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The U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame is staging its 2008 induction ceremony at ºÙºÙÊÓƵ, with bike racing champion Levi Leipheimer as keynote speaker.

The dinner event is scheduled for Nov. 2 -- and everyone in the campus community has a chance to win free tickets (see below).

The festivities in Freeborn Hall are set to begin at 6 p.m., with a reception followed by dinner. After that, guests are invited to participate in a silent auction and meet and greet the hall of fame honorees.

Four inductees

The Somerville, N.J.-based Bicycling Hall of Fame announced four inductees: Cheri Elliott, Mike Plant, Jeanne Golay and Jimmy Walthour. .

The hall of fame event is being hosted by the university, the city of Davis and the Davis-based California Bicycle Museum.

The hall of fame's annual induction ceremony has never been held in the western United States -- until now. In a news release, hall of fame officials said they decided to hold the induction ceremony in California, in part, because so many living hall of fame inductees reside in the western United States. All of them have been invited.

"The hall of fame expects this ceremony to be the largest gathering of U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame inductees to date," according to the news release.

In choosing Davis as the dinner site, the news release goes on, the hall of fame is recognizing the community's strong connections with bicycling.

A list of those connections includes the city of Davis' pioneer role in the creation of bicycle lanes in California more than 40 years ago. Also, Davis is home to the Davis Double Century and Fourth of July Criterium, among the oldest races in the western United States.

The news release further points out that Davis has played host to competitive cycling events for decades, up to and including Amgen Tour of California stages in 2007 and 2008. Stage 2 of next year's tour is scheduled to start in Davis on Feb. 15.

The U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame also acknowledges Davis as the first Platinum Level Bicycle-Friendly Community, the highest designation from the League of American Bicyclists.

TICKETS

TO BUY: Tickets are priced at $115 per person or $800 for a table of eight; .

TO WIN: ºÙºÙÊÓƵ' Transportation and Parking Services, or TAPS, one of several event sponsors, is giving away three tickets to the campus community, by way of a drawing. To enter, send your name by e-mail to Mary Maffly at TAPS by 5 p.m. Oct. 27.

mlmaffly@ucdavis.edu

(Please put "Bicycling Hall of Fame Event Drawing" in the subject line.)

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