June 8, 201025 Comments on Bikes banned in Colorado town roads
The town of Black Hawk, Colorado banned bicycles from most of its local streets. And Black Hawk Mayor David Spellman — who won the mayoral election unanimously in 2008 — is a drunken wife beater who consistently ranks as the most corrupt public official in Colorado. Really.
June 8, 20106 Comments on Bob Roll on doping
In a quick video interview, former 7-11 pro cyclist and longtime sports commentator Bob Roll claims “bike racing is by far the cleanest professional sport in the world.” On the testing regimen and the heavy, instantaneous penalties handed down when doping is found, “Every other professional sport in the world is a joke in comparison.”
In other news, Tom Boonen has been implicated in the growing “motodoping” scandal.
June 8, 20101 Comment on Fashion and bicycles
Fashion websites attract a somewhat different demographic than Cyclelicious. The fashion portals are visited by young, college educated women with no children and some spending cash.
Cyclelicious readers are mostly male, “some college,” probably have children, and — except for the 3.5% of you who like the photos of pretty girls on bikes — most of you consider yourselves cyclists, avid cyclists, cycling enthusiasts. In other words, you like to ride bicycles. While fashionistas like clothes and shoes, avid cyclists such as yourselves like bikes, bike clothing, and bike shoes.
A fashion portal like Refinery 29 has 30 times the traffic of Cyclelicious, and most of their visitors don’t identify themselves as ‘cyclists’ so it’s always cool to see them feature stuff like Top 10 Fashionable Bikes For Men.
June 8, 20103 Comments on Toxoplasmosis and risky behavior
Once upon a time I read a science fiction story that suggested a sentient species acquired intelligence through neurochemical interactions between their brains and a parasitical worm. The worm made them physically ill, but it also gave them self awareness, comprehension, and radically changed their behavior as a species. The story ends with a punchline that this alien species gained the knowledge of Good and Evil by eating Adam & Eve’s forbidden fruit, but in their case their apple has a worm in it.
It seems something similar might be going on in our human brain, and in our case (at least for men) the parasite seems to make us a little more evil. I read a fascinating discussion on Toxoplasmosis and the effect this parasite has on the mammalian limbic system.
June 7, 20104 Comments on SF bike rampage suspect: Avid bicyclist
Police identify the suspect in last Wednesday night’s rampage against Mission Hill and Potrero District cyclists as David Mark Clark of Albany, CA. Here’s the kicker:
The Clark [his landlady] knew was a kind man, very low key, concerned about health and nutrition and very social. And he was an “avid bicyclist,” she said.
Maybe Mr Clark was exposed to Toxo? More in the SF Chronicle. Props to Kit.
June 7, 2010Leave a Comment
“Bicycle Sidecar” is, interestingly enough, one of those persistently high search phrases that bring people to Cyclelicious. Happy, Steve Bodiley posted up his build details of a bicycle sidecar with a metal frame and wooden body.
Steve also discusses his experiments and prototypes to come up with his perfect design. He discovers that adding a 3rd wheel to the side of a bicycle changes its dynamics drastically — counter steering, which is the intuitively normal way to steer a two wheeled vehicle, will steer you the wrong way when you add that sidecar! Steve resolved the issue by making the link between the sidecar and the bike a pivot, so the bike can still lean to some extent.
Via MAKE.