Take the Lane

Cyclist killed at Olympic Park

Incredibly sad that a 30-year-old cyclist was killed Wednesday night near Olympic Park in London by a double-decker Olympic bus that was ferrying journalists between venues.

You can read a fairly extensive report here at The Independent, but there is little info about the rider. Most reports indicate that the cyclist was a member of the public, rather than an Olympic official, participant or ticket-holder.

Critical Mass riders make an Olympic mistake

I will probably be accused of being a Critical Mass opponent again, but here goes: did the London Critical Mass ride have to bump up against the police cordon around the Olympic Park during Friday's opening ceremonies? See the Associated Press story here.

Sure, the area may have been on the usual Critical Mass route, but the area was closed for a special event. The police had apparently given advance notice that the group was to stay clear of Olympic Park during the Opening Ceremonies, but they rode into the area anyway. And there were arrests, and drama, and bad publicity.

Sheesh. Is this the best way to get out the message about alternative transport? Or do London's cyclists think angry cabbies are getting all the ink?

 

Today, who doesn't love Ryder Hesjedal?

No surprise that everyone wants a piece of Ryder Hesjedal, after he became the first Canadian to win the Giro d'Italia. The Canadian sports community loves him. The prime minister loves him. I expect a press release from the Governor General's office any time now.

The one emailed press release I got today that did make me laugh was from the California-based Heart Rate Watch Company, which markets products for the Garmin half of Hesjedal's team, Garmin-Barracuda. This attempt to get a piece of Hesjedal congratulated "Hesjadal," and referred to the cyclist elsewhere on the site as Hesjadel and Hesjedal. (Surely, one of them is right...)

Truth be known, I suspect few Canadians (or Americans) have ever even heard of the Giro, one of the Big Three European endurance road races. European Grand Tour cycling really only seemed to make mainstream North American headlines as long as Lance Armstrong was in the Tour de France, and he stayed away from the Giro and the last of the big three, the Vuelta a Espana.

Among the Tour de France fans I know, many are so ticked off at the doping violations and accusations of recent years that they very nearly want to have nothing to do with major pro tour cycling.

Hesjedal will change that, especially if he chooses to ride in the Tour de France, which kicks off Saturday, June 30. One might wonder if Hesjedal has enough gas in his tank for Le Tour AND the London Olympics, which begin July 27. Which ever path he chooses, you can bet this will raise the pro cycling interest of Canadians.

We can all ride into the sunset

This story today on the Toronto Star website that Canadian Olympian Clara Hughes is coming out of retirement for the 2012 Olympics is doubly interesting to me because of what it says about athletics and recreational cycling.

She'll be 40 for the London Games (assuming she makes the cycling team), which was once considered "too old" to compete in virtually every Olympic category other than race-walking. That the Olympic medallist in cycling and speedskating would think she can climb to the podium at the age of 40 says something about the way we can test our physical limits like we've not tested them in years past.

It also says something about cycling as a recreation that can last a lifetime. When I participated in my first major cycling tour (a seven-day event of 100 kilometres a day), I was stunned to see the number of cyclists who were 60 years of age or older, and who got up at 6 a.m., showered, ate, climbed on their bikes and rolled away for another 100K of hills and wind.

When cycling is referred to as "the new golf," that reference has to do with the high-roller networking that happens on group rides. But I think of cycling as "the new golf" in reference to the ability to keep "playing" well on into your retirement. While I can't think of a single issue of Bicycling magazine that has featured a 60-plus rider on the cover, I can imagine that such covers will be common in our mutual futures.

Thanks, Clara, for testing the limits.

Is Hobson aiming for London 2012?

Why do I suspect that Cambridge cyclist Leigh Hobson is thinking about coming out of "retirement" for a shot at the London 2012 Olympic Games?

I thought she was serious about hanging up her cleats after coming home from the Beijing 2008 Games. But I kept seeing these references last year to her "dates" at the London velodrome, and her Facebook posts spoke longingly of road racing.

So no surprise that she and Anne Samplonius are the star attractions of Team Nanoblur/Gears, launched earlier this year. The pro women's cycling team, riding out of South Carolina, appears to be largely Canadian plus one American. You can follow them on their blog or their Facebook page. According to a Facebook note from Hobson, she'll be mentoring on the team, doing some local racing and hitting the cross circuit in the fall.

You might enjoy the team blog. I laughed at the post about the team meeting George Hincapie while out on a training ride, and "we attacked one at a time until he cracked. . . sorry George, we hope you recover."

As for Olympic contention, it's two years until London. A lot can happen.