News and links 10-29-08

(Most of today's links come from Bicycling magazine. Yes, I admit it, I occasionally browse that shallow publication. But at least I don't pay for it. Somehow it appears in my mailbox every month. I swear by Fausto Coppi.)

• At WorldCommute.com you can "estimate your savings from riding a bike for transportation, track your fitness, figure how many pounds of carbon emissions you've preempted the release of, and compare your efforts to those of others around the world." Cateye maintains the website.
  
• A Kenyan world-class climber? Singaporen Nicholas Leong is training two Kenyans from Eldoret, home to the world's best marathoners, in the mountains of France to see if they can be pro-caliber climbers. So far their times up Alpe d'Huez are close to those of Armstrong, Pantani and Sastre. The question is whether they can develop the skills and endurance needed to shine in competitions that last several hours, or weeks...
• A gift idea: Roadie: the misunderstood world of a bike racer.Veteran race announcer and long-time cycling enthusiast Jamie Smith sets out to explain the sport he loves and the roadies who live for it in this lighthearted treatise on bike racing. Finally, a book to explain those people who roll out for a ride dressed in technicolored Lycra at the crack of dawn on Saturday, and return at sundown with a glow of satisfaction and even stronger tan lines.

  Perfect for anyone who has ever known a roadie, considered becoming a roadie, or walked away from a bike race completely puzzled, Roadie addresses all of the curiosities that accompany the sport of cycling, from shaved legs to colorful jerseys and unbelievably expensive bicycles, shoes, and components. Every seemingly neurotic tendency is explained and celebrated with humorous illustrations from nationally syndicated cartoonist Jef Mallett (also rumored to log thousands of miles of riding per year).

• Rabbit-like peripheral vision with the Nike Hindsight eyeglasses. The glasses "extend cyclists peripheral vision with lenses that bring objects from 25° behind the cyclist into the cyclist's field of vision." (From cyclelicious.)
• The University of Chicago Velo Club folks got themselves a crisp new website. Check it out! Membership is not open to everyone though.