Cycling

Cadel Evans came to the Giro d'Italia to prepare for the Tour, but is fighting for his second grand tour title with six days to go. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.comVALLOIRE, Italy (VN) — Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) promised on Monday’s rest day to come out swinging in the final stages of the 2013 Giro d’Italia, and still holds out hope of winning the maglia rosa. Race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) looks rock solid, but he pointed to Evans, lurking at 1:26 back, as the lone rider who makes him uncomfortable with six days of racing left. Meeting with the press, Evans insisted everything was still possible. “It’s still not impossible to win,” Evans said. “I see a good Nibali. He’s been able to cover everything we’ve thrown at him so far. The final week will decide everything.” Evans has been one of the top surprises of this Giro. Under advice from team manager Jim Ochowicz, the 2011 Tour de France champion decided to race the Giro only five weeks before it started, in large part to get more racing miles into his legs before returning to the Tour. After falling flat in his Tour defense last year, Evans did not want to arrive to Corsica for the race’s Grand Depart under-trained. So the team took on the heavy load of racing the Giro, but with very modest expectations. “The reason for starting the Giro was to get a big block of racing before the Tour, and that’s what I needed,” he said. “Is it too much? I would rather have too much than too little. To go back to the Tour like last year doesn’t give me any satisfaction.” Now with only six stages left in the 96th Giro, Evans is still within striking distance. “After two hard weeks of racing, the third week is always another dimension, both physically and the fatigue,” Evans said. “Maybe Nibali is going to remain untouchable and I may have to settle for something less than the first position — c’est la vie.” Despite adding the Giro to his calendar late in the spring, Evans said he’s taken the race very seriously. After studying the route, he previewed some of the key stages, and held a Giro-focused training camp. Evans said the first two weeks of all-out, weather-battered racing have been some of the most challenging of his long career. The peloton has had to deal with everything, including rain and snow, heat and wind, a challenging route, and allergies. Evans and Nibali have largely been even throughout this Giro. The Italian took 23 seconds in the team time trial and 18 seconds in the individual time trial. Add some time bonuses, and what Evans called a “bad day” at Bardonecchia on Saturday, when he forfeited 33 seconds Nibali, and the differences made in this Giro have been minimal. BMC Racing is counting on having Evans back at his best for the final week, and is hoping that Nibali cracks. “Nibali looks very strong, but we will see what happens in the final week. There are still three very hard stages to come,” said BMC Racing director Fabio Baldato. “Evans is always strong in the final week of a grand tour. That is on our side. I know since the beginning of this Giro Cadel has said, ‘let’s make the best of it.’ He is racing to win.” Evans is also hopeful that Bardonecchia was merely a hiccup and he will be able to attack in the coming stages. Thursday’s 20.6-kilometer climbing time trial from Mori to Polsa will be critical. If Nibali can take even more time on Evans, then the differences will likely be too large to overcome. If Evans is able to take some time back on Nibali with a great ride, it will make things very interesting for Friday’s and Saturday’s epic climbing stages. “It’s not just waiting to see if Nibali has a bad day, maybe Cadel can have a great day,” Baldato said. “Cadel is very motivated and we can see that he is excited about being at the Gi

New Belgium Brewery is making its second stop on its 12 city tour in Washington DC on Saturday June 1st.Roughly two weeks ago the bicycle themed carnival that is Tour de Fat landed in Atlanta for its first stop of the season and well... the fun will not stop until they pack up the tents after the show in Tempe Arizona in October!That offers up a lot of time for bikes, beers, fun, and philanthropy!The other day I rode around and handed out flyers to a variety of people... not everyone... but people who seemed as if they may be interested in the Tour de Fat...bikes were the first thing that drew me inthen there were an assortment of other criteria that each individual had to meetthis woman in the black tank top was rolling at a fast pace on the Capital Crescent Trail headed from Georgetown to BethesdaI passed her a flyer on the movethen there was a short exchangeturns out she was German but loves Belgian beerswhich makes her a good candidate for attending the Tour de Fatnot everyone I passed on the trail got an invitebut several didwhat amazed me most is that DC had one of the largest showings for a first Tour de Fat in the history of Tour de Fatsand it is looking like DC should have record breaking numbers for grown and its second yearbut with this being the casehow come everyone I approach knows nothing about the Tour de Fat?why is it that the Tour de Fat is such a well kept secret?this group of bikers at Bike to Work Day got the full sale...and so did this other group!they were receptiveimmediately they put the event on their mental calendarhopefully they attend... I think they would enjoy itthis guy in the red shirt had heard of Tour de Fat, but had not known it was headed to DChe sounded like a strong maybebut we did not have much time to chatas our light was turning greenand I was running late for Bike to Work Daywhile he was trying to get into workThe Tour de Fat is Saturday June 1st at Yards Park in Washington DC!if the people who attended last year combined with the number of people who regretted missing the Tour de Fat in DC last year are to attend... well...it promises to be bigbut if we can get the word out to our bicycle minded friends well... TOUR DE FAT IN DC COULD BE HUGE!and well...there is an advantage to the Tour de Fat's growththe profits at this event go straight back to the Bicycle Advocacy Groups that volunteer at the eventwhich makes this a WIN WIN for the bicycle communitywe get to attend the bicycle themed carnival that is The Tour de Fat while building our bicycle advocacy organizations in the area!WHAT IS THE TOUR DE FAT?http://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/search?q=tour+de+fatJOIN THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGEhttps://www.facebook.com/eventstell your friends... then JUST SHOW UP!

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The Business of Bike Sharing in the Postwww.washingtonpost.comBike Share on the Gwadzilla Pagehttp://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/search?q=bikeshare+

Australian avoids question about Tour de France team leadership

The BikeRadar video team have been hard at it for two years, and today they’re celebrating the upload of their 500th YouTube vid with a collection of snippets from the annals. Watch the video below if you want to have a snoop around the Cervélos in the Garmin-Sharp mechanics’ area, drool over some super-cool bike tech and see someone ride a mountain bike off a waterfall…Please install Adobe Flash player to view this contentThe gear testing, rider interviewing, trail blazing, product explaining videos – uploaded to the dedicated BikeRadar YouTube channel (almost) every day – have attracted more than 10m views and nearly 40,000 subscribers. So to be kept up to date with the best bike product news, analysis and star interviews with the likes of Chris Hoy, Chris Boardman and athletes of the Tour de France, subscribe now.

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New study measures financial payoff of Oregon small town events

the other day I took my boys up to the Spring Fair at Bancroft Elementary School...the day was a filled with some great energythe boys ran around doing various thingsfocusing most on the climbing wall and the dunking boothshowing little interest in the moon bounces and the train looping on the diminutive oval trackthey were having fun... it was time well spentwhile I was there I ran into a kid from the neighborhooda kid who recently graced the Gwadzilla Pagea kid who I had spoken to about trying to get him a mountain bike... a legit bike... a bike that can withstand the type of use and abuse he is likely to put it throughwhen I saw him I noticed he was on a different bikethird bike in a monththis bike was poorly painted...I could see through the white paint the JAMIS nameit was a shabby paint jobsomething that would draw more attention to this bike than if it was just left as isso...being me I gave him a little explanation about the BAD KARMA BIKEand that I had spoken to him about trying to get a biketo have his father speak to mewell...I get itHE WANTS A BIKE!HE NEEDS A BIKE!and not everyone has the resources to walk into the bike shop and swipe their credit card and walk out with a bicyclebut this does not make it okay to steal a bikeor to purchase an obviously stolen bikethere needs to be a program in Washington DC that creates the opportunity for kids to earn a bikeI tried running an "earn a bike" program through the Latin American Youth Center 20 some years agothen DC had Chain Reaction had its programbut now....what is there?We need this program... how can we get this program started?I would love to see a BIKE LIBRARY that has seasonal rentals... with rational depositsthen also a Bike Library that works with higher end bikes for sportmaybe along with a program that takes kids to the events with the bikesnot leaving the high end bike with them to be used and abusedbut a more guided relationship