Generalities & last legs

I Need a Virtual Break. No, Really.
Yeah, me too. I don't know if I made this up myself or heard it elsewhere, but the more connected we've become the more disconnected we actually are. On occasional travel weekends this spring I get to stay away from the computer for about three days, and I don't feel as if I'm missing anything. Sometimes I'll purposely turn my cell phone off for awhile for no real reason, and whew, it feels great.

Does Weight Lifting Make a Better Athlete?
Well, duh. Sure, everyone has a personal preference on how to get the most out of their abilities, but some type of resistance training can improve performance. The real question isn't can weight training help, but would doing nothing increase ability? Think about that one. Training specificity can be approached from several angles, but resistance training that mimics actual sport activities will help to improve performance within that particular sport. What got you here won't get you there (which also happens to be the title of a book I read awhile back, excellent by the way).

The Aaron's team visits a school to show kids.....
Nashvillian Katharine Carroll and a few of her teammates visited a school in Exeter, California recently to talk about bike safety, nutrition and bike racing. Surely Katharine is gearing up to defend her 2007 Athens Twilight victory in a few weeks down in Georgia.

29th Annual Athens Twilight
Speaking of Twilight, registration is now open for the annual crit fest culminating in the professional races on Saturday night, April 26. Yours truly has already registered, and if you have plans to go then I highly recommend registering soon. Previously this race was supposed to be a part of the Georgia Cup, but now I see it has been removed from that series. I am actually happy about that, but it sure would have been nice if this decision had been made prior to opening up registration.

The fields offered had adopted the GA Cup approach, which isn't all bad, but Twilight had built a strong enough attendance that combined categories aren't necessary. In fact, it was great to be able to ride in a field of 80-100 riders with all of them being in the same category as you. Now, it's pretty muddy and watered down.

Leaving it all behind, to bike around the world
Sell it off, wave goodbye and start pedaling. No GPS. I like their style.

Nashville air is healthier
I'm still going to get out the Gazetteer and get as far away from Nashville as my legs will take me. Check out pages 52, 54 and 55 in Tennessee. Especially page 52 in the area around Ashland City, Pegram and White Bluff. For those of you stuck on the same old roads you should definitely buy the Tennessee Gazetteer and go out on an adventure. Oh, and the air is even healthier on page 52!

Fresh Korn: Blatant generalities
Will Frischkorn opens up and tells it like it is while racing abroad. From Belgium to France, from Spain to Italy and back to the US. His less than PC approach is pretty funny, especially the Italian comments. They're all about the look and presentation but everyone of them are mommas boys.

So you wanna be an Olympian?
I have written about Kathryn Bertine before in her ambitions to qualify for the women's US Olympic cycling team. She didn't reach that goal, but after 116 emails to prospective cycling nations Kathryn gets a bite from St. Kitts and Nevis. With Gord Fraser handling the coaching, maybe, just maybe she'll get there, but only after he lets her know exactly what he thinks.

Julich: We’re on our last leg
He has a lot of interesting things to say about recent doping controls. Like he says, with all the body particles they give now the only thing left to do is give the riders a bunch of girly mags and given a cup. It sounds far fetched, but don't be surprised if that's what it eventually comes to.

I disagree that the sport is done if there's another doping scandal. First, the sport can and will endure another scandal. Explain to me the alternative again? Yes, current sponsors may back out and future sponsors may invest less money, but the sport will not die.

While Julich may think that could happen it's not a good way to help prop up the sport and build a positive image in sponsors eyes. He's not the only one to make comments similar to that, and I just don't get why they'd say things like that. Every sponsor is listening as much as they are watching, and if the athletes are saying "we're done" instead of "we'll overcome" then the sponsors will continue reinforcing that mindset.

I also disagree with the comment that there's nothing more riders can do to prove skeptics wrong. The riders are taking tests ad nauseam, yet, they are still in the position they're in. So, Bobby, what are you going to do about that? Be tested more, give your sperm, and not have made any progress to prove the sport's stability? You and your teammates were part of the problem, so now you and your teammates should be part of the solution. I don't quite understand how the riders think that taking tests is all it takes to prove themselves. Take your strategic thinking beyond the testing and figure out a way to win over hearts and minds to a more positive image. If you really want to drink a few beers, gain 5kg and watch future Tours then do something about it. There is a better way.....