Our bike riding neighbors to the west in Newark are getting a “protected bike lane.”  Hope that means Jersey City is next — right Mayor Healy?  The word is Jersey Avenue might soon have a bike lane, but the primary goals should be Newark Avenue and Montgomery Street, the two main arteries to downtown Jersey City.

Another nearby city, Philadelphia, hosted a two day Bike Expo during Halloween weekend.  Screened during a seminar on Sunday was One Got Fat:

This anti-cycling expression masked as a bicycle safety film has been shown to students in schools in America for decades. My girlfriend saw it in middle school as recently as the late 80’s. Halloween weekend prepared us for fright, but the monkey masks in the film are truly horrific, as is the narrator’s voice. I can’t see how any child would choose to go near a bike immediately after watching this smear campaign. Within 9 blocks to the park, every bike rider was toast, that’s a great message to send our youth.  The literal translation for this video would be, “if you ride bikes, you’re a dumb monkey.”  The only kid that was spared was the one who chose to walk to the park.

It was screened at the Expo during a seminar by Baltimore’s Sam Fitzsimmons whom I had the pleasure to meet. Read more about Sam at urban velo here.

The point of Sam’s seminar: clearly someone didn’t want kids to ride bikes. Only the crappiest, heaviest, most impractical bikes were being marketed to kids at that time. They were marginalized from viable efficient transportation to toys that collect dust in the garage after the first flat. Someone decided all the practical aspects of cycling were best kept secret.

Sam brought in a couple of examples of such ornamental clunkers, this is what the youth of America typically got for Christmas during those days.

We also took a photo of this guy who, in the spirit of Halloween, showed up at the Bike Snob NYC seminar dressed as Cru Jones from the 1986 bike film Rad.

The lumber yard chase scene at 3:20 is a classic, by the way.

The bike snob was not snobby at all and actually seems like a cool guy. He gave out free stuff to people in a hilarious game of impromptu Bike Snob Trivia. The Snob said, “My stock and trade as a blogger is stupid, goofy cragistlist posts… This is how I make a living… I’ve never written a fake craigslist ad. That would be like doping.”

New York’s bike painting artist Taliah Lempart, as well as Bike Cult author Dave Perry were also spotted in attendance. Check out bikecult.com for more on their work.

Check out the lug work on this custom Waterford on display at the Philly Bike Expo:

These machines were spotted over by Bilenky’s table:

Speaking of the gracious host, here is Mr. Bilenky’s cyclocross bike courtesy of fixedgeargallery.com, they’ve got a slew of photos from the Expo. Thanks to Bilenky for putting the Philly Expo together.

Photo by Andrew Franciosa

www.bikealbany.com

The clean lines are back, but there are now just four Globe models to choose from, including the newest Globe, the Daily.

The roll is the only model in the Globe line that is made from steel.  Steel is a good idea for the aggressive angles used on the roll, which are close to that of track geometry. They’ve padded up the saddle on the roll from last year, which had resembled the famous concor shape. This year, the roll’s stock saddle is reminiscent of another classic: the regal.  Integrated flat bars/stem one piece are included as your stock cockpit.  These bikes will ship with front and rear brakes installed, though some may choose to take them off for fixed gear applications.  Hand brakes are probably less stressful to both your head and to your knees.

The haul is your bike if you need to bring 100 pounds of gear with you along for the ride.  Great choice for camping near some bike trails, just load up the tent, sleeping bags, and go–with or without the use of a car.

Photos by Andrew Franciosa from www.bikealbany.com

Here is a snapshot of Matt from Spookys Supertouch. A serious race bicycle.

Sunday I raced the my first Pro123 cyclocross race. I was pretty pleased with how I finished, despite being lapped by the leaders. The course was fast, and dusty. The corners were smooth and easy to carry speed through. This course reminded me of how fun ‘cross can be. I learned a lot about pushing the tires to the limit in sand, loose dirt and grass at Sucker Brook ‘Cross.

This was a great weekend, looking forward to Gloucester this weekend.

Chris, Colin and Alex will all be finishing out their road seasons at Bostons 20k crit.

Goodluck to everybody racing and look for updates from both venues this weekend.