2011 Tour de France Clean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

I know what I said yesterday.

But, this story seemed interesting enough to repost..

From VeloNews:

Authorities found no evidence of doping in the final samples taken at the 2011 Tour de France, the UCI announced Monday.

The cycling union said testing done at labs in Châtenay-Malabry, Lausanne and Cologne all showed negative results.

“This excellent news further highlights the quality of the various anti-doping measures brought in by the UCI in recent years, especially the introduction of the biological passport,” UCI president Pat McQuaid said. “It also indicates that there has been a change of mentality and behavior within the peloton. Our sport is on the right track and we will continue to use all means available to protect it.”

Katusha’s Alexander Kolobnev tested positive for a banned diuretic during the first week of the Tour de France and left the race. He has not yet been suspended.

2010 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is still fighting a positive from that year’s Tour. His hearing before the Court for Arbitration of Sport is scheduled for November.

Could it be? have we finally had a clean Tour? Or, have the dopers perfected their skills of masking beyond the level of detection by the UCI?

Are we pragmatically skeptical, or blissfully optimistic?

Please Stand By

Pardon me while I take a short break.

School is back in session for all of the offspring, and the spousal unit. What that means for me, is my mornings are now occupied with my role as "chief lunch creator and bag filler", and I am also doing evening duty as "homework helper".

I need to re-aclimate myself to this new schedule, and where blogging will fall into it.

Be back soon...

Outdoor Retailer Summer Market: Photos - part 2

The remainder of the pictures from Outdoor Retailer. Enjoy!

Lin Socks is moving into the compression market, with these sleves and socks due out to the public soon.

Evil Clown was the first pair of Lin socks that I purchased.

Clean Bottle. I managed to pick up one of their bottles at the Tour of Utah (literally "pick up" - discarded at the feed zone on Stage 3. I washed it before I used it!) Jury is still out on my thoughts about it. May need to do a "bottle shootout" post soon.

Some of the accessories offered by Timbuk2.

my favorite, a credit-card sized multitool and pouch/wallet.

Rasta colors are back!

The North Face showing off some of their cycling clothes.

I am a big fan of Yankz! speed laces. I have them on both pair of running shoes. I was especially excited to see that they are venturing into the "bento box" arena with their Bicycle Fuel System bags. A couple of cool features on their bags is that all of them are attached to the bike via a velcro strip for easy swapping of bags, and some of them are lined with some insulating material, so you can load up your bag, store it in the fridge or freezer, and pop it on the bike before the ride.

Mountain Biking in High School? Yes, please! NICA is working on having high-school mountain biking programs in place coast-to-coast by 2020. Several programs are in place, with more in the works.

Adult-sized big wheel? What else is there to say than, Hell Yeah!!

Cycling specific high heels from ??. I hate it when I don't remember where I took a picture.  

The story behind this: After I returned the cruiser bike I rented to go to lunch, I dropped a business card for this drawing. at about 4, I get a call saying that I won their Commuter Challenge, and that I could come out to the bike rental area to pick up my prize. What did I get? A polar bottle, bike computer, cable lock, and an Osprey  messenger bag!

I have always liked Tarma Design's necklaces. New is their Spirit line - based on watercolor paintings by artist Miguel Yanez. Both road and mountain bikes are represented.

Outdoor Retailer Summer Market: Photos - part 1

Now that I have the Tour of Utah out of the way, I can get back to the Outdoor Retailer show.

I previously talked about the Open Air Demo at Jordanelle, and showed some of the t-shirts that I saw this year. Now, here is part 1 of the day I spent at the actual show.

Mobile sound system. I understand that this was used on the cruiser ride that took place one night after the show.

Some very cool recycled messenger bags made out of inner tubes and billboard materials by Alchemy Goods. These guys are so cool, that their business card is even made from a bicycle innertube

Nirve bicycles, a regular at the show.  The Hello Kitty bike even exceeds my level of pink on a bike! 

I tried Contour's camera as part of a rental program last year, and was impressed with it. New for this year is bluetooth connectivity allowing you to use your smartphone (iPhone, Android comming soon) as a viewfinder and controller for your camera.

Krieg is actually a manufacturer of chalk bags for climbing, known for their wild and funky patterns. Not too long ago, they made up some saddle bags out of the same material, and they were a hit.

Teva has introduced a line of commuting/freeride shoes. They were kind enough to send me a pair to review. I've been wearing them for over a month now, and I love them! Full review coming soon.

Larger size for Camelbak's excellent Podium Chill line of bottles

Bikes were used in displays for several companies - even if that company had little to do with cycling. I don't remember who this was, but the colorful rickshaw bike caught my eye.

Once again, Electra partnered with Park 'n Pedal, and had a fleet of bikes available for attendees to use for riding around town.

Yes, I took one of the rental bikes out for lunch. I wasn't able to make any lunch plans this year, so I pedaled over to Union Street Eats - an awesome vegan Mexican food cart. I highly recommend the tacos La Paz.

I even wore a helmet this time!

Next time, more pictures...

Tour of Utah: Stage 5 Photos

Like I mentioned last week, I had the awesome opportunity to ride in one of the team cars for the final stage of this year's Tour of Utah.

What an incredible place to view a stage race from! Not only did I have a great view of the race, but I had the race radio right next to me, and the DS of Team Spidertech driving. His insight from his years of pro racing was incredible to listen to.

This wraps up my coverage of the Tour of Utah for this year. I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity once again to follow the race as part of the media, and my thanks go out to everyone who made that possible, especially to you, dear readers.

Enjoy the last of the pictures from the 2011 Tour of Utah...

a little pre-race massage of the legs

my seat for the next several hours.

Steve, in the driver's seat

Chad, catching a few z's

mobile adjustment

loaded up with bottles for the rest of the team

Above 8 pictures: Chad had to deal with one flat on the stage.

My ride for the stage. Caddy wagon, not too bad...