thanks Dean!

via streetsblog

This first video is one way to drive your bike through intersections.  I see these guys occasionally, so very sporty, they seem to think they are Gods of The Road.  Looks scary does’nt it?  Imagine driving your car around this dude when he renegades it in front of you through an intersection.  I think that is bad cycling form.

Here is a saner way of doing things.  Kind of a cheesey video, and they drive backwards, but gives good ideas.   A couple of problems…the narrator says when waiting at an intersection ’position yourself into the middle of the lane’ , this is a great idea, everyone can see you!, but the cyclist in this video does’nt take the advice….he’s too far to the side at this intersection… not only does he heads straight for that red parked car, hes also inviting the traffic behind to try and ’squeeze’ past him because he’s left an opening.  I think he should have waited at the light in the middle of the lane and held that line until the red car is passed.  In the video he does a shoulder check as he moves out of the way of the parked car, good idea, but a little hand signal indicating hes moving into the lane would have been a good idea.  Something most auto drivers respect about this rider is a riders swift take off from a stop and a purposeful pace along the road.  This fella could work on the swiftness & steadiness a bit but he acts like just another legitimate road user trying to get where hes going.      

Both the God of the Road cycling technique and the Driving Your Bicycle technique take plenty of practice. 

Bicycle Safe has alot of good helpful hints.

thanks to Dean who wanted to post this but is off somewhere celebrating! from bikesnotcars blog

Cool quickest flat change video.   

He did’nt search for the source of the flat but we’ll just assume it was something large and easy to find… 

Here are some hints on fitting tight tires onto rims without muscle & tire levers.  I took this from RBR.  Sign up, they’ve got a good weekly newsletters.

You Don’t Need No Stinking Tire Levers!

Here’s a trick that will impress your riding buddies by making you look like a pro mechanic.

It’s removing & reinstalling clincher tires by hand only — no levers. And it’s not just a matter of showing off. No tools means faster flat repairs, a real advantage in winter to avoid cooling down or catching a chill. And hands-only avoids the risk of puncturing the new tube by pinching it with a lever.

You might think you’d need a gorilla grip to R&R a clincher tire without tools. But hand strength isn’t important.

The secret is a simple mechanical principle designed into all clincher tires and rims.

If you look at a rim with the tire and tube removed, you’ll see a channel in its center. This is called the “well” (where the rim strip sits).

The well is the part of the rim with the smallest diameter. That’s the key.

No-hands Technique

A rim’s sides keep the tire on when it’s inflated. So to remove & reinstall a tire, you need to lift its edges over the sides of the rim. This is where the rim well comes in.

The reason most people think levers are necessary is because they work with the tire sitting up on the sides of the rim — where it’s designed not to come off. The sides with their slightly hooked top edge engage the tire so it won’t blow off when inflated.

The trick is to position the tire so both of its bottom edges are in the rim well. Pinch the tire together all the way around as you pull up on a section with your other hand. Now almost the entire tire is in the rim’s smallest diameter and this allows the last stubborn section to be pulled onto the rim for installation or up and over for removal. No levers needed!

3 Tips

—For installation, it’s easiest to mount one side of the tire at a time.

—For removal, be sure to let all the air out of the tube and work as much of the tire as you can into the rim well before lifting it off.

—To make R&R easier, don’t use a tube larger than necessary. Use a 23-mm-wide tube for a 25-mm tire, for example.

It does take a little practice to master the hands-only technique, but it’s mostly a matter of using the rim well. I know that some tires are a tight fit, but I’ve never come across one that couldn’t be removed & reinstalled without levers.

Now that you know the secret, you can do it!

Also, check out Rooster at the Liquor Store!! from Brendans blog.

Ignore the ad at the end.    Thanks to Peter for the link!

I’m posting this at 11 on Wednesday so you’ll have time to get through them before Monday. So many lessons learned!

More Schwinntonation

This is THE brevet…Paris Brest Paris.  Feel the groove

Check out NJ Randonneurs

Rickey Gates rode his bike from race to race!  Beautiful video & song!

Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a spokes column why there are so many more men than women that ride bikes; streetsblog had reactions to that post here: Mind the Gender Gap. Anyhow, I have some ideas about why that is, but in the meantime, here’s a documentary about female bike messengers in the city, Even the Girls.

The Tour de France is coming in a couple weeks.  I dont have cable tv and dont really follow racing much but heres a swell video.

And have you seen Lance’s legs?

The Bicycle Film Festival comes to New York this month, June 17 – 21.

Check out the high high cadence some of the racers have!  And a freestyle jam!