Washington Post discovers the joys of Seattle’s Colonnade Mountain Bike Skills Park, where they built trails under a freeway.

Colonnade run / Photo courtesy the MudBlog

We’ve said it before and, regrettably, will say it again: If you have to go, mountain biking is the best exit you can pick.

Former president Bush ran the country into the ground and for all his considerable authority did nothing for the sport of mountain biking, but we cannot quarrel with anyone being out on the trails.

A while back we interviewed the legendary Joe Breeze. EcoVelo talked to Joe as well, with a very different and enjoyable take.

Many thanks to Mark Davidson and the great folks at Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz for the new trail head sign at Wilder Ranch State Park, one of Santa Cruz’s prime singletrack retreats.

We were on the road and missed the Tour de Fat rolling through Seattle. Fortunately, BikeJuju was on the case.

Cascade Bicycle Club has issued its endorsements for Seattle’s Aug. 17 primary. It hardly seems possible, thinking back a year ago, that Cascade failed to endorse bike commuter and club supporter Mike McGinn — but hey, it all worked out.

Belated congratulations to Jonathan Maus and BikePortland.org on its fifth anniversary. Note comments queue.

Lance Armstrong is bringing stage racing back to Colorado (remember the Red Zinger Classic? The Coors Classic?) next year with the Quiznos Pro Challenge. Cycling Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, he of broken ribs fame, is 100 percent behind the idea.

Fresh off the best Tour de France showing by a Canadian in more than two decades, Ryder Hesjedal is a rock star in Canada! Everyone’s saying so.

Thoughtful piece from Michael Snyder at SeattleLikesBikes on Seattle’s Bicycle Master Plan. The city already is moving past the plan in many ways, and to the extent that it provides a blueprint for progress, it needs updating.

Our guess is this is the first time the Tour has had two Nor’westerners in the Top 10 this late in the race (if ever), but our crack research department is investigating just to be sure.

Bend OR's Chris Horner

Victoria B.C.'s Ryder Hesjedal

Coincidentally, Horner is Team Radio Shack teammate to two riders who were expected to finish far above him in the rankings — Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer. With neither having the stuff for Tourmalet, and Radio Shack’s team lead in the Tour on the line, Horner had the green light to ride off the front of the pack.

It’s long-overdue respect for Horner, who’s had some bad luck in his career and been left off Armstrong’s team in the past by manager Johan Bruyneel. Horner finished a noteworthy fourth in May’s Tour of California, though, and has always been considered a stronger rider than his role as domestique would allow him to demonstrate.

Horner is also an accomplished writer and blogger, and is doing a daily video diary for VeloNews.

Whether their positioning will carry into Paris on Sunday may be in doubt, given the penultimate time trial on Saturday. But for now, it’s great to see Ryder and Chris putting the upper left corner of the continent on the Grand Tour map.

Twice, in fact, mountain bikers have won the Tour. But you won’t find their names on the roll call of champions.

In 2006 Floyd Landis took the yellow jersey home but was subsequently disqualified for doping. By now you’d have to have spent the past two months in a diving bell not to know that Landis, who for years denied wrongdoing, has come clean and implicated a whole culture of deception in pro cycling.

The following year an mtber also came close, when Dane Michael Rasmussen had the title wrapped up but was forced off his Team Rabobank due to failure to report his whereabouts in training.

Given the allegations swirling around the sport today, you have to wonder if the Nos. 2 in both cases, Spaniards Oscar Pereiro and Alberto Contador, were any cleaner than the disqualified winners.

You don’t have to wonder about the mountain biking champion leading this year’s Tour, however. Aussie Evans, riding for Team BMC Racing, has made it clear from the start that he doesn’t dope. No one has ever questioned Evans on the point either — and his bad luck and perennial bridesmaid status (which may finally be changing, as he’s also the reigning World Champion road king) has never given reason to doubt him.

The other ex-mtb contender this year is Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, whom we’ve followed since his junior ranks due to his close proximity to our Seattle home base (Ryder grew up on Vancouver Island). Lanky and muscular, Hesjedal does not fit the rail-thin physical profile of a typical Tour winner. But he’s sitting at 6th and most Tour watchers give him at least a shot at a podium finish.

Cadel in yellow, Ryder No. 2? Unlikely. But their presence alone cements our longstanding observation that mountain bikers are better overall athletes than road racers. So far there’s never been a roadie who has transitioned from Grand Tour competition to world-class mountain biking, and that includes Lance. [Note: An exception to the rule comes to mind: Three-time national NORBA champion Jacquie Phelan. The parallels aren't as easy to draw on the women's side, but we have little doubt Jacquie — who beat the majority of male riders she raced against — would've rainbow-jerseyed in both disciplines had Tour and World Cup equivalents existed for women during her prime.]

In any case, it’s great that mountain biking fans have riders to root for in the Tour.

Thor Hushovd, the God of Thunder, took the stage win in a battered sprint, and Fabian Cancellara reclaimed the yellow jersey with a pounding out of the final kilometers of cobblestones mixed with pavement.

But the day will be remembered most for innumerable bike breakdowns and crashes, including one that left last year’s No. 5, Frank Schleck, writhing on the ground holding his head in pain and apparently a question-mark for continuing. [UPDATE: Schleck withdrew with a broken collarbone.] We wish him the best. And Tyler Farrar as well, who despite a broken wrist continued through today’s punishing stage in hopes of healing on the bike and eventually challenging in sprint stages.

Frank’s brother Andy, a pre-Tour favorite, hooked up with teammate Cancellara, a cobblestone specialist, to provide the day’s drama as Saxo Bank vied for the win.

You have to applaud Ryder Hesjedal as well, the big Canadian who, as a former mountain biker, knows how to handle the cobbles. Ryder (who also possesses the best first name in cycling) did a thrilling breakaway over the cobblestones to put pressure on the peloton and show how a breakaway is done.

Best line of the day: Commentator Paul Sherwen, on Fabian Cancellara’s magnificent pull toward the end: “Let’s hope he has plenty of AAA batteries in his pack for this one!” A puckish reference to the ludicrous controversy over “bike doping” by Cancellara (running a battery-powered motor in his bottom bracket).

Full VeloNews coverage here.

Early notice for the Spoke and Food Event in Ballard on June 29. Anything having to do with food in Ballard is an instant huge draw, so get there early for the good stuff!

How good an investment is cycling? Every dollar spent brings back three in social and health benefits, according to a British study.

Last year’s winner says this year’s Tour de France will be decided in the Pyrenees. Make that, Alberto Contador says he will win this year’s Tour in the Pyrenees.

Another reason why Rule No. 1 when you get hit by a car is to stay alive: Hit-and-run in North Carolina car-bike incident results in driver’s arrest when struck cyclists live to track the driver down.

Lands managers typically restrict or ban mountain biking on grounds of liability. In most cases it’s a red herring, which is why this particular verdict is getting so much attention: Woman hits steel gate, gets $2.9 million jury award. The problem with crying foul over a case like this is that most times you want to root for the little guy — prime case in point, the Louisiana folks whose jobs have gone away due to the massive Gulf oil leak.

Good interview with the icon himself, Gary Fisher.

As in the case of Seattle’s mayor, cyclists can decide an election in Davis CA.

Is Chilcotin access in trouble? The area northeast of Whistler in B.C. is a summertime jewel for mountain bikers. Now comes word that a primary access road may be cut off.

The man with the best name in cycling, Ryder Hesjedal, gives back to the community.

Is mountain biking in Santa Barbara endangered?

We love this idea: A bike rack for full-suspension rigs! Does it work? We’ll have to wait for the reviews.

Washington’s “Vulnerable User” legislation is already further along than a similar bill made it last year.

Jonathan Maus at BikePortland.org raises the question of why a local newspaper seems deliberately provocative (one might say antagonistic) on the issue of the city’s 2030 Bicycle Plan:

“Instead of helping to foster civil public discourse about a very important plan for our city’s future, I’m afraid this story will only serve to intensify the “bicyclist” versus “motorist” sensationalism that The Oregonian has admitted to “overplaying” in the past.”

As newspapers (the ones that survive) continue to focus on their natural constituency, that being local communities, our hope is that they’ll show more sensitivity and receptiveness to the bicycling community in the transportation matrix. The perplexing irony in this case is that The Oregonian has on staff one of the nation’s experts on just this subject — Jeff Mapes, author of “Pedaling Revolution.” Maybe he could persuade an editor or two at his newspaper to read his book?!

For your good deed of the day — heck, the whole weekend — take the Bicycle Leadership Conference survey.

We like Ryder Hesjedal for two reasons: First, his mountain bike heritage. Second, his first name. Keep an eye on him in the 2010 season.

Have a great weekend! Hopefully the weather will let you Get out ‘n RIDE!