Lorien Haynes rides a bicycle

Anna Paquin rides a bike along the beach with Stephen Moyer's ex-girlfriend, Lorien Haynes.

I know Anna's bike is Nirve's Hello Kitty bike, but I can't make out the headbadge on Lorien's cruiser. Does anybody know what that is?



See also: Ann Paquin rides a bicycle and Anna Paquin cycles home.

Dirt Series: She's the pretty cyclist

I took some photos over the weekend of the Dirt Series women's mountain bike skills clinic in Santa Cruz at the invitation of local travel writer Karen Kefauver. Karen's a real sweetheart, a lot of fun to be around, and very enthusiastic about everything she does. She faceplanted into a sandpit while racing at the Sea Otter Classic the other weekend and laughed through the whole episode.

I'm just a hack with a blog and a camera, but Karen is a professional journalist who does research, checks facts and takes notes. She told me Olympic medalist Jill Kintner was at this clinic and asked me to take photos of her.

"Okay," I say. "Where's Jill at?"

Karen, with a completely straight face, tells me, "Jill is the real pretty one. Bye!" and then Karen goes back to her group for more mountain biking instruction.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am in a field surrounded by 60 athletic, stunningly beautiful women on bicycles, and Karen tells me to find "the real pretty one." Uh huh.







Karen writes about her experience at the Dirt Series mountain bike skills clinic in Santa Cruz. Drop by and tell her hello!

More: Pink pink pink pink Gnat.

GT Aerostream city bike

I saw Valerie at the GT Bicycles booth with the Aerostream cruiser bike and asked her to describe the benefits of this bicycle. GT Bicycles Aerostream bicycle has some nice features differentiating it from other bikes in the cruiser bike category.



Valerie was kind enough to demonstrate some of the features of this bike:

• Gates carbon belt drive
  
• Shimano 3 speed hub
  
• Efficient and smooth rolling 700 x 47 tires
  
• Women's model (shown) has a front basket for Valerie to store her pom poms. This front basket has a collapsible frame which is cheaper to ship (lowers dealer cost)
  
• Men's model has rear racks and panniers.
  
• Unique rear triangle design eliminates the usual bolt off triangle used in other belt drive designs.
  
• Lightweight aluminum frame is stiffer, less clunky and lighter than your standard beach cruiser. Valerie let me ride her bicycle and I can report that it indeed provides a very nice and smooth ride.

As you can see, just sitting on the GT Aerostream automatically makes anybody at least 14% hotter. This is what Valerie looks like off of the bike:



...And here's another photo of Valerie on the GT Aerostream:



Your mileage may vary.

Valerie also tells me that REI is now selling this bike and absolutely loves it.

Jessica Alba rides Velib

Jessica Alba was spotted during Fashion Week in Paris riding around on the popular Velib rental bike.





See the complete set of Jessica Alba on Velib photos at Celebrity Gossip.

In other Fashion Week news, Riding Pretty notes some intersting helmet covers on the runway in Paris.

Jennifer Lopez on a bicycle

39 year old superstar Jennifer Lopez completed a half-mile swim, 18-mile bike ride and 4-mile run yesterday in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon -- her first -- in a time of 2 hours, 23 minutes and 28 seconds.

Other celebrities who swam, biked and ran in Malibue include Amanda Detmer, Nicholas Gonzales (who looks like a runner), Jon Cryer (who looks tired), James Denton, Matthew McConaughey, Brittany Daniel, Estella Warren and Eliza Dushku. Even real athletes like Anna Kournikova and Amanda Beard were among the 2,000 people who participated.

We see a *lot* of Specalized bicycles among the Hollywood celebrities! Here's Eliza Dushku with what looks like a 2007 but brand new Specialized Ruby Comp (Compact).

The heroic bike commuter

Something cycling advocates occasionally talk about is that the overwhelming majority of bike commuters seem to be men. Some areas measure the success of their bike promotion efforts by the proportion of women to men out riding their bikes.

I've always assumed it was a matter of risk assessment, that women who feel less safe are more inclined to drive rather than expose themselves in the open. Natalie Ramsland, the bike builder at Sweetpea Bicycles in Portland told me something this morning that really gave me food for thought.

I suspect that the broader scope of women's responsibilities (work, caregiving, schelppin') plays some role female ridership. It's easier to be the heroic bike commuter if you've got somebody else picking up the drycleaning and shuttling Johnny off to soccer practice. It seems that too often that somebody is female.

This is certainly true in my family; while I'm busy self-righteously saving the planet, my wife is busy running errands and taking care of the household.

It's time for me to be a little more appreciative of my wife and to evaluate how I can contribute more to the household, I think.

You can read more about Natalie in this interview at Commute By Bike.

Swobo Del Norte

I've posted these photos of the Swobo Del Norte already, but I figure it's worth a repeat with the hundreds of Swobo fans visiting me today. Here's Erin riding the new Swobo Del Norte singlespeed bicycle.



The Swobo Del Norte is an all steel singlespeed bicycle for urban riding, complete with fender and rack mounts. This is a pre production bike and the saddle got loose (hence the weird angle), but otherwise this bike will come equipped as pictured for $679. The 130 mm flip flop allows for a quick conversion to fixed gear, but you'll need to add your own cog to the fixie side of the hub.



The Del Norte is named for the Del Norte ferry boat that runs between San Francisco and Larkspur in the North Bay. See Del Norte product details at Swobo's website.

2008 Specialized Angel

The new Specialized Angel made her debut appearance during the 2008 Amgen Tour of California. Please feel free to comment.

Photo by Ken Conley

Here are some more photos of the Specialized Angel -- click on the image to view large. If you like this post, please share it using one of the buttons below (Digg, Stumbleupon, Facebook, Del.icio.us, CycleCluster, email).



A big thank you to Ken Conley for sharing his Tour of California photos. He'll be up on Mount Hamilton for today's Stage 3. It's cold and rainy in the South Bay right now. While race officials have an alternate route ready, weather forecasters don't expect snow or ice today. The inclement weather also hasn't stopped many fans who are already lining up on Sierra Road to watch the cyclist zoom into San Jose this afternoon.

DKNY orange bicycles

For Fashion Week in New York City, DKNY says to "Explore Your City" on bike. DKNY informs fashionistas of the benefits of cycling by noting New York's high population and flat terrain make it an ideal city for cycling; informing people that May is Bike Month in New York; DKNY stores in NYC are distributing free bike maps.

DKNY also will give away what they describe as a "custom folding bike," which turns out to be a Huffy painted in a DKNY color scheme. (Since when did Huffy have folders?)

According to Conde Naste Portfolio, DKNY has also chained about 75 orange bikes around New York City, noting that it's a publicity stunt that's seems to have gone awfully well for DKNY. Why else would DKNY be mentioned by Bike Snob, Streetsblog, Bike Blog, Bike Hugger, Gwadzilla and now even Cyclelicious?


Not all the attention has been positive, with some people thinking it's too much like the ghost bike memorials.

Photo: "DKNY Pro Bike Campaign" from Amanda Ford in Brooklyn.

I guess I should point out that none of the female bike commuters I encounter ever look like the fashion models pictured here. They mostly look something like me -- you know: a little bit dorky, wrinkly clothes, wripped and oily pant hems, smelly bike gloves, yellow jacket, helmet hair, a little sweaty -- they just usually have longer hair than me. I sometimes run into sanguine cuties like Emily though, too.

Cycle Dog

Megan is a cyclist in Texas. She likes guns, Panda bears, polar bears, fixed gear bikes, and short fenders. This is her dog, Pie.



Here are a couple more adorable dog with bike photos.




Some might accuse me of pandering to those who hanker for cute pet photos, but really I'm just following industry trends. Sickenly cute pet photos is almost the definition of a succcessful blog, and besides I'm just following CycleDog's lead, here. That's the ticket.

(Click on photos for captions and photographer info)

Skirt and bicycle

Many women I know prefer the more "feminine" look of skirts and dresses even while cycling; my wife is one of them. In the San Francisco Bay Area, I see a handful of women who dress up for work and ride their bikes in their office wear. One in particular I see almost every day dresses fashionably and rides to and from the office on an old white Peugot 10 speed. Even in her straight skirt on a bike with a top tube she manages to ride demurely and confidently.

A common way to stay modest is to wear bike shorts or tights under the skirt. Byron the Bike Hugger posted some links to handy tips for the ladies who might want to ride a bicycle in a dress or skirt. Pauline seeks to excite onlookers with her advice in Happy Woman Magazine in which she advocates stretchy, short skirts. Lisa offers somewhat more practical advice for the more modest cyclist at at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. She suggests an elastic band on the thigh to which you can safety pin your skirt to prevent wind-blown exposure. The Guardian notes that long skirts become short skits and short skirts become shorter skirts on a bike. Darcy writes she can ride in anything with no fear.

I'm glad to see more and more people who see cycling as an activity that can be done in any kind of clothing.

Top photo: "Santa Cruz Cyclist" by me.
Bottom photo: "Kirsty" by Hen Waller. See also the excellent Velocouture pool for many more photos of stylishly dressed cyclists.

Chanel bicycle

Chanel has apparently announced a $12,000 city bike as part of the fashion house's 2008 spring/summer collection. So far, only fuzzy black-and-white images of this bike are available, which features black leather saddle and saddle bag, 8 speed hub gearing on a *cough* "lightweight" 36 pound bike.



Although the Chanel bike features fenders and a chainguard, Chanel last summer also introduced jeweled pant clips to keep your pants from getting caught in the chain.



Seen also at Vogue and Female First. Be sure to keep this baby locked up.

San Francisco cyclist photos

This is Emily at Dolores Park in San Francisco.

The photographer, Pamela "Bici Girl" Palma, is a Bay Area photostylist. She took this portrait as part of a series of photos of San Francisco cyclists for an exhibit at Refried Cycles.

See Pamela's complete set of San Francisco cyclist photos here. Her photo is copyright 2007 and is posted here with her kind permission.

Short skirt and shimmery tights

Cool BMX flatland tricks, too!



Everybody else is mentioning this Donnie Darko-ish video, so I figure I should, too.

Bat for Lashes is the stage name of British songwriter, musician and multi-media artist Natasha Khan. She studied film and music at university, both of which strongly influence her work. I copied that last sentence from a blog somewhere because it's so inane. Enjoy.

I forgot to mention earlier that Doc Logan posted this video too.

Sherry Lynne White

Update: See Cyclelicious girly articles here.

There's been a surge of traffic to Cyclelicious of people apparently searching for nude photos of Navy officer Shery Lynne White on a bicycle. They were finding Paul Tay's comment about Sherry Lynne White's interview at military.com. Paul posted his own Sherry Lynne White thoughts at his site (with a patriotic themed photo).

Kirsten Gum non-nude

Kirsten Gum has gotten extremely popular lately, I presume because of her new show on the Travel Channel.


Kirsten Gum? Masiguy says a lot of people visit his site looking for naked photos of him with sportscaster-hottie Kirsten Gum. Click here for the nasty details. *pause* -- Back to the action: Made you look! But I have some pictures of pretty girls on bicycles here if you want to look.

If you're really desperate, here's the comprehensive list of links to all things Kirsten Gum.

Anna Ternheim bicycle video

Anna Terheim is a young, pretty Swedish singer and guitar player with short blond hair and sad eyes who sings sad songs about loneliness and lost love. You can watch Anna ride a bicycle through village streets and rural tracks around Gotland in her music video "To Be Gone."

• Real Video here.
  
• MPEG and QT Movie here.

Via Missouri Bike Fed.

Natalie Gulbis on a bicycle

Natalie Gulbis is a budding star in the Ladies Professional Golf Association. She can smack a ball 500 yards down the fairway and have it land in the green, but she can't ride a bike. From an interview with ESPN.

On the other side of that, what do you ultimately suck at?

  "Riding a bike. Instead of using the brakes (when I was a kid), I just jumped off. I suck at riding bikes. Hopefully someone can show me how to ride properly and how to use the brakes!"

LPGA golfer Michelle Wie, on the other hand, says bicycling is too easy.

Tags: Natalie+Gulbis, golf

Michelle Wie on bikes

Q. What is it that you enjoy so much about golf?

"When I started riding a bicycle, it took me -- like I did it every morning like 6 o'clock in the morning, trying to ride a bike. And then after I started riding the bike, I didn't even ride the bike. I don't know if I could ride the bike right now. So I just stop after I know how to."

Wie doesn't ride a bike because it's too easy or too boring?

Tags: michelle+wie, bikes

Foot fetish

You Wait Here

If you like foot photos, you'll want to check out this blog: "Come here! I want to show you something!" This car-free photographer has literally hundreds of photos of Chicagoland from the perspective of footwear. She writes:

I have not owned a car for 7 years. I live and work as a Design and Marketing manager in the city of Chicago. I ride one of my three bikes to work and most other places I go every day, year round. If I'm not on a bike I'm walking and every now and then publicly transport myself around town. I'm originally from the Detroit area which is very car friendly, bike unfriendly. I chose to live in Chicago because of Lake Michigan and spend a lot of time on the shoreline bike trail.

I asked her why she takes photos of her feet.

I've been blogging the shoe thing for almost a year. It started out as a little challenge to myself: One or two photos a day of my shoes/feet. I have always been intrigued by ground level perspective, and well, I like shoes and have a lot of them so the whole thing seemed like the easiest and most personally interesting concept for a daily photo challenge.

Cyclelicious feature photo. Tags: feet, chicago