Mike Bikes! to press conference

You have to love this: Newly elected Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn riding his bike to a press conference. Thanks to BikeHugger for the pix. When we wondered last August whether Seattle could get a mayor “who actually rides,” we were expressing more hope than expectation. Now it’s breakthrough reality. Images like this do wonders to advance the cause. Our full mayoral-bike thread here.

Toll avoidance maneuver: “Bicycle enthusiasts and certain tourists who use the Ohio Turnpike are paying up to 75 percent more in tolls thanks to a change in vehicle classification that took effect toward the end of last year.” As I tweeted to BikingBis, here’s the drill: “Arrive toll booth, get out of car, get bike down, ride past toll booth, back to car, drive thru, put bike back on rack, drive on.”

Pedal Pusher Club's Bicycle Safe Vehicle

The Freeride Revolution continues apace. Up on Galbraith Mountain, not content with the region’s bestination (south of the border), they’re taking Galby to new heights with work on Luge, Upper Mullet and other hot spots. Thanks to WHIMPS, EB, Fanatik Bikes and everyone for giving us a 2010 season to top them all!

Kudos to Cascade Bicycle Club in Seattle for birddogging the bikes-on-bus at any stop in downtown free ride area.

Downieville Classic will be July 9 through 11. Note the reference to “mental hardship”…there was talk of abandoning Downieville because of hassles from locals and the Forest Service. Sounds like nerves are still a bit frayed but at least The Big Dawg is on!!

Momentum: New Bicycle Safe Stickers from Pedal Pushers Club now available!

Fat Cyclist continues to live the dream!

RC reviews the new Stan’s ZTR Crest wheelset and Raven tires… perceptive comments as always.

Bernie Hoffacker, founder of Palo Alto Bicycles and an industry icon, died December 5 at Stanford Hospital. Back in the day, Palo Alto Bicycles and Ric and Jon Hjertberg’s Wheelsmith a couple blocks away made Palo Alto one of the coolest places on earth. Palo Alto Bicycles had the classiest mail order catalog anywhere, helping to fuel the bike boom of the ’70s, and its posters of Tour legends and local wheel-building icon Jobst Brandt riding the Swiss Alps still hang in my basement.

It was during the Tour when PA Bikes became a real gathering place. You have to remember, there was no TV coverage or even mention of the Tour. Newspapers ran nothing, not even results.

So every afternoon we’d gather at Palo Alto Bicycles (or Wheelsmith) for results, usually posted on a small piece of paper tacked to a bulletin board or wall. And then we’d debate about who was going to win and fantasize what it would be like to be following the peloton through the mountains.

We never thought we’d get live coverage of the Tour each day, or be able to chatter on our keyboards via the Internet. We were happy just for the stage winners and Top 10 overalls. Thanks to Palo Alto Bicycles for feeding the mind, inspiring the soul and supplying the kit over the years. Twitter tributes here.

New editor at Momentum magazine. The redoubtable Amy Walker will step aside to focus on creative direction, while the former Web editor, Sarah Ripplinger, takes over the helm. Whatever the challenges of print publishing these days, Momentum’s a great group and has a good bead on bike culture. We wish them well for 2010.