Just found out today that Greensboro is gaining ground in the effort to land the Bicycle Hall of Fame…and well we should.  Here’s why:  We have a huge cycling population, we’re building a bike/walk path around downtown, we have plenty of places for housing the bicycle collection and there are several avid collectors that would likely donate some of their collection to the hall.  We’re easily accessible by Interstates 40, 85, 73 adn 74.  And, Bikerumor.com is based here.  What more could they want!

Read the News & Record story for details.

Coming March 20-22 to the IMBA Epic trails at Santos is the OMBA Spring Break Fat Tire Festival.

The event will have demo teams from Trek, Specialized and Giant (or so we hear), some crazy stunt/freeride demos and lots and lots of group rides, night rides and kids rides.  If you’ve never ridden at Santos, make the trip.  The “Red” section is amazing, and some of the drops and gap jumps are only open during organized events…so if you really want to hit that 30′ drop, now’s your chance.

Check out OMBA’s site for trail info and pics.

WARNING: If you click on the link to the event page, turn your volume down…it blasts music with no way to turn it off.

The Crested Butte Fat Tire Festival celebrates its 29th year when it returns June 24-28, 2009.

This oldie-but-goodie bike festival celebrates Crested Butte as a birthplace of mountain biking. Guided Rides take place daily for all levels and lots of whooping and cheering accompany the more playful events of the week. There also are plenty of chances to mingle while listening to live music at our expo and enjoying a pig roast,beer garden, and food court.

Events include:

• Guided ride for beginner, intermediate and advanced
• Expo and beer garden
• Live Music
• Bike Rodeo/Relay Races
• The World Famous Chainless Race

Join IMBA and an expected 600 bicycle advocates at the 2009 National Bike Summit, March 10-12, in Washington, D.C. Hosted by the League of American Bicyclists, the Summit provides a unique opportunity for mountain bikers to interact with cyclists of all stripes, attend diverse informational sessions and lobby the halls of Congress. IMBA supporters who attend receive discounted registration, a private banquet dinner and tons of great swag.

An Extremely Important Year for the National Bike Summit

The sweeping administrative and congressional changes in D.C. make 2009 an extremely important year. “With so many new members of congress, it’s more important than ever to show them the human face of mountain biking and introduce yourself to their staff and your issues,” says IMBA Government Affairs Director Jenn Dice. “Mountain bikers have a golden opportunity to protect more land, influence public lands bills, increase funding for trails and lay the foundation for productive working relationships.”

Attendees will be treated to presentations and panel discussions on many important topics. IMBA is currently finalizing an exceptional line-up of speakers and sessions to cover the following topics: urban trails and jump parks, integrating trails and neighborhoods, small-group land protection training, funding for the National Park Service and integrating singletrack into the Bicycle Friendly Community program.

Sign up online to attend the National Bike Summit. Early bird registration is now open and available through Feb. 5.

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FROM THE ABA: The American Bicycle Association and NBC Universal Sports are proud to announce an exclusive four year agreement to televise ABA events and the 2009 UCI Continental events.

The ABA is experiencing steady growth in membership and will continue growing and building upon the great success of BMX racing’s 2008 Olympic debut. The ABA and NBC Universal Sports will deliver over 20 hours of programming per year for the next four years to an ever growing NBC Universal Sports audience of over 40 million homes. With BMX emerging as the newest Olympic action sport in 2008, and with the American’s claiming three of the first six BMX Olympic medals ever awarded, the ABA is poised for tremendous growth leading up to the 2012 Olympics in London.

Read “more” for a list of televised events and dates…

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File under “random” or “art”, just found this floating around online.  It’s called Bio-Cycle, and it’s a 60″ long sculpture by artist Jud Turner that uses metal bone shapes to form a haunting little piece of artwork.  It measures 36″ tall and 20″ wide, meaning that skeleton is pretty much lifesize.  Click the image to enlarge it, or hit “more” for a close up of the front…

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Depending on the results of the Forest Service’s environmental analysis, Stevens Pass could be the first ski park in Washington state to get lift-accessed downhill mountain bike runs.

The trails could open as early as 2010 if everything stays on schedule.  Per the norm, the resort’s website has no information on summer activities online at the moment, but you can find PDF documents with future plans and proposals here.  Read the news story from Fort Mill Times for more details (why a SC newspaper picked this story up is beyond me, but that’s where I found it).

Endurance Nation is offering a free 30 day trial of their Team Coaching program.

Founded in November 2007 by coaches Patrick McCrann and Rich Strauss, Endurance Nation is a virtual triathlon team for long course triathletes with over 400 members. Rich and Patrick use their proven training plans, support in the forum, a growing library of instructional content (podcasts, videos, and ebooks), training camps and a strong team presence at races to deliver incredible results, quality, and value to the members of Team EN.

Launched on January 5th, our Team Coaching approach represents the next evolution in online triathlon coaching. Team Coaching is: Your training plan + Supporting docs + Support from the coaches and the Team…all for one low monthly fee. The result is a team of athletes training with the same suite of training plans, under the guidance of two professional coaches, with instruction, plan tweaks, and team mojo delivered efficiently through video, podcasts, and interaction with the coaches and team in the forums. The team coaching model works for swimmers, runners, and practically every other sport on the planet…and now it works for triathletes. Team Coaching allows us to provide 110% of the effectiveness of expensive one-on-one coaching at a fraction of the cost.

VERSUS, the network that celebrates real competition and the home of professional cycling in the United States, announced it will air wall-to-wall coverage of the fourth annual Amgen Tour of California, Lance Armstrong’s second race of the 2009 cycling season. Now in its third year of televising the race, VERSUS will air all nine days of the event, including live coverage of the middle stages for the first time, beginning February 14 at 5 p.m. ET.

The recently expanded 750-mile, nine-day race from Sacramento to San Diego County will feature the world’s top professional cyclists and teams including: Lance Armstrong in his first Amgen Tour of California competition, two-time defending race champion Levi Leipheimer and top U.S.-based teams Garmin-Slipstream and Team Columbia-Highroad. VERSUS’ on-air broadcast team of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, the undisputed voices of cycling, will call all the race action.

Read “more” for the full TV Schedule…

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We posted about the new 1.2mm Power Cordz derailleur cables earlier, but had a few followup questions for their man Phil Vega:

Are they shipping now?  Yes, all models are in stock.

Are those little rubber seals on the ends of the ferrules? The seals are made of a slick nylon.

Do you make longer ones for tandems?  We’ve made them in the past, but the demand isn’t there.

Is there anything special about the housing, or is it just the cables that are unique?  The 4mm housing uses a Teflon™ liner with a high quality water-proof grease, The 5mm housing uses the same liner and is also Kevlar reinforced.

According to their website, it’s $36.95 for just the cables (set of two) and $69.00 for a full set including the housing and ferrules.  According to Phil, they’re moving fast.

Update: Here’s the corrected link to apply for the GT Dirt Coalition amateur race program we posted about a couple of days ago.

While the actual bike is still in production (hence the graphical representation above), Team Revolution will ride AeroCat’s ACR500 carbon fiber bicycle custom painted in team colors.

The Saint Louis based elite women’s cycling team is the racing branch of the rapidly growing Saint Louis based non-profit cycling education and advocacy group of the same name. The non-profit exists to teach and inspire women of all ages to ride for competition, recreation, health, and fitness. In addition to achieving their personal cycling goals, race team members demonstrate their commitment to a broader mission by focusing on weekly rides, training advice, and targeted educational clinics as they strive to give women the tools to feel confident cycling in every environment.

Read “more” for the team roster…

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