Congrats to Cam Zink, an old guy (24!) with a lot of metal in his body, who pulled off the first-ever “Slopestyle Slam” by winning (the return of) the Red Bull Rampage after taking home gold at the Kokanee Crankworx in Whistler in August. Zink also won Red Bull’s best trick comp. This is the equivalent to baseball’s Triple Crown and tennis’ Grand Slam, winning the top titles in the same season. Zink won Rampage with a 360 off the monster ramp. The drop itself was intimidating, but pulling a 360 (full rotation) at that height requires precision timing and contact control. Interestingly, the progenitor of the Big Drop 360, Darren Berrecloth, finished third despite a trick 3 of his own.

Cam Zink on podium. (Courtesy Red Bull Rampage)

Full results.

PinkBike has nice highlights video.

Cameron Zink 2010 Crankworx Champion from Taylor Sage on Vimeo.

We doubt we’d get much argument that Zink’s ride doesn’t really hold a candle to last year’s winner Greg Watts, who pulled off a double flip whip, or even Brandon Semenuk’s runner-up rides.

By the same token, most of the riders who pushed it this year saw their day ended in crashes.

A possible partial solution: If you weight points on tricks attempted, even if they fail, Slopestyle judging might prove a bit more exciting and the results a lot closer. Both competitors and fans would benefit from that.

In San Francisco we used to call bike lanes “double-park lanes.” Cars used them almost as much as bikes. That’s pretty much true everywhere. But Brookline MA has decided to try to put an end to it with a $50 fine. As they say in S.F., which has a $100 fine against bike-lane parking, Good luck with that!

In Los Angeles, where they don’t even have bike lanes, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa held a first-ever bike summit after he was knocked off his bike and required 8 screws to patch together his right elbow. Good idea. LA cyclists were all over the mayor.

A New Hampshire guy wants to set the world hour record for a wheelie. Guess how far he plans to ride on that back wheel in an hour, then click here to see if you’re in the ballpark.

The story behind Floyd Landis’ $5 bike.

The story behind Precious, the fundraising cross-country bike with real-time Web connectivity.

Whistler Crankworx’s impact on the B.C. economy: More than 100,000 visitors, $10 million. Most notably, mountain biking at Whistler has eclipsed that other extreme Canadian sport, golf.

Meanwhile, Oakridge OR is banking on mountain biking for its own local stimulus package.

Early heads up: S.F. Bike Expo, one of our favorites, is returning to the Cow Palace Saturday, November 6th.

Congrats to Sheila Moon and her clothing line, moving from Oakland to Emeryville (IKEA-land) with a third more square footage. New address: 5900 Hollis Street, Unit T2. Check it out!

Good news from Crankworx Colorado was that Seattle homey Jill Kintner took top honors in the Dual Slalom and the Downhill. At Whistler, however, Jill got off to an uncharacteristic start, taking “only” 3rd in the opening-day Dual Slalom. On her blog she complains of being “off my game,” but watch for her in the other Whistler events!

Intriguing story from Cyclelicious on military funding of blood doping research. Well worth a read.

Normally a time trial, where lots of riders are on the road at the same time and it’s obvious an event is under way, is the last place you’d expect a car to strike and kill a cyclist. But when it comes to cars and bike, expectations count for very little.

BikeJuju wants to know: Why are you here?

VeloNews interviews Johan Bruyneel on Team Radio Shack’s Tour de France and outllook. Two questions we wished they had asked: Does he think doping allegations had anything to do with being dis-invited from the Tour of Spain, and without Lance, what are his expectations for next year’s Tour?