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NON WORD-SMITHED SUMMARY: Buy this solid looking jersey and support BikePure, a group that’s helping promote and support dope-free racing.

PRESS RELEASE: The 2010 Bike Pure cycling team clothing will be produced by Onimpex UK/Bio Racer, one of the world’s leading cycling garment manufacturers. Bio Racer have a long history within cyclesport and supply several National Federations, including the USA, Netherlands and Belgium.

Bike Pure is the world’s largest independent anti-doping organization and have evolved into a major force within the cycling world. Many professional riders and teams, including several world champions, are supportive of Bike Pure and wear the eye catching blue wristband to show their opposition to doping in sport.

Onimpex UK/Bio Racer will initially produce jerseys and bib shorts for the anti-doping organization, with further items being added as the season progresses. Co-founder of Bike Pure, Andy Layhe said, “We were very impressed with Bio Racer and their support for our organisation. The quality of their garments is second to none and we are proud to be associated with such a superior clothing manufacturer.”

The new design was implemented by Bike Pure with assistance from graphic designer Jamie Leung. Andy Layhe said “The new design is in keeping with Bike Pure’s previous jersey, a clean fresh eye catching garment, although we have now added the World Champions colours to represent the World Champions who form part of our organization. We wanted a line of garments that our members and cyclists alike would be proud to wear and show that they support drug free sport.” The clothing range will also be available in both Men’s and Women’s sizing to provide  superior comfort and fit.

Bibs, links and more info after the break…

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Jonathan Dorey was last seen walking his mountain bike (pictured) from his Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) dorm on March 2, 2010.  The bike is also missing…it’s black with a red stripe down the center of the saddle.  If you see either, call the number in the photo.  More info is in this Facebook Group and this news story.

Perhaps his F*%kin’ Twitter signoff was a bit premature.

Floyd Landis, who was most recently in discussions with Rock Racing’s Michael Ball until the UCI decided it wasn’t going to let them play, has signed on with the Bahati Foundation Pro Cycle Team for the 2010 season.

“Cycling has given me so many opportunities that I wouldn’t otherwise have had, and I look forward to helping provide the same opportunities for less fortunate kids.” said Floyd Landis, who has previously won the Tour de Georgia, the Tour of California, Paris-Nice, and many other international races.

Team General Manager, Steve Owens commented “We’re confident in Floyd’s commitment to being a powerful ambassador for the Bahati Foundation and supporting the team in winning marquee events like the Tour of California.”

Josh Berry, a Portland, OR resident, also comes to the program as a member of the US National Team in Cyclocross.

NAHBS 2010 - Ever wonder what a man who builds frames and components would build and ride himself?  Pictured here is Chris King’s personal road bike, and it’s pretty sweet.  Sure Cielo makes fairly straightforward frames with few if any frills, but the devil’s in the details, and the closer you look, the sweeter this bike becomes.

Besides the owner’s ride, Cielo had some new colors on display for 2010 and their entry into the Oregon Manifest’s Constructor’s Challenge.  Check it all out after the jump…

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Defgrip has announced they’re teaming up with the Bicycle Film Festival and will choose all the BMX shorts for this year’s international touring programme.

They’ve also put out a call for submissions, so if you have any BMX-related short films (less than 10 minutes long), then they’d like to hear from you. Deadline’s 27 March, but there are more details on the Defgrip blog, alright?

Sure, Rock Racing’s made some interesting talent-acquisition decisions and is currently relegated to being the fastest amateur team in the world, but when it comes to business, it’s succeeded in getting and keeping attention, which is no small feat.  And let’s be honest, their new road bikes are pretty bad ass looking.

Now, Rock & Republic / Rock Racing founder Michael Ball says they’ll be producing a road bike with a belt drive, and we found photos of a fixed-gear bike and some pretty solid looking components on their website, indicating they’re actually taking this whole bike brand thing seriously.  No, you couldn’t race a belt drive in a pro race, but then when has appeasing the UCI ever been Ball’s M.O.?

Check out the rest of the goodies after the break…

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How’s this for a nice twist…someone’s actually outsourcing manufacturing TO the United States. Ragley, a UK brand by frame designer Brant Richards, is having the titanium, rigid-fork-specific 29er bike built by Lynskey Performance in Tennessee, U.S. of A.

Designed to work with a 440mm fork, which is standard sizing for 26″ wheels, the bike will put the rider in a lower, racier position.  The geometry pretty much rules out putting a suspension fork on there, and standard rigid 29er forks with 470 to  490mm heights would kill the handling, too.

The frame features Lynskey’s sliding dropouts, a bent seat tube and horizontally ovalized top tube.  Look for it to come through Hotlines in the UK for about £1,200 (which, as Ragley puts it so eloquently on their blog, could vary depending on when they order and when Hotlines orders, thanks to the exchange rate…which, BTW, sucks for the $$).

A view of New York's Lower East Side with Google's new cycling-specific street view. The green lines in the map represent "bike friendly" roads and paths.

As the National Bicycle Summit gets underway in Washington DC this week, Google announced an addition to its Google Maps service, launching an option to get directions optimized for cyclists.

The new option will utilize bike lanes, bike trails, and lighter-traffic roads in determining routes for cyclists. Google says the program will also attempt to avoid hilly terrain whenever possible, a huge plus for cyclists.

The plan means that Google has now integrated bike paths and bike lanes into their gigantic map database, so finding places to ride will be much simpler for cyclists. You can read all about the new features in Google’s blog post about the new service here.

I tried the service on my morning commute, and the program immediately suggested the exact route I take, which took me several months to figure out. It was surprisingly effective in avoiding heavy traffic and even utilized our local bike path for several miles. Hats off to Google on this one.

NAHBS 2010 - Craig Calfee had a number of non-traditional bikes on display to truly illustrate not only the versatility of bamboo, but also his skill as a builder.

The Moulton replica bike was made at the request of a customer and isn’t something he plans to build regularly, but it was pretty ornate.  Nothing like a full suspension mini bike made from trees, eh?  Then there was his triple-tandem (Trandem?) from bamboo and a 23lb fully built carbon fiber tandem that was positively sick.

See it all after the break…

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Peter Sagan of Liquigas won a thrilling shortened stage in the Paris-Nice today. Cut down to 155km  due to snow at St Junien, the course nevertheless contained three cat-2 and one cat-3 climb, which let Saur-Sojasun’s Laurent Mangel extend his King of the Mountains classification lead.

Caisse d’Epargne generally led the peloton once again, though the pack let a small breakaway lead until just before the final climb. This was always going to be decisive, being only 3 downhill kilometres from the stage finish in Aurillac.

Nicholas Roche (AG2R) jumped off the front halfway up, but only succeeded in taking former  world junior mountain biking champion Peter Sagan with him. Joaquin Rodriguez and Alberto Contador then flew away from the pack, too, and, just over the top, Tony Martin and powerhouse Jens Voigt also established themselves in the leading pack.

In this exalted company, Roche was always going to have to turn himself inside out to produce a result, and it’s no discredit to him that he didn’t take the stage, instead coming in third behind Sagan and Rodriguez. A stage win will surely come his way soon.

Unhappiest man in the peloton tonight? Roman Kreuziger, who has been outridden - and now leapfrogged in the GC - by his younger team-mate, whom he’ll now have to pull for. Happiest? Maybe Peter Sagan, with his first Pro Tour stage win, but I’d go for big Jens, who will now ride in yellow tomorrow from Aurillac to Rodèz. Bye bye Boom!

Standings after stage 3:

1. Jens Voigt (SAX)

2. Peter Sagan (LIQ)

3. Luis Leon Sanchez (GCE)

4. David Millar (GAR)

5. Roman Kreuziger (LIQ)

6. Alberto Contador (AST)

7. Levi Leipheimer (RSH)

8. Joaquin Rodriguez (KAT)

Another race, another big debut: Columbia HTC’s star sprinter Mark Cavendish finally got on the bike in anger today, but spent the stage trying to find his legs. The 148km from Livorno to Rosignano Solvay will, however, be some crucial miles for him as he prepares for the Milan-Sanremo next weekend.

Eventually it was Milram’s Linas Gerdemann who won this opening day of seven, though the 202km through filthy conditions seemed to sap the peloton’s will to sprint. BMC and Sky, both working well, pushed the peloton for the last 20km, but a four-man break led down some slippery descents.

They were caught by the peloton on the final corner yet nobody in the bunch took the initiative to sprint and the four men slipped clear again. Paolini led the charge but Gerdemann came through to beat Lastras Garcia on the line

Standings after the first stage:

1. Linas Gerdemann (MIL)

2. Pablo Lastras Garcia (GCE)

3. Matti  Breschel (SAX)

4. Lucca Paolini (ASA)

NAHBS 2010 - Alongside their new Oxford rain cape and sweet white leather bar tape, Brooks showed off several new shades for some of their popular saddles and a reissue by popular demand of the Colt, which has been off the market for six years.

Above, the Brooks Imperial B17 Narrow adds two new colors, Honey and Antique Brown, to the original Black. Hit ‘more’ for the rest of the rich, leathery goodness…

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NAHBS 2010 - Bilenky’s booth crew were quite involved in their conversations when I swung by, so I scooped up a bunch of photos, but not lots of info…but the pictures speak volumes.  Their tandem won “Best Road Frame” of the show this year!

The red roadie above mated a straightforward front triangle with some curvy stays for a wild looking bike.  Built up with a collection of seriously vintage parts, it presents a bit of a mixed package that’s hard not to stare at.  Check after the break for closeups of this (you won’t believe the gruppo) and some amazing lugs and brazing work…

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“Cobblestones” by will_cyclist. This road is near the top of St. Gothard in Switzerland, and here’s his blog post that goes with it. Check out the rest of his blog Cycling the French Alps: Cycling Challenge. It details his 2010 New Years’ resolutions: #1, to climb 100 different mountain passes in the Alps, #2, to do a metric century per month, #3, cycle La Marmotte (again!), and #4, meet his weight goal. How awesome to live near the Alps so he can meet these goals!

To see more Pics of the Day, click here, and to submit your own photo to be shown to the world, go here.

Mark your calendars; NBC’s Universal Sports channel confirmed it will be carrying coverage of some of the major road races this season, starting with Tirreno-Adriatico this Wednesday.

Coverage will run daily at 3pm and again at 8pm during the six day event. If you don’t get Universal Sports, we suggest finding a friend that does, but Universal is also broadcasting Tirreno-Adriatico, as well as some other races, live online via their website here. See the full schedule after the jump.

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