Imagine rolling along on your bike for a leisurely country ride and suddenly being thrust into the finish line of a major bike race.
That's the stunt set up by Frenchman Remi Gallard in this video at left. It looks like something Alan Funt might have done for Candid Camera; others compare Gallard's work to Johnny Knoxville.
In any case, these cyclists seem to take the interruption pretty good-naturedly. I mean, how can you not laugh at a guy running alongside you in his underwear? …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/11/04/french-video-catches-cyclists-off-guard/
This has to be one of the most difficult one-day organized bike tours for weekend warrior bicyclists in 2010.
The l’Étape du Tour departs from Pau, France, on July 18 and follows the same route the pros will take later in the week over two mountain passes with a finish atop the Col du Tourmalet.
Presesented for the 18th year by Tour de France organizers, the ride allows the rest of the bicycling population to endure the gut-wrenching climbs and dizzying heights that the pros experience.
This year's ride is the same as Stage 17, a 108-mile jaunt the pro cyclists will tackle on July 22; one of six mountain stages of the 2010 Tour de France…
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/11/03/challenging-bike-ride-for-tour-de-france-fans-in-2010/
The scales of justice tipped in favor of bicyclists in a Los Angeles County courtroom on Monday.
A jury convicted an LA-area emergency room doctor with a handful of felony counts for slamming on his brakes in front of a pair of cyclists on a hilly road in 2008. His actions sent one bicyclist into the rear window of the doctor's car and another one sprawling to an adjacent sidewalk. Both suffered serious injuries.
The judge ordered Dr. Christopher Thompson held without bail until sentencing.
The doctor was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, reckless driving causing specified bodily injury, battery with serious bodily injury and mayhem. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/11/03/jury-convicts-la-doctor-in-road-rage-vs-cyclists-case/
My son gained two strong opinions at college about combination U-locks for bicycles: They're great when they work, but a real pain when they malfunction.
When he went off to college for the first time this fall, he took a brand-new Kryptonite combination U-lock with him. He didn't want to risk losing his bike, and he'd heard — from me — that cable locks are easily compromised.
His first problem arose when he was riding across campus and his U-lock fell to the ground off the handlebar. A button that opens the lock broke off and disappeared into the grass.
While a replacement was in the mail, he and his friend used a MasterLock combination U-lock to attach their bikes to a rack at a nearby mall on a Friday. When they returned, the button that releases the lock jammed, and they could not get it open …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/11/02/u-lock-101-liberating-bicycles-from-jammed-bike-locks/
The Velib bike-sharing program in Paris has caught the attention of many urban transportation planners in the US. Let's hope they don't lose their nerve when they learn about the wanton and wholesale destruction of that Parisian bicycle fleet.
Nearly 8,000 of the Velib bikes, costing $3,500 apiece, have been stolen. Another 8,000 have been damaged to such an extent that they're unusable. That's 80% of the original 20,000 bikes the French put on the streets.
Still, according to a New York Times article, the bike-sharing program is considered a success as 50,000 to 150,000 trips are logged on the bikes everyday. This as 1,500 bikes are repaired a day, some in a workshop that floats up and down the Seine.
Without the commitment of the JCDecaux outdoor advertising agency and the Paris city government …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/11/02/all-is-not-rosy-in-bike-sharing-paradise/
A former church pastor from Washington will be heading to prison soon to serve his sentence stemming from the 2003 death of a college coed who was riding with a friend along the roadside.
Randall Foos maintained in court that he didn't see the bicyclist, Sara Casey, because the sun was in his eyes. The prosecution maintained Foos had been diagnosed with three eye diseases that hampered his eyesight in the year before the crash.
The Tacoma News Tribune quoted the victim's mother:
“Our goal all along has been to raise awareness that people with severe medical impairments need to be held accountable when they choose to drive and put others at risk ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/11/02/pastor-headed-to-prison-for-2003-bicyclist-fatality/
“I don't think it's a possibility next year, or ever, for that matter. … I can't foresee what the politics in cycling will possibly lead to but the organisations in control are not working well together. There are people caught in the crossfire and I happen to be one of them, so I don't know if the opportunity will come up again. I would like to. But it's very sensitive.
“I would need a team to invite me and they would have to be willing to take the risk that they wouldn't be used as some sort of… The UCI and Tour de France don't get on well at the moment and they like to use whatever they can, whatever pawns are in the middle, to try to make a point. Most teams are afraid of giving them any reason to make them the pawn.”
— Floyd Landis, the disgraced 2006 Tour de France champion discussing his chances of returning to race the Tour de France …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/11/01/bike-quote-floyd-landiss-chances-of-returning-to-tour-de-france/
Olympic and two-time world gold medalist Kristin Armstrong is preparing for life after pro cycling.
The 36-year-old from Boise, Idaho, carried out her planned retirement after winning a gold medal in the time trial event at the World Championships in Switzerland in September. That honor went right up on the shelf beside her World gold in 2006 and the Olympic gold in the time trial in 2008.
Now she's working with a speaking coach to possibly launch a career as a motivational speaker and TV cycling commentator. Quoted by the AP:
“If a woman can commentate in the NFL, why can’t a woman commentate for the Tour de France? I have the medals. Now I have to make that happen. ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/31/commentating-career-for-gold-medal-cyclist-kristin-armstrong/
If you're planning a bike vacation to Oregon, you'll certainly want to include a stop at the Oregon Tourism Commission's Ride Oregon website.
I just stumbled across this resource recently and was amazed at the amount of bicycling information that's packed into the website.
There are some pretty pictures displayed on this big budget website, but there is also lots of solid, up-to-date information about bike travel in the state.
That's no wonder, when you see the steering committee and the contributors, which includes Jonathan Maus of BikePortland.org, Scott Bricker at Bicycle Transportation Alliance and the staff at Cycle Oregon …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/30/visit-ride-oregon-website-to-plan-bike-vacation/
The 2010 LiveStrong Challenge fund-raising campaign is returning to Seattle, San Jose, Philadelphia and Austin — the same cities that hosted the events in 2009.
Because the current dire economic conditions that exist now may extend into next year, LiveStrong opted to put all expansion plans — which may include charity bike rides outside the US — on hold until 2011.
And no, don't expect to see Lance Armstrong at these events in 2010, organizers say. He'll be too busy training for the pro cycling season as he attempts an eighth career Tour de France win as the helm of his newly formed Team RadioShack.
Dates for the upcoming LiveStrong Challenges are ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/10/29/2010-livestrong-challenge-bike-rides-will-return-to-2009-cities/
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