Streetsblog New York City

In addition to nerve-wracking weather, one sure sign of spring is the re-emergence of the bicycle as pop culture totem. If you’re on many catalogue mailing lists, you’ve probably seen them — gleaming utility bikes and cruisers at the ready as toned and tanned models relax at the outdoor cafe or by the pool. And they’re not just props — furniture and housewares retailer CB2 has its own city bike, developed with a Florida-based manufacturer ($499; details at Treehugger).

Coupled with poll data and legislative action showing general support for human-oriented public space and transportation initiatives, it’s enough to suggest that the bike-hating American public is mostly a myth, conjured and nursed by out of touch politicians and conflict-craving, auto-driven media.

Enter Martha Stewart. In advance of Bike Month, Stewart invited Emilia Crotty of Bike New York into the studio for a thorough lesson on cycle maintenance, followed by a bike and schwag giveaway (congratulations Georgiana Powell of Moscow, PA). Turns out Stewart is a cyclist herself, as are, at least for this segment, many members of her studio audience.

If this isn’t a marker of cycling for transportation becoming a more mainstream American activity, it’s hard to imagine what would be.

Here's Tim Robbins, spotted today by Clarence Eckerson in Madison Square Park. Though The Rectifier looks none too pleased about being photographed by the bike paparazzi, we were assured that he waved after this snap was taken.

Be a StreetStalker: Send us your celeb cycling shots. 

Via the Facebook news service (subscription required), WNYC's morning radio host reports that thieves have spirited away his bicycle, and he's thinking about how to secure his next ride. If you're Brian Lehrer's Facebook friend, you can now follow what promises to be an encyclopedic discussion of bicycle locking. Do we sense an opening on tomorrow's show for the master of bike theft prevention, Hal Ruzal? Or perhaps a hard-hitting segment about why it's taking the City Council so long to move the Bicycle Access Bill?

As a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I'm pretty much required to hate Tom Brady. However, two Super Bowl wins in the last four seasons (that'd be six all told, but who's counting?) have salved the wounds of those AFC championship losses at the hands of Brady in 2001 and 2004. And hey, the man rides a bike.

Here's Brady with son Jack and dog Vida, photographed in Boston after a Patriots practice session earlier this week.

Also to Brady's credit: Unlike certain Albany legislators, he and the Patriots are big believers in camera technology.