The American has been a critic of the UCI in recent years, and says that he is concerned by allegations that the UCI accepted a bribe to cover up a positive doping case involving Lance Armstrong.

The UCI has denied the claim, but admits that it received sizeable donations from Armstrong in the past.

His ideas

1: Use external agencies: “The first thing is to eliminate the drug testing from the UCI completely. Separate it from them. Work with WADA and Interpol and bodies like the AFLD [the French Anti-Doping Agency] and the different countries in the European communities. The key is separating the drug tests from the governing body…you can’t have somebody accepting gifts from Armstrong.”

2: Get the UCI to hand over testing funds: “The money for drug testing is currently being spent by the UCI. Why not put those funds towards an independent group that has cheques and balances and transparency?”

3: Continuously change the people calling the shots: “Rotating the elections of drug enforcement is something that should be looked into, so you don’t get one guy in power who decides to take a payoff and keep ‘fixing’ stuff. You have to do checks and balances so that there is trust put back in the system.”

4: Use more than one lab to test samples, thus backing up results: “Currently with urine tests or blood tests, you do A and B samples…what if you did A,B, C and D? I don’t know the quantity that you need of blood and urine, but I believe that there has got to be enough to get four samples, two each to two different labs.

“I don’t like it if someone casts doubts against the lab…this is what Armstrong and Floyd have done in the past [with the LNDD in Paris]. If you have two different labs involved, it creates transparency. I’m saying this because I believe the French lab is absolutely a credible one. I believe they are the ones who are being honest.”

5: Establish norms for all riders in order to be able to pinpoint sudden changes. “Use wattage, VO2 Max, O2 profiling and blood testing to start tracking these riders.”

LeMond’s idea is to utilise VO2 Max tests plus power meters to establish an ability-level for riders. His belief is that if a rider has a VO2 Max of a certain level, it should be possible to work out the likely limits to his or her performance, in terms of time trial and climbing speeds.

Any significant improvement on this baseline would be investigated in order to eliminate the possibility that the rider has been doping. The process would be a form of physiological profiling, much as the current UCI bio passport establishes an average value for blood parameters.

6: Reward those who cooperate with investigations/positive cases: “With the criminal aspect, I think a plea-bargaining deal would be really important. Relax the penalties for those who provide significant information, and punish those who refuse to do so.”

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Basically, just show up on time with 4 beers and your running stuff. This isn’t a sanctioned race, its not going to cost anything, and their isn’t any prizes to be won.  Its just for fun.

For those people who are looking to get an official result (tri-geeks) there will be someone taking names and times.  So if you’re out to set a record look for the person with the clipboard, or just find me and i’ll direct you to them.  Give them your name, age, beer your drinking and then just make sure they know when you cross the line.

Last race we had to do two heats because there were so many people, so depending on the numbers this year we might be doing the same.   Got any more question… post them in the comments here.

Oh, and this year we plan on having “Barf Police” so no cheating…….

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Isaiah Mustafa is an American actor and former wide receiver for the NFL signed as a rookie with the Seattle Seahawks in 2000 and NFL Europe. He gained sudden and substantial fame in February 2010 as the result of a popular Old Spice TV commercial, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. He recently signed a talent deal with NBC due to the attention he garnered from the commercial.

And here’s some cool commercials…..

You can check the all out at the old spice webpage here http://www.oldspice.com/videos/

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Official Beermile.Com Rules

1. Each competitor drinks four cans of beer and runs four laps on a track (Start – beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap – finish).
2. Beer must be consumed before the lap is begun, within the transition area which is the 10 meter zone before the start/finish
line on a 400m track.
3. The race begins with the drinking of the first beer in the last meter of the transition zone to ensure the comptitors run a complete mile (1609 meters).
4. Women also drink four beers in four laps (past rule lists only required ladies to drink three beers).
5. Competitors must drink canned beer and the cans should not be less than 355ml (the standard can volume) or 12oz (the imperial equivalent). Bottles may be substituted for cans as long as they are at least 12 oz (341 ml) in volume.
6. No specialized cans or bottles may be used that give an advantage by allowing the beer to pour at a faster rate. ie “super mega
mouth cans” or “wide mouth bottles” are prohibited.
7. Beer cans must not be tampered with in any manner, ie. no shotgunning or puncturing of the can except for opening the can by the tab at the top. The same applies with bottles – no straws or other aids are allowed in order to aid in the speed of pouring.
8. Beer must be a minimum of 5% alcohol by volume. Hard ciders and lemonades will not suffice. The beer must be a fermented alcoholic beverage brewed from malt and flavored with hops. For an abbreviated list of valid beers and exceptions, click here.
9. Each beer can must not be opened until the competitor enters the transition zone on each lap.
10. Competitors who vomit before they finish the race must complete one penalty lap at the end of the race (immediately after the completion of their 4th lap). Note: Vomitting more than once during the race still requires only one penalty lap at the end.

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For anyone knows about the Tour and wants to have a little fun.  Its a great way to potential win some sweet gear and give to a great scholarship.

This contest used to be run to raise money for the endowment fund for the Jason Lapierre Scholarship.  Since we have reached our endowment fund goal we are looking for a new organization to raise funds for.  100% of the entry fees will still be going towards a worthy endowment, the choice of the pool winner.  In the past, we have been able to raise approximately $700 to $800 from this pool.

Rules:

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Via: Online Schools

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Cycling

I bike to work almost every day and for the most part enjoy ever ride.  There are a few days, like the -25 degree snow days, that I wish I had a warm car with leather seats and a nice 22′s rolling on the side,  but those dreams soon pass. What I do ponder on a more regular basis is how much I am actually saving by commuting via bike.  I found a post where someone actually sat down and did the math…. its quite interesting actually.  His whole post is worth reading (especially if you’ve never seen the math done on commuting by bike vs by car), but here are some highlights:

In two months I have had the following impact:

• I’ve saved $47 in gasoline expenses and the equivalent of $457 in fixed costs for a total savings of $471.49 when accounting for bus costs.
• Burned 22,356 calories which if I had been eating a normal diet is the equivalent of 6.4 pounds of fat!
• I have kept 543 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere (19.546 lbs per gallon and my car gets an average of 21 MPG).

Simply multiplying these numbers for the year would equal 3260 pounds of CO2 kept out of the atmosphere, $2542 dollars saved, 134,000 calories burned, and 38.3 pounds of fat. If I had a car loan payment for a $20,000 [car] the savings jumps to $7900!

Not everybody can commute by bicycle or public transit, but there’s a gigantic gap between the number of those who could and those who do. Sure infrastructure needs improvements in lots of places, especially in Calgary, but I suspect that many never even gave cycling or taking transit a second thought simply because it’s not part of their lifestyle.

The best paragraph, is this one:

I knew I was benefiting myself and the environment by commuting without a car, but to see the real impact is very amazing. These numbers don’t take into account the savings because of improved emotional and physical well being I am getting because of the exercise. They also don’t take into account the benefit to my community from interacting with my neighbors and fellow commuters. These numbers don’t measure the impact of the 40,000 people every year who’s lives are cut short because of car crashes. These are dry,raw, facts, and figures, but if you consider how these facts scale year over year for an individual, or scale for the United State, if just 5% of the people who commute by car switched to walking, bicycling, or public transit, the numbers would be astounding.

Absolutely! Keep testifying, brother.

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In September of 2007, the world’s fourth-largest metropolis was scrubbed of almost every type of outdoor advertising – even pamphlets. It’s all part of mayor Gilberto Kassab’s quest to eliminate visual clutter, making the city itself the focal point rather than colorful, increasingly desperate marketing campaigns.

The Clean City Law

“The Clean City Law came from a necessity to combat pollution . . . pollution of water, sound, air, and the visual. We decided that we should start combating pollution with the most conspicuous sector – visual pollution,” said Kassab.

The results are astounding: gone are the 50-foot lingerie ads and oversized neon signs a la Times Square. In their place are strange vacancies, gaping holes… space. Suddenly, the architecture and natural scenery come into sharp focus.

While advertisers weren’t too happy about the law – $8 million in fines were levied against those who dawdled in taking ads down, and Clear Channel launched an unsuccessful campaign to raise support for putting them back up – the citizens clearly approve. Surveys found that at least 70% are happy with the change.

Can you see this happening in a North American city…. I think not!

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His sled left the track at the Whistler Sliding Center at around 90mph, according to observers, and smashed into a course side structure. He was unconscious, a Reuters reporter said.

Medics rushed to the scene to give him treatment. The incident happened hours before the Winter Games officially open in Vancouver later on Friday.

Training was immediately suspended.

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gene therapy

Dreams of Olympic glory could make athletes risk their lives on an experimental procedure

Steroids seem so last-decade, now that gene therapy has caught the eye of athletes looking for a competitive edge. But scientists warn that gene therapy still represents a high-risk, experimental practice even within medicine, and that athletes could endanger their lives by giving it a try.

Gene therapy has shown promise in a few treatments by helping swap out defective genes or changing the degree to which genes turn on and off. For instance, it has helped establish some immune system function in so-called “bubble children.” But researchers have become extra cautious with gene therapy ever since the death of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger during a 1999 research trial.

Unsurprisingly, the practice has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency that regulates sports. But experts writing in the journal Science fear that gene therapy may still tempt athletes eager to duck the stringent drug testing at events such as the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

A German coach and a Chinese lab have already been flagged for trying to obtain gene delivery treatments that boost erythropoietin (EPO) production. EPO leads to a surge in red blood cells that carry oxygen in the human body, and has become somewhat of an item among endurance sports athletes. Doping tests can still pick up on signs of the gene therapy if they are done soon enough.

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Watch out for GG in one of these

Race season is about to kick off for me.. .Yay!  The first race on deck is The Orginal St. Patricks Day 5k.  Short and sweet to get things started.  The best part about this race is that I have made a small wager with my friend Gareth on who is going to win between us.  What’s the wager you ask?  Well…. right now it stands that whoever loses has to wear one of those running skirts (or skorts) at the next race.  So keep an eye out for GG in a ‘skort’ sometime this year.

The Race after that is one of the new Smith Event Races.  The series is being put on by Tony Smith.  These are bound to be a lot of fun and the first one looks great so far.  Its XTERRA Winter Triathlon at Mt Norquay.  We Bike from the bottom of the paved Norquay Access Road to ski hill base village. 5.75 km. Vertical Rise 353m From there we transition to the Foot Race – Climb From Mt Norquay ski area base (via Shenanigan & Lone Pine) to top of North American Chair Lift. 1.00 km. Vertical Rise 400m. Then put on the ski boots (this might be the hardest part) and transition to Downhill Ski – Descend from top of North American Chair Lift (via the North American and Shenanigan ski runs) to finish line at ski area base. 1.5 km. Vertical Descent 400m. Whooot! sounds fun

The best part of the race is going to be the start.  ”09:45 Athletes ride bicycles down the access road to race start. 10:30 Sharp ! Race Start.”  From what I’m reading it sounds like a mass start bike up the hill….. All most Crit Style!  Ya…. cant wait.

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Calgary Police Half

Online registration for the Calgary Police Half Marathon and 5K run begins at 8am Calgary Time, Saturday, January 30, 2010. As a past participant, we are providing you with advance notice to ensure you do not miss the start of registration. As you know, in years gone by we have sold out very quickly.

We are continually striving to streamline our registration process. Please take advantage of the opportunity to purchase a souvenir sweatshirt.

Please visit our new web site at http://www.calgarypolicehalf.ca to get the latest information.

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Barefoot runners

All the latest footwear engineering in your running sneakers might not mean a thing when it comes to preventing injuries. The latest barefoot running study in the journal Nature deployed 3-D infrared tracking to gauge the difference in foot strike between shod and shoeless runners, Scientific American reports. Here’s a modern-day meme summation of the findings: “Shoes? You’re doing it wrong.”

Runners who wore sneakers ended up landing heel-first 75 to 80 percent of the time. By contrast, barefoot runners usually land toward the middle or front of the foot — a dramatic difference that recalls the more natural foot strike of early Homo sapiens. Needless to say, early humans certainly were not born to run wearing Nike or Reebok.

The heel-landing without shoes means a painful collision force of 1.5 to 3 times human body weight. But cushioned sneaker heels have allowed runners to change their stride to high-impact running, and likely open up a whole world of pain involving foot and leg injuries.

“Most people today think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts,” said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and lead author on the study. “But actually you can run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain.”

Lieberman and his colleagues point out that modern running shoes did not come about until the 1970s — a fairly late invention that latched onto that then-new fad known as jogging (or “yogging” as Ron Burgundy says). Now contrast several decades of sneakers with a human body that evolved barefoot running over thousands of years, and you begin to see a potential problem.

More bad news for sneakers came last December, when the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that running shoes can increase joint torques at the hip, knee and ankle. Their study suggested that even going for a run in high heels was better for preventing joint injuries than tennis shoes.

Runners who fear years of soft treatment giving way to foot calluses still have options. Certain footwear such as the Newton Running shoes or the Vibram Five Fingers permit runners to readjust their foot strike back to the more natural way, or simply act as a second tough skin to protect the foot in the latter case.

One more unstated benefit of running without sneakers — you’ll never, ever have the temptation of wanting to remove your toenails.

[via Scientific American]

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Jumping Joe.... cRaZy!

His name is Captain Joe Kittinger, and he is a former Command Pilot and career military officer in the United States Air Force.  Serving as a fighter pilot during theVietnam War, he was shot down and spent 11 months in a North Vietnamese prison!!!…. but thats not the crazy part that caught me!  He is most famous for his participation in Project Excelsior.

What is Project Excelsior you ask?  well….

For Project Excelsior (meaning “ever upward”), he made a series of three extreme altitude parachute jumps from an open gondola carried aloft by large helium balloons.

Kittinger’s first high-altitude jump, from about 76,400 feet (23,300 meters) on November 16, 1959, was a near-disaster when an equipment malfunction caused him to lose consciousness, but the automatic parachute opener in his equipment saved his life (he went into a flat spin at a rotational velocity of about 120 rpm; the g-forces at his extremities has been calculated to be over 22 times the force of gravity, setting another record).

You think he would call it quits after that little accident but nope… not Joe.. he had guts (and large gonads)

On August 16, 1960, he made the final jump from the Excelsior III at 102,800 feet (31,300 m). Towing a small drogue chute for initial stabilization, he fell for four minutes and 36 seconds, reaching a maximum speed of 614 mph (988 km/h or 274 m/s) before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet (5,500 m). For those that dont know, the speed of sound is 340.29 m /s.

On this jump pressurization for his right glove malfunctioned during the ascent, and his right hand swelled up to twice its normal size!!! I wish i could find a picture of that!  He set historical numbers for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (four minutes), and fastest speed by a human being through the atmosphere. These are still current USAF records!

Watch this… amazing!

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I wanted to show everyone this video first thought. I have seen a lot of “the worlds best commercials” movies, and at least a few of the add are related to drinking and driving. This one takes the cake though…. Its a long one but gets the message across in a strong way. Watch it… and be safe this Christmas.

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15 facts you didnt know about coffee, brought to you by http://theoatmeal.com/

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Beermile attire at its best

For the Beer Mile Race Info Click HERE

I’ve had a few people ask me how fast I can run a beer mile, and rather than bore them with how much I have been training for this race on Saturday and what I expect to do, I thought I would just post the results from the last official race I attended.  This race was run in November or last year I believe and we had a decent turn out.  I hope this one is bigger and better, and from the sounds of things it will be.

I have also had a few people ask me about dressing up.  I guess the poster is making its rounds and people are wondering what the hell the racers on the poster are wearing.  You can wear whatever you want… but its a fun event and if you dress up it makes it ever better…so have at’er.

Also, if you plan on racing make sure you have someone to drive you home after, I know its only four beers but, its four beers in under 10 minutes (hopefully) while your running and it hits you quick (at least it does for me).  If you’re a ‘virgin’ beermiler you will find out soon enough. Play safe kids and stay in school.

Here are the results:

1. Luke “Huge Quads” Way : 6:51
2. Kyle “I Have A Doily” Marcotte : 7:46
3. Greg “LSD” Nicholson : 8:37
4. Suzanne “Smiles” Boyde: 8:59
5. Jim Peters : 9:15
6. Steve “Barfchocolate” German : 9:16
7. John “Fresh From IMH” White : 9:30
8. Mike “Drug Lord” Young : 9:30
9. Carson “The come back kid” Bannon : 9:35
10. Rosemary “Gerspacher : 10:28
11. Catherine “Old Bike Shorts” Brown : 10:41
12. Chris : 10:57
13. Ryan H : 12:05
14. Paul : 12:25
15. Kobe “I used to be fast” Davis : 12:36
16. Mark “Free Carrots” Shand : 12:36
17. Rod “Bike Everywhere” McAllister : 13:02
18. Jess: 13:15
19. Ryan “Disco Ball” Murray : 13:53
20. Rob W: 13:54
21. Joel “Never Bonk” Souchotte : 15:25
22. Trev “Manly Chops” Williams: 16:52
23. Mitch: 17:12
24. Chantal “Ft Mac” Requier: 17:21
25. Jen “Energy” Walker: 24:18

Special mention must be made to:
1.) Luke Way…. breaking 7min barrier
2.) There were two heats last night and Kyle attempted to perform a ‘double’, which has never even been considered much less attempted (and then proceeded to wear his skin suit to the bar)
3.) Trev Williams’ last beer can was generally considered ‘Extremely Questionable’ in terms of emptyness.
4.) Steve German performed the mile chugging 4 X 500ml of chocolate milk. He felt worse than anyone at the end, but was able to drive Trev home.

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Click to Enlarge

Race will be held at the Glenmore Athletic Track (Map Here) on the 24th of October

Sign on will occur at 6:45 pm.

Races at:

• Virgins: 7:15 pm
• Open Female and Master Female: 7:35
• Open Male and Master Male: 8:00 pm

BYOB & BYODriver

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LONDON TO PARIS from Amazing Grace on Vimeo.

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