Bike Hugger 

A photo from Simon Paris’ bike tour in Bangkok.

Uploaded by simonparisphotography | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Reader nicelook tipped us to this video of an interia bike in action – I’m not sure exactly what the inertia bike does, other than go up and over a grassy knoll a bunch of times.

Is this FTW! or WTF?

Douglas Whitehead is riding his bike from England to India and in his latest post, he’s getting used to the rhythm of the miles and enjoying the silence.

The weather was glorious and the rural French landscape was idyllic as I cycled along the banks of the River Meuse. The light had a sort of special haze to it that seemed to intensify and magnify distances, but what really stood out was the all-encompassing silence

Photo: Douglas Whitehead

When we toured Alaska, for hours on end all we heard was our breathing, the bike, and Nature. Tuscany, Spain all beautiful but not as remote or quiet.

Thousands of tweets ago and long since passed in the ether, I said something like

“we need more art, more absurdism; something just off-the-wall in this medium now jammed up with social media experts, gurus, marketing, and the occasional jesus freak.”

The Fake Christopher Walken was good for a while and then along comes the Banjo Brothers and their bike-centric micro-fiction on Twitter, which launches later this week (4/2). Interested and upon further inquiry, I learned the following in an email from company co-founder Mike Vanderscheuren

Serialized in 140 Characters

I had a blast at last years UAR when it came through Seattle. What’s the Urban Assault Ride you ask? Basically, two person teams race around the city on an organized bike scavenger hunt. You start the race with a manifest. You plan your own route, and at each check point there is a “Mini-Olympics” style challenge. Once your manifest is complete, you race back the start line, for a massive party hosted by New Belgium Brewing, (makers of Fat Tire Beer.) Last year the challenges included a paper boy toss, mini-keg stilt walk, Bike Joust, and a kid’s sized tricycle race. You don’t have to be in Seattle to participate since the UAR road show might be coming to a town near you. Check out the dates announced below, and learn more about the event after the jump, and if you sign up, tell’em bikehugger sent you!

Tucson: April 19
Nashville: May 3
Seattle: May 17
Portland: May 31
Austin: June 28
Fort Collins: July 19
Denver: July 26
St. Louis: August 16
Madison: August 30
Chicago: September 20
Minneapolis: September 27

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

Need to keep ratcheting up the levels of freak bike – just a week ago, I thought the bike we spotted at Mellow Johnny’s was the freakiest, but then I saw Didi Senft’s latest creation.

Called the Truffle bike, it’s 10.11M long and 4.11 high.

Photo credit: Getty Images.

Update

And now with video …

Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race is riding across the US to raise money for MS.

Fans of the show, know that bikes are often featured – just last week they had barrel bikes and last season bakfiets. Fans also know that they contestants are always in taxis and planes. I’d love to see an Amazing Race on bikes.

Following Phil’s progress on his ride website.

Photo credit: Lawrence K. Ho/LA Times.

Attended the Bike Works auction last night and 60K was raised for their programs.

Bike Works has been working for kids, bikes, and community in the Rainier Valley since 1996. Our programs invest in young people and encourage bicycling as a clean and healthy transportation alternative

Fabric Horse makes some great looking bags, and their newest release–designed to fit into the basket on a bicycle–also helps make the world a little better place.

All the proceeds for the bag, which is made of 90% recycled materials with a wooden bottom and recycled seat-belt straps, goes toward funding Fabric Horse’s skill building educational trip in St. Thomas, Jamaica. Fabric Horse will lead a skill building workshop at the Johns Town Women’s Sewing and Craft Collective at The Source Farm, which will lead to better job prospects for the attendees.

Of course you don’t have to buy a bag to donate or to follow along with this mission, just check out the Fabric Horse Blog for more information.

Ran an errand on Bettie to pick up a Torker cargo bike. That’s bike on bike action and both were cargo. Add a fixie next time and we’ve got a menage a trois.