ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - We spent much of today riding on the Turquoise Highway. It looked like plain old blacktop to me.

We left Santa Fe in a light drizzle, which quickly burned off. It was such a mellow Sunday morning that Bruce wore his headphones as he pedalled along. He was spacing out near the center of the road when a car came up from behind and couldn't pass. I expect the driver was afraid of honking and scaring Bruce to death.

I stopped and yelled and waved my arms, and Bruce must have caught the vibes as he looked back and swerved out of the way. He packed up those headphones for the rest of the trip. ...

Who do you think will win the 2010 Tour de France?

Will it be a repeat win by one of the former champions like Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador or Carlos Sastre? Or will a new cyclist -- such as Cadel Evans, Christian Vande Velde, or one of the Brothers Schleck -- climb to the top step of the podium in Paris?

I'm running a poll here in the right column where you can vote. I'll post the results Saturday morning before the Tour de France prologue starts in Rotterdam. Then we'll follow that favorite to see if he does finish on top when the race ends July 25.

A faulty fork steer tube is the culprit in the latest recall by Felt Bicycles.

The recall of 2,100 bicycles follows seven reported steering tube breaks, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission which is cooperating with the recall.

Felt recommends that anyone who owns a 2009 Felt model B12 (pictured), B16 and S32 road bicycle to stop riding it immediately and contact a local Felt Bicycles dealer for free inspection and repair....

The bicycle has been around in one form or another for more than 150 years, but you might be surprised that researchers are still studying how we can ride one without it falling over.

Actually, I thought Albert Einstein had it right when he said:

"Life is like riding a bicycling. To keep your balance you must keep moving."

Maybe that explains more about life than it does about bicycling.

There's a lot more to it than that, as a three-day symposium -- Bicycle and Motorcycle Dynamics 2010 -- is scheduled for this fall (should I say autumn) at the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.

Participants will hear about bicycles, motorcycles, unicycles ...

SANTA FE, N.M. -  I seem to keep repeating this in my journal -- "this place reminds me of Annapolis."
Of course Santa Fe doesn't really remind me of Annapolis, but there are aspects that are similar. Same with Taos, Ouray, Ste. Genevieve.

Santa Fe is steeped in the Hispanic culture, Annapolis isn't. Annapolis sits on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Santa Fe sits at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.

The similarities? Neither are the largest cities in their states, but they are the state capitals. Both have campuses of the liberal arts St. John's College. A large part of their economies are based on eating and drinking and partying downtown ...

Matthew Lee rolled into Antelope Wells, New Mexico, early Tuesday morning under the cover of darkness to win the 2010 Tour Divide mountain bike race.

Lee finished the both breath-taking and grueling race down the spine of the Continental Divide in 17 days, 16 hours and 13 minutes. It was his sixth victory.

Winning this year meant that Lee overcame the weather, the theft of his bicycle, a mid-route course change due to a forest fire, and the tragic loss of fellow Tour Divide cyclist David Blumenthal.

He averaged about 158 miles a day over dirt track and gravel road ....

SANTA FE, N.M. - Most of the day, I felt that I was no longer cycling through the US, but had slipped south of the border. The Hispanic culture here, mixed with the Native American, is very strong.

For instance, after Penasco, we followed a road that reminded me of cycling in the Alleghenies because it rose and fell like a rollercoaster. We passed through some towns, such as Las Trampas, that had a mission older than most of the Colonial era buildings back home in historic Annapolis. ...

It's deja vu all over again for Lance Armstrong fans who read the following Tweet on Monday:

"And yes, this will be final Tour de France. It's been a great ride. Looking forward to 3 great weeks...... Doh, sorry, meant "my" final Tour."

Last time he announced his retirement, he was a 33-year-old with an unprecedented six Tour de France championships to his credit. He made that announcement to a roomful of reporters before the start of the Tour de Georgia in 2005.

He went on to win the Tour de France that year -- number 7, and made good on his pledge to retire -- for 3 1/2 years ....

Three friends on a cross-country bicycle tour to raise money to fight breast cancer are on their way home without reaching their destination.

They're abandoning the Pink Pedal bike tour they created because the fourth bicyclist, their friend John Anczarski, was struck and killed by a motorist in New Mexico last week.

Supporters of the Pink Pedal bicycle tour project created this video in tribute to their 19-year-old friend's role in the bicycle tour.

Our deepest condolences to the family of John Anczarski and his friends. That was a noble cause they were on, and it's a shame that it ended tragically.

Anczarski was a resident of Ringtown, Pennsylvania, and a student enrolled at the University of Colorado .....

TAOS, N.M. - We've covered almost 3,000 miles on our cross-country bike ride so far, and I don't remember any place as unique as this. I almost feel like I'm in a different country. Much of the area sits on a plateau, so its flat like Kansas. But it's arid, so there's only dry brush around.

We were back on the road at 6:30 a.m. No ranger hassled us. We had a free night.

We continued on the same road all the way to Antonito, about 15 miles away. We steadily dropped from the woodsy environment to a scrubby sagebrush plain. The small towns we passed, Mogote and Las Mesitas, had many adobe houses. ...

Seven other Americans competing at bike race

When July rolls around, you'll know where to find cyclist George Hincapie -- somewhere in the peloton of the Tour de France.

2010 is no different. Hincapie will competing in his 15th Tour de France when it rolls out of Rotterdam on July 3.

That's a string exceeded only by Joop Zoetemelk, who competed in, and completed, 16 Tours de France before retiring in 1986. The Dutch cyclist, who now runs a hotel in France, won the Tour de France in 1980.

[Zoetemelk was stung by allegations that the only reason he won was because Bernard Hinault abandoned because of knee problems. Joop made the valid point: "Surely winning the Tour de France is a question of health and robustness. ....

ASPEN GLADE, COLO. - This is rough terrain, and we crossed back over the Continental Divide and bicycled in and out of New Mexico today. We're still making progress to the Pacific, though it doesn't seem so.

We said our goodbyes to Gunter and Elsa (they said they didn't want to hold us back, although I doubt this because they set a torrid pace), and pedaled south on Route 84 to Chromo. Nothing much going on here except a second breakfast. After leaving the mountains, we're in some high plains here. A landmark, Chromo Mountain, we watched approach for more than 10 miles. We passed it on our right, and continued over the New Mexico border...

Two weeks of amazing Rocky Mountain highs are done for bicyclists who rode The Denver Post Ride the Rockies and the Bicycle Tour of Colorado.

Together, the bike tours covered 1,002 miles of Colorado blacktop and summited 14 mountain passes, 7 on each bike ride.

Celebrating its 25th year, Ride the Rockies is one of the oldest mass bicycle tours in the nation, probably surpassed only by the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Around Iowa.

One of this year's highlights was bicycling along the Rim Rock Drive in the Colorado National Monument. See the video for scenes along the route ....

PAGOSA SPRINGS, COLO. -We hooked up with a German couple on the road today who taught us about a new health drink, although we have yet to try it while cycling.

We packed up early at the hostel in Durango and took off. Anymore, I always feel better being back on the road, no matter how much I needed a rest day. Today we're following a new map behind the clear window in my handlebar bag. We're long-finished with the traditional Bikecentennial maps -- that route veered north somewhere after Pueblo. We're on the Great Parks South Bicycle Route Extension map.

It's good to know that we're back on a route found suitable for bicyclists, although it's disconcerting to have California as our final destination and not be chasing our shadows in the morning. ...

Bike Colorado is hosting a rally next Tuesday to protest the bicycle ban imposed earlier this month in the tiny gambling town of Black Hawk.

The Rally to End Bike Bans is scheduled from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol Building in Denver. Everyone is welcome to attend. Check the Facebook page for more details.

The statewide bicycle advocacy group is fighting the ban because they fear it may set a precedent for other cities that take the wrong-headed approach to impose a bicycle ban to "promote safety." That's how Black Hawk City Manager Bill Copp explained the ban a couple of weeks ago ...

DURANGO, COLO. - Note to self: If you're touring by bicycle, stay on the bicycle.

We've just returned from a strange and troubling adventure involving our reliance on a pickup truck we borrowed for the day. We're all safe and sound, but it could have turned out much worse.

Bruce and I had planned to take today off and take a $25 guided tour to the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, about an hour's drive away. The hosteler said we could do it cheaper if we rented a car, and what's more, a German hostel guest, Christiane, could go with us and make it back by her 4:30 bus ride out of town.

A guy from across the street who hangs around to drink the coffee here did that one better, and offered us the use of a pickup truck he had just purchased from a local mining company. We took him up on the offer...

Tragedy struck the Tour Divide Mountain Bike Race on Thursday when competitor Dave Blumenthal died from injuries he suffered in a collision with a pickup truck the day before in northern Colorado.

Blumenthal, 37, was pronounced dead at a Denver hospital. He leaves behind his wife, Lexi, and 4-year-old daughter Linnaea.

The outdoorsman from Vermont was competing in his first Tour Divide, which started June 11 in Banff, Alberta. After crossing the Wyoming-Colorado border, he had spent Tuesday night at the Brush Mountain Lodge near Slater and was heading toward Steamboat Springs when the crash occurred.

A Colorado State Patrol trooper told a Vermont newspaper (ArgusTimes.com) that Blumenthal and the pickup driver were heading in opposite directions ....

DURANGO, COLO. - I can't imagine a better day bicycling, even though it did include several hours on a narrow gauge railroad.

The climb up Red Mountain Pass is a monster. It's a 13-mile ride from Ouray and rises from 7,706-foot elevation to 11,018 feet. It took us 3 and a half hours, partly because of the climb and partly because of the scenery - which we were all too happy to admire as we caught our breath.

We climbed switchbacks out of Ouray, which was surrounded by lofty cliffs, and followed the roaring Uncompagre River, which had cut the hell out of these mountains. We could see old wooden miners' cabins clinging to the mountains, and passed several slides where ice had recently scoured out everything in its path. ....

Surprising no one, Lance Armstrong has been named to the RadioShack roster for the 2010 Tour de France.

He'll be joined by Americans Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner.

Also on the roster are Andreas Kloeden of Germany, Janez Brajkovic of Slovenia, Sergio Paulinho of Portugal, Yaroslav Popovych of Ukraine, Gregory Rast of Switzerland and Dmitriy Muravyev of Kazakhstan.

The 38-year-old ...

OURAY, COLO. - You never know what fellow travelers you'll find when you break camp in the morning.

After leaving the Elk Creek campground we rode along the Blue Mesa reservoir shore and crossed a bridge to Sapinero, which is more of a cafe and filling station than a town. We stopped for another breakfast there. When we were getting ready to spin off, we met a group of college-aged folks who were walking from West to East to protest nuclear weapons. They asked us to "join their circle" as they held hands and looked for inspiration for the day ahead. I was inspired by being on my bike, instead of on foot.

Just as we left Sapinero, we picked up another bicycle tourist -- Frank -- who told us about all the problems he'd encountered. Just like the guy in Golden City, Mo., this guy was starved for conversation and talked nonstop. ...