New Legal Doping Agents, Xenon Gas and Carbon Monoxide

The Russians are alleged to have used Xenon gas in preparation for the Sochi Olympics. (Maybe the Nordic Ski Team??). Apparently, the inhalational use of these gases displaces oxygen and stimulates the production of EPO and increases heart and lung capacity. What's more, their use is not banned and when confronted with the allegation, the Russians were unapologetic. That's not even the end of the story. Apparently, Garmin took a serious look at Xenon gas and decided it crossed a line. Really!? If a "clean" team like Garmin is interested in this stuff, I think it is safe bet that more than a few people have given it a try. It brings to mind the opt repeated quote in NASCAR and elsewhere in auto racing:  "If you're not cheating, you're not racing". You can find the entire story here at cyclingnews.com:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/xenon-gas-should-be-banned-says-garmin-sharp-doctor

Backyard Fat Pursuit Race Starts Today

Best of luck to all the participants today in the inaugural Backyard Fat Pursuit Race.   

From the Fat Pursuit Blog:
Friday, February 28
Registration / Gear Check - 200k and 60k 11 am - 5 pm and 8 pm - 10 pm
Dinner Feed (provided to 200k, restaurant food available for others)  6 pm
Racer Meeting - 200k and 60k 7 pm

Saturday, March 1Breakfast (for sign ups only) 5:30
200k start 7am
Registration / Gear Check - 60k  7:15 am - 8 am
60k Racer Meeting 8:15am
60k start 9am
Awards for 60k 4pm

Sunday, March 2
Celebration Toast to the 200k riders ALL WELCOME - Noon
We encourage you to stick around and enjoy the atmosphere! Cheer on your fellow rider and let’s watch these 200k riders who are going to come back different people!
Enjoy your weekend everyone!

http://fatpursuit.blogspot.com/

 

 

A Little Road Ride, The Armstrong Lie

Today was kind of a weird juxtaposition of a couple of unrelated cycling events. We were able to get out at midday today for the first real group ride of 2014. The first few rides of a new season are always a little tough, but never as hard as facing another day on the rollers or trainer.  I am reminded of John Stamstad, an early pioneer of endurance mountain bike racing. Back in the day, his winter workout was reported to be six hours on a trainer in an unheated garage staring at a blank wall to build mental discipline. If there is not some other alternative to build mental toughness, count me out. It was good to be back on the road today.

     Last night, I rented The Armstrong Lie from Amazon Prime. Since I did not finish it then and with the clock ticking on my 24 hour rental, I came home from the ride and finished the movie. For people like me, who followed the Tour obsessively during the Armstrong years, it makes for some pretty painful viewing to relive all of the familiar interviews in light of what we know now. It is impossible to not feel sympathy for Lance and hell his life has become, but the real victims in this story are Betsy and Frankie Andreu, Emma O'Reilly, David Walsh and all the others.  It was not enough for Lance to discredit his critics, on some level, he had to destroy them. For people who have followed the story of the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong, there are no big revelations in the movie. Over all, the tone of the movie is very fair and reasonably sympathetic to all parties, Lance included. Nevertheless, casual observers of the Armstrong story are going to like him less after viewing the movie. Fans and supporters will find little redemption there.

Intermountain Cup MTB Series Kicks Off March 1st, Criterium Series March 8th

More bicycle racing in my inbox tonight…I realize that it is humanly and logistically impossible to participate in even a fraction of the events that are out there, but here are a few more to consider.

http://www.utahbikeracing.com/icup-series-info

http://www.utahbikeracing.com/crit-races

 

Ratpod Registration is Only a Couple of Weeks Away

Unless you are fairly new to the area, you probably know about Ratpod. The Ride Around The Pioneer Mountains in One Day starts and ends in Dillon Montana and covers about 130 miles in one epic day. The quality of the event, the spectacular scenery, and the local support (homemade pie at the final feed zone) are legendary.

     Ratpod is expensive unless you do some fundraising to generate the mandatory $100 contribution to Camp-Mak-A-Dream, but the event exists primarily to support this very deserving charity which provides summer camp programs to kids with cancer. Also Ratpod is a substantial commitment if you ride the full 130 miles. Many people feel like Ratpod would be better if it were a little shorter, but you can't really change the size of a mountain range. Individual riders have the option to ride something less than the full distance but they must provide their own transportation to the late start/early abandon.

     The best part of the ride is The Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway through The Grasshopper Valley to Wise River.  Everyone should do this at least once in their lifetime. Registration opens at 8 a.m. Tuesday, March 4th and is limited to the first 650 entrants.  If you are interested, don't delay, because the registration fills quickly. More information and registration here:  www.ratpod.org

The 17th Annual West Yellowstone-Old Faithful Cycle Tour

A sixty mile supported tour may not seem like a big deal to many of
our readers, but for a lot of cyclists, a metric century is a big
accomplishment and a ride to Old Faithful and back is a big adventure.
Here is a brief overview from their website. Note that
registration comes pretty early.

The 17th Annual West Yellowstone-Old Faithful Cycle Tour September 20, 2014.
The West Yellowstone Old Faithful Cycle Tour is a terrific way to wind
down a summer of riding and a unique way to experience Yellowstone
National Park. Fall is a gorgeous time to be in Yellowstone, the elk
are bugling, the aspens have turned to gold, and the thermal areas are
relatively free of crowds. The supported ride is sixty miles round
trip, with options available for one way travel. Cyclists in the tour
can take advantage of two feed stations, three sag wagons, on-course
bike mechanics, and end the day with a group meal. The tour is
limited by the National Park Service to the first 350 riders that
complete the online registration. REGISTRATION WILL OPEN ON JUNE 15TH
AT 9:00AM (MDT)
http://www.cycleyellowstone.com/

Return of the CRC??

I spoke to Ken Williams this morning. There are plans underway to revive the Capitol Reef Classic after an absence of two years. Tentatively, the date will be Friday July 18^th and Saturday July 19^th with a time trail Friday morning, a circuit race on Friday afternoon, and a road race on Saturday. The old CRC was a fairly low key event but with a level of organization that rivaled any other. The Capital Reef area may be the best place I have ever ridden a bicycle and a great place for a little family vacation. The date is one week after the Crusher. If gravel is not your thing, or if you have the flexibility in your schedule for two fine events in July, keep this in mind. I need to emphasize this post may be a little premature and the plans are still somewhat tentative. But, I love the CRC so much, I could not really wait to post something. As soon as an official announcement is made, I will provide additional information and links.

Fitzgeralds Bicycles Valentine's/President's Day Sale

I guess you can be offended by this.  I think it’s pretty funny.  Shop the sale here: http://www.fitzgeraldsbicycles.com/

Road Magazine Online Subscription

As you may remember from my previous post, Road Magazine will be running a feature on Kelson in their April issue.  In the meantime, you might be interested in checking out their website which features a free online subscription with full access to the print version of the magazine.

http://www.roadmagazine.net/

The Sea of Rock from the Banff Mountain Film Festival

Friday night, Dawn, Sam, Tony and I went to the local showing of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour in Idaho Falls.  It probably goes without saying that the videos with bicycles got my attention more than any of the others. This is an absolutely insane 12 minute video of what is guess you might call bicycle mountaineering.

 

The Bikes of Your Dreams

I stopped in to see Brian for a few minutes this afternoon. There are really no superlatives left to describe the quality of his bikes or his attention to detail. I am always fascinated to see the bikes in various stages of production. The process of building quality bikes one at a time is the ultimate fusion of art and science. This afternoon, there was a bike boxed up awaiting shipment to Israel, a steel 650 B mountain bike in the paint booth, and the two ti-carbon RAD bikes pictured below, as well as various other projects. The MTB and the RAD bikes are headed for California, Maryland, and Canada. The first RAD bike is scheduled to be featured in an article about Kelson Custom Cycles in the April issue of Road Magazine.

     Brian is among the top innovators anywhere in the design and construction of these gravel racing, cross racing do-everything bikes and the Kelson RAD bikes have become a signature piece for him.

 

Action Figure Recap of the 2014 World Cyclocross Championship

Exciting News from the Tour of Utah

image copyright cbgphoto.com/VeloNews.com

 

Here are some of the highlights. The Tour of Utah will take place form August 4th-10th. For 2014, it has been expanded to a full seven days. The ToU will be returning to Southern Utah and for the first time will feature a stage start outside of the state of Utah in Evanston Wyoming. The traditional Queen Stage to Snowbird and the Ultimate Challenge will take place on Saturday August 9th. Full stage details have not been released yet, but the stage is set to begin in Salt Lake City and follow a previously unused route prior to the traditional finish at Snowbird. In keeping with long tradition, the organizers are promising a distance of over 100 miles with over 10,000 feet of vertical. John and I have ridden several variations of the Ultimate Challenge and last year was the hardest. I think it is doubtful that the organizers can find a more difficult route than last year, but it seem like bad luck to even speculate. You can read additional details here.

www.tourofutah.com

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/02/news/tour-of-utah-will-expand-beyond-the-states-borders-in-2014_315930

 

 

 

Don't Ask Your Doctor About 'Low T' NYT

In my experience, most cyclists are looking for ways to gain some incremental advantage on the bike whether it is taking a supplement or buying a new carbon fiber wheelset.  Given the highly publicized illicit use of testosterone in the pro peleton and the relentless marketing of testosterone replacement products, it should not come as a big surprise that cyclists are paying attention. Occasionally, a cyclist asks me about the advisability of taking testosterone, generally based on the perception that other amateur cyclists are benefiting from it. Jeff undoubtedly hears some variation of this question much more often than I do.

     Like any question in medicine, there is not necessarily a simple answer that generalizes to every individual, but I will offer a general response to this question. A relative handful of individuals suffering from hypogonadism (abnormally low testosterone levels) should be taking testosterone. For most other men who may be in a normal to low normal range the risks of taking testosterone, chief among them cardiovascular disease, outweigh the potential benefits. 

     You can read two very good opinion pieces about the relative risks and benefits of testosterone replacement in today's New York Times.

Don't Ask Your Doctor About 'Low T'

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/opinion/dont-ask-your-doctor-about-low-t.html?action=click&contentCollection=Television&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

Weighing Testosterone's Benefits and Risks

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/weighing-testosterone-benefits-and-risks/

 

Remembering the First Road Bike Party With the Original Video + Outtakes

Salt Lake Trib Pictorial on Cycling in Utah in the Early 1900's

<img src="http://mngislctrib.112.2O7.net/b/ss/mngislctrib/1/H.17--NS/0" height="1" width="1" border="0" alt=""/>

 

 image copyright Utah State Historical Society/Salt Lake Tribune

This Feature includes remarkable photographs of bicycles, lots of Derneys, and the most famous cyclist of the era, Major Taylor, on the Salt Palace Velodrome.

http://www.sltrib.com/csp/cms/sites/sltrib/pages/slidegallery.csp?cid=57469061&pid=5880781