Move over France, there is a new sheriff in town. China is apparently moving to establish a competitive cycyling tour in the not so distant future.

Authorities from China and Hong Kong have set their sights on establishing a competitive tour covering all southeast coastal provinces of China that will one day become an Asian version of the Tour de France. Announcing the inaugural Tour of Hong Kong-Shanghai, Li Xin, vice-president of the China Cycling Association, said their ultimate goal would be having a tour from the Yangtze Delta of Shanghai to the Pearl River Delta of Hong Kong through provinces along the southeast coast of China. “We hope the tour will grow from strength to strength. Our target is to make it a super race classification in five years,” said Li. “Coastal provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi will be reached by the tour and hopefully it will become an Asian version of the Tour de France in future.” The inaugural tour has a budget of six million yuan and offers prize money of $300,000. A total of 18 teams will compete in the inaugural event with teams from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Qatar racing against world-class cyclists from Australia, Belgium, France, the United States and other countries.

cycling, China, Tour+de+France, Tour

Most of us know that cycling is good for your health. Most of us also know that cycling is one of the easiest ways to a skinny body and also an easy way to maintain that figure. Now another study is showing that remaining lean is good for your health.

A skinny body may a reason not to Exercise as much but a new study shows thin people can be at risk of heart problems too.

cycling, fitness, exercise, cholesterol

Winnipeg in need of cycling infrastructure

Apparently the people in Winnipeg, or at least one guy, is looking for blood. A letter sent to the Winnipeg Free Press argued that motorists in Winnipeg should not share the roadways with cyclists and this practice should be discouraged. Why? Well, because they are “belligerent hippy-types,” which is a great reason not to share the road with cyclinst and to condone a policy like this. I think a fellow cycling advocate has it right:

Perhaps they are an inconvenience, but it seems to me that the only belligerent people are those who refuse to recognize the vast benefits of a growth in active transportation in terms of road conditions, traffic congestion and noise pollution, to name a few. Many of our politicians are often reluctant to take risks and spend money on policies that may or may not prove successful. Though, in the case of rapid transit, it seems that the city may be willing to move ahead and implement some major changes, albeit less drastic and slower moving than those originally proposed by former mayor Glen Murray.

I think the guy that wrote that is in SF today as someone nearly clipped me on a turn (for no reason) on my morning ride.

cycling, fitness, exercise, transportation, Winnipeg

Weather in the Bay Area is always a mixed bag and Saturday was no exception. The forecast was for sun all day, so I figured it was a great day to clean up in the storage room, true up the rear wheel on the LeMond Maillot Juane, change the front tire (for rain readiness), clean and lube the bike.  When I finished everything up, some clouds rolled in and the temperature outside dropped about 10 degrees.  By the time I went upstairs, changed and made my way back downstairs, it was drizzling.  I have a new mindset at this time of year and it is, “rain or shine,” you know, like the post office.  So, I put on a rain jacket and headed out on the bike. By the time I made it out onto the street, rain was coming down very hard…I would call it a downpour.  No worries, the bike was shiny, running super quiet and smoothly.  Making my way over the bridge was fun in the wind and rain for some reason. There were tons of cyclist out…they obviously had already adopted the “rain or shine” mindset.  Entering Marin, the rain had stopped, but the streets were still very wet.  I made it up and down the hills without incident and made my way out and back to the city.  Getting off the bike, I saw that it was covered in dirt and debris and had to laugh.  My brakes sounded like they had gravel in them and were grinding new grooves into my wheels.  So, I did what any good DIY guy would do and took the hose to it.  I blasted all of the dirt off, dried off the bike with a towel and lubed up all of the screws, pivots and the chain.  So much for cleaning my bike once in one day.

Technorati Tags: Cycling, San+Francisco, Rain

Ok, I just found this on Flickr. It is a picture of The Crazy Cyclist. Why is he the Crazy Cylist? Well, you just have to look at the picture for yourself and figure out why. The question is really not if he is “THE” crazy cyclist, but what the biggest reason that you can think of as to why he should be called the Crazy Cylist. I was thinking more along the lines of the Insane Cyslist. But, you be the judge.

I was just thumbing through the December 2005 edition of Bicycling Magazine and they had a 10 page write-up on how much of a great town San Francisco is for cycling enthusiasts.  I really couldn’t agree more.  Living in San Diego for 15 years, I was fortunate enough to ride in some of the best year-round weather and some of the most beautiful terrain in the United States. Or, so I thought until I moved to San Francisco two years ago.  This could be the most scenic city I have ever lived in and ridden in.  The vistas from each street, the headlands of Marin County, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, they all work together to make one of the most incredible cities to ride your bike in.  And, don’t think for a second that all of the hills make the cyclists here few and far between. Quite the contrary, there are more cyclists on the road here every day than I ever saw in San Diego. And, San Diego is reported to be one of the big tri-athlete training grounds in the world. Anyway, if you get a chance you should check out the article.

The weather in San Francisco has been dry, clear and quite cold in the past week.  I have not been on the bike much lately, aside from my fixed gear on the flats over Thanksgiving.  But, I have been eating, drinking and ahem, smoking for the past two months.  There has been little riding and a lot of Amici’s.  So, today I finally got off my lazy ass, took out the LeMond and went out for an easy 25 mile bike ride.  What I was reminded of was that there are two things that can really hurt your performance on a bike.  The first is not riding, the second is gaining weight.  I have managed to keep my, relatively high caloric intake, up over the past two months, while not doing anything to burn it off.

Part of the problem was that I was overtraining riding 40+ miles 3 to 4 days a week.  There were no easy rides or base mile rides, they were all fast-paced, training rides.  So, I was a bit burnt-out, but more than anything, I was losing performance. I could see my ride times declining a bit and more than anything I felt like crap every time I went out.

Today however, I REALLY felt like crap.  This was mostly due to the fact that I have not been riding and that I have probably put on 15 pounds in the past two months. I am 6′4″ and about 225 lbs right now and it is a lot of weight to push around on a bike. The other thing that was not helping was the cold weather and my ignorance. I thought about putting on some long tights to keep my leg muscles warm and somewhat protected…I did not.  Riding over the Golden Gate on the way out, my calves started cramping, I knew I did not make the wise decision.

The good news is that I got on the bike today, and that I will hopefully be back on a 3 to 5 day a week riding schedule. For now, I will probably keep the rides down to 20-30 miles and not push it while I am out there.

Ok, I’ll admit it, tights are gay.  But, we all know they are part of the gig and at some point, you actually think you look cool. Heh, well, you don’t. But, next time your buddies give you a bunch of shit for wearing the gear, tell them don’t mess with cyclists. That is all I have to say.

You know, I think somebody upstairs likes me sometimes…and I am not a religious guy.  I figured I would see if I could get cycling.wordpress.com and baboom, I did. So, what am I going to talk about? Road bikes and fixed gears baby. That is what it is all about. Tights, bikes and crashing. How ya do?