Boba Fett pulling Han solo on bike T-shirt

I want this shirt! Find it here.

Strider World Championship

GoPro On Board - Strider World Championship - Toddler Balance Bike Racing from Balance Bike JoJo on Vimeo.

Meet the masked man who cycles backwards through Toronto

From the Toronto Star...

Meet the masked man who cycles backwards through Toronto
Published On Wed Jul 6 2011
Liam Casey
Staff Reporter

Everything was backwards on the morning of Aug. 9, 2009. Leslie Slowley's laptop had been stolen the night before - and much of the artist's work was on it.

He thought a trip to the shop where he creates his art would cure the blues. But Slowley's papier-mâché creations, from bowls to masks to unidentifiable pieces, didn't help at first.

Slowley, now 40, needed supplies to keep going, which meant a trip to the local dollar store on his bicycle. So he hopped on his bike and sat on the handlebars facing backwards, like he used to do as a kid, when life was simpler and bike tricks were cool.

He found out they still were. He rode to the store facing the wrong way, with his head swiveling from side to side, straining his obliques to twist and peer ahead. Some bystanders smiled and others waved as he rolled by.

"I loved it. It helped me through a rough time," Slowley said. "And I made a commitment to ride backwards from that day on."

Read on here<http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1020845> and there is a video on the page.

Vote For SoPo!

SoPo, our hometown heroes, from the SoPo Bikes website...

SoPo has entered the The GOOD 100 Challenge: Sharing is the New Owning.

We are asking for your help to vote for SoPo. The winner of the GOOD 100 Challenge will receive a $1000 grant. The grant will be used to Stock the Shop for our 2012 Summer Kids Program. You can vote for us here.

Voting for the GOOD Magazine 100 Challenge is now open. Voting ends in 1 week; ending on Thursday, December 15, 12PM PST or 3PM EST. You can register to vote using your Facebook account or create a new account for the GOOD Magazine site.

Please forward this info, post on sites, post on Facebook, post on blogs, and generate buzz to vote for SoPo. And as always we thank you for your support. The SoPo community is incredible and we can't thank you enough.

SoPo High Five!

2011 Dirty Dozen Race - Canton Ave Video

Dirty Dozen Race 2011-Canton Ave from Matt Dayak on Vimeo.

How the Dutch got their cycle paths

Georgia Tech's bike-share program launches

From Creative Loafing Atlanta online...

Georgia Tech's bike-share program launches

Posted by George Weidman on Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 11:13 AM

• George Weidman
• ViaCycle's big beefy bikes are built for comfort, with low-riding frames and wide saddles

Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson yesterday recalled the time several young people visited his office to pitch him on a bike-share program at the prestigious university.

"A team of about five people and a bicycle showed up in my office," said Georgia Tech President G.P. "Bud" Peterson. "They talked about this idea they had: to create a company that would change the way we think about bike sharing."

That company — which includes several former Tech students — became ViaCycle, which on Tuesday officially kicked off its new high-tech bike-share program that will allow Georgia Tech students, faculty, and staff to purchase short-term bike rentals by using their cell phones. It's the latest in a long list of improvements Atlanta's making to serve cyclists

Read on here.

ViaCycle at GT

Use A U-Lock

Heart-Recycle

Ponce and W Peachtree

Lifecycle

Glass

The culprit of a flat tire, a sharp pyramid of broken glass.

Floating Bikes Lanes

From the Calgary Herald online...

‘Floating’ bike lane takes place of shared road space downtown

October 27, 2011. 8:00 am • Section: Pedal

Downtown bicycle commuters have been talking for weeks about the roadwork being done on 10th Avenue S.W. in the Beltline, wondering what might come of one of the city’s original bike routes once the painters moved in.

Change is the answer. Not to be confused with the recently added bike lanes on 10th Street N.W., 10th Avenue S.W. is about to change from a “sharrow” to something called a “floating bike lane.”

Read on here.

From Richmond.com online...

Gear: Cost to Outfit a Bike Commuter

By: Philip Riggan
Published: October 31, 2011

By 2015 when the World Road Cycling Championships are here, all of Richmond will have welcomed cycling and become bike-friendly, so you might as well get on board. OK, maybe not, but Richmond should be a less intimidating place to ride a bike in the next three years.
Are you tempted to start bike commuting but fear how much the gear might cost? Seems like a reasonable doubt, until you think about how much money you can save by biking instead of driving.
According to a post in The Urban Country, 500 hours a year -- or two hours each day -- is roughly the equivalent to what the average American worker will work in order to pay an average of $11,000 for their automobiles.

Read on here.

Support Local Community Bike Shop

A couple of community bike shops are going on some long rides to raise money. Do you want to sponsor them and help raise funds?


Check here for The Beltline Bike Shop and here for the South Atlanta Bike Shop.

The Beltline Bike Shop says:

2011 Fundraising Bike ride

I wanted to let everyone know that your very own Beltline Bike Shop is having a fundraising ride on the Silver Comet trail November 5th. We will be riding 50 miles in an effort to raise money for our 2012 operating budget. The Beltline Bike Shop takes in donated bikes and then invite kids to earn a bike of their own through community service in the neighborhood. The shop, open three days week , is then available to them to keep their bikes up and running.
I will be doing the ride and others are welcome to join in. I think we now have 7 riders. We have a fundraising goal of raising 100+ dollars each for the ride. If you are interested in joining in, volunteering that morning of or making a donation that would go toward our ride let me know and I will send you an invitation to the event. If you would like to make a donation towards the ride please click the link provided. DONATE

 And the South Atlanta Bike Shop says:

Cycle of Love 2011 – Team South Atlanta Bike Shop

October 23, 2011

Last year Evan and I joined Cycle of Love to ride from Birmingham, AL to Atlanta, GA (160+ miles) to raise funds for the bike shop.
For Cycle of Love 2011 (Nov 5-6) our bike shop team has five teens plus two volunteers and me embarking on this life-changing journey. We are asking for donations for our youth development program at $1/mile (or more if you’d like). You can sponsor as many miles as you would like!
Our first pledge came from GA state representative Margaret Kaiser for $1/mile for the entire trip. Please join Mrs. Kaiser in supporting the at-risk youth of South Atlanta by supporting the work we do!

ABC 20th Anniversary Celebration

ABC's 20th Anniversary Celebration

November 4, 2011 at 7:00 PM

Five Seasons Brewery - 1000 Marietta St - Atlanta, GA 30318
Register Now!

Sopo bike co-op needs new home, asks for your donations

From Creative Loafing…

Sopo bike co-op needs new home, asks for your donations

Posted by George Weidman on Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 3:35 PM

 

The lease is up and so is the rent. The Sopo Bicycle Co-op, the East Atlanta nonprofit which has provided Atlantans with cheap-as-dirt bike repairs since 2006, has to move.

"Although we have had the luxury of low rent since our founding, we anticipate increased costs with a new space, thus we are writing to ask your support for our first ever SOPO RENT FUND," the volunteer-run bike repair shop says in an email and blog post. Concluding the news release is a link for paypal donations.

"We are needing to move because the space we have is being renovated, and is intended to be used as a larger retail or commercial restaurant," says Tito Sands, a Sopo board member.

For the past five years, Sopo has operated out of a cramped shop space in the back of the Blue Frog Cantina. With the end of Sopo's five-year-lease, some EAV restaurants are looking to expand.

"It's not a bad thing, not a negative," Sands says. "We understand the situation they're dealing with in terms of making the most out of their space."

In fact, Sopo wants to use the opportunity to upgrade.

"We have been looking for an opportunity for growth in the past two years for a larger, more sustainable space," he says. "It's not surprising us, but it's not something that we think is going to be detrimental to the co-op."

Believe it or not, says Sands, Sopo's current space wasn't intended to be their permanent location in the first place: "When the co-op was originated, we didn't have the scope to search for a permanent space. Only in the last two or three years have we addressed that issue."

With the recent need to relocate, Sopo is hoping for an opportunity to move into a space that might be less cramped, and perhaps not located in a back parking lot facing away from the street.

Sands says the co-op's new home will be "within the village area preferably, but we’d ideally like to stay in the village, or just in greater East Atlanta." As it will mostly be an impromptu mechanic's shop, Sands isn't worried about aesthetics. Sopo is ready to fix up a rough or dilapidated space into whatever is practical for housing the donation-driven collective of bicycle fixer-uppers.

Even if a new location isn't found, Sopo has contingency plans ready that, frankly, are cool as hell. According to Sands, mobile containers could be purchased to build an open-shop space, or Sopo could temporarily operate out of existing bike shops.

"We are more or less willing to be flexible for two or so years so that we can be happy with what we get," he says.

Read here.

Laengen and Rosskopf sign for Team Type 1-Sanofi

Local makes good, from Cycling News online…

Laengen and Rosskopf sign for Team Type 1-Sanofi

By: Cycling News

Published: October 25, 13:11

Calabria and Callegarin renew for 2012

Team Type 1-Sanofi have confirmed the arrival of Norwegian talent Vegard Stake Laengen as well as the promotion of American Joey Rosskopf from the team’s development squad.

Laengen joins after three years at the Bianchi-Joker squad, which culminated with a fine fourth-place finish at September’s Tour de l’Avenir. A solid time triallist, the 22-year-old took bronze in the discipline at the European under 23 championships this season, as well as second place behind Alexander Kristoff in the elite road race at the Norwegian championships.

“We’re pleased with the arrival of Vegard,” said Team Type 1 general manager Vassili Davidenko. “He’s a very strong climber and an intelligent rider.”

Rosskopf has competed as a stagiare for Team Type 1 in the latter part of the 2011 season, and will make his full-time graduation from the development set-up next year. The Athens, Georgia, native impressed at the Tour de Toona in July.

“Rosskopf is the symbol of the next generation of riders from the United States,” Davidenko said. “We’ve seen some great results from Joey and we’re very happy to welcome him to the team.”

Team Type 1 have also confirmed that Daniele Callegarin and Fabio Calabria will remain at the squad next season.

Read here.

DIY Balaclava

I am not a big fan of fleece. I am probably one of the few. But I do like balaclavas and gators during cold rides. I found this through Bike Commuters and then Bike Winter. I may have to make a couple of these because it’s that easy.

Bike Winter link for fleece

Bike Winter link for balaclava

Bike Winter link for a gator

Broken Glass

Watch Out For Bike Riders

People For Bikes: If I Ride

No Handed Bike Moves

"Golden Tree" by Martin Brooks from Ninian Doff on Vimeo.

Outdoor Gym

I never realized but this is an outdoor gym at Coan Park. This is pretty cool.

Occupy Atlanta at Woodruff

You Go Girl

Graf @ Linden and Courtland

Cycling For Everyone by Amsterdamize

Cycling For Everyone from Dutch Cycling Embassy on Vimeo.

Computers are like a bicycle for our minds.

PATH Extension

This is an awesome idea to extend the PATH to Centennial Park. I would be happy with an extension to Peachtree St.  Unfortunately there can’t be anything done about the uphill from where the PATH is now to Peachtree St.  From the Creative Loafing, article here…

Downtown PATH, regional tax's cycling projects, Tech Square bike lanes, and other two-wheeler news

Posted by George Weidman on Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 3:35 PM

 

Prefer riding on two wheels around Atlanta rather than sitting trapped in a car? Rebecca Serna of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition filled us in on several developments you and other cyclists can look forward to over the coming years.

First up is the PATH Foundation's extension of the existing Freedom Park trail which would run along Harris Street — excuse us, John Portman Boulevard at Historic Harris Street — through downtown Atlanta and end at Centennial Park. Two lanes of traffic along Harris Street would be removed to transform the road into a more pedestrian friendly thoroughfare with a 10-foot-wide bike path, a tree-lined buffer and new crosswalks. The ambitious trail — the first we've heard of in Atlanta — would increase access to the hotel district and provide a link to the Atlanta Beltline. The project, which would cost $2 million and be funded by PATH, has been in development for several months but hit some snags after nearby businesses expressed concerns over how the trail might affect delivery trucks and taxis. According to Serna, PATH is working with nearby businesses to work out the proposal's kinks. Neighborhood groups have already voiced support.

More here.

Best bike lanes for aiding traffic flow

Decatur’s new bike lanes received a Staff Pick from Creative Loafing’s Best of 2011 awards.  You can read more here.

Cityscape

Best bike lanes for aiding traffic flow

Staff Pick

Though far from being the two-wheelers' playground it could be, Atlanta's made some inroads when it comes to cycling. The most welcome addition to the metro region's disparate bicycle network: Decatur’s new bike lanes along West Ponce de Leon Avenue and West Trinity Place.

Bike lanes are great, protected bike lanes are even better.  Ponce could have benefitted from protected bike lanes.  It’s a great place to put bike lanes in because it leads into the City of Decatur.  It’s a great place to take away a lane because there are less cars speeding on the road.  It’s like an unannounced drag race.  The protected lanes would help because it discourages other drivers from passing when a car is turning.  And cars still go pretty fast and having one fly by you is needless to say scary.

Yay for the award, maybe the new bikes lanes will be protected.

Bike Safety Tips for Car Free Day

It’s Car Free Day in Decatur and Be Active Decatur has some bike safety tips…

Decatur is celebrating Car Free Day this Wednesday, September 21 and the Active Living Division will have a table at the Blue Sky Concert giving away stickers and tattoos to those who walk or bike to the Square. To make sure everyone arrives safely, we want to remind everyone of some safety tips.

Safety Tips for Bicyclists

·       Always ride with traffic and follow the rules of the road. Forget what you might have heard in the past, you should ride with the flow of traffic. This makes you more predictable and visible to motorists, especially at intersections and driveways. Ride in a straight line, not in and out of cars, and use hand signals when turning and stopping. Obey traffic signs, signals and lane markings and yield to traffic when appropriate, including pedestrians.

·       Don’t ride on the sidewalk, unless you are 12 or under. Although you might think it is safer, motorists are simple not looking for bicyclists on the sidewalk, especially those riding against traffic.

·       Ride on the trail, paved shoulder, bike lane or bike route when possible.

·       Be predictable and visible. Try not to be hesitant or do things that motorists and other travelers may not be expecting. Make sure everyone can see you and knows where you are and where you are going. If riding in the dark, use headlights, taillights and reflectors and wear reflective materials and brightly colored clothing. Do not wear headphones or talk on a cell phone.

·       Watch for stuff on the road or trail that might make you fall or swerve. Also watch for parked cars, doors opening, and cars pulling out of driveways.

·       Watch for turning traffic. Most car/bike collisions happen at intersections and driveways when motorists or bicyclists are turning.

Read on here.

2015 Road World Championships Goes to Richmond, Virginia

Awesome! From Cycling News online…

2015 Road World Championships Goes to Richmond, Virginia

By: Cycling News

Published: September 21, 14:34, Updated: September 21, 14:56

Oman withdraws bid

The 2015 UCI Road World Championships will go to Richmond, Virginia, after Oman, the only other bidder, withdrew its application just prior to a final scheduled vote on Wednesday. The UCI will announce its selection officially at approximately 11:15 am local time (EDT).

Read on here.

Ragdoll

I never knew what the term 'Ragdoll' meant until I saw this video. I picked it up originally from Bike Hugger.

Cyclocross Knowledge

I found this little tidbit from the bonedeth tumblr site which is Dan Chabanov of the RGM Watches/Richard Sachs Bikes CX team...


elartiste asked: How do you feel about a single chainring option for CX? I'm currently running a 50/34 and would like to switch to one 44. I know it's mostly personal preference but I was just wondering what your thoughts are.
Get the 44 and keep the 34. Why limit your self? The little ring has its uses. For instance when its peanut butter mud you’re riding though the little ring lets you keep your chain mid cassette and your derailer away from your spokes. Being able to do that could save your derailer from an untimely death. There are other benefits like being able to ride some technical run ups and honestly I don’t think anyone has ever lost a race because their gear range was too wide. I’m all for double chain rings. Currently I am running 44/38 with a 12/28 in the back.

The things I have to learn to keep mud and other grime out of my derailer.

Premium Rush

Teammates

I always like to hear a good cycling quote. From a VeloNews article about Andreas Klier. Read the article here.

“I have done the Vuelta nine or 10 times, this was the hardest Vuelta I have done,” he said. “I was not much help to my teammate Dan Martin. The best thing I could do for him was pack his suitcase in the morning or carry his suitcase to the lobby.”

BikeDecatur Friday Social - Join Us 7:30 pm MARTA Church Street

Fellow Cyclists -

This is to announce a test run of the BikeDecatur Friday Social, a ride with the purpose of getting together and talking while riding.  

Meet at the Church Street MARTA Plaza opposite Sycamore at 7:30 and ride around Decatur, an 8 mile route is mapped out.  This is a "No Drop" ride – we stick together, riding at the pace of the slowest rider.  Then after the ride we go to a bar and relax a little longer.  

If this is successful, we will try it again in October, the 3rd Friday.

So please join us if you want to talk about biking or Decatur or anything else!

BikeDecatur

Tools

If there was a commute where things went wrong, today was it. I broke a link. I had chain links but they were the wrong size. But having extra links doesn't matter if there is no chain breaker.

I asked several other bike commuters and finally someone had a chain breaker. After fixing the broken link, my stem came loose. The chances of anyone having a 12mm wrench was even lower than a chain breaker. I had to start finding other options of getting home. There's always tomorrow.

Tree Down

A tree was down on the Path along DeKalb Av. Got some cyclocross practice going up the off camber uphill.

Chrome Metropolis

I finally joined the masses of Chrome bag users.

Tomatillos EAV

Watch For Cyclists

Treasure City Thrift Rocks

WalMart Hipster Ride

Nice Rack

Parking At TXRD

Bike Texas

Fast Folks

Thanks to Sterling and the crew at Fast Folks for letting us hang out and play. They were super nice and gave us some stickers to share with Atlanta.  It makes me want to get the candy skull Fast Folks logo tattooed on me.  If you are ever in Austin, stop by for a visit.

No Brakes

USPS Trek

Lance's Eddy

Motorola Caloi

Lance's Wins In Art

Juan Pelota Cafe Food Truck

Hincapie

Team Radio Shack US Service Course

Seems pretty small for a service course but hey its Team Radio Shack

Fast Folks

Juan Pelota

Mellow Johnny's

Cerveló Bike Stand

Flying The Flag

The picture is from Hipster Nascar.  Why does it get a post here?  Because prominently displayed is the Philippine flag and it’s on a velodrome.

Two Mornings

Two Mornings from Sierra Club National on Vimeo.

10 Best U.S. Bike Cities of 2011

From The Street online…

10 Best U.S. Bike Cities of 2011

By Jason Notte     07/21/11 - 08:00 AM EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- You sometimes need to be a Tour de France cyclist to make it easier to get from here to there on a bicycle instead of in a car, but you don't need to climb the Pyrenees to realize it's cheaper on two wheels.

With the average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. soaring to nearly $4 in May and still at $3.68, or a 35% hike from what drivers paid at the same time last year, low-mileage alternatives are gaining traction and bolstering the ranks of bicycle owners. The National Bicycle Dealers Association says the U.S. adult cycle industry took in $6 billion in sales last year with 13.5 million adult bikes sold. That's a 15% increase from $5.6 billion in sales and 10.2 million bikes sold in 2009, but still down from the $6.1 billion and 14 million bikes in pre-recession 2005.

Sales last year contributed to 39.3 million Americans riding a bike six times or more in 2010, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. That increased ridership 3% from 2009 and has made bicycle commuters of 10% of all riders. Bicycle-buying patterns have shifted as well, with commuter-favored hybrid/cross bikes rising from 14% of the bicycle market in 2005 to 21% last year and road bikes accelerating from 16% of the market a half-decade ago to 23% last year.

Read on here.

Chicago Debuts City's First Protect Bike Lane

From the City of Chicago, I wish all bikes lanes were like this.  There was an opportunity to do this with the Ponce/Trinity bikes lanes in Decatur.  I don’t see additional bike lanes being built currently; all the more reason to support the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition.

July 25, 2011

Kinzie protected bike lane completed

City officials and community members today marked the official opening of Chicago’s first protected bike lane along Kinzie Street between Milwaukee Avenue and Wells Street.

The protected lane features three main elements:  a marked lane adjacent to the curb in each direction along Kinzie; a buffered area with flexible marker posts, and a parking lane for automobiles.  Green paint and pavement markings depicting a bicycle help further define the lane.

Kinzie retains a lane for motor vehicles in each direction.

“This improvement will benefit not only bicyclists, but pedestrians and motorists as well,” said CDOT Commissioner Gabe Klein.  Vehicles tend to slow down and become more aware of bicyclists, he said, and pedestrians benefit from the defined environment for cars and bikes.

“Everything we do for one mode of travel should benefit the other modes of travel,” Klein said.

The ½-mile-long lane is the first in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to install 25 miles of protected bike lanes each year—to help achieve his goal of making Chicago the best big city for bicycling in the United States.

Klein also announced the location of the city’s next protected bike lane:  Jackson Boulevard from Damen Avenue to Halsted Street.  Like Kinzie, Jackson was chosen for its available roadway width, existing bike traffic and connections to existing bike lanes and bike routes.

Work on Jackson is set to begin by early August, and the work will be coordinated with an upcoming resurfacing project along Jackson.

Most of the Kinzie lane was completed in early July.  The last element—custom-fitted plates that cover the Kinzie bridge’s open-grate deck to create a smooth riding surface—was installed late last week. The plates were installed with temporary fasteners; permanent fasteners will be installed in August.

Already, the lane is proving very popular with bicyclists:  Recent counts of bicycle traffic during the morning rush hour at Kinzie and Clinton saw a 60 percent increase over May 2011 counts—from 413 bicyclists to 656.  Both counts were taken on good-weather days.

And a week ago, bicycles accounted for about 48 percent of the morning rush hour traffic on southbound Milwaukee at Kinzie—819 bicyclists vs. 892 motor vehicles.

For more info on the bike counts, click here.

CDOT has also surveyed Kinzie bicyclists about their experience with the new lane.  41 percent said Kinzie was not part of their normal route before the protected lane was installed, but is now.  And 49 percent said they feel motorist behavior has improved.

“That’s exactly the kind of change we’re hoping to achieve,” Klein said.

The Kinzie lane cost roughly $140,000 to install.  The Chicago-based SRAM Cycling Fund donated $10,000 worth of pavement markings to the project.  Cost estimates for the Jackson lane are not yet finalized.

SRAM officials, along with Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd) and officials from the Active Transportation Alliance participated in the ribbon-cutting.

Read on here.

Harassing bicyclists outlawed in Los Angeles

From the LA Times via Lake Tahoe news…

Harassing bicyclists outlawed in Los Angeles

Posted by admin in Outdoor & Sports on July 26th, 2011

By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday passed a pioneering new law intended to protect bicyclists from harassment by motorists.

The ordinance, which backers described as the toughest of its kind in the nation, makes it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists verbally or physically, and allows victims of harassment to sue in civil court without waiting for the city to press criminal charges.

Its passage comes one day after a 63-year-old bicyclist was struck and killed by a car on a downtown street — an incident that bicycle advocates say underscores the dangers cyclists face.

The new law is the latest bicycle-friendly measure to hit L.A., where an increasingly vocal community of activists has been calling for more protections.

Several of them showed up at City Hall on Wednesday to share stories of harassment; they described motorists who threw objects, shouted insults and tried to run them off the road.

As the number of cyclists on L.A. streets has swelled — local census data from 2008 show that about 13,000 commute to work on bikes, a 48 percent increase over the last eight years — so too have conflicts between motorists and bicyclists. Some motorists have accused cyclists of flouting traffic laws, while cyclists have complained that they are treated like second-class citizens.

Read on here.

Bicycles can mean a cheap commute

From St. Louis Today online…

Bicycles can mean a cheap commute

BY CYNTHIA BILLHARTZ GREGORIAN • cbillhartz@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8114

STLtoday.com | Posted: Thursday, July 28, 2011 12:01 am

 

Forget the fancy jersey covered in ads, the Shimano shoes and the $8,000 feather-light road bike.

This isn't France and you're not Lance Armstrong racing down the Champs-Élysées.

You're a commuter looking for an inexpensive, healthy, eco-friendly way to get to and from work. And as a growing number of local commuter cyclists have learned, all you need is a sturdy bike and a helmet. Neither needs to cost a lot of money, though you will have to put a little elbow grease into repairs and maintenance now and then.

Read on here.

Biking To All MLB Parks

From USA Today online…

Summer odyssey: Fan biking to all 30 MLB parks

By Chelsea Janes, USA TODAY

Until this summer, perhaps the most remarkable thing about Darren O'Donnell was that he emerged a Cincinnatti Reds fan from a childhood spent in Idaho. Then he took two of his passions -- biking and baseball -- and formed another unlikely combination, attempting to ride his bike to every Major League Baseball stadium in a six-month summer odyssey.

More than 8,000 miles, countless flat tires and one HBC (hit-by-car) later, and O'Donnell, 24, has reached 18 of the 30 ballparks.

A resident of Bellingham, Wash., and graduate of Western Washington University, O'Donnell was working at a food co-op when he joined friends on a biking trip to Chico, Calif., last April. O'Donnell, who never owned a car, had only biked short distances within his community but enjoyed the road trip so much that he came up with the idea of a bicycle baseball pilgrimage.

"I've always wanted to see all the ballparks," O'Donnell says. "It seemed realistic as far as mileage per day goes, and the whole time leading up to it I just kept thinking 'I don't see why it can't be done.' So I decided to do it."

Read on here.