And now for something completely different...

Happy TGIF with a Friday video find of something completely off the wall, a 70 mph mobility scooter!  Funny stuff.

Olheiser

I like writing about stuff to which I have a personal connection.  Sram, for example has been my component group of choice for years, so I like writing about Sram.  Yes, I have gotten some killer deals over the years through their Grassroots sponsorship, so all the more reason to tout their awesome products.  The same connection applies when I write about the America's Cup or Volvo Ocean Race, two world class yacht races that I got to participate in as a sailmaker.  I like to think this matters, as most of what I post you could go read about yourself.  Maybe the fact I have some personal attachment to these things makes a difference.  It certainly makes a difference to me.  Today's subject is no different.  While I've only met Mike Olheiser briefly, I've followed his story for the last few years.

Olheiser has made his mark on the cycling world as one of the most successful amatures in the sport.  He has multiple Masters and Elite titles in the TT and road race and some significant national and regional race results as well.  At 37, he's no spring chicken, but 2012 marks his first year as a professional cyclist.  His rise to the pro ranks is impressive and inspiring.

I first read about Olheiser in a one page article in Road Bike Action magazine a few years ago.  It briefly chronicled his cycling resume but made mention of the fact he's never gone pro.  It seemed at the time the right opportunity had never presented itself.  He had a great job at a hospital that paid well and allowed him to train and race.  I recon any pro offers he had were low on the pay scale and couldn't quite make up for leaving the security of a real job.  I'm sure at some point in our lives we all dream of being a pro athlete.  I know I have and yet here was a guy who was given opportunities but none were really ideal.

The right opportunity finally presented itself for 2012 with the Competitive Cyclist pro cycling team.  In 2010, Olheiser was part of a composite team for the Tour of Utah that included his current teammate Francisco Mancebo.  Olheiser must have made an impression as he's now part of one of the strongest US domestic squads for the new season.  He opened his first year as a pro with a characteristic solo attack at the Rutas de America stage race this week.  How awesome to see him make such an impression on his first pro outing.

So where's the personal connection?  Well, again, I only met Mike once, but it was a very cool moment.  Up until the Tour of Utah in 2010 I had been following his story and results.  That year, he won the Elite national championship on the same bike I am riding now, a Mercury Titan.  At the time, we were sponsored by Mercury and we had to the chance to promote the little known company here in Utah.  It was awesome to see a guy at that level use the same equipment our little team was using.  When I noticed he was going to take part in the Canyon Bicycles composite team at the ToU with my current coach Dave Harward, I made sure to seek Olheiser out. 

At the start if the Ogden stage that year, I finally had a chance to meet Mike.  I had the chance to talk about the Mercury bikes we were using and what he thought.  I had the brief chance to pick the brain of one of America's best cyclists.  He was very cool and seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to me about the bike and his experience with it.  (He had plenty of good things to say about the bike BTW)  It endeared me even more to his story and success.

On thing I love about sport and competition is the emotional aspect of overcoming adversity, continual improvement and making the most of talent and ability.  There's a very real human element to success in sports and Mike Olheiser is one of those stories that we can look to for inspiration and entertainment alike.  The 2012 domestic season will be one to watch for sports fans and hopefully we can pay a little more attention to the US pro cycling scene with awesome stories like this one.

10 Speed Grip Shift

So, my desire for a new mountain bike just increased with the official announcement from Sram that 10 speed Grip Shift shifters will be available in April. 

When Sram introduced 2 x 10 drivetrains for mountain bikes, I saw no hint of Grip Shift surviving.  The top end XX grouppo had triggers and that was it.  For the past 2 years, one could still purchase a XO level Grip Shift, but had to stick with 3 x 9 gearing.  The 10 speed set up has been seen on test bikes and factory riders' rigs but this is this is the first report of the production version.

Grip Shift was on my first MTB 18 years ago and like I said earlier, this really makes me want a new one.  Grip Shift is simple, light and I always felt it was quicker and more intuitive than triggers.  It also feels a little  moto, which is cool.  (Speaking of moto, I even had my Scott Pro mountain bike set up with the front break on the right side break lever.)  It also makes your handle bars look cleaner, which can be important with lockouts, seatpost triggers and flux capacitors all available at finger's reach.

Late Friday

Today's video find showcases some of the great racing we have in Utah.  Credit goes to our friend Ricky Bangerter for the high quality vid.  Enjoy!

Winter?

While the warm and dry winter here in Utah has been terrible for skiing, its been great to spend so much riding time outside. Save for a few days here and there, most of my miles outside have been in sunny and mild conditions. Some of my favorite routes are clean and dry and the outside mileage has really been a boon to my winter training.

These photos are from one of my regular routes. The roads of west Davis and Weber counties are perfect for uninterrupted intervals or long tempo rides. From my house I can ride over 60 miles with no stop lights and only 2 stop signs. Low traffic makes for nice stretches of pavement to sprint on without worrying so much about cars. All the time out on the road really seems to be paying off.

While my adherence to my coach's plans each week is pretty good, it does seem like once a week the gods conspire against me and make it difficult to complete a ride. Still, I'm putting in anywhere from 8-16 hours a week on the bike. I haven't lost a whole lot of weight but my body composition must be changing. My clothes are loose and I've had more than a few people comment that I look like I've lost weight. My scale doesn't think so, so my guess is I've gained a lot of muscle while loosing some fat.

A riding friend of mine just finished an"insanity" or P90X type program and as he shifts to getting back on the bike, it will be interesting to see how we compare on the road. He's probably in the best shape he's ever been and that has to count for something. The interesting comparison will be bike specific winter training to non-bike winter training.

Bikes vs. Cars

Last year, I participated in one of the coolest programs involving bicycle awareness, Road Respect Utah. Most other programs I have seen focus on motorists looking out for cars, but Road Respect Utah takes a different approach. The Utah campaign takes the angle that motorists and cyclists alike share the responsibility for making sure our roads are safe. And they're exactly right.

Cyclists share much of the blame as to why motorists have so much angst us. Whether its not knowing the rules of the road and lack of awareness or just outright disrespect I have seen countless cyclists riding more than 2 abreast, running stop signs and not signaling. Of course motorists share the blame as well. Many don't understand cyclists have a right to be on the road, we're tax paying citizens and cycling is a legitimate use of the road.

So where's the love? Every time I ride outside on the road, I have some sort of close call with a car. In traffic, I've learned to ride heads up and very defensively. It keeps me alive. Most of the close calls involve a driver just not seeing me but too often a driver does see me and cuts me off, passes to close, yells out their window or smokes me out with their diesel exhaust.

Its a vicious cycle and both sides need to start respecting the rules of the road and respecting each other. Cyclists, please ride single file in traffic and obey stop signs and signals. Motorists, please give us 3 feet when passing and stop pulling out in front of us, throwing things at us, yelling obscenities and smoking us out. Its pretty simple.

We need to remember things things when racing as well. Just this last weekend, the Pro/Cat 1 category at the Valley of the Sun Stage Race had a terrible accident. All I know is what's been reported and some accounts of riders I know who were there. It sounds like a law enforcement official allowed a car on the road too close to the fast approaching cyclists from behind. Apparently, the motorist had no idea what was going on and stepped on the brakes causing the leaders of the peloton to crash into the back of the car.

Most races take place on open roads. Closing roads during many races would be cost prohibitive so promoters should be doing all they can to ensure a safe race. The permits obtained for racing simply allow us to be guests on the road during the race. Its up to law enforcement, volunteers and promoters to make motorists aware of what's taking place on the road and have enough trained staff in place to make it happen. However, racers also need to be aware that cars could be present and be prudent in putting safety above racing.

Now, I don't know all the details from the Phoenix crash. I'm a racer and promoter so I'm interested in finding out more about what happened and how to avoid it in the future. I wasn't there so I can only go by what's been said to me and what I've read. But my point is we, as in motorists and cyclists, need to be more aware. Whether its racing, training or commuting to work, roads need to be a safe place to ride a bike. Cyclists and motorists can and should be able to share the road and ultimately have more "road respect".

TGIF

I try to find the best stuff for Friday's videos. A couple minutes of the best action from bikes to boats. We're mostly about cycling here but I've found its hard to find good road bike action, its mostly crit crashes and Tour higlights. There's a ton of MTB work and ski porn out there as well. The sailing porn is also getting better.

Its an Olympic year, so I'll justify a little more diverse features. Today's vid comes from some English sailing medal hopefuls in the exciting 49er class. Sailing can be boring to watch but the fast, planing skiffs that are the 49er make it much less so and prove that sailing isn't just for the blue blazer crowd. Enjoy!

Sram road hydraulic disk brakes

I thought I'd try and scoop this one, but its all over the net by now. Looks like Sram made a powerpoint presentation to some journos last month but someone leaked the secret slide. And, yes, I am a Sram fanboy.

Being first to market with a road specific hydraulic disk is big and takes some of the non-electronic heat from the Sram marketing department. I don't race 'cross and a disk specific road bike is hard to come by, so for now, its just a nice picture to oogle at.

Tour of California

I get pretty geeked out over pro cycling. The big stage races are fun to watch on TV and even better in person. Its awesome that we now have 3 UCI stage races here in the good 'ol US of A. Also, being in the race promotion biz myself, I have more than a passing interest in how the big shows are run and organized.

The biggest and longest running of the 3 stage races is the Amgen Tour of California. Just yesterday, the 2012 route was announced. I have a soft spot for California as I spent a very influential 6 years in San Diego. I graduated from San Diego State University and my wife is an Eastern Sierra Nevada native. California is big, diverse and beautiful. The ATOC takes advantage of most of it and I've ridden some of the very roads the race travels on. While some great stages have been left off for 2012, like the Solvang TT, the new route takes us to some of the most exciting places we've seen in the past.

There's no shortage of climbing with Big Bear and Mt. Baldy in the works. The Bakersfield TT will be a hilly affair as well and may not favor the best rolleur but someone with some TT and climbing ability.

The course really sets us up for a great showdown between last year's top 2, who are no longer teammates...Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner. Yes, these guys are no spring chickens but you've got to believe they are the favorites. Levi won 3 in a row but played second fiddle last year to Horner so you know he's hungry. Both these guys call CA home for part of the year as well so there's a desire to win on home turf.

Because of the spring date however, the ATOC skips some of the most epic climbs available in California. Onion Valley Road, Whitney Portal and Bishop Creek are all still snowpacked in May. They're pretty remote as well. Add the fact that stages are held near population centers to please sponsors and its unlikely we'll see the race visit the likes of Mammoth Mountain for Death Valley.

Regardless, this years race is setting up to be a battle. There will be sprints, circuits and big climbs and the race between old (literally & figuratively!) teammates will be one for the ages.

Albertostrong

By now the news about the Federal investigation into Lance Armstrong being dropped and Alberto Contador's ban have funneled through the news outlets. Now the more detailed stories and reactions from the cycling world are emerging. I thought I'd chime in as well on what really are the two biggest stories in cycling.

Lance

Lance is an enigma. Some love him. Some hate him and some love to hate him. For most, the decision by the Fed to drop the case will do nothing to sway their opinion either way about the guy. For those who are convinced he doped, no charges means the Fed dropped the ball, Lance has good lawyers or it just means Lance doped, but just not on the taxpayer's dime. I've read through the comments sections on the articles I've read, and the haters are just gonna hate.

For the Lance supporters, this vindicates him of doping and is more proof that accusations are just that. Those in the Lance camp believe the investigation was a waist of time and money and the lead investigator, Jeff Novitsky was just on a which hunt trying to make up for failures in the Barry Bonds case. Regardless of which side you're on, the latest news probably changes nothing.

For me, it proves that Lance is untouchable. Whether its because of wealth, power, influence or actual innocence, people keep lobbing up there and he keeps knocking them out of the park. With what was being said, the FDA had no choice but to look into it. If federal funds were being used illegally, we as taxpayers have a right to know. And if the law was broken, the guilty should be brought to justice. But the Fed case also proves to me that accusations are just that...comments by people who may or may not be telling the truth and have no evidence other than their word.

The Fed investigation focused on the claims by Floyd Landis and others that there was systematic, team sanctioned doping going on within the US Postal Service cycling team. After 2 years of investigation, trips to Europe and Grand Jury testimony, the government couldn't gather enough proof that Landis' claims were true. Did Lance dope? Well, according to the FDA investigation, he didn't dope in the manner claimed. I think that says a lot about Landis' testimony and the beef he's got with Lance.

It doesn't look as though all is well over at the FDA however. According to NPR, there are some who believed charges were coming and the case ended prematurely.

What about the other "evidence" against Lance, namely the positive tests from 1999 or the alleged cover up from the UCI in 2001? A look at the investigations into those cases yields results similar to the Fed case. There's not enough there to prove Lance doped. The 1999 samples were refuted by an independent investigation. Yes, it was a technicality that called the samples into question, but they couldn't prove they were Lance's samples. The UCI cover up was also hearsay. There was no solid information that could prove the UCI covered up a Lance positive from a race in Switzerland.

So you have a guy who's never failed a drug test, been investigated numerous times and yet still comes out clean. That's good enough for me. Plus, I'm a bit pragmatic about the situation. If Lance doped, then he was the best doper. Almost all of his competitors during that time have been caught, implicated or confessed. So it was a level playing field. If he didn't dope (and this is where the evidence lands) then he's an even better athlete as he pummeled the dopers.

This leaves us with the situation where Lance himself can point to various official findings, reports and investigations where they weren't able to pin down a doping infraction. The book is not closed on Lance however. USADA is requesting the details of the Fed investigation to see if there's anything they can find about Lance doping. They'll run into some issues with statutes of limitation and other loopholes that I'm sure Lance's legal team will fight tooth and nail. But until then, I'm going with what's been presented...not one entity able to prove Lance doped.

Alberto Contador

Contador's case is a whole different ball game. I'm not a big 'Bert fan but that's more because of of public persona and the attitudes of him and his Spanish mates not because of doping. What we have with 'Bert is an undisputed positive test, something Lance does not have. After almost 2 years of court proceedings and appeals, the Court of Arbitration for Sport handed him a 2 year ban retroactive to the date of the positive test in August of 2010. The ban negates all of his results from that time, including the 2010 Tour de France.

The real tragedy here isn't so much the positive test, but the way it was handled by the powers that be. 'Bert's defense was tainted beef. The minuscule amounts of clenbuteral found in his urine sample were smaller than most labs can even test for but there is no acceptable limit for clenbuteral. Sponsors, riders and fans shouldn't have to wait this long know the outcome of a race. Could his positive test be the result of tainted beef? Sure, but he couldn't prove it within the system that's in place and it took too long. Both sides were allowed to stall and posture for no real reason at all. There needs to be more in place, to protect riders as well as organizers, so this kind of charade doesn't happen again.

Is 'Bert guilty? Of course he is. Was there dope in his system? Yes! That was never in dispute. The thing about doping isn't so much for race day performance but to train hard enough to be the best on race day. Most doping takes place during training. Clenbuterol isn't really a "performance enhancer" but allows for rapid weight loss. As CAS indicated, the small amounts of the stuff in Contador's sample indicated possible drug use just prior to the Tour or worse, that he transfused tainted blood during the Tour. They did acknowledge in their decision the possiblity of accidental contamination, but the rules state that it doesn't matter. The rider is ultimately responsible for what they ingest. It sucks that this happened. But with so much at stake, CAS had to set precedent here. Could the positive been from beef? Sure. but 'Bert couldn't prove it so he got flicked. Was Contador a victim of an overly intolerant system? Possibly, but as with Lance, I'm going to go with the official record.

The only good thing to come out of all this is that cycling is doing something about doping. It does cast a cloud over the sport but the cheaters are getting caught. NFL, MLB and NBA players are probably just as dirty, but very little is being done to catch the cheaters. Cycling will survive. It survived the Festina affair in 1997 and it survived Landis and it will survive Contador. There is a new crop of young riders who are adamant in their fight against doping and becoming a victim of something tainted. Taylor Phinney won't even take supplements as he's afraid of ingesting something by accident. While its sad that kind of paranoia exists, its good that we can finally start to believe our heroes are racing clean.