Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge Gran Fondo cycling event opened for registration today.
Fashioned after Italian Gran Fondo rides, Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge Gran Fondo is a one-of-a-kind road cycling experience. The 103-mile route through California’s Sonoma County takes place on October 9, 2010.
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By LeRoi Smith
Kristi Berg (Redline Bicycles) put an exclamation point on her perfect SCX season and Toby Swanson (Benaroya Research Institute) added a finals victory to his slim points lead to take the Elite Men’s title.
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Updated Dec. 1, 2009
Chris Lieto had the race of his life at the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship, led for the better part of the day, but ended up second to a fast closing Craig Alexander. He came on to discuss his thoughts on the race and the improvements in his running that came from spending six weeks in Mammoth training with Ryan Hall, Deena Kastor, Josh Cox and New York City Marathon champion Meb Kelflezighi.
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More details of next year’s Vuelta a España are leaking in the Spanish media.
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Updated Dec. 01, 2009
The second year of this epic ride returns to Sonoma County in October to benefit the return of the Tour of California to Santa Rosa and Forget Me Not Farm.
SANTA ROSA (November 12, 2009) – Initial planning for the second annual Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge GranFondo has yielded an official event date of Saturday, October 9, 2010.
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The UCI on Thursday announced the provisional suspension of Fuji-Servetto’s Alberto Fernandez De La Puebla Ramos after he tested positive for EPO.
“The decision to provisionally suspend this rider was made in response to a report from the WADA accredited laboratory in Lausanne indicating an Adverse Analytical Finding of EPO in a urine sample collected from him in an out of competition test at his home on 15 October 2009,” said the UCI.
The suspension would remain in force until a panel convened by the Spanish Cycling Federation rules on whether the cyclist has committed an an anti-doping violation, added the UCI.
De La Puebla Ramos has the option of requesting that his B sample be tested or simply accepting the outcome of the A sample test.
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Andrew Messick, the main man behind the Amgen Tour of California, joined us to talk about moving the event from February to May and to layout the brand new course for us.
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Roy Knickman had an amazing cycling career. How many riders had the opportunity to ride with Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond, Davis Phinney, Ron Kiefel, Bob Roll and Andy Hamspten, among others. Roy came on with Huddle and I to chat about his cycling career and the challenges he and his family have faced since his 13 year old son Andreas was diagnosed with cancer.
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By Patrick Brady
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The courtroom gallery was filled to capacity Monday as a jury of seven women and five men announced it had convicted former emergency room doctor Christopher Thomas Thompson of assaulting a pair of cyclists last year by abruptly stopping his car in front of them.
For the first time in the trial, which spanned three weeks, cyclists outnumbered Thompson supporters in the gallery. There was a palpable tension in the room greater than any felt during the trial.
Thompson was convicted of six felonies: two counts each of assault with a deadly weapon and battery with serious bodily injury as well as reckless driving causing specified injury and mayhem. He was also convicted of misdemeanor reckless driving.
The six felonies stemmed from the July 4, 2008 incident with cyclists Ron Peterson and Christian Stoehr. The misdemeanor was occasioned by the altercation with cyclists Patrick Watson and Josh Crosby.
When the jury entered the room only one member of the panel hazarded a brief glance at the defendant; the rest looked at the judge, the attorneys or into the gallery.[SinglePic not found]
When the court clerk read the verdict of “guilty” for the first count, reckless driving causing specified injury, Thompson’s head slumped. He then raised it and waited for the verdict in the second count, battery with serious bodily injury. “Guilty,” the clerk said and this time Thompson’s head dropped, chin to chest. He did not lift his head for the rest of the verdicts, all guilty.
When the clerk finished reading off the verdicts, Thompson appeared to cry and wiped his hands under his glasses. Thompson’s attorney Peter Swarth asked that each juror be polled. One by one, each juror responded “yes,” they voted to convict Thompson on all counts.
After the verdicts, Deputy District Attorney Mary Stone ask the judge to sentence Thompson “as soon as the court’s calendar will allow.”
As a cautionary move, Swarth had earlier prepared a request to allow Thompson to remain out on bail until sentencing. Judge Scott Millington scanned the motion and asked Stone if she would like to respond to that request.
“Yes, your honor.”
Stone cited Thompson’s flight risk, his lack of ties to the area (he no longer lives or works in Los Angeles and was likely to lose his medical license soon). She then added, “In terms of public safety, there isn’t a cyclist in Los Angeles who would be comfortable if he were out on the streets.”[SinglePic not found]
Judge Millington cited Thompson’s incentive to flee and the serious nature of the crimes he committed and ordered Thompson’s bail revoked and that he be remanded to custody immediately. With that, bailiffs ordered Thompson to stand, placed handcuffs on him and walked him to a holding cell.
The victims and Stone held a brief news conference outside the courthouse.
Asked if he was pleased with the verdict, Christian Stoehr said, “It was tough for me, to be honest, it’s sad for both sides. I’m glad it sends a message to the community that it is dangerous and we have to watch out, but at the end of the day, I lost a lot of my time and my life, and he’s losing a lot of his.”
Peterson was asked if he had lingering trauma from the incident. “More nervous, yes; whenever a car comes by me still — a year and three months later — I flinch, and even when I’m driving and I see brake lights in front of me, I flinch every single time,” he said.
Would this verdict make a difference in car and cyclist relations? Josh Crosby offered his perspective. “Like the sign says, share the road and be respectful of each other. If we do something wrong, you need to take responsibility for it, and I don’t think he took any responsibility for it,” he said.
Thompson will be sentenced Dec. 3. He faces a maximum of ten years in prison, but with no prior criminal record, he in unlikely to receive the maximum.
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ATOC organizers explain the race’s move from February to May.
By Ben Delaney
The Amgen Tour of California has been a great “early season” race since its inception in 2006. Its organizers want it to be a great race, period.
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Lance Armstrong will be among those racing the Tour of California, which will include Sierra Nevada climbs, a Big Bear finish and a Los Angeles TT.
The 2010 Amgen Tour of California will venture high up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains, dispense with the traditional prologue, include a time trial in Los Angeles and feature the first mountaintop finish in the race’s four-year history at Big Bear.
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