Leitch: Why Armstrong Is Too Good to ForgiveCycling has been eaten inside out by doping over the past twenty years. So why has he in particular been the target of such intense scorn?
Prep-School Principal Gets Caught in Awkward LieWhen York Prep Academy principal Christopher Durnford told a little fib about being in the Olympics this one time, he had no idea it would go this far.
intel
The City Is Tired of You Getting Your Bike Seat WetBehold the city’s newest benefit for bicyclists: a sleek public bike-parking shelter that will start rolling out next month. The structures are from the same company that’s installing those adorable new bus stops around town. As you can see, they look very similar, except they’ve removed the side and rear panels for easy access for up to eight bikes. (And their ad panels will show off the city bike map or reminders to pedal safely.) The Art Commission approved the design yesterday, and the contractor will build the first 5 of 37 at commuting hubs. Look for them at 17th and Broadway, DeKalb and Flatbush, Pelham Parkway and White Plains Road, Jackson Avenue at 50th Street in Long Island City, and the St. George Ferry Terminal. “You judge a good street by how you see people going out and using the space,” Transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan told us. “We’re working hard to make sure that the materials we put on the street are high quality and sustainable.” And, from the looks of it, pretty. —Alec Appelbaum
in other news
Let Us Ride Bikes!
We missed this in yesterday’s paper, presumably because we were so distracted by Bloomberg’s unsuccessful shuttle diplomacy in Albany: While London, Stockholm, and Singapore all have successful congestion-pricing programs, and while Scandinavian capitals have longstanding center-city transportation cultures built around bicycles, and while an art installation in Soho last week made bikes available to New Yorkers for a few days, Paris is now trying to beat its traffic problems by making some 10,000 bicycles available for nominal fees around the city — there’ll be 20,000 and change by the end of the year — for people to rent from one of 750 stations, ride to where they need go, and return to another station. This plan sounds like it could be another good way to get some cars off the road and emissions out of the air. Could it be congestion pricing 2.0, Mike? Of course not! It’s an interesting and innovative idea; Shelly Silver must hate it.
A New French Revolution’s Creed: Let Them Ride Bikes [NYT]
intel
No Olympics, But Maybe the X Games?
Not content to sprinkle skate parks amid its acreage, the city will open its first BMX and mountain-bike trail this Saturday in Washington Heights’s Highbridge Park. The three miles of trail includes jumps and a BMX track and will give cyclists a legal place to ride. “We had had mountain bikers riding through historic landscapes, so we had to criminalize it,” says Parks Commission Adrian Benepe. “This was a way to come up with a positive use for a remote area of the park.” The New York City Mountain Bike Association supported the trail with money and volunteers, and the commissioner hopes the peer endorsement will keep kids from turfing the city’s lawn. Alec Appelbaum
All-City Cross Country Race [NYC Mountain Bike Association]
party lines
Lance Armstrong Can Dress HimselfAt the Spirit of Jimmy V Awards last night, a very dapper and very tan Lance Armstrong strolled onto Pier 60 in a spiffy suit and a repp tie, and with no USPS or Discovery Channel logo in sight. He was there, as was the U.S. Army women’s basketball team, to receive the Jimmy V award for raising money for cancer research. We buttonholed him on his way in to get some advice about biking — and about fashion.
