Canadian cycling rocking the Tour? It might happen...

Hi All,


It was shaping up to a be a pretty slow news week (no pro cycling, no triathlons or marathons of note) until Thursday morning when the following headlines blared across the Globe & Mail.

Balsillie buys into what Bauer's peddling

Cycling legend gets backing from billionaire to start Canadian team for Tour de France

What? It sounds like a cruel Bikey April Fools Joke? But no, its legit. Steve Bauer, easily Canada's greatest Tour rider in the last 30 years (held the Yellow Jersey for 14 days in his career, won a stage as well, finished 4th overall one year) has partnered with Blackberry gazillionaire Jim Basillie to create a new Canadian cycling team, with a goal of competing in the Tour de France in 2013. Okay, that's a long way off, and with tons of little cycling teams littering North America and Europe it might appear farfetched. But this partnership has both serious cycling roots (Bauer of course) and money (Balsillie has more than probably any cycling owner on the planet, except maybe for Rupert Murdoch owning the channel that supports Team Sky). And in a new cycling world where European teams are having trouble recruiting sponsors, could an upstart team make the quantum leap from not existing in January 2010 to being on the start line in 3-and-a-half-years?

Let's not get too excited - the 15 members of the team (called Team SpiderTech, driven by Planet Energy) include 13 Canadians, and will obviously have to be swelled with foreign riders to make the team competitive at bigger cycling events. Most ProTour teams have many veteran riders - this team is essentially a developmental team for 2010 and probably 2011. Then, and only then, can they look at getting promoted to the big leagues.  Canada does have a pile of top riders on other top teams (Hesjedal, Barry, Tuft, Meier and Rollin to name 5) so building a strong Canadian contingent on one team is a possibility down the road. 

Regardless, having a big budget (estimated to need up to $10 million dollars) cycling team with a high profile can't hurt. Balsillie has proven that he can make noise when he wants to, even if he always doesn't get what he wants (see Coyotes, Phoenix).

Three more quick things - Lance Armstrong is coming to Edmonton!! For the first time ever, Lance is hosting one of his Livestrong charity rides to raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Society. He will be in Edmonton August 25-26 of this year, and there are expected to be several fundraising events planned. He has done a few of these trips around Calgary in years past but will be coming to Edmonton just in time for the craziness that is NHL training camp. Ummm, what else do we do in late August?

I jinxed it on Sunday but claiming that doping in cycling is dead. Oops, Vania Rossi, a top pro female cyclocross athlete from Italy, was busted today for EPO. Why should you care? Her boyfriend is Riccardo Ricco, who got caught for the same thing 2 years ago and is eligible to return to pro cycling this year. I think it's fair to say he hasn't learned his lesson...

Last thing - good old marathon quester Martin Parnell has already done 21 marathons so far this year. I believe he has the global lead...only 229 to go! Good on ya Martin...

Cheers, See you Friday!

Doping...2010 Style!

Hi All,


I guess the good news is that we've made it all the way until January 24th without me needing to write a post about doping. But now I do have some good news, some bad news, and some could-be-bad-could-be-good news. So keep reading...


Okay - let's start with the good news. According to one recent article, the steps taken by pro cycling (mainly the suspensions and the biological passport) are the reason that more companies are jumping into lucrative sponsorships. Team Sky, Radio Shack, HTC-Columbia, and Team Garmin (now Garmin-Transitions) all have attracted new sponsors for 2010. 


Not at all related to doping: I find it interesting that all 4 of these teams are UK or US-based. However, 2 more ProTour teams are already having sponsorship issues. Both Team Milram and Team SaxoBank face serious financial issues and may be looking for major sponsors or potentially be disbanded. These teams are German and Danish-based teams, right in the heartland of cycling. So why are they having problems? Is it purely financial due to the problems in the global economy? Or is it because sponsors are tired of hearing their names associated with doping? Ok, maybe this was related to doping a bit...


(Side note: if Milram folds - there will be zero German pro cycling teams. Somewhere, Jan Ullrich is shaking his head...)


Ok, that's the good news. The sorta-good-sorta-bad news starts with Lance Armstrong. He decided to stop his personal and independent doping testing for 2010, which he has been posting on his personal website since his return. His rationale is that the UCI's biological passport along with the testing done by the various cycling federations make the independent testing redundant. Personally, any time Lance generates any type of doping headlines it's probably not a good thing. But after all these years, I guess Lance doesn't really care anymore. He is more concerned that posting his results online causes more problems than it solves since all it takes is one knucklehead to blog about his values online and that can snowball, even if there is little to no validity. I guess I can't argue with that...


We've all known for years that steroids are bad. Yes, they make you stronger, help you recover, make you beat Carl Lewis in the Seoul Olympics, etc, but they can also kill you. Liver damage, roid rage, hormonal imbalances, sterility, acne, etc, the list goes on and on. People know that steroids are bad. But how about EPO? EPO, which has been the cyclists doping drug of choice for many years, was initially developed as a therapeutic agent to help treat anemia (in patients with cancer or kidney disease). So it must be safe? Not so, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers studied 4000 patients who were given EPO or placebo, and studied their rates of heart attack, stroke, as well as their quality of life. The researchers were surprised to find out that more patients taking EPO had heart attacks, almost twice as many strokes, and scored essentially the same on quality of life. Hmmm, maybe going a wee bit faster on a bike isn't worth it? 


If you want to read more on this topic - read this NY Times article. It's very interesting that finally athletes seem to be less likely to take performace-enhancing drugs. For years, the Goldman Dilemma asked elite athletes if they would be willing to take a drug that would win them a gold medal but kill them within 5 years. For years, this test showed about half the athletes would be willing to make this trade. Today, the researchers expect that 10-20 percent of athletes would still take the drugs. Interestingly, less than 1% of the general population would make the same deal. Are we making progress? At least it appears that more people are A) aware of the dangers and B) think less highly of doping and dopers. 


I guess this "Doping and Cheating Aren't Cool" movement hasn't reached China yet. Over 30 runners who finished in the top 100 in a recent Chinese marathon were disqualified for various cheating actions - jumping into vehicles, giving their chips to faster runners, having imposters run for them, etc. The Chinese university system actually gives credit to students with fast marathon times, so for many students, attempting to shave time off might help their career plans. 


One last thing - Canada's least favorite sprinter Ben Johnson is publishing his autobiography next month, where he claims that he has proof that his drink was spiked with stanozolol after winning the 100m at the Seoul Olympics, and that it was a colleague of Carl Lewis who did it. Ben also allegedly admits that he only took furazobol (a different steroid) and that the IAAF knew of several positive drug tests leading up to the 1988 fiasco. It might be an interesting read - but I can't find any sign of it online. I'll keep you posted...

Go Canada Go...

Hi All,

Have I ever led off a blog with two stories on fast Canadians? Maybe not...but this week both Eric Gillis and Simon Bairu deserve some love for their incredible runs last weekend. (Of course, in my foresight, I predicted Tara Quinn-Smith might be the one to watch...oops). Plus some more interesting stories...

 Simon Bairu made US headlines by soundly defeating Ryan Hall last Sunday at the Phoenix Rock N Roll Half Marathon. Ryan Hall is probably the most recognizable US endurance runner due to his recent results and his wealth of sponsors. But last week,  in only his second half-marathon, Simon Bairu of Regina made short work of Hall, as they ran together for 10 miles then Bairu kicked into high gear before winning by 1:21. Bairu ended up running 1:02:47, a PB by 23 seconds and a race record. Bairu is hoping to make his debut in the marathon later this fall (perhaps at NYC) where he will take a shot at the Canadian record of 2:10:08. How old is this record? It was set in 1975 by the great Jerome Drayton at the Fukuoka Marathon.

The other big Canadian news is that Eric Gillis ran the Houston marathon in a stunning 2:13:56 in his marathon debut. According to one source, it was the second fastest marathon debut by a Canadian and the 3rd fastest marathon by a Canadian in the past 14 years. You can read Gillis's blog post of his day here. Gillis was the 10,000m Canadian champ in both 2007 and 2008 (Bairu won in 2009), so it's not unexpected, but it's nice to see that Canadians are finally developing some great talent and seeing their results pay off in the marathon!

Couple other running notes - Deena Kastor ran an amazing half-marathon in Phoenix as well, running 1:09:43 to smash the course record and to show the world that she is still a favorite, despite being 37 years of age and coming off 2 injury-filled years. Congrats to her.


The running world shifted their attention to Dubai last night/this morning to pay attention to Haile Gebrselassie, who kicked off 2010 with a solid 2:06:09 marathon, good enough for the win and his 10th sub-2:07 marathon! Unfortunately for Geb, any time he runs a marathon and doesnt challenge the world record (his splits are here)it is probably considered a bit of a disappointment. However, the $250,000 first prize cheque is a nice consolation prize for his effort. We might have to wait until September for his next marathon (Berlin) but he did confirm this week that he will run a half-marathon in March in New York City. Although known for his marathon skills, Gebrselassie is equally dominant in the half, with 9 wins in 10 races. It should be good for running to have Geb run on US soil as well...

The Tour Down Under bike race is flying along in Australia, and although the race does have some big names participating (Robbie McEwen, Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans, Alejandro Valverde), the big news in Australia has been Andre Greipel from HTC-Columbia. The "other" sprinter on HTC (they still have Mark Cavendish of course), Greipel has won 3 of the 4 first stages in Australia, and now holds a 20 second lead going into the last two stages. The other big names have all made headlines (Lance made a late attack yesterday, Evans and Valverde finished 2nd and 3rd in stage 3, McEwen was third in stage 2 and second in stage 4) during the first 4 days. Huge crowds continue to follow the racers, as pro cycling continues to grow outside of Europe.

Two more notes on Lance Armstrong - one of the fallouts from Lance's potential two more years in pro cycling is that his debut at Ironman may now have to wait until 2012.  According to one report, Lance will race Kona 15 months after his last appearance at the Tour de France. So now we have to wait and see what happens this July...Lance's coach Chris Carmichael also announced that Lance is currently in as good or better shape as he was when he won multiple Tour de France titles. According to Carmichael, Lance is in much better shape than he was last year, way ahead of his normal January fitness,  and he should be more "explosive" in 2010. Will this translate into better results in France? As always, we are forced to wait...

Ok, thats it for now...I'm working on a weekend doping piece, so come back soon for a look...

BIKEY IS BACK!

Hi All,

For a wide number of reasons, BIKEY took a little holiday these last few weeks. This is mainly because there hasn't been a significant running/cycling/swimming/triathlon event these last 6 or so weeks. But a lot has happened, and I'm hoping to get you caught up on the various topics in the next few paragraphs.

Okay, ever since Kona, the triathlon world has been very quiet. A few small Southern Hemisphere races (Ironman Western Australia, Port of Tauranga Half, Ironman 70.3 South Africa this weekend) with mainly Aussie/Kiwi athletes have done little to get fans very excited. Most of the top ITU and non-drafting (Ironman) pros have spent most of the past two months recovering for 2009 and starting to get their 2010 training started. We are still two months away from Oceanside (Ironman 70.3 California) which really kicks off the North American tri season.

Some scary news for Chrissie Wellington, who crashed her bike on a January 2nd ride and broke her right arm, wrist, and a couple fingers. Oops. Fortunately, she'll be fine in about 6 weeks, and as the picture below shows, it hasn't affected her bike training or her ever-present smile...


Pro Cycling News: Lots.
1. Lance is back. We knew that. But he did announce that he will race for 2 more years with his new team. So he will be trying to win the Tour de France in both 2010 and 2011 with Team RadioShack. Team Radioshack also has very ugly jerseys and bikes (see below) but I guess after Astana and Team Discovery I shouldn't be surprised...

Lance and his new team will have their first race start this weekend for the Tour Down Under. It's actually a pretty impressive field, with most of the big pro teams lined up to start the week-long race. Although it might get less press than last year's race (which was Lance's first race back from retirement), the race will feature riders like Cadel Evans, George Hincapie, Alejandro Valverde and a ton of good Australians like Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwen, and last year's winner Allan Davis. The only Canadian in the race will be Christian Meier on Garmin (should not be confused with Cameron Meyer - his teammate who just won the Australia national championships). Should be a great race.

December also included the (finally) move of Bradley Wiggins from Team Garmin to Team Sky. This move had been rumored for months, with allegations and denials flying back and forth for months. Eventually, money won out and Team Sky got their leader. He'll be their main Grand Tour hope in 2010 and beyond while Team Garmin regroups behind Christian Vande Velde. Unfortunately for Team Sky, they too picked some really ugly team uniforms for 2010. The tall guy with the glasses in the picture is Canadian Michael Barry, who is now with what seems like his 10th pro team. He has ridden with USPS, Discovery Channel, T-Mobile, Columbia-HTC, and now Team Sky. A pretty impressive career, but Barry still has never started the Tour de France. Will 2010 be the year?

Astana has also ironed out their contract with Alberto Contador and their own PorTour status for 2010. They are almost an entirely new team this year, with really only Contador and Benjamin Noval back from last years team. But they have added Oscar Pereiro and a few other Spanish riders to help Contador win a few more big races in 2010. Astana has flipped from Trek bikes to Specialized, and has added some more colour (yellow and red) to their jerseys for 2010. At least they'll be easy to see...


2010 is shaping up as a huge year, with many stories to play out in the next 6 or so months. Who will win the battle between Lance and Alberto? Can Andy Schleck take the next step? Will Team Sky be a factor? Can Cavendish be defeated? What will happen with race radios? Who will get caught doping (hopefully no one but let's be real)? It should be a great year. Here is what Bicycling Magazine is looking forward to...

A big weekend in American running ahead, with both the Phoenix and Houston marathons and half-marathons being run this weekend. The biggest name competing is Ryan Hall, who is running the half in Phoenix as a tune-up for Boston in April. He is the American record-holder (59:43 in Houston) and might aim at lowering it this year. Hall was once the great shining hope for US running, but his lack of wins the last two years and the impressive win by Meb Keflezighi in New York might have pushed him off the front page. Let's hope he has a great year in 2010 and finally breaks through to win an international event. Deena Kastor is also racing Houston, where she too will be preparing for a spring marathon. Kastor is coming back after injuries have cost her parts of the last two years, and at age 37 only has a few more years of high level running. Tara Quinn-Smith, who is probably in the Top 2 or 3 marathoners in Canada, will be running the Houston Marathon. She has an outside chance at winning...

We are still awaiting word on the official update to the Caster Semenya story. Although she still hasn't been cleared to compete as a female in 2010, she is already making race plans to do so. Perhaps, she is as bored waiting for the "official inquiry" to be complete as many of us track fans are. It is still possible that the IAAF could rule she has a gender advantage over other female athletes and ban her from competing. In any case, the biggest story of 2009 outside of Usain Bolt threatens to still be a story well into 2010.


One more great running story that must get mentioned...a Calgary man is trying to run 5 marathons. Every week. For a YEAR! Yep, Martin Parnell is trying to run 250 marathons in 2010, in and around Calgary and Cochrane. He is doing this to try and raise funds for Right to Play. His goal is $250,000. Amazing. You can follow him (and donate funds) on marathonquest250.com, and even join him for one of his daily marathons!


I'll end with a really cool video. In North America, we use our bikes for fitness, commuting, or sometime as a clothes-hanger. In China, cycles can be weapons...here's the Youtube description. Two thieves on a motor-scooter flew by and snatched a womans purse on a street in Wenzhou, China. Surveillance video shows a man riding a bicycle. As he was passing by the front of a hotel near where the thievery happened, he stopped, calmly got off his bicycle, picked it up, and then threw it at the thieves. The bicycle hit them, they lost control, and crashed to the ground.



See you next week for more...