Tour de France and Some Taiwan Cycling Events

Michael Cannon Astride His Speedone

This weekend kicks off the 98th edition of the Tour de France, the peak of the professional cycling calendar. After last year's bore fest I am not looking forward to it as much as I was the Giro. With Alberto Contador riding with a vengeance following his positive test for clenbuterol and the doping ban he has hanging in legal limbo, I am just hoping the Schlecks from Team Leppard (Yes, I know.) or some brighter dark horses can make Contador and his Saxo Bank comrades work a little harder for le Malliot Jaune.

Honestly, after watching the Spanish rider eat up the competition in the Giro d'Italia, I wish everyone luck.

Tour de France:

Brought to you in part by EPO.

VeloNews has a stage by stage breakdown and Contador to be, what Professional Wrestling might describe as the Foil of this Tour. MSNBC chimes in on why Contador sucks.

Cavendish is going green.

BIG George make his 16th Tour appearance.

Cervelo will use the TdF to unveil their new carbon fiber S5. According to Cervelo's new marketing literature, the "S" stands for Supercalifragalisticexpialadocious.

Official TdF page.

Meat Is Murder! David Zabriskie of Garmin-Cervelo hopes to use Tour results to tout the benefits of the vegan lifestyle.

Despite his retirement and an aggressive doping investigation leveraged against him, Lance Armstrong keeps busy at shoring up his golden image.

Cycling Tips keeps tabs of the incestuous relationship between media and sport.

Tour de France viewing online can be found HERE.

Taiwan Events:

The TUAA Alishan Challenge is this weekend. Good Luck! I wish I could join.

The Iilan Road Bike Race will also take place 7/2/2011.

Bikeman's July Events Calendar (Chinese)

Never Stop Wuling Challenge 8/21/2011 (More events listed in Chinese)

Weekend Racing, Riding, Reporting and Links!!!

This weekend will be the 2011 running of the Hualien -Taitung-Hualien 380km road race. There will also be an amateur race that is a mere 300km, along with a ride for weekend duffers who just want to enjoy the scenery. Good Luck!

In other racing news, the Taiwan Cultural Portal has a pretty detailed write-up of this year's Tour of Taiwan. Lots of stuff to read here beyond bikes.

July 3, The Taiwan Urban Athletic Association will hold its, Alishan Extreme Challenge, in which participants are required to pedal to 2100m above sea level amid Taiwan's awesome mountain peaks.

This contest is divided into two groups- self-challenge and athlete. Participants can not only challenge your strength but also appreciate the magnificent mountains. The contest also combines energy station, concept of safety timekeeping, TUAA finish commemorative cards, etc.

The concept of timekeeping means not to count the time, spent on downhill, for contestants’ safe sake. As for, energy station is for contestants to regain their strength and for audience to cheer up challengers.

Registration period is until May 16. Anyone must considerate his/ her physical condition before joins in the event and must take enough physical training! For further information, please visit the organizer’s website: HERE

Alishan is a beautiful area to ride.

And Finally...

I took my Salsa in to switch out some of the stock parts with some old favorites and have a better fitting done. I switched out the Salsa Moto Ace Bell Lap bars for Deda Newtons, like my Seven. I switched the disc rotors between the Avid BB7 and the Shimano disc brakes. I will use the stock Salsa Delgado wheels as off-road/abuse wheels, while the custom built DT Swiss/Chris King wheels will be my standard touring/commuting wheel. Most importantly, I replaced the stock bottom bracket with the Shimano Ultegra bottom bracket, which was 1.5 times heavier. Not to be a weight weenie... but I brought the total weight (including pedals) down from 24lbs to about 22lbs. Note: Cheap bottom brackets are often the cause of mystery bike weight... if that matters to you. At 22lbs, I am not concerned. The bike is looking good and is a lot of fun to just ride around on.

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Links:

• Cycling in Hawaii goes viral. And not in a good way.
• Bike commuting in decline. Are friendlier cities the answer?
• The UK mulls laws against cycling like an asshole. (Caution: Much of the report is in "English")
• Oriental Cyclists (Not what you think).
• More From The Silk Road.
• If you are on the market for a road bike, check out VeloNews for their buyer's guide.