4th Annual Pedal for Peace bicycle ride underway

In Damascus, Syria, around 300 women activists from 28 countries are cycling for 12 days to highlight the plight of Arab women. The women will visit the Golan Heights and Palestinian refugee camps in the course of their journey. Many of the women are riding a bicycle for the first time!
Check it out online at http://www.followthewomen.com

Bikewire goes live!

Bikewire, a new website dedicated to cycling, is now live. It is a social networking, stat tracking & graphing, honor code leaderboard, blogging, photo, and mapping and classifieds website strictly for cyclists. This should give us a chance to compare times with other cyclists across the country and around the world! Plus, we get the scoop on the latest routes in different areas contributed by other riders. Go Bikewire!

Tour de Fat

The New Belgium Brewing Company's "Tour de Fat", which involves cyclists dressed up in fantastic costumes to raise awareness for the two-wheeled lifestyle, doubled its attendance from last year's festival, with more than 12,000 participants.

Notable quotes (from the press release by the New Belgium Brewery:

"Living car-free is great. No insurance, no repair bills, no gas money," said Brendan Halpin, who traded in his car for a bike in Missoula, Montana and has been using a trailer on the back of his bike to help haul groceries, laundry, even camping gear. "It promotes a healthy green lifestyle that is easily achievable by anyone that is willing to put in the extra effort. The monetary and lifestyle benefits are well worth the sacrifice."

The Wealthy Ride More!

Apparently the wealthy are more likely to ride bikes than the poor - overturning the belief that cycling is a poor person's transport.

The article in the Times can be found here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2500754.ece
The wealthy are more informed about the benefits of bicycles, both environmental and physical.

In particular:

"Studies have shown that regular cyclists typically enjoy a level of fitness equivalent to someone 10 years younger, and those cycling regularly beyond their mid-thirties add two years to their life expectancy."