Ikea, Masi and Spokesmen

Here are a few tidbits for a chilly New England morning: Ikea appears to be one heck of a green company this year. BikeBiz is reporting that Ikea UK gave away 9,000 folding bikes to its employees this week. In addition to that, they were given 15% off their travel tickets to increase use of public transportation. That's pretty dang cool. It's a great gift for both the person and their health as well as the health of the environment. Not to mention, if the person can commute to work on their bike it will help alleviate some traffic, which is good for everyone's mental health!

Last week I had the pleasure of joining The Spokesmen podcast, which is up for everyone to listen to. As I mentioned, it is a great group of folks talking about all things cycling related. I'm flattered that the guys have voted in this gal and look forward to many more chats with the group.

This episode the Spokesmen (or maybe now the 'Spokespeople'?) discussed topics that we felt were hot in 2006 - cycling related, of course. I chose to discuss how many more companies are now embracing new media including dealers, manufacturers and even the traditional media themselves. As we all know, one of the best examples of this is Masi Bicycles. Long before he was "New York Times Jackson", their brand manager was, simply, "The MasiGuy".

Now, Masiguy is running a video contest. Talk about using the 'new media'! This is great! What started as a spoof of his 'Daily Drive' photo feature by Tim Grahl and then Fritz got into the act with his video. Not to be out done, Phil took the spoof down under to Austrailia and added his video to the mix. Check them out, they are pretty funny.

Well, Tim liked the videos so much that he's running this great contest. Make a video of your daily drive, post it on YouTube and let him know where to find it by the end of January. If he and the other viewers (yes, you get to vote, too!) like your video best you'll win a sweet Masi frame. How cool is that? Check out his announcement for all the details.

Get in on the contest - the prize is fantastic. Our own Cubbie has made a video already so it's 'Game On'! Good luck.

Just some random cycling tidbits for today. Thanks for stopping by.