Let's be honest: Miami isn't exactly known for its particularly good drivers. You could drop somebody in the middle of a school of 400 famished hammerheads in the Galapagos, naked and marinated in warm fish blood, and they might actually be safer than most drivers on the Palmetto.

So it takes a pretty hardcore cat to go balls out on a bicycle in a six-mile race through the streets of Miami. These are the riders who come out for the Cañones Sueltos Race and have a blast barreling through the city like champs on two wheels.

Every month, Jonathan Sauceda chooses a park for the starting line, a bar for the finish line, and at 9 p.m., what he describes as "One of South Florida's gnarliest, ball-busting bike race/rides through the unforgiving brutal streets of Miami" begins.

See also:
- Magic City Bicycle Collective Aims to Spread the Cycling Gospel (Photos)
- Cranksgiving: Cyclists Go Head to Head in Thanksgiving Race for Charity

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Wikipedia CC

Lance Armstrong cheated.

Last night, he finally admitted it to Oprah: He "doped" to win seven Tour de France titles and got caught in a web of lies that society won't likely soon forget.

But before those victories ever happened, Armstrong was a relatively unknown 20-something-year-old battling stage three testicular cancer.

"I intend to beat this disease," he told the New York Times in 1996. "I'm 25 years old. I'm one of the best in my sport--why would I have cancer? ... This is something I got stuck with and now have to work through."

A year later, a cancer-free Armstrong established the Livestrong Foundation, an Austin-based non-profit committee that has since raised nearly $500 million to support those affected by cancer.

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Swampdog

Ready To Ride

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Besides a group that promotes cycling, a "bike collective" is a workshop with free use of tools, spare parts, and volunteers that help you build or fix your own bike for the low price of a suggested donation.

Like, out of the goodness of their bike-loving hearts.

The Magic City Bike Collective, opening June 30 on 11th Street and North Miami Avenue, is just such a place.

And to raise money they're showing off the best street art in the city on a Miami Graffiti Bike Tour.

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​These days, if you're still not satisfied with the kickball or roller derby leagues popping up all over South Florida, maybe bicycles will whet your alternative sport appetite.

The Miami Bike Polo league (polo, as in a mallet in one hand, a handlebar in the other, and a street hockey ball flying through the air) saw it's fourth monthly BBQ early in the month at José Martí Park. If you missed it, no worries because you can plan around games there every Sunday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 7 p.m. (except for Fridays that precede Critical Mass).

And for those of you who'd like a closer look at what you might be getting involved in, this video should bring you to your senses.More »

Photos by Janis Krakops

​Twenty years ago, Miami was getting to be a frigging weird place, and if you went to José Martí Park on any given Sunday, it might not have surprised you to see a bunch of maniacs riding in circles on bicycles, screaming and swinging sticks. Today, the city has cleaned itself up a bit, but the stick-swinging bikers are still around, though now they are a lot less socially dangerous and organized into teams thanks to Miami Bike Polo.More »

​Ever since 1997, when Florida stopped requiring riders over 16 to wear helmets, we cringe every time we see someone on two wheels without a cranium cap. Don't get us wrong, we're not necessarily worried about the safety of the rider. We just have an understandable aversion to vomiting in public should their brains spill out onto Miami's hot asphalt and make a sizzling sound. We'll let that sink in.

Well, researchers are concerned with more than just the safety of the rider; they're interested in their sexual orientation. A new study recently found that bisexuals are less likely to wear bike helmets than heterosexuals. Although it sounds like some sort of anti-gay Tea Party propaganda, the researchers say the ultimate goal is to improve public health intervention for at-risk youth.More »

via fornoparticularreason.wordpress.com

Biking across country? That's a lot of rest stop bathrooms.

​When Cultist was in college we drove from Miami to Los Angeles and along the way thought, "God damn, this is a freaking long trip. We're so bad ass!" But after learning of Mario Renteria's planned Miami to San Francisco bike trip, we're currently reassessing how bad ass we really are. Cause Mario is going  a lot farther. And it's on a freaking bicycle!

Renteria, 23, took off earlier this week, and plans to ride about 75 miles a day. His route will take him 3,500 miles which means it should take him about 47 days of riding. We hope he has a comfortable bike seat (half an hour of riding for us and the chafing is unbearable). Read on for more details.More »

​When you were a kid and you got your first bike, you just wanted to ride wild. You rode in the middle of the street, played chicken with your friends, etc. Now that Miami is making cycling more accessible, with bike lanes and DecoBike rentals popping up all over the place, you might soon find yourself hopping back onto a bicycle seat, if you haven't already. When you do, remember these words of caution.

A rush of nostalgia might make you want to cycle like a reckless, lawless child, but please resist. First, you're not 5 years old anymore. People have a lot less tolerance for 32-year-olds swerving gaily across the double yellow lines. Second, a bicycle is considered a vehicle by law, and that means there are laws to follow -- laws that keep you from running over pedestrians or getting hit by more substantial vehicles. We recently explained Why Your Neighborhood Cyclist Hates You. Well, here's the flip side of that -- things every cyclist should know -- taken from the Florida statute on motor vehicles that applies to bicyclists (Chapter 316, Section 2065):

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Graffiti Bike Tour winds through Wynwood Saturday.

​Unlike its sister art forms that hang neatly in pristine galleries, graffiti offers no dainty placards to explain technique, meaning, or message. Three- or four-letter tags and, occasionally, year and crew, are the only hints at the personalities behind the spray cans and the stories hidden in the curves of winding letters and intricate stenciling.

Lucky for you,  this Sunday's Graffiti By Bike Tour offers an opportunity to snake through the mural mazes of Wynwood and the Design District with veritable encyclopedias of street-art knowledge, Olga Cano and Dario Gonzalez. We spoke to Cano about green transportation, the explosion of Miami street art, and what to expect on a graffiti tour. More »