WTOP's Mark Segraves has the hot scoop: He is reporting that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty regularly uses motorcycle-mounted police to escort his cycling team as they train throughout the District and Maryland. This happens during weekday business hours, leading to traffic backups.

Moreover, Segraves says, Fenty and his team, D.C. Velo, use the cops to run red lights and stop signs (mere misdemeanors in LL's book) as well as traverse thoroughfares verboten to cyclists, e.g. the Clara Barton Parkway along the Potomac.

WTOP's video is above. Fenty, in comments to Segraves, declined to address the story, except to say if he did anything illegal, he won't any longer.

Read More "WTOP: Fenty Uses D.C. Cops to Escort Cycling Team" »

The Giro d'Italia---one of the three grand European cycling tours---is considering starting its run in Washington, D.C. "in the coming years," before jetting all the competitors across the Atlantic to continue the race.

This momentous news comes courtesy of Cycling News, which in turn got the tidbit from a dispatch in Italian sports rag La Gazzetta dello Sport. LL was unable to find the original reportage on that publication's Web site.

Race director Angelo Zomegnan is quoted saying, "There exists a concrete interest from the city of Washington." Adds Cycling News, "Mayor Adrian Fenty will help the bid. He is a fan of cycling and competes in triathlons to stay in shape."

UPDATE, 11/5, 2:45 P.M.: Fenty spokesperson Jack Pfeiffer says there indeed have been discussions about hosting the start of the race, "but nothing is final."

"The city welcomes discussions with race officials and share their enthusiasm for the District to serve as a host city," he said in a statement.

File photo by Mike DeBonis

D.C. cyclists are planning a local route as part of the national Ride of Silence tomorrow that will pass the places where Alice Swanson and Ian Wolfe died, as well as American Univeristy, where Brent Hurd, killed while cycling in India, taught.

The ride will start at 7 p.m. at the Jefferson Memorial and will be over by 10 p.m. The WashCycle, which planned the route, encourages people to wear a helmet and to bring a black armband to remember those injured on bikes. "If you have been injured while cycling," the site says, "please wear a red armband instead. As we will be riding at dusk you should also bring reflective clothing and lights for your bike."

The Ride of Silence, started by a Dallas-area cyclist in 2003 to honor an endurance rider killed by the mirror of a passing bus, is not sponsored by anyone and it's free. Anyone can participate in tomorrow's D.C. ride.

Photograph of Alice Swanson's ghost bike at the 2000 block of R Street NW by Darrow Montgomery

Perhaps the greatest thrill LL experienced during the inaugural madness wasn't chatting up Joel Klein at the 9:30 Club, or accosting Ben Affleck at the HuffPo ball, or even sitting yards away from Barack Obama as he was sworn in.

Nope, it just might have been cruising through the Third Street Tunnel on his bike.

Now, LL is aware that said tunnel was the site of much misery on Tuesday, as a holding pen for holders of inaugural tickets denied access to the Capitol grounds (cf. "Purple Tunnel of Doom"). He means not to make light of their suffering.

It's just that it's not every day that you get to ride your bike through an underground interstate highway artery and take advantage of a fabulous shortcut across the Mall. LL was prepared to bike as far east as 4th Street NE to get around to the south side of the Hill, where he was supposed to gain access to the ceremony, but he decided to give the tunnel a shot when he passed the Massachusetts Avenue ramp. It cut a good 10 or 15 minutes off his commute.

At the time LL came through, around 8:15 a.m., the lines up to the purple/blue entrances were still rather orderly, and he was able to zip right through. If only he had a video camera to remember the moment...but blogger Nikolas Schiller did! Experience the thrill:

Ryan Bowen rode his bike from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., a journey he's cataloged on his blog Biking for Obama. Today he and a group of supporters met up in the parking lot at Gravelly Point, near National Airport, for a quick ride to the Jefferson Memorial, where Congressman Earl Blumenauer presented him with a ticket to the swearing-in.

Karen ComenComer and Monique Buzzarté are friends from TakomaTacoma, Wash., and New York City, respectively. They joined Bowen and the 20-strong posse at Gravelly Point, both are riding folding bikes. Comen Comer has seven bikes, including the folding job: two tandems, a mountain bike, a tri bike, a commuter bike, and a fast break bike, which I don't know what that is. She takes the folding bike with her whenever she travels.

Comen Comer says that she thinks the Mount Vernon Trail, on which the group rode in, is "touristy" and "cute," she says there's a debate over whether bikes belong on trails or on the road with other vehicles. "I'm from New York, and I love not dodging cars," says Buzzarté by comparison. Buzzarté found the small wheels on her folding bike a challenge: "It doesn't do hills," she says.

Comen Comer does hills: "Biking's a very important part of my life," she says.