St Patrick’s day is coming and we will be celebrating Irish history and culture and trying to find a Leprechaun to get some of that famous Irish luck.    If you find yourself stepping over cracks in sidewalks, throwing salt over your shoulder, and saying “rabbit, rabbit, rabbit” on the first day of the month then you might be like cyclists who have habits they believe gives them luck on the bike.  Here are some of the superstitions of professional bicycle racers:

​When Corey Trager was hiking alone on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) along stretches where he did not see more than one person the entire day what did he think about?  At the Evanston Bicycle Club meeting on Feb. 18, 2020 he confessed that his thoughts went in two directions, one was to the comfort food he planned to enjoy at his next supply stop and the other was hearing the Jeopardy theme song "Think!" in his head.  

At the Chicago Area Bicycle Dealers Association (CABDA) 2020 midwest bicycle industry show on Feb. 12-13 bicycle retailers walked through the exhibit hall, met bicycle suppliers and spied new products.   Following are 5 that I selected as new and worth taking notice of:

• Kryptonite Ring Lock – Locks that are permanently mounted on a bike and lock the rear wheel to prevent roll or ride away theft are popular in Europe but not so much here.  Kryptonite announced what they call a ring lock for distribution in the U.S. which may result in more wide use.  It is always on the bike so you cannot forget it, it is easy to carry even without a bike bag and thieves are not familiar with it--yet.  They also sell an optional cable or chain that can be used to secure the bike to a rack. 

​In the movie The Last Crusade Indiana Jones is after the Holy Grail, and what better place to hide it than in an ornately carved sandstone temple façade which dates back to the first century AD in Jordan?  The Al Khazneh, in Petra, Jordan is a real-life place known as  "The Treasury."  Just like Indiana Jones, Thomas Berube and his nephew visited this tourist attraction in Petra, Jordan getting in touch with their inner Indiana Jones.   Thomas shared photos and stories of his trip with the Chicago Cycling Club at its Feb. 12 meeting.  

​Just returned from a brief warm-up in the “Capital of Latin America," Miami Beach, Florida.  With its 248 days per year of sunshine, you might expect there to be a lot of cycling in the dense urban South Beach area, but that is not exactly what we saw.  There are more people on bikes in Chicago in 20-degree weather than we saw there, which proves it takes more than fair weather to get people on bikes. 

​In a 1962 episode of the television series Rawhide, "The Devil and the Deep", trail boss Gil Favor and trail hand Rowdy Yates talk about looking forward to arriving in Abilene where they will sell the cattle they have been driving across the country and collect their wages.  Rowdy says Abilene is the biggest little town in Kansas and he has no problem selecting company to spend his money with because, after all, "Only half the population is women, half of that is young, and half of that is pretty." That narrows it down significantly.   It is the same process with bicycle lights.