Remember, tomorrow (Wednesday, October 7) is Walk / Bike to School Day. In Santa Cruz County, we had the Fall Bike to Work / Bike Day on Oct 1.

My son and I will help out at a bike safety rodeo this weekend at an elementary school in San Jose, which currently bans biking to school. After the rodeo students who attended the rodeo will be allowed to bike to school.

Is your school participating in the international effort to promote human powered transportation to school?

With an eye toward this news…

I hope it’s fairly obvious, but several of the products and services I mention and review on Cyclelicious I’ve received either free or at a discount. I make it clear that there’s no guarantee of a favorable mention when I’m given things to review, and my general policy has been to highlight the superlatives on truly good products, to give just the facts on mediocre things, and to blatantly ignore the truly bad things I’ve gotten. If I don’t think I’ll can give a good review I’ll decline the product.

The Taiwan Bike Trip, for example, was almost entirely free. Air travel was courtesy of China Airlines. The entire tour package — including hotel stay, travel on Taiwan, bike rental, museum and park entrance fees, and most meals — was arranged by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau and Giant Bicycles. They’re working to promote bike tourism in Taiwan for both domestic and international travelers, and I have to say they’ve done a marvelous job. I’d visit Taiwan for a vacation again in a heartbeat, and the cost of the tour package (under $2,000) seems fairly reasonable to me.

I’m back in the USA now after a whirlwind tour of Taiwan. My compatriots and I had an amazing trip — I had no idea Isla Formosa has so much to offer. I knew I was really home after only 5 minutes in L.A. traffic when road raging idiot “TRNR TIM” in his white SUV got all aggressive on my cabbie, honking, yelling, and swerving into our lane threatening to hit us. What a tool.

I have more to write about my trip later, but first I’m catching up on what you all are saying in the blogosphere. Here are a few things that catch my eye:

Dublin bike share overwhelmed by subscriptions. H/T to Carlton.

Bike Friday developing an electric folding bike.

Levi Leipheimer Gran Fondo photos by KWC.

Rivendell Bike Works is hiring.

Sky Yeager at Oregon Manifesto interview.

Sao Paolo commuter challenge – Bike vs … helicopter? Guess who won?

Streetsblog Bike Traffic slideshow.

Unite Bike 09 – Minneapolis/St Paul, Austin + San Francisco.

Noddin Elementary School Bike Rodeo help needed.

Oregon Manifesto commuter bike design challenge.

I see plenty of surf board for bikes in Santa Cruz, CA, but I’ve never seen one quite like this.

Bike Friday is developing an electric version of the Tikit folding bike. Unlike existing eBike Tikit conversions, ” this will not be an afterthought, but a completely integrated solution,” according to Walter Lapchynski of Bike Friday.

This is still more skunk works prototype than real project right now — no delivery dates, prices, or definitive weights and features just yet.

More:

• Bike Friday Walter on the eTikit.
• eTikit Photo gallery.

I’m almost home from my whirlwind tour of Taiwan. As of Sunday morning, Heather and I are the only ones who waited until Sunday to get home. Saam and Kate have a place to stay in the Los Angeles area, while Alicia and Mark both caught red eyes home.

It’s been a fantastic trip and I had no idea Taiwan has so much to offer. I’ll miss the new friends I’ve made on this trip but I’m glad to be back to California.

Taiwan is a beautiful country, but one of the true highlights of this trip is the wonderful chemistry of the group I was with. We’re all very different, but at the end of eight days together we became fast friends.

Here’s most of the gang at the Papago Resort in Taitung County, except for Saam (he’s behind the camera) and Mr Chen (he’s with his bus).

Photo by Saam Gabbay and posted with his kind permission.

The Taiwanese have bikes here that aren’t sold in the US market. Check out this hover bike with no wheels, for example.