Don't bike without a tail light
Follow Ups To Previous Posts (by the numbers)
By spokesman | December 2, 2011
6 Years Late - It was announced this week that one of two current appeals related to Jan Ullrich’s involvement in the Operation Puerto investigation will be ruled on in six weeks. I hope the pending case on Contador is resolved more quickly. The outcome of the Ullrich case could result in a life time ban for him - which would be meaningless since he has been retired for 6 years. Here is a link to a previous post entitled “Et Tu Ullrich“ with a great Adidas ad featuring Ullrich in his prime.
18 Miles of Highway and 10 Miles of Bike Path - The Intercounty Connector (ICC) highway in Maryland opened officially this past month. It will be free until Dec 4, and then it will become one of the most expensive toll roads in the nation. Even with the high toll and the $2.5 billion construction cost, they still could not complete a bike path for the entire length of the road as explained in a previous post - An Absurd Ending To The ICC Bike Path.
2nd Attempt - When the Velovoom Spinning Studio opened in January 2011 in Bethesda, I posted that it would go bankrupt. While I don’t like to see a small business go under, I was right. Only 2 months after the grand opening, they closed. Now, they are trying again. It re-opened in October at the same location with a different name - ZenGo. With the same pricing and the same business model, isn’t the same outcome inevitable?
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Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
The Supercommittee Bike Ride
By spokesman | November 15, 2011
The Congressional Supercommittee is working on a budget deal as their deadline is approaching. The website Politico reported that several of the committee members have been biking together.
“SUPERCOMMITTEE BACKCHANNNEL: SPOTTED, on an hours-long bike ride along the Potomac on Saturday: Supercommittee members Sens. Rob Portman (R) and John Kerry (D), accompanied by … wait for it … Sen. Mark Warner (D), ringleader of the “Gang of Six.” All three are supercompetitive bikers, and gave no grace to each other during the ride.–IF THE SUPERCOMMITTEE GETS A DEAL, this off-campus, cross-party dynamic will be part of the reason. And Mark Warner will get a hat tip. “
Usually golf is the sport of choice for negotiating deals. It is nice to see biking instead of golf. I don’t have any information on the bikes, but Kerry has been seen on one of his custom-made Serotta bikes. (See google image search for “John Kerry Serotta”). If the supercommittee produces a good deal with help from Senator Warner, I may be willing to forgive Mark Warner for the dead fish handshake he gave me when we met in 2008.
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Topics: Bikes and Politics | No Comments »
Steve Jobs’ Bicycle
By spokesman | October 30, 2011
Mona Simpson, a novelist and professor of English at the University of California Los Angeles, was Steve Jobs’ sister. She delivered this eulogy for her brother on October 16. It was a beautiful and moving eulogy. There is one quote of interest to cyclists. Steve Jobs live well below his means. He was an extremely wealthy man but didn’t live excessively. It was important to him that his children were well grounded and not spoiled by the wealth. However it seems that there was one area where he did splurge - on his bicycle. In the eulogy, his sister said
“This is not to say that he didn’t enjoy his success: he enjoyed his success a lot, just minus a few zeros. He told me how much he loved going to the Palo Alto bike store and gleefully realizing he could afford to buy the best bike there.
And he did.”
I don’t know what bike he bought, but I like that this was the area where he decided to splurge. I only wish he had chosen to design a bike rather than buying one. The results might have been very interesting.
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Topics: Bicycle Culture | No Comments »
Congress Unanimously Supports Bicycling
By spokesman | October 19, 2011
In these days of extreme partisanship, it is rare to see a bill that unanimously passes both the House Of Representatives and the Senate. It is even more amazing when it has something to do with bicycling. Bicyclists seem to be hated. In just the past 2 days I have seen several stories on hit and run accidents where bicyclists were hit by cars including this one in Washington D.C. , this one in Tampa, this one in New York, and this one in Oregon.
However Congress has just done something good for cyclists. The Ski Area Recreational Opportunity Enhancement Act was passed unanimously by the Senate on Tuesday night and the House Of Representatives approved the bill by a vote of 394 to 0 two weeks ago. Although the bill’s title sounds like it doesn’t have anything to do with cycling, it can be a boom to bicyclists, especially mountain bikers. The bill will make it easier for ski resorts on federal land in 13 states to receive permits for activities other than skiing. Non-winter activities including concerts, biking, zip lines and Frisbee golf would be allowed under the law. Activities such as swimming pools, golf courses and amusement parks would be prohibited. Many ski resorts on private land have supported non-winter activities to improve their business and generate more revenue in the summer. Mountain biking and road biking at these resorts have become very important. In fact for many of the ski resorts in the east where snow has been inconsistent, biking has kept some of these resorts in business. For example, Massanutten in West Virginia has a tag line that they are a “Four Season Resort”. Similarly, Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort describes the resort as “the perfect year round destination for adventure filled vacations” and hosts the annual 24 Hours Of Snowshoe mountain bike race. Wisp, a ski and golf resort in western Maryland, hosts mountain biking events, road biking events and triathlons. Now, as a result of this new law, ski resorts on Federal land can operate like their commercial competitors and bicyclists will be the beneficiaries.
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Topics: Bikes and Politics | No Comments »
Bad Weather Bike Commuting
By spokesman | October 4, 2011
I have a friend in Chicago who regularly commutes to work on his bicycle. Needless to say, he has ridden through some pretty harsh weather. He sent me the following video that was shot last week. Waves from Lake Michigan are seen breaking on the lakefront path and washing out runners and cyclists. He isn’t one of the cyclists in the video but he had ridden that portion of the path shortly before the video was shot. Here is the link to the video. After my hearing my friend’s commuting stories and watch the video, my excuses for not bike commuting to work seem pretty wimpy.
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Topics: Bike Commuting | 2 Comments »