The National Ride of Silence will be held on May 15th and a local ride will be organized starting and ending at the UT Parking Lot 1  North, located at the corner of Bancroft and North Towerview Blvd.  The  ride will be slow-paced (12 mph Max.) covering 7.8 miles.  Riders will be  escorted by Toledo City Police, Ottawa Hills Police and UT Police on  route.  Helmets are required. This event is free and open to the public.  No registration necessary.

The ride will depart promptly at 7PM so please arrive early.  During the ride, riders will pause at Ottawa Hills HS in memory of Dave Larabee, killed on his way home from work in 2005, Toledo Children’s Hospital in memory of Dr. Stephen Snedden, killed while biking along River Road in Perrysburg Township, and Ottawa Park in honor of Robert Brundage.  We will honor many others prior to the start of the ride.

For more details contact Keith Webb (keith@wearetraffic.org)  567-225-4032 or visit http://biketoledo.com/events/ride-silence/

Join cyclists worldwide in a silent slow-paced ride (max. 12 mph) in  honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways. There is no brochure, no sponsors and no registration fees.  The ride, which is held during Bike Safety month, aims to raise the awareness of motorists, police and city officials that cyclists have a  legal right to the public roadways. You can find out more about this worldwide campaign at www.rideofsilence.org.

Have you ever fixed a flat tire?  Learn a necessary bike maintenance skill in a non-intimidating group setting.

• preventing flat tires
• diagnosing the cause of a flat
• how to repair a flat tire
• using a CO2 or mini pump

Clinics are held at BikeWorks at 6:30p.m.  Class size is limited, so please reserve a spot by signing up at the shop or calling 419.882.0800

John says BikeWorks always works best with customers who ride regularly.  The first bike sold was a high-end carbon road bike.  ”It’s weird,” John says, “we’re still doing the same thing.”  BikeWorks continues to offer a vast selection of road bikes and the best selection of cycling accessories and clothing in the region.  ”The goal was always to justify traveling to the shop.”

After five years in business, BikeWorks relocated to the Promenade Shops on Monroe Street, neighboring Dave’s Running Shop.  BikeWorks moved to its current location in 1999.  Just down the street from the Alexis Road location, BikeWorks has acquired an offsite fit studio.  ”Now more than ever, selling items takes more service.  Our staff, inventory, fit studio and commitment to our service department set us apart.  When I opened, I wanted to prove that if you provide a good product with good service, you can exist.  It’s intimidating in a way though, that we’re still one of the youngest shops in Toledo.”

BikeWorks looks forward to kicking off the season with a celebratory open house.  A variety of other anniversary events are in the works, so stay tuned.

Herbie Sykes trawled through countless dusty archive boxes in Italy finding the very best images – many previously unpublished – for his book Coppi: Inside the Legend of Il Campionissimo. Rouleur’s Taz Darling and former Gazzetta dello Sport photographer Vito Liverani study the breathtaking results.

A new British pro road team launches in 2013 with an unusual twist: Madison Genesis will ride steel frames. Guy Andrews travels to Reynolds in Birmingham with team manager Roger Hammond and designer Dominic Thomas to ask the big question. Can steel really cut it in the modern peloton?

Graeme Fife and Gerard Brown trailed Team Sky for a large part of its breakthrough 2012 season. Our man Fife sits down with the management team behind the Tour winners and discovers what made them tick.

Ian Cleverly, meanwhile, enjoys a nice cup of tea at the Tour of Britain with Wiggins – Cath Wiggins, that is. Talk turns to the pressures of fame, track racing and living with a winner.

Earlier this year Ian travelled to Louisville, Kentucky, in the company of Privateer magazine deputy editor Andy Waterman to test out the course for the upcoming cyclo-cross World Championships. It starts badly, gets worse, but ends well…

Ángel Arroyo, one of the classiest Spanish riders of the ’80s, is still known as The Wild One in his hometown. In possibly the sweariest interview we have published to date, Arroyo rails against all and sundry, including “that fucker Fignon”.

Cubist artist Jean Metzinger was fascinated by cycling. Colin O’Brien attends the exhibition opening in Venice, a bike-free city, with Francesco Moser. Surreal.

Plus usual columnists Paul Fournel, Matt Seaton, Johnny Green and William Fotheringham.

Official Hudson 100 T-shirts are now available at the shop.

Size M L XL are $25 +tax

There is a limited supply, so come and pick yours up soon.  Leftover t-shirts will be sold for cash only the day of the ride.

We are happy to be one of the first 100 dealers in the country to carry Skratch Labs Exercise Hydration Mix.  We were drawn to the products Skratch Labs offers because of their unique take on nutrition.  We know that finding the right mix of food and drink on the bike can be difficult and we have sold and tried many products over the years.   Skratch Labs is dedicated to creating a product that is natural, tasty and gentle on the digestive system.  The best part of it is that it works.  Allen Lim, PhD, founder of Skratch Labs, has been serving his “Secret Drink” to professional athletes for years.  Read more about how he developed the mix.   But don’t trust what everyone else is saying, stop by the shop to pick some up to try for yourself.

It is with great sadness that we bring news of the loss of Mark Schneider.  Mark was a long-time customer of BikeWorks who resided in Pittsburgh, PA.  Many Plus 5 riders may remember Mark’s appearances on Saturday morning rides when he was in town to visit his parents.  Mark tragically lost his life this weekend after he was hospitalized as a result of a biking accident.  The cause of the accident is unknown.  He was participating in an annual charity ride that he enjoyed, the Catoctin Challenge.  Mark will be remembered as a biking enthusiast, but more importantly for his genuine kindness and humor.

Mark’s Obituary can be found here.

Updated May 23: Heather is breathing on her own and off sedation today for the first time!  Michael is very hopeful and is encouraged by her steady daily progress. Heather remains in neuro ICU and still must not have visitors at the present to preserve her energy for healing.

Updated June 3: Heather is out of ICU and will begin rehabilitation next week.

An overwhelmingly Euro edition of Rouleur begins with Herbie Sykes’ travels in Germany and a fascinating insight into racing behind the Iron Curtain in the pre-unification years. Peace race legend Täve Schur, a hugely popular sportsman in the GDR, remains the figure binding the testimonies of former racers in a communist state. Timm Kölln is the photographer.

Herbie’s travels unearthed a remarkable collection of poster art advertising the Peace Race, including the beautiful cover image. We reproduce 13 of the best inside.

Brian Holm is widely recognised as a snappy dresser and a good talker. Fellow Danes Morten Okbo and Jakob Sørensen get more than they bargained for in a Belgian road trip through Holm’s old haunts. Crazy tales, tigers, police chiefs and fast cars all feature in The Quick and the Dead.

Graeme Fife and Gerard Brown seek out Sean Yates, Jean-René Bernaudeau and Bernard Thévenet at the Critérium du Dauphiné and catch Bradley Wiggins on the way to victory.

Guy Andrews and Taz Darling travel to Northern Italy and the home of Elite. “We get excited when we talk about bottles. People say a little too excited sometimes but that’s our world!” They also get quite excited about rollers…

Krásná Lípa is a five-day women’s stage race in the Czech Republic near both German and Polish borders. Ian Cleverly is team soigneur for the duration in between talking to the For Viored-Brookvex team. Food poisoning knocks photographer Gerard Brown and most of the squad for six.

Far away from the Czech Republic, Tom Southam and Ben Ingham bring us the final instalment from the Tour of Rwanda. Tom takes a closer look at the future of African cycling.

Plus columnists William Fotheringham, Matt Seaton, Paul Fournel and Johnny Green.