Photograph of Michael Strahan, coach Tom Coughin (holding the Vince Lombardi trophy) and quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning by Tien Mao Gothamist was amazed after the Giants won the Super Bowl, the city went wild, and it witnessed a ticker-tape parade.Barack Obama drew 20,000+ ahead of Seattle’s Saturday caucus.Londonist had Super Tuesday too.Elusive guerrilla street artist Banksy revisits Los Angeles.After the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and came this close to making......

Let's face it, the great American cycling novel has yet to be written (not lately, anyway). And what cycling-related literature there is falls into one of three categories: inspiration, celebration, or perspiration. If you want to read about a one-legged mother of six who bicycled across the country to raise awareness about the papilloma virus, or Lance Armstrong's latest deep philosophical musings, or Chris Carmichael's detailed instructions for sprint repeats and heart rate monitor training, the world is your oyster. But if you're looking for compelling, engaging prose that explores the relationship between literature and cycling, well you're basically stuck watching Breaking Away for the 20th time (yeah, we know it's a movie).

Fear not for cyclerature though, because into the breech have stepped editors Paul Diamond and Erich Schweikher with a little ditty they like to call Cycling's Greatest Misadventures, a new anthology of original nonfiction cycling stories from Casagrande Press.

That story about Manka's Inverness Lodge burning down not exciting enough for you? Well, how's this for exciting (and please, make sure you are sitting down as you read this): because of the fire, we almost lost the Gyllenhaals!!! And we're not just talking about Mr. Brokeback himself, but his sister Maggie too! No mention of Maggie's beau Peter Sarsgaard, the baby Gyllenhaal, or Toothy Tile's Jake's BFFs Lance Armstrong and/or Matthew McConaughey. ...

We'll put it on the table right now: any New Times publication's chances of winning this week are greatly diminished due to that dreadful beet puree and goat cheese crap they were serving at their holiday party. It was the worst flavors of dirt, foot, and ass in food form, something so vile that it completely compromises our (heh) objectivity. You have been warned. First up is last week's winner, the SF Weekly. OK,......

[Ed. Note: Special guest contributor Michael David Murphy brings this report from the San Francisco Grand Prix.] For the last seven years, bike racing has relied on Lance Armstrong's star power to draw new fans to the sport. And gauging by the size of the crowd yesterday at the Barclay's San Francisco Grand Prix, the Lance factor is huge. Now that Lance has left the sport, many of his fans, too, are "Leaving Las......

Today is Bastille day, the anniversary of the French revolution of 1789 and France's 4th of July. Except in San Francisco, where it is Embarcadero Center Cinema Day, as declared by the mayor. Thanks for nothing, Gavin, next time you guys have a revolution, Lafayette will stay home. Anyhow, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate: Parisist has opened for business this week, and in all likelyhood, Lance Armstrong will finish today's Tour de France......

The Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 to allow the sponsors of the San Francisco Grand Prix Bicycle Race, otherwise known as the T-Mobile International, to have around $200,000 in costs waived by the city. Whether to give dispensation to the sponsors became an issue when Chris Daly tried to block Gavin Newsom's attempt to give them a free waiver. Daly argued that the bicycle race was basically a corporate giveaway and that the city can't afford to give away any money in our budget conscious times. And not only that, the guy behind it is a Republican! Daly also brought up the vote he lost about sending money to tsunami relief to try and point out that the city refused to send money to help victims of the tsunami but will give money to some rich Republican who likes bikes. Bitter much? On the other hand, Newsom and other supporters argued that the race generated mucho dinero in tax revenues and tourism money and is worth the expense. Bike race watchers, and there are a lot of them, love to spend. ...