Pedro's has realigned their Grassroots sponsorship program to strike a more harmonious chord with the company's commitment to the environment. For 2008 Pedro's will require sponsored teams to each have a significant environmental project on their schedules.

Visit Dirt rag for the complete story: External Link

The good news is that Pedro’s has been busy developing and launching new products geared toward Pedro’s ethos of cycling pedaling us toward a better, healthier planet. Our aim is to deliver sustainable, high quality bicycle products and ideas and to do it by sustainable means.

Frankly, our little team was so busy doing these things that we’ve let you down by not delivering any news or updates on the website. We are sorry.

To keep the information flowing in 2008, alert you to new things, and highlight websites and environmental media, we are launching a brand new site. Watch this space. We’ll be fresh in a few days.

Cycling weekly, the UK’s premier cycling publication, chose Pedro’s CHAINj as the best of three new lubes in the June 21st issue, on newsstands now.

“Pedro’s eco friendly oil is a great product, even before you take the green credentials into account” said the Magazine test group. “It’s great and your conscience can remain clean”.

After receiving 9 out of 10 from the Cycling Weekly test group, Pedro’s General Manager, Chris Zigmont commented, “We’ve known for a long time that CHAINj is that good. I’m just glad to see that more people are beginning to make choices that leave their conscience clean.”

Today Belgian police raided homes of pro cyclists (again) and found banned substances (again). Former Belgian big shot hopeful Frank Vandenbrouke attempted suicide (suffering from drug related depression), and all of our favorite cycling sites are jammed up with hero’s confessions, management’s denials, and organizers bans and promises.

Enough.

Let’s turn our attention to External Link  and see what else is going with bikes in the Low Countries and elsewhere. Treehugger.com ran this article today (External Link) and we thought it both valuable and refreshing. We all know the story: bicycles are a great answer to many of the world’s woes including obesity, climate change and traffic congestion. The Dutch demonstrate it every day.

Cycling News’ James Huang has added three new Pedro’s products to his test bench. Critical Mass, the new carbon fiber multi-tool is joined by Green Fizz foaming bike wash and Chainj multi-condition lube in James' garage Visit External Link to learn more and watch this space for his findings.

Pedro’s newest and lightest line of on-the-ride tools, Critical Mass, debuted at last weekend’s Sea Otter Classic.

Starting at just 77 grams, the Critical Mass carbon fiber multi tool provides just the necessary tools in a functionally svelte and lightweight package. Featuring a compression molded carbon fiber handle and 6a4V Ti bolts to pull it all together, the Critical Mass promises to be tough enough for everyday use yet light enough for a jersey pocket.

Available in three flavors, each Critical Mass is made with a special rider in mind. Look for Pedro’s Critical Mass line to hit stores soon.

The New York Times (along with most major news outlets) reports today that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the long-term climate change outlook, should temperatures rise 3 to 5 more degrees Fahrenheit, ranged from the likely extinction of perhaps a fourth of the world’s species to eventual inundation of coasts and islands inhabited by hundreds of millions of people. Particularly at risk, it said, are communities and ecosystems on the crowded shores of southern Asia and small islands, as well as ecosystems in places seeing the biggest climate changes, including the coral reefs, and dry areas around the tropics.

See the article: NY Times Link

Pedro’s has teamed up with the Luna Pro Team and Jocelyn’s Bicycles of Monterey to bring you “An Inconvenient Truth, A Global Warning”, the popular Academy Award winning documentary about climate change.

The film will be shown at the Crown and Anchor Pub located at 150 W. Franklin St. Monterey, CA93940 on Thursday, April 12, at 7:30 PM. External Link

Join the fun, tip a beer and learn about the ten simple things you can do to stop global warming. See you there.

Curious about the film? visit: External Link

Pedro’s announces the sponsorship of the Sea Otter Classic Bike wash with the company’s new biodegradable foaming bike wash, Green Fizz. Pedro’s will supply Green Fizz at the legendary event’s bike wash stations throughout the Laguna Seca facility.

"We’re excited about launching our new bike wash at Sea Otter. The event’s commitment to the planet is tremendous and we think that should be supported at every level. So riders can wash their bikes and kill the dirt without killing the fish” bubbled Jason Elhardt, Pedro’s communications czar.

Pedro’s will make their consumer product launch of Green Fizz at this year’s Sea Otter Classic. Green Fizz is a non-aerosol, spray on, foaming bike wash formulated to clean the entire bike. It is carbon safe and tough on dirt, road grime and mud. Best of all, it is biodegradable and contains none of the carcinogens and toxins found in other cleaners.

No, we didn’t have a spectacular game of hoops. We did just launch, three new Biodiesel fed Dodge/ Mercedes Sprinter vans on the 2007 Global Bicycle Care Revival, Mother Earth and Dealer Love Tour. With two vans in North America and one in central Europe, bicycle retailers across two continents will learn first hand Pedro’s commitment to delivering top performing tools and bicycle care products in a sustainable way. We’ve doubled up our environmental commitment to this trio’s travels as well. In addition to running these flowery beauties on Bio diesel, go to http://www.biodiesel.org to learn more, we’ve also offset the approximate 20 tons of CO2 they will emit with clean energy credits purchased from Native Energy (http://www.nativeenergy.com). So look for Jim, Jason or Jochen as they wind their way to your town or perhaps to an event near you. And who knows, maybe they’ll take you up on a pick

The Mechanics of Predictor Lotto, in their new Rose livery, will keep the bicycles of the Belgian based ProTour team running with Pedro’s tools and bicycle care products again this year. The former Davitamon Lotto team moves into ’07 with a new title sponsor and new kits, but many of the same faces that brought the squad 39 victories in 2006. Look for the team to make their 2007 North American debut next week at the Amgen Tour of California. Pedro’s tools will be there in the hands of team mechanics Steven Van Olmen and Bart Leysen, keeping Chris Horner and Freddy Rodriguez moving to the front. We’ll see you there. To learn more about Predictor Lotto, visit: External Link

Like the chocolate Belgians are so famous for, the mud can have a special sweetness too. The Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hoogelede-Gits, Belgium, started with a bang for the American team today when young Danny Summerhill, one of five American Juniors, battled to a close fought silver medal in the West Flanders mud. You can visit plenty of sites to tell you about the racing action in the day’s contests. I’d rather tell you about the back story.

Nick Kehough, Jerome Townsend, Sean Worsech, Carson Miller, and Danny Summerhill arrived with varied expectations and experience and would come away an experience to remember. I was lucky enough to be charged with the responsibility of their bikes. This was a true honor.

With eighteen riders, each with two bikes and some with three, lots of spare wheels and other equipment, there is quite a bit of work to do for the four mechanics with the worlds team stationed in Belgium for this years world championships. Complicating matters are facts such as most riders are on different equipment from one another. Wheels, tires, frames, shifting, BBs, brakes, etc.. all different. Additionally, many of the bikes arrived in les than world championship shape; especially the juniors. Most guys under 18 years old are spending their cash on iTunes and first dates, not cables and housing. So after a season’s beating, their bikes need some love before what is arguably the biggest race of their young lives. Stu Thorne who runs Cyclocrossworld.com by day, coordinates the efforts of the four mechanics here in Belgium. Stu’s experience as a racer, mechanic and team manager is a critical part of the Stu is managing a mill. They ride ‘em, we wash and tune them, virtually non-stop for 10 days.