Santa Claus Tests Cargo Bike

Santa Claus making deliveries with a cargo bike (photo courtesy of Bikes Welcome)

Santa tested out a cargo bike for delivering presents on Christmas Eve. He reported the bike worked out well getting presents to the homes of nice boys and girls. The only problem was getting up on the roof once he got to a residence. He stated "Flying reindeer just can't be beat when it comes to rooftop landings."

Friday Photo - Christmas Sweater Cycling Jersey

Dress for Christmas dinner plus the ride there and back

If you are fortunate enough to have good riding weather on Christmas day, this cycling jersey might be perfect for you. It is a cycling jersey with the image of a Christmas sweater vest printed on it. I don't know what you do with it the other 364 days each year. There's no surprise that it comes from Brisbane, Australia. They can generally count on pretty good weather for Christmas. You can buy it from Online Cycling Gear. If this is isn't formal enough for you, consider the tuxedo bicycle jersey from Corbah below. You can also ride to weddings with it.

Perfect for riding to a wedding

Thursday Video - Mountain Biking Down an Olympic Bobsled Track

Mountain biking down a bobsled run

The Winter Olympics will begin on February 9 of 2018, so I thought this video was timely. Unfortunately, they don't yet have an Olympic event that involves mountain biking down a bobsled track, which is what this guy is doing. This activity belongs in the "Don't try this at home" category. Of course, unless you live in Lake Placid, New York, you don't have a bobsled track nearby anyway.

A couple things you should know about bobsledding - It looks like it's just sledding you did as a kid but on a bigger, faster sled. Bobsleds can hit top speeds of 90 miles per hour, well above highway speeds in your car. They also go through turns that can produce accelerations up to 5 g. This is the point that fighter pilots begin to black out. Pilots use special suits and techniques to counter this. In the video, you can't tell how fast they are going, but they don't go up high in the turns like the bobsleds do. Still, when the guys high five at the end, you can tell it was quite an experience for them.

Friday Photo - Stopped by the Police

What law was he breaking?

Check out this article in the DailyMail.com from November of 2013. London had just had a spate of six cyclist deaths in just two weeks. London authorities then put another 600 police officers out on the streets at dangerous intersections, where they pulled over unsafe motorists and cyclists. Ben Watson had been taking his daughters to school in a cargo bike for four years. He was pulled over by a police officer who asked him if it was legal. Eventually, they let him go. I found it amazing that the article referred to his bike as "rickety." It doesn't look rickety at all to me.

Friday Photo - Ferris Wheel on a Bicycle

Impressive - But how do you ride it?

Here's a unique photo of a bicycle with a Ferris wheel for the rear wheel. It comes from an article at Oddee called "15 of the Coolest Forced Perspective Photos. The other 12 photos are also quite good, but they have nothing to do with cycling.

Thursday Video - Schwinn Sting-Ray Krate Collection

The second bike is a Schwinn Sting-Ray Orange Krate

This week's video features a gentleman showing his collection of Schwinn Sting-Ray Krates. These include:

• 1968 Apple Krate
• 1969 Orange Krate
• 1969 Lemon Peeler
• 1971 Grey Ghost
• 1971 Apple Krate
• 1971 Pea Picker
• 1972 Apple Krate

If you were a kid in the late 60s / early 70s, you know these were the coolest bikes around. Over at Bike History they list the progression of the models from 1968 to 1973. These bikes are now very popular with collectors. If you have any of these bikes, they are worth a lot more than their original purchase price.

If you are like old bikes, there is a club in town called the Hoosier Antique & Classic Bicycle Club that night interest you. They will be having their winter swap meet on Saturday, January 27 at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Lebanon.

Weird Bike Wednesday - Rungu Electric Trike

The Rungu features two closely spaced front wheels

There are a lot of electric trikes out there these days, but the Rungu is unique. It has two wheels in front instead of in the rear, but it's the tight spacing of those wheels that really stands out. The distance between them is roughly equal to the rider's shoulder width. During turns, the outside front wheel rises up into the air, as seen in the photo above.

The bike was designed by Peter Godlewski, an avid surfer who lives in southern California. He used to ride an old beater bicycle to the beach, towing his surfboard behind him. That was fine until he reached the beach, and had to push the bike through the sand. The Rungu has been designed to go through difficult terrain, like sand, mud and snow. It's getting good publicity - The Rungu has been featured in:

• Outside Magazine
• Digital Trends
• Popular Mechanics Online

 Here's a short video that shows the Rungu in action on the beach, in the desert, and going through snow:

Friday Photo - Dinosaur Attacks Cyclists!

Fortunately the T-Rex was slow and the cyclists escaped

You just never know what obstacles you will encounter when bicycle touring. Surely these two cyclists didn't expect to run into a tyrannosaurus rex - They haven't roamed the planet for 60 million years. When asked about this, the dinosaur responded "Rumors of our extinction have been greatly exaggerated."

You might notice that the right hand of this creature looks remarkeably like that of a human. That's because it is the hand of Zeb King, who works for Trek Travel. The photo is from one of his Twitter posts. He says this was just a "normal day of work" for him. Makes you wonder what else he does on the job..