It is hilarious listening to Bradly Wiggins defend his “UCI approved” use of performance enhancing drugs in an interview Sunday with the BBC. In a story on the interview on Cycling Tips, he is quoted explaining why his use of performance enhancing drugs was different from many others (including the BLOAT) who were caught using Triamcinolone acetonide.
“It was prescribed for allergies and respiratory problems,” he told journalist Andrew Marr on BBC television on Sunday morning. “I’ve been a lifelong sufferer of asthma, and I went to my team doctor at the time. We went in turn went to a specialist to see if there’s anything else we could do to cure these problems.”
Doping is doping. We agree with what Tom Dumoulin said in a story in The Advertiserregarding medical exemptions to banned performance enhancing drugs:
“It’s not something they do with normal asthmatics, let alone athletes who only have exercise-induced asthma,” Dumoulin said. “Apparently Wiggins’ injection worked for weeks — so in my opinion you should be out of competition for weeks. It stinks.”
Exactly. Anything else is doping by dopers and Wiggo (and Froome) should probably be treated just like everyone who had an unfair, drug-induced advantage. For more, please click the links below.
For those with dreams of blasting across the glassy surface of still mountain lake on their bike, Schiller has the answer: the S1. Unfortunately, it costs $4,500. Hmm. . . .
Pioneer would like everyone to know that their SGY-PM9100 Series Dual Leg Power Meter is now compatible with Shimano’s Dura-Ace R9100 Hollowtech II crankset. And if you already have Dura-Ace 9000 or Ultegra 6800 cranks, Pioneer can retro fit them for you with their SGY-PM9100C Power Meter Kit.
“Our technology has been put to the test, meeting durability and performance standards required by pro riders competing at the highest levels and the most adverse real world conditions. For more than three seasons, UCI WorldTour® pro teams have been riding with Pioneer’s Dual Leg Power Meter system. The new Shimano DURA-ACE R9100 power meter is manufactured to the same specifications and will deliver the same benefits and results,” said Russ Johnston, executive vice president of marketing and corporate communications for Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “We are excited to expand our dual leg offerings with the highly-anticipated Shimano DURA-ACE R9100 HOLLOWTECH II crankset and are on track to be one of the first manufacturers to ship a power meter with the flagship crankset.”
All this tech talk makes us even more apprehensive about riding with power. Have to be an electrical engineer to keep all this stuff running. For the official word from Pioneer (including all the tech details), please follow the jump.
GoPro founder Nick Woodman unpacked a drone load of product today (including the companies long-awaited attempt to save the company, the Karma drone) during a press conference at Squaw Valley Resort, California. the list includes a new line of Hero5 cameras and a cloud-based software package designed to make accessing GoPro huge files much easier.
“With these new products, we’re delivering on our promise to make it easy to capture and share engaging stories,” said Woodman. “HERO5’s ability to auto-upload photos and videos to a GoPro Plus account dramatically simplifies mobile, on-the-go editing, sharing and enjoyment. This is a game-changing experience that we will continue to build upon.” Woodman adds, “We’re stoked to launch Karma and show how much more it is than a drone. Karma packs Hollywood-caliber aerial, handheld and gear-mounted image stabilization into a backpack for $799. It’s so easy to use, a beginner can have fun straight away.”
This GoPro Karma will certainly integrate well with GoPro’s line of cameras and looks to be great for people who like getting aerial shots, and the move to the cloud is a step in the right direction as GoPro looks for ways to move past hardware into the digital services business. We just hope the battery lasts longer than 10 minutes. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. For the official word from GoPro, please follow the jump.
Fantic, an reportedly “iconic” Italian motorcycle brand, has decided to dive in on overweight, lazy American’s fascination with not having to pedal their bikes by offering “a robust selection of models ranging from Fat and Mountain bikes to Gravel bikes.”
“The, pedal-assist segment is rapidly growing in the US, and it’s the ideal time to introduce our bicycles to the American market,” explains Fantic CEO and former women’s Motocross world, American, and Italian champion, Stefy Bau. “Our pedal-assist bicycles enable people to push beyond their limits and re-define what is possible for them. We can’t wait to show how enjoyable it is to go out and ride with a Fantic!”
As Americans get fatter and lazier, mopeds are bound to become even more popular and Fantic plans to be there for them. For the official word from Fantic, please follow the jump.
University bike sharing company Zagster and teamed up with Zipcar to launch the first national, sponsored bike-share program for the campuses of higher education called, Zipbike.
Zagster, which operates 140 bike-share programs across North America — including nearly two dozen on college campuses — will manage the Zipbike systems at all participating universities. Zipcar, which is the largest and most longstanding campus car sharing provider with operations on more than 500 college and university campuses, will launch at participating Zipbike campuses if they don’t already have Zipcar programs. . . “We know that today’s mobile-first, app-centric students value on-demand access over ownership,” said David Piperno, vice president of finance and strategy at Zipcar. “Zipcar programs on campuses improve the quality of life for students, faculty and staff alike by making it easy to access a car only when they need one, and our partnership with Zagster will allow us to offer that same access to bikes.”
Ride on, ride on, ride on. . . For the all the details on the new Zipbike systems and where you can find one, follow the jump.
If you’re headed up to Mammoth Mountain this weekend for the 2016 Kamikaze Games (the Mammoth MTB season’s final hurrah) then you’ll certainly want to check out one of the parks newest flow lines: Midtown. The trail begins with 22 berms (Lombard Street) and then drops into Knee Deep. Click play to see how smooth it is. It’s one more reason we tend to shed a few tears each fall when the snow begins to drop.
Rolling Stone takes a look at the sadly shortened life of Dave Mirra and tells his story again in light of the new awareness his death has caused in action sports regarding concussions and CTE.
Mirra’s death shook all corners of the action sports world, and also revealed something rarely discussed: just like in the NFL, where the implications of CTE have become one of the league’s biggest stories, extreme sports athletes suffer dozens of concussions over the course of their careers. In the months since Mirra’s death, fellow riders have started talking amongst themselves about CTE, wondering if this was the beginning of something much bigger. “It had been an underground conversation for a long time, but Dave’s death made it public,” says Jay Fraga, a former BMX racer who runs the Knockout Project, a concussion awareness program for athletes. “This was a wakeup call.”
SoCalCross Happy Hour Tour week two is in full effect. Tomorrow night (Tuesday, September 13, 2016) SoCalCross joins San Diego Cyclocross for CX Skills & Drills in San Diego’s historic Balboa Park! Meet up at 5pm at Balboa Park’s Marston Point Parking Lot for CX Skills Warm up ride through the park then for some CX skills and drills practice at 6 PM! Post ride everyone is rolling to a local Brew Pub for food and beverages and more info on the 2016-17 SoCalCross Prestige Series & Cross Fever Season!
On Wednesday, September 14, 2016 Dot and crew head to the OC and meet up at G2 Bike in Laguna Niguel for CX Skills Ride and Pizza Party at the shop for SoCalCross Season Presentation and Q&A!
On Thursday, September 15, 2016 the circus rolls back in LA to the famed Verdugo Park in Glendale for a 5PM to 7PM CX Skills Clinic & Practice Race.
The SoCalCross season schedule and registration is open this week with Series Passes available.
Get all the latest info on Facebook.com/SoCalCross
