January 22/08 3:34 am - Cycling in the News

Posted by Editoress on 01/22/08
 

Cycling Headlines for around the World

The Canadian Olympic Committee is hoping to get into the television business.

Spurred by what it calls "the dearth of amateur sports television coverage by incumbent networks" and the opportunity to raise money for amateur sports, the COC announced yesterday that it has applied for English and French TV channels.

The channels would show original programming focused solely on amateur competition.

To read the rest of the article go to: The Toronto Star


Uncertainty clouds start of Pro Tour

The Pro-Tour starts on Tuesday with the Tour Down Under in Australia and the sport in a state of flux.
The season will effectively take place on two separate circuits, the Pro-Tour and the races run by organisers of the big Tours, who reject the series run by the International Cycling Union (UCI).

Belgian Tom Boonen, the most successful rider in recent years, described the situation as "pure chaos".
"The situation is terrible ... nobody knows who is in charge. We need somebody to come along and show leadership," the former world champion told Reuters television.

To read the rest of the article go to: Guardian


Italy Olympic body calls for two year ban for Mazzoleni

Italian cyclist Eddy Mazzoleni should serve a two-year ban for doping offences, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said on Tuesday.

To read the rest of the article go to: Guardian


UK Government Pumps millions Into Cycling

Cycling England has asked for £250m. Cycling England's previous budget was £10m per annum. The £140m is split over three years.

The DfT said: "The new drive to boost cycling will help to tackle road congestion and improve air quality as well as create more opportunities for exercise. It fulfils a commitment to increase investment in sustainable transport initiatives, outlined in the recent strategy document, 'Towards a Sustainable Transport System'."

To read the rest of the article go to: Singletrack


London Promotes Bike Use by Making Bike Use Harder

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has a strong desire for the city to be an environmental leader, and he aims to partially achieve that by increasing bicycle use 80% by 2010.

Naturally, he has also been promoting a law which would crack down on bike parking in the city‚s 33 boroughs and help discourage cycling.

A new bill in UK‚s parliament would give Transport for London and the city‚s 33 councils the power to seize bicycles without warning if they‚re parked outside specific bike parking areas. This would include bikes chained to railings or lampposts.

To read the rest of the article go to: greenesthost.com


Winter cyclists get break

Commuters who prefer peddling to work will see some relief over the winter months after council today backed a plan to move bike lanes up on the snow removal priority list.

Ald. Brian Pincott called for more attention to be given to the 12.5 km of on-street bicycle lanes that currently see little attention from city plows and sanders following major storms.

To read the rest of the article go to: Calgary Sun


Trade auction raises £15k for BMXer Stephen Murray

Sunday night's auction at the Fisher Expo also raised £2k for Jason McIntyre fund via Braveheart

Fisher Outdoor is currently staging its annual trade-only Expo at the Edgbaston cricket stadium in Birmingham. The event started on Sunday and was a star-studded affair, with guests including former pro roadie Sean Kelly; trackie Craig Maclean; MTBers Will Longden and Steve Peat; and Cycling Weekly columnist Michael Hutchinson.

To read the rest of the article go to: Bike Biz


Tour of California ramps up drug testing

After being criticized for conducting a lax anti-doping program at last year's Amgen Tour of California, organizers of the USA's largest cycling race are responding with an expanded plan that includes a dramatic increase in the number of tests and the exclusion of any rider under investigation of doping.

To read the rest of the article go to: USA Today


Progress on wheels - Bicycle assembly project unites community

While Martin Luther King Jr. Day was just a break from work for many Anchorage residents, a couple hundred adults spent the afternoon serving others.

Their project: 50 Bikes/50 Kids at Spenard Recreation Center. After four hours of installing wheels, attaching pedals, adjusting brakes and syncing gears, 50 kids ages 6 to 17 got new bikes and about 250 adults got an opportunity to do a good thing.

To read the rest of the article go to: Anchorage Daily News


Training Center BMX course approximates design of course in Beijing

Bicycle motocross ˆ better known as BMX ˆ makes its Olympic debut come August in Beijing. With American men currently owning the top three spots in the world rankings, the U.S. is expected to bring home medals.

To increase those odds, a new training facility was unveiled yesterday at the Olympic Training Center, and the layout got the riders' approval.

To read the rest of the article go to: SanDiego.com


Three-Time Tour de France Champion Greg LeMond to Speak to Students at Santa Clara University

Three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond will speak at 6 p.m. Sunday, February 17, on "Ethics, Doping, and the Future of Cycling" at the Leavey Center at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, Calif.

Joining LeMond in the discussion will be San Francisco Chronicle columnist Gwen Knapp, who has written extensively about doping. The talk coincides with the beginning of the Tour of California cycling race, scheduled to start the afternoon of Feb. 17 with a time trial in Palo Alto, Calif.

To read the rest of the article go to: www.ad-hoc-news.de


Melbourne is seeking inspiration from overseas green gurus to create a more sustainable city.

Among those lined up for advice are a South American mayor who waged a "war" on cars, a New York traffic commissioner who handed city streets to cyclists and cafes, and a German architect who helped set up a program paying families to install solar panels.

Melbourne City Council has flagged plans to cherry-pick the best international ideas for an environmentally friendly city, in a bid to replace Melbourne's "most liveable" title with "most sustainable".

To read the rest of the article go to: Herald Sun


New SwissBike - Unfolds to be the Perfect Mountain Bike

SwissBike announces the launch of a new line of bicycles bearing the SwissBike brand. These full-size, high-performance bikes fold in half for easy storage or transport using a patented technology originally developed to allow military paratroopers to airdrop with a mountain bike.
To read the rest of the article go to: PR-USA


Bike-friendly Santa Cruz? City receives honor for its biking environment

Some 46 miles of bike lanes, strong educational programs and a visible biking community make Santa Cruz a bike-friendly city.

To read the rest of the article go to: Santa Cruz Sentinel


Olympic 5 ring "bike"

PHOTO