Seattle to Portland set for July 9, 2011

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Cascade Bicycle Club has set the dates for the 2011 Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic at July 9th and 10th.  Registration for the event – which does sell out – will start on January 4th for club members, and sometime in February for non-members.  While not required to ride in the event, club membership can be purchased at various levels starting at $35 per person.

After the amazing time that I had riding the 2010 event, I will definitely plan on being in Seattle for the 2011 start.

Note: Also see the updated date information here.

Looks like Cancellara will stay with Saxo … probably.

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Indications are coming out – as reported by Velonation and others – that Fabian Cancellara will stay with Saxo Bank-Sungard for the final year of his existing contract.  There have been several rumor about Fabian’s possible signing with the new Luxembourg team of Frank and Andy Schleck, or of a move to the Swiss BMC Racing team.

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Casati Photos

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Every now and then a bike catches my eye and I just gotta snap a couple of shots.  Luckily this owner – who was sitting right next to it – was gracious enough to allow me this indulgence.

The photos were taken at the Palo Alto Caltrain stop.  I’ve also added them to the growing Bike Pictures photo archive, which you can find off of the main menu at the top.

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HTC Columbia’s Holmes considering move

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The Danish website TV2 Sporten is reporting that Brian Holmes – currently of HTC Columbia – will move to work with the new Luxembourg based team of Frank and Andy Schleck.  Brian’s contract with HTC Columbia expires at the end of this season.  From the english translation of the original post, Brian Holmes is quoted as saying:

If you had asked me last week, I would have confirmed that I stop on HTC-Columbia. But I said to Brian Nygaard (CEO of Team Luxembourg, ed) that I need a couple extra days to think about me in

The bike that tweets for you

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Technology and bikes seem to go hand in hand a lot.  It was not to long ago that I wrote about the effect of Twitter on the cycling world.  Now, we’ve got a bike that can do the tweeting for you – as well as post ride stats like location, grade and more to a website. Keep reading →

Top Spanish rider absent from top Spanish race

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The Vuelta a Espana (or Tour of Spain) may be slightly lopsided this year.  This year’s Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, who is also the holder of the current UCI #1 world ranking, will not be participating in this year’s Vuelta.  Contador’s contract with current team Astana ends right in the middle of the 3 week race, and Contador has already announced his move from Astana to Saxo Bank-Sungard for the next season.

Also absent from this year’s Veulta is Team Radio Shack.  Bruyneel’s team was denied a wildcard spot in the race – apparently for not being a “good enough team” to compete.

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Cycling to work when work is soccer

Posted by On Filed under Bikes as a lifestyle, Commuting, Member Blogs 3 Comments

Now all of you footballers (aka soccer players) can have a role model to inspire you to join the 15mpd movement!  According to ghanasoccernet.com, Chelsea FC midfielder Michael Essian has decided to make his 10 mile round trip to the training grounds via bike – instead of sporting the Lamborghini.

Shocked Premier League buddies have even nicknamed the £120,000-a-week Ghana midfielder “Lance”, after Tour de France legend Lance Armstrong.

While the rest park up their Bentleys and Porsches, Michael, 27, cuts a cool figure in helmet and wraparound shades as he gets off his £1,300 two-wheeled racer.

— From “Michael Essian goes into cycling“

But watch out Essian!  I just happen to know of another footballer that may just be nipping on your heels – both on the pitch and the bike!

Chloe strips the Fisher frame

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Chloe finally got to get her hands dirty as we stripped off the old running gear from the Fisher mountain bike for our singlespeed build project.  She’s biting at the bit to get her hands on the grinder and knock off the cantilever brake mount points.  I may just have to claim jurisdiction over that operation.

Chloe holding her frameA couple of folks have already asked how I plan on mounting the brakes – especially the rear one.  In truth those details haven’t been totally worked out.  It may require a little custom-bracket making.  I’m giving serious consideration to actually moving the rear brake down to the chain stays instead of the seat stays.  We’ll see…

Single speed project for my daughter

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Just picked up this “gem” at a garage sale for $15:

Fisher on Work Stand

I think we’re going to try and make this into a single speed (non-fixed gear) for my daughter.  She is itching to become “all mechanical” and really get her hands dirty working on a bike.  This particular frame seems like a good candidate because: Keep reading →

Quill stem conversion

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Not too long ago, over on VeloReviews.com, I was casually discussing the possibility of swapping out my forks and quill stem for a threadless set.  My initial intent was to replace my aluminum forks with a carbon fiber set and change the stem type at the same time.  Well, turns out that conversion got expedited when I ripped my stem apart while riding home from work.  With something of a timeline looming over me (this bike is how I get to work) I opted to move forward with the a conversion of the quill stem by using an adapter to allow the use of a threadless stem.  The forks will remain the same.

In the top of this picture you can see the pieces of the original broken quill stem.  On the bottom, the more modern Bontrager stem pieces.  And finally, on the bottom right, you’ll see the adapter that will allow me to mount that Bontrager stem. Keep reading →