Jefferson, MO — Event organizers announced yesterday the host cities and overall course for the 2009 Tour of Missouri yesterday.

The following cities will play host to a leg of the Tour: St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, Farmington, Rolla, St. James, Jefferson City, Sedalia, Chillicothe, St. Joseph, and Kansas City.

“We had a record amount of cities inquire about the Tour of Missouri,” said Lt. Governor Kinder. “It is a testament to the success of the race. We faced a very difficult process of eliminating some great cities. Our commitment, however, is to continue to route the course to all areas of the state. This year, for the first time, we will visit the southeast part of Missouri while spending a longer time north of Interstate 70. In addition, we will be able to highlight some of the agricultural regions.”

The overall course will take on a very different slant in 2009. For the first time, the race will route east to west, starting in St. Louis and finishing in Kansas City. The past two years, the race routed west to east starting in Kansas City to finish in St. Louis. Stage by stage courses will be announced at a later date.

“In keeping with tradition, we will change the course from year to year to keep it fresh,” said Chris Aronhalt, the managing partner of event organizers Medalist Sports of the Atlanta area. “There will be new drama on the race route and we expect a few more hills. Overall, we have some great and very excited host cities.”

The race will be contested over seven days and seven stages. There will be two circuit races (St. Louis, Kansas City), one individual time trial (Sedalia), and four point to point road races (Ste. Genevieve to Cape Girardeau; Farmington to Rolla; St. James to Jefferson City; Chillicothe to St. Joseph).

“I like what they’ve done,” said 2008 Tour of Missouri champion Christian Vande Velde, an American who also finished fourth overall at last years Tour de France. “Its a totally different race course and it looks like theyve added some challenging terrain. Last years race was very fast and tougher than it looked on paper. I look forward to coming back with my Garmin teammates to defend my title.”

Added Team Columbias Mark Cavendish of Britain, who won three stages of the 2008 Tour of Missouri: “Last years race was very well organized and promoted. I really liked it. As a sprinter, I had several opportunities to win races, which is always good. With more hills expected, well see what happens.”

Tour of Qatar

The 8th Tour of Qatar runs from Sunday February 1 to Friday February 6. Amazingly, race organizers added a professional women’s race that begins February 8, with 90 riders from 14 countries reportedly participating. Even more amazing: “We hope to gradually develop women’s sport in Qatar,” said Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Abdulla al-Thani, head of the Qatari cycling federation. Read more.

Update: Nadler’s amendment passed in a voice vote early this afternoon (Eastern Time). Next step: The Senate version of the bill needs help.

Thank you to everybody who called or emailed messages to Congressional representatives this week. Your support was noted and reportedly made all the difference!

Representative David Nadler’s amendment to increase funding made it past the House Rules Committee on Tuesday afternoon and is ready to go to a floor vote TODAY.

The floor vote can happen early today, so call your Representative NOW using this web contact form. If you don’t know your ZIP+4, use the USPS ZIP locator.

When you leave a message with your House representative, state your name, your city, and that you support Representative Nadler’s amendment to increase transit funding in the economic stimulus bill. You might also mention your opposition to Arizona Rep Jeff Flake’s amendment to strike all Amtrak funding. A backlog of over $5 billion in “shovel ready” transit projects have been identified that can start in the next 120 days and that will provide 178,000 jobs.

The White House opposes the Nadler Amendment, so your call is very important. Please lookup and call your representative as soon as possible. For additional information on Nadler’s amendment, read here [PDF] and here.

Additionally, the Senate continues work on their version of the economic stimulus bill. Click here to contact your Senator and urge them to pass a better bill that provides better accountability and plans for the future.

Andy Singer‘s “No Exit” comic reprinted here with his kind permission.

The city of San Jose is working to create a number of cycling events in the middle of February during the Amgen Tour of California. Key this year will be the inaugural San Jose Cycling Classic which they scheduled for Saturday February 14, which is the same day the Amgen Tour of California kicks off with a prologue race in Sacramento. Grrrr…

Join San Jose Mayor Jon Reed at 12:30 PM on Wednesday (today) as he talks about San Jose’s part in the Amgen Tour of California, the inaugural San Jose Cycling Classic, and new San Jose cycling initiatives to promote San Jose Green Vision green mobility, which will hopefully improve integration of cycling into the transportation network.

Joining Mayor Reed will be Phil Yost, Vice President of Strategic Communications, Silicon Valley Leadership Group; Paul Krutko, San Jose Chief Development Officer; Jay Chun, Senior Director Mattson Technology; Sustainability Engineer Ted Huang of WEBCOR; and SunPower Community Relations Director Bobby Ram.

Stage 3 of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California will begin in San Jose, California on February 17, and city leaders hope to have a full week of cycling events in San Jose that revolve around the Tour of California.

A critical mass of well dressed cyclists

What happens when you gather 150 gentlemen on bicycle at Savile Row? You get the first ever Tweed Run as the cyclists dressed in merino, tweed, flat caps and ties.

Prizes included most dashing dame, most dapper chap and best mustache. All photos Some Rights Reserved by Matt S in London.

With apologies to MarkJ for more of this bicycle frivolity.

SRAM’s recent $400,000 gift to the League of American Bicyclists and the Thunderhead Alliance brings SRAM’s total cycling advocacy contributions to $1,000,000.

Price of rubber ingredient drops 90%, tire prices expected to go down.

An evening with Tom Ritchey.

Lance Armstrong on Barack Obama. Armstrong placed 29th in the Tour Down Under in Australia, where Aussie favorite sons Allan Davis and Stuart O’Grady podiumed with Spaniard Jose Rojas. Next stop for Armstrong: The Amgen Tour of California.

San Francisco Parks Bike Tours. Via.

Mountain Monk bike in a bag. Missing: pedals and a seat.

Wackos, crazies, and other extremists: Frosty cyclists in Columbus, Ohio. Via.

Junk pedalers and cargo bikes.

A $10,000 bicycle safety camp?

MAKE blog on Velib.

Bad idea: Bikers revenge.

Use a plastic peanut butter jar to craft a saddlebag.

Looks like a scam to me.

Freaky Skeleton Bicycle. Haven’t I seen this before?

Recalls:

• Merida folding bicycles
• Saris CycleOps Pro Series Trainer.
• Potential recall of 100,000 eBikes in Europe because of power cable confusion?

Santa Cruz cyclists Chris Cobb, Ken Nowak, and Evrett Kramer came together to create Bike Glow Lights to enhance cyclist night visibility. They invite bike riders to the Steamer Lane Lighthouse on West Cliff Drive TONIGHT at 6 PM for their product launch, where they’ll mount lights to your bike and shoot a promotional video.

The Bike Glow Light is a ten foot rope of light that you can wrap around your frame or handlebars.

The founders say the three cyclist fatalities in Santa Cruz last year prompted them to create this product, although all three fatalities were in daylight and visibility was not a factor in any of them.

I’ll have a review unit soon and let you know how it stacks up against other “bike glow” products like the Down Low Glow, Hokey Spokes and Monkey Electric spoke lights. At $25, the Bike Glow light is by far the least expensive of these products.

More:

• Bike Glow website. Purchase online or from select Santa Cruz bike shops.
• Santa Cruz Streets Smart blog: New bicycle light aims to set night riders aglow

Remember: Show up TONIGHT at the lighthouse at Steamer Lane (aka the Surf Museum) for a chance to get a free light.