From Europe to California this week’s Fast Facts Friday takes a look at some of the most compelling bicycle stories and developments from around the world.

• Bike cafés have become that latest hip hang out in London. Whether you’re looking for morning coffee, scrumptious lunch or tall pint  – there are some intriguing bike-friendly locales in London. Check out the Container Café, Lock 7, and Rapha Cycle Club. Look Mum No Hands is a bar, café, and workshop – all bundled together in a lofty garage space. They offer free Wi-Fi and have weekly cycling events. (NYTimes.com)


Bell rider Fabian Cancellara is currently leading the pack at the 2010 Tour de France.

• We’ve covered bicycle laws and programs from time to time here, and we were enthused on Thursday to see that the federal government awarded $3 million to Boston’s planned bike sharing program. The injection of federal funds allows the city to purchase roughly 500 bicycles for use at about 50 rental stations. The bike share program is scheduled to launch next spring. (Boston.com)
• A young designer from Britain has invented a revolutionary folding bicycle: 21-year old Kevin Scott’s “Bendy Bike” uses a ratchet system built into the frame of the bike to allow it to wrap around a pole, enabling the lock to be wrapped through both wheels and the frame. You have to see the pictures to believe it. (DailyMail.co.uk)
• In Woodland, CA bicycle enthusiasts and community leaders are preparing for “The World’s Greatest Bicycle Parade. “On Sunday, October 3, we hope more than 4,000 bike riders from Davis and the surrounding communities will help break the Guinness world’s record for largest parade of bicycles,” Bicycle Parade Committee Chairman Frank Giustino said. So if you live in Northern California, or are planning a trip that way this fall, be a part of history and help them go into the record books! (DailyDemocrat.com)
• Of course, we can’t forget about Le Tour de France which kicked off this week. World time trial champion and Bell rider Fabian Cancellara won the prologue to the 2010 Tour on July 3, and he has been able to keep hold of the race-leading (first place) yellow jersey through today! Keep it up Fabian! For full coverage check out Versus.com. (Bloomberg.com)

Sunday is Mother’s Day and in honor of all the moms out there we’re dedicating this week’s Fast Facts Friday post to these band-aid-toting, snack-providing, TLC-offering mothers!

Here are a few random facts for you all that are all about moms:

1)  Many of the sweaters worn by Mr. Rogers on the popular television show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, were actually knitted by his real mother. (Mother’s Day Celebration)

2)  The Bell True Fit helmet was named to Mothering Magazine’s Mother’s Day “Strokes of Genius” wish list for its cool and comfortable fit. (Mothering Magazine)

3)  This Sunday the Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania is hosting its first annual Mother’s Day Bike-a-Thon, benefitting several charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Shriner’s Children Hospitals and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. (Bleacher Report)

4)  In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the orders that made Mother’s Day a national holiday. (A Girl’s World)

5) This year, The Huffington Post encourages families to celebrate Mother’s Day by honoring Mother Earth and suggests “instead of getting in the car to go somewhere, take a family bicycle ride in your neighborhood.” (Huffington Post)

And in addition to sharing these random facts around Mother’s Day, we also want to share our wish for you all to have a very happy and safe Mother’s Day, no matter if it’s a bike-a-thon, time to get away and dig into a favorite book or a nice family ride to a favorite breakfast locale!

Mothering Magazine’s list of suggested “asks” for Mother’s Day!

Did you strike out in your first at bat? Well, dust off your cleats and get back into the batter’s box because Bell True Fit is offering ANOTHER chance to win two tickets to tonight’s San Francisco Giants game against Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals.

As a part of the Easton-Bell Sports family, Bell is the preeminent designer of branded sports helmets and accessories.

Easton-Bell makes helmets for softball, football and hockey, and of course baseball. They also sponsor a handful of MLB players and numerous collegiate programs, but it doesn’t stop there. Easton Baseball is also the Official Team Equipment Supplier of Little League Baseball and Softball, Dixie Youth Baseball, Pony Baseball, and AABC.

OK enough with our credentials. You get, the truth is, Easton is baseball. Now, let’s get down to the contest.

As a “thank you” to celebrate our one year anniversary as a community, we’re giving away two tickets to tonight’s Giants vs. Cardinals game. And don’t forget to get there early as it’s “wearable blanket” giveaway night if you’re one of the first 20,000 fans to enter the stadium!

Entering the contest is easy: All you have to do is follow (@BellTrueFit) on twitter and retweet (RT) this link: http://bit.ly/9nmcG2

It’s that easy.

The contest ends at 3pm PT, and the game starts at 7:15pm PT, so be sure to get your RTs in before the deadline.

Around 3 pm PT we’ll randomly select and notify a winner.

Good luck!

We’re altering our usual Fast Facts Friday post and mixing it up this week with a little something to keep you on your toes.

By now you’re well aware that Bell Sports is ever-present in the world of cycling and skateboarding. What you may not know is that Bell is part of the Easton-Bell Sports family. If you play baseball or softball, then there’s no doubt that you’ve heard of Easton.

Carlos Ruiz, catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies

And you may know who Easton is, but did you also know the following interesting facts about the history of baseball:

1) In 1876 the National League begins play with eight teams: Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays, Mutual of New York, St. Louis Brown Stockings. (Interesting Baseball Facts)

2) The longest game of baseball recorded to date took place in Boston on August 16, 2006 and was between the Red Sox and New York Yankees. The game went the usual nine innings but lasted four hours and 45 minutes! At long last, the Yankees won. (Baseball Almanac)

3) Easton arrived in the aluminum bat scene in the late 1970s, introducing a baseball bat with the strongest grade of aluminum on the market at the time and is credited with significantly increasing the popularity of aluminum baseball bats. (Baseball-Bats.net)

4) Baseball stars from the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) played the first All-Star Game in 1933. (FactMonster)

5) The San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum won the Cy Young Award in November of 2009 for the second straight year, emerging from one of the tightest votes in history to become the first repeat winner since Randy Johnson (2001 and 2002). (ESPN)

And, in honor of the inaugural month of this year’s baseball season we have a special giveaway for you today! As a “thank you” to celebrate our one year anniversary as a community, we’re giving away two tickets to see that very 2009 Cy Young Award winner, Tim Lincecum, and the rest of the Giants take on the St. Louis Cardinals tonight (played at AT&T Park in San Francisco with a 7:15 pm first pitch)! And, as an added bonus, it’s “wearable blanket” giveaway night if you’re one of the first 20,000 fans to enter the stadium!

Much like the selection process for the All Star Game, we want to hear from the fans for this giveaway. Here’s how to enter (Please follow our two-part directions carefully):

1)      Leave a comment on this post telling us who your all-time favorite baseball player is.

2)      Post this link http://bit.ly/cfoCzW into either a Twitter or Facebook update.

The contest ends at Noon PT, and the game starts at 7:15pm PT, so be sure to get your comments and social media updates in before the deadline.

Good Luck!

Lincecum enjoys a wearable blanket, and you can too!

Skateboarding and video games go back to the late 1980’s when relatively primitive, yet vastly popular, games for the Atari and Nintendo game consoles were introduced. California Games, Skate or Die!, and Skate Boardin’ all debuted in 1987 to great acclaim and positive reviews. While these were quite popular, none of these were the first skateboarding video game. This title belongs to 720°: The Ultimate Aerial Experience, which debuted in 1986.

720° is an arcade game by Atari Games, notable in that it is the first extreme sports video game, and it has a unique timed structure that requires the player to score points in order to keep the game going. 720° has one button and the joystick only spins in a circle. A fun and challenging game (even today) no doubt, but primitive when compared to all the video games Tony Hawk has put his name on in the two decades since 1990.

As we briefly discussed in a recent Fact Facts Friday post, the latest and most interactive skateboarding video game ever is Activision’s Tony Hawk: RIDE, which came out in November 2009.

In the game, the player uses a skateboard peripheral to simulate the riding of an actual skateboard in the game. So… STEP ON THE BOARD AND RIDE! 

Tony Hawk: RIDE lets anyone experience the thrill of skateboarding thanks to its new revolutionary motion sensing skateboard controller (above).  Give your thumbs a rest and discover why RIDING is the new way to play!  Be sure to check out BELL PRO Tony Hawk and the sweet Bell Helmets and Gear in the skate shop. 

Tony Hawk: RIDE is available on Nintendo Wii, PS3, and X-Box 360.

And in case you didn’t know, Bell offers helmets specifically designed for skateboarding: such as the Bell  Hawk.  

In celebration of Bell’s presence in this revolutionary game, we are giving away three copies of it along with three Bell Hawk helmets!

We have two X-Box 360 versions of the game and one Wii version, and we’re going to give away one package (which includes a game and helmet) per week for the next three weeks, starting with an X-Box 360 version.

Today through Sunday, Fedbruary 7, 2010 all you have to do is log into your twitter account and retweet (RT) the following message to be entered into a drawing for a chance to win:

“Win Activision’s Tony Hawk: Ride for Xbox AND a Bell Hawk Skateboard Helmet! Visit http://bit.ly/9FqEaT & RT to enter”

The winner will be announced on twitter and the BellTrueFit community site on Monday, February 8, 2010.

We’ll be running a contest to win the Wii version of the game (and a helmet) next week, and in two weeks well be running a contest to win another X-Box 360 version (and a helmet).

Again, for this week’s contest all you have to do is retweet this message:

“Win Activision’s Tony Hawk: Ride for Xbox AND a Bell Hawk Skateboard Helmet! Visit http://bit.ly/9FqEaT & RT to enter”

Good luck! See you on the Backside!