It’s Cycling Season Again!

Hello Mac Cycling Fans, it is that time of year again, for the Amgen Tour of California. Sunday was the 2.1 mi. prologue in Palo Alto California, and it was a great ride. Fabian Cancellara of Team CSC and also the holder of the world time trial jersey won today’s stage and will start tomorrow’s first race day in the yellow leader’s jersey. Last year’s overall winner Levi Leipheimer came in 4th.

Cycling has suffered over the past two years with doping scandals but the sport is working hard to clean itself up through internal team efforts and the development of the Biological Passport. Each rider in the Pro Peloton now submits to a multitude of blood tests over the year to establish his own personal baseline for the doping authorities to compare results after races throughout the year.

There are some exciting new teams this year, actually they are reorganizations of teams that are under new management or new sponsorship. Team High Road was built from the ashes of the old T-Mobile and has moved from a German based team to an American based team. Team Manager Bob Stapleton was the first to establish the strict internal team drug testing but even with that T-Mobile decided to withdraw their sponsorship. George Hincapie, who was the only rider to ride as teammate with Lance Armstrong in all seven of his Tour de France victories, heads up High Road as Team Captain.

Team Slipstream has been a Continental team for years but has lured some of the more popular American riders and applied for a Pro Tour license to race in the European Peloton. Johnathan Vaughters, who raced during the Armstrong era, has put together an exciting team that includes the American Time Trial champion Dave Zabriskie, Christian Vande Velde, Tyler Farrar and Tommy Danielson.

Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner are two Americans who ride for team Astana. Johann Bruyneel who was Director for Team US Postal and Team Discovery, and who coached the Tour de France winner eight years out of nine has taken over the directorship of team Astana under great controversy. As of last week, the organizers of the Tour de France have stated that team Astana will not get an invitation to participate this year. This means that the Tour will start without last year’s winner (Alberto Contador) and third place finisher (Levi Leipheimer). Some people think the management is tired of Johann’s boys always winning.

With all the recent efforts to clean up the sport, professional Cycling deserves another look from people who may have dismissed it because of the doping scandals that have plagued the sport since the Festina affair in 1998. And, with more American riders being part of the pro Peloton, I would like to encourage people who haven’t given it much of a glance to take a new look at the sport.

The athletes who ride bikes can be an inspiration for a new generation of kids. Riding clean, they present a positive message to youngsters who are looking for sporting heros. The Amgen Tour of California is a good place to start if you haven’t seen cycling in a while. The race is broadcast daily on the Versus channel for the next week. You can find your local schedule here.

The official Amgen Tour of California site can be accessed here. This site has a live tour tracker using Adobe technology so that you can watch the race live if you wish. It can be accessed from the home page, which is the link in this paragraph.

If you are wanting to hang out with cycling fans, you should give Podium Cafe a try. It is an interactive cycling blog. I’ve been hanging out there for a couple of years now (screen name bethie). Not only do they profile the races, there is a fun, free Fantasy Cycling competition, as well as a lot of tips and hints for cyclists who ride recreationally, or ride seriously.

If you are into fantasy sports teams, another good free resource is this european based cycling competition.

Thanks for reading, and happy cycling. I know I enjoy MY two miles a day.