Bike Hugger 

We’re back from the Bahamas and before we ride into the New Year, let’s look back at the most interesting content we published in 2009.

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The brake setup on this Globe – done for a laugh – resulted in lots of discussion, traffic, a Bike Snob diss, and a Stupid Brake Mounts photoset.

In a year filled with some great Bike Hugger trips and stories, a few photos stand out to me as favorites. One is this unassuming photo of Specialized’s Amber, sitting astride her Globe. When I say her Globe I mean that quite literally, she designed every single weld, angle and custom part on every Globe bike. Here she’s clearly in love with her bike, which is the whole point, isn’t it?

From racing, this is one of my favorite shots of the year. By far it’s not the most technical shot of the year, but it really captures for me what ‘Cross is all about, the mix of seriousness and mockery that’s the heart of the sport.

If you’d like to see more of the BH photos, you can check out our flickr stream, or take a look at my collections of cycling shots.

We’re heading back to Seattle from the Bahamas today after some outstanding riding and vacationing. Once back, a full Bahamas download, year in review wrap up posts and then onto Twenty 10 planning.

We’ve gots lots going on and excited about next year with Mobile Socials in Amsterdam, Seattle Bike Expo, SXSW, and more.

Reader Fraser sent us this photoset of a dedicated bike lane in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. That’s wine country.

Uploaded by Fraser Kitt Photography | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Traveling with the Brompton and Dahon Mµ SL on this trip to the Bahamas, using Dahon’s Airporter cases.

Kept the weight under 50 pounds for each bike and didn’t get charged extra by the airlines. Before the trip, Dahon sent us the iPhone Mount and we’ll post on that soon.

Readers that have followed us for a while, know we ride all over and it’s not very often cars give us courtesy honks, plenty of room, and the local cyclists wave enthusiastically. As I noted in the previous Bahamas post, we didn’t expect a bike-friendly Island or new paved roads.

This stretch went on for several few miles. Eventually, we turned back towards the airport and resorts.

I’ve heard this conversation at least 10 times:

Roadie Tech Type #1: “Hey - what if they made the iPhone a Power Meter head unit?”

Roadie Tech Type #2: “Never happen - iPhone will never support ANT+”

Roadie Tech Type #1: “But that would be awesome if it did”.

That may be true, but it looks like Pedal Brain maybe ready to span that gap with their iPhone mount that includes ANT+ comm support.

It’s still very early as they just launched their public site last week, but it sounds promising. Does this mean no need to lug around a Windows machine any more to upload and analyze your data? We’ll stay on this and hopefully get a chance to test it out and see how the software suite works together. I doubt I’ll ever want to race with an iPod sticking out from my handlebars, but it sure seems great for training.

Met these locals who told us “they ride everywhere sure, on this road, even have races.”

In our travels, we found the places you read about as not bike friendly usually are. The main roads are well paved, but without shoulders. The taxis courtesy honked, buses gave us room, and we rode enjoying the Island. It seems folding bikes don’t come here often, as they attracted attention from the hotel staff.

More photos and posts to follow.

Speaking of paramedics, this cyclist crashed hard, broke his hip, and the paramedics made sure the bike was OK. Then sent it to hospital with him.

Uploaded by thesoftcopy | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

We’re used to seeing bicycle cops. They patrol in cities, malls, and airports. Paramedics are also using bikes to provide emergency services, at events, and the Strip in Vegas.

In London, they’re pedaling 50k of kit around like this