass lots of people have been wondering what they can do to promote civility, cooperation and good feelings between motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. I’m sure there are many good ideas, but please take the opportunity to demonstrate your civility on our next RideCivil ride.

Note: RideCivil doesn’t cork or block traffic, and I’m not at all clear where KPLU heard that we do. Thanks to Byron for the plug on KUOW.

Meet at: Westlake Center park
When: Starting around 5:30, but generally not departing until 6:15. Aug 8 (2nd Friday of the month)
Route, Destination, Duration and Pace: Determined by participants, including a post-ride sit down someplace with food and drink. We usually ride more than an hour at a no-body-left-behind social pace.

Apologies Boise for not noticing you earlier. We were preoccupied with the better known Portlands, Seattles, and Minneapoleis. With your low buildings, wide roads, big bike lanes, and flat dowtown, you’re a natural for urban cycling. Like an attractive and unappreciated little sister to those better known cities, when noticed you smiled and showed us treasures like a Pashley Delibike and Paul Frank.

Out of the city and on your roads, we climbed and descended Bogus Basin Road — carving the turns and flat-out flying the straightaways. Also talked to some locals that are all good with cyclists.

We’ll return another day Boise: ride more and tell our friends about you.

Just finished a KUOW interview on Critical Mass and RideCivil. I’ve been traveling and wasn’t totally prepared, but we’ll post more about RideCivil, as soon as we’ve got details.

Related Posts

• Critical Mass
• RideCivil
• Please Ride Legally

Cool t-shirt with an articulate expression of my feelings about cycling:

Available from Print Brigade.

The third running of the FSA Grand Prix drew cyclists from around the country to the pacific northwest. Over $14,000 in prize money was awarded, while cyclists battled to secure their spots at Elite Track Nationals. This was a special event, however regular season track races can still be seen at Marymoor on Friday nights through September 12th. You can check out more photos of the event after the jump.

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

On the way to LOOK’s Media Day in California, I saw this magazine cover in the airport. I thought, Holy Crap! Next thing ya know, they’ll be using fixies to sell toaster strudel and McCoffee!

I’ll give props for having an anatomically correct fixie with a front brake, CX lever, and toe straps. However, the cover of the magazine did not convince me to buy the magazine….I wouldn’t want others to think that I would lower myself to read anything other than Tolstoy and porn.

I stopped by Bothell Ski & Bike today and met the owners Greg and John. Greg’s ride - a Scott Addict with SRAM Red all grammed out with Zipp cranks, Zero Gravity brakes, and all the greatest roadie bike porn. A hot bike for sure, but I think he was almost more excited to show me his single speed Tommasini.

The single speed was given just as much attention to detail as his road ride. Phil Wood track hubs, Campagnolo Chorus Ti post, Deda Zero stem, White Industries freewheel, Nitto B125 Steel track bars - the works. It was the first bike I’ve lifted in a while that actually listed forward because of the heavy steel bars. The lugs, the vibrant paint. That bike is art. I didn’t get a chance to ride it so I may have to stop by again when I have more time.

Check out the audacious Look 596 time trial/triathlon bicycle in this Huggacast video 45.

While in Los Gatos CA, I talked to Ming Tan of LOOK Cycle USA about the 596’s development. I was interested in how Look designed the bicycle as a whole. They windtunnel-tested the bike with rider and rotating wheels, measuring the value of mounting brake calipers in odd places and also of having very tight gaps between the tires and frame. They also considered the demanding work environment of professional team mechanics and how the bike would actually handle and function. What Look created after asking many questions was a bike that uses several bold proprietary features but is surprisingly practical in the details. As a successor to some of the boldest aero bikes used at the highest levels of competition, the 596 stands out among the trends in time trial design.

I was just talking about Critical Mass on the phone yesterday to a large event organizer and explained that the intent was never violent. In some cities Critical Mass is calm and in others it can and has gotten violent. Today there’s a Seattle PI story about a violent clash last night with a motorist:

The driver tried to back up, he said, and struck a bike. Bicyclists began attacking the vehicle.

I wasn’t there. Readers? WTF?

Straight up one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen was Critical Mass Seattle riding on Highway 99. Even stupider was when they rode on the Viaduct and then a cyclist got into an altercation with undercover cops. That eventually led to Critical Manners in Seattle and other cities.

Checksum Arcanius blogs about the incident — it just happened to be his first Critical Mass ride.

Gritty Tall Bike, and Georgetown rider en route to the Freemont Summer Solstice Parade. Turns out a tall bike is a great way to get above the crowds for the best view of the parade.

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

One of the trends among high-end carbon bicycle frames is the “integrated seatpost”. In general, this means that the seat tube extends above the top tube to just below saddle height, and the saddle itself attaches to a stub post or a clamp gripping the top of the seat tube. Scott, Giant, Trek, and others all have top level road bikes with integrated seatposts, but LOOK Cycle takes a different approach.

Their system is called the “E-post”, and Look designed it to not only take advantage of the weight reduction and aesthetic possibilities of an integrated post, but to also provide a way to further tune ride qualities for the individual rider.

YouTube videos of Cadel attacking … reporters. There’s

• Don’t Touch Me

• I Cut Off Your Head

and the head butt

We heard about a finger to a reporter, a thrown helmet, but haven’t seen it. Aussies defend him: maybe his shoulder, the pressure, or he’s just an ass.

I recently snuck into Bianchi USA’s headquarters and talked to company president Rod Jewett about their new 2009 line-up and trends in the industry. One standout in the new line-up is a limited edition, lugged steel bike to be known as the Dolomite (though this pre-production example was labelled “Stelvio”). The pre-production example that I saw had chromed lugs and 1950s/60s style logos. Strangely, the bike had a carbon fork, but Jewett hinted that they might be able to offer US buyers a chromed steel fork. Of course, the bike is painted in Bianchi’s glorious sea-foam green hue, better known as celeste.

If any big bike company could mount a full-on retro attack, it would be the company with 124 years of tradition.

3 Surly Pile up, locked “daisy chain” style at the end of Seattle Critical Mass.

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

For 2009, LOOK Cycle wants the world to know their mastery of carbon fibre bicycle technology. Though less than thirty years old as a bicycle manufacturer, the history of the French company is virtually that of the carbon fibre bike. From the first Tour win on a carbon frame to the mountain of Olympic medals, the iconic four-letter font has been everywhere there have been carbon bicycles. This coming year, LOOK offers three different methods of carbon construction, bringing both a new flagship and an aggressively priced competitor for the entry-level. Besides their road bike line, they also add to their triathlon/TT and mtb offerings. Throughout the line, LOOK emphasizes the practical elements of design as equal to innovation.

The new Look 586 road bike.

New Hugga socks arrived today and are en route to our Amazon store.

Urban, commuter, folding, Vélocouture all in one photo. Nice.

Uploaded by vikapproved | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Bettie with a big wide load. xTracycle and the Rolling Jackass Center Stand in effect. Thursday afternoon @ Hugga HQ … that’s how we do.

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

Earlier today, I wrote on Twitter

some guy just called into our local NPR station monthly interview with the Police Chief to ask if they’d crack down on cyclists

and reader Todd responded with a link to a Toronto crackdown. We posted earlier on a helmet crackdown in Seattle.

Are you seeing crackdowns in your cities? Do we need to crackdown? I will say that I’d like to see safer commuters. That’s not a crackdown, but education.

Check the video recap of Bikeosphere 2008, a bike art & fashion show presented by Momentum Magazine.

I’m hoping we’ll see a bike-focused episode of Project Runway … .

Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak hits a pedestrian in a crosswalk with his car. A bike commuter witness it, chases him down, blocks his car with his bike, calls 911, and holds Novak there until the police arrive. Woohoo!

He said he chased Novak half a block down K Street, finally caught up with him and then put his bike in front of the car to block it and called 911. Traffic immediately backed up, horns blaring, until commuters behind Novak backed up so he could pull over.

Have you ever helped someone in need during your ride? Or acted like a superhero? I’ve stopped for my share of flats and also a homeless person that was passed out on the street and had been robbed.

Hat tip to Hugga reader Chad for the story.

The Seattle PI profiles Jill Kintner and her Olympic BMX berth. Jill is from Kirkland Washington, a suburb of Seattle.

BMX is simpler — one kind of bike, one gear, and the terrain is smooth and hard. It’s more about what you can do technically. It’s harder. You have to be smoother.

While BMX ain’t my thing, big props to Jill and taking BMX to the Olympics. It should play very well on TV.

Following all the media coverage, posts from us, and the bike blogopshere on the economy-driven bike boom, today, the AP asks if consumers frugality will last. The article includes a quote from Fred Clements, executive director of the National Bicycle Dealers’ Association

Consumers stung by $4-per-gallon gas are shifting toward utility bikes and away from recreational versions. That’s forcing bike shops to change their inventories and offer more training for consumers who may not have ridden a bike in years, he said.

It’s also resulting in lots of bikes like the Raleigh in the photo showing up in mechanic’s stands. After reading the article, I wondered what we and the industry can do to make the bike boom last?

What do you think? Suggestions? Comment and we’ll share your thoughts with the Industry at Interbike this Fall.

Commuted to Web Design World Seattle at the Westin with the Brompton and via the Water Taxi. Paused here at the World Trade Center elevator platform for a photo looking out across Elliott Bay.

Route:

1. Beach Drive to Water Taxi
2. Water Taxi to Downtown, rode along waterfront
3. World Trade Center elevator up to Western
4. Western to Blanchard
5. Blanchard to 5th and the Westin.

Arrived, refreshed, relaxed, and no traffic. Duration about an hour. Ate lunch and talked to the attendees all about blogging and social media. Was reminded how fun the Brompton is.

Lovely campy equipped Rossin Ghibli spotted in Georgetown sporting this decal on the front fork. More photos of this whip after the jump. Update: Thanks to Eric and Chad who pointed out that you can get your own sticker here.

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Lots of things you can carry on your bike, including Johnson or Cap’n.

Uploaded by Andrew M Watson | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

• Trek’s Go By Bike Challenge — Commute by Bike posts on Trek’s national pledge campaign.
• Spend a day with your bike — A traffic-free day is planned as part of London’s Summer of Cycling.
• Bicycling for Short Trips — Bikes Belong rounds up bike-friendly media coverage in the US.
• African Cyclist — Urban Velo notices African Cyclists.

Canada’s Globe and Mail observes bike culture and reviews Joy Ride, a bike art show that coincided with the arrival of the Bicycle Film Festival in Toronto.

“Biking is all about human power, what we can do with our bodies, ourselves.”

Considering human power, the Bike MS Atlanta Ride has a cyclist atop a billboard showing car drivers how it’s done!

For more linkage, follow our link blog and delicious bookmarks.

Check the Times Online profile of Christian Vande Velde and how he went from a domestique to a Tour contender.

There’s a lot more cheating and a lot more losing and he struggles constantly with injury. And two weeks ago, when he starts his sixth Tour de France, Christian Vande Velde is still a minor leaguer, performing unnoticed in the shadow of the gods. He has no ambition of winning. He has no idea how good he is. But what if he just found out?

Photo Credit: Reuters.

After a good warmup, they lined up for the start of a circuit race.

That’s an 84 Signature and a 2008 Hotspur.

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

Blogged by Heidi Swift, covered elsewhere, and from last week, but a good story just the same at a time with the sport is fighting itself. I’ve also hoped for something like this to occur in races with climbs …

Hat tip as well to Podium Insight and Lyne for doing a great job covering the NRC and US scene.

It’s a skateboard with a wheel bolted on; no it’s a foot scooter; or maybe a block of wood with a caster, a wheel, and a sleek carbon shroud?

Whatever it is, it’s a fun break for today and from le Tour.

Fucking dopers. That’s all I have to say.

Readers?

Update

David Millar’s well-written post on the topic.

Marco Pantani was Ricco’s idol. He wanted to be like him and climb like him, much of his riding style was based on him. When he would attack on the climbs, he would attack in the drops because that is what Pantani did. He wanted to win on L’Alpe d’Huez because that’s where Pantani won. He wanted to win the Giro by attacking the most, because that’s what Pantani did. He had forgotten that Pantani doped and cheated.

Bobby Julich’s response.

My CSC teammate Frank Schleck is one of the best endurance cyclists in the world. Did he miss out on a Stage 10 win? Saunier Duval’s Juan Jose Cobo and Leonardo Piepoli broke away from Schleck and dueled to the finish of the stage as Piepoli took the win. But will people question their performance now that the entire team is out of the Tour because of Ricco’s test result?

More from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Considering today’s Tour news, I think I’d paint a Yellow Jersey on this mailbox, paint the flag to look like a syringe, and with photos of Ricardo Ricco coming out the back.

Here at Hugga we’re constantly on the look out for useful and innovative cycling parts and accessories. What’s on your wish list? What do you hope the Bike Fairy will leave under your pillow… Er, in your garage?

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

This is the final, working version of the Rolling Jackass Center Stand in use on Bettie 2.0. The stand has been modified through a series of prototyping changes to fit a Nuvinci drivetrain. The stand should work as well with Nexus and Rohloff or any other internally-geared system or gears.

The stand works just like a motorcycle center stand. It parks the bike and provides a very stable platform for loading, unloading, and just sitting, sipping a brew. Up front in the cockpit, there’s a level to release the stand, pull the bike back, and up onto the legs.

The stand is even Pug approved, as an excellent observation platform.

Available from Rolling Jackass — website coming soon — the stand retails for $375.00. We’re considering a Hugga edition. Let us know in comments, if you’re interested.

More from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

I’m a fan of good socks. My wife likes nice shoes - I like nice socks. The guys over at Swiftwick sent the Hugger a pair of their Ole One sock to try out. “The best sock you’ll ever wear” - not sure on that statement, but they are darn fine.

A reader tipped us to Freeman Transport, hand-built, steel S&S frames:

We are hand-building bikes here in Missoula, Montana. All steel with S and S couplings. The frames break in half and fit into a bag. They can be checked on airplanes with no extra charge. One simple tool to put them back together. Ride to and from the airport. We designed these bikes for leaving the mountains to get some culture and hang with our friends in the city. Right now we are only making fixed gears. No brakes, No cables, No mess. Bikes come with a bag for travel. We’ll also make some product.

Freeman Transport is working in a niche and using blogs and social media to market to it. Very nice.

Another Dapper Cyclist from Seattle’s Critical Mass. Find out more about Vélocouture here.

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

The latest addition to my stable is a 2008 Bianchi S9 Matta. This is a butted titanium frame, a direct descendant of the legendary Ti-Megatube of the 1990s. Bianchi titanium bikes have won Paris-Roubaix, Milano-San Remo, and stages of the Grand Tours ridden by riders such as Riis, Berzin, Musseuw, Backstedt, and Cipollini.

I’m pleased with the ride.

In my cycling career, I’ve sported at least two of these looks … that would make a good Warhol-influenced print. For more Brent Humphreys photos, check his site, navigate the Flash to Projects > Le Tour.

Caption suggestions?

Cadel’s Yellow Jersey is definitely an achievement and worthy of praise, but I’m not seeing him as a champion or the patron. Love or hate Lance he was the boss and as Paul Sherwin would say, “he smacked his hand on the table” to let everyone know it.

I don’t expect much table smacking from Cadel and maybe it’s the end of the patron era? If he’s more like Indurain, he’s got to hang on through the mountains and demolish his competitors in the time trial. That seems unlikelly.

What do you think? Does Cadel have it? Can or will he attack? And does the Tour need a patron?

Photo Credit: JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Image

Uploaded by azzurri_nr1 | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Every internally geared hub ever made. Maybe the Browning SmartShift wasn’t represented.

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

This crew is touring Scotland and stopped at the Rest and Be Thankful summit.

Uploaded by qcom | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

A few quick notes:

• Tour de France category added to our AMZ Store.
• New link blog for bike-related topics, photos, and random stuff found on the internets. Mainly stuff that doesn’t fit into the regular Hugga flow.
• New Hincapie socks are shipping to us next week.
• Listed on Alltop (a topic portal).

Towards the Fall, we’re planning a huggier Interbike presence, a new urban bike project, and we’re giving away a Yuba Mundo.

Bike Hugger has long been a fan of the metro bicycle rental model implemented in Paris under the moniker Velib. The popularity of the program has been attributed to the availability of bikes and stations which currently number 20,600 cycles and 1,450 rental stations. The success can also be traced back to the low cost for short trips. For 29€ a year, riders can check out a bike in 30 minute increments as often as he or she likes. The city estimates 120,000 trips are taken each day, logging 27.5 million trips in the first year of the project. Not bad for a city of 2.1 Million residents. To promote the movement, 365 Velib users will be chosen to cross the finish line during the July 27th culmination of the Tour de France.

The New York Times in depth coverage of Velib can be found here.

Uploaded by barolodrinker | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Hugga visited REI HQ to preview the 09 Novaras with Steve Gluckman, Brand Manager. The 09 line is well-equipped, incremental, with lots of refinements; the introduction of a Buzz 29er, 700c Safari, and an Alfine bike featured in this video …

We’ll spend more time with Novara next month, riding their bikes in Boise, and blogging it all up.

Note that final bike specifications may change. We previewed factory samples and products are still being finalized.

Hugga spotted outside of Aaron’s Bicycle Repair.

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

hello rolling resistance!

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

The Green Bike Project is a collaboration between King County, Cascade, and REI to provide bikes to commuters that drive their cars less. Hugga spotted the project’s prototype frame during our visit to REI HQ.

From King County Commute Trip Reduction site:

REI, Cascade Bicycle Club and King County are partnering to bring 200 new award-winning commuter bikes (complete with helmets, locks and lights), bike safety training and more to 20 - 30 CTR-affected worksites. The aim of the project is to reduce drive alone commute trips and to create bicycle commute cultures. Stay tuned for more information.

Don’t get me wrong, I love STP. But the Tyvek jacket, not so much. I’m in the minority, it seems, as several thousand STPers will ride out of Husky Stadium at the crack of dawn tomorrow, many of them proudly wearing their new paper coats as they take off for Portland.

The Tyvek jacket serves a purpose, sure. It’s lightweight, breaks the wind, keeps in some heat, and squishes up small enough to tuck into a cycling jersey. But they also crackle like paper if you’re riding faster than 12 mph and are not remotely flattering on any body type. Frankly, I can’t stand them.

A note to the powers-that-be at Cascade - I’d rather be able to opt-out of the paper coat at the time of registration and see my money be put to better use as a donation to the education foundation.

Love Flickr and the blogosphere for shots like this of the Tour Caravan. We never get to see much of the Caravan or partying fans along the roadside in the media. Hugga could some day like make a hugga green-tea and have a cool cup-trike like this.

Uploaded by Jonathan Graham | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

By day, I work at a high-end bicycle shop that happens to be two blocks from the bustling Pike Place Market, Seattle’s cruise ship terminals, and the neighborhood meth-dealers. Needless to say, we get a WIDE range of people coming into the shop. Aside from people I have to forcibly remove after they surrender my merchandise, a lot of people regardless of cycling experience ask me questions like, “Which wheels are the fastest?”

Well, different companies have different answers to that question…strangely enough their answer is usually their own wheel. So are they bluffing, because they can’t all have the fastest, right? The truth is that it depends a lot on how you ask the question.

The checks we’ve done with our local bike shops show strong sales, lots of customers, and really frazzled mechanics. I also heard that CleverCycles ran out of stock, and closed for two weeks to take a break from their phenomenal success.

xTracycles, Big Dummys, Kona Utes are all beating expectations in sales. And we’ve also heard a retro-attack is planned from manufacturers. Note that I don’t know if a shop has ever closed midsummer, because sales were so good.

What are you seeing in your local area and bike shops?

• What is Saab going for with that “turbo” commercial? Annoying to get attention like those HeadOn ads? “apply directly to the forehead. apply directly to the forehead. apply directly to the forehead.”

• Phil’s been despising the use of race radios for like 100 years now.

• Bobke and Hummer don’t got the spark like Trautwig and Bobke did.

• It’s one thing to make a statement with your coverage and another entirely to run a “backwards” ad that shows a champion who’s not been found to dope and is still racing. Zabel should not be in that ad.

• Why no women reporters covering the tour, the towns, the human interest? Is Le Tour a boys club?

• I’d like to see “Tapout” get on bikes and ride up a climb in their clothes line.

Other notes:

• New iTV podcast
• The cameras and Tour coverage gets better every year
• I’d like to see an unabridged ask Bobke thread and I’d ask:

Bobke: How do you reconcile the fact that Lance turned his back on the sport after not finding a sponsor for his team and 9 months later, we’ve got two American squads with big sponsors?

Bikes welcome at Bizjam Seattle 08.

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

Summer Seattle dapperness. More about Vélocouture, after the jump.

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

A bike we’d love to see go from concept to market …

Uploaded by hugojcardoso | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Vaughters dropping the F-Bomb on Vs. live tour coverage today reminded of some other inappropriate things we’ve seen. Including

• Various racers peeing off the bike — that’s a given, watch for it (or don’t)
• El Dope Penis graffiti - In the Lance days, you could always spot a large, dripping phallic/syringe symbol on the mountain stages
• Punching fans — I can’t remember who, but did see a racer stiff-arm a fan that got too close.

My all-time fav besides the Longhorn dude, is Borat from last year.

Honorable mention is “nervous Sheryl Crow,” while not really shocking, just the camera lingering on her was not something you see in every tour. Also, while I’ve tried, I still haven’t seen any girls flashing the peloton. I’m sure that has to happen at some point.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen or heard in the Tour coverage?

The modest success of our first Bike Blender Mobile Social, got DL and I thinking… What other pedal powered businesses could be out there? With a little web searching, and some help from our friends over at Surly, we found the following Nicaragua based pedal powered phone booth. Using an old computer, car battery, and common 3 wheeled cargo bike, this entrepreneur can charge the battery while pedaling to his prospective customers. Check out the video for a demonstration of this mobile call shop.

Have you run into any unique bike businesses here or abroad?

More video from the Mavic Soft Goods Debut, including a discussion of their super-light shoes and new logo.

This bike was like bluegrass music to me — I’d never buy it, not my thing, but certainly appreciated the artistry, craftsmanship, and style.

Spotted at the bike races this weekend.

When you’re a frame maker tired of turning out custom bikes for other people… What do you do? When you’re Marty from Geekhouse Bikes, you build yourself, (perhaps the world’s first,) custom pursuit tall bike. Why? Because you can. This little number is lovingly named “Frankendork.”

Uploaded by Geekhousebikes | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

I’m not entirely sure how I missed this, though as I mentioned previously my bike hasn’t seen much love recently. And at five weeks post-partum, I’m still not quite ready for any big rides. This afternoon though, I laced up my shoes for a quick six-mile run down along Shilshole.

You can imagine my surprise when I turned left off the Burke-Gilman, only to see all the bikes headed straight ahead, continuing on the newly completed extension to Golden Gardens. The cyclists enjoyed a nice wide lane, beautiful landscaping and a route well-protected from the adjacent road.

I’m excited to take a quick spin across The Locks this summer and test out the new road. Though, I’m certainly turning around at Golden Gardens and bypassing the hill climb to the top of the park and into Crown Hill.

Don’t know the story here, but that’s a great shot — riding right down the highway.

Uploaded by Buckel-Käthe | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Like Andrew, I too will be watching Le Tour for another year. I’ve been glued to the tube for three weeks every July, since long before Versus was all hip and OLN showed fly fishing marathons every weekend. Back when Indurain was king and there was only one broadcast each day that my father and I taped on worn-out VHS cassettes.

How far we’ve come in fifteen years. Replacing VHS, I curl up each evening with my DVR remote to watch the early morning broadcast in an effort to minimize the “Roll-factor”. New this year, just for geeks like me, experience the course using Google’s Street View.

This looks like fun.

Uploaded by tapps | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

I'll admit to sharing some of Byron's disappointment in this year's Tour de France.

Organizers have disinvited last year's winner, Alberto Contador, and his entire Astana team, barring U.S. podium finisher Levi Leipheimer and former T-Mobile rider Andreas Klöden, as well as perennial Tour scrapper Chris Horner (who I hope winds up a race commentator based on his consistently excellent interviews). Also disinvited? QuickStep's Tom Boonen, the defending green (sprinter's) jersey champion, who tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test in late May. Slipstream-Chipotle's David Zabriskie (back injury) and Tom Danielson (fitness) won't get a chance to show off the team's new sponsor and name, Garmin-Chipotle.

And, since it's apparently impossible to announce a cycling doping verdict during the 50 weeks of the year that don't precede the Tour, we've got a final (maybe) Floyd Landis verdict arising from the '06 Tour and a Michael Rasmussen decision arising from the '07 Tour. This doesn't smell like the recipe for a great Tour.

I love the Tour and I can’t wait for it to start tomorow. I’ve followed it twice, and seen individual stages in 3 other years. I know that some people have grown a little callused, or chosen to not pay attention anymore (and – I can’t blame them, it has been a bit of a circus). Regardless of all that I’m going to be tuning in daily (probably more than one showing) to Versus to watch the in-depth coverage.

A collection of rings for any gear inch…

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Hugga’s spotted toting 4th of July necessities on the bike paths of Sunriver OR.

Uploaded by Dapper Lad Cycles | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Pam and I are racing bikes, there’s a cargo bike ride, what are you doing?

This German postcard from 1898, depicts Emil Nauke. The post card claims that Emil is “the heaviest biker on Earth.”

Despite his rotund size, little feet, and belly that nearly touches the bars, Emil is dressed in dapper attire, and is proudly seated atop his bicycle for this photo. This funny oddity of cycling history, makes me think of Chris Farley in Tommy Boy. On the other hand, Emil is clearly a bike hugger, and this photo makes me want to shout, “Get on with your bad self Emil!”

Uploaded by radlmax | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

It’s great to see all the commuters out on the Burke these days, but it’s even greater to see folks riding in their regular clothes, copenhagen style. This cyclist manages to pull it off with an unusual amount of panache for the great pacific northwest, goodonya says I.

You may have passed or been passed by this Bike Battleship on the path, the road, or anywhere else. Possibly seen the long, tall, lanky gent riding it and wondered maybe WTF it was or even why it was …

It’s the Dread Nought — a bike battleship built for transportation and to take on any motorized vehicle that crosses it. With a horn that’ll clear a 520 traffic jam (and I suspect a system to throw darts or other medieval-inspired weaponry), Val gets where he’s going on this bad boy. And nothing is stopping him.

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Testing the new Basil Wicker Basket on Bettie, we plopped Cap’n the Studio Pug right into it. While she obliged us, the look on her face, indicated she wasn’t that thrilled … .

Basil baskets are available at your local bike shop — another basket bike shot here and more on Flickr.

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I found this time lapse photography video, of a Surly Big Dummy being built up from the frame and then ridden, (and surfed.) The whole thing is set to some Zen cycling music. Enjoy!

A stand, vending machine with some parts, and refreshments. Next up is a robot to lube your chain … like a Roomba, a lube Roomba.

Updated

• More about the Trek Stop from 1 World 2 Wheels.

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The roomier Club Cut Jerseys are now in-stock and shipping from our Amazon.com Store. The cost is $79.00.

Order your jersey today and look as fit, sexy, and happy as these three amigos riding the Rockies!

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Readers,

Every year, right before the tour we get either an update to a drug scandal or a new scandal. And this time it’s Floyd’s failure in the appeal process. The CAS scolded Floyd’s team for their aggressive tactics and attempts to embarrass and shame the lab.

What do you think? Did Floyd hurt his own case? Was he El Dope the whole time?