Brooks, the British bicycle saddle maker, gives a more nuanced meaning to the word “saddle bag” with a bag that looks like, well, a saddle. New for spring 2012, this beautifully crafted accessory in vibrant shades of apple green, mandarin, raspberry, turquoise and violet was conceived as a saddle cover and bag in one. Read more: colorful handbags that look like bicycle saddles

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With a little more than month to go until the March equinox, we’ve got spring fitness, advocacy and Bike Month planning on our minds:

Suggest an Event for The Bird Wheel Ladies Program – Nona Varnado, the New York City-based cycling apparel and accessories designer who also runs The Bird Wheel collaborative women’s cycling website, has put out a call for proposals for the Ladies Program of Bike Month in May.  She’s promising “a massive line-up of the most fun you can have riding bikes.” Last year’s line-up included a “meet your bike match” garden party, bicycle movie nights, maintenance classes, a ride to Piermont, NY and more. (Plans for a velojoy event for Bike Month are in the works, so stay tuned!) If you’ve got an idea for the 2012 calendar, please contact info@nonavarnado.com.

There’s also a community fundraising campaign to support the Ladies Program going on at ioby.com.

Improve Your Road Skills and Fitness – Many people aspire to riding longer distances and improving road cycling fitness in preparation for summer. The New York Cycle Club’s SIG (special interest group) progressive series of training rides, for introductory through advanced levels, will help get you ready to ride. It’s also a great way to connect with others who share a love of cycling.

Learn more and register here. (Fair warning: the orientation meeting, held earlier this week, was SRO, so early registration is encouraged.)

Learn more about the New York Cycle Club by reading our profile of NYCC president Ellen Jaffe. It’s part of a new velojoy series on women leaders in cycling.

Engage More Women in Cycling – Central to encouraging interest in cycling for transportation and recreation among women is gaining insight into the factors that contribute to the bicycling gender gap the U.S. That’s why we’re so excited about attending the first-ever National Women’s Cycling Forum coming up in Washington DC on March 20. The forum will draw representatives from a variety of disciplines to raise awareness and discuss how to engage more women in cycling. It’s presented by the Alliance for Biking and Walking with the Association of Pedestrian and Cycling Professionals in conjunction with the National Bike Summit. Learn more and register here.

Cycling Link Love

See Jane Ride - Jane Brody of the New York Times inspired us this week with her column filled with personal advice about riding a bicycle safely and comfortably in NYC. The 70-year-old Brody, who started riding a bike at age 10, writes, “I use my bike for daily exercise and transport to class, work, shopping, tennis, swimming – most everywhere I need to go, as long as the weather, distance and dress code do not make riding impractical.”

Sex or the Saddle? – Sure, we love riding a bike and all, but…Bicycling Magazine’s “Readers’ Choice” survey in the March issue finds that 58 percent of women (versus 50 percent of men) say that if they had to choose between giving up sex or cycling for a month, they’d forgo sex.

Fit for Fashion Week

For those who love spin classes, or who like to mix and match performance wear with their everyday clothing for biking around town, the blog Well+Good gave their Fashion Week nod to four new fitness brands. Check out the looks in their slide show.

Fabled — and resilient — New York Times street fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, who rides a bike every where, was hit by an S.U.V. outside a fashion show on Thursday. He was uninjured and reportedly brushed off the incident and kept clicking his shutter.

We like! Levi’s, makers of a line of unisex jeans that include special features for bicycle commuters, sent a model down the runway on two wheels in their Fall 2012 ready-to-wear show. (Photo: WWD)

And Finally…

Park Tool is know for wrenches, cable stretchers, mechanic stands and other implements for bicycle maintenance and repair. You may have seen the distinctive blue-handled tools on the work bench at your local bike shop. But here’s one for the kitchen counter: the bicycle-shaped Park Tool pizza cutter. It makes short work of slicing up extra-large  pies for post-ride carbo replenishment.

Park Tool Pizza Tool PZT-2, $14

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At the January meeting of the New York Cycle Club (NYCC) in Midtown Manhattan, guest speaker Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, delivered a wide-ranging update on the advocacy organization’s efforts on behalf of cycling. The crowd was engaged; club members peppered White with questions and voiced to their own perspectives.

Business as usual, one would think. A leading cycling advocate talking to a room-full of road cycling enthusiasts. Probably an annual event on the NYCC calendar, right?

In fact, this was a first in the 75-year history of NYCC and the 39-year tenure of Transportation Alternatives. Inviting advocacy into the room — officially — is one indicator of how the oldest and largest recreational cycling club in New York City, with a stated mission of “having as much fun on a bicycle as possible,” is boldly embracing the shifting landscape of cycling under the leadership of its president, Ellen Jaffe.

Jaffe (right), a partner in the media production company Davis + Jaffe, has been an NYCC member since 1999 and took the helm in 2011. She overseas a 2,300-member, all-volunteer organization that counts among its myriad offerings a highly regarded spring training series for road cyclists of all levels, a robust schedule of organized rides and special events, and monthly meetings featuring noted speakers.

What the organization has not been involved in publicly is cycling advocacy.
“Issues have been addressed over the years, albeit with unevenness, as much due to the volunteer nature of our club as anything,” Jaffe says. “We became advocates last year in a way that we had not been accustomed to before.”

Ticketing Blitz Galvanizes Club

The impetus for change was a highly publicized “bike lash” against bad behavior by cyclists in the winter of 2011. Its centerpiece: an unprecedented city-wide ticketing blitz that hit recreational lap-riders on the popular 6-mile Central Park loop particularly hard. NYCC’s message board, Jaffe recalls, lit up with accounts of $270 tickets dispensed for running red lights in the park, even during traffic-free hours at intersections free of pedestrians. During what turned out to be a dark period for cycling in the city in general, NYCC’s Jaffe played a key role in uniting  diverse interests to “become part of the solution” for a fair and equitable approach to enforcement.

“There was no question that we had to get involved,” says Jaffe. “If not us, then who? We had to harness the anger in the club to effect positive change.”

Over a three-month period, NYCC joined with the Century Road Club Association, Transportation Alternatives, the Central Park Conservancy and others to work with the New York City Police Department to broker a move away from a “zero tolerance” stance regarding the 47 traffic signals in Central Park. Read more: bold new direction for new york cycle club

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graphic: Alliance for Biking and Walking 2012 Benchmarking Report

As city cyclists we’re used to hearing a lot about the popularity of two-wheeled transportation in Europe versus the U.S. One might assume that Copenhagen and Amsterdam lead in the percentage of trips made by bicycle. Not so. Ever heard of the Dutch towns of Groningen and Zwolle? Read more: top bike commuting cities? 2 you may not know

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A Valentine’s Day thought:

If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything. ~ Marilyn Monroe

The photo is via Rides a Bike, the Tumblr blog that continues to delight us with romantic pics of movie stars and celebs on bicycles. Now, its creator, Steven Rea, has assembled 125 of these color and black-and-white gems into a hardcover book, Hollywood Rides a Bike, from Angel City Press.

Congratulations to Our Winner!

Lori Berkowitz is the winner of  a 2012 Simi Mini Dot helmet from Nutcase in our Bike Crush Valentine Day’s facebook contest! Her bike crush: pro cyclist Cadel “Cuddles” Evans. Thank you to every one who entered! Read more: basket-full of bike romance for valentine’s day

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Hey, there’s more to red than you may know. As an evolutionary artifact, red signals physical fitness that attracts potential mates. You’re probably already covered on that front because regular cycling keeps you in great shape. But psychologists have also found that red clothing draws higher marks on attractiveness in both sexes compared with other colors. So, maybe it’s not way out there to speculate on how adding (or giving!) a hint of red on Valentine’s Day could enhance your love life… Read more: valentine’s red cycling gear: key to the heart?

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With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we’re thinking pink with bicycling accessories to encourage Cupids, or to inspire thoughts of spring-time rides to come. Here are the details: Read more: in the pink: valentine’s day gifts for cyclists

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Remember the giddy excitement of exchanging cards in school on Valentine’s Day? For the romantic fantasies they inspired, we liked the ones from secret admirers best. In honor of sweet amour on two wheels this week, we’re asking you to share your (secret) bike crush on our facebook page! Details after the jump… Read more: tell us about your valentine’s bike crush!