Road bicycling is enjoying a resurgence:

Road bikes, which sell for an average of $1,150, accounted for 28 percent of dollar sales by specialty dealers in 2004, up from 16 percent in 2002, according to the National Bicycle Dealers Association. Overall, the U.S. bicycling industry has remained flat since 1999, generating an estimated $5.5 billion in sales of bikes, parts and accessories in 2004, the group says.

No American manufacturer has reaped greater benefits from this up tick than Trek, thanks, in part, to its affiliation with Lance Armstrong:

Trek refused to release sales figures, but Ash Jaising, president of the Bicycle Market Research Institute in Boston, estimated Trek’s sales have increased from less than $50 million in 1990 to $500 million this year.
Jaising said the company is No. 1 in terms of units sold and value of sales in the specialty-market sector, and has increased its market share to 30 percent. The company’s success has, in turn, allowed the independent bicycle dealers that sell Trek bikes to increase their market share, which had been losing ground to sporting-goods stores and large retailers.
“The growth is high among the more serious bikers. People are spending more money for the equipment and that has helped Trek,” he said. “Trek has the momentum and has had it for the last couple of years.”

Yes, people are spending more money and helping Trek. I could serve as Exhibit A to that.

Which has received more media coverage: a vanishing girl in Aruba, or a vanishing Bill of Rights?

Here’s what British Prime Minister Tony Blair said regarding the incident in London this morning:

I think all I would like to say is this: we know why these things are done. They are done to scare people and to frighten them, to make them anxious and worried. Fortunately in this instance there appear to have been no casualties.

If this was the perpetrator’s intent, they are getting an assist from TV news. Granted, whatever happened this morning was a big news story, and it could have been much deadlier than it turn out to be. But ultimately only one person was injured. So I’m not sure it warranted hours of breathless we-don’t-really-have-much-to-say-but-we’ll-keep-talking-anyway coverage.

It appears the Rocky Top Brigade lives on.

Noooooo!
I hope SKB has merely gone on a sabbatical and will return to blog again. Like others, I considered his site to be the hub of the local blogosphere, and it was one of the places that got me interested before I started this site.
Cheers, SKB.