I KNEW IT!

Apparently the Pros are onto it now as well... Baselayers are a scam.

Damn I need to move to Utah

It's an easier life...

Any guys...

who are still beet red over the helmet post (and still commenting!) want to buy me this hat???

This way, people don't have to assume that I'm trying to be like some super-euro pro, it will be clear as day!!

Cat 1 upgrade

Halfway there.

Martys proverb

It is better to poop rocks than shit bricks.

Sent from my iPhone

These jackets are cool not

Not a bushel of apples!

Well, here it is with pedals, cages, and yes, wheels. This is with an XL frame and SRM no less...

Whoa

Why Cycling Is the Beautiful Sport

The DBFC

Hitting the blogs HARD today!

Paris Roubaix Sans Helmet

Cyclists tempted death since 1896. Thankfully helmets were introduced 90 years later so no-one got hurt!

Helmets

So, I have been wearing a winter cap most of the time this winter and have gotten a boat-load of comments about not wearing my helmet. People seem to get terrified and appalled about the idea of my head spontaneously exploding.

I don't like helmets but I don't have a death wish. I decided to check out some helmet studies and their effectiveness.

edit-- you know I added some of the stuff I found, but then saw Wikipedia lays it out much more clearly and has sources noted .

Wiki




Pro-

Case-control studies suggest that helmets are effective

Most published medical research that has studied the effectiveness of cycle helmets has been based on case-control studies, where groups of cyclists, with and without helmets, have been compared. This research has led to predictions of very large reductions in head injury through the use of cycle helmets – Table 1 shows the predictions of some of the most frequently cited papers.

Dorsch, 1987 -90% fatalities
Thompson, Rivara, Thompson, 1989 -85% head injuries, -88% brain injuries
Wasserman, 1990 -29% concussions, -82% skull fractures
McDermott, 1993 -39% head injuries,
but no significant reduction for adults
Thompson, Rivara, Thompson, 1996 -69% head injuries, -65% brain injuries

Three meta-analyses of case-control studies have also found strongly in favour of helmet effectiveness.



Con-
--As early as 1988 Rodgers studied 8 million cases of injury or death to cyclists in the USA over 15 years - the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken. He concluded that there was no evidence that hard shell helmets had reduced head injury or fatality rates. Indeed, he found that there was a significant positive correlation between fatalities and helmet use (i.e. helmeted riders were more likely to be killed).

--In 2001, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that although helmet use had risen over a decade from 18% to 50% of cyclists, head injuries had also gone up by 10%. There was no clear evidence that cycle use had increased.

---An analysis of cyclist and pedestrian fatalities in Canada from 1985 to 2003 showed that trends for both modes were similar and the number of deaths fell in both cases. However, although cycle helmet use had grown from virtually zero to 50% over the period, there was no detectable impact on cyclist fatalities compared with pedestrians.






-Many of the studies urging helmet use rely on gross extrapolation. For example, Dorsch's study predicted a 90% reduction in deaths but didn't actually include a single fatality in its dataset and the majority of helmets in her study were the old-fashioned leather hairnet type.

--Thompson et al. (1989) studied generally minor brain injuries such as concussion in cyclists treated in emergency rooms and used two different methods to estimate the benefits of helmets: 70% reduction in head injury comparing with non-head injured cyclists treated in the same emergency department, 88% comparing with cyclists in a Healhcare co-operative who simply fell off their bikes. Helmet campaigners invariably focus on the latter estimate although the statistical base is weak, and it assumes that helmets are equally effective at preventing fatalities and very serious brain injuries as minor concussions. The much more modest results from an Australian hospital admission study (McDermott 1993), that found no significant reduction in head injuries for adult cyclists, are hardly ever mentioned.

Pre-riding

....a course I won't race.


Also, I'm sure that with the quick change in weather the onslaught of posts of disbelief are about to hit the blog-o-sphere. Worry not, 36 is dry. Your weekend plans will live on.

6 Flats in 8 days

Master plan finally complete...



Not just tubeless, but throw some Stans in and say bye to all flats.

Secret Training Grounds

Perfect escape from the retards out there.

Hey Korea-

2002 just called, it wants it's hat and headphones back.

Today's Lesson

Training in Solvang= Smart


Training in Albuquerque= Dumb


Class Dismissed!

Not gonna lie...

I'm very jealous.

Johan, Levi, Alberto

Super-monium!
(not the same as amodium A-D)

Astana trek

Pandemonium!

The fit is GO...ing

After this macro class...

Training camp Belgian style!

Agh

I realize this blog has turned into a bitchfest, but I'm ok with that.

Friday afternoon at lunch @ wholefoods. Its not a f'en library!!!
Give up your seat people are waiting!

Fuck you Rupert.

Tribal Armbands!

Freaking danish!

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FFS!!!!

ENOUGH WITH THE POSTS ABOUT THE WEATHER!!

Nobody gives a flying shit about how hot, cold, snowy, rainy, not rainy, intensely sandstormy, how big the downdrafts are, how strong the chinooks/ boras are, or how many pairs of underwear you soiled in your effort to brave it.

I found this thing online, top 10 most boring conversations...

1. The weather.
-Unless you live at 5ft above sea level and God is holding his magnifying glass above Greenland, don't talk about it every damn day.

2-10... nobody knows because after weather is brought up they all stop listening.

Euro nutella direct from Germany!

U.S. Nutella is for suckers!!!

Tryn catch me ridin dirrty

Fur Real yo

Bitchin.

Ahem...

Dear Gym Locker Room Guys,

I will admit I never had the intensely homo-erotic and emotionally confusing times in the boys locker room like most of you. I'm sure this time for you was one of the best of your lives. With hormones raging, just seeing any naked body is stirring, especially one you had been grabbing at for the last 45 minutes of flag football. You were all so awkward that only with your bare-bottoms exposed to each other did you get that male bonding your father so maliciously deprived you of.

These times won't return. You have long sense buried those nagging curiosities while only being reminded of them through occasional weight in the pit of your stomach. It is with that said that I implore you to change your bygone behaviors. There is no problem changing your clothes in a timely manner or drying off out of the shower. However please realize that prancing around, shaving, or even just standing there watching the TV with your shriveled, shrunken pride hanging for all to see is something that no-one should have to be subjected to.

Thanks for your consideration,
Ross

What happens

... @ 50 rpm when a chainring bolt decides it's had quite enough and your chain keeps going after cracking your small chainring in two.

No, no seriously...

Everything is going great lately. So great that I actually just haven't had time to post yet. You know, without encroaching on my precious loaf-around time.

What I need to tell you is to get yourself hooked up with one of these bad boys!!



You can use the coupon: HTFU for 30% off.

www.hardenthefup.com

If you don't know what I'm talking about:
Go here
and
Here

Today

is as good a day as any to resurrect the blog.

My knees

My knees
Originally uploaded by rosslucien

Sent from Ross' iPhone

Cycling is dope

Here is one article from Outside magazine about a dude who tried doping and how it's effects were...

It also had an interesting tidbit on some Boulder heros-

Because no foreign substances were involved, blood packing was considered legal, if unethical. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, eight U.S. cyclists, including gold medalist Alexis Grewal, gave themselves transfusions of previously frozen packed blood inside their hotel rooms before competing in the 118-mile road race. The International Olympic Committee tested the riders, detected the doping, and briefly covered up the results before announcing, in 1985, that new rules were being written to ban any "artificial" means of altering one's blood chemistry.

http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/200311/200311_drug_test_1.html

This is from an actual cycling forum (from 2005)-

http://www.cyclingforums.com/t271814.html


Interesting tidbit?
At the time I was racing Cat 1 and I can tell you that most of the guys that were really good riders were on EPO or at least blood doping...

SO...anyone who believes that Armstrong or any other top pro or even any top Cat 1 national level rider is clean simply lacks high level racing experince. Armstrong is an asshole for saying he has is clean......Greg Lemond know better. I do NOT wear the yellow wrist band!!!

I ran a 5k...

Race for the cure. What was I thinking??? Ended up 56/ 260 and 12th in 19-29 with a time of 22:10.

Also- best quote ever on the Mayo doping positive...

"I say suspend him once for doping, twice for still losing, and a third time just for being a dumbf@$%!"