Trek's Go By Bike Challenge

Trek will be giving away a Trek 7.2 FX (approximate retail value of $500) every day to a Go By Bike pledger. 46 lucky pledgers will win a new Trek 7.2 FX.
You can find more information & sign up at the 1world2wheels website.

Trek will be heavily promoting the Go By Bike Challenge. Trek's independent bicycle dealers will be taking people's in-store pledges and Trek will be running a couple of full-page print ads in USA Today.


From the 1world2wheels website here are 6 things you can do:

1. Ride your bike, especially for trips under two miles. Why? The emission controls on your car are not operating effectively in the first few minutes thus short trips create more pollution.
2. Get your kids to ride. In 1964 50% of kids rode to school and the obesity rate was 12%…in 2004, 3% rode to school and the obesity rate was 45%. To learn more, check out www.saferoutestoschools.org.
3. Get your friends to ride their bikes. Challenge them to find out where they can pedal within two miles of their house, then encourage them to take a bike for short trips.
4. Contact your state bicycle advocacy group and support their efforts.
5. Like to ride mountain bikes? Join the IMBA and support their efforts to open new trails and maintain existing trails.
6. Keep updated on important issues and events. Sign up for 1world2wheels.org.

Trek & 1world2wheels scores bonus points with me for including SafeRoutesToSchools. I think that the SafeRoutesToSchools program has the potential to be one of the most effective bike outreach programs out there.


I am sure that we all have heard that "Great minds think alike" and so it should not be surprising to note that there are some similarities between Trek's Go By Bike Challenge & Clif Bar's 2 Mile Challenge.

Clif began their Two Mile Challenge at Interbike 2007 & the heavily promoted it with a team of people van touring the country on bio-fuel, smiles, & Clif Bars trying to get more people out of their cars and onto their bikes.
More about their bus:

They also have a pictures of the bus from Interbike 2007 and a photo set from their 2007 2 Mile Challenge bus tour.

So, tell your friends & buy some baskets for your townie because those groceries won't get themselves!

More EPO: Ricardo Ricco

From L'Equipe: "Les urines de Riccardo Ricco présentent des traces d'EPO."

Hincapie on Ricco via CycingWeekly:

“I was definitely shocked. He's one of the big riders in peloton. It's a disappoint for sure. It's a clear disappointment but you got to look to the future and say we're catching the cheats. Maybe other sports aren't, I think our sport doing more than any other sport to clean up its act.”

I think Hincapie's statement that cycling is doing more than other sports to clean up its act is a pretty accurate. Ironically enough, I believe that the crackdown on doping in cycling will lead to cleaner riding but that it also strengthens the general publics perception of the cycling-doping link. While I don't want to come off as a cycling apologist, I think that there are sports in which doping is even more widespread but because the testing protocols are not as rigorous and dopers are not caught, those sports are not perceived as having doping issues.

Congressional report or no, I'd bet a dollar that there are more drugs in professional baseball or football than there are in professional cycling.

Félix Cárdenas Abandons the Tour

I would think that under different circumstances, Félix Cárdenas (Barloworld) abandoning the Tour in today's 11th stage would pass by unremarked; However, Barloworld seems to be struggling as a team.

Multiple crashes, a non-negative doping test result, more crashes.

It's hard not to notice when one of their riders abandons, especially when that rider, Félix Cárdenas, was Moisés Dueñas' roommate.

Moisés Dueñas & EPO: Positive or Non-Negative

From CyclingWeekly:

Team Barloworld has revealed that Moises Dueñas was caught with a "considerable amount of banned medicines" in his room during a search by French Police. The 27 year-old Spaniard was taken into police custody in Tarbes on Wednesday morning after police searched his room following the announcement that he had failed a doping test for EPO after the stage four time trial in Cholet."

From Cyclingnews:

Spanish rider Moisés Dueñas has become the second rider to register a non-negative test for banned blood booster erythropoietin at the Tour de France. The results came from a sample taken from the Barloworld rider after the Grand Tour's first time trial, Stage 4 on July 8 in Cholet, according to head of the French Anti-doping Agency (AFLD) Pierre Bordry.

According to CyclingWeekly Dueñas' test result was positive, whereas according to Cyclingnews Dueñas' test was non-negative. The net result, be it positive or non-negative, is that Moisés Dueñas (Barloworld) was pulled from the Tour de France & has been suspended from Barloworld.

Preliminary Agreement Reached on Marzocchi's Future

Press release from Marzocchi:

The Marzocchi management entered today into a preliminary agreement to start an acquisition procedure by the multinational Tenneco Inc., in order to provide additional opportunities for growth and to continue the tradition of a brand that contributes to writing some of the most exiting pages of the motorcycle and mountain bike history.
...
Marzocchi today means reliability and no compromise performance and is a symbol of the Italian industry that goes right to the hart of the passionate riders all over the world.

Marzocchi is currently carrying a debt that back on April 30th, 2008, was roughly calculated to be around $15 million, which Tenneco, a Fortune 500 corporation, will assume responsibility for.

I think that this will work out well for Gruppo Marzocchi. When I began working at a shop many years ago, it was impossible to discuss forks without praising the ride quality, the reliability, & the seviceability of the Marzocchi forks. Over the past several years, however, it seems as if the Gruppo Marzocchi has become less of a presence in the American suspension market. I would think that with Tenneco's financial backing of Gruppo Marzocchi & the extensive engineering resources Marzocchi forks will see a resurgence in popularity in America.

Did Someone Say Cyclocross?

There's a new kid on the cyclocross series block: The North American Cyclocross Trophy and you should check out CXmagazine for more details on the dates.

I'd expect to see some big names showing up for these UCI C1/C2 races because this new 8 race series has a prizelist topping the $40K mark.
The dates are:

• September 20th-UCI C1-Redmond, Washington
• September 21st-UCI C1-Lakewood, Washington
• October 10th & 11th-UCI C2-Gloucester, Massachusetts
• November 1st & 2nd-UCI C1-Boulder, Colorado
• November 22nd & 23rd-UCI C1-Southampton, New York

Tim Johnson has already written the series into his racing schedule and I'm eagerly anticipating hearing about who else will be coming out to play in the North American Cyclocross Trophy series.


'Cross Vegas will be Wednesday, September 24th, right after the first of the two races in the North American Cyclocross Trophy series.
Remember 'cross Vegas?

Now do you remember 'cross Vegas?
Hup! Hup! Hup!

ProTour Exodus

From the Guardian:

All teams are to leave the International Cycling Union's elite ProTour series, the 17 teams on the Tour de France said on Tuesday. "It has been decided unanimously not to renew the ProTour licences for the 2009 season," the teams said in a joint statement.
...
"If everybody decides so, I can't imagine Astana will not follow," Astana chief press officer Philippe Maertens told Reuters.

The 18 current UCI ProTour Teams: AG2R La Mondial, Astana, Bouygues Telecom, Caisse D'Epargne, Cofidis, Credit Agricole, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Française des Jeux, Gerolsteiner, Lampre, Liquigas, Quick Step, Rabobank, Saunier Duval-Scot, Silence-Lotto, Team Columbia, Team CSC Saxo Bank, Team Milram.