Gran Fondo bike rides gain popularity in US

–Updated with more gran fondo events–

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Amateur cyclists and recreational bicyclists in the US and Canada will get more opportunities to participate in Italian-style gran fondo bike rides in 2010.

Nearly a dozen gran fondo bike rides are scheduled next year in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ontario.

Cyclists appear to be hungry for such events.

When 3-time Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer launched a gran fondo-style bike ride in Santa Rosa last October, 3,500 cyclists signed up.

Word must have spread among cyclists, because when online registration opened on Tuesday for the October 2010 King Ridge Gran Fondo — 10 months before the event — half the 6,000 spots were reserved the first day.

In addition to Leipheimer's event in Santa Rosa, the Tour of California is sponsoring two gran fondos along the course of two Tour stages before the race in April. Centurion Cycling  is launching its first season of gran fondo with rides in California, Colorado and Wisconsin, and Gran Fondo USA is offering rides in San Diego and Philadelphia next year …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/18/gran-fondo-bike-rides-gain-popularity-in-us/

24,000 Zefal brand CO2 bike tire inflators recalled

A company that imports CO2 bicycle tire inflators is recalling about 24,000 units that were sold exclusively at WalMart stores nationwide.

The Zefal brand cartridges, containing pressurized carbon dioxide used to inflate a bicycle tire, can break at the pump head.

Although no injuries have been reported, importer Todson Inc. of North Attleboro, Mass., launched the recall with the assistance of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/18/24000-zefal-brand-co2-bike-tire-inflators-recalled/

Route announced for 2010 Vuelta a Espana

Organizers for the Vuelta a Espana, the last of the trio of Grand Tours, announced a 2,068-mile route for the bike race in 2010.

While much will be made about the mountain stages and the reduction of time trials to just two, this Vuelta may best be remembered for changing the color of the leader's jersey from golden to red. 

As last year's Vuelta winner, Alejandro Valverde will be the first to wear the red jersey when the bike race begins in Seville on Aug. 28.

The opener is an evening team time trial, one of only two time trial in this year's race (the other is on Stage 17. The bike race ends in Madrid on Sept. 19 …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/16/route-announced-for-2010-vuelta-a-espana/

Is Armstrong big enough to be Athlete of the Decade?
No, he's No. 2

Associated Press picked golfer Tiger Woods to be its Athlete of the Decade, beating out nine other male and female athletes, including Lance Armstrong.

Woods, whose squeaky clean image has been tarnished ever since he crashed backing out of his driveway last month, was chosen for dominating the world of golf for the past 10 years.

Armstrong finished second in voting by AP member editors. Woods got 56 to Armstrong's 33. And Armstrong finished far behind Woods in the number of late-night talk show jokes written about him.

More than half the ballots were turned in after the Woods crash that launched his sex scandal …..

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/16/is-armstrong-big-enough-to-be-athlete-of-the-decadeno-hes-no-2/

Big jump in Seattle bike commuting the past two years

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Seattle experienced a 15% increase in bike commuting in the past two years, based on a count conducted in September.

Volunteers stationed at 30 locations around the city counted 2,609 bicyclists heading into the core downtown area the morning of Sept. 16.

Many of those commuters were using bike lanes, routes and paths that were created thanks to the city's Bike Master Plan, passed in 2007.

The ongoing improvements in the Bike Master Plan are aimed at tripling the number of people commuting by bicycle by 2017 ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/16/big-jump-in-seattle-bike-commuting-the-past-two-years/

Canada's most prolific bike thief gets 30 months

Toronto's most notorious and prolific bicycle thief pleaded guilty to possessing 10 stolen bicycles and six drug charges on Wednesday, resulting in a 30-month prison sentence.

That guilty plea covers just a few of the 2,200 to 2,900 stolen bicycles that Igor Kenk, 50, had stored away in his bike shop, his home and in 10 garages he rented around the city.

Cooperating with authorities, Kenk allowed the government to confiscate those bicycles as well as a couple of motor vehicles and one of the buildings that housed the bikes.

The courts are considering a grand auction to sell the bicycles, although most aren't in good shape…

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/16/canadas-most-prolific-bike-thief-gets-30-months/

Pick your bike racer quote of the year

Podium Cafe lists a couple of dozen quotes uttered by current and former pro cyclists during the past year and asks for our favorite.

The list has a few Lance Armstrong tweets about Alberto Contador being a “pistolero” and  having “lots to learn.” Jens Voigt and Bradley Wiggins also are well represented.

My favorite, though, comes from Bernard Hinault, the 5-time winner of the Tour de France who commented on the earpiece radios now worn by cyclists to communicate with the team manager:

“I am against them. It is just a 'Game Boy' that has a gigolo attached at the end telling the racer when to take a piss.” …..

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/15/pick-your-bike-racer-quote-of-the-year/

Plans to start 2012 Giro d'Italia in Washington DC

As strange as it may seem, a move is afoot to bring the Giro d'Italia bike race to Washington DC in 2012.

The Giro characteristically has begun the 3-week bike race for a few days in other countries before relocating to Italy for the bulk of the miles.  The Tour de France also will visit adjacent countries during its three-week run.

But never before has one of these races included a TransAtlantic flight as part of the race …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/14/plans-to-start-2012-giro-ditalia-in-washington-dc/

An incentive to ride a bike or dangerous obstruction?


Bruce Friedland

A bicycling buddy saw this beer truck blocking a bike lane while he was visiting in New York recently and sent me the picture, entitling it, “An Incentive to Ride a Bike.”

I'll agree there have been times on a long, hot bike ride that the mirage of a truck carrying ice-cold beers dancing before my eyes would have willed me ahead.

But the photo also records a much more dangerous problem, motor vehicles that force bicyclists into traffic by blocking the bike lanes.

It's a common problem in New York City. The Hunter College of the City University of New York recently set out to see how frequently it happens. Their results:

“During a 10-minute span of time, a New York City cyclist traveling in a bike lane will encounter a vehicle during a stretch of just five or six city blocks more than 60 percent of the time. ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/14/an-incentive-to-ride-a-bike-or-dangerous-obstruction/

A tandem bike ride leads to treatment for Parkinson's

A simple tandem bike ride may have unlocked a treatment for Parkinson's disease, a disorder of the central nervous system that impairs motor skills and speech.

The discovery happened when a biomedical engineer, Jay Alberts, captained a tandem in a 200-mile bike tour of Iowa with a friend who was afflicted with Parkinson's.

At the end of that 2003 bike ride, the tandem's stoker said her hand tremors had stopped at the end of the day.

A couple of years later, Alberts conducted a tandem bicycling experiement with a neurologist who suffered from Parkinson's. Again, his tremors stopped after a 50-mile tandem bike ride …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/12/13/a-tandem-bike-ride-leads-to-treatment-for-parkinsons/