If you like riding your bicycle along scenic S.E. May Valley Road between Newcastle and Issaquah, Washington, then I've got horrible news for you.

The road will be blocked to bicycles and motor vehicles through the end of August at a small bridge that the county is replacing just east of the intersection with State Route 900.

Bicyclists will either have to head north over the pass between Squak and Cougar mountains, or south to East 4th Street in the Renton Highlands. Both routes have higher traffic volumes and a lot more hills than the pleasant ride past the farms and horse ranches along May Creek.

To be honest, I probably ride this route at least 25 times a year and I never really noticed the bridge just east of State Route 900. Built in 1950, it's a short culvert-like affair over a portion of the creek that is so overgrown...

Bike lanes in Florida are no longer places for bicyclists to ride based on their own judgment of conditions at the time.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has signed a bill into law that requires bicyclists to use the bike lanes if they are painted on a road. Failure to do so will lead to a ticket.

There are exceptions, such as when the bicyclist is making a left turn, or if there are potholes, or tire-trapping storm grates, or glass, or fallen tree limbs, or parked cars, or road construction signs, or a dead armadillo or whatever other kind of crap finds a home for itself in a bike lane in Florida.

But what bicyclist wants to explain those exceptions to a traffic cop or to an upset motorist who feels ownership of the road, the whole road, and everything on the road...

ELK CREEK, COLO. - This is one of those days that I'd been looking forward to ever since we started planning the trip. We crossed the Continental Divide under our own power at the 11,312-foot Monarch Pass. I knew all along we could do it; I just didn't know how hard it would be.

Now, sitting at the hot and dry Elk Creek National Park Service Campground, I realize that we must have been in better shape than I realized. Bruce says it was easier than the hills in Virginia and Kentucky

We hit the road at 7, leaving the Ponderosa campground at about 8,500 feet. We made 7 miles to Garfield, at 11,000 feet, in about an hour. It took us 90 minutes to cover the last 6 miles to the pass. ...

If you're looking to travel by bicycle vicariously this summer by reading about someone else's adventures, I'd recommend "The Lost Cyclist" by David Herlihy. But I'll warn you that, as the title implies, it ends badly.

From the opening pages, you can tell "The Lost Cyclist" is not going to be your average book about a bicycle tour. It's an historical account of Frank Lenz's around-the-world bicycle adventure gone wrong, possibly made worse by attempts to make it right again.

Herlihy starts by describing how one of the main characters in the story walks out of the mists of time and into a newspaper office in 1953 to take care of some business. He's recognized by the editor. They chat, and the editor asks if he'd like to talk to a reporter about his attempt to rescue a missing bicycle traveler halfway around the world a half-century earlier.

The man, Will Sachtleben, at first agrees, then says he's got to take care of something first. He bolts from the office ....

MAYSVILLE, COLO. - The climbing begins in earnest today, but we start with a long, cold, downhill after crossing the Silver Bridge, touted as the world's highest suspension bridge. The winding road takes us back down to the elevation of the Arkansas River.

Along US 50, huge red outcroppings of rock towered over the road. The river rushed alongside. We could hear it as we pedaled upstream on the gentle grade. Down here we could look up the valleys sometimes and see snow-capped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

We stopped for snacks in Texas Creek and Cotopaxi. Several groups of rafters passed us, shouting and throwing bucketsful of ice cold water at each other. We talked to a woman who was drinking a cup of coffee to prepare for guiding her first group of rafters today. She was a little nervous. ...

More than 900 members of the LiveStrong army took to the streets in Seattle and the hilly Eastside on Sunday to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

It was the second year in a row that the charity bike ride visited Seattle to raise funds.

Many participants wore the LiveStrong, Mellow Johnny or Fat Cyclist jerseys and seemed reluctant to cover them up with rain gear as a steady drizzle fell on the course.

All the bicycle riders started at the Seattle Center near the Space Needle on Sunday morning and took off on rides of 10, 45, 70 or 100 miles ....

As Stage 8 of the Tour de Suisse drew to a close with a final climb on Saturday, Lance Armstrong attacked a group that was chasing a six-man break up the road.

The General Classification contenders reeled him back, but Armstrong proved that there's still plenty of life in his legs.

He emphasized that point on the final stage Sunday with a decent finish in the individual time trial that catapulted him into second place overall, just 12 seconds behind winner Frank Schleck. Aussie Tony Martin (HTC Columbia) won the ITT, and defending champ Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) trailed by 17 seconds.

Armstrong, riding for Team RadioShack, finished 11th at 1:09 behind. He reported to his Tweet followers ....

ROYAL GORGE, COLO. - So there I am posing at the side of US 50 with a horned antelope skull balanced on my helmet. Is it wacky altitude weirdness of just giddiness about being on the road again?

Probably the latter. We left Pueblo early and steadily headed toward a line of blue mountains ahead of us. As the morning wore on the mountains grew and finally enveloped us as we progressed into the Rockies.

We stopped at Penrose at 21 miles, then lunched in Canon City 15 miles later. About a mile outside this town, we both geared down to our grannies and just started climbing. To paraphrase Dorothy, we weren't in Kansas anymore ...

For a bike snob, that Eben Weiss is certainly one popular guy.

About 130 fans of his BikeSnobNYC blog showed up at University Book Store in Seattle on Saturday afternoon to hear him speak and to get autographs of his recently released book.

Weiss is making a tour of the western states to promote the book "Bike Snob, Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling."

It's a good thing that Weiss bikes regularly, because he needs his stamina. He had just flown in, with his bike, from San Jose where he participated in an event called "Bike Party" that lasted far into the night ....

Scores of painted bicyclists made the ultimate sacrifice for their art on Saturday when they bared their skin for the brush and spray-can at the Fremont Solstice Parade.

Although the parade celebrates the coming of summer, the temperatures hovered in the upper 50s and a windy drizzle swept off the Puget Sound.

In such conditions, even two coats of body paint won't keep a person warm.

More than a hundred cyclists participated in the parade this year, in spite of the chilly weather. The painted cyclists have been a fixture at the parade hosted by the Fremont Arts Council .....

PUEBLO, COLO. - We decided to lay around and do nothing for the day. We had covered so many miles the past couple of weeks, we were feeling just plain tired.
The news that a controversial liberal radio talk show DJ -- Alan Berg -- had been gunned down had upset our hosts. Anyway, we just didn't feel right overstaying ...

Slovenia's Jure Robic rolled across the finish line of the Race Across America on Friday afternoon, winning an unprecedented 5th solo title in a span of just seven years.

The 45-year-old completed the 3,005-mile RAAM route from Oceanside, California, to Annapolis, Maryland, in 9 days, 1 hour and 1 minute. That's an average of 13.85 mph for the entire trip, including stops.

He was among 24 men who set out in the solo men's divisions at noon a week ago Wednesday. Ten have abandoned ...

PUEBLO, COLO. - It's after midnight, and Bruce and I have just finished making basic overhauls and installing new parts on our bicycles. We used the "bicycle workshop" in the shed behind the home of our newfound friend -- a 14-year-old in a house full of biking enthusiasts.

We got a late start this morning from Ordway after our epic 124-mile ride the day before. Fortunately the air had cleared this morning and we continued on good, old Route 96. In all, we'd ride this road for 241 miles, all the way from Dighton, Kansas.

We first saw the Rockies -- just a blue strip along the horizon -- at Olney Springs and continued effortlessly into Pueblo, the biggest town on our trip and about our halfway point. We made our way into downtown and found the YWCA (yes, women's) where our guidebook listed another hostel. Wrong again ...

Update: June 17, 2010 -- The days of waiting until the last minute to sign up for Cascade Bicycle Club events -- such as the 2010 Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic -- are over.

STP sold out in April, 3 months before the July 17-18 bike ride. The club caps registrations at 10,000.

The Cascade blog reports it will reopen a brief late registration beginning at 9 a.m. June 22. Because of the interest in riding and the number of registrations available, Cascade expects the late registrations will sell out within minutes. Repeat, minutes.

Here are the instructions offered by Cascade for the best opportunity to acquire one of these last-chance registrations ....

A bicyclist riding for a four-man Spanish relay team at the Race Across America is recovering on Thursday after being struck by a vehicle on a Kansas road.

News reports say the driver was distracted by something in the car about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday and drifted onto the shoulder where Spain's Diego Bellesteros was riding his bicycle.

The collision happened on U.S. 254 near El Dorado. Ballesteros was airlifted to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas, where his condition was upgraded to serious condition late Wednesday.

Ballesteros is somewhat of a bicycle ambassador ....

ORDWAY, COLO. - Most of western Kansas and eastern Colorado was closed this Sunday, so we did the only thing we knew -- we kept pedaling.

After patching up two flat tires just after sunrise, we rode out of town and back to the flat terrain. Everything was closed in the first town in Colorado -- Towner. Same at Sheriden Lake ...

So when we finally got to Haswell, thirsty and parched, there was nothing but bad water and what little water we had in our bottles. No bathroom. No shower. The only store in town was closed. Nothing to do but jump on our bikes and press on....

Naked bicycle riders, bike snob devotees and the Livestrong Army converge on Seattle this weekend for bike parades, book signings and a massive anti-cancer charity bike ride.

Partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 60s or 70s Temperatures in the low 60s with a high chance of precipitation will greet bicyclists this weekend. The warmish forecast must be appreciated by the Painted Cyclists at the Fremont Solstice Parade on Saturday.

The cyclists covered in paint -- and little else -- are a long-standing highlight of the parade sponsored by the Fremont Arts Council. Although most people attending the parade expect to see cyclists enjoying a ride without clothing, organizers caution the cyclists to show a little discretion ...

TRIBUNE, KAN. - We're walking back from dinner at the Cactus Patch restaurant, and realize we're riding through history. We're in the town of Tribune in the county of Greeley. The next town down the road tomorrow will be Horace. Follow the bouncing ball. What did Horace Greeley write in the New York Tribune? "Go west young man!"

We started heading West early in the morning after a torrential downpour struck at 4:30. We ate and washed up at the church (still open, as promised) and hit the road at 6:45. After a few miles the terrain opened up more than before, if that's possible.

Not a lot between Utica and Tribune. We'd spot a grain elevator on the horizon, pedal for awhile, then see small clumps of trees to the south and north of it as we got closer. These were the towns with the parks. We'd pedal for another hour or more before reaching the town. ...

Some riders held up the start of Wednesday's Stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse to protest Mark Cavendish's erratic cycling at the finish of Stage 4 on Tuesday that led to this crash.

The British sprinter for the US-based HTC-Columbia team has been docked 25 points in the sprinter competition and 30 seconds in the General Classification and been fined 200 Swiss francs.

The crash forced earlier Tour de Suisse leader Heinrich Haussler of Cervelo out of the race, as well as Frenchman Arnaud Coyot.

Cavendish is reportedly riding with a serious case of road rash on Wednesday. Teammate Mark Renshaw snapped this photo of Cavendish all bandaged up ...

As the Race Across America cyclists charge eastward with their teammates or support crews or both, there's an equally amazing corps of cyclists heading down the spine of the Continental Divide individually and with no support whatsoever.

The Tour Divide got underway from Banff, Alberta, with 48 mountain bike riders on Friday (video at left). They're heading along the spine of the Rocky Mountains to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, on gravel roads and dirt paths for a distance of 2,745 miles.

You could draw comparisons between the two races all day long. For instance:

-- They're both ultra-endurance events whose winners measure success by hours spent not sleeping.

-- Both aim for the lightest rides possible. Weight issues stop with the frame and components for RAAM cyclists; Tour Divide bicyclists must factor in tools, food and cooking equipment, sleeping bags ...