Fluidride Cup, No. 3, courtesy of PinkBike. Cool vid by Andy Tran.

BC Bike Race, Day 2, courtesy of Bike magazine.

Bicycles and Icicles: Cool blog this time of year. Downright cold the rest of the year.

Mountain Biking 198 conducted a poll on your next bike’s chances of being a 29er. Here are the results. I have a feeling they’re skewed. With all the mountain biking I do, I see nowhere near a third being 29ers. The only time I see a 29er at all is strictly XC riding, and flat at that. They don’t do so well on the steep tight switchbacks, and they ain’t much on jumps and drops either. They’re fine for certain riders (esp. tall ones) and certain applications, but they’re like the frame equivalent of going tubeless. They’ll stay on the margins, more power to ‘em.

I almost got a Knolly Delirium T, but it’s a bit of a tank and it cost way too much. Now Knolly has marked ‘em down, by as much as $1k they say, so if you’ve been waiting, check it out. The name makes my Top 10 of all time btw.

The Marin place to be later this month is its annual Mountain Bike Film Festival & Party (Blowout!!!) on Sunday, May 17, in San Rafael. This is an incredible scene, with lots of local icons a la Joe Breeze and Gary Fisher often present, helping to benefit a number of local worthy organizations. The main presentation this year won’t disappoint: “Freedom Riders,” which premiered at Sea Otter (and we reviewed).

Florida and California led the nation in bicycle fatalities in 2007, according to this study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Washington State is pretty middle-of-the-pack with just 14 deaths, although its percent of total, 2.5, is higher than average. If you want to improve your odds, move to North Dakota, Vermont, Delaware or Wyoming. No bicycle fatalities in those states.

Bike deaths by state

Finally, we leave you with an inspirational image from Elle Macpherson…