January 27/09 12:00 pm - Cycling News of the World

Posted by Editoress on 01/27/09
 

All bicycles weigh fifty pounds. A thirty-pound bicycle needs a twenty-pound lock. A forty-pound bicycle needs a ten-pound lock. A fifty-pound bicycle doesn't need a lock. ~Author Unknown


DeFranceschi aims for spot on national cycling team
Walking away from your chosen sport for almost a decade is certainly not the recommended path to Olympic team selection.

Windsor's Daniele DeFranceschi knows he's bucking the odds as he attempts to make Canada's national cycling team and earn a place on the track in London for 2012.

A former member of the national junior team, DeFranceschi gave up racing for eight years while he concentrated on a budding career as an automotive engineer.
Read more at The Windsor Star


2010 Commonwealth Games: Sports minister asks engineers to hasten velodrome work
Sports Minister M.S. Gill has asked the constructors to speed up the work of the cycling velodrome for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and finish it by December this year instead of 2010 March.

The construction of velodrome at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex is running behind schedule and both the Commonwealth Games Federation and the International Cycling Union (ICU) have raised concerns at this slow pace of work.
Read more at Sindh Today


Landis eyes comeback with nervous excitement
With his two-year doping ban having almost run its course, Floyd Landis is excited and also a little nervous as he contemplates his return to the sport at next month's Tour of California.

The American cyclist, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after failing a dope test, has missed the thrill of competition and is eager to bury the memories of his protracted bid through the courts to prove his innocence.

"I've certainly missed all of this in the last few years," Landis told Reuters after a training session with his OUCH cycling team mates.
Read more at Reuters


Cyclists could testify in new Puerto doping probe
Some of the world's top cyclists could find themselves testifying again after a Spanish court decided to reopen the sport's biggest doping investigation.

Spanish sport minister Jaime Lissavetzky said Monday that a third review of Operation Puerto means that there would be "oral testimony."

More than 50 cyclists were originally implicated in the blood doping ring that was discovered in May 2006.
Read more at Yahoo Sports


UCI clarifies number of suspicious doping tests
The International Cycling Union (UCI) has contradicted Australian scientist Robin Parisotto's claim that samples taken from over 30 cyclists have returned suspicious results and there was enough evidence to pursue some for doping violations.

'These statements do not correspond exactly to what an in-depth analysis by the UCI experts has established is the present situation,' said cycling's ruling body in a statement released Tuesday.
Read more at M&C


New allegations surround 30 riders but expert says cycling is cleaning up
More than 30 riders are under fresh suspicion of blood doping, but the Australian anti-doping expert who helped unearth the alleged cheats says cycling is not the "demon" sport many believe it to be.

Canberra anti-doping researcher Robin Parisotto, who is on a panel that analyses blood tests for the world governing body, Union Cycliste Internationale, said the sport was pioneering the fight against drugs. Asked if he felt cycling was cleaner due to the anti-doping efforts, he said: "The jury is out. But I believe it will become cleaner. That's only because there will be less and less opportunities for athletes to dope."
Read more at The Young Witness


Lance Armstrong becomes cycling's prince charming
Lance Armstrong has a lot to be immodest about: champion triathlete in his schooldays, world road racing champion at 21, seven Tour de France victories before retiring in 2005 and, most amazing of all, surviving cancer surgery in 1996 that doctors thought would kill him. Yet modesty was the great man's hallmark in his comeback appearance in Australia's Tour Down Under.

Out of yellow, the 37-year-old Texan was surprisingly mellow, surprisingly accessible, and surprisingly candid.

"I just didn't have the firepower to keep it going." Armstrong said after finishing the Australian six-day classic in 29th position, 49 seconds behind a winner that many cycling fans hadn't heard of.
Read more at The Earth Times


Armstrong Back - But 'softer Lance' Approach Not Always Appropriate
There were banners reading: "Welcome Back, Lance". Lots of them. And others: "Livestrong"; "Come in for a Cold One, Lance"; "The Lance-inator is Back". And there was: "Just a Quick G'Lance". Whatever that meant.

Then there were the Livestrong T-shirts and cycling jerseys and the yellow bands on wrists - thousands of them. And a throng of people gathered on the steps of the Adelaide Hilton, growing bigger every day, waiting for a glimpse of the legend that is Lance Armstrong.

Crowds at the Tour Down Under have obliterated all records. The figure given for the opening night in Adelaide city center was 138,000; it was 105,000 for Saturday's penultimate stage when the roads - far from the city center, far from anywhere - were lined with people.

Before the race started, Armstrong was assigned two bodyguards and a full police escort for his training rides. According to Sean Yates, the British assistant director of Armstrong's Astana team, they never had to wait for a red light.
Read more at Buzzle.com


Don Catlin, the certifier of Armstrong's cleanliness
Don Catlin was the man who revealed the secrets of THG and darbepoetin, a variant of EPO. However, at age 70, he suddenly became popular in recent weeks as the man chosen by cycling hero Lance Armstrong to certify that he is clean.

Three-and-a-half years after he retired - after winning his seventh consecutive Tour de France - the US cyclist, 37, returned to racing last week at the Tour Down Under.

Although he never tested positive, suspicions of doping always hovered over Armstrong's career. The obsessive sportsman hired Catlin to head a private antidoping program that will, in his words, subject Armstrong to an average of one test every three days.
Read more at The West


Biking, walking trails urged
Communities should be built for people, not cars, an expert on walking and bicycle trails said Monday.

"If you define a city around cars, you get more cars," said Gil Penalosa, executive director of Walk and Bike For Life.

Penalosa was the guest speaker at an East Baton Rouge Parish Recreation and Park Commission Foundation community meeting about the future of walking and bicycle trail development in the parish.

Walk and Bike for Life is a Canada-based nonprofit group dedicated to improving awareness of the benefits of walking and cycling and the importance of urban parks and trails and their impact on creating healthier communities.
Read more at The Advocate


Laser Bicycle Lanes
The LightLane concept design may just be the answer to creating lower cost bicycle lanes and encouraging cyclists to ride their bikes at night. Created by industrial designers Evan Grant and Alex Tee, the LightLane is a simple yet brilliant design to project clearly defined virtual bike lanes onto the road via a laser. The lanes provide car drivers with a boundary to avoid and also operate to help cyclists feel more confident at night
Read more at GreenMuze


Ten Tips on Nighttime Safety for Pedestrians, Cyclists, and Motorists
When it comes to traffic safety, knowledge can save lives and prevent the pain and injury caused by accidents. The majority of motorist/pedestrian/cyclist accidents occur in the evening hours between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m., with a greater incidence on weekends. Vedante shares ten key tips on how to stay aware, visible, and safe on the road when the sun goes down.

1. First and Foremost, Be Aware of Visibility Issues
Understand that there are others on the road that may not be visible to you - and conversely, that others may not be able to see you. Take steps to become more visible at night, and encourage others to do the same.

2. Use Reflective Gear or Lights to Be Seen
If walking or biking at night, wear white or light colors, use appropriate lighting on your bike, and always wear highly-reflective gear which provides 360¡ visibility, including products made from 3M Scotchlite and Reflexite (with visibility up to 1,500 feet). Use caution with reflective products that do not state their reflective distance.
Read more at eMediaWire.com


Should stop signs become yield signs for cyclists?
A proposed law change in Oregon should provide enough heated debate to warm even Milwaukee's seasonable chill.

Cycling advocates there are pushing a law change that would require cyclists to yield, but not stop, at stop signs.
Read more at Journal Sentinel


Learning the law at the Share the Road safety class
"Bike laws are schizophrenic," the judge in my case told me. "Sometimes you're a vehicle, sometimes you're a pedestrian."

It's true. The rules of the road are confusing, and for those of us who get around on two wheels, confusing can translate into lethal. That's one reason self-proclaimed "safety geek" and Judge Chris Larsen wanted to create a better way to educate road users about how to operate legally, and safely, on city streets.
Read more at BikePortland.org


Call for Entries - 5th Annual Boston Bike Film Festival
Organizers of the Fifth Annual Boston Bike Film Festival have asked filmmakers with a cycling habit to submit their work to be shown October 23-24, 2009, at the historic Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. Film submissions are due September 19, 2009. The event is a fundraiser for local cycling advocacy groups, including MassBike. Film concepts from last year's festival ranged from an exciting chase on bikes with a twist of an ending, to the ultimate speed machine, to the story of a young woman's coming of age.
Read more at www.bostonbikefilmfest.org