Obey all traffic laws in Denver, Colorado, kids, or this might happen to you! Assault caught on video tape.

John Heaney, 57, was riding his through downtown Denver, Colorado when he was stopped by Michael Cordova for riding his bicycle “recklessly” through an intersection. According to police statements, officers testified under oath that Heaney was wildly combative and started a brawl with the officers. He was charged with assault on a police officer. The charges were dropped when the video surfaced showing a different version of the events.

Salud!

BSNYC saw a brakeless freewheel bicycle on the Manhattan Bridge. The only way to stop these kind of bikes is by pressing your shoe into the tire, or by crashing into something. Here’s a video of DJ Ted Shred in San Francisco showing how it’s done.

Here’s another brakeless freewheel video, this one from Stockholm, Sweden. This guy’s actually pretty smoking with his technique.

All of that skidding just to stop the bike does a number on the bike’s rear tire. Freewheeling bikes like those in the video have essentially an infinite number of “skid patches” (or rather, it’s a continuous skid patch), but fixed gear bikes have a limited number of skid patches that’s determined by your gearing. If you don’t want to use one of the many online skid patch calculators, you can now install a skid patch and gear calculator for your iPhone. The sample display here shows the number of patches for ambidextrous skidders – that means you can skid with either your right or left foot forward which doubles the number of skid patches. I can only skid with my right foot forward.

That iPhone app isn’t necessarily just for fixed gear riders — you input your cog, crank and chainring size to get the gear ratios for your bike gears.

While I’m posting bike videos here, I might as well point you to this cute Dutch woman in tights and a cape getting all vigilante on bike thieves.

Finally, speaking of cute, I kind of like the series of French bicycle cartoons at Bikes In the City. Found via Gwadzilla.

Bon soir! Stay Cyclelicious.

This is such a sweet story!

Fred and Edith White have just celebrated their diamond wedding and say enjoying day trips on a tandem is one of the things that has kept them together.

Their passion for cycling began in 1949 about a year after they got married.

They were living in Morden, Surrey and Fred, 81, said: “We bought the tandem from a neighbour for £25.”

Later family outings included the couple’s children, Brenda and Peter, in a sidecar.

Since buying their second tandem they have clocked up another 2,000 miles but nowadays tandem trips are usually restricted to the local shops.

Occasionally, though, they like to venture further afield with a spin down to Lee-on-the-Solent. They take their frying pan and have breakfast on the beach before returning home with a “bicycle made for two” ringing in their ears.

Read more in the Southern Daily Echo, UK.

The English translation of an editorial in a South Korean news site is a little awkward, but it seems to say that bicycle insurance will be introduced nationwide in South Korea later this year.

I’m a little bit surprised to learn that only three percent of South Koreans ride a bicycle for transportation, though apparently that number is growing as it is in many other nations.

High oil prices are motivating people around the globe to resort to bikes. Jumping on the bandwagon, luxury brand makers such as Chanel and Gucci are churning out high-tech bikes. It is not difficult to find people riding mini velo bicycles in downtown Seoul. Earning the honor of fashion leader is tough unless a person shows up riding a bike in stylish bike wear.

Fewer people in Korea ride bikes than those in advanced countries. Only 16.6 percent of Koreans ride them, compared with 100 percent in the Netherlands and 56.9 percent in Japan. Worse, only three percent of Koreans use a bicycle for transportation, as opposed to 25 percent of Germans and Japanese. In other words, Koreans ride bikes for recreational purposes on the weekends rather than for commuting.

Last year alone, 69 people in Korea died in 1,374 bicycle accidents. The Chinese character for bike indicates a vehicle, while most Koreans read it as a self-propelled riding device. Law books deem it as a vehicle too, subjecting it to many regulations governing vehicles. If a bike gets into an accident with a car on the road, it is most likely to be covered by insurance. When a bicycle hits a pedestrian on the sidewalk, however, the rider is personally held liable. Thus, the rider has to settle the case with his or her money to avoid criminal prosecution. That is why the provincial city of Changwon and bike advocacy groups have urged the introduction of bike insurance.

Read more at DongA.com.

A big welcome to visitors from TreeHugger. TreeHugger reports that Washington DC’s bike sharing program finally opened today after delays, adding to the bike sharing kiosks already in place in places like Louisville, KY and Tulsa, OK.

Kristen Armstrong wins women’s ITT; Fabian Cancellara brings gold home for Switzerland.

Emma Johansson of Sweden launches from the starting gate at the women’s individual time trial race in Beijing. Johannson, who won the silver medal during the women’s road race Sunday, took 21st place during the time trial, pulling in 3 minutes 27 seconds behind gold medalist Kristin Armstrong of the United States.

Team USA Kristin Armstrong bounced back from a disappointing road race for the USA women’s cycling team and took the gold during the women’s individual time trial this morning, beating Emma Pooley (UK) by 24 seconds. Karen Thurig of Switzerland came in a minute behind Armstrong to take the bronze medal.

Christine Thorburn (USA) of Palo Alto pulled in three seconds behind Thurig to get fifth place.

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland took his second medal from Beijing with his time trial gold win. Cancellara brought it home 1 hour 2 minute time in his race against the clock. Gustav Erik Larsson (Ssweden) took the silver medal while American Levi Leipheimer rounded out the podium with his bronze medal. The other member of the USA time trial team, David Zabriskie, placed 12th.

• Cyclingnews: Armstrong claims gold.
• KWC: Armstrong Gold!
• Cyclingnews: Cancellara realises dream with Olympic TT gold.
• KWC: Cancellara: Golden.
• This story of Cancellara’s race to the bronze in the St. Louis Post Dispatch is a good account of what Fabian did for this third place finish on the road race. “It’s one of the most extraordinary individual efforts I’ve seen in more than 30 years covering sports,” writes Dave Luecking. “Folks, Cancellara’s averaged almost 70 kilometers per hour, or in U.S. lingo, about 44 miles per hour, en route to the final kilometer.“
• Much much more at Cyclodro.me.
• And speaking of the Cyclodrome, Ken has added Tour of Utah coverage. The Tour of Utah, a five stage race with over 30,000 feet of climbing over 336 miles, started about 10 minutes ago in Nephi, UT.

Next up: Men’s and Women’s BMX seeding; men’s BMX quarterfinals on Wednesday, August 20.