When I first started riding a bicycle as an adult back in the late 1970s in Maryland, one of the first things I did was to buy a guidebook of bicycle rides in the region that encompassed Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Looking back, I think I primarily needed that book because I really didn't know what made a good or bad bicycle route. That sounds funny now, but I didn't have a sixth sense about finding good roads for bicycling.

There's been such a guidebook of bike rides available for western Washington for a few years now. It's written by ardent local bicyclist and author Bill Thorness. He shares his wisdom gleaned from 20 years of bicycling in "Biking Puget Sound: 50 rides from Olympia to the San Juans."

Although I'm long past needing to know what makes a good bike route, I'll have to admit that my ride choices tend to get stale. .....

Willie Weir is a name I've associated with bicycle travel for many years, especially through his writings for Adventure Cyclist magazine.

When I moved to western Washington a few years ago, I was happily surprised to learn that the author, lecturer and winner of gold and bronze Lowell Thomas Awards for travel writing had his roots right here in Seattle.

I had about a thousand questions to ask him when we finally met at the Seattle Bicycle Expo this past weekend, but I boiled it down to two: What's your favorite place for bicycle touring, and where would you ride your bike if you only had a week? .....

The route of my 1984 cross-country bicycle tour is still pretty much imprinted on my brain.

So when Google announced it had created bike directions for Google maps, I was interested to see how its suggested route compared with the route I took 25-some years ago.

The result is at right. It's quite different than our actual route, below.

Google's route from Yorktown, Virginia, to Oceanside, California, is shorter than our meandering route. It bypasses some steep climbs and makes use of rail-to-trails that probably still carried freight trains when we traveled that way on our bikes. .....

Lance Armstrong knows all the details of the epic l'Alpe d'Huez and the Tourmalet climbs in France. Now he can say he knows about the howling winds at the Cape Argus too.

Armstrong finished in 9th place among the elite cyclists riding at the Cape Argus Cycle Tour in South Africa.

The 7-time Tour de France winner traveled to South Africa immediately after the Vuelta de Murcia in Spain to ride to raise funds for a South African charity.

The Cape Argus is a massive charity bike ride that boasted some 35,000 participants this year. It has an elite cyclist element, however ....

It could have been deja vu all over again for Alberto Contador at the Paris-Nice bike race on Sunday.

The Caisse d'Epargne team was attacking Contador's precarious position as overall leader in the final stage of the week-long race, just as it had in the penultimate stage in 2009.

But instead of succumbing to the pressure and losing the yellow jersey to final champion Luis Leon Sanchez last year, Contador survived the attacks to win his second Paris-Nice championship. His first win came in 2007 .....

The World Champion artistic cyclists from Germany were among the featured attractions at the 21st annual Seattle Bicycle Expo, but the new digs for the show at the spacious Smith Cove Cruise Terminal was definitely a huge drawing card.

It seems that whenever the Cascade Bicycle Club moves its expo to larger quarters, the number of exhibitors and visitors fill the space to capacity.

That appeared to be the case on Saturday, as the same interest in bicycling that drew record numbers to the Chilly Hilly bike ride two weeks ago, also prompted bicycling enthusiasts of all stripes -- racers, tourers, commuters, recreational riders .....

Long ago but in not so far away Idaho, Joe Kurmaskie got the nickname Metal Cowboy from a blind rancher.

Since then he's traveled near and far by bicycle, reporting his adventures through a series of humorous books, lectures and magazine articles.

His latest book is "Mud, Sweat and Gears." It tells the story of how he involved his wife and three kids in a trans-Canada bike tour...

As someone who is challenged by a track stand at a stoplight or a bunny hop over a stick in the road, I was astounded by the wonderful performances of the artistic bicyclists from Germany at Saturday's Seattle Bicycle Expo.

If synchronized swimming can be an Olympic sport, so should this. In fact, artistic cycling is a popular UCI-licensed sport in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

The Cascade Bicycle Club brought the reigning World Champion in single artistic women, Corrina Hein, to Seattle for the expo, along with leading men's pair competitors Stefan Musu and Lukas Matla.

The UCI competitions ...

Here's a bicycle trailer for the cyclist who has everything and wants to take it on the next bicycle tour.

The Midget Bushtrekka is a four-wheeled pop-up camping trailer for bicycles. Its design enables bike travelers to set up camp anywhere they choose in about five minutes.

Usually, I feel that I carry just plain too much stuff on my bicycle tours. But I would feel like an absolute spartan ultralight bicycle traveler next to one of these.

The Bushtrekka and its smaller cousin, the TrailRat, are made by Midget Campertrailers Australia. At the website, founder Tony O'Bree explains

Wondering how the 2010 Tour de France might go this year? You'll want to check out the video of the uphill finish on Stage 4 of Paris-Nice bike race on Thursday.

If the Astana team kit isn't a dead giveaway for the identity of the cyclist in the blurry image at left, consider that he's in the lead on the hilltop finish in Mende and no one is in sight behind him.

Spain's Alberto Contador won Stage 4 and took the overall lead from Saxo Bank's Jens Voigt in the so-called Race to the Sun that ends Sunday.

On the final climb of the day up the steep (average 10% gradient) Montée Laurent Jalabert, Contador gained enough time ....

Just as Colorado's Gov. Bill Ritter gets back to work about a week after suffering a bicycle crash, a city councilman in Vancouver, British Columbia, has been struck by a car while training for an upcoming charity bicycle ride.

Vancouver Councillor Geogg Meggs will require surgery to repair separated vertabrae in his neck.

Meggs is a bicycling supporter in one of Canada's most bicycle friendly cities. The city supported use of bicycles during the 2010 Olympics last month. Meggs, in fact, was expected to attend a ceremony for a new two-way bike lane that he pushed for on a local viaduct ...

 Bicycles and wines don't often figure together in the news, but it happened twice recently.

The first story involves Red Bicyclette pinot noir wine sold by E&J Gallo.

The label features an evocative watercolor of a man riding his bicycle home from the boulangerie with baguettes sticking out of the front basket.

That bicycle image probably sold a lot of pinot noir wine, except for one fact, a lot of it wasn't pinot noir ....

It's hard to write about the new bicycling tool at Google maps without prefacing the term "bicycle route finder" with such adjectives as "amazing," "cool," or "way cool," but I'll try.

Sweepstakes

First, Google maps made the official announcement of the biking directions tool with a Google Share Your Ride Sweepstakes complete with a $2,500 voucher for American Cyclery. Win by simply posting links your routes to Twitter.

Here's what Google says about the project at The Official Google blog and the Google LatLong blog.....

Various reactions to the long-awaited announcement regarding biking directions on Google maps:

Andy Clarke, League of American Bicyclists (Google made it "official" during the opening session of LAB's National Bike Summit):

“This new tool will open people’s eyes to the possibility and practicality of hopping on a bike and riding. We know people want to ride more ...

The long wait is over for bicyclists who want to use Google maps to find the quickest, safest way from Point A to Point B.

Google maps launched a Beta version of its direction finder for bicycle routes on Wednesday. (See the "How to" video on the jump.)

The biking directons release comes in conjuction with the opening day of the National Bike Summit in Washington DC.

Folks who use their bicycles for commuting and running errands have been advocating for Google to add a layer for bicycles to its "Get Directions" function for cars, public transit and walking.

A petition started by Peter Smith at Google Maps 'BikeThere' received more than 50,000 signatures from bicyclists who wanted the service.

Google had hinted that the project was underway back in October 2009 when it announced that it had added 12,000 miles of bike paths ....

Hincapie, Farrar and Cavendish on tap in Italy

Universal Sports kicks off its 2010 pro cycling coverage on Wednesday with Italy's Tirreno-Adriatico, followed up through the season with the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana along with other cycling events.

The partnership of NBC Sports and Intermedia Partners says it will offer at least 10 premiere road cycling races this year on its broadcast and online platforms.

All races will be available live online at UniversalSports.com; same-day coverage will be provided on cable at Universal Sports stations in major TV markets. ....

Two things about the front bicycle racks made in a small Fort Collins, Colorado, shop caught the eye of a New Belgium Brewing Co. designer:

-- The racks used beetle-killed wood from Colorado's forests;

-- The racks could hold a case of beer.

So the beer brewery, which supplies cruiser bicycles to charities and its new employees, ordered 2,600 front racks from the shop for its new line of New Belgium 2010 cruisers.

That's a gold strike for Carver Surf Racks owner Orlando Baker ...

This weekend's Seattle Bike Expo, the largest consumer bicycle show in the US, has landed at yet another location this year.

The Smith Cove Cruise Terminal 91 in Magnolia is the new home for the all-things-bicycling show, open from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Here's a link for easy bicycling and driving directions. Car parking (2,500 capacity) costs $5 and the exhibition hall is about a half-mile walk; a shuttle bus also will run during the show. Secure bike parking is provided by BikeWorks right at the entrance.

From the Eastside, I'll probably head across .....

After the Paris-Nice peloton battled gusty winds for more than 100 miles, Team Sky's Greg Henderson won the Stage 1 sprint by slipping past Lampre's Grega Bole right at the finish.

Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) attacked the field with less than a mile to go in Contres, but couldn't sustain the long sprint.

Prologue winner Lars Boom of Rabobank remained in the yellow jersey as Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack) and Alberto Contador (Astana) dropped to 7th and 8th in the overall standings after suffering crashes. They started the day in 3rd and 4th place ....

Lance Armstrong finished the Vuelta de Murcia on Sunday in 7th place behind winner Frantisek Rabon of HTC-Columbia; Armstrong's  plans include adding another race to his Tour de France preparations.

Meanwhile, his Team RadioShack teammate Levi Leipheimer opened the Paris-Nice bike race with a third place finish in the prologue, 6 seconds behind Lars Boom of Rabobank. The race will roll across France through Sunday.

More action unfolds this week as the Tirreno-Adriatico rolls out Wednesday for seven days across Italy. Highlights will be streamed live on the Universal Sports website.

Regarding his 7th place finish, Armstrong told reporters:

"Worried would be too strong of a word. ....