Bicycle stuff first of all.

• One of my co-workers, Jeff, bought a brand new bike — a carbon fiber Giant TCR Advanced. We chatted for a while, and then he pulled ahead and I managed to hang on to his wheel for approximately six inches and then he zoomed away from me like Superman off to bring Lois Lane from the dead. He was *gone*. Then I read today’s Yehuda Moon and I could relate. What’s especially embarrassing: Jeff doesn’t ride in the winter. I grow old, I grow old. (I shall wear my trousers rolled…)
• I finally tried on some Chrome pants. They are *wonderful*. Self portrait here and a fuller review later.

Now, if you’ll indulge me, I’ve got to talk about work. First there’s this, and now this announcement from VMWorld Europe. I was expecting the VMware announcement on Monday and almost let the news leak out before that.

“Virtualization software bringup” is what I do at work, so that announcement is good news to me personally and professionally. The project I’m working on right now is top secret, but I can tell it that it’s so amazingly futuristic and cool I can’t believe I’m allowed to touch this stuff, let alone involved in the design of it.

Back to random bike stuff:

• Let Alberto Ride (following Bike Snob’s lead).
• Sierra Club magazine features bicycles. And a different kind of bike rack instruction video.
• Bike messengers a dying breed. Via.
• My kind of bike shop: “At this shop, we want to invite, not intimidate the beginner; listen, not preach to the curious; and salute, not marginalize the commuter.”
• Reciprocal link love: Lisa drools and some Belgium dude.

Meet Yehuda Moon at the Kickstand Cyclery. (Click on the image to go large.)

Cartoonist Rick Smith is a cyclist who lives and bike commutes in the Cleveland, Ohio area. He commutes 24 miles a day back and forth to work on the Dutch Azor Mechanic’s Series 108 bicycle. Rick has been commuting by bike to work or school since 1986.

Rick pokes gentle fun at Rivendell, facilities as effective cycling promotion, bike snobs, and winter cyclists in his strip that every long time bike commuter can relate to. I’ve added his strip to my RSS feed and I’m looking forward to some more good bike humor from him. See more at Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery.

I didn’t run into Dorky Doug today, though I led BionX Boy and Java Man in to work at a nice 24 mph pace. I’m loving this week’s Bay Area weather, and it looks like every other bike commuter is also. Caltrain was packed and it’s only February. If you plan to bring your bike on Caltrain, consider getting a folding bike.

Let’s catch up on the news I’ve neglected touring the Tour of California…

Jim G’s encounter with a Hot Tri Babe on a carbon racing bike with aero bars.

Summer on her tri bike. Photo by Me.

15 year old Austin Miller was run over by a bus and killed two weeks ago as he rode his bike. Last year, young Austin wrote “please don’t run me over” for his school newspaper. Via.

We had an oil spill in San Francisco Bay last year. People were rightly concerned about the effect of the spill on wildlife and habitat as well as the beaches. But if that stuff wasn’t in the water, we would have been breathing it instead. “The distribution of airborne PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) really mirrors what is in oil and its refined products. So in essence we are breathing aerosolised oil spill in our big cities.“

Also from Streetsblog: Are the big environmental groups now ready to reduce how much America drives?

Video: Levi’s Tour of California bike.

More AToC: Tour of California good for bike retailers. “Teams were in our shop looking for rain jackets,” said Adam Galuszka of Palo Alto Bicycles. “We were selling lots of winter goodies for the teams.”

Kona to donate 1000 AfricaBikes.

Cool looking pedal powered snowplow.

I haven’t decided yet if this is silly or clever: home made windproof toes for cycling shoes made from old inner tubes. I always just use sandwich baggies.

Ecorazzi: Indepedent Spirit Awards powered by bike.

Bike Love: bikes made of yarn. Mentioned by Gwadz.

I guess I’ll jump on the bandwagon and also mention the Google Maps Bike There petition.

DNA on coffee cup ID’s serial bike thief, a respected physician and bike racer who apparently couldn’t control himself around high end bikes. There’s a sad ending to the tale.

This needs more attention, probably.

Sacramento celebrates bicycling.

Pothole Haiku.

A good year for the Pigeon.

Another good post from Bike Diaries: our bill of rights.

Winter cycling in the news. And welcome back to blogging, Tonya!

Get your 650B stickers.

Off Topic interesting: A visit to North Korea in disguise. “It is difficult for journalists and professional photographers to gain a visa to North Korea. Because the Internet is not available in North Korea, when I applied for a visa as the vice president of the International Society of Olympic Historians (which I am), no one seemed to notice the other side of my career. There were seven other people on our tour, all of whom turned out to be, like me, journalists or photographers in disguise.”

Some people see a resemblance between Rock Racing owner Michael Ball and North Korea dictator Kim Jung Il.

Off Topic irony: Memory testing cards recalled due to lead, which causes memory problems.

A controversial photograph circulating on the Internet shows a young Barack Obama riding a tricycle, a childish form of human powered transportation.

The photo, reportedly circulated by “Clinton staffers” according to an anonymous email, portrays Obama wearing scandulously short shorts and riding a child’s toy. His caretakers obviously also show an astonishing lack of concern for the child by failing to outfit him with a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe immediately accused Clinton’s campaign of “the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election.”

Obama’s foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, said the circulation of the photograph was divisive and suggests “that the customs and cultures of those who choose to use alternative modes of transportation are worthy of ridicule or condemnation.”

“Enough,” said Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams. “If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him on a tricycle is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton rode a bike, once, as a child in Illinois when the family chauffeur called in sick.” Clinton’s husband, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, first rode a bicycle when he was 22 years old.

In December, two Clinton Iowa volunteers resigned after forwarding a hoax e-mail that falsely said Obama is car-free and participates in Critical Mass bicycle rides in Chicago. Obama recently traded his Chrysler 300C Thugmobile in for a more Democratic voter friendly Ford Escape Hybrid.

And in case you missed it earlier, Barack Obama is your new bicycle, FWIW.