TGIF

A whole week has gone by without me commenting on the Tour de Doping in France. Frankly, it's just too difficult to keep up with the revelations as they seem to happen every single day. Between Sinkowitz, Vinokourov, Moreni and Rasmussen even a 24 hour news cycle has trouble following the developments.

Don't forget, the race doesn't end until Sunday and even after that test results will still be coming in. Last year we didn't get the news about Floyd Landis' positive results until a few days after the Tour had ended. Let's hope we aren't faced with that same outcome in 2007.

Even if we endure another nightmare the sport of cycling will continue. Sponsors can say whatever they'd like like and back out of the sport, but nobody can dispute the hundreds of thousands of fans lining the roads through France even after the scandals. The target market is still paying attention to the sport, which in turn should get the attention of all sponsors.


Gran Fondo Club Members to Ride Paris-Brest-Paris
Three local cyclists are traveling to France in late August to compete in the 1200 kilometer Paris-Brest-Paris, an ultra distance cycling race that's been around since 1891. Jeff Bauer, Bill Glass, and Jeff Sammons are well accomplished cyclists who are fine ambassadors of cycling in Middle Tennessee.

To give them a hearty send-off Gran Fondo Bicycles is hosting a reception on Thursday, August 9th at 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. The event is open for everyone to attend, so come out and wish the guys well!

Elio Aggiano (LPR) gets a taste for a stage win on the TM Tour de Langkawi
I was looking around for some information when I stumbled across this photo. It has to be the best victory photo I've ever seen.

Vote: Can cycling overcome doping?
Yes, of course cycling can and will overcome doping. Go to the ESPN poll to cast your vote on the seven questions. So far there have been only 17,000 votes, and almost 50% think that cycling has more rampant drug use than other major professional sports. I disagree with that myself since I believe baseball and football have much bigger problems than those leagues would lead us to believe. The NFL and MLB have a lot more at stake to protect their product and image whereas cycling lacks that shield to hide behind and protect teams.

I'm starting to go down a thought process that I had better save for another day.....however.....

T-Mobile to decide future in cycling by Sunday
I'll repeat, did you see all those people lining the roads? My guess is almost every single one of them has a cell phone.

Health Net's Menzies leads Toona after stage 3 confusion
How does nobody officially win the stage? Give Menzies the victory and hold the promoter accountable for poor course setup.

ExxonMobil Earnings Slip on Natural Gas Prices
The world's largest publicly traded company is really going to have to tighten their belts. Net income dropped from $10.36 BILLION to $10.26 BILLION, but fortunately for stockholders EPS rose slightly to $1.83. Billions of reasons why we should take the train and ride our bikes more for transportation. How will Exxon ever dig out of this whole?

Researchers: Obesity Can Be Contagious in Social Circles
I'm a big believer in picking your friends wisely, but I have yet to incorporate a weight scale as a measuring stick. All you skinny cyclists don't pay attention to this or you may end up packing on the pounds. How about a study that proves fitness is contagious too?

Autographed George Hincapie US Pro Championship Jersey!
The bid originates from Maryville, TN and is up to $225.50 at this point. Bidding ends on Sunday!

European U23-Junior Road Championships
Here are the future stars of our sport. I brought this up last year as names to watch for the future, and dang if one hasn't already made a name for himself from 2003. Markus Fothen of Germany and team Gerolsteiner was in the four man breakaway on the 17th stage taking 2nd place.

Trent Wilson (Jittery Joe's) benefits from drier roads
Part-time Nashvillian finishes 4th on the stage at the International Tour de Toona.

Allanti Cycling Classic next weekend
Online registration is open and available for the big weekend next week. Saturday will be the Tennessee State Road Race Championship followed by an afternoon time-trial and Sunday criterium at LP Field. Plus, there are a lot of race details on the link such as the road course map and omnium payouts.

PoweringMuscles.com
I'm not sure why, but I keep getting regular emails from this site. Maybe they bought a list from USA Cycling. Either way they've got a lot of interesting content, although I'm not so thrilled about their chocolate milk comments!