April 2010 Archives

Delivered bikes to the Maxwell Hotel yesterday for their bike program. Guests can check out bikes and ride around town. The Maxwell is located in Queen Anne, near Seattle Center and has a bike lane right in front of it.

Available at Pushbike, a Mondrian Saddle. With this, you can say your bike is influenced by De Stijl.

Via Mission Mission.

About now your legs should feel good. Riding more with the better weather. How are you going?

Photo: David from our Photostream.

Excuse me for a moment while I take a break from the normal bike-related content on this site and address the Gizmodo story. To me, it’s interesting how the usage of blogger and journalist gets intertwined, depending on the story and changes with the point being made. In different contexts, whether bloggers are journalists or not has come up in the past ten years. Often blogs like Gizmodo use the description as it suits them. Don’t play by the same rules as traditional media because were bloggers, but want the respect of the journalist title and entitlements. 

When they turned off the TVs at CES at few years ago, they were bloggers, Gawker (parent of Gizmodo) defended their actions saying basically they don’t play by the same rules. When the cops come a knockin, they’re journalists.

I’ve never found myself in possession of a stolen, or not stolen, prototype phone or bike. I’ve also never thought of myself as a journalist. I’ve been blogging since we first called it that. Not sure if the search was legal, not a lawyer either. The most troubling thing is I’ve not seen camps get divided like this about Apple so fast. Apple as a villain is an entirely new web phenomena.

Do Not like iTunes DRM! Sure, you can make that case, but now it’s playing out as conspiracies and villains and horrible things are being said in comment threads. Whenever it happened, the art of arguing, even flaming, got lost in responses that go straight to F-bomb you and your mother.

What Gizmodo has done with that iPhone Prototype is shown the ugly side of the Internet. We’ve got a good community here, on Twitter, and Facebook and have very little flaming or hate. I appreciate it and think you likely share my concerns about the Internet these days.

Now back to bikes. Check out FreMo: India’s First Bicycle Sharing Program.

Our new 2010 socks are available in our Store (clothing section) and shipping now. They are made for us by Hincapie and feature 200-needle construction for comfort and performance. The socks are white, gray, and light without being too “thin.” An Olefin/Nylon blend provides moisture control and the hidden toe seam is comfortable for long rides or walking around town. 80% nylon, 16% Olefin, 4% Lycra.

The socks are available in small-mediun and large-x-large, unisex, high cut, and sell for $9.99 USD.

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A new GPS app for cyclists was released earlier this week and our first response is good. We’ve been underwhelmed by most cycling apps and didn’t like Bike Your Drive very much. Bike My Way records your rides and you can annotate waypoints with photos and notes. The best feature is the export to GPX files that you can them import into other apps, including Aperture 3 and then apply that track to your photos.

While the app will record your entire ride, we likely wouldn’t do that to spare the battery. Instead, just record waypoints along the ride.

We’ll use this with our Biologic iPhone mount when we ride the Mobile Social in Portland during Webvisions next month. Bike My Way is available in the iTunes Store for 1.99. It only works with the 3G and 3Gs phones.

Asked this on Twitter today and Facebook

Why do women think cycling makes their butts fat?

and the replies came in like this

• danceralamode: WHAT? Cycling gave me my tight ass! I don’t know who thinks that it makes UR butt fat. That’s just silly.
• GraphikDeziner: Very true. But all my hard work doesn’t show in 90% of the technical apparell I have
• kee73 Cycling didn’t make my butt fat but instead actually gave me one where there wasn’t any before! Sa-weet!
• L. Lisa Lawrence: I happen to like my round girlie cyclist butt. Women are supposed to have butts. Personally I like the fact that cycling rounds it and lifts it up. That looks much better than a flabby flat butt.

One day in our retirement years, we’ll find a bike like this at a garage sale and restore it.

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As Mark V wrote in 2006, the punk-folk band this Bike Is A Pipe Bomb has been in the news periodically for stickers on bikes that say, “this bike is a pipe bomb.” Bomb squads get called in, cyclists get arrested, and so on.

Photo: Jeff Moser/BikeCarson.com

Last week, prior to the arrival of Obama’s motorcade, the NYPD clipped locks and rounded up bikes, suspected of being bombs

The bikes were unceremoniously put in the back of the truck. Onlookers were not given information as to what would become of the bikes.

Photo: Rafcard

No word if any of those bikes had the infamous sticker on it, but cyclists were likely removing their Obama Spoke Cards. That’s if they ever got their bike backs.

In stock car racing, they bump and with bikes it’s chopping

Bahati loses his cool and throws his glasses at the “chopper” train

In case you missed it over the weekend …

Spotted a new San Marco Saddle

Spiffy

Road Map Calves

if you see calves like that, it usually indicates a pain cave waiting to open up on a climb and suck you into a dark, lonely place where it hurts.

Cooked with an iPad

the iPad has found its usefulness as a cookbook.

and discussed Vino’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège win at length on a ride. Also wondered if anyone has eaten silica gel and there’s a new iPhone GPS app for cyclists.

Looks like the shop got some cellphone pouches and they come with a
yummy treat…oh, wait it’s a good thing the pack says "do not eat" because people expect a pouch to come with candy.

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That’s Jonathon Winstone’s new 14bikeCo ESB.

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Killing some time on a beautiful Saturday in New York City, I headed to Washington Square Park, where I ran into what looked like an alley cat but really was a marketing event for a low-carbon-footprint restaurant.

Ironically, Otarian restaurant left a big pile of coupon books all over the ground in their wake. Cause 20% off combo meals and fixies go together like dogs and American flags. Or something.

Flat Pack Cardboard

Whenever a package arrives looking like this, we get panicked about damage. Especially when it’s a bike.

Do Not Like Facebook

Sorry, our future of the web is not owned by Facebook.

Spotted this Bike Cop issuing parking tickets in downtown Seattle today. He enjoyed the work. Check his chalk holder. He uses that to mark tires and track time.

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Eric replaced the mangled derailer since the last ride. Then for most of the ride we debated whether or not it was a different dye lot than the crank. It didn’t look like the same finish at all. It had less champagne sheen and more dull like the older 105.

In the future, Eric may not have to worry about his derailers so much if PowerCordz Infinity Drive goes into production. It’s a bottom-bracket CVT v. a hub CVT like the Nuvinci. Also see the Schlumpf and Hammer Schmidt. The Infintiy drive is promising a wider range of gears.

Having spent much time riding a Nuvinci, infinite gear ratios means, “as far as you can twist the shifter back and forth.” That means low, medium, high with no discernible diffference between a millimeter twist back and forth. Sure, they may offer more range, but it’s not like you’re going to hit ludicrous speed on the flats with that bottom bracket.

Via BizBiz.

B-Cycle launched in Denver and is making mainstream news. We’ve covered the bike-share program last year at SXSW:

• Huggacast 94: B-cycle
• Plan B: Save the World with Bicycles
• Bogusky and B-cycle

As enthusiastic as we are about bikes, we’re mixed on bike-share programs. We give B-Cycle’s audacious plan props, but also think bike subsidies would likely work better and question the bike design. Seasonal only in Denver too?

Your thoughts?

Next month we’re at Webvisions for The(un)Wired Future of Bikes:

Join an eclectic lineup of bike builders, geeks, gearheads and inventors for a series of short presentations on the (un)Wired Future of Bikes. It’s like convergence on wheels.

Presentations

• “Up Shift: Bringing Online Communities to Biking” - DL Byron
• “New Gadgets to Keep you Connected When Pedaling” - Brian Krejcarek
• “Future Bikes” - Metrofiets
• “Simplicity of the Bike” - Nick Finck
• “Cyclocross” - Matt Haughey
• “Top Mobile Apps for Bike” - David Schloss
• “Shoot it! Biking and Digital Photography” - Kris Krug
• Women! — April Streeter

Getting back into longer rides as winter departed, I needed decent legwear. I had been considering the Assos F.I. Uno S5 after being fitted to them at last years Cycleshow in London. I knew Assos country of manufacture could vary and was interested in their ‘made by ethos’.

As I was looking around and reading forums and twitter I did see more and more mention of Shutt VR - An English company who made their products in England! This is a rare thing so I thought, why not try them?

Shutt VR were a relatively new entrant to bike clothing - one formed by bike fanatics during a ride!

What better basis could there be for starting a bike related company?

A quick phone call to Simon, a credit card number handover proceeded and a Jersey and a pair of Pro Bib COOLMAX shorts were on the way.

Yes, I bought the item I’m reviewing. I’m sorry, I will really try not to do this again.

I decided to only write something after using them in a variety of rides - I was appointed a head marshal for the Tweed Run London and this meant a number of ‘Recce rides’ through central London and good time on the bike. Additionally a 40 odd mile trip or two gave me a good feel for how they performed when used in non-urban sustained speed situations.

First of all then, the pad.

This pad converted the oh so hard Specialised Toupe into a sofa. A 5.5 hour ride (Tweed Run London 2010) no problem at all. Whilst doing faster paced stuff /climbing and moving around the saddle it was way better than the Specialized shorts that I had been using before.

The pad itself has multiple layers - the gel layer plus additional padding. It was superb. A back to back comparison with an equivalently priced Specialized item was not even close. This pad is VERY good.

A non riding comparison was made with a pair of Assos Fi Shorts from a friend - we agreed the feel of the pad was similar.

Next, do they stay in the right place?

Short answer yes. The leg grips worked, no skin irritation resulted. Slight indentations were left in my legs afterwards.

Will they last? I think so and here’s why:

The seams were compared to the Assos. Almost identical. No loose threads, no irritation from the seams.

The lycra itself seems quite thick and strong - there’s no sign of any wear yet - will report back on this.

Fit

I’m 5’ 11”, 145(ish) lbs - Medium worked pretty well. If I’d been taller I think the next size up would be the one I’d go for.

They’re long enough on my legs to be comfortable - they don’t feel ‘short’ shorts.

Summary: Good value shorts, awesome pad.

Note: My set is part of the first production run - no white trimming and a few other changes. Check here for the latest details. They’re on twitter here

Worn for : 200+ Miles total - Single long rides of up to 5.5hrs.
Saddles : Specialised Toupe (non-gel), Fi:zi’k Aliante Gamma

An indulgence last week — doubtful enough calories were burned to offset that meal, but those fries were good and went down real easy with that IPA.

Hiding in Triangles is a new hotel for bike enthusiasts proposed by design firm Philip Modest Schambelan + Anton Fromm. Perched on a cliff above Lake Garda in Italy, the concept is cycling specific with ramps instead of stairs. Via Design Boom. Hat tip to Strangecode.

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I’ve lost an iPhone and had it returned to me. Found one and returned it to the owner, who happened to be a cyclist. I did it as soon as I found it. I tweeted it at the time

A few years ago at CES, lost an iPhone and it was returned. Today karma played out: found one and returned it.

with a photo

and forgot about it until the Gizmodo Lost prototype iPhone story hit. Now they’ve outed the kid who lost it and honestly, as a blogger, that isn’t anything but a sleazy drive for pageviews.

I paid my iPhone forward and many others have likely done the same.

Streets For All Seattle launched today

Cascade Bicycle Club, Sierra Club Cascade Chapter and Great City join a coalition of community, labor, transportation and environmental groups in proudly announcing Streets For All Seattle, a new campaign calling for adequately funding multimodal transportation initiatives in Seattle.

The Streets For All Seattle supporters believe that walking, bicycling and transit should be the easiest means of transportation in Seattle. But the current situation shows pending cuts in Metro service hours and insufficient funding for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans.

The Streets For All Seattle coalition has identified a number of potential funding sources - to the tune of $30 million dollars - for walking, biking and transit infrastructure. The group looks forward to working with the Seattle City Council, Mayor McGinn and partners to create dedicated funding mechanisms for multi-modal transportation initiatives in Seattle.

Our take is Seattle is a City that has a problem getting anything big done and with the perception of itself. For those readers that don’t live here, there’s a Northwest passive/aggressive style. You’d think a City that has a B rating from Cascade and a Top 5 from Bicycing Magazine wouldn’t need another organization to lobby for pedestrian and cyclists monies.

While the press releases are going out about this, across the lake Mercer Island is trying to ban cyclists from riding in groups on their streets. Same people are fighting the Missing Link and Stone Way while other bikeways go apparently unnoticed.

We don’t want to buzzkill the announcement and will shake hands tomorrow with the people working on it at the Bike to Work Breakfast. It’s when we see sharrows where cyclists don’t ride we wonder how many lobbyists are spending their time in boardrooms instead of riding the streets with us.

There is definitely a bike and pedestrian friendly change in the States. We noticed it when we started this blog, but we’re a long way from big Transportation Secretary statements to feeling safer riding down Alaskan Way.

Here’s an idea, along with your press releases to the traditional media, host a Bike Blogger Summit and hear their ideas on making the streets for all. Talk to them about what their blogging, where they’re riding, and get their input. They reach an alternative media audience. It started at the Seattle Bike Expo with the Bike Culture Panel and we’re up for it.

Pam likes to grocery shop on the iPad, including while she’s on the trainer for an early morning spin.

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Prefer chain bracelets or tire belts, but still cool.

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Joe Parkin’s sequel to A Dog in a Hat is out and our review copy arrived last week. Come and Gone: A True Story of Blue-Collar Bike Racing in America picks the story up when Joe returned to the US and his struggles with a new American team and mountain biking.

Reading it now.

I met Joe last month on the Bike Culture panel at the Seattle Bike Expo. Remember those scenes in American Flyer/Breaking Away when the bearded-grunting Russian and our hero are climbing or he’s chasing the Italians. Right before the Russian tries to push him off the Mountain or the Italians put a pump in his wheel, Joe would’ve buried himself to get up there and give his team mate a wheel. Then totally blown up and possibly crossed the finish line, if not picked up by the team car first.

He was that kind of cyclist and that makes for interesting stories. Because you’re hearing from a domestique, a grunt in the pack, that worked for a living.

Yes! Inevitable that I’d find a photo of a Nav’i on a bike; being environmentally conscious and all and we don’t have dragons to fly around here on Earth. Ignore the bower-bird-head guy and check the Nav’i in this photo taken during the annual Tour of the Fireflies.

Photo: Reuters via Daylife

One of the best takeaways from the trip to Vancouver to blog the Olympics was all the artists we met. Hanging out with KK+, we discussed the street art I’ve been seeing in Seattle, including the work of No Touching Ground and Addison Art Project.

@indindindigo told me about C215 (AKA Christian Guémy). I’ve been following him on Flickr ever since and today spotted a photo of a bike stencil

There’s a face in the stem, as well as the motion, colors and all. Also see the Lyon series, and more.

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Bontrager unveiled an all-new R-Series road tire line-up today at Sea Otter. Chris Clinton, Bontrager Brand Manager, sent us photos from their tent and also noted that these are the worlds fastest tire. They’ve got an aero profile and resemble Michelin Pro 3s. That’s a good thing. What we’re wondering is, with their new wide rims (ala Hed), if these tires are optimized for the width. If so, these will go fast.

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Pam is in Walla Walla for a stage race and sent us this photo of a local with a wood bike. We like the door hinges as much as the big chain lock and the aero bars.

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We’re just riding along up a hill on a team ride and heard this terrible metal twisting, shearing sound. Eric’s rear derailer was clicking a bit, he shifted up, and something happened. That something tore the derailer off the bike and mangled the chain. A team mate had a chain tool and Eric got back with a single speed: 39 x15.

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Depending on where you are on the geek/nerd spectrum you’re either going to consider this an incredible waste of time or one of the coolest things you’ve ever seen.

I know which side I’m on, I just wish I could sew.

MapMyRide has become a default bike-mapping tool for race promoters and they’re using it to share course profiles. Good for the promoters, but despite looking at it several times, I don’t know what this chart is communicating

Checked with others, they don’t either. My work-at-Microsoft-PC Bros who understand such mathematical-type things? Nope.

David said, “it’s like you’re riding the Mariana Trench.” You’re underwater or it has reverse elevation gain.

Hey Map My Ride product manager, if there’s no budget for any user experience or information design, may I suggest a Tufte course or read Veen’s blog.

I can send them my old Tufte books, if you’d like. Sparklines dude.

Places we’d like to ride more include Taiwan. We’ve just ridden in the City there and would like to get out into the country.

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Matching tattoos.

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Geoff Casey is working as hard as he does in a race on bringing attention back to steel with Baron Bicycles. He’s convinced steel is still viable, never wasn’t, and laments the generic carbon flavor of the month frames.

Props due for entering the bike industry, that’s hard enough, and then to take a stand with steel. He’s either conscripted himself to long hours with squeezed margins, arguing with snobby roadies concerned with carbon layups, or onto something good. We here hope the latter and appreciate the work custom builders do.

I never thought steel wasn’t real and my first fast racing bike was Tange Prestige, later a Colnago with Columbus and those bikes set the bar for all my future bike reviews. Also my insistence that all bikes perform well, including urban. To Geoff, the deal with steel is

Save your Soul with a Good Ride

Sometimes even I get tired of the bike. A good way to break up the monotony is to take a different route, ride another bike, or climb up a hill and blast down it at 50 + MPH. You know, feel alive again, after having your life force drained by work and sitting in an office.

Last night, it was a Sunset Ride with a 2010 Team Raleigh. The thing about Seattle is we put up with the rainy season for the days when the sun comes out and that brilliant yellow orb was out in full. Typically, a bike review would consists of how stiff it is or isn’t, a component run down, and some new way to describe how it accelerates or that SRAM shifts loudly, but good.

Yesterday the Raleigh was like a Calgon Bath that took me away to another place. Instead of work, my head was full of Paris Roubaix and the performance of Spartacus. Riding over a particularly nasty road near Lincoln Park, I focused on delivering power to the wheels to get over the cobbles and how well the bike tracked the tarred grooves in the road.

Bikehugger attended the Tweedrun London 2010 event last Saturday as AM was a head marshal.

Much fun and frolics were had as you can see in this jolly fine video from Swamibu.

400 Cyclists were quite a sight as we were going through central London. It was the first event of this kind in London with no Police escort and no planned road closures - it’s felt this went very well indeed with no major incidents occuring.

Worries over an increase in numbers were unfounded, many photographers were waiting at the Tea stop as the sheer number of pictures on Flickr shows.

An excellent day rounded off with very fine G&T’s from Hendricks Gin one of the very fine sponsors. (Brooks England Pashley Bicycles, Hendrick’s Gin, Rapha being the main sponsors of the event)

AM is wearing his Father’s Harris Tweed Dunn & Co jacket, a TweedRun ‘Dashing Tweeds’ Cap, ShuttVR Jersey, Swrve WWR 3/4’s with ShuttVR Pro Bib Shorts underneath, White gloves (Giro, 3DO armour) for clear indication to the other riders. Shoes: Sidi Dominators with Speedplay Frog cleats. The bike is a Moulton.

Image courtesy of Mark from the ibikelondon blog who has a great writeup of his own here with his own great video.

Particular thanks should go to Teddy and Jacqui who worked tirelessly for weeks in putting this event together. You have no idea how many meetings and bits of paperwork they had to fill in. Really.

Here’s looking forward to 2011 in London - but before that - the Tweed Run is heading to Toronto & New York in the Fall

Pip pip!

Spotted in a bike shop. That’s also handed to customers that ask to use shop tools.

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I’ve been testing an iPad, on loan from Mac Create, for the past few days with a focus on, travel, blogging, and biking (topics familiar to Bike Hugger readers). It is like a giant iPhone/iPad Touch and for those wondering what you’d do with this “third device,” we took it with us to a bike race.

That’s what I think the iPad does well. It’s a more portable Mac, intended for consuming media and some light media creation. Also think of it as another computer that you can share family photos, or the finish of the race, without standing around a desktop or laptop. Just hand it over and wait for a while to get it back.

Before the race, I checked the flyer, weather, and maps. The 3G model isn’t out yet, so on-the-road use was limited. I don’t know if he did that on purpose, cause he don’t need no iPad, but Andrew had a Verizon Aircard streaming Paris Roubaix. Despite a new iPad, I wasn’t doing that. Innovation has it’s limits. In this version of the iPad, at least.

The bike is always interesting. Doesn’t matter if you’re riding, in a bike shop, or standing on a corner at the bottom of a hill with a stop/slow sign. As I wrote earlier, we spent at day at the Olympic View Road Race. In the morning, I corner marshalled turn 4 (directing traffic to protect the peloton).

Bottom of a s-turn hill with a 180-degree turn.

Pedal-Driven celebrates and debates mountain biking as a legitimate and sustainable outdoor activity. Due to release mid-2010.

We normally don’t cover local racing too much, that’s not our blog beat, but it’s worth noting the growth of Womens’ Racing in the Northwest. Yesterday, at the Olympic View Road Race, I watched the Womens’ 1/2/3 race for the last lap. Suz Weldon bridged to the break and then drove it to win a long, tough competitive race. As impressive a win as I’ve ever seen.

Later at the race finish I heard her say,

“now I need to go home and put a boob in my baby’s mouth.”

She had a baby last Fall and is out winning races this Spring. Word.

From the Bicycle Roadside Finds photo pool, a chalk road angel.

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When Osprey asked if we wanted to take a look at their new packs, I thought we’d get a few of their hydration packs, (and we did in fact get one, the review of that is forthcoming) but the package also included the new Flapjack, a backpack-style laptop bag that’s the bee’s-knees.

With a padded laptop sleeve (here seen holding my iPad and a magazine—we like to rock both old-school and new-school media in the Hugger East Cost HQ) the Osprey Flapjack has been finding itself on a lot of my rides to town.

A typical day will find me doing some work at a local coffee shop, then taking a break to do all the errands I can on my bike so I don’t have to drive anywhere unnecessary. Usually I sling an ancient Timbuk 2 bag over my shoulder and cross-strap it on as I galavant around town but I’ve recently substituted the Osprey bag.

As a backpack it causes less lower-back strain than my Timbuk 2 and as a result I seem to be able to carry heavier loads. Since the pack is vertical I can also transport things that otherwise would fall out of the messenger-style Timbuk 2.

There are two deep interior pockets, a number of zippered organizer sections and a comfortable set of shoulder straps. The laptop section has enough padding to run without an additional laptop sleeve, though I’d recommend one if using the pack in any situation where a sharp-edged object might sit in the other pouches.

The best feature for my money though is the top-carrying handle that allows the bag to be carried one-handed when off-the-back. Too many bag makers completely forget to include alternate carrying options.

The Osprey comes in three colors (an off-white and a rust color are the other choices) and sells for about $90, available at most of the online retailers.

Replaceable rear-straps in a variety of colors make the bag just slightly creative, but i’m pretty fond of an innocuous black bag. (That comes from years of hauling around camera gear while trying to look like I’m not carrying around camera gear.

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Nice trick, but we’re looking at that bike.

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The Portland Bike Show didn’t fit our schedule, we’re taking today off, and then at a bike race tomorrow while Paris Roubaix is on.

It’s a rerun weekend with highlights from the past

• Cycling Folklore
• Trek Soho S
• In The Bike Shop: The “Bro” Deal

We’ve got an iPad on test from our bros at Mac Create. Lance just tweeted he’s got one and we asked on our Facebook page and Twitter what you want to know or wonder?

Don’t see a Dutch Bike cyclist, in plain clothes, very often in West Seattle. Wish we’d see more.

The helmet is a smart choice considering this intersection: eight corners, no bike lane or sharrows, with semis moving cargo in and out of shipyards. Don’t know where he was going, but we try to not stop at that island and instead slip between the cars when the lights are green. That bike was likely purchased from Dutch Bike Seattle. We were going the other way and didn’t stop, but it looked like a WorkCycles Opa.

Update

A reader told us that’s Bob Anderton of Anderton Law Office.

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Protect yourself before your wreck yourself. Yanco Pad equipped bike spotted downtown yesterday.

Before integrated time trial bars, custom builders would make you a TT bike like this. They were called funny bikes and had discs in the back with little wheels in the front.

Everyday headlines about bike accidents are in my newsreader. That doesn’t make for an upbeat, positive blog to post all of them, but I’m certainly aware of the trends and the deaths. This photo from the AP is a reminder of the somber fact that cyclists and cars collide.

Photo from AP Photo via Daylife.

It’s not always the driver’s fault either. Accidents happen and too often. We forget at times how dangerous what we do is and the challenge for cycling, as a whole, is to make it safer.

Multimodal commute today on the bike to the Water Taxi and arriving at An Event Apart in 35 minutes from Hugga HQ to conference.

The Water Taxi has been around for a few years in Seattle, as a test, and now more formal with an updated docks and support from the County.

The route is between West Seattle and the Seattle Waterfront across Elliott Bay.

They accomodate bikes with two racks on either side of the boat.

There are cobbles here in Seattle. Mostly paved over, but some streets have them for a block or so. There’s a right turn straight up from Western, where I expect a commuter is waiting to do a Cancellara. Turning over the gear and just riding away from another cyclist on their way to work will prove most satisfying.

View Larger Map

They’ll do it by staying on top of the gear, seated, and with a Body Geometry-type fit; while their competitor throws themselves all over the bike to try and catch up.

Ya know those helmet covers that Freds wear? That look like this Thudguard in various forms, including Goretex

and 1-Up Mushrooms

Lazer wants you to think about them as the newest new accessory. You likely noticed the Aero Shell during the Tour of Flanders and we asked each other, “what’s that on his head?” It’s

a plastic cover, designed to fit perfectly over the Lazer Helium road helmet. The Aero Shell snaps into place and protects the riders head from wind and rain while still allowing for some air movement under the front of the helmet and out the rear vents. The Aero Shell is unique in that it is easily removed from the Helium helmet when riding conditions are such that additional ventilation is desired.

Mikhail Ignatiev (right below) spent nearly 200 kilometers in a breakaway during the race.

Lazer will roll out another shell for Paris Roubaix and we’ve got a call in for a Bike Hugger edition. We also dug the Urbanize and the O2 RD.

Finishing my first-of-spring interval rides today I stopped for the world’s most perfect recovery food (a slice of pizza from a NY pizzeria) and looked up to spot this pedicab coming around the corner. A pedicab? In our mile-square village?

I actually first noticed this rig during my ride, about four miles away but it had been sitting empty. I’m guessing it’s just a bunch of guys with their pedicab, that it’s not a business venture but it’s another sign of the exploding hipster scene in my area.

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That’s a fixed gear S&S-coupled bike with aerobars … not only that, but check what’s going on with the front wheel. Mark V’s cadence on that is like a butterfly’s wings.

From Lovely Bike and ready for Spring.

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That’s Andy Clarke and Pam hanging out at the Edgewater talking iPads, web, travel, and eventually the bike.

Andy said

What is it with web geeks and bikes?

“Well that’s the thing,” I responded and why we do events at Web Conferences. The bike is a connector, something in common we can geek out on besides programing and pixels. If you’ve read us for a while, you likely know we started our Mobile Socials after attending An Event Apart in 2007. I spotted other cyclists at the event like me and thought, “huh.”

A few years later, we had a Mobile Social during An Event Apart 2009 and thousands have attended our Mobile Socials during SXSW. This year we’ve got more events coming during Northern Voice, Webvisions, and NXNE this year.

See you there.

On the eve of the Tour of Flanders, Paul Andrews of BikeIntelligencer hosted a gathering of cycling bloggers at Brouwer’s Cafe, the Belgian-style pub in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. About a dozen of us came down to talk about blogging, bikes, Seattle streets, and yes, the iPad while enjoying some pomme frites and beer.

Ironically, I have a bet against a riding buddy for no alcohol during the month of April. But abstaining from the beer wasn’t my big disappointment. I was heartbroken that the restaurant ran out of the fries smothered in buffalo stew…sounded like a delicious platter of coronary failure!

R-L: Ryan of GO MEANS GO, Paul Andrews of BikeIntelligencer, and Bike Hugger’s Mark V

Just heard this family cargo bike is coming to the States — got a email out to Henry to verify that it’s “awesome” or “the suck.” Looks like another take on Bakfiets.

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

I spent a beautiful week in Scotland recently on a video shoot and kept my eyes peeled for bikes. Flying Scotsman and all that, right?

In nine days I saw exactly four bicycles. Incredibly pastoral lands, mostly flat, great roads, beautiful people, whisky. Four bikes. What’s up with that Scotland?

I did find this massive bike shed at one of the hotels we used as a location shoot, I love that it’s also the location for milk delivery. And that milk is still delivered.

I’m thinking of doing a ride on the islands of Orkney in Scotland. Who’s in?

Uploaded by davidjschloss | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

The thing about bike racing, touring, being a weekend warrior, or anything that pushes limits is how humbling it is. Get spit out the back of a peloton going 34 MPH or dropped on a climb and you get in touch with yourself and what you can do right quick. You either give up, keep going, or collect yourself for another day. @BenKing89 was in a pile up and raced 140KMs with this

and is now heading to the hospital for stitches. Likely was forced to do that by his Team Manager or he’d have just tended to it with superglue.

A reason we attend Web conferences with our bikes, is that the bike is a constant and a connector with web professionals. Notice the PBR in the basket bike used to illustrate Safari in the 5 Browsers and the Modes of Transportation They Resemble infographic.

Source: College Humor.

Hat tip @molly

At some point, we expected cyclists wouldn’t have to dig through their closest or shop the vintage store to acquire the proper kit for a Tweed Ride.

Cottage industries supplying a niche of a niche? Sure and more, according to an article published today by Bike Biz.

The Tweed Run - a ride in London with cyclists on vintage machines - has helped to spark interest in the traditional Scottish woollen fabric.

We rode tweed in Vancouver during the Winter Olympics, in techical wool from Ibex, cause that’s how we roll, but you can look like Gary Fisher if you want. Shop at Dashing Tweeds and we suggest you bespoke it blingy or steampunk.

Note: Gary will drink keg beer with you too, just invite him to the party, and prepare to hear all about 29ers.

Uploaded by carltonreid | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

You never forget how to ride a bicycle and the NY Times reports a doctor has discovered Parkinson’s patients can somehow ride without symptoms.

“He said, ‘Just yesterday I rode my bicycle for 10 kilometers’ — six miles,” Dr. Bloem said. “He said he rides his bicycle for miles and miles every day.”

While cycling is connected to Cancer via Lance Armstrong and Livestrong, another great athlete and charity is Davis Phinney. He’s afflicted with Parkinsons and his son just won a World Championship. I never saw Davis race, but did meet him at Interbike a few years ago and expect this news to cheer those at his charity and the people they help.

More on bikes and Parkinsons from the Cleveland clinic in the video below. A doctor there put patients on tandems in 2008

@alien8 follows up his post about London Critical Mass with video

An effective way to double your mileage and a strong indication that there isn’t a perfect bike computer. This used to happen too with older PowerTaps. Cyclists would ride with multiple devices making sure they collected all the relevant data.

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

The first looks at the new iPad are out, including Boing Boing who tests it with The Periodic Table of Elements book

“The Elements on iPad is not a game, not an app, not a TV show. It’s a book. But it’s Harry Potter’s book. This is the version you check out from the Hogwarts library. Everything in it is alive in some way.”

Source: Boing Boing

We’re here all wondering and discussing what magicial bike-related apps and books will emerge. Considering the bike industry is a few years behind in technology, we’ll likely just have to do them ourselves and the obvious ones are maps and training, sure, but we’re thinking of

• Buyer’s guides
• Photo essays
• Catalogs
• Race recaps
• Touring guides

What’s the killer bike app for you? See our posts about the iPad, mobile computing and travel.