Get Your Kicks On (Bicycle) Route 66

Get your kicks on Route 66.

Now you can follow the "advice" of Bobby Troup and the Nat King Cole Trio on your bike.

Well, sort of. The legendary highway--often cited as the inspiration for the American "road trip"--took drivers from Chicago to Santa Monica, California.  Established in 1926, it was largely replaced by the Interstate system and was officially removed from the US Highway system in 1985.

Photo by Frederic J. Brown, from Getty Images

Now a bicycle trail that mostly follows the last part of the system--from the California-Arizona border to Santa Monica--has opened.  It's one of 18 new routes that have been added to the US Bicycle Route System.  You can now get your "kicks" on 2903 miles of this system, with more under development. The goal is to link the bicycle routes in a system spanning the nation.

Hopefully, we'll be able to get our "kicks" on bike routes all over the country soon!

A Parade of Bicycles for the Fourth of July

Today, in parades all over the nation, we will see bicycles decorated for the occasion.  Some are embodiments of patriotic fervor, like this bike:

From It's Overflowing

I'm not sure what brand it is, or whether it's even made in the US.  It has an American flag on its seat tube, but it looks new enough not to have been made here.  Still, it looks like an old American cruiser; it even has an Ashtabula crank--unlike the retro-repro models, which usually have cheap three-piece cotterless cranks.

But I'm not going to quibble.  For contrast, here's something with a more contemporary flair:

From Jersey Knitter

"Jersey Knitter" decorated those bikes a few years ago for the parade in the Garden State community of Montclair.  I would imagine that when those colors spin, the visual effect might be like a pinwheel firework.

In contrast to those examples of patriotic pedal power, here's a Dutch-style city bike decked out for the most American of holidays:

From  Detroit Mommies

In some weird way, this bike makes sense. If nothing else, the white bike makes a good "canvas", if you will, for the color palette.  Also, in a weird way, it makes sense historically.  After all, were it not for the Dutch (and French, Spanish and Poles), the American colonies might not have gained their independence from the British crown.  In fact, the Netherlands was the first nation to recognize the United States of America as a sovereign country.

Plus, the Dutch gave the world Mondrian. What would Look bicycles and the LaVie Claire team used for their logos if they didn't have Mondrian's compositions of lines and primary colors?