I somehow neglected to mention that RBR was awarded a scholarship to send a staffer to the 2010 National Bike Summit in Washington D.C.

Since Rob and Tim fulfill essential daily functions, that means the web dude gets to go, and so I'll be heading to D.C. tomorrow to talk bike advocacy with like minded folks and politicians.

Anybody have tips for how to ride recumbent in a suit without wrinkling everything?

RBR customer Steve O. recently got in touch with us with some good news:

Since I'll turn 50 this year (yikes!), I can compete in the Florida Senior Games. They have a recumbent cycling class. Last weekend, I won the 5K and 10K TT's on my Baron. The most impressive part was that I posted the fastest time of all competitors/all classes in the 5K TT (7:26). A 51 year-old DF rider was 8 seconds back. I wore the RBR colors, and thought you'd enjoy a few pics. I plan to compete in several more local events this year. I've already qualified to compete in the 2010 Florida Senior Games State Championships.

 

Congratulations on the win, Steve, and thanks for proudly wearing The Colors.

 

We've assembled the first of our R spec Catrike 700 trikes. We grabbed the graphite frame color with black boom. It also sports red accents on the bar end shifters, dust caps, and tie rod. Oh, and there's a nifty little flag sticker.

So what makes an R an R? The fact that it sports:

• KMC 10SP DX 10SC chain
• SRAM Rival 10SP 11-28 cassette
• SRAM Rival front derailleur
• Avid BB7 brakes
• SRAM TT500 10SP shifters
• SRAM Rival 10SP rear derailleur
• SRAM Rival GXP Team bottom bracket
• Super Guard 110BCD chainring guard
• SRAM 34/50 cranks with Rival 10SP 165mm arms

As you can see in the photos, it's still a might chilly in Pennsylvania.

We recently received one of the new BionX rack batteries along with a 26" wheel. If there was one thing we learned at Interbike, it's that electric assist is the up and coming thing, and a lot of manufacturers are looking at how they can make batteries less obtrusive. Some have gone the route of putting batteries in the frame (which means the entire assist is integrated and can't be moved to another bike) while others have gone the rack mount direction.

But even those that did a rack mount didn't necessarily think to integrate rear lights into the design, or to make it so easy to slide the battery in and out of the rack.

There's a gentleman who goes by the name Pedal Pundit who has chosen to highlight the dark side of the 2010 Winter Olympics: the traffic.

How does he propose dealing with it? By riding his recumbent around town instead of sitting in his car all day! Or, in other words...

The Pedal Pundit presents a rap about riding recumbents in rush hour.