Even after all these years, every little grocery run or errand that involves a bike and a friend still feels like being on vacation. Who needs exotic travel when you can toodle around town with your sweetheart on a beautiful summer evening? :-)

Our friends over at Whitworth Cycles are celebrating their one year anniversary this Saturday, August 14th, from noon ’til 7pm. Live music will be provided by Good Question, Be Brave Bold Robot, Hot Tar Roofers, and the Harley White Jr. Orchestra, with libations by Sudwerks and Two Rivers Cider Co. Proceeds from the event will benefit Concerts 4 Charity and Nor Cal AIDS Challenge 2011.

Whitworth Cycles
2311 S Street
Sacramento, CA

Whitworth Cycles →

We took a trip to the California State Fair today to check out the “Pedaling to Adventure” bicycling exhibit that encompasses the entire 7,500 square foot Expo Center #4. It’s a beautifully-designed exhibit that touches upon everything from 19th century antiques to modern racing bikes, low riders, mountain bikes, utility bikes, and more. There’s even a display specifically dedicated to our local tweed ride. The exhibit is a must-see if you plan on attending the Fair this year.

Bikes are a big deal at the CA State Fair this year

Our local tweed ride

A pair of vintage roadsters

The BMX wall – way cool!

I particularly enjoyed the history of mountain biking display

Tour of California stage profiles on the racing wall

E-assist Tikit – we’ll have this actual bike for review after the Fair

An antique track bike

The environmental benefits of bicycle riding

Hey, those photos look familiar!

Be sure to check the Fair schedule for presentations by bicycling advocates Lorena Beightler, John Boyer, Ed Cox, and Paul Dorn.

More Information →

A quick pit stop during this morning’s “race”

So, this morning I’m cruising along, whistling a happy tune, noticing the birds along the trail, when on my left a bike rider whips around me like a sprinter going for the gold in the Olympic Velodrome. As he passes, he gives me a look back, not unlike the look Lance gave Jan Ullrich in the ’01 Tour. I kept lazily rolling along, keeping my pace nice and slow to keep from perspiring in my work clothes. I caught up at the next stop light where I flashed a friendly nod and smile that was met with a steely-eyed, racer-like grimace. When the light turned green, he bolted like Mark Cavendish off the front of the peloton in a final sprint, leaving me in the dust.

When I arrived at the train station a few minutes later, I noticed my rival on the platform, covered in sweat, but basking in the glory of perceived victory. But alas, it was not to be. I stowed away my bike in my bike locker, then I flashed a little grin as I slipped on the train ahead of him and grabbed the prime seat next to the exit, stealing victory from his clutches at the line.

You gotta’ love commuter races… :-)

Does a country bike feel like a prisoner in the city? Does it secretly yearn for open roads and soaring vistas? Can it be truly happy, sequestered in the urban jungle?

From our friends over at Let’s Go Ride a Bike:

Visit Let’s Go Ride a Bike for details →

The Sierra Club is hosting a bike haiku contest. To enter, join the Bicycle group on Climate Crossroads, post a picture to the group’s gallery, and write a haiku about your bike and/or bike commuting. Deadline to enter is May 31 at noon PST.

The winner will receive a brand-new Breezer Uptown 8, and runners-up will receive a Kryptonite lock and Nutcase helmet. Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, founder of the Congressional Bicycle Caucus, will select the winners.

Join the fun →

Sign-ups for the Brompton World Championship are now open. This year’s event is scheduled for October 3, 2010 and will once again take place at Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, England. This is without a doubt the most fun, quirky, and eccentric “world championship” event in cycling. Check out the video from last year’s race to get a feel for what it’s all about.

Brompton World Championship website →

This is a friendly reminder that Sacramento Tweed is hosting a “Tweed Lite” ride tomorrow to support the opening of May Is Bike Month.

More info at Sacramento Tweed →

London’s 2010 Tweed Run, from Swamibu on YouTube.

[via Bike Hugger]

NYCeWheels →

Hot on the heels of Bicycling Magazine’s recent Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities list, Bike Intelligencer has published their Top 10 American Cycling Magazines list. I’m pleased to report Bicycling came in at 11th. Funny stuff.

[I may be stating the obvious, but many of us in the bicycling community are not overly pleased with Bicycling Magazine's methodology or conclusions in regards to their bike-friendly cities list. —ed.]

Bike Intelligencer’s Top 10 American Cycling Magazines →

My Other Car is a Car

We’re tired of all this talk about bikes and bike riding, so we’re offering up all of our bikes on auction and going bike-free. We’ll use the proceeds from the auction to renew our AAA memberships and purchase a second car. We’re thinking about an SUV, something that gets less than 12 miles per gallon; any suggestions? While we’re at it, we’ll be changing the name of the blog from EcoVelo to AutoAmour. We figure all this bicycle stuff’s a losing battle anyway, so why not join the fun and make some thermodynamic whooppee while the gettin’s good!?!

Sac Tweed Storms the Capitol Last November

Sacramento’s Tweed Ride is coming this weekend!

Date: Sunday, March 28, 2010
Meet-up Time: 10:30 am for an 11:00 am departure
Meet-up Location: Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen, 1915 I Street, Sacramento (map)

We hope to see you there!

View the route →
Get all the details at the Sacramento Tweed website →

Yuba recently loaned us a Mundo Cargo Bicycle to play around with. Impressions so far? Waaay cool. More to follow… :-)

Yuba →

We like looking at bikes, particularly those that are used for transportation. We suspect most of our readers are of a similar mind. One of our favorite places to peruse photos of bikes is right here in our Bicycle Gallery. It’s a collection of photos of bikes, mostly sent in by EcoVelo readers. We’re currently up to 165 entries and counting. If you haven’t seen it yet, have a look and consider submitting a few photos of your bike.

We’ve also set up an EcoVelo Group on Flickr where other Flickr users can post photos of their transportational bikes. Our Flickr Group currently has 236 members and contains 2,305 photos. If you’re a Flickr user, please join us there! And if you’re not, just enjoy looking over the fantastic collection of photos submitted by our Flickr friends.

While it’s more fun for us to check out what other people are riding, we figure folks like to see our bikes too, so we’ve set a couple of other places on the web where you can see our bike photos. Besides our own personal Flickr Photostream, we have a Zenfolio account set up where folks can view our photos, and if they so choose, purchase prints or digital downloads.

With spring on our doorstep here in NorCal, we’re excited about this most pleasant time of year for riding. It also happens to be a super time of year for shooting photos, so expect to see a lot more updates over the next few months. And don’t hesitate to join in the fun and submit your photos to our Bike Gallery, or upload your photos to the EcoVelo Flickr Group.

EcoVelo Bike Gallery →
EcoVelo Flickr Group →
EcoVelo Zenfolio Site →
Submit Your Photos to the EcoVelo Gallery →

Fun stuff from pdxweatherman on YouTube. H/T to Mike.

We had a fun time today at the B. Spoke Tailor event at Hot Italian in Sacramento. Nan Eastep from B. Spoke made the trip over from the Bay Area to show off her work and take orders for the upcoming Sac Tweed Ride in March. We enjoyed seeing her beautiful sartorial creations while catching up with our downtown friends and eating some super-tasty pizza.

Nan Eastep of B. Spoke Tailor and John Boyer of Edible Pedal

Exquisite tailoring and nearly endless options

The samples were available for purchase

Every piece is specifically tailored for bike riding

Gorgeous fabrics

Lots of wool, inside and out

Edible Pedal had one of their delivery bikes on display (a Civia Loring)

The Bicycle Business generously donated two bikes for a raffle to benefit the California Bicycle Coalition. Tickets went on sale today and the bikes will be raffled at the upcoming Tweed ride (visit Sac Tweed for more information and to purchase tickets).

The first raffle bike is a Fuji Cambridge; it’s a great looking bike

A very cool Breezer Citizen 3, the other raffle bike

The wild bike racks out in front of the Hot Italian

Many thanks to Sacramento Tweed, Sac Cycle Chic, and Hot Italian for hosting the event. We’re looking forward to the tweed ride on March 28th!

B. Spoke Tailor →
Sacramento Tweed →
Sac Cycle Chic →
Hot Italian →
Edible Pedal →
The Bicycle Business →

From Sac Tweed:

Date: Sunday, February 21
Hours: 12-4pm
Location: Hot Italian, Corner of 16th and P Streets, Midtown Sacramento

B. Spoke Tailor →
Sacramento Tweed →