Cycle Media

The Amgen Tour of California will kick off on May 16, 2010 and continue to May 23, 2010.  It is the largest cycling event in American.  The format of the race is a Tour de France style race.

The race started in 2005.  The aim of the race is to raise awareness and funds to support services and programs for those with cancer.

The 2010 race will cover the following cities:  Nevada City, Davis, San Francisco, San Jose, Visalia, Pasadena, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Modesto, Bakersfield, Big Bear Lake, and Thousand Oaks.

Stage 1:  Nevada City to Sacramento

Stage 2: Davis to Santa Rosa

Stage 3: San Fransico to Santa Cruz

Stage 4: San Jose to Modesto

Stage 5: Visalia to Bakersfield

Stage 6: Pasadena to Big Bear Lake

Stage 7: Los Angeles

Stage 8: Thousand Oaks

Last week, the 26 rider lineup featuring Lance Armstrong was announced for 2010.  The well balance team is made up of experienced riders and young talented riders.  The team is currently in Tucson, Arizonia, where they will train together for the next two weeks.

The ultimate goal of the team is to compete in the Tour De France as well as other tour races.  However, the teams ultimate goal will be to help Lance Armstrong win his 8th Four de France.  That will be an extraordinary accomplishment for a man at the age of 37.

Of the 26 riders, at least three of them have ridden in El Tour de Tucson including Armstrong (in 1997), Chris Horner, and Matthew Busche. Busche finished 135th overall in this year’s El Tour de Tucson.

The team will make it debat at the 2010 Tour Down Under in Australia.

This is where a pulse monitor can come in helpful. Interval training has been around for years, the best way is to go with a group of others and take turns to ride hard at the front and rest behind, the smaller the group the more times you have to ride hard and less places to hide from the wind.

On your own you can do the same, but you have to pick points were to ride hard and when to rest. With a pulse monitor you have it to tell you when to try hard and when not to and when to go home because you have done enough.

The main thing is to enjoy your cycling, when it becomes a chore that’s when to stop and do some thing else until you want to ride your bike. Pulse monitors can take the guess work out of training, but you must listen to what you body says, rest when you don’t want to do it and ride hard when you do, but have fun.

Italian cyclist Matteo Priamo was banned for 4 years for supplying doping productions to a teammate.  The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Priamo provided the endurance booster CERA to his teammate Emanuele Sella, on the CSF Group Navigare team.  Emanuele Sella received a one year ban for cooperating.

Sella confessed to using CERA.  The CERA was provided by Priamo.  The Court of Arbitration for Sports, said that its panel of three lawyers had enough evidence to find Priamo’s violation.

The No. 1 thing my cycling cronies whine about is a sore butt. There are three reasons for a bruised glute:

1. The first (and most obvious) reason is not wearing proper cycling shorts.

2. The second is improper positioning of your butt on the saddle. Your sit bones should make contact with the rear portion of the seat. If you ride too far forward, the center part of the saddle presses against your soft tissue.

3. Lastly, early in the season, pedal a maximum of 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back to allow for a gentle break-in period.

Knee Pain

The most frequent joint discomfort in cycling emanates from the knee. Knee pain must be addressed immediately to prevent further injury.

Pain on the outside of your knee during your pedal stroke may be aggravated by friction on your iliotibial (IT) band. Your IT band is a long, fibrous tendinous sheath located on the outside of your leg, extending from your hip to past your knee. Lowering your seat, stretching, anti-inflammatories and ice may help alleviate IT band syndrome, according to Peter Francis, professor of physical education at San Diego State University.

Pain behind your kneecap may be a sign of chondromalacia, a progressive softening of your patellar cartilage (the cushion between your bones). To relieve this pain, pedal easy gears and try raising your seat a little. “Strengthen the quadriceps on the inside of your knee (vastus medialis) by using the leg extension machine in your gym,” says Dr. Francis, one of the forefront researchers in the area of cycling injury prevention.

If you pedal big gears or don’t warm up properly, you may find yourself limping through a severe case of patellar tendinitis. Your patellar tendon is soft tissue just below the kneecap. “Instead of hammering heavy gears, spin faster in your small chainring,” says Mike Michels, competitive triathlete and athletic director for the Colorado Athletic Clubs. Emulate the pros by icing your patellar tendon for five minutes, massaging it for five minutes and then repeating the sequence.

Pain on the back of the medial (inside) of our knees may be caused by friction of three muscles rubbing together–your sartorius, gracilis and semitendinosus. Friction causes inflammation, so you know the drill: rest, ice and lower your seat a notch. Remember, pain is a signal that something is wrong. If your pain lasts longer than a week, consult your doctor.

How to Keep Cool and Stay Pumped

1. Take a deep breath, focusing on riding your race when you exhale.

2. Expect the unexpected–a flat tire or a broken spoke. Visualize yourself handling any eventuality. Nothing can rattle you.

3. Smile no matter what. Mimic the cringe-grin of Lance Armstrong ascending a mountain.

Bicycling has several advantages over other exercises:

1. Cycling exercises the heart better than walking without the pounding of jogging.
2. One can ride a bicycle almost anywhere, at any time of the year, and at low cost.
3. Little or no time has to be lost, as bike travel can be used to get to work, perform errands, or enjoy the outdoors.
4. Commuting by bike reduces pollution that causes asthma and bronchitis. A commuting cyclist is also less exposed to air pollution than a commuting motorist.

A recent study indicates that antoixidants like Vitamin C and Vitamin E may reduce the effects of exercise on raising metabolism and preventing diabetes.  The study recommends that those who exercise for health reason should not take large amount of antioxidants.  It further says that “antioxidants in general cause certain effects that inhibit otherwise positive effects of exercise, dieting and other interventions”.

However, this does not apply to fruits and vegetatives.  It only applies to taking alot of Vitanmin C and Vitanmin E pills.  And it also only applies to large does.  For example, the study used does of Vitamin C at more tahn 16 times the US RDA (1000mg vs 60 mpg) and Vitamin E at 13 times the recommend level (400 lUs vs 30 LUs).

There were 698 lives loss in bicycle /motor vehicle crashes in 2007.  That is almost two people per day in the United States.  These number represent two percent of the total number of people killed and injured in traffic crashes in 2007.

The good news is that the number of bicycle/motor vehicle deaths and injuries has decreased in recent years.  For example, the number of reported injuries involving bicyclist has dropped from 68,000 in 1993 to 41,000 in 2003.  However, we know from research into hospital records that only a fraction of bicycle crashes causing injuries are ever recorded by police, possibly as low as ten percent.

The organizers of the Tour de France are in the capital ciy of Corsica this week to explore the possibility of starting the race on the Corsica french island in 2013.  There is currently a dozen cities trying to host the start of the 100th edition of the French tour.

The Tour traditionally starts on French territory every other year, interspersed with international settings for opening stages.  For example, the 2010 tour will start in Rotterdam, Holland.

The 2013 Tour is said to likely start in France but Corisca has some chance, since it is the birthplace of the Emperor Napolean, which grants the island greater autonomy than other regional governments.

The Tour officials will spend the next three days inspecting roads and facilities around Corsica.  The Tour is considered the third largerst sporting event in the world, trailing only the Olympics and the World Cup in total viewership.  Of the three, the Tour is the only one help on an annual basis.