Yehuda's Natural Home

I wrote a little while ago about my Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery patch.

Finally got around to sewing it on to my Carradice last night - it's not central, and that will bug me, I think, but surely Yehuda's natural home is on a Carradice bag.

Did I sew it on myself?

No, I sewed it on to the bag, like I said.

Posted via email from monkeyphoto's posterous

From 2D Goggles: A Matter of Proportion

Read More at 2D Goggles/a>

Although this Chibi Brunel is the highlight of the post for me, the rest of it is an interesting look at the use of proportion in the creator's own comic, and in others.

Looking back through some sketchbooks, I notice that I tend to draw figures 7 heads high, personally, which falls squarely in the category of dullard realism

Posted via email from monkeyphoto's posterous

From Flowing Data: Evolution of Batman logos

via flowingdata.com

Interesting how something can change so much, and yet still be so recognisable. More at the Flowing Data link.

Posted via email from monkeyphoto's posterous

STUFFE

TOUR PODCASTS
The Velocast has gone daily for the duration of the tour - these are snappy little 15 minute or so 'casts reviewing the action of the day's stage, and are well worth a listen.

Also worthy of note is the latest Cyclingnews podcast, in which tour veteran (20 years!) Gary Imlach is interviewed. There are fantastic anecdotes and stories of the coverage and tour in this, and I highly recommend it.

NICE RACK
Bike Commuters reviews the Planet Bike K.O.K.O. rack - which looks nicely designed and well thought out - I particularly like the angled pannier supports, which taper in towards the seatpost from the rear. I'm not sure whether this serves a useful purpose, but it looks cool. More practically, the the rack struts will keep your panniers out of the wheel, and the light plate will come in handy for winter rides (Although I wish more manufacturers would drill these to allow the mounting of a couple of lights).

COMICS
Phil Plait looks at the work of Daryl Cunningham, who has a couple of interesting comics on his site examining Homeopathy, and the Anti-Vaccination movement. Well worth reading.

Less seriously, Nedroid.com looks at firework safety, through the medium of Reginald.

ASTEROIDS
Also from Phil Plait is a piece on Japan's Hayabusa mission, the first space flight to land successfully on an asteroid, and return to earth after doing so, an astonishing achievement, even without the trouble that plagued the mission.

MAD FIBER
Cozy Beehive has an excellent round up of links in his "Cycling Shorts" piece (see what he did there). It's very much better than this, (but includes fewer comics, so TAKE THAT, Mr. Bee). It includes, and expands on some of the misgivings I have about crabon myself, talking particularly about wheels.

THE MOST IMMORAL SPORT IN THE WORLD?
Sports Scientists have an opinion piece on this. His argument is that soccer lacks the redeeming aspects even of comprehensively tarnished sports like our own much beloved pro-cycling.

URBAN SKETCHERS
As interesting as ever, Urban Sketchers has a feature on Sports Illustrated artist Robert Weaver here. The link in the article takes you to a slideshow of Weaver's sketches. The pictures of the baseball players reminds me of the advice to "draw clear, not clean".

LE TOUR
Geraint Thomas is featured in Cycling News, sporting his new British National Champion's jersey. It looks great, and kudos to him and Sky for not doing anything wacky, or, for want of a better word, "Pippo" with it. Thomas has had a couple of good rides in his Tour debut so far, and deserves a hearty "chapeau".

Also from the Tour is the news that Mark Cavendish has been jeered by fans in Team Sky kit;

They yelled repeatedly, "Cavendish, you suck! Go home!"

With the reported arrival of the World Cup's Vuvuzelas at the Dutch stages of Le Tour, it appears some of the football fans' much admired attitude and "wit" has arrived too.

Bike Hugger, or David at Bike Hugger at least, is disillusioned with the tour. Whilst I appreciate that there are differences in the coverage between Eurosport & ITV4 here, and the seemingly very Armstrong centric Versus, I think his second point, about the doping coverage rings slightly less true with me. Although it's felt this way before (2008, anyone?) we do seem to be at something of a turning point towards a cleaner sport now. The fallout won't be pleasant, but it's fairly apparent that we can't continue looking the other way much longer.

SPACESUIT OF THE WEEK

Hunter Freeman is a photographer living and working in San Francisco. In an ongoing personal project, Freeman photographs astronauts exploring very pedestrian environments while fully dressed in Apollo Space Suits.

This, on Kitsune Noir is BRILLIANT.

MOVES
Pavé blog is now at http://www.pavepavepave.com/ , so update your bookmarks accordingly. (Oddly, feedly won't let me add the new site as a feed, must see if I can fix that that).

LOST
Lastly, Flowing Data brings us the Geography of Lost. Still no word on why I keep watching it though, sadly.

STUFFE

THE BEST CYCLING PICTURE EVER, CONTINUED
I have no idea what the story behind this shot is, or was, but no one can deny that this guy has it going on. Chopper bike, checked trews, and a lady looking on admiringly.

That's HOW I ROLL, BABY. (He might be saying).

(Found on Bike Hugger, original image from the Smithsonian)

HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE - AND CHEST
Of course, the sun has disappeared the very instant I began to think of these, but Howies have a stylish "Vive Le Tour" t-shirt as their t-shirt of the week.

Also worthy of note, and not so time limited, are Brian Opsal's lovely cycling inspired shirts, including this Bernard Hinault inspired number, and (perhaps for Lamby) this Pantani shirt.

And of course, no round up of bike shirts would be complete without the artwork of Richard Mitchelson, whose "Tete De La Course" series are really nice. (Series 1, Series 2)

Urban Cyclists could do a lot worse than check out City Cycling's Red Bubble store, which does include some pro-cycling shirts, one of which is a Maillot Pois (Polka Dot) shirt subtle enough to not write cheques your legs may not be able to cash...

HOW TO EMAIL
Nedroid Picture Diary has some invaluable advice.

ISO TRUSS FRAMES
Cozy Beehive blog looks at these unusual Carbon Fibre frames. in this post.

VELO ORANGE
They've updated about their "Grand Cru" cranks, in this post. One paragrpah caught my eye in particular;

I do apologize for being out of so many items. The super busy spring season really cleaned us out and we've once again seen growth beyond what I'd anticipated and planned for. The good news is that we should have two containers of products, including several new items, sailing in July.

In some ways, that's a pain, after all, we all want our stuff. But looking at it another way, a company like Velo Orange, who make nice things that they care about making well, is so successful that they (briefly) can't meet demand - that has to be a good thing, and more power, and more success, to them.

SHUTT & ALWAYS RIDING
It's also good to see nice chaps, and manufacturers of top quality gear Shutt Velo Rapide going from strength to strength - their latest venture is a tie in with Always Riding;

Shutt Velo Rapide, UK manufacturer of fine handmade Sportwool™ jerseys, has today teamed up with online e-tailor Alwaysriding.co.uk to create a new range of cycling jerseys inspired by the heyday of British Motor Sport.

BING MAPS TOUR DE FRANCE APPLICATION
Podium Café has an article about this, which will include commentary from Podium Café on the stages. Click a stage in the sidebar to see the route map and profile - move your cursor along the profile to see a rider follow the route. The application also includes weather forecasts for the stages!

It's better seen than described, so click here to check it out, it's very impressive.

SCIENCE OF SPORT TOUR DE FRANCE ROUND UP
If you don't already read the Science of Sport blog, it's well worth a look. They're looking forward to the tour like most cycling fans, and they've collected some relevant prior posts, and some new commentary here - do add them to your rss feeds if you're following the tour this year.

CYCLOCOSM
A single heading for two good posts, first a bit of pre-tour talk, including a look at the "Radioshack won't start" rumours, and an interesting snippet on pre-tour coverage in the US;

I’m sick of the sad-music-for-Lance, evil-music-for-Contador recaps of last year, the LA vs. AC previews...

Which struck me as a bizarre spin on things from the broadcasters, given that a lot of the acrimony and division in the Astana camp last year seemed to stem from the Armstrong camp either not supporting, or lending only half hearted support to Bert as the self evidently stronger rider.

Cosmo also looks at the rules related to bunch sprints in this post, unpicking what the UCI says about what it's ok to do, and not do in the race for the line.

LE TOUR DES VINS
For a different look at the Tour De France, you could do a lot worse than Jack Thurston's "Tour Des Vins de France", a meander through the tour's stages sampling hop and grape. Mrs. Monkey has personally approved this approach to the tour, and is following Jack's articles with great interest.

WOMEN'S CYCLING
Podium Café have an interesting round up of the field for the Giro Donne, which runs from 2nd to the 11th of July. It's a treasure trove of links, related to the Giro Donne in particular, and women's cycling in general - have your bookmarks folder open when reading it.

INFOGRAPHICS
Information is Beautiful looks at the work of "Always with Honour", a duo you may not have heard of, but whose work you'll almost certainly recognise if you're a fan of Good Magazine's "Transparency" features.

Also well worth a look is this FIFA player value infographic, examined by Flowing Data - what would you do to improve it?

CHAPEAU
To Karl on Sea, who completed his Ironman triathlon. You can read his race report on his blog, and still sponsor him (a surer proposition now, if you were wavering, as you know he's completed the race) here. Monies will be going to Macmillan Cancer Support, an excellent charity that provides practical, medical, emotional and financial support to people affected by cancer, and advocates for better cancer care.

STUFFE

THE JOURNEY THAT SAVED CURIOUS GEORGE
I'm not sure how well known Curious George is in the UK - my daughter loves him, and had several of the books (and the dvd on repeat) when she was younger.

Urban Velo points us at "Curious George Saves the Day", an exhibition of the art of Curious George, and the history of his creators.

the authors who created him, Margaret and Hans A. Rey ... were German Jews living in Paris when they fled Nazi persecution on bicycles Hans fashioned from spare parts. Their journey is documented in Louise Borden’s 2005 picture book, The Journey That Saved Curious George.

It's odd to think of such a joyful, innocent character coming out of the horror of the second world war, something Rey mused on himself;

At such a time, Hans A. Rey wrote in a letter, “it feels ridiculous to be thinking about children’s books.” But that is what they were doing, prolifically, including a book about a monkey named Fifi, who later became known as Curious George.

To link back to cycling, anyone arriving at the exhibition (which is at the Jewish Museum in New York) will get a $2 discount on admission throughout June.

CYCLING INQUISITION
I'm surprised more people don't know about Cycling Inquisition - the writing is great, and his focus on Columbian cycling and cyclists is, as far as I know, rare in English language blogs.

Yesterday saw another good piece on Columbian Cycling culture, the race report that runs long because riders have to tell their mothers they've finished safely, the rider who works as a coal miner. It's great, and you should read it.

THE ELECTRIC TRAILER

Power assist can make a lot of sense for Cargo Bikes - but if you're not hauling stuff all the time, you end up with an e-bike whether you need the assist or not. So what about an electric trailer?

COMMUTING IN THE HEAT
Bikecommuters.com rounds up its posts on riding to work in the heat - if our hot spell continues here, this could be one to bookmark...

CLAMPDOWN
The Police in London began a crackdown on road users who disobey traffic law yesterday. Whilst I question slightly the implicit assumption that an equal risk is posed by all of them, enforcing traffic law can't be a bad thing. Cycling Weekly has more.

COMICS
Nedroid Picture Diary, and Savage Chickens both contain valuable life lessons in their latest comics.

TENNIS
Not a sport I follow, but the epic match between Mahut and Isner caught my interest. The Science of Sport blog deconstructs the match here.

WWII URBAN SKETCHER
Wonderful stuff from wartime artist William A. Smith, over at the Urban Sketchers Blog.

FARGO ADVENTURE RIDE
Great pictures of what looks like an awesome ride.

This ride is about fun, adventure, challenge and friendship. It could be argued that the routes and adventures are designed to highlight the versatile and capable Salsa Fargo, but I would argue the routes and adventures are planned to challenge folks and that the Fargo is simply the right tool for the job.

More detail, and a link to Gnat's flickr set of event photos at Salsa's Blog.

YORK CYCLE SHOW
A great piece at Velovision with lots of pictures. Look at the lugwork on the Hetchins, for one thing (third pic down).

THANKS
To those of you who made kind comments about "STUFFE" posts - it's appreciated. I'm still figuring out what the format should be (just links, some commentary) and you may have noticed it isn't daily any more. I'm playing it by ear, truth be told.

STUFFE

WHAT CAR HORNS ARE REALLY SAYING
A great comic from "The System".

MORE NAKED THAN NAKED

...although work safe, I think. Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog has these oddly disconcerting X-Ray "pin ups", created for a medical equipment manufacturer's promotional campaign. Some good may come of them, as Mr. Plait points out;

Check out what stilettos do to your metatarsophalangeal joint between the metatarsal and proximal phalangeal bones! Perhaps one outcome of these pictures is that the next time I see a woman wearing 4 inch heels, this’ll be what I think of.

CLOSE TO FLYING
Cozy Beehive blog points you towards this interview with world champion Cadel Evans, partly promoting his book, "Close to Flying". It's interesting stuff, although I can't help feeling that the Cadel Evans story has more chapters to be written yet. Cozy Beehive has an older, interesting article about Evans that you can read here.

MAJOR THE MOVIE
Marshall "Major" Taylor was American and World Cycling champion in 1899, a feat that makes him the first black world champion of any leading sport, according to the film makers.

Urban Velo has a small piece linking to the preview of the Major Taylor film here.

CARGO/TRAILER CORNER

Moving House by bicycle, from the Utility Cycling blog.

Of course, moving your entire house by bike is pretty extreme - but a weekly shop? Piece of cake...

JIM DENEVAN

Lines and Colors blog has these amazing pieces by Jim Denevan;

...an artist who makes his works in the sand and earth, but in a much more elaborate and large scale manner. He makes his marks with a stick or rake, stirring up the sand to make it darker and walking carefully while making the pattern.

Given the amount of work he must put into them, I find it amazing that they're done in such an ephmeral medium.

Also from Lines and Colors are these beautiful posters for America's national parks.

THE LAST CITY CYCLING
Can be found here.

When I started riding to work, City Cycling was one of the resources that I used a lot - once you get past the basics, sites like City Cycling provide other people's real life experiences of riding in traffic, and beyond that, food for thought about cycling's place in your life, and in society generally. I was also fortunate to have some of my writing published in it, thanks to tireless editor Anth.

Although this is the last monthly issue, City Cycling will live on, albeit in a different form, so keep your eye on the site for news.

"THE LITTLE GUYS LIVE HERE..."
From drawn.ca, Kevin Huizenga's blog about cartooning practice. I like the illustration that leads the article, it says an awful lot about the difficulty of transferring your ideas to paper.

R.I.P. FRANK SIDEBOTTOM
I'm from Timperley originally, so Frank Sidebottom has flitted in and out of my consciousness from time to time throughout my life. I remember once seeing him wave from a house on one of the Timperley bus routes (as we all waved back).

Chortle and BrokenTV both have good pieces about his life and work.

STUFFE

Locals & Tourists #32, Manchester, by Eric Fischer

LOCATION
Redbikes has found a useful tool for visualising your GPS tracks.

Flowing Data covers an interesting project based on geotagged photos. Initially, it showed where most photos are taken in a city - the author has, however, extended the project to differentiate between visitors and locals - really interesting stuff. See the picture above for local (to me) interest.

Lastly, Brendada was kind enough to point me in the direction of this interesting project, "Uncertain Eastside" again using GPS/Geotagging.

COMICS
If you follow Nedroid Picture Diary, you'll know that Beartato is the steady rock to Reginald's mercurial flightiness. What you may not know is that he had a rebellious youth...

DEALING WITH NEGATIVE PRESS
This article from Bicycling tells of a novel way for cyclists to respond to Daily Mail style attacks in the press - make your donation to cycling charities in the correspondent's name. The correspondent in question may be on his way to becoming the Bicycle Coalition's biggest supporter...

SHAVING
Karl on Sea has a guilty secret... (Don't forget, you can still sponsor Karl's Ironman triathlon, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support here).

LIGHTS
I know it's the wrong time of year, but Velo Orange covers some interesting lights from Dutch company "Spanninga".

"most interesting is their "Reverse-Beam Technology". They claim it's one of the most efficient LED systems available. The LED bulb is mounted just behind the lens and aimed rearward at a mirror that focuses and reflects the light. This minimizes light loss and gives a strong focused and lateral beam."

I think this is similar to Busch & Muller's designs (although I could be wrong).

JOCHEN GERNER
Features in this post from drawn.ca. His densely populated sketchbook pages are fascinating, as is the pared down, schematic style of his published work.

STUFFE

DEPT OF WOW
A couple of things from Phil Plait's excellent "Bad Astronomy" blog;



This amazing picture shows the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Secondly, he discusses the finding of evidence that life *could* exist on Saturn's moon Titan. It's not so much that, as the fact of Titan itself, the solar system's second largest moon, and bigger than Mercury or Pluto (PLANETS, ffs)! The universe is an amazing place.

COMICS
Today's "The System" is pleasingly recursive.

PVP comments on today's landmark release of "Invincible Iron Man" (digital and print editions on the same release date). The fact that the digital copy is priced at *more* than the print edition shows just how badly publishers are still missing the point (imo, anyway).

WORLD CUP
I have to admit, I'm already sick of the World Cup, largely because everyone keeps telling me how much I love it (thanks, popular culture). When the tournament starts, I may start to feel better disposed towards it, admittedly.

However, there will almost certainly be something of interest at the Science of Sport Blog, which is beginning a series related to football and the World Cup this week.

Non-fans may also find this "World Cup Translated into American" guide of use.
Germany, for example, are The Dallas Cowboys;

"They may not have won the big game the most times, but they’re close. And no one’s been to that game more than them. They’re hard to root for if you’re not from there, moreso than France, even. That’s partly cultural, sure, but it’s mostly because they do so much damn winning (especially in the '70s and '90s). The team is always made up of a combination of straight-laced leaders and absolute looney-tunes. It’s dysfunctional but seems to work. One of the all-time great squads, like ‘em or not."

Also related to the world cup, I saw Greater Manchester Police's "Football Hero" campaign on a couple of busses today. Reading the poster, it seems being a Football Hero is easy, just don't get plastered, and if you do, don't then kick someone's head in (although on the experience of last time, even this may be beyond some "fans"). You can read more about the campaign, and get a free World Cup planner/poster here.

GET THIS
There is a new Velocast. Do I really need to say more?

There's also a new As It Occurs To Me (AITOM!) - it should be said that this isn't for everyone, within the first ten minutes there'd been blasphemy, sexual swearwords, fictional incest (you get the idea) it is VERY funny though.

RIDE TO EAT?
Salsa Cycles have interviewed nutritionist Namrita O'Dea about eating for riding. Apparently it goes beyond sticking some winegums and a bit of soreen in your jersey pockets, who knew?

PRE TOUR TUNE UPS
Cosmo has a good round up of the pre tour races here. As he points out Vacansoleil continue to show the UCI & ASO that they're deserving of a place that sadly, they don't have.

STUFFE

LANDIS
This is old, but on the off chance that you've not seen it, it's well worth a read. The Science of Sport Blog reviews reaction to Floyd Landis' allegations (as of 27th May). It's full of good stuff;

However, the point is that cycling has slowed up, and while there are numerous factors (race situation, conditions etc.) that contribute to this, the suppression (not the removal) of doping is one strong possibility.

Lots of good commentary and links for further reading, highly recommended. Personally, I really like that they take the "So what?" attitude to the oft repeated "defence" of cycling that other sports have doping problems too (on which less harsh spotlights are cast).

For those of you who cross train, there's also a good piece on the Barefoot Running movement here.

MOTORISED DOPING
Two good debunkings of the allegations against Mr. Cancellara from Cosmo, and the Cozy Beehive (here, here and here).

BIKEHACKS "BECAUSE IT'S THERE" DEPT

Using a bike wheel to store your pans, and the MONSTER BIKE (strictly speaking, isn't it a trike?)

BIKE COMMUTING ESSENTIALS?
There's a nice post on the Utility Cycling blog about clothing for bike commuting. Predictably, it's brought out the hair shirt brigade, who balk at the very notion of bike specific clothing being thought of as essential.

Here's the thing. People are different - for me, anything up to about 5 miles is doable in my regular clothes (and I run errands of that sort of distance regularly on the Brompton without bike specific gear). Past that distance, sweat starts to make cotton uncomfortable, and the benefits of bike specific kit become more apparent. As Dave Moulton points out here, people didn't wear "racing" gear in the past because it was expensive, hard to care for and uncomfortable. That's no longer the case, and you have the choice, if you want it. As Dave says;

I would not dress up in Lycra for a short trip to the post-office or store, but if I am riding for an hour or more, I love it and would not go back to wearing regular clothes for a long ride. The modern clothes are so comfortable, and the great thing is, I can throw the shorts and jersey in the washing machine, they are almost dry after the spin cycle, and air dry in a few hours.

WOODCUT
Lines and Colors blog features these wonderful woodcuts by Canadian artist Lisa Brawn. There's something about the fairly modern subjects & colouration, rendered in a medium we associate with aged prints that's undeniably appealing. The commitment required to work in this way astonishes me too.

Also from Lines and Colors is this wonderful look at the backgrounds from animated films.

COMICS
A bumper harvest of three panel strips at "Hark! A Vagrant" demands your Lols.

Also, if you know me, you'll be unsurprised to learn that I was unable to resist the lure of Hyper Monkey Force.

STUFFE

ME


I've managed to get around to sorting out some photographs (from 2007!) - if you're interested, there are four more "new" ones in my flickr stream.

THE ENVIRONMENT
Or at least, that's HIS excuse. This comic from The System also features one of the neatest ways of representing pant-lessness iconographically I've seen.


BARBIE BARBIE
I knew about Plastic Peloton People, but somehow Barbie Barbie had entirely passed me by. It's

"a photo-comic inspired by cyclist Heinrich Haussler--nicknamed "Barbie"--featuring him, other members of the pro peloton, and Barbie doll herself. I created Barbie Barbie to help get through the last cycling off-season, and continue to produce episodes, although less frequently, now that the season is back in gear."

THE RAS
There's details of the first stage results of Ireland's FBD Ras over at Cycling Weekly, there are no second stage results because of a collision between riders and a jeep pulling onto the course which resulted in the stage being neutralised. The Ras' own site is here, including galleries from the current and previous editions, and a nice section "Stories of the Ras".

I'd also highly recommend Jack Thurston's Bikeshow programme about the Ras, which is here.

PSYCH COMMUTER BAG
Reviewed by bikecommuters.com, the Psych commuter bag is a different take on the frame bag. It's interesting, but is any solution for commuting luggage more elegant that Brooks + Carradice? I'm also fairly certain that my knees would rub the Psych bag and that would drive me crazy. I'm very jealous of the organiser pockets inside though, one of the few things I'd add to my Lowsaddle longflap, given the chance.

JAMES HINDLE
Drawn.ca featured "Little Wolves" on its site recently - click through to James' site and you can read his other stories - "Unsettled" in particular is a fantastic series.

JEALOUSY

"The Dirty Kanza takes place in a few weeks down in Emporia, Kansas. It is a 200-mile gravel grinder through an area called the Flint Hills. We're sending the Dirty Six...plus Lucky Seven...to take it on.

Each of these guys has his own motivations, and his own fears, for this event. Today they introduce themselves, their goals for the DK 200."

Which is all very interesting - however, what made me green with envy was the look at the setups the "Dirty Six" are riding - lovely stuff, the article is here, and the droolmaking pics begin down the page.

STUFFE

SUPPORT MACMILLAN, WIN STUFF
Cyclist, triathlete and all round good egg Karl on Sea is spoiling a 112 mile bike ride by doing a 2.4 mile swim before it, and a 26.2 mile run after it, by way of competing in an Ironman triathlon. He's doing this in aid of Macmillan cancer support, a great charity that works to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.

You can sponsor Karl at his "justgiving" page here, but if you like, you can also enter his competition to win four "money can't buy" prizes from his sponsors. You can find details of the competition and how to enter at Karl's blog here.

REAL CYCLISTS
Cozy Beehive Blog has been musing on the question of the "Real" cyclist;

Among our available dose of cliches, one you'll hear many say is that real cyclists are the ones who race. Or that real cyclists are the one's who ride fast, break bones, lose skin and come back to bite the tough again. Or that real cyclists have so many well-defined muscle groups. And so on...

He invites your comments on what makes a "real" cyclist, and indeed, whether there's any such thing.

YEHUDA MOON
A lovely comic today dedicated to the "Ride of Silence" in memory of cyclists killed in traffic collisions. Also proof that there's no comic too classy that commenters won't ruin it with a pointless discussion on helmets. Or what type of bike you should ride for commuting.

GIRO D'ITALIA
The most interesting stage of a race that's already been pretty damned interesting unfolded yesterday. Cycling Weekly has an account of Stage 11 here. I can't remember a grand tour stage that has changed the complexion of the race in such a dramatic way. Essentially, the people we'd thought of as being beyond the reach of the two main GC contenders, are all back in the game again, with the GC turned on its head.

Whilst I'm disappointed for Evans, who's ridden a champion's season (particularly so in this race, with his victory on the gruesome, mud drenched Stage 7) for the fans the race has become all kinds of interesting once again, with Sastre and Wiggins among monkey favourites now back in serious contention. Also having an amazing first grand tour is Richie Porte, holder of the best young rider jersey, and now in the Maglia Rosa leader's jersey - superb stuff.

Incidentally, a commenter on Simon Lamb's "La Gazzetta Della Bici" has heard a rumour that the weather had interfered with radio at the giro, and that could be why the break got away. If this isn't proof that a radio ban is a good thing for exciting racing, I don't know what is.

Salsa's Enabler Fork, pic from Salsa Website.

THE THIN LINE BETWEEN GENIUS AND MADNESS
So it's a front fork that runs rear wheels, yeah? Hmm.

This is another really interesting product from Salsa cycles, well worth a look. I can't decide if it's fantastic, or the most barmy thing I've ever seen, personally.

TERPSICHOREAN HIPPACOTORA
More lovely stuff from Lost Myths, "The Dance of the Hippacotora".

STUFFE

EMMA POOLEY
Podium Café has a good interview with Cervelo Test Team's Emma Pooley

"Though they have the support of Cervélo’s resources, the women are not entirely insulated from the difficulties that women’s cycling faces. Three races Emma Pooley won last year have disappeared from the calendar."

THE LOST CYCLIST
Urban Velo reviews "The Lost Cyclist -The Untold Story of Frank Lenz's Ill-fated Around-the-world Journey".

"Part travelogue, part murder investigation, “The Lost Cyclist” is a clear-eyed look at bicycle travel in the days before paved roads and automobiles. Herlihy mines myriad press accounts, not only to track the trips but also to explain the sometimes testy relationships among cycling clubs, the media, government officials and the riders’ own family."

The article also includes an interview with the author, and can be read here.

CYCLING AND DOPING
With the UCI's Biological passport in the news, it's probably a good time to round up some useful information on the passport system.

First, the UCI's own page "Information on the Bio Passport".

Scientific American "Can Biological Passports Root Out Doping in Sports?"

On NYVelocity - Michael Ashenden interview #1...and "The Bio Passport: 5 Questions for Michael Ashenden".

ART
I love the "Lost Myths" website featured on Drawn.ca yesterday.

Its creators describe it as

"A playful medly of cryptomythological fiction, pantheons, bestiaries, comics, art, games, readings, performances and more by Claude Lalumiere and Rupert Bottenburg."

Whilst the best title award undoubtedly goes to "Fun and Games with the Hippatocora", the alternately whimsical and sinister "What To Do with the Dead" is superb too.

INFOGRAPHICS
Flowing Data takes an interesting look at the trend for large infographics.

Big information graphics have been around for a long time. They've come in the form of maps, visualization, art, signs, etc. That was all on paper though. In the past couple of years, humongous, gigantic, and often really long infographics have found their way onto the computer screen, through blogs and news sites. Some are great. Some really suck. The volume is booming for both.

Let's take a look at when this all got started, where the trend is headed, and how much we should really read into these things.

STUFFE

CYCLING REALITY

In September, Belgian TV channel Vitaya is launching a reality TV show about a group of women who are preparing for a cycling race in Italy.

The participants will be getting training help from the Quick-Step team, and ride Eddy Merckx cycles. Sounds better than "X Factor", don't you think? More details here.

MAKES YOU WANT TO RIDE

Spotted by the Epicurean Cyclist, this video featuring Rivendell's Hunqapillar makes me want to go out and ride. Wonder if I can get the afternoon off?

CARGO CONVERSION
From Urban Velo - the "Zaftig" cargo fork allows you to swap out the fork on your old beater to a new one that takes a 20" wheel, with a sturdy porteur rack as part of the fork. Lots of pictures on the manufacturer's site of this thing carrying CRAZY load. Cargo bikes are cool.

BICYCLE HISTORY
My love/hate relationship with Copenhagenize enters a "love" phase once more, as they begin another interesting series of posts (a la Dave Horton's excellent "Fear of Cycling" series).

This is another 5 parter, Iain Boal's "Green Machine" history of the bicycle.

BIKEHUGGER ASKS THE BIG QUESTIONS
"Why Do Women think cycling makes their butts fat?"

CYCLING MAKES THINGS BETTER
Spotted by Urban Velo, these lovely Schwinn ads.

There's some truth in this too. City centres and neighbourhoods that aren't tyrannised by speeding traffic are more pleasant places to be.

LAMBY ASKS THE BIG QUESTIONS
Gimondi or Merckx?

(Merckx, obviously).

STAGE RACE SEASON IS HERE
Pez Cycling news have an interesting preview of this year's Giro D'Italia. Top quote;

"Oh, and if this one doesn't end in a sprint, I'll eat a tubular."

I love the classics, but the Grand Tours will see the strong teams, and different riders come to the fore. I can't wait...

STAGE RACE SEASON IS HERE II - THE BADGER
Cyclocosm has another good piece today, this time looking at an interview M. Hinault has given prior to the Grand Tours. Are Astana a better team than they get credit for?

Also, a top quote from cosmo in the comments;

"Hinault is certainly an acquired taste. But I like that he still swings a frame pump in a sport awash in politics, tact and nuance."

ART
Lines and Colors blog has a lovely piece on the illustration of Virginia Frances Sterrett - beautiful, art nouveau inspired work.

PUNS
Doug at Savagechickens draws wonderful, limited format (each cartoon done on a single post-it note) comics. And he has a great way with a pun. Today's cartoon is one of my favourites so far.

BESTIES
I love steel framed bicycles. It also follows that I love Mercian, who've been making beautiful steel frames in Derby, UK since 1946. I see Mercians occasionally on the train I get, and they draw admiring glances and occasional chat about the bikes and frames from cyclists and non cyclists alike. The frame above (a stock 953 lugged frame) featured on the Mercian Blog recently, and is particularly lovely, a primus inter pares. Something like this will probably form the basis for my dream bike/lotto winners bike. Until I see the next piece of gorgeous metal they come up with, of course.

The Mercian Cycles homepage is here.