Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Bicyclists ride by an automated real-time bike counter on Market Street on May 9 in San Francisco, California. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has installed an automated real-time bike counter, also known as a bicycle barometer, on Market Street that will display daily and annual counts. According to the SFMTA, the number of cyclists on the streets of San Francisco has surged 71 percent between 2006 and 2011.
Maxime Schmid / EPA
A cyclist in costume rides his bike on the ski slopes in the alpine resort of Villars, Switzerland, during the GP St-Sylvestre, a mountain bike snow race on December 31.
Maxime Schmid / EPA
Cyclists ride downhill in Villars, Switzerland, during the GP St-Sylvestre, a mountain bike snow race.
Bicycle designer Dieter "Didi" Senft presents his latest creation, a reindeer cycle, in the rain in Storkow, Germany, on Nov. 29. Senft's unusual designs have included a bike made from rakes, below, and a tandem bicycle more than 10 feet tall.
Patrick Pleul / EPA
Dieter Senft presents his so-called '111-twelve-teeth-rake-bicycle' in Storkow, Germany, on March 12, 2012. The bicycle consists of 111 garden rakes and is fully functional but cannot be used for raking.
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Sean Gallup / Getty Images
As temperatures drop and snow begins to fall, take a look at beautiful light displays from around the globe.
David Gannon / AFP - Getty Images
A woman cycles past a part of the Berlin Wall with the Martin-Gropius-Bau gallery in the background in Berlin on Sept. 24.
A woman cycles past a part of the Berlin Wall with the Martin-Gropius-Bau gallery in the background in Berlin on Sept. 24.
Felipe Dana / AP
Ronaldo da Silva, left, and fellow inmates pedal stationary bikes to charge car batteries at a prison in Santa Rita do Sapucai, Brazil on Friday. An innovative program allows inmates at this medium-security prison to shave days off their sentence in exchange for riding stationary bikes hooked up to converted car batteries that are used to illuminate Santa Rita do Sapucai's town square.
The Associated Press reports — Brazilian inmate Ronaldo da Silva hops on a bicycle and pedals furiously, clocking up several miles before slowing down and jumping off.
Silva hasn't gotten far, in fact not an inch. He's still inside the medium-security prison where he's serving a 5.5-year sentence for holding up a bakery, standing next to a stationary bike.
But he did move a bit closer to freedom. Silva is part of an innovative program that allows inmates at a prison in Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state to reduce their sentences in exchange for generating power to help illuminate the town at night. Read the full story.
Felipe Dana / AP
A woman using her smart phone is illuminated by a battery powered street lamp in Santa Rita do Sapucai, Brazil. An innovative program allows inmates at the Santa Rita do Sapucai medium-security prison to shave days off their sentence in exchange for riding stationary bikes hooked up to converted car batteries that are used to illuminate the town square.
Felipe Dana / AP
A inmate pedals a stationary bikes to charge car batteries at a prison in Santa Rita do Sapucai.
Felipe Dana / AP
An inmate takes a break from pedaling a stationary bike to charge car batteries at a prison in Santa Rita do Sapucai, Minas Gerais state, Brazil.
Barbara Walton / EPA
Burmese school teacher Aung Pee, 56, powers down a Burmese road on his solar battery powered bicycle as he makes the 38 kms journey to teach his school class, in Twortay township, south of Yangon, Myanmar. In Myanmar, where fuel prices are spiraling way above the pockets of the Burmese, most must ride crowded public buses and trucks. A few trishaws remain and bicycles are a perennial favorite in a country hampered by energy shortages, with one of the more ingenious experimenting with solar power to avoid the cost and shortages of fuel.
Beawiharta / Reuters
People ride bicycles during Car Free Day at the main street in Jakarta on Sunday.
Beawiharta / Reuters
Karate athletes push a child seated in a stroller as they run during Car Free Day in Jakarta on Sunday. Since May, Jakarta has increased the frequency of car-free days from twice a month to every Sunday in a bid to bring down the level of carbon emissions in the heavily polluted metropolis, Governor Fauzi Bowo said last month, local media reported. On Sunday, all motorized vehicles will be barred from entering two of the capital's busiest streets, Jalan Sudirman and Jalan Thamrin, from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. on car-free days.
Beawiharta / Reuters
People ride bicycles during Car Free Day at the main street in Jakarta.
See more images of Indonesia in PhotoBlog.
Joel Saget / Pool via Reuters
Team Saxo Bank rider Jonathan Cantwell of Australia lies on the ground after a fall during the fifth stage of the 99th Tour de France cycling race between Rouen and Saint-Quentin on Thursday.
Doug Pensinger / Getty Images
Tyler Farrar of the USA riding for Garmin-Sharp is the last rider to cross the finish line after he was involved in a crash in the last three kilometers of stage five.
AP reports that Andre Greipel won the 196.5-kilometer 5th stage of the Tour de France:
The barreling pack overtook three breakaway riders with barely 100 meters left, and Greipel wheeled out in front a split-second ahead of Matt Goss of Australia, who was second, as Juan Jose Hadeo of Argentina took third. Mark Cavendish was fifth.
Like Greipel's sprint-finish victory a day before, a late crash marred the race, and he counted himself "lucky" to avoid the spill two days in a row.
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Christophe Ena / AP
The pack passes a church in Rouen during the start of the fifth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 196.5 kilometers (122 miles) with start in Rouen and finish in Saint-Quentin, France, July 5.
Lisi Niesner / Reuters
People repair bikes at the WUK self-help bicycle workshop (Selbsthilfe Fahrradwerkstaette) in Vienna on June 20.
Lisi Niesner / Reuters
Wheels are pictured at the WUK self-help bicycle workshop in Vienna on June 20.
WUK bicycle workshop, founded in Vienna, Austria in 1983, offers a public workshop, tools and instruction for the self-repair of bikes on a daily contribution of three Euros.
Bicycles have increased in popularity in Austria in recent years, with eleven percent of the population using bicycles as their main means of transport, according to the Ministry of Transportation, Innovation and Technology.
Pictures taken on June 20, but made available to msnbc.com today.
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Lisi Niesner / Reuters
A woman repairs a bike at the WUK self-help bicycle workshop in Vienna June 20.
Lisi Niesner / Reuters
Tools are pictured at the WUK self-help bicycle workshop.
Lisi Niesner / Reuters
A woman leaves the WUK self-help bicycle workshop.
Simon Chapman / London News Pictures via Zuma Press
Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride is one of the largest free, non-competitive cycling events in the United Kingdom. Part of the event takes place along the A4 Portway through the Avon Gorge which is closed to motor traffic for the day. The event is part of Bristol's Big Green Week 2012, the UK's first ever International Festival of Environmental Ideas, Arts & Culture.
Eric Gay / AP
A cyclist rides his bike at a skateboard park, Tuesday, May 22 in Austin, Texas. Temperatures reached a high of near 90 degrees in the Austin area.
More bicycle images in PhotoBlog
Franklin Reyes / AP
Felix Girola waves to people as he takes his self-made bicycle for a spin through downtown Havana, Cuba on Friday. Girola says his bike measures 3.45 meters (11 feet) tall.
Franklin Reyes / AP
Felix Girola climbs up his self-made bicycle as people help steady it as he prepares to take it for a ride in Havana.
Franklin Reyes / AP
Felix Girola leads his self-made bicycle to take it for a ride in Havana, Cuba.
Franklin Reyes / AP
Felix Girola welds a bicycle that he says will measure 5.5 meters (18 feet) tall as he works on it at a friend's iron workshop in Havana, Cuba.
Franklin Reyes / AP
Felix Girola checks the alignment of a bicycle he is building that he says measures 5.5 meters (18 feet) tall.
See more images of bikes and their riders in PhotoBlog.
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