I locked up my Kona Blast in front of the downtown public library this afternoon.

About 90min later, it was gone. The lock cut away.

That bike cost C$674 and served me well for 30 months.

I can’t complain. I got tremendous value out of the Kona, especially with the included 2-yr service package.

A bus driver told me that street is under video surveillance. I’ll follow-up with security at the library.

Needless to say, I have no household insurance. Happily I’ve had very few items stolen over the years. This is the most valuable item yet.

My favourite gear shop is opening bike repair shops. And plans to start selling MEC branded bikes in 2009.

Today I picked up some inexpensive parts and had a tune-up while I waited.

This is the best news cyclists have had in Canada in a long time. The vaunted MEC value and quality control will put pressure on the boutique bike shops to compete.

MEC Cycling products

One of the best mountain biking races in the world went down over the weekend in the form of the Leadville 100 which has always garnered solid coverage in the mountain biking community, but went beyond that this year thanks to Lance Armstrong’s inclusion in the race.

For Lance, this was his first competitive (cycling) event since retiring from cycling three years ago after his seventh consecutive win in the Tour de France. Armstrong’s place in cycling history is assured, and he is amongst the top riders ever, but the Leadville is not like the Tour, and mountain biking is a different beast altogether.

On Saturday, more than 1000 riders squared off in the legendary race, and thousands more lined the course to watch Lance match skills with David Wiens, the five time defending Leadville champ. The two battled neck and neck for most of the course, but in the end, it was Wiens who dropped Lance, and rode across the finish line victorious in 6 hours, 45 minutes, 45 seconds, almost two full minutes ahead of Armstrong and more than 33 minutes ahead of the third place finisher. …

The Adventure Blog

Click through to see a video interview with the 2 top riders.