Hi Monique,
In your column about weight loss and body composition monitoring, you mentioned that scales that compute body fat should use a formula appropriate to athletes. Can you comment further about that means? What errors can be induced? I have an electronic scale that I know shows variability with hydration levels,but I was wondering what other errors could be involved.
Thanks,
DHDear DH,
World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound said Wednesday that he has asked the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) to postpone its investigation into Floyd Landis until the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency ends its inquiry. Landis tested positive for a skewed testosterone-epitestosterone ratio following Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France and has been fighting to clear his name ever since. "In December we asked the French agency to suspend its inquiry into Floyd Landis until the end of the American anti-doping procedure," said WADA’s Pound. "They seem ready to do that, although without renouncing their
Petacchi hopes the flat roads of Qatar will offer a good start to a string of wins in '07.
The Feedzone with Monique Ryan: Smart scales and oatmeal
Two-time Giro d’Italia winner Gilberto Simoni is hoping to earn a berth on the Italian Olympic team to compete for a gold medal in mountain biking in 2008. The veteran Italian has enjoyed recent success on fat tires, including the Italian national marathon championship last year. “We are hoping to make a special program for Gilberto next year and give him some time to race more mountain bikes to gain selection to the national team for Beijing,” Saunier Duval-Prodir general manager Mauro Gianetti told VeloNews. “We believe he can win another Giro and we hope he will race next year through
Tuesdays at VeloNews.com usually feature Lennard Zinn's "Technical Q&A"column, in which VeloNews' senior technical writer fields questionsfrom you, our readers. But this week, Boulder, Colorado, is playing hostto the first (and hopefully annual) CyclingScience Symposium and Expo, organized by the Serotta InternationalCycling Institute. Yup, it's a sort of bike geek Woodstock (albeit on a much smaller scale) and we knewexactly where we'd find our friend Lennard. For the next few daysZinn will be attending the seminar and, when he gets some time, even sendingus a few reports
Just when the competition thought it could relax, the once-retired Anne-Caroline Chausson says her sights are now set on the first-ever Olympic BMX competition at the 2008 Games in Beijing. Chausson, the most-decorated female mountain-biker of all time, announced her plan last week on her web site. Chausson took BMX world titles in 1992 and 1993 before switching over to downhill mountain-bike racing. For more than a decade the Frenchwoman virtually owned gravity racing, taking 12 world titles in downhill, two in dual slalom and two in four-cross. Her final appearance on the mountain-bike
It’s less than a week until the 2007 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in nearby Hooglede-Gits and Belgian Bart Wellens (Fidea) is bubbling over with nervous energy. Just back from a Tuesday-morning training ride with the rest of the Fidea squad, the 28-year-old from Vorselaar is more than happy to talk about the upcoming championship. While he admits he’s a long shot to win world’s he likely has a better chance than anyone else to upset his countryman Sven Nys (Rabobank). But that does not seem to weigh on Wellens’s mind one iota. For Wellens, a two-time elite and two-time espoir world
A Belgian newspaper Tuesday leveled dramatic allegations of illicit doping practices dating back 30 years against Quick Step-Innergetic manager Patrick Lefevere, one of cycling’s most powerful team managers. Lefevere vehemently denied the allegations, calling the front-page report in Het Laatste Nieuws “complete rubbish” and quickly promised legal action against the Belgian national daily. The paper alleges Lefevere, current president of the international professional team’s group, of taking drugs during his own racing career (he admitted to taking amphetamines) in the 1970s as well as
Facing trial on doping charges, former world champion Johan Museeuw on Tuesday admitted to taking drugs in the final months of his career. "In my last year of racing, I made an error, I didn't race faithfully," Museeuw said in a press conference, the first time the 1996 world road race champion has admitted taking drugs. "I wanted to finish my career in style, which pushed me to not play the game honestly." Museeuw’s remarks come after hearing last week that he and others cyclists implicated in a doping scandal will face trial in Kortrijk, Belgium. The Belgian star stands accused of
Two race promoters are planning separate events in Las Vegas as part of the late-September Interbike trade show. Denver-Boulder Couriers promoter Chris Grealish is planning a September 26 UCI cyclo-cross race called Cross Vegas, while USA Crits series promoter Gene Dixon hopes to host the series finale, titled the World Criterium Championships, the following evening. Neither twilight event is directly affiliated with the Interbike trade show, but both hope to draw the thousands of industry folk that flock to Vegas every year. Racing categories will be open to elite men and women. Grealish,
Simoni, at this year's Saunier Duval training camp, may look for off-road gold in Beijing.
Ray Browning, emcee and organizer.
Jeff Broker
Max Testa: Power is the key
Katrina Vogel: Focusing on the interface.
Wellens says his season has already been a success
The stick-thin Belgian suffered at Hoogerheide
The former champ' meets with reporters
Museeuw reads from a prepared statement with his lawyer at his side.
Last season was perhaps the worst year professional cycling has ever experienced. Victories achieved with panache were overshadowed by media headlines relating to positive drug tests, doping investigations and political strife between the sport’s governing body and the race organizers. It was a tough year to be a professional cyclist and with each news story my pedal stroke seemed to get heavier from the negativity. The sport I had gone to bed dreaming about as a kid was, very sadly, in the public’s perception, a sport full of cheaters and hoaxes. And, it now needs to change. T-Mobile, is a
David Millar lost two weeks of his pre-season prep’ time to a training crash earlier this month in Spain, but he’s hoping that will be little more than a speed bump in what will be his first full season of racing since 2003. Millar -- the 29-year-old Scot who served a two-year racing ban after admitting to French authorities that EPO fueled some of his biggest professional exploits – took a forced rest after high-siding onto his left leg in a spill in a round-about earlier this month. The mishap postponed training, but Millar said he’s motivated more than ever as he hopes to put his
Our latest reader-submitted PhotoGallery has been posted, along with a special year-endgallery, featuring contest winners from throughout 2006. Of course,a new gallery also means the naming of the winner of ourmostrecent contest. Take the time to wander through that gallery and seeif you agree or disagree with our choice of winners this week. This timearound, we found that Carl Viars’ “Harmony With Nature,” served as a beautiful reminder that, aside from walking, bikes are the most elegant, efficient and environmentally friendly form of transportation on the planet. This is not a scene
The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you havea comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen incycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write toWebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name andhome town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writersare encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submittingauthors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positionsof VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, InsideCommunications,
The UCI heavily criticized the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) on Monday for alleging that runner-up Oscar Pereiro failed anti-doping controls en route to finishing second overall in the 2006 Tour de France. The French authorities are in an uproar after Pereiro showed traces of salbutamol on two occasions in the 2006 Tour and insinuated that the Spanish rider wasn’t in compliance with anti-doping rules. On Friday, Pereiro produced the required documentation to demonstrate he’s had UCI-sanctioned approval since 2005 to use an asthma medicine that contains traces of the banned substance. In
A team with big men's and women's programs riding under the same banner.
Meet the new boss, not the same as the old boss.
After a bit of a tumble, Millar is back on the road.
Harmony With Nature
The best of '06: Bixby Bridge - Tour of California (BIG FILE)
VeloNews Photo Contest: A new winner, a new gallery and the best of '06
Former Swiss cycling champion Martin Elmiger relaunched his professional career by winning the Tour Down Under after some thrilling final-day drama on Sunday. Australian sprint king Robbie McEwen meanwhile claimed victory in the 81km, 18-lap final stage, extending his record victory tally in the race to 12. McEwen, a three-time winner of the Tour de France green jersey, held off fellow Australian Mark Renshaw, who gestured prior to the finish line about being squeezed into the barriers by the Predictor-Lotto sprinter. McEwen was unapologetic.
American Sarah Hammer’s trophy case could soon need structural reinforcing. The world individual pursuit champion added another gold medal to her stack with a win in her signature event during day two of the track World Cup in Los Angeles. Earlier in the day, Hammer set a new U.S. record of 3:32.058. After the effort Hammer said she would just "put it on cruise" in the evening’s gold-medal match against Germany’s Verena Joos. Sure enough, Hammer quickly made up time against her rival, gaining time with every lap to build such a comfortable lead she sat up well before the line and waved to
The weather in The Netherlands may have been foul, but Belgian Sven Nys (Rabobank) was in a sunny mood following his win at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup on Sunday in Hoogerheide. With only a week until the world championships in his home country, Nys scored a decisive win under appalling conditions, a steady cold, driving rain that relented only when it turned into hail. The rain and dropping temperatures created a dynamic race with riders suffering and thriving in turn throughout the entire 60 minutes. While Nys went on to win comfortably, his early race left many in the partisan crowd
Another day, another gold for Sarah Hammer — our man Casey Gibson was on hand and snapping away. Here's what he saw.
Sarah Hammer put to rest any ideas that she’s not a top mass-start racer with a gold medal in the Los Angeles World Cup scratch race, her third win of the three-day event. Hammer won the opening-night points race and followed it up with gold in the individual pursuit. Hammer and American Becky Quinn repeated the tactic that put them one-two at last year’s World Cup scratch race in Los Angeles. Hammer hit the front with a few to go, Quinn battled to get on her wheel, then Hammer dialed up the pace so high no one could come around her. There was no need for the UCI officials to check the photo
That's a wrap — three days of racing, three golds for Sarah Hammer and three cheers for our man Casey Gibson, whose shutter kept clicking from lights on to lights out.
Robbie the Rocket wins ahead of an angry Renshaw.
Elmiger celebrates a solidly tactical victory.
Elmiger stayed close...
and overcame some serious opposition to win the sprint, locking up the overall title in the process.
Menzies' teammates fought to control the pace as they day's first bonus sprint approached.
Elmiger gets a boost going into the European road season.
Hammer likes racing before a hometown crowd
Ukraine comes from behind to take the men's team pursuit
The aggressive Meyer was scoring his first points as a senior
Bauge and Chiappa dueling in the sprint
Nys starts slowly, but finishes first
Kupfernagel shows solid form going into the world's
Sarah Hammer visualizes the win . . .
. . . and then goes out and gets it
Scot Chris Hoy turns in the fastest 200m time
Gideon Massie in the 200
Americans Liz Carlson and Jennie Reed in the women's team sprint final
Mike Creed shows off the new Slipstream kit as he chases in the points race
Roberto Chiappa and Hoy in the prelims of the sprint
Chiappa's legs show the veins of multiple sprints
The Danes started strong in the team pursuit . . .
. . . only to fall apart
Hammer hits the line first with Quinn second
Saluting the home crowd
Reed en route to bronze in the keirin
The Brits took the team sprint
British beef: from left, Hoy, Staff and Crampton
Huff and Creed in the madison prelims
Creed grits his teeth and digs in
Morkov and Rassmussen, Madison winners
Hammer leads the entire field on the last laps
Francois Pervis of France in the team-sprint reride after his crash
The US team sprint led by Gideon Massie
Quinn, Hammer, and Visser on the podium after the scratch race
Bobby Lea chases down the break
It may be the off-season to you, but not to the intrepid Casey Gibson, who has lugged his bag of camera bodies, lenses and computer gear from snowy Colorado to the ADT Event Center in Carson, California, for the UCI track World Cup. Here's a peek at what he sent home.
Swiss racer Martin Elmiger was rewarded for his persistence with the lead of the Tour Down Under after the fourth and penultimate stage on Saturday. On another rain-soaked day in the hills around Adelaide, Elmiger took the ochre jersey from overnight leader Karl Menzies of UniSA after the Australian managed only to finish 11th in the 147 kilometer stage. The 24-year-old Belgian Pieter Ghyllebert won the stage, picking up his maiden professional win and the second in the five-stage race for his Chocolade Jacques outfit. Teammate Steven Caethoven celebrated a fine win on Thursday. A former
World individual pursuit champion Sarah Hammer (Ouch Pro Cycling) set a national record in a qualifying ride on day two of the Los Angeles World Cup. Hammer turned a 3:32.058 on Saturday to beat the old mark of 3:32.865, which she set in October at the 2006 track national championships. The record-breaking ride followed Hammer's victory in the points race the night before. "I really didn’t expect to break the record after doing the points race last night," Hammer said while getting her legs rubbed down after the effort. "It wasn’t a good ride, legs-wise. I was hurting. But the goal
It turns out there is a little something to those rainbow stripes. At the opening night of the Los Angeles Track World Cup, American Sarah Hammer, Brit Chris Hoy and Aussie Anna Meares showed their respective fields just why their biceps are circled with cycling’s most powerful design. Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and his friend, CSC rider Dave Zabriskie, were among the crowd of thousands at the Home Depot Center velodrome. Hammer, a world champion in the individual pursuit, won the January 19 women’s points race with some last-lap assistance from her American teammate Becky Quinn.
Australian cyclist Mark French has been sent home after breaching the national team's code of conduct on Wednesday during a Qantas flight to Los Angeles, where he was to have raced in this weekend's round of the UCI track World Cup series. French, who would not say what happened on the flight, is trying to resurrect his track-racing career, stalled for 18 months following drug allegations that led to a two-year ban in 2004. The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban on July 2005. While he successfully fought to prove his innocence then, the former world junior champion is
Hammer nails the points race