May 18/11 11:11 am - Cycling (in the) News

Posted by Editoress on 05/18/11
 

“Bicycles may change, but cycling is timeless."-- Zapata Espinoza



$108 million in fresh financing for Bixi
It required an unusual advance peek provided to a senior Quebec municipal-affairs official, on a confidential basis, into a municipal audit report not yet released.

But the fast-growing Bixi bike-share service apparently has some smoother rolling ahead, at least in terms of cash flow and a bankroll paving its path for further expansion.

It’s lined up a total of $108 million of fresh financing arrangements, all backstopped by the city.
Read more: Montreal Gazette

Bixi lays off nine as it awaits provincial approval of loan deal
Three weeks after launching its 2011 season, the company behind Bixi has been forced to lay off nine of its 70 employees due to financial constraints.

The private, non-profit Public Bike System Co., whose finances are being investigated by city auditor general Jacques Bergeron, blamed its troubles on the provincial government.
Read more: Montreal Gazette


Ride of Silence remembers cyclists killed on the roads
Today at 7 p.m. local time cyclists around the world will take to the roads in memory of all the cyclists killed while riding on the streets.

The P.E.I Ride of Silence will be held in Charlottetown beginning at the provincial government parking lot on Terry Fox Drive. It is free of charge and all cyclists are welcome.
Read more: The Guardian


Hamilton family to bike 20,000 kilometres with young kids in tow
Two parents, a pair of kids under five, nearly 135 kilograms of excess weight and 20,000 kilometres. By bike.

On Saturday, Reuben VanderKwaak and his wife, Heidi, will hit the road with their children Eden, 4, and Harper, 18 months, for a year-long trek halfway around the world.
Read more: Hamilton Spectator


New Canadian pro cycling team off to promising start
A podium finish at a major European stage race represents a strong start for Canada’s first-ever pro continental cycling team.

Will Routley of Team SpiderTech finished in second place at the Tro Bro Leon, a one-day road race in Brittany, France on April 17. The Tro Bro was one part of a three-month spring campaign that introduced the team to the European pro race circuit.

“We did some great racing. The guys did some great performances,” team director Steve Bauer told the Star from Southern California, where he was preparing for the team’s next big project — the May 15-22 Tour of California.

But the new squad still has a lot to learn.
Read more: The Star


Hughes wows coach
Vincent Jourdain, like the rest of us, stopped being knocked for a loop a long time ago.

"Yes and no,'' replies Canada's Road Cycling Team head coach, asked if Clara Hughes' stunning return to competitive international cycling has in any way taken him aback. "This is Clara, remember. Everybody knows Clara. The kind of athlete she is.

"Phenomenal.
Read more: Calgary Herald


Roth rising to the top in Canadian cycling
Ryan Roth is among Canada’s top elite road cyclists. Not that most of his countrymen notice.

“If I tell someone from Canada I’m a professional biker, they tend to scratch their heads a little bit,” Roth says. “It’s not a popular sport like it is in Europe.”
Read more: The Record


Sherbrooke Mayor Defends New Helmet Law
In the face of criticism, the City of Sherbrooke is defending its new bylaw that requires cyclists under the age of 18 to wear a helmet.

Earlier this week, Vélo-Quebec said that forcing children to wear a helmet while cycling will actually act as a deterrent to the activity.
Read more: The Record


McQuaid's open letter to all riders and team members about release of "the list"
Read more: UCI


Give credit where it is due to cycling
Riders were scandalized last week when the French sports newspaper L'Equipe published a confidential list that ranked competitors at the 2010 Tour on a 10-point scale of doping "suspicion."

Cycling deserves credit for its expensive and pioneering monitoring program that keeps close tabs on riders' blood values. Unlike some other sports, which prefer not to dig too deep for fear of what they might find, cycling is at least trying to identify suspects whose blood values show recurrent bizarre blips and other red flags that could be caused by doping.
Read more: sify news


On the Trail of the Dopers: Cycling and Drugs
Joe Papp is a 35 year old man who hopes his life has not been destroyed.

Papp lives in a quiet, well-heeled suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In July, he may be sentenced to 10 years in prison. His story, of the professional cyclist who became a doper and then a dealer, is extreme. But its power lies in what he and many others say is its reflection of a deeply entrenched culture of drug-taking in road-racing.
Read more: BBC


Cyclists' ban on "radio" causes controversy
A massive change hit the Tour of California this year — even bigger than the Sierra Nevada, which poleaxed the first two stages of the cycling race.

Yes, towering over the snowcapped peaks in northern California is a little wire sticking out of riders' ears. What wire is that? If you look closely, you still won't see them.

They are radio earpieces that cyclists used to communicate with team directors and teammates. And they have been banned.
Read more: Denver Post


Millar to race for Malta
Team Malta for the Liechtenstein GSSE received a massive boost yesterday when it was learnt that David Millar had accepted to represent his country of birth in the cycling time-trial.

John Zammit, president of the Malta Cycling Federation, told The Times that Millar, who already won gold for Malta in the 2001 Games in San Marino, will again don the Maltese jersey next month.
Read more: Times of Malta


Steve Cozza battles illness
As it is said, life happens while you’re making other plans. This plan was a good one, with strong lovebird overtones. Jennifer Caudill would be a presenter on the podium at the Tour of California. That way she could be around her fiancée, Petaluma’s Steven Cozza, a pro cyclist for Team NetApp, during the 2011 Tour. It would be a great story to tell the kids one day, maybe even a stupendous one: Mommy presenting a medal to Daddy for a podium stage finish. Yep, that would be an one-of-a-kind family photo op.

But then life happened. Started in January actually.
Read more: pressdemocrat


What your bicycle says about you
Cycling doesn't just get you from A to B any more. Bikes have become an inspiration for writers, fashion designers and photographers. They are an expression of who we are – and who we want to be.
Read more: The Independent


Wherefore art thou, bicycle?
Having the option to combine cycling and public transit is great, but if you happen to be absent-minded it can also lead to the tragic loss of your bicycle. One distracted man has lost a total of seven bikes by leaving them on buses, according to one Translink driver.

This unfortunate man is not alone. Approximately one bike per day ends up in Translink's lost property office at Stadium Skytrain station, and more are stolen directly off bus bike racks.
Read more: Open File Vancouver