British Cycling’s top brass have today announced that they have plans in place to have an all British team entered into the Tour de France by 2010. Just as I thought my dreams of riding in the big time were gone, this little news article has seen them spring back to life like Floyd Landis in the 2006 Tour after he looked down and out. Dave Brailsford’s news is to me what that little shot of Testosterone (or a pint of beer) was to Floyd.

I guess within the article I can pin-point the very moment I felt I was back in with a chance: MORE »

According to an article on Sky News a cyclist was found today with second degree burns to his legs after he went on fire from peddling to fast on his bike.  The incident occured in Poland to Mieczyslaw Jasinski, who was described as a ‘human torch’ by witnesses.

I have to say in all my years of following cycling I have never heard of such a thing happening?  This is insane.  It’s terrible to hear that the guy was seriously hurt but I would love to have heard what sort of speed he was peddling at and how this managed to happen?

I guess it’ll make us all think twice about spinning the legs on tomorrow mornings coffee runs!!!

Last night a huge fire in Toronto swept through a historic part of the city burning everything before it.  Whats this got to do with cycling you might ask?  Well, one of the shops that fell victom to the blazing inferno that took out a whole block of the city was Duke’s Cycle Shop - believed by some to be the oldest bike store in North America that is continuously owned and operated by the same family.  MORE »

No, before you ask, this is not me in winter training.  It is however some nut case you are probably thinking.  I mean if the snow on the ground and the blizzard he is riding into doesn’t suggest how cold it is, look at the person in the background!!  This image comes from a cycling site I came across the other day that I couldn’t help looking around and couldn’t help sharing with everyone. 

Icebike.org is a site dedicated to those that enjoy their cycling in the winter when the rest of us have long hung up the bike in the garage for the cold months.  Ok so this image is a little over the top as you’ll see when you visit their site.  This isn’t how they actually do it, NO NO NO, Not like this is how the site describes it, but more so biking in the snow in the correct clothing and generally trying to have a good time.  As their website says, the hardest part is the first 100 yards.

When you look at the photos you definitely get a sense that it looks alright and the crystal blue skies in the distance gives you that false sense that it’s actually warm looking.  Still, they give plenty of information on the correct equipment, clothing and techniques to do this sort of cycling with some excellent true stories to read over and aspire to (or not!!!).  No doubt the conditions are not always like the images on the front page but after all, if thousands of people ski every year in the height of winter, why not bike?

Visit their site, www.icebike.org

I kinda wanted to write something about the Tour de France as it came to a close about how great it had been.  After the first couple of weeks that was definitely on, it had been one of the greatest races in recent memory and I was looking forward to an article about racing.  Then in the last few days that was brought to a sad halt when two of cycling’s big names Vinokorov and Rasmussen let us and even more so their sport down.

My opinion?  Cycling deserves credit and should be praised; it shouldn’t be ridiculed like some areas of the uninformed press have been doing.  Why you might ask?  Because cycling is yet again taking the fight to the dopers and refusing to let it go on.  It tests more than any other sport and it’s not (unlike other big sports) afraid to expose its top stars.  I also believe it’s carrying the flag that other sports should follow on how to fight against the cheating.  If other sports such as football, rugby, tennis and ice hockey tested their athletes to the same level cycling does, cycling would not be alone in a world of drug scandals.

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Source: CyclingNews.com

Cyclingnews’ Bjorn Haake reveals the contents of Jörg Jaksche’s interview with Der Spiegel, where the suspended Tinkoff Credit Systems rider confessed to using performance enhancing drugs and blood doping.

Jörg Jaksche appeared at his Der Spiegel interview with just a cell phone and a black plastic bag. Inside the mysterious black bag was a binder, containing documents and letters compiled by or from his lawyer, Michael Lehner, during the Operación Puerto investigation. For those who recognise Lehner’s name, it’s likely because he also defended Danilo Hondo and Dieter Baumann, an Olympic track and field champion.

Despite his recent admission to having used performance enhancing drugs, Jaksche still trains six hours a day, holding onto the hope that he may be allowed to race again someday. The German rider hopes that offering to be a key witness will be rewarded with a reduced sentence, which could see him return as soon as next year, according to Jaksche.

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 A long time friend and a very talented cyclist. You will be sadly missed.

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“This is a race that suits me when I’m having a good day. On the other hand, if you don’t have the legs, this is the worst place you could possibly be.” - Jo Planckaert, 2004 

This weekend cyclings toughest single day race will take place in Northern France.  Yes, it’s mid-April, it’s the rain season and that means it’s time for the Paris-Roubaix aka The Hell of the North aka Queen of the Classics, a 260km nightmare of a race across all sorts of terrain, including 54kms of cobblestones culminating with 750 meters on the Roubaix velodrome.  Conditions are usually treterious as the picture above suggests with riders crossing the line looking like they have just completed a mountainbike race in January.  This is what a classic race is all about.

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By Susan Westemeyer, Cyclingnews.com

Erik Zabel is going into his 15th year as a professional cyclist, has nearly 200 career victories, with palmares better than most teams could offer, rides from the first race of the season to the last and fills in the off-season by riding (and of course winning) six-day races. Cyclingnews’ Susan Westemeyer tracked him down to ask if there is anything he can’t do.

While he may be an iron man on the bike, as a father there is one thing Zabel can’t do. The rider freely admits that when watching his son Rick, who, not surprisingly, also races, he simply can’t watch the 13 year-old cross the line. “I just can’t look at the finish line, I always stand in the last curve. The worst is if he crashes. Then I turn weak. I don’t want him to make any mistakes, but on the other hand, I know that he has to make mistakes.”

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By Shane Stokes, Cyclingnews.com

Following a quiet couple of seasons with the AG2R-Prévoyance team, former world junior champion Mark Scanlon is training hard before moving to race on the US circuit in 2007. The 26 year-old competed in the Tour de France in 2004 and has been racing professional on the continent for four years. However, having taken the decision to turn his back on European racing, it appears he has rediscovered his motivation and has been working hard.

“I have four weeks of training done now and have covered 2,400 miles [3862 kilometres], about 600 more than in the same period last year,” he said this week. “It is just a matter of keeping that going until I get away again in January. I’m feeling motivated - the change of scene is one factor, and so too the fact that I know I can win races next year. That is a bit of a boost all right.”

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World Madison champion Isaac Galvez (Caisse d’Epargne) died after an overnight fall during the Ghent six-day, the Belga news agency reported Sunday.

Galvez, who has been a professional since 2000, died while being transported to a local hospital.

An initial diagnosis suggests the cause of death was from an internal hemorrhage, however complete details will not be available until a full autopsy is completed on Sunday.

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By John Wilcockson
VeloNews Editorial Director

VeloNews.com — Not since “Breaking Away” (1979) has there been a true bike-racing film to hit the big screen - unless we include the animated “Les Triplettes de Belleville” (2003). The long wait maybe worthwhile because Variety magazine announced Wednesday that MGM has bought worldwide distribution rights to the Graeme Obree biopic “The Flying Scotsman.” It will debut at U.S. theatres on December 29.

The new movie is based on the autobiography of Obree, the eccentric Scottish amateur cyclist who astounded the cycling world in 1993 by breaking Francesco Moser’s world hour record. Obree cooperated fully in the making of the film, and he even acts as a stand-in for himself in some of the racing scenes for lead actor Jonny Lee Miller. Miller, the star of cult movie “Trainspotting” (1996), was married to Angelina Jolie for four years after they both starred in “Hackers” (1995).

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Cyclingnews.com — Italian Bibi Ballandi is directing a fictional film based on the life of Marco Pantani, winner of the 1998 Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, who passed away on February 14, 2004. Il Pirata-l’orgoglio ritrovato will star Rolando Ravello as Marco Pantani and will be aired on Italian television this spring.

Filming was underway the this last week in Pantani’s hometown of Cesenatico, where Ballandi was working with his film crew to reproduce the “Pantani Day,” from eight years ago, on August 12th, when Marco Pantani was celebrated after returning from winning the Tour de France. Ravello, dressed in street clothes to resemble Il Pirata, was surrounded by yellow and pink-clad fans for the scene.

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