Bicycle Touring & More. Other outdoor activity

That much ballyhooed “landmark energy bill” that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last week didn’t include a component that was in earlier versions – the bicycle commuter tax break.

Sorry bike commuters. A lump of coal in your stocking again this year.

The fringe benefit that would have enabled employers to give you a $20/month stipend for riding your bicycles to work was deflated by Senate Republicans. They threatened to filibuster at the last minute if the renewable energy and energy efficiency tax package made it into HR 6, the final energy bill.

That energy tax package included provisions that would have benefited bicycle commuters and wind and solar power producers. It also would have closed the so-called Hummer tax break loophole and reduced tax breaks for oil and gas companies. Small wonder it didn’t make it …

Film producer Frank Marshall says the Lance Armstrong biopic is still on the front burner and might proceed as early as next summer.

Marshall, who has produced and or directed such blockbusters as the Indiana Jones and Bourne series of movies, is currently working on sequels to Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park, among some other projects.

He said there’s no truth to rumors that the Armstrong film is on hold because of all the doping controversy in cycling ……