When I was a kid my friends and I just carried our rods in one hand while controlling the bike with the other hand. I still see people — children and adults — doing the same thing today, but there are fancier options available: special mounts for carrying your fishing pole on your bike hands free, and collapsible “fishing pen” rods that you can carry in a backpack.

Daniel Canfield in Boise, Idaho gives a rundown of some available options. There’s a Bike Fisherman fishing pole bicycle mount, the Mini Pen fishing rod, the Coleman Fish Pen, and other similar products.

A fishing rod not mentioned by Canfield are child fishing rods. When my daughter outgrew her short Disney Princess fishing rod it’s a short enough rod that I used it for bike trips to the lake a few times. Child rods are cheap but they’re also very portable.

Read more here at Examiner.com.

Edit: See also Noah’s post with his practical experience shopping for fishing gear that works well with cycling.

The Bicycle Book: Wit, Wisdom & Wanderings edited by Thomas Hylton.

The Bicycle Book: Wit, Wisdom and Wanderings is a celebration of the bicycle by people who ride. . .a tribute to one of the finest, most efficient, most useful machines ever invented. The 25 contributors are talented writers and cartoonists, each with a unique take on bicycling. Whether in critical observation, concern, memorial, fact, or in jest, each story and cartoon is definitely worth a look. You do not have to be a cycling expert to read this book; there is something here for everyone.

Contributions from around the globe include an essay from Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Hylton; predictions for the future of cycling from Dirt Rag publisher Maurice Tierney and Richard Fries, publisher of Bike Culture; an exclusive interview with Chris Carmichael (long time coach of Lance Armstrong); several essays from Pulitzer Prize nominee Gianna Bellofatto. Other contributors are Portland Magazine executive editor (and former New Yorker staffer) Ted Katauskas; Mason St. Clair; author Theresa Russell; and Andy (Ask the Mechanic) Wallen. Scattered throughout the book is a collection of cartoons from cartoonists whose work has appeared in a wide array of magazines including The New Yorker, Esquire, The Progressive, Dirt Rag, Oregon Cycling, The Funny Times, Discover, Guideposts, Reader’s Digest, and Forbes. Contributing cartoonists include Bob Lafay, Neal Skorpen, Jonny Hawkins, Andy Singer, Bob LaDrew, and many others.

Click here to purchase.

You get into a scrape with a motor vehicle. Maybe there’s some damage, maybe not. Do you call the police?

Long story -> short: I usually don’t even bother anymore. More below the photo…

Tuscon Bike Lawyer writes about the typical cyclist experience following a bike vs car collision:

A cyclist gets hit by a car, and is lying in the pavement dazed. Assuming the cyclist is not suffering a serious injury, the officer will then try to determine fault. As I have written many times before, “carhead” tends to point toward the cyclist being at fault.

If the officer determines the cyclist was at fault, he will then often give the cyclist a choice: you can leave here and forget about all this, or you can stay and get a ticket. Which do you pick?

I’ve never been threatened with a ticket, but the first time I called the police, the motorist was very clearly at fault: she completely blew through a stop sign without slowing; I escaped with my life because I did an emergency swerve but I still got a glancing blow and a damaged bike.

I was riding completely legally on a residential street with almost no traffic, but witnesses and the responding police officer all lectured me about my bike riding, and the cop made it very clear that my call was a huge imposition of his time.

This was in 1987. In the three times I’ve been hit by a car since then, I only called the police on my latest incident, but that was a hit and run and I hoped the driver would get caught. I know the advice to call the police — I even give that advice here — but like cycling attorney Erik Ryberg observes, “I don’t care how many times you have read this and other bike safety blogs, if it happens to you, you are not going to be thinking clearly.”

Law enforcement’s reticence prompted Colorado cyclist advocates to lobby for a law requiring law enforcement agencies to take bicycle accident reports.

What do you do when a car scrapes up against you? Do you file the police report? Or do you usually let it slide? And what does this underreporting do for bicycle crash statistics?

Photo: Delta Mike.

Team Astana’s “New French Revolution” announced their roster for the Tour de France 2009 that starts next weekend, but I sure can’t figure out how to navigate their flash heavy website.

Richard Rrby is the Tallahassee string bikini bicycle guy. He rides his bicycle along Appalachee Parkway and Lafeyette Street wearing nothing but long white socks, loafers and a thong.

A lot of people thought he was an exhibitionist or a weirdo. On May 6, 1972, Richard was a 17 year old kid in Orlando when he was hit by a car. He spent 11 months in a coma, after which he had to learn how to walk and talk again. He remains disabled and, it turns out, completely unaware of his local celebrity status.

According to this wonderful story in the Tallahassee Democrat, Richard wears a thong because it’s comfortable and he simply doesn’t realize his appearance makes people uncomfortable.

Reporter Brian Ramos happened to meet up with Rrby because Rrby was walking — his bicycle is broken down. The Classy Tallahassee Bikini Bicyclist Fan Club on Facebook has over 3,000 members, some of whom plan to meet with Richard and raise money to help him buy a new bike.

Ramos’s article is a sweet story about how Rrby retains his mobility in spite of disability, and it’s heartening to see that Rrby’s Facebook fan page is about celebrating his mobility and individuality.

“Bike vandals are like baby pigeons, you know they exist, but you never see them.” – Bicicleta Bandita.

Jim Langley says, “Every city bike needs a nice wicker basket.”

Efficiency in Inefficiency.

Some thoughts on the little things.

Join the ITSA Congestion Challenge.

Charleston Cycle Chic.

New England Muscle Bike Museum.

A nice Santa Cruz bike ride.

Amsterdam: More bike trips than car trips for the first time.

Van shoes, cruiser bikes, skateboards and long hair at Bike Hugger.

Cyclelicious.