It's time to start thinking hard about replacing that hanging bicycle calendar before it becomes seriously obsolete and you're left with a big old blank spot on the wall.
Here are a handful of cycling calendars, from the erotic to the exotic to the episodic, that I've stumbled across over the past few weeks. I'm sure one of them might suit your needs.
Erotic
CyclePassion returns with its 2011 wall calendar that is famous for featuring female cycling athletes in more relaxed poses than hunched over the handlebars splattering mud on a singletrack course.
You might not recognize her without her helmet, jersey and spandex, but that's the US's Willow Koerber, who won a bronze at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Quebec this year.
Also pictured in 2011 are Heather Irmiger and Liz Hatch, both of the US, Hanka Kupfernagel and Mona Eiberweiser, both of Germany, Julie Krasniak of France, Veronica Andreasson of Sweden and Fabienne Heinzmann of Switzerland.
Exotic
The Seattle-based International Bicycle Fund is offering the 2011 Solidarity Calendar that pictures bicycles used as transportation in exotic locales around the world.
There are photos of people using bikes in Burkina Faso, Guatemala and the Philippines, as well as other locations.
IBF points out that it's calendars are recycleable; that means if you held onto the 2005 calendar, you wouldn't have to buy a new one this year. As for your 2010 calendar, you can re-cycle that back onto the thumbtack on the wall in 2021.
Episodic
Ace cycling photographer Graham Watson is publishing a 2011 Cycling Calendar again that features photos from episodes of the European road cycling circuit this past season.
The 40 photos on the calendar include some of the year's cycling heroes, as well as scenes from the races. Also, the calendar lists dates of major and minor races on the UCI schedule.
Rails to Trails
Another calendar that supports a good cause is the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's 25th anniversary calendar. A donation of $20 or more in support RTC's trail-building efforts earns the donor the 12-month calendar with picturesque scenes of the bicycling trails all over the US.
Founded in 1986, the RTC has become a powerful voice of advocacy and a steward for more than 19,000 miles of railroad right-of-way that has been transfered to public use as trails for bicyclists and pedestrians. There are another 9,000 miles of trails on the drawing boards in the US.
More calendars
The blogger at the Cycling Challenge: Cycling in the Alps website has created the 2011 Alps Cycling Calendar for photos he has taken on his rides over the past year in the Alps of France, Italy and Switzerland.
You can see the photos at his website with a link to the calendar. Will says that although cyclists are sometimes pictured in the images, he has tried to pick photos that highlight the beauty of the climbs. He also warns that he used a small digital camera to take the photos.
You can flip through the photos at his website.
Another calendar has been hatched from a website — the 2011 Path Less Pedaled calendar. Russ Roca and Laura Crawford, the popular bicycle traveling team at the Path Less Pedaled website, have been on the road for more than a year.
They used scenes from their bike travels around the US to create the calendar. It's available at lulu.com; just click on the calendar there to see the monthly photos.
VeloPress has announced that it's distributing the VeloNews and International Mountain Bicycling Association calendars in 2011.
Editors chose inspiring photos from road cycling, cyclocross and mountain biking for the two calendars. They're available at REI.com and Velogear.com; search “calendars”. A portion of the proceeds from the mountain biking calendar supports the activities of the IMBA.
Here are three other cycling calendars available at Amazon.com:
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