Whereas skateparks have bloomed like a thousand dandelions in every little burg coast to coast, most big-air mountain biking takes place on private land or unofficial trail. If you’re a fanatical outlaw dirt jumper tired of running from the law, you ought to consider moving to the Great Northwest. A quiet revolution is taking place out there.

Folks in Washington and western Montana have started building parochial bike jumping parks. Bellingham, Washington, is already rebuilding their local park to accomodate the exploding scene and skillset. Among the $50,000 upgrades to Civic Field Bike Park 2.0: softer dirt with fewer rocks, and a new pump track — the better to accomodate cushy landings for newbies and tourists alike.

Photo: (CC) Creative Commons by Andy C, http://flickr.com/photos/andycpics/

I’ve watched as my roadie buddies have added all kinds of computerized doohickies to their handlebars
to tell them wattage, speed, cadence, the phase of the moon, and so on. It’s funny that they want all that information right in their line of sight, and yet they’re too proud to even glance back to see if they’re maintaining the gap on a hairy-legged wheelsucker like me.

Anyway, now they’ll be able to discretely keep their eye on me fading into the horizon with this new dingus: It’s a cyclocomputer with video rear-view mirror.

I could see using this on the trail too, to avoid those intimate meetings with the underbrush that occur whenever I try to sneak a glimpse at whoever’s grinding gears in my ear.

This not-yet-available prototype from Cerevellum will allegedly retail for around $200 — but alas, not in time for Christmas this year.

If you’re like me this yuletide, you probably had to sell your watch to buy your spouse hair barrettes (while she was selling her hair to buy you a watchband).

So if your cupboards are bare but your heart is still in it, it’s nice to have a few tips for homemade, DIY gifts that you can easily make for all the cycling freaks on your list — like this no-brainer, simple procedure for converting an old length of chain into a keyring/bottle opener/miniature filter wrench. (As any bike mechanic will tell you, the labor is always in the clean up…)

If you’re in or around Chicago between September and December check out one of the Chicago Cyclocross Cup series races. I raced at Montrose Park this past weekend to test a Co-Motion Demon (more on that to come) and had a blast.

Montrose Park or harbor is on the lake Michigan shore very close to downtown Chicago. The course wound around the snow covered park with several barriers, climbs and sandy/gravel sections. There were about 50 people in my race - the last of the day - despite cold temperatures and freezing rain. There were even a good number of spectators at the race.

Puma and Biomega have teamed up to create a line of hipster urban folding bikes. The “Boston” is an interesting BMX-inspired ride with a wire downtube that reminds me of the Slingshot mountain bike frame from years back.

But Biomega takes the idea one step further by making that cable an integrated lock. In other words, it attaches to the headtube with a key, which is intended to be used for locking the bike up in all those shady urban locations you’ll be riding this little number

Biomega avers,

The Down Tube wire is a structural part of the frame – integrating the locking mechanism in the frame subsequently rendering the bicycle non functional if someone breaks the lock to steal the bicycle.

Okay, but this assumes that the lowlife who wants to steal my bike will figure out the bike won’t work after he cuts the cable. Furthermore, it assumes that once he figures this out, he won’t cut the cable anyway, just to vandalize what he can’t ride.

Either way, I’m looking at a new bike.

Still, a pretty sexy ride. Better bring along a standard lock, young fellow.

The rock stars of urban cycling are, of course, bike messengers. Long hours in the saddle, lousy pay without benefits, constant life-threatening hassles from cars and trucks, filthy clothes, gearless brakeless bikes, thankless receptionists, and nifty-looking cargo bags– what’s not to like?

If you secretly wish you could somehow get the “cred” without signing on for the long impoverished haul, give your local UPS outlet a jingle and ask if they’re using bikes in your area. In some locations, like Seattle and Lewiston, Maine, they’re hiring up to 20 extra couriers to handle holiday deliveries by bicycle.

You may have to wear the company uniform, but you can always cut those pants off at the shins to look more like dingy Carhartts.

And lest you question the hipster value of working for UPS, remember: the company was started 100 years ago by Jim Casey. He was a bike messenger in Seattle.

Photo: (cc) Creative Commons by Miguel Lopez, http://flickr.com/photos/migufu/