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We need your help. As part of our ongoing series on the state of cyclingin the United States, VeloNews has been speaking with the leaders,managers and organizers of USA Cycling and an array of competing federationsthat now make up the Federation of Independent Associations of Cycling(FIAC).While their comments have been interesting, we figured it might be timeto listen to their customers. In an upcoming issue of VeloNews wewill print a cross-section of comments from readers and riders regardingthe current state of cycling governance in the United States.If you would care to have your thoughts

This week, I will delve into Part 2 of “The Perfect Waiver,” a discussionabout the usefulness and function of those “waivers of responsibility”that appear on the bottom of every participant entry form. But first, I want to take a moment out to reply to a message sentby "MM," an event promoter. MM believes that my factious "perfect waiver" in lastweek's column, the one that would protect an event from absolutely every possible lawsuit, whether justified or not, may portray promoters in a bad light. I admit his admonishment is not without some justification. In fact, one passage is so good

With all the road racing going on lately, it makes you wonder when theold mountain biking season is going to get rolling. Sure there’s a fewregional races here and there, but nothing that even closely resemblessay Het Volk, that road race in Belgium last week that attracted a worldclass field. Indeed, the first NORBA national isn’t until mid-May, and the mountainbike World Cup doesn’t commence until May 24. By that time five of the10 road World Cups will have been in the books for nearly a month. There is, however, at least one mountain bike race in March worthy ofyour interest. Between

Javier Pascual Llorente hardly even raced in 2002, missing eight months after succumbing to mononucleosis. The Kelme rider is certainly making up for lost time in the opening weeks of the 2003 season, already winning the "queen’s stage" and the overall title at Ruta del Sol and finishing third on the podium at last week’s Tour of Valencia. On Thursday, he added more hardware to his already bursting trophy shelf, winning the difficult 153km climbing stage to the Category 1 finish at Cresto del Gallo and jumping into the overall lead of the Tour of Murcia. Llorente attacked off the lead group

After spending two years without major sponsorship backing, two-time world’s silver medallist Fionn Griffths has signed a deal to ride for the Foes-Azonic team in 2003. The young British downhiller, who doesn’t turn 21 until August, joins 2000 junior world downhill champion Julien Poomans on what is looking to be a formidable line-up for the California-based bike maker. The team’s profile could rise even higher if it can iron out some final details with 1994 world downhill champion Missy Giove. According to Foes general manager Rich Cleveland, negotiations are still ongoing but at the very

Thursday's 8.5-mile uphill time trial turned out to be the perfect showcase for Saturn's Tom Danielson and RONA-Esker's Genevieve Jeanson, as each rode to impressive wins in the opening stage of the Pomona Valley Stage Race in Southern California. Danielson and Saturn teammate Chris Horner went one-two, with the Tour de Langkawi winner taking the stage with a time of 27:51. Horner clocked in at 28:24, while Prime Alliance's Jonathan Vaughters was third, more than a minute behind Danielson. Jeanson took the women's race by a huge 1:48 margin over T-Mobile's Amber Neben, with Sue Palmer Komar

Still thumbs up? Ullrich joined Coast along with former Telekom director Rudy Pevenage and training partner Tobias Steinhauser

Nova Desert Classic

Waddell

The V10

Zubeldia and Llorente got away on the climb to the Cresta del Gallo

Diaz Labato

Armstrong had time to chat with Cadel Evans

Fionn Griffths

Giove

With Paris-Roubaix and the spring classics season just around the corner,U.S. Postal’s George Hincapie is hoping for a quick rebound from a virusthat has sapped his strength so far in the 2003 season. What's worrying the Postal classics strongman are the nagging after-effectsof the virus he said he caught before returning to Spain in February, andhe's hoping it won't derail his form in the most important part of theseason. “It's getting close to the important races, so pretty soon I’ll haveto make a decision if I’ll be able to race them properly. If I'm not 100percent,

Editor:If Lance Armstrong did a fraction of the whining David Millar does(see “A conversationwith David Millar,” by Andrew Hood), he would be vilified, evenmore than he already is. Cofidis is right to say put up or go back to Britain. So far, he hasbeen largely a waste of potential. The Angliru was an embarrassment tohimself, his team and his sponsors. He is very fortunate to still havea contract. Paul HeyrothMidland, TX Care to respond? E-mail WebLetters@7Dogs.com … and he’ll never win a major tourEditor:Was David Miller for real? What an arrogant doofus! He will never wina major tour.

How and when does the “fat-burning” process take place? Some data sourcessay this occurs only after at least 20 minutes if exercise at a moderateintensity. Other data sources say that this occurs after 6 to 8 weeks ofhigh intensity exercise combined with a decrease in calories. Which iscorrect? Also, how does diet affect fat burning? Thanks -- MM Dear Ms. Ryan;I had a debate the other day regarding a basic question. What is thebest way to burn fat? Is it the old tried and true answer of going slow?I know that this burns a higher percentage of fat, but I was under theunderstanding that a

Proper respect is due. Having lifted the heading for this weekly web column from the man himself, I have to acknowledge the memory of Fred Rogers, otherwise known as “Mister Rogers,” who died last week at the age of 74 after a brief battle with stomach cancer. After Rogers’ death, I was asked if it might be appropriate to rename my weekly web column. I don’t think so, and my hope is that, after reading this short homage, no one else will, either. Like so many young people today, I grew up watching “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” humming along with his cheery songs and digging on magical

Lampre’s Jan Svorada came back to Spain and did what he did this time last year: Win the opening stage of the Tour de Murcia in a tough field sprint. But this year he had to beat Erik Zabel to do it. The two battled to the line at the end of Wednesday’s 162km first stage between Murcia and Ceuti in southeastern Spain, a day that also served as the season debut of four-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Indeed, Armstrong was the clearly the center of attention before the start in Murcia as big crowds hovered around the U.S. Postal Service bus hoping to catch a glimpse of the

Hincapie wants to be healthy so that he can have fun in April

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood:Here stays the neighborhood

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood:Here stays the neighborhood

Spring in Spain... and the livin' is easy

Contrini was caught with 50km to go

Svorada gets the win

Four-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong makes his season debut in the five-stage Tour of Murcia in southern Spain on Wednesday. Armstrong’s been training in his European home-base in Girona since February and his presence at the Murcia tour will certainly bring a lot of media attention to the otherwise modest early-season race. Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service team will be looking to put last year’s winner Victor Hugo Pena back in the top spot of what’s a much more difficult, mountainous race than the 2002 edition. Hugo finished second overall at the Tour d’Algarve in Portugal in

Under pressure from International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge,both the Union Cycliste International and soccer’s Federation Internationalede Football Association have tentatively agreed to adopt a new internationaldoping code that includes a minimum two-year suspension for first offenses.While neither Hein Verbruggen nor FIFA president Sepp Blatter were inattendance Monday at the opening day of the second world conference on dopingin sport in Copenhagen, representatives of both organizations concededthat Rogge’s threat of banning non-complying sports from Olympiccompetition

Dear Lennard Zinn;It's a long sob story, but suffice it to say that I had to take apart an Ultegra STI lever to remove some debris. I almost have it completely rebuilt but for the coil spring for the big (upshift) lever. It needs to be preloaded quite a bit, and it's almost impossible to tension it and push everything together. Do you have any experience with this, or do you know someone who can do it? --Andy Dear Andy;Oooooh. I wish I had some good news for you, but I don’t. Shimano STI levers are not designed to be overhauled. Here is the response fromShimano’s Chris DiStefano:No one is

A torque wrench is an incredible tool. It allows you to accurately determinethe tightness of a bolt, which can reduce the likelihood of a part slippingfrom not being tightened enough as well as of breaking from being tightenedtoo much.The downside of a torque wrench is that it has a long lever arm andif you are tightening to the wrong torque spec you can tighten a lot tighterthan you could with a little hex key.When you get a torque wrench, it is necessary to get used to it. Itshould not replace your own feel for a bolt’s tightness; rather, it shouldbe supplementary to it. If you would choke

There's no doubting that beefed-up national security is a necessary evil these days. The need for stricter airport security goes in tow with the WOT (War On Terrorism)--I've got no beef with that. But like most things big, beautiful and American, our culture can have a funny (or most times, not so funny) way of taking things too far. Take, for example, my recent visit to the Midwest for a few factory visits. After setting off the metal detector at the Madison airport, I was pulled aside by security for "secondary screening." No problem, with the assortment of titanium and stainless steel

Bartoli at Amstel Gold in 2002

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn

Making it work: Using a torque wrench

Soon to appear on the roads of France

Nike's Poggio II

Avid's Juicy 7

Ritchey's WCS carbon road bars

IRC's Mythos XC II

Ever since he burst on the scene with a surprise win in the prologue of the 2000 Tour de France, many have believed that David Millar could be cycling’s next superstar. There’s no doubting the Cofidis rider has the charisma and the look of the next big thing. On top of edging Lance Armstrong in the Tour prologue, he won a Tour road stage last year and consistently challenges in week-long stage-races. Despite his reputation as party animal, Millar says he’s more serious than ever and insists he’s on a trajectory that will take him even higher in 2003. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew

Four years after reaching an impasse on the establishment of a universal anti-doping policy, Olympic and government officials have pretty much resumed where they left off: stalled due to the opposition of cycling and soccer. Meeting in Copenhagen this week, delegates to the second world conference on doping have been reviewing a 53-page document from the World Anti-Doping Agency outlining uniform testing procedures and sanctions that can be applied across all sports and international borders. But one key element of the proposed World Anti-Doping Code is a mandatory two-year suspension for

Mountain biker Carl Swenson of Boulder scored a career-high fifth-place finish in the 50km freestyle race this weekend at the 2003 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy. Swenson, 32, a two-time Olympian and six-time U.S. national champion who raced mountain bikes for RLX-Polo Sport last season, snapped a pole in a crash early in Saturday’s race, but recovered to finish just 1:24 behind Czech Martin Koukal, who claimed the gold in 1:54.25.3. Swedes Anders Soedergren and Joergen Brink took the silver and bronze, respectively. Swenson’s performance was icing on this year’s

Employees began returning to Cannondale’s bike factory in Bedford, Pennsylvania, on Monday as the company resumed full-scale bike production after the company declared bankruptcy in January. A Cannondale press release issued Monday noted that employees had worked sporadically over the past several weeks building frames for the Connecticut-based company's European subsidiary, but Monday’s shift signaled that the company is well on its way to resuming full production. After taking a risky dive into the motorcycle business, Cannondale was forced into bankruptcy in January as the company

At the world's in Zolder in 2002

Dutch racer Roy Sentjens (Rabobank) won Sunday’s 56th Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, finishing alone 19 seconds ahead of Belgian Leif Hoste (Lotto-Domo) in the semi-classic that shares the same weekend with Het Volk to open the Belgian season. With 2km to go, the 22-year-old Sentjens attacked the remnants of a group of eight riders that escaped early in the race to score the first victory of his career. Eight riders, including Postal’s Tony Cruz, broke clear early in the race in horrible weather and built up a 12-minute gap with 80km to go. Volker Ordowski (Gerolsteiner) accelerated and trimmed the

Clear Channel Entertainment Television will be overseeing production and distribution of Threshold Sports’ Pro Cycling Tour events in Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco, in partnership with ABC affiliates in each city. Clear Channel’s credits include ESPN’s Boston Marathon and NBC’s Michael Jordan Celebrity Golf Tournament, said David Chauner, Threshold Sports president and chief operating officer. ���Their experience will not only ensure the best production value but will also open new national and international distribution channels for Pro Cycling Tour programming,” he said. ABC

Johan Museeuw showed no signs of age as he roared to victory in Saturday’s Het Volk, the opener of the Belgian racing season. His Quick Step team dominated the 200km course across the cobbles of Belgium, finishing with four riders in the top-five. Only U.S. Postal’s Max Van Heeswijk challenged the team’s gauntlet and there was little he could do on his own but hang on to finish second ahead of Paolo Bettini at 16 seconds back. Het Volk marked the Quick Step debut of Tom Boonen and the return of Franck Vandenbroucke, who crossed the line hand-in-hand to take fourth and fifth, respectively, at

The first break was started by the peloton's chief headbanger, Jacky Durand (rear)

Bettini leads what is almost a Quick Step TTT

Van Heeswijk fought to stay with Museeuw

Alessandro Petacchi takes the final sprint into Valencia

Frigo's back.

“You have to pay to learn things.” – Joseph and Mary, the Patrón, in “Sweet Thursday” by John Steinbeck What a season it’s been. And we haven’t even made it to Het Volk yet. Lance and Kristin Armstrong are feeling the strain, Manolo Saiz proclaims today’s Tour too grande and its riders too pequeño, The Shirt of Many Colors seems a wee bit heavy for Mario Cipollini, David Millar and team manager Alain Bonduer hiss at each other in the press like cats in a sack, Elefantino gets his ears pinned back again (by a plastic surgeon this time), Jan Ullrich, Frank Vandenbroucke and Erik Dekker have

Petra Rossner, leading Germany's strong Nürnberger team, is a clear favorite heading into Sunday's opening round of the women's road cycling World Cup at Geelong, south of Melbourne. Rossner won the Canberra round last year on the way to claiming the overall World Cup title. The powerful Nürnberger team also features German Judith Arndt, who like Rossner moved to the team after a successful run at the American Saturn squad. The team also includes Australian Margaret Hemsley, who won stage two of this week's Geelong tour. The Nürnberger riders featured prominently in that

Three years ago, if you were to name off the U.S. domestic “powerhouse” teams, it would be a pretty easy, and short, list. Mercury and Saturn, followed by Shaklee and Navigators.The following year, Shaklee folded, but adding 7UP to the list, you got: Mercury, Saturn, Navigators, 7UP. Then last year, Prime Alliance, in its second season, pretty much made it the “Big 5.” But what about this year?Mercury is gone, but who steps up? Schroeder Iron, in its second season, with the additions of Chann McRae and Miguel Meza, for sure. The first-year Health Net team? With former Mercury riders Mike

Sea Otter & Redlands to Combine Men's Elite Road Events2004 Will Launch New Two-Week Stage Race in CaliforniaMONTEREY, Calif. (Feb. 28, 2003) - Sea Otter Classic and Redlands BicycleClassic are combining their Elite Men's Road Stage races in April 2004for a joint venture, the American Cycling Classic, presented by the twopromoting organizations.The new stage race, scheduled at the time of this release to kick offin Southern California on March 23, 2004, will travel through southern,central, and northern California, running in tandem with the Redlands BicycleClassic en route to its

Spain's Martin Perdiguero came out of nowhere to win Friday's difficult climbing stage in the Tour of Valencia while Dario Frigo moved back into the overall lead. The pint-sized Domina Vacanze rider is known more for his sprinting prowess, but vaulted past Frigo in the final 50 meters to claim a surprising stage-win. Perdiguero insisted the win shouldn't come as any surprise. "I've lost a lot of weight and came into this season with a lot of motivation to show I can climb better. Look what happened today. I was at the front and now I have won," Perdiguero said. Frigo drove

Frigo held on for second and on to the lead

Would you consider doing an article on a generic disclaimer thatmany small triathlon or bicycle race directors could use for their races?Thanks,J.M.Dear J.M.;When a legal matter arises in a participation sport event, the waiverand pre-event release that the participants were required to sign as acondition of entering the contest, is often at issue. This is a developingand unsettled area of law that differs from state to state. In general,releases of liability are disfavored in law and are strictly construed,but this seems to be changing.If a "perfect waiver" existed, it might read something

Saeco's Igor Astarloa sprinted to victory in the third stage of the Tour of Valencia on Thursday, charging out of a lead group of 52 riders that finished in Puerto de Sagunto 30 minutes sooner than organizers had originally expected. The lead group flew over a difficult three-climb stage and came into this industrial port ready for a sprint. Saeco teammate Santos Gonzalez put down a strong lead-out and Astarloa held out against compatriots Angel Edo (Milaneza-MSS) and Angel Vicioso (ONCE) to score his first win of the season. "I was afraid that I might have gone too early, but I had a

How’s this for a sobering thought: If America’s male cross-country riders have another year like they did in 2002 (top World Cup finish 17th, top world’s placing 28th), the country that gave birth to mountain-bike racing could have only one space on the men’s starting grid come the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Just like in 2000, the number of entrants in the 80-rider field will be determined by each country’s place in the UCI nation rankings at the end of the year prior to the Olympics (that’s this year). Countries in the top five will receive three entries, while those ranked six to 15 will get

Editor:Fred Baldassare wrote that "one of the beautiful things about our sport”is that “those who can cut it do it because they have a passion for cycling."Oh, yeah, beautiful. While some superstar juniors in Europe can make a nice amount of money to race, our guys are forced to survive on passion and motivation.Expecting guys to race for $5000 a year (or less), plus some travel, and thinking that those with the determination and passion to persevere will be the most deserving, is pure horse crap. It is one thing to make six figures and be mediocre, a la U.S. ball-and-stick sports, but it is

Fast times in Puerto de Sagunto

Rafael Casero still in command

De los Angeles scoots away on the Alto de Alcudia de Veo

The great American hope?

Tour de Gravity at Sea Otter

Dear MoniqueLast triathlon season I struggled with dehydration and found that sodium tablets were the only thing that helped me during my long runs (2+ hours).I am training for an Ironman now and want to experiment with different electrolyte tablets. I was surprised to find that most do not have sodium. What do you recommend taking then? Which is more important- electrolytes or sodium? Or should I stick with an electrolyte tablet with sodium?Thank you.AB Dear AB;It is always difficult for triathletes (and other endurance athletes) to keep up with their fluid losses and chances are that you

Editor;So Bob McKinney's got a problem with the French?Apparently McKinney knows how to jump on a good trend when he sees one.As a French guy living in the U.S., I don't mind reading and hearing themoronic clichés that some Americans love to rehash (Jerry Lewis,berets, eating frogs) about the French, which they believe as gospel, nomatter how used-up and grossly stereo-typical. But I fail to see Mc Kinney'spoint about " just being French is insult enough." (see McKinney's letter"Cherchez lesFrogs" in Tuesday's mail).What the hell is your problem with us, McKinney? Did you