The 82^nd Academy Awards are at 8 ET / 5 PT Sunday, March 7, 2010 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood and the glamour will be in full effect. In honor of this year’s Oscars we’d like to recognize those that we consider superstars by setting positive examples of safety by wearing a helmet! This week’s Fast Facts Friday is a collection of photos from around the web of Oscar-related celebs wearing helmets.

Jake Gyllenhaal is best known for his roles in Donnie Darko, Bubble Boy, The Day After Tomorrow, Jarhead, and Brokeback Mountain (in which he was nominated an Oscar for best actor in 2005). He isn’t nominated for an Academy Award this year, but his older sister Maggie Gyllenhaal is nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in Crazy Heart.

We’re not sure if Maggie rides a bike, but Jake sure does. We’re excited to see him staying safe in a Giro helmet when he’s riding the streets.

Photo courtesy JustJared.BuzzNet.com

 Matthew Broderick is best known for his role in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He also starred in the 1999 movie Election which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing. These days he keeps his pant leg rolled up so it won’t get caught in the chain, and wears a Bell helmet for safety.

Photo courtesy Cyclelicio.us

Matt Damon is best known for … ummm, well, he’s been in a TON of popular movies including Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan, Rounders, The Bourne series, The Departed, and 2009’s Invictus. He is actually nominated this year for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in Invictus. We’re definitely glad to see he’s staying safe with a Bell Helmet.

Photo courtesy ShowHype.com 

Hugh Jackman is known for his role as the slashing, side-burned X-Man Wolverine. He hosted the 81^st Academy Awards last year to rave reviews. He isn’t nominated for an Oscar this year, and he’s not hosting the awards show either, but when we found photos of him wearing a helmet while riding his mountain bike we had to share.

Photo courtesy DailyMail.co.uk

Carey Mulligan is nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role in An Education.

Here she is seen sporting a helmet as she rides on the back of a motorcycle with boyfriend Shia LaBeouf, also protecting his valuable head with a helmet.

Photo courtesy DailyMail.co.uk

Have you seen or know of any other celebrities that wear a helmet? Please share with us by leaving a comment below!

Cycling festivals galore! Plus, are you in it to win it? The Golden Helmet Award, that is! Whether you want to lost weight one bike ride at a time, head to Oregon for their annual Bike Summit or cycle across the country for a charitable cause, this week’s cycling news will get you riding!

• February 23, 2010: Tips for losing weight – changing the way you eat and adding in some more exercise time! Some facts on hiking and bicycling (Mark Richardson, Viploan.co.uk)

• February 23, 2010: Roswell, Georgia’s only bicycle-friendly community in Georgia, is having their annual Cycling Festival – Alive & Rolling – on April 24-25, Part of the plans? The Roswell Criterium with professional race teams, Kid’s Bicycle Rodeo, Mountain Bike Rides, Mayor’s Ride and more. One Region, Seven Communities, Dozens of Springtime Festivals and Events (Staff Writer, Hospitality Highway Newsletter)

• February 23, 2010: Organized by Cycle Oregon, the 5th Annual Oregon Bike Summit has been scheduled for June 4, 2010, and will be held at the World Trade Center in downtown Portland from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Save the Date: Oregon Bike Summit is June 4th (Jonathan Maus, BikePortland.org)

• February 23, 2010: Ann Wilson began her bicycling expedition in England last July, and has covered over 7,000km since, criss-crossing Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Iran and India. Now in Malaysia, she was inspired to embark on her journey after reading a book, “A Bike Ride”, written by Anne Mustoe, which chronicled the author’s around the world travels on a bicycle. Briton Ann Wilson cycles her way around the world (Shaun Ho, The Star)

• February 24, 2010: A trio of young Connecticut men in their 20s are bicycling across the country from St. Augustine, Fla., to San Diego trying to raise awareness of autism and collecting donations for Autism Speak. Autism awareness riders make their way from Florida to California (Marilyn Monroe, Wicked Local/GateHouse News Service)

• February 25, 2010: The Golden Helmet Award will recognize a Monterey County resident for his/her dedication to bicycling to and from work. Sign up before the March 31 deadline! Nominations sought for Monterey County Golden Helmet Award (Rachel Zentz, The Californian.com)

• February 26, 2010: Being called a “Hub Grub Ride”, the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club met up last weekend and pedaled to eight Seminole Heights restaurants. Tour Seminole Heights restaurants with the Hub Grub Ride (Dalia Colón, St. Petersburg Times)

• February 26, 2010: The sixth annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show took place this past weekend in Richmond, VA, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Handmade Bike Show Kicks Off (Staff Writer, Bicycling)

The great health-care debate has been raging for months. Politicians in Washington D.C. hope to overhaul America’s health care system with the overarching goal of making affordable care more accessible. While there are major disagreements about the government’s role in regulating  health care, one of the main components of all health-care legislation, from both Democrats and Republicans, is aggressively pursuing preventative care. This means that the government would have a role in educating and urging Americans to exercise, eat healthy, and give up bad habits. Here are a few facts about preventative care, and examples of what you can do to stay healthy.

1) According to the American Heart Association, about half of all deaths from heart disease are sudden and unexpected, so there’s little opportunity for treatment. For people at risk of sudden death, prevention is the key. The AHA believes that more effort must be focused on preventing heart disease by addressing and educating people on the major risk factors, including tobacco smoke, high blood pressure, and physical inactivity. (AmericanHeart.org)

2) The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) offers a Pocket Guide to clinical preventative services which includes recommendations on screening, counseling, and preventive medication topics. Recommendations are organized for quick reference and easy searching. One section matches recommended preventive services to patients—men, women, pregnant women, and children. AHRQ’s Clinical Preventative Services Guide was created (and is continually updated) by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force which is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. (AHRQ.gov)

3) Preventing child obesity has become a focus of first lady Michelle Obama , and she has recently launched Let’s Move – an ambitious initiative to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation. Let’s Move will provide healthier food in schools, help kids be more physically active and make healthy, affordable food available in every part of the country, among other things. (LetsMove.gov)

4) SparkPeople.com is a web site dedicated to making healthy living fun and easy with tools, content and a community of like minded people looking to get fit. The site offers great resources, tips, and suggestions on nutrition, fitness, motivation, wellness, and diet, as well as a streaming online video section and recipes section (SparkRecipes.com) with more than 217,000 healthy and delicious recipes. Be sure to check out Health A-Z, a medical reference section created by the faculty of the Harvard Medical School, for information on specific conditions. (SparkPeople.com)

5) According to the Cycling Resource Centre (Australia), the health benefits of cycling have been shown to be a primary reason why many people choose to cycle.  They say that cycling has been shown to significantly reduce the chance of developing obesity, diabetes  and other types of disease. Integrating cycling into everyday life, by using the bike as a form of transport has been shown to be a very sustainable method of regular physical activity. (CyclingResourceCentre.org)

The consensus is in, and an active lifestyle is likely the best way to prevent major health problems. We suggest strapping on a Bell helmet, hopping on a bicycle and pedaling your way towards better fitness.

Looking for products and resources  to compliment your active lifestyle? Be sure to check out Savasa – The Unique Fit. They offer unique women’s fitness products (their Ankle Weights were recently awarded Best Weights for Women), a Tips For Busy Women section, a Savasa Personal Trainer section with quick, 15-minute workouts in audio, video and guide format.

What forms of preventative care do you use to stay healthy? What is your favorite form of exercise? Do you have any useful examples of things you do in your life to stay fit? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

As a provider of safety helmets for a variety of sports from professional to novice for adults to toddlers, we take pride in bringing innovation to our customers to create a safer experience on the hill, bike path, slopes, or just out on the driveway!

Bell True Fit helmets are designed for biking, however the Bell family also offers customized helmets for a variety of activities including power sports,  bicycling, and … skateboarding. Normally we blog about bicycling and all of the elements that surround it, however over the course of February 2010 we’ve been discussing skateboarding, in particular Tony Hawk, a whole lot.  

Since February 1, 2010 we’ve given away two Bell Hawk skateboarding/BMX helmets, and two versions of the new video game Tony Hawk: RIDE – one for X-Box 360 (congrats @MomMostTraveled) and one for Nintendo Wii (congrats @davesniadak).

While we don’t have the ability to give everyone a helmet or video game, we do have one more game/helmet combo to give away to a random – and may we add, in our opinion, lucky – twitter participant. Today marks the end of our third and final giveaway contest, and we’d like to say CONGRATULATIONS @MissingLynxx. You have won a new Bell Hawk helmet and Tony Hawk: RIDE for X-Box 360!

Thank You – everyone – for participating in our February twitter contests. We hope you’ll stick around to read our blog, and just want to say: be on the lookout for future contests!

Sincerely,

The Bell True Fit Team

There’s something enriching about watching an Olympic athlete stand on the podium and receive their medal. After years of practice, relentless dedication and an unwavering desire to be the best in the world, these athletes glow with a sense of fulfillment when they take the podium to receive their medal. Even the most hardened of competitors are affected, in some way or another, by the medal ceremony, as it enshrines the winners’ name in Olympic history. Today’s Fast Facts Friday touches on Olympic medals and medal winners.

1) The last Olympic gold medals that were made entirely out of gold were awarded in 1912. The Olympic medals are designed especially for each individual Olympic Games by the host city’s organizing committee. Each medal must be at least three millimeters thick and 60 millimeters in diameter. Also, the gold and silver Olympic medals must be made out of 92.5 percent silver, with the gold medal covered in six grams of gold. Let’s start with some figures: there are roughly 2,500 volunteers at the games, there are more than 10,000 media members at the games, and there are about 5,000 officials and athletes participating. (About.com)

2) Bob Richards, two-time Olympic pole vault champion became the spokesman for Wheaties cereal in 1958, and since the 1960s hundreds of athletes (Olympic medalists and other professional athletes) have been shown and promoted on Wheaties boxes. (Wikipedia)

3) As of Friday, February 19, 2010 the United States is leading the medal count in the 2010 Winter Olympics with six gold, five silver, and seven bronze for a total of 18 medals. Germany has four gold, four silver, and three bronze for a total of 11 medals. And Norway is in third place with three gold and silver each, and two bronze for a total of eight medals. (Vancouver2010.com)

4) The all-time medal leader for all Olympic Games from 1896 to 2008, including Summer Olympic Games and  Winter Olympic Games is the United States with 2,511 medals. To put this number into perspective, the second and third place countries in the all-time medal count are (the former) Soviet Union and Great Britain with 1,204 and 736, respectively. (Wikipedia)

5) UPDATE: Easton-Bell sponsored, two-time Olympian Natalie Darwitz, who is serving as the captain of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team, moved into the record books on Thursday when she broke the U.S. women’s record for most points in an Olympic hockey tournament. Darwitz is now at 11 points (four goals, seven assists) through three games. Next up for Darwitz and the Americans is the medal round, beginning Monday against Sweden in the semifinals. Records are great, Darwitz says, but these next two games will define her tournament more than any statistic. (USAHockey.com)

Do you have an all-time favorite Olympic athlete? Was there a moment, medal ceremony or otherwise, during the Olympics that moved you? Let us know by leaving a comment below! And don’t forget to enter our giveaway contest for your chance to win a Bell Hawk Helmet AND Tony Hawk: RIDE for X-Box 360 – contest ends 02/23/10! Check it out here.

Bike thieves, junior Olympians, big bucks for bikes, economy booster, gold medal Olympian Kristin Armstrong, a tour of the coastal state and more! Last week, bicycling created quite a stir in the news! Check out these top stories from across the country.

• February 12, 2010: Justice for everyone – except for the bicyclists? Crime dropped in Los Angeles in all areas except bicycle thefts, which rose 29% last year. L.A. sees 29% jump in bike thefts, prompting some vigilante justice (Richard Winton, LA Times)

• February 12, 2010: The 2010 World Series of Bicycling kicks off Friday, June 18, and runs 10 of 11 Friday nights. VPCC announces its 2010 schedule (Gary R. Blockus, The Morning Call)

• February 11, 2010: Portland’s City Council on Thursday unanimously passed a measure that could spend as much as $613 million over 20 years on new bike paths and other bicycling infrastructure needs. City Council OKs $613 million bike plan (Staff Writer, Portland Business Journal)

• February 11, 2010: The 2010 Benchmark Report, a national survey, reviewed 50 of the largest cities to determine how educated children were regarding bicycle safety. San Jose ranks first for kids’ cycling safety (Kirsten Robbins, BikeRadar.com)

• February 11, 2010: A new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate students says bicycling generates more than a $1.5 billion economic impact in Wisconsin, exceeding the impact of even the deer hunting industry. Bicycles helping Wisconsin economy go ’round with $1.5 billion annual impact, study says (Michael King, Green Bay Press Gazette)

• February 10, 2010: Lucky school! Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Kristin Armstrong will deliver the commencement address at the University of Idaho on May 15 of this year. Kristin Armstrong will deliver University of Idaho commencement speech in May (Brian Murphy; IdahoStatesman.com)

• February 10, 2010: The winter cold doesn’t stop this crew from maintaining their 40-mile bike rides. Winter wheeling (Denise M. Baran-Unland, The Herald-News)

• February 9, 2010: Organized by AEG, the Tour of California 2010 course details should be revealed shortly…Tour of California organizers release stage details (Al Fresco, Bike World News)

• February 8, 2010: This year’s Bike Leadership Conference that will be held in Monterey, California, on April 13-15, has already drawn more retail attendees than in any of the past four years, including seven REI staff members. BLC Drawing More Retailers (Press Release, Bicycle Retailer)

Skateboarders and gamers rejoice! Bell True Fit and Activision are announcing the third and final video game/helmet contest giveaway! Today through Monday, February 22, 2010 we’re offering you the chance for you to win a Bell Hawk helmet and Tony Hawk RIDE for X-Box 360.

On February 1^st we announced the first of three contest giveaways, each for the chance to win a Bell Hawk skateboard/BMX helmet and, the latest and greatest skateboarding video game, Tony Hawk: RIDE. At the end of the first week we gave away a helmet and RIDE for X-Box 360. Last week we offered the chance to win a helmet and RIDE for Nintendo Wii.

Everyone’s participation in the first two contests has sent thousands of people to our blog, and helped us grow our twitter following exponentially. Thank you all very much for your participation.

Today we are happy to announce the winner of last week’s contest: Congratulations @davesniadak of Eagan, Minnesota! You are the lucky recipient of a shiny new Bell Hawk skateboard helmet and Tony Hawk: RIDE for Wii.

With February more than half way over and with two contests in the books, we still have one more helmet/game combo to giveaway …

For the next seven days we’re giving you the chance to win Activision’s Tony Hawk: Ride for X-Box 360 and a Bell Hawk Helmet! A value of more than $160! This is your last chance to win an X-Box version of Tony Hawk: Ride and a Bell helmet. 

Skaters will enjoy using the game’s unique skateboard peripheral (shown above) which is covered with motion sensors to simulate riding an actual skateboard.Similar to using the balance board in Wii Fit or Shaun White Snowboarding, the peripheral means you’ll have to ollie through challenges, pump for speed in the half pipe, and balance to accomplish tricks. There’s no sitting your way through levels in RIDE.

Entering the contest is easy: All you have to do is follow (@BellTrueFit) on twitter and retweet (RT) this link: http://bit.ly/cC37op

We’ll announce a winner on Tuesday, February 23, 2010.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first and second rounds, and good luck in the third and final round! Tweet ya later!

The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21^st Winter Olympics, kicked off this morning in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The games run from February 12–28, 2010, and more than 80 nations are competing in 15 winter sports events. At least 10 of these sports require participants to wear helmets, including ski jumping, snowboarding, speed skating, luge, and bobsled. Canadians, Olympics groupies and winter sports enthusiasts alike have been anticipating today and the next two weeks since 2003 – when Vancouver was announced as the host city. If you are unable to make the trek to the Pacific Northwest to cheer on your country’s athletes, we’ve assembled a few facts and resources to help you stay up to date on the games from the comfort of your home.

Read the rest of this entry »

Can you imagine a freeway made up of bicyclists?! A cycling advocacy group in LA can, and they’re taking measure to make this vision turn into a reality. Check out this and other tops stories in the news from last week involving two wheels!

• February 1, 2010: Organization One Less Car held its annual Smart Transportation and Bicycling Symposium Wednesday, Feb. 3 in Annapolis, Maryland. One Less Car holds annual bike symposium (Meredith Cohn, B’MoreGreen)

• February 2, 2010: Continuing the conversations around immigrants and bicycling. More Conversation About Not-So-Invisible Bicyclists (Sarah Goodyear, StreetsBlog.org)

• February 2, 2010: Team funded by Kazakhstan (split with Spanish and Kazakh riders) hopes to provide leader Alberto Contador with yet another Tour de France championship in 2010. Astana Launches 2010 Season (James Startt, Bicycling)

• February 3, 2010: The Topeka Community Cycle Project was started by Washburn law student Robert Fitzgerald and has already become home to numerous donated bicycles of all shapes, sizes and conditions. Law student creates bike co-op (Richard Kelly, The Review)

• February 3, 2010: An LA bicycling advocacy group (LA Bike Working Group) has proposed the Backbone Bikeway Network – a network of long-distance bike routes they say would be comparable to the city’s freeways. Bicyclists propose ‘freeway’ bike routes (Staff Writer, UPI.com)

• February 4, 2010: We agree!! Make bicycle helmets mandatory (Cyrus Bahrassa; Student Life)

• February 5, 2010: Bicycling’s view on the top controversies and moments for cycling in 2010: Lance versus Contador II. Team Sky versus tradition. Electronic shifting going mainstream. Riccardo Ricco trying to get through a full season without testing positive for doping. Rapha’s soon-to-be-unveiled shot at doing for performance-casual style what they did for hardcore road style. The Best Thing in Cycling This Year (Bill Strickland, Bicycling: Sitting In)

• February 5, 2010: The Bicycle Leadership Conference is asking for input from riders to help it better understand the current needs of cyclists in the US. To take the survey here. Bicycle Leadership Conference wants your input (Staff Writer, BikeRadar.com)

In partnership with Activision, on February 1st Bell Sports kicked off the first of three contest giveaways: for a week we asked you to engage us on twitter (@BellTrueFit) for your chance to win a Bell Hawk helmet and the video game Tony Hawk: Ride for X-Box 360.

After sifting through the twitter messages, we’ve randomly selected a winner: Congratulations to @MomMostTravelled! You are the winner of a Bell Hawk skateboarding/BMX helmet and an X-Box 360 version of Tony Hawk: Ride!

The Bell True Fit sweepstakes continue this week and for the next seven days we’re giving you the chance to win Activision’s Tony Hawk: Ride for Nintendo Wii and a Bell Hawk Helmet! A value of more than $160!

Like X-Box 360, the Wii version of Tony Hawk: RIDE uses a skateboard peripheral (shown below) covered with motion sensors to simulate riding an actual skateboard in the game. Similar to using the balance board in Wii Fit or Shaun White Snowboarding you’ll be on your feet grinding and shredding your way through the game. No sore thumbs!

Entering the contest is easy: All you have to do is follow (@BellTrueFit) on twitter and retweet (RT) this link: http://bit.ly/abqqFR

We’re excited to be offering you a chance to win a Wii version of Tony Hawk: Ride, and remember that we’ll be giving you another chance to win an X-Box 360 version next week!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first round, and good luck in the second round!