Wrubleski takes women's national cycling crown
Alex Wrubleski of Regina had a late surge Saturday to capture the Canadian crown at the women's cycling road racing nationals in St-Georges-de-Beauce, Que.
Wrubleski, who also won the title in 2006, out-sprinted four other riders to the finish, capturing the title in a time of three hours, 11 minutes and 39 seconds. Leigh Hobson of Cambridge, Ont., and Felicia Gomez of Fredericton, N.B., was third.
Wrubleski, along with Hobson, will represent Canada at the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
"I'm really pleased with the victory, but it's hard to use this as a measuring stick in my preparation for the Olympics because the course will be much more different in Beijing," said Wrubleski, who has had a pair of fourth-place finishes at World Cup events this season.
"The big thing I'll take from this race is how confident I felt with my sprinting."
In the under-23 class, Calgary's Julie Beveridge was first in her age group and seventh overall in 3:11:33. It was her second gold of the weekend, having captured top spot in the time trial on Friday.
Joelle Numainville of Laval, Que., was second, while Stephanie Roorda of Victoria was third.
The nationals wrap up Sunday with the men's road race.
(c) 2008 Canwest Interactive, a division of Canwest Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.
High-tech cycling: Units map routes, navigate, measure workouts
When cycling enthusiasts also are computer geeks, almost anything can happen.
Besides wanting a fast bike and a connection with the outdoors, they also want a bike computer that measures everything about their rides: speed, distance, elevation, elapsed time, cadence, heart rate, the temperature, wind and even a satellite map of where they went.
Fortunately for cyclists craving such data, bike computers are getting better - with two of the latest satellite-navigation models offering turn-by-turn directions and color road maps right from the gadget mounted on their handlebars.
Launched this spring, the Garmin Edge 605 and 705 bike computers provide mapping capabilities and street navigation on a 2.2-inch color display, in addition to measuring just about everything else from a vigorous workout or a leisurely ride through the countryside.
Both computers attach easily to either the handlebars or stem and are easily removed at the end of a ride.
DESIGNING A WORKOUT
Like their less-expensive siblings, the Edge 205 and 305, the latest Garmin bike computers allow users to design workouts with multiple steps based on time, distance and other criteria.
You can create a workout on your home computer, load it onto the bike computer, and do it in the real world.
You can even team up with a virtual training partner that provides continuous feedback during your bike ride. It depicts a digital cyclist riding at a pre-determined speed in relation to your real-time speed, and it shows if you are ahead or behind a desired target.
Alerts can be set to sound if you stray outside a range of speed, heart rate or cadence values. Cyclists also can race against a pre-recorded course and match previously set speeds at every point of the way.
The Edge 705 uses a barometric altimeter to measure altitude, which is useful for cyclists wanting feedback on their hill-climbing abilities and performance in mountainous regions.
With all of the Edge bike computers, you can easily plug workout results into your home computer for detailed analysis and data storage. When used with Garmin software, or software from the Web site Motionbased.com, your workout data can be overlaid on a computer map for details of where you went, as well as where you lagged and where you rode with the greatest intensity.
The Garmin Edge models range in price from about $200 to more than $600, depending on the features.
What sets the Garmins apart from other bike computers is the GPS function - similar to satellite navigation used in automobiles. It keeps track of your speed, distance and the route you travel by connecting with a network of satellites orbiting 21,000 miles above the Earth.
SKIP THE MAPS
But if connecting with outer space is more technology than you want from cycling, there are many excellent non-GPS bike computers, including some that provide just as much data minus the satellite maps.
Bike computers costing as little as $20 can accurately measure speed, distance and elapsed time - the basics for most cyclists, and with almost no learning curve.
You can buy a wireless bike computer for as little as about $40, including the batteries. The features are similar to corded computers, but there are no cords to get snagged on your mountain bike's front suspension or a tree branch on the edge of a trail.
More cyclists are leaning toward wireless computers, such as the Cateye CC RD-300W Strada model, which has eight easy-to-use functions measuring speed, maximum speed, average speed, trip distance, second trip distance, total distance, elapsed time and clock time.
The Cateye is simple to set up and use, and it's durable enough to ride in the rain and on rough terrain.
Many experienced cyclists prefer no-frills bike computers that don't scream "bike geek" to the rest of the world.
"The way I ride, personally, I don't need extensive information from a computer. Speed, distance and an overall odometer for the season are just fine," said Harvey Opgenorth, a manager at Ben's Cycle and Fitness in Milwaukee.
Wired bike computers, loaded with features, are great if you don't mind a tiny cord that extends from a front-wheel sensor to the handlebar-mounted computer head, with the cord wrapped around a brake cable so it doesn't look bad.
A wired Cateye Strada has the same functions as the wireless model but costs less. Also, a wired bike computer with a sensor that works off the rear wheel is useful when riding an indoor trainer.
Most cyclists still prefer basic bike computers, said Matthew Gnas, a sales associate at Wheel and Sprocket in Fox Point.
"In general, they want to know how far and how fast they're going," he said.
Copyright 1996-2008 The Miami Herald Media Company
Bertolini takes first Giro stage after 16 years
After 16 years as a professional, Alessandro Bertolini won his first ever stage in the Giro d'Italia. The 36 year-old Italian, whose main job is to defend Serramenti PVC team leader Gilberto Simoni, was part of a five-man escape that dominated a wet and demanding stage 11 to Cesena in Italy's Emilia Romagna region.
"I had freedom in this stage and the team indicated this yesterday [Tuesday]," said Bertolini. "I am happy that it worked; the team gave me trust, [team manager] Savio and Simoni. The plan was to get into an escape, if maybe Gilberto was solo I would be able to drop back and help him."
In the final kilometre Bertolini accelerated from his two companions, Spain's Pablo Lastras (Caisse d'Epargne) and Italy's Fortunato Baliani (CSF Group Navigare), as the latter crashed with 500 metres remaining due to a lapse in concentration.
The race favourites used the climbs that dotted the 199-kilometre route to test one another, particularly Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) and local rider Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval-Scott). The pair succeeded in distancing some of their rivals, including overall race leader Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step), but in the closing 11.5-kilometre loop of Cesena, hometown of the late Marco Pantani, most of the favourites came back together.
Visconti kept his maglia rosa despite being involved in a crash at 27 kilometres remaining with Levi Leipheimer (Astana), mountain leader Emanuele Sella (CSF Group Navigare), Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval-Scott) and Christian Pfannberger (Barloworld). The race leader headed to the hospital following the stage to have X-rays on his left elbow and right wrist.
Stage seven winner Gabriele Bosisio (LPR Brakes) moved into the second spot on the GC. In third is the first of the race's expected overall contenders, Tour de France champion Alberto Contador. The riders will face what is expected to be a sprinters' stage on Thursday for stage 12, 172 kilometres from Forli to Carpi.
"I knew right away that it was an off day," stated an exhausted Visconti. "I was having nausea and stomach problems this morning and that is why I was dropped immediately. I have to thank Bettini and Tonti for pulling so hard for me today." Several hours later, the X-rays showed no broken bones and it was reported that Visconti will start Thursday.
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Berlin winner will not defend title
Last year's winner of the Tour de Berlin, Michael Franzl, will not defend his title in 2008. The rider of the Mapei-Heizomat team has gotten sick and will not be able to line up at the start of the four-day race, which will start tomorrow. Franzl will be replaced by Jens Grewe.
The defending champion already felt it coming on. "I was already feeling weak and empty the last couple of weeks." After a thorough examination by the doctors, he was ordered to rest and not train for a few days. "Sure, I would have liked to started as last year's winner. But you can't pick and choose [when to get sick and when not ]," Franzl remained fairly calm about his non-start. By the end of the week he should have an exact diagnosis.
Already the race around the Henninger Turm did not go according to plan, and Franzl had to abandon, while the rest of the team rode very well. Robert Retschke was in the main break of the day for a ling time, and Kim Lachman and Sebastian Hans were able to get mountain points as well. Retschke finished in 18th place, while Hans ended up in 15th of the mountains classification.
Mapei-Heizomat will now send Sebastian Hans, Kim Lachmann, Jonas Schmeiser, Florian Volk, Daniel Westmattelmann and Jens Grewe to Berlin, hoping to take out the overall title anyway.
Copyrigth Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Cycling: Dahle Flesjaa wins gold
Norway's Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa won the gold medal Sunday in a very close women's cross country race in Madrid on the third stop on the World Cup mountain bike circuit.
05.05.2008 07:11
Dahle Flesjaa won a sprint to the finish over Canada's Marie-Helene Premont.
Both riders clocked in at one hour and 48 minutes and 14 seconds over the 40 kilometres or five laps around an eight-kilometre course. Margarita Fullana of Spain was third, 1:13 behind the leaders.
This was Gunn-Rita's 26th World Cup win of her career, the last in in May 2006.
The Norwegian Olympic winner has been plagued with sickness during the past year.
(NRK/Aftenposten)
Rolleiv Solholm
(c) 1996 - 2005 Imaker as
Ullrich wins a step in Coast trial
Jan Ullrich may have some good news from German courts, which may order the former owner of the defunct Team Coast, Gunther Dahms, to pay the retired rider up to 500,000 Euro in unpaid salary. A court in Dusseldorf indicated that it had doubts about arguments from Dahms that he did not have to pay Ullrich because he doped at the time, and ordered the hearing continued on May 28.
Dahms owed Ullrich about 340,000 Euro in unpaid salary, plus interest. It is unclear whether he would be able to actually make the payments, according to the dpa press agency. A court in Duisburg, Germany, already ordered Dahms to pay Ullrich the moneys owed in 2004, calling the charges that Ullrich doped while on Team coast speculation and without legal proof. Dahms has requested access to the files allegedly linking Ullrich to the Operacion Puerto.
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Living Well: Getting in shape by cycling has its ups and downs
Last updated April 27, 2008 10:57 a.m. PT
By BOB CONDOR
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
As the days get warmer and longer, more riders will hop on their bicycles for a spin. Just how fast and where you go will determine if your bike is a piece of fitness equipment or simply a comfortable, recreational way to save gas and enjoy the outdoors.
Ask Craig Undem about bicycling and fitness. He will give you a short but insightful answer.
"Go climb hills," said Undem, a local cycling coach who operates the Cycle U training company in Seattle and regularly serves as an instructor for the Cascade Bicycle Club.
Undem said too few cyclists choose hills for workouts, when doing so a couple times per week can transform your body composition (goodbye, fat) and dispel any doubts that cycling is a top calorie burner among physical activities.
"Hills give you more bang for the buck," Undem said. "You might choose to go on a slow, steady ride for 20 miles (about an hour's worth for experienced riders and more like two hours for novices). But if you do moderate hills for 30 minutes that will burn more calories."
Undem said moderate hills translates to "a grade of 4 to 6 percent, not too steep, especially if you're just getting back into shape." He said you want to work at an exertion rate of 70 to 90 revolutions per minute, or rpm. You can determine this level by purchasing a bicycle computer (about $50 retail) or comparing that pedaling rate of 70 to 90 rpm to how that registers on a indoor stationary bike.
"You want that cadence to be moderately intense," Undem said. "It keeps you in a safe zone and gives you a great workout."
Increasing your intensity levels in short bursts (enough to be out of breath but not gagging) elevates cycling to one of the best calorie-burners among all physical activities. In fact, statistics from the American Council on Exercise (the primary certification group for personal trainers) equates bicycle racing with a vigorous game of basketball and not far off running at a brisk clip that would leave most people gasping.
Adding hills to any bicycle ride is easy enough here in the Pacific Northwest. Undem said to do it most efficiently requires more expertise than you might think. For instance, Cycle U teaches a "boot camp" devoted strictly to going up and down hills. It runs for eight two-hour sessions.
"It's a lot like skiing once you get into it," explained Undem. "There is a lot of technique."
Some highlights: Sit more upright in the bike saddle when you're climbing a hill. Don't pull your arms back too hard or too much when navigating the upward slope. And breathe deeply as you work.
One more tip for climbers that applies to all cyclists as they roll back outside this spring. Undem said too many recreational riders forget to drink water during the ride and eat something if they are going more than a hour nonstop. Sports nutritionist will suggest a snack and water is good idea some time in the hour before your ride.
Cycle U and the Cascade Bicycle Club offers plenty of other courses for beginners as well as the most savvy riders. You can learn how to ride a bike -- "there are plenty of people who come to us that never learned as kids," Undem said -- or perhaps take a refresher course on how to shift gears. Cascade instructors might go to the bike shop with you to pick out just the right model.
Not surprisingly, the Cascade club, the country's largest with a membership base of 10,000, works with a significant percentage of injured athletes from other sports. Basketball, running and tennis lead the list, mostly due to balky knees that are treated less jarringly on a bike.
Lateral movement fells basketball and tennis players, Undem said. Runners tend to not rest their bodies enough and stride themselves right into overuse injuries.
"Cycling has a locked range of motion so those runners, tennis players and basketball players can exercise without doing any more harm to the knees," Undem said.
The key strategy is to add intensity to your bike workouts, whether you are rehabbing an injury, cross training or deciding to make your commute your daily workout. All cycling for fitness will turn up noticeable changes in your body composition and personal energy level if you add some hills and maybe incorporate a few all-out sprints for 30 seconds or less when it is safe to do.
"Cycling is a real tonic for the body," Undem said. "Work harder and it will charge you up. You will feel good even after you're off the bike."
Bob Condor writes about health and quality of life every Monday. You can send him ideas or questions at bobcondor@aol.com.
(c)1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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