Unless you live under a rock somewhere, you know that Le Tour de France begins tomorrow in the fabled cycling city of Brest. While there will be no shortage of race coverage elsewhere, Urban Velo will celebrate the world’s largest sporting event by highlighting some of the great cities the tour visits.

Brest is best known in the cycling world as the halfway point in the fabled 1200km Paris-Brest-Paris randonnée, which started in 1901. The city is an important French seaport and has been the site of numerous wartime struggles. In fact, nearly every building in Brest was destroyed by the end of WWII. Thankfully a few ancient structures still stand as tourist attractions, and the city remains a popular destination for fans of food, soccer, sunbathing and (of course) cycling.

Among the most popular tourist attractions in the Brittany region is cycling along the Canal de Nantes à Brest, a 360km route which links Brest to Nantes. Le Tour arrives in Nantes on July 7th. The ancient Gallic city has been called “the most livable city in Europe” as well as the “greenest city in France.” Just don’t let anyone talk you into a “Republican marriage” if you visit.

We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again. Urban Velo wouldn’t be the same without our awesome contributors. Here’s a list of websites so you can see more from the people who helped bring you issue #8:

Brad Quartuccio - www.randomprecisionphoto.com
Jeff Guerrero - flickr.com/photos/urbanjeff
Kevin Dillard - www.demoncats.com
José Vásquez Vallejos - flickr.com/photos/bilobicles
Phillip Barron - www.nicomachus.net
Roger Lootine - www.residuecomics.com
Billy Macrae - billymacrae.blogspot.com
Dan Pugatch - pugatchis49×18.blogspot.com
Andy Singer - www.andysinger.com

Brad took his camera to Toronto this spring to cover the Cycle Messenger World Championships. Visit www.urbanvelo.org/cmwc2008 for more than 80 photos from the 2008 CMWC.

Featuring: Cycle Messenger World Championships, World Naked Bike Ride, Bicycle Film Festival - NYC, A Special Place In Hell For Bike Thieves, Sustainable Fuel, Residue, Fastest Man On A Bicycle Honored At Last, Share… And Share Alike - Examining Vélib, One Car - Family Living with Less Cars, More Bikes, Bike Threading Explained, A Simple Way to Measure Chain Stretch, I Love Riding in the City and No Exit

Download it today!

Panaracer’s CrossBlaster tires came stock on the Salsa La Cruz that I’m testing, and I had been running them in all conditions for two months before the Michelin City tires came in.

After nearly two months of being used primarily on the road, the CrossBlasters show remarkably little wear. A friend of mine has been using them the same way for over six months, and they’ve still got a lot of life left in em’. Apparently, Panaracer’s ZSG Natural rubber compound lives up to its claim of being extra wear-resistant.

While the CrossBlasters don’t feature any specific puncture resistance, knobby tires are inherently more resistant to punctures since the tread is several times thicker where it contacts the ground. Panaracer does utilize a special slow-rebound rubber technology in the tire’s sidewalls to make them less susceptible to pinch flats.
Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Holloway showed his urban cycling chops by winning the first and last stages of the Tour of Pennsylvania. Holloway’s dominance in the two crits—one in Philadelphia, the other in Pittsburgh—came as no surprise to those who know the 21-year-old. He’s the current national criterium champion, a terror in the velodrome and an avid speed skater.

From the start of the race it seemed clear that the man in the red, white and blue jersey was determined to win. Unfortunately, heavy rains and a tornado warning made the event promoters decide not to count the sixth and final stage in the overall standings, leaving Holloway far behind the overall tour winner, David Veilleux. Holloway’s team (VMG/Felt) did prove to be the best overall in the general classification, though. Click here for more race coverage.

Special thanks to Trek of Pittsburgh for providing us with a bird’s eye view of the race.

Issue #8 of Urban Velo brings forth a few changes to our print product. Along with the color covers, perfect binding and improved printing all around we’ve finally heard enough requests to make international subscriptions available. Now cyclists worldwide can receive a print copy of Urban Velo in the mail, no longer reserved only for USA residents.

Of course, free downloadable PDF copies of the magazine will still be available as each issue is released. Look for Urban Velo #8 on July 1st.

The namesake of the Mohawk Mark Party Time Cap truly does exist. “‘Cause when it’s party time, you turn it up.” Seen here where else but at the Bikefest kickoff party. Messenger, mormon, enigma, neighbor, polo sparring partner.

This may come in handy for home use, too…

…via ramblings.cyclofiend.com.

Most of our readers remember Steevo from the article Riding is My Religion from issue #7. He keeps an online journal, and it’s usually pretty entertaining. Enough so that I’ve got it bookmarked. This recent post struck me as an absolutely classic slice of life, and I thought I would share it with our readers: thesteevo.blogspot.com.