(Photo Credit: 303Cycling) BikesnobNYC - Eben Weiss

Mission accomplished for Eben Weiss, the self proclaimed “Bike Snob” and now “Enlightened Cyclist” and his “World Annoyance Tour”. After all the complaints over having to pay five bucks to get into the event, he kept the paying audience waiting for a good half an hour. That’s annoying. Even Eben was annoyed. Also, annoying, he doesn’t speak Italian and didn’t know how to pronounce Vecchio’s. Can you really be a bike snob without that basic knowledge?

The annoyance subsided as soon as Eben started his presentation. “Think of this as your window into reality” as he proceeded to tell those of us living in “The Bubble” of the “last primal frontier” that he calls commuting by bike. Very un-snob-like, he qualified his statement by saying it can’t compare to what soldiers and doctors and EMTs face every day. This is when we began to consider there could be a serious side to Weiss.

This just in. Trying to get more information but it looks like a local master rider has been caught doping. This is form the USADA website:

US Cycling Athlete Accepts Sanction For Anti-Doping Rule Violation

March 30, 2012
USADA announced today that Todd Robertson of Boulder, Colo., an athlete in the sport of cycling, has accepted a 15 month suspension for an anti-doping rule violation and his competitive results from November 1, 2009, have been disqualified.

Robertson, 49, tested positive for a banned oxygen-enhancing peptide hormone as the result of a sample collected as part of USADA’s Out of Competition Testing Program on February 11, 2011. Oxygen-Enhancing Peptide Hormones are prohibited under the USADA Protocol for Olympic and Paralympic Movement Testing and the International Cycling Union (UCI) Anti-Doping Rules, both of which have adopted the World Anti-Doping Code.

Robertson’s 15 month period of ineligibility was reduced from the standard two-year period based on his providing Substantial Assistance under article 10.5.3 of the World Anti-Doping Code. Robertson began serving his sanction on February 14, 2011, while continuing to cooperate with USADA. As a result of the sanction, Robertson is also disqualified from all competitive results obtained on or subsequent to November 1, 2009, the date of his first use according to his admissions during the course of USADA’s investigation, including forfeiture of any medals, points, and prizes.

From USA Pro Cycling Challenge website

The 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge will again host a nation-wide contest inviting artists to create unique event posters for not only each of the 12 host cities, but also a national event poster that will be seen throughout the world. All types of artists – professional, amateur, aspiring – are encouraged to let their creativity flow and submit their designs via the USA Pro Cycling Challenge Facebook

Stage 6 Posters

Art Credit: Jesse Crock

Denver Bike lane violator in what appears to be a fresh new bike lane!

In the past few years downtown Denver has been working very hard make the streets more bike friendly with added lanes and sharrows however these lanes are useless when drivers act they're not there at all. Drivers can be given a ticket "for impending the right of way" and it will cost them $25. "Most of the violators are service vehicles and for most of those service companies receiving a mild $25 dollar ticket is simply marked up as a cost of doing business", says Maggie Thompson with BikeDenver.

BikeDenver has been working hard at trying to document where most of the violations are happening and why and not just trying to get everyone a ticket. Trying to understand what the root problem is key in this situation because for many violators, $25 a day is nothing. "Do service vehicles have enough loading zones and/or parking for park while doing their business?" ask Maggie. Educating some of the businesses to encourage service cars that come to their business that parking in a bike lane is not desired, studies have shown that active bike lanes even if they are created via the removal of parking spaces does increase business so treating them as a means to get new customers is important.