it's not bicycling, but . . .

they ARE on wheels!

is the olympic cycling team selection process fair?

chris horner recently suggested that the process by which the u.s. olympic cycling team was selected is not fair, and failed to produce the best possible team. what do you think?

please leave your thoughts in the comments section, and stayed tuned for an upcoming episode of the kim west radio cycling show devoted to this very topic, which we hope will feature chris horner, members of the selection committee, and others with knowledge of the process.

thanks!

lance does leadville

hey, brendon, someone asked me, "having viewed the now ubiquitous video of lance and dave wiens doing leadville, if it was obvious that lance--not in tip-top shape, but still able to do what no one had done before, that is, leadville in sub-seven hours--had not doped during his tour wins."

any thoughts on that one, my southern man?

and can i quote you on that?

Kim,

You can quote me on this:

I do not believe that Lance's performance at the Leadville 100 is in any way indicative of evidence for or against any doping committed by Lance Armstrong during his professional racing career. His performance in the most recent Leadville 100 is impressive as this is a very grueling one-day racing event contested by a group of unique cyclists. While many excellent cyclists participated, it is difficult to compare the start list at the Leadville 100 with any of the start lists at the multi-day Tour De France during his tenure at the top of the cycling world. Additionally, it is important to consider there is no formal UCI drug testing protocol (at least I could not find any indication of it) at this event. I would never falsely or otherwise imply a cyclist had doped at this event without a positive A sample followed up by a confirmation of the positive B sample. In the event a positive B sample was indicated then a discussion of the rider and their actions would be appropriate.

Brendon S. Hale, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Kinesiology

Mississippi State University

* * * * *

how about you, dear readers and listeners: what do YOU think about lance's performance at leadville? do you think this is vindication for him? do you think this puts to rest any question about whether or not lance juiced his way to seven tour titles? i pose this question as it was put to me by a regular listener of the radio show.

leave your thoughts here in the comments, and save them for discussion on an upcoming leadville episode.

NOTE NEW DATE!!coming august 31: meet the man behind yehuda moon and the kickstand cyclery

i've told you before to read this comic strip, found at yehudamoon.com.

if you read it once, you're likely to become a regular reader.

i am. i love the comments that are left by its fans.

they can be as insane as some of the action in the strip itself.

cartoonist rick smith has created a great core of characters in this four-panel daily, and we'll be talking live, sunday august 31, from 600 pm to 700 pm, central daylight time, on the kim west radio cycling show.

you're NOT going to want to miss THIS show. plan to call in and chat with rick.

sunday, august 31, on the kim west radio cycling show.

coming on the august 10 kim west radio cycling show

an hour with five-time olympian

francie larrieu smith

madison county set to join bike-hater club

SHARED ROADWAY SIGNS MAY GO
County officials cite condition of roadways after flooding, insurance liability concerns

The shared roadway signs denoting the various bicycle routes around Madison County may have to come down, at least temporarily, according to county officials. Reasons are two-fold. One is because of the recent flooding. Another is that of the county's insurance liability. About 70 shared roadway signs were purchased by the Madison County Cycle Club — the group that sponsors the annual BRAMCO (Bike Ride Around Madison County) — and installed by county officials. Four designated routes: There are basically four routes marked around the county. One is in northwest Madison County on the Earlham and Pitzer pavement areas; one is in northeast Madison County on county road G4R — known locally as the Cumming Road — while two are in southern Madison County. One of the southern routes covers the circuit from Winterset to St. Charles via the St. Charles Road and then south to Truro and back to Winterset through East Peru to old U.S. Highway 169 and north. The other shared roadway area is the Winterset to Macksburg area. Flooding damaged roads, shoulders County officials say the early June flooding caused a tremendous amount of damage to not only the roadways, but also the shoulders of the roads. And according to county engineer Todd Hagan, the roads aren't really safe until they can be fixed. He says keeping the signs in place may encourage cyclists to ride "because our roads are in perfect shape, and they're not." "Do we need to take the shared Roadway signs down? I think we do," Hagan told county supervisors last week. While Hagan's recommendation to perhaps temporarily remove — and the definition of the word "temporary" is highly subject to interpretation — the signs is "because of current condition of the roads" there's also the nagging issue of liability. When the signs were put up at the behest of the cycle club, some officials were adamant that perhaps the signs shouldn't be erected, because it would expose the county to certain liability issues if a cyclist is injured, or worse, traveling the county roads. "They probably need to come down," supervisor Steve Raymond reluctantly said. "I want to encourage them to ride," supervisor Bob Weeks said. "So do I," echoed supervisor Joan Acela.

[yeah, and i want money to come out of my ass. i'm telling ya, this stupid nonsense is worse than the creeping charlie in my front yard, and it's not going away on its own, either.--the mostly reverend]

bike friendly, redefined

how we did the live from harlan episode

pretty high tech, eh?

dallas county supervisor mark hanson joins the whiner's club

bikeiowa.com has posted a story about dallas county supervisor mark hanson, in which he whines about being perceived as "anti biker."

take a moment to read it...

okay, good, thanks.

wah! wah! wah!

my guess he would describe himself as an "avid cyclist," which further proves my point.

1--NO REAL CYCLIST WOULD HAVE HIS NAME ASSOCIATED WITH SUCH AN ASSININE PROPOSAL. IF HE TRULY IS OPPOSEs IT, HE shOULD HAVE CLEARLY STATED HIS POSITION AT THE MEETING WITH CYCLISTS.

2--THE TOPIC IS ROADS, NOT TRAILS, DUMBASS.

jesus, people like him really piss me off.

QUICK! before they come to their senses!

i swear to god, i've got an official ragby blog--at the register!!
and here's the link to the first post. read it now, before it's too late.

i've been talking about it since day 1

it's your des moines bike kollective at work

doing bike repair and maintenance at the homes of oakridge on a sunday afternoon. see and read all about it here.

anatomy of a team victory

a report from the clear lake road race, by all9yards.com team members chad vandelune and lane anderson:

CHAD VAN DELUNE writes: I don't usually do this, and my writing sucks, but I am so proud of how the cat 1,2 team raced sunday at clear lake that I want to share the race from where I was. five all9 riders (lane, d-lip, jared, kurt, chad), 75 miles, no hills, serious west winds, 1 big loop. Right at the start, Josh madson attacked, and Lane and Lou went with him. We had already decided that if we got into a break with Lou we would not work. It didn't make sense to help drag him to the line when he had no team. So Lane was doing just the right amount of work to keep the break going. Best quote of the weekend, Shrek says "Lane doesn't even work on RAGBRAI". Back in the pack, green was trying to keep the pace steady and protect Jared. Bikes to You seemed to be protecting Sean Walker, but Lee kept attacking. Kurt did a great job covering Lee, and finally about 20 miles into the race, they got a gap. The pack let them get about a 1:30 up the road, and then we decided to keep them there. Bart came back on the motor bike and said 4:45 to the leaders, and 1:00 to the chasers.
This news must have made Lee decide to wait for us, because he and Kurt came back soon after. At this point Jared-- our protected rider--was getting a little nervous. I could tell he was strong and could win the race if we timed it right. This is about when Clark decided he needed to get a chase going to have a chance to win. He finally got away, but by himself. It took the pack a few miles to decide who was going to chase, so he got a good gap.
Finally, Bikes to You decided they would help bring him back, so Dave, Kurt, and I worked with Walker and Tater. We caught him with about 30 miles to go. At this point we didn't know what the time gap was, but still couldn't see them. I talked to Walker, and told him we were pretty happy with our odds in the break, and we were done working. Dave, Kurt, and I had done the Lion's share of work, and i, for one, was starting to cramp.
Then Walker goes to the front and drives it for a good seven miles or so. We thought they were working for him, but it turned out they were trying to get Lee the win.
With about 15 miles to go, Lee attacked hard, right before the cross wind section, and Jared and I both jumped. This was our chance to get Jared across to Lane. Jared was very fresh, and took long pulls--but not too hard. I went to the front and pulled as hard as I could, and then let up to get Lee to pull.
Lee's pulls were very slow and short. I could tell that Jared could ride away from him at any time, but we didn't want to do it to soon.
Then we started seeing some riders up the road. We couldn't tell if it was the break, or some other category. The motor bike finally showed up and gave us splits: "1:15 to the break and 1:45 to the pack." At this point, i knew we could get Jared to the break to help Lane. Jared and I kept getting closer, and when we got within maybe 30 seconds, I told Jared to jump.
I knew he could ride across, but you never know about Lee. He is really good at playing dead.
Jared shot across to the break, and Lee couldn't make it. [This is where I checked out so you will have to get the rest of the story from Lane or Jared.]
LANE ANDERSON continues: When Jared got to us, I made sure he felt good, and then I attacked our group with about 1 mile before the tailwind finish section. This was my plan for 65 miles, even without teammates, because I had done so little work, but having Jared there guaranteed the win.
I got a good gap, and Bart let me know Jared had dropped Lou and was coming up alone. Jared got to me with about 1.5 miles to go and it was celebration time. Thanks, guys. That race was an excellent illustration why cycling is such a great team sport.

dove nel mondo sei? [where in the world are you?]

to my visitor from verona, italy: benvenuto! Spero che vi soggiornò per ascoltare la mia radio show. vorrei sapere cosa pensi. e torna a presto.

clicca qui per il podcast pagina: http://kxno.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=kimwest.xml

grazie di nuovo. arrivederci.

--kim

golden throat at work, the clear lake twilight criteriums

or as governor hedley lamarr said, "work, work, work, work."

episode 6: from my telephone archives

jeffrey bock [l] and bill rumme [r] in the studio
recording episode 6, which can be heard anytime right here.

if you don't listen to my radio show...

kickstand cyclery

enjoy the entire strip, from its beginning

i just hang MY bikes from hooks in the rafters

how i'm spending my weekend

be there! you'll hear and see about it here and here and here.

learn about it here.

bike safety quiz

how many did YOU get wrong?
[answers are given at the bottom of this post. for the love of god, DON'T CHEAT!]
Each year approximately 800 bicyclists are killed, and 600,000 are injured in motor vehicle-related crashes. A bicycle is not a toy: it’s a vehicle. Use the following quiz to test your knowledge of bicycle safety. Click on the following each question to see the answer.
Q1. Are there any times when you don't need to wear a bike helmet?
Q2. Name at least three safe bike riding practices.
Q3. Riding your bike in the dark is dangerous, but if you have to ride at night, what can you do to make yourself more visible to drivers? Name at least three safe bike riding practices.
Q4. What kind of things should you check before beginning to ride?
Q5. Where do most bicycle crashes occur?
Q6. When riding your bike, it is important to stay alert at all times. Name three road hazards you should watch out for.
Q7. Is it OK to ride a bicycle while listening to audio headphones?
Q8. What is the most serious type of injury for cyclists?
Q9. Always be a courteous cyclist. Remember, _________ have the right of way.
Q10. Be safe, Be _________ !
Q11. Always go with the flow of traffic, and stay to the ____________ .
Q12. Before entering a roadway, you should look ______ for traffic.
Q13. Always check _________ you before changing lanes.
Q14. Your bicycle helmet should fit __________ and cover your ___________.
Q15. When making a turn, ___________ your moves to others.

.....

extra credit:

how many ANSWERS did the test constructors* get WRONG?

.....

*test stolen from the FDNY
Answers to the above questions
Q1. No, you should wear a helmet every time you get on a bike.
Q2. 1. Ride single file. 2. Obey traffic signs, signals, and lane markings. 3. Signal your moves to others. 4. Check for traffic at an intersection; 5. Stay alert at all times.
Q3. Wear clothing that reflects the light; make sure your bike has a front headlight that is bright and white; and equip your bike with reflectors on the front and rear, and on the pedals and wheels.
Q4. 1. Inflate your tires properly and check your brakes before riding. 2. Always wear neon, fluorescent or other bright colors when riding during the day. 3. carry your books and other presentations in a bicycle carrier or backpack.
Q5. At intersections.
Q6. Potholes, wet leaves, storm grates, cracks, gravel, etc.
Q7. NO
Q8. Head injuries.
Q9. Pedestrians.
Q10. Seen.
Q11. Right.
Q12. Left-Rignt-Left.
Q13. Behind.
Q14. Snugly/Forehead
Q15. Signal.