Industrialized Cyclist Notepad


Riccò Caught Buying Doping Products — to get Strava KOMs
April 30, 2014, 07:55
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The guy was already caught twice in competition and kicked out of pro cycling.

Ricco was banned for 12 years in 2011 after being rushed to hospital apparently following a botched blood transfusion. The controversial Italian climber had been planning to attack a series of records on well known cycling climbs such as Mont Ventoux but is now facing charges of receiving banned substances and dealing in banned substances. Doping is a crime in Italy.According to a report on the Il Tirreno website, Ricco was caught with another local professional on Tuesday afternoon after collecting a bag containing 30 doses of drugs in the car park of an out of town McDonalds, north of Livorno. The two dealers are from Livorno, with one working in a local hospital.

via Report: Riccò Caught Buying Doping Products | Cyclingnews.com.

Going after those climbing records high on EPO… kind of the Tom Danielson of Italy.



Fort Collins Residents Most Satisfied in U.S.
April 11, 2014, 21:02
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According to this Gallup poll: http://www.gallup.com/poll/168485/city-satisfaction-highest-fort-collins-loveland-colo.aspx

satisfactionindex



Jet Fuel

via the tweetbox



America is Eating Itself
April 5, 2014, 20:25
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Baltimore police stormed a school in SWAT gear, locking it down for four hours before evacuating the students to another school after a journalism student was spotted with a tripod.

via Baltimore SWAT Team Locks School Down for Four Hours over Student with Tripod | Photography is Not a Crime: PINAC.

“…locking it down for four hours before evacuating students to another school…”



Lefthand Canyon Closed to Bikes Through April
April 4, 2014, 20:26
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And James Canyon. Kind of a weird move that is sure to raise some ire and mess up some plans.

Boulder County has closed Lefthand Canyon and James Canyon to cyclists until May 1 while crews remove major debris hazards and continue road construction there.

County officials also encouraged motorists to avoid the canyons’ roads unless travel is necessary. The closings to cyclists began on Friday and are to be in effect seven days a week.

County Transportation director George Gerstle said in a news release that the closings of Lefthand and James canyons’ roads are “due to unsafe conditions on the roadways such as steep drop-offs along the roadways from washed-away ditches and washed-away roadside shoulders, plus the increased volumes of heavy construction and road maintenance equipment along compromised roadways.”

Said Gerstle: “While these conditions are experienced by both motorists and bicyclists, bicyclists are much more likely to have their safety compromised.”

Residents needing to ride a bike in the area for basic transportation purposes can contact the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office at 303-441-3650 for a special permit.

via Lefthand, James canyons' roads closed to cyclists – Longmont Times-Call.

Bicyclists ride on “compromised roadways” all day long, so I’m not sure what their point is.

And…“While these conditions are experienced by both motorists and bicyclists, bicyclists are much more likely to have their safety compromised.” …is true for any condition.



Tramadol in the Peloton
April 2, 2014, 14:41
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I wonder how much real evidence Mathieu has for the following assertion.

Lotto-Belisol team doctor Jan Mathieu has said that the ongoing use of powerful painkiller Tramadol by some riders is a contributing factor in the recent spate of crashes in the opening classics races of 2014, and has renewed calls to have the drug banned.

Tramadol is an opioid, and like other substances in that group it causes drowsiness as a side-effect. Mathieu says that it’s this that has caused riders to lose concentration and cause crashes, according to an interview published by Belgian website sporza.be.

Teams that have voluntarily signed up to the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC)’s stringent charter do not use the drug, but teams that have not signed up – including Sky, Omega Pharma-QuickStep and BMC Racing – are free to use it as it is currently not on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of banned substances.

via Tramadol to blame for classics crashes says Lotto-Belisol doctor – Cycling Weekly.



Denver Union Station

Can’t wait to check out the Sky Hole. And finally, in 2016, about 25 years after the airport was built on the Eastern plains, there will be a rail line connecting it to Denver.

Used to always be known as “Union Depot” according to one historian. The 1914 building replaced an equally grand predecessor.

Today, Union Station, in the city’s Lower Downtown neighborhood, is on the cusp of a major transformation. The Beaux Arts–style depot, built in 1914, is being restored and converted—by Denver firms Tryba Architects and JG Johnson Architects—into a 112-room boutique hotel with shops, offices, and restaurants, opening in July. Meanwhile, in the rail yard behind the station, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has created a multimodal transit hub for buses, light rail, commuter rail, and Amtrak service. The $500 million public-private project is a milestone for sprawling Denver, which has embraced transit in a big way. The metropolitan area’s first light-rail line opened in 1994, and 10 years later, voters approved a $6.5 billion transit program for an additional 122 miles of commuter and light rail. Starting in 2016, Union Station will be the hub for four new commuter lines, including one to Denver International Airport. That “Travel by Train” sign suddenly seems relevant again.

via Denver Union Station is a "Game Changer" – News – Architectural Record.



Toronto’s Bankrupt Bikeshare Changes Hands

Why does my “Spidey Sense” activate every time I hear something about Alta? Something going on there…

The program will simply be called “Bike Share Toronto” and will be operated daily by Alta Bicycle Share , a Portland, Oregon-based company operating bike share systems in New York, Chicago, Boston and Melbourne, Australia.

The new logo will look almost identical to Toronto Parking logos except with a bike instead of a green P, said Marie Casista, vice-president of real estate, development and marketing for TPA.

“(The name) really represents what it is,” Casista said, “and what we’re doing.”

The beleaguered urban cycling program, which started in 2011, has struggled financially, telling the city last year it could no longer make payments on a $3.9-million city loan.

In December, Bixi’s creator Quebec-based Public Bike System Company and the city came to a deal to transfer all Toronto assets , with TPA set to run the program as of April 1. In January, the Public Bike System Company filed for bankruptcy protection.

via New name, look and prices for Toronto’s Bixi | Toronto Star.