I saw a commercial tonight for Kia, specifically for the West Point, Ga., Sorento plant, in which a young, 1950s-era boy pedals down a country road on a sweet black bike. That's what riveted my attention: anything bikes. The boy continues riding, right into a Kia factory, across the floor amid the cars, as once again the narration boasts cars as "better ways to help people get around."

It surprised me for two reasons: I was unaware until this commercial that Kia originally manufactured bicycles (and steel tubing), then got into motor vehicles seven years later; and it directly touts cars as better transportation than bicycles, as Audi recently did.

Safety on the streets, security when parked: two things about which bicyclists are constantly concerned.

Sometimes, no matter how seasoned we are as cyclists, we might a slip in our security efforts, and return to find our bikes missing, swiped by thieves.

And sometimes, as in this Failblog video, a bicycle foils a theft.

Wrapping up the Advocacy Team meeting Monday night, four of us walked around back of Danneman's to the bike rack. I had locked mine to a sign post out front, and, pointing to the rack, exclaimed, "I didn't know this was there!"

Mike, pointing to the rack, exclaimed, "My bike was there!"

Not half an hour earlier, someone snuck up and snipped his lock, pedaling off with Mike's bike.

I valeted bikes at the 2009 Enviro Expo, all weekend, which gave me plenty of time to proselytize about bicycles to curious passersby, talk shop with several cyclists new to the city, and swipe handfuls of Lara Bar and Cascadian granola samples when their keepers’ backs were turned.

I also had opportunity to speak with fellow Atlanta Bicycle Coalition member John Tackett; this is when I learned he is made of iron and baffling science. John ran the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon Nov. 14 in 3:13:00, which, if you’re familiar with running and marathon times, you know is jaw-droppingly fast.

So, as usual, we talked about bikes, then we spoke at length about marathons and running.

My favorite XM Radio channel, XMU, tipped me off Tuesday to something I didn't know about the band Blind Pilot: they occasionally tour by bike.