To the surprise of no one, former Lance teammates are implicating him in a culture of doping.

To the surprise of no one, Lance’s attorney is trying to cast Armstrong as the victim. But — no surprise here either — Joe Papp is having none of it.

To the surprise of no one, Lance himself continues to stonewall. But when he puts forward syllogisms like, “You can’t prosecute somebody for something they didn’t do — normally,” you have to wonder if he wasn’t just doping but smokin’ something as well. We repeat — fess up, Lance, and we can all move on.

A useful public service from Cozy Beehive, preserving the Floyd Landis — ABC Nightline interview before the links disappear.

And the crackdown continues on the little guys, this time Brit Dan Staite.

“Meanwhile, another respected engineer Jobst Brandt told me that the whole idea of a non-heat absorbing rim is nuts. He saw a collapsed carbon fiber wheel in Italy and did not like the stress problems in the spokes. “I think he is more into the art of the wheels than function in manufacture, building and performance,” he remarked [about Ric Hjertberg]. Yes, carbon fiber’s strength-to-weight ratio is off the chart but I do have to consider Jobst’s comments. How well do people know carbon fiber anyway? The engineers behind the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, built with 50 percent carbon composites, can’t even accurately predict how the structure will behave in the event of a crash. Other experienced engineers remain uneasy in spite of the fancy imagery their computers show them. The material’s true value can be overrated when kept in context with its price.” [Full post here.]

Wheelbuilding guru Ric Hjertberg shows off Mad Fiber's new offering.

Rim failure from overheating is hardly unique to carbon, however. In our callow youth we once blew out an aluminum rim coming down viciously steep Alba Road above Santa Cruz on a 95-degree day.

All that said, we nonetheless were curious about Mad Fiber founder Ric Hjertberg’s response to Jobst’s challenge. (As a side note, these guys know each other well. Back in the day we often ran into Jobst at Ric’s Wheelsmith shop in Palo Alto.)

In an email, Ric offered up his defense. Anyone who knows Ric understands he’s as articulate as they come, so what follows is a minimally edited version of his original email.

First off, Ric makes it clear (and we would second him) that he’s no starry-eyed fiber groupie. “I doubt there’s a perfect bicycle or component design,” he notes. “Certainly, the classic tubular metal diamond with wire wheels, pneumatic tires, and chain drive is a timeless stroke of genius. But it’s a human invention — not a given, like rain.”

What does set Ric and other bike-engineering pioneers (Gary Fisher and Charlie Cunningham are leading examples) apart is their insistence on continuing to innovate. Despite accomplished careers where they reached the pinnacle of their profession, these guys still think there’s work to be done for improving the cycling experience.

As Ric put it, “I recommend we 1) Try and better understand the bicycle’s function, a lofty task, 2) Enjoy and expand our riding, 3) Share the joy of pedaling, and 4) experience the varieties of cycling.”

In other words, no matter how much mileage we have on our tires, let’s keep pinning the fun meter!

To that end, composites bring a whole new aspect to biking. “Cycling’s pioneers attacked the issues of efficiency, weight, durability, aerodynamics, safety, comfort, and beauty with a ferocious determination,” Ric notes. The hallowed names of Colnago and Cinelli and even Schwinn “certainly would have made extensive use of composites, were they available. Reckless, ambitious, challenging? Yes indeed. They pushed the limits in every possible way.”

Variety itself “with bicycles, like art or food, is part of the fun,” Ric says. “Carbon wheels are not ‘better’ than wood or aluminum any more than dirt is better than pavement or ale better than stout. Folks should try stuff out and judge for themselves.” And while “ill-advised uses” of carbon exist in cycling, they’re no different from other materials. Bottom line: “Composites are here to stay.”

Regarding carbon wheels in particular, Ric notes that they are late coming to the carbon-component game, which means they’re still young in their development cycle. “In the early days of suspension forks, there were many obvious shortcomings and skeptics. Carbon wheels will eventually sort it out.”

In terms of brake heat, then? Ric acknowledges that “carbon rims have serious issues with it.” Disc brakes (de rigueur on mountain bikes and getting that way for comfort, commuter and folding bikes) ultimately will solve the issue. “Perhaps the way carbon wheels renewed the popularity of sew ups will also apply to the adoption of disk brakes. Stranger things have happened,” Ric notes.

And what about the ever-colorful, imperiously opinionated Jobst? “His “opinions are always a welcome addition” Ric says, adding that Jobst is a “gifted, out-of-the-box thinker.” It’s important to note, though, that Jobst’s engineering career “predates” the carbon-fiber revolution.

“I doubt he will represent himself as a composites expert,” Ric concludes.

In any case, with dialog being the No. 1 piston for the engine of innovation, Ric says to keep the communication channels open.

“More than ever, we need sage advice on the costs and benefits of high technology,” he notes. While carbon is “not for everyone,” it’s paramount to “keep the conversation going!”

Link: BikeHugger visits the Mad Fiber factory

We love the idea, the concept, the theory, the design, the gestalt and zeitgeist of the Copenhagen wheel. But it’s been months now and we have yet to see anything that looks quite, well, real to us.

Plus there are several things that make us a bit uncomfortable.

First are the flashy ads featuring models who look better suited to the runway than the roadway. You have to love a helmet-less beauty in fashion boots hopping on a Copenhagen wheeled bike for a 60-second “demo” of its wonders. There are times she doesn’t even look like she’s riding the thing, as though it’s a dream sequence from some Lady Gaga video.

It would’ve been nice to at least feature a real rider in the ads. What, DrunkCyclist and BikeShopGirl weren’t available?

You don’t produce hype like this without big money. It reminds us of the buildup to another revolutionary magical device we never quite believed in: the Segway.

Which also, coincidence of coincidences, had support from MIT, where technology investment goes to die. OK, I’m being harsh. It goes there to live it up — bright lights, big city, lotsa ink and press parties … and then fade to marginality.

The video, and Cozy Beehive’s communiques with MIT’s Senseable Lab (a name that also makes us uncomfortable), talk about Phases and Prototypes and Great Things to Come. And I love the goal sets, e.g. a target weight of 3.5 kg (just under 8 lbs.). But there’s more fairy dust here than elbow grease.

One thing in particular I don’t get is the so-called exercise mode. Dude if a cyclist wants exercise on a bike, it’s not going to be the kind where you pedal against a mechanism that is deliberately increasing drag. I’ve hung around a lot of competitive cyclists, even trained with a few, and not a single one has ever tightened his or her brakes to increase drag on the wheels in order to get more “exercise.” It’s just kinda not why we ride.

Then there’s this: “Typically, a flat city commute of 2 km will make a 70 kg cyclist expend 31 Watts of power.”

OK, you lost me at “2 km.” I mean, who commutes slightly more than a mile to work? The whole equation of “8 hours on a single charge” really starts to break down when you tick up the calculator to real-world commutes of 5 or more miles over hilly terrain.

As for the iPhone connectivity, I’m kinda scratching my head. It’s cool enough, I guess (although if you’re really interested in personal energy output, calories and training, why are you riding an electric bike?). But it could go on any bike. It has nothing to do with a battery-assist rear wheel hub.

Now the sensible folks at, uh, Senseable have to keep raising money for more R&D. We understand that. So perhaps they can be forgiven for hype aimed more at Wall Street than Street Smart. The danger comes in over-promising, which winds up cheating an expectant public. A lot of people are genuinely psyched about the Copenhagen Wheel — including many who were psyched about the Segway … and Windows Vista … and electric knives. They don’t deserve another disappointment just to get VCs all warm and fuzzy.

How about a video that candidly discusses the technical challenges here, what needs to happen technologically to make it viable, how long it will take to really do what they’re aiming for, and what real-life application will mean for real-life commuters.

Ron at Cozy Beehive is a mechanical engineer, which I’m not, so I will happily defer to his judgment on specifications and performance when the CW, or something like what is promised as the CW, actually exists. For now we prefer to keep it real. The bullshit detector hasn’t gone off yet, but its needle keeps jiggling every time another glitzy “update” of the Copenhagen Wheel comes within drafting distance.

What’s a “spyclist“?

Mark Cavendish takes a tumble at Tirreno-Adriatico, but somehow sprinters never seem to get hurt.

Sausalito by the Bay is the latest town to consider taxing bicycles, and feel the burn of backlash as a result.

If you bicycle in Florida you have the highest chance of being killed of any state in the union. But that may be true of just about anything you do in Florida. We’ve never been to Florida, but if the novels of Carl Hiaasen are any indication, its infestation of drunken corrupt coke-headed crooks, thieves, liars and politicians might help explain the fatality rate.

In our continuing coverage of continuing series, Cycling Bee‘s latest on Jobst Brandt and Alan Durning’s latest on Juice Hawgs (e-bikes) are up ‘n running.

Kent Peterson covers Trek Demo Day at Duthie Hill.

Good interview with Mark Weir on Muddy Roots … his love of cycling, his burned-down house, his Downieville legendry all explored.

If instead of San Francisco you happen to be in Seattle on Saturday, don’t miss Kidical Mass at Bike Expo. Hope on over to Totcycle and tell ‘em what’s a good time for ya.

Also GoMeansGo and Baron Bicycles will be hosting a Pedal Party starting at 7 p.m. Saturday after Seattle Bike Expo.

You have to root for Jens Voigt in Paris-Nice, if only because many of us thought the guy was finished after his horrific faceplant in last year’s Tour de France. Now word comes he’s thinking of hanging it up after this year’s Tour.

CozyBeehive has another installment in his continuing series of interviews with wheel-building legend Jobst Brandt.

BikeShopGirl’s podcast interview with MTB racing legend Marla Streb is well worth a listen.

I guess if I rode an electric folding bicycle, I’d be going Yike! too…

And the next time you’re complaining about a tough climb or bad roadway or whatever, think of Blind Bobby McMullen, who has a new Web site spreading the inspiration.

Twisted Spoke’s redesign is done and Matt now has his own URL. Looks rad. Too bad TwistedSpoke.com wasn’t available but we all know how that works.

Tomorrow night (Thursday) is Women on Wheels at Gregg’s Greenlake Cycle. Raffles, clinics, talks and presentations — it all gets rolling at 7 p.m. More here.

And just for reference purposes, BonesOverMetal has posted a full (and growing) calendar of “Women of Dirt” showings all over.

Spokespeople will ride from Wallingford to U Village this Saturday starting at 2 p.m. Much of the ride will be on the Burke-Gilman Trail. Ride leaves from south end of Wallingford playfield at Densmore and 42nd. If you haven’t made the acquaintance of Spokespeople yet, these are really great social rides, especially for riders just getting into the Seattle scene or back to cycling in general. More here.

Looking ahead to the following weekend, March 13-14 will mark the return of Seattle Bike Expo, this time to a spanking new location near the Magnolia Bridge (Smith Cove Cruise Terminal 91). Following the smash turnout for the Seattle Bike Swap meet last weekend, the Expo should really rock in its new venue.

And jumping even further ahead, Portland’s first ever Trail Fest will be April 22 to 25. Great idea at just the right time, given the sorry state of Forest Park advocacy.

We’ve often noted that the way to get away with the Perfect Crime is to run over someone and claim you didn’t see him or her. The only catch being that the victim has to be riding a bicycle at the time. There is one exception, though: You can’t be drunk when you do it.

What’s up with The Stranger? We appreciate its shall we say rarefied sense of irony, even when it is misdirected. But to call cyclists “self-satisfied turds,” even if the reference is just to Critical Mass, and to “fantasize about mowing down” any cyclist, even if it happens to be in your way while driving, promotes the kind of stereotype phobia that, with most other prefixes, The Stranger rightly rails against.

Speaking of irony so subtle as to entirely escape detection, BikeSnobNYC explains himself, in his own exasperatingly desultory way, re the case of the mistaken Craigslist ad. [Update: Snob just tweeted that all's cool now.]

More Ultegra chain failures, which means more buzz in the Beehive!

Cups for boyz? Really? So how are you gonna enforce that one?

From one of our veteran correspondents, the lowdown:

HUGE crowd!! Probably the most I’ve ever seen. The economy…nobody can pay list. They changed the direction of the lineup outside pointing the bodies down the sidewalk to the north. By 9:00 it had almost reached the gates to the building where the Expo has been. That’s a freakin long way. It was so packed in there after 30 min or so you could hardly move. As usual my hunter gatherer instincts held me in good stead. Got what I went for; an oversize stem for that sexy 26” handlebar with the gold trim and a new carbon road bar. Both were crispy, brand new. List for the 2 was somewhere in the vicinity of $350.00 and I shelled out $90.00. Was tempted by a few items but held firm.

Chilly Hilly a record-breaker. BikingBis was there. But wha…? No video?? (Update: Michael Snyder at SeattleLikesBikes says he has some coming. In the meantime, check out Garrett Wesley Gibbons’ time lapse.)

Is that 100 their IQ? Cozy Beehive weighs in on the Leadville scamola. Basically what happened was that the folks who lost out in the lottery to enter the Leadville 100 (chance to ride with Lance!) and pay $275 for the privilege got a “SECOND CHANCE”! All they had to do was pony up $1,250 for a training “camp,” and an entry ticket would be theirs for FREE!

Warning to bike promoters everywhere: Bad idea.

Always yield to Bambi. Teen feeling better after hitting a deer while riding a bike. I’ve almost hit deer on mountain bike epics. Doesn’t seem like it would be a whole lot of fun.

SF Gate: Bike camping in the Bay Area. Good piece, bookmark it if you do bike camping. I’d add to the list New Brighton State Park in Santa Cruz. Its bike camp area is close (100 feet) to restrooms and the stairwell down to the beach, with spectacular views off the bluff. Plus it’s nicely segregated from the main campground, which can get a bit noisy and trafficky.

EcoVelo’s server change is complete. Now pedaling isn’t the only thing Alan is doing faster…

Is there someone you’d like to injure and maim in L.A. and get away with it? It’s easy: Make sure they’re riding a bike at the time. Cyclists conducted a protest ride in the City of Angels on Wednesday to highlight the lack of justice in a hit-and-run incident. Driver hit cyclist, got out of car to look, ignored stricken rider’s pleas for help, got in car and drove off. No ticket. No justice. No comprende. But there is hope: The chief of police says things will get better. LA Streetsblog: Yeah right.

On the other hand … Try that kind of crap in Seaside OR and you’re in big trouble.

Congrats to Lou Mazzante, named editor of Mountain Bike magazine. We liked his work for BIKE, the best-written bike magazine around, and trust he’ll bring similar sensibilities to Mountain Bike. We hope this signals, in fact, a greater commitment to Mountain Bike, which has been a kind of weak sister to the somniferous Bicycling since it “absorbed” Mountain Bike a few years back. I didn’t realize Mountain Bike is 25 years old, though. That makes me feel old. Wait a minute, I am old…

Older I bet than this guy. He looks pretty buff too!

SeattleLikesBikes does not like the Burke-Gilman Trail’s “Missing Link.” Take a ride on the pitted side…

Cozy Beehive on the Shimano Ultegra chain failures. See comments queue too. This one needs to be networked: The visual evidence on Cozy is compelling but one would think that, if the problem is widespread, we’d be hearing from a lot of cyclists out there. The Bee says to stay tuned…

Outside Magazine: Ban on mountain bikes in wilderness areas is plain wrong.

We continue to wonder why Lance does not join the BikePure pledge. It would be huge PR for him, and for the organization.

At 35, Michael Rasmussen is on the comeback trail. But tell me how a guy who was never found out, only suspected, in the first place is going to stay clean this time around.