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Show #118 – November 24, 2012

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GUESTS: MARY MCCONNELOUG, MIKE BRODERICK, TIM BLUMENTHAL, DREW GULDALIAN

If you’ve been hibernating for the past couple of days in order to avoid Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, it’s safe to pop your head out for an hour and enjoy some non-commercial, zero-calorie bicycling entertainment and enlightenment.

This week’s Outspoken Cyclist features interviews with husband and wife mountain bike racers Mary McConneloug and Mike Broderick of Team Seven-Kenda-NoTubes, Tim Blumenthal of Bikes Belong, and Drew Guldalian of Engin Cycles.

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Show #117 – November 17, 2012

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GUESTS: PAUL KIMMAGE, CHRIS CHANCE

We’re just a few days away from the U. S. holiday of Thanksgiving, which Diane and I agree is one of the best holidays ever. One of the things we are annually thankful for is the growing number of you who take time each week to listen to The Outspoken Cyclist. We hope you’ll find time and good weather during this coming holiday weekend to celebrate the gift of being on two human-powered wheels.

Aside from the good holiday wishes, we have a great show for you this week. Journalist, author, and former pro road racer Paul Kimmage joins us from Dublin, Ireland to talk about his wild ride in the wake of the Lance Armstrong scandal. Kimmage is another example of someone who has paid a heavy price for trying to expose the corruption in a sport he loves.

In the second half of the show, we head out to northern California to talk with Chris Chance, the man behind the iconic Fat City Cycles, which still claims a large and loyal group of owners and enthusiasts. This interview will clearly illustrate just how much the bicycle business has changed over the last 30 years.

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Show #116 – November 10, 2012

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GUESTS: JAIMIE FULLER & BETSY ANDREU

Dope

  1. (verb) To ingest banned substance(s), or engage in medical practice(s) designed to artificially enhance athletic performance. Activity engaged in by many professional athletes, including professional bicycle racers. See also: UCI, Lance Armstrong, Dr. Michele Ferrari.

Doping in professional cycling affects not only the riders, but their families and the sponsor companies that provide the money that makes the sport possible in the first place. This week, The Outspoken Cyclist serves up interviews with two folks who fall into this second category:

  • Jamie Fuller is the CEO of Skins International, a maker of performance-enhancing compression garments. Skins is heavily invested in sponsorship of a number of endurance sports, including cycling. The company has also taken great care to protect its brand and image from ethical tarnish. In the wake of the recent Lance Armstrong/UCI scandal, Skins has filed a $2M lawsuit against the UCI. Hear the full story from Jamie Fuller himself in the first half of today’s show.
  • Betsy Andreu is married to former U.S. Postal racer Frankie Andreu. She’s also the person who witnessed the Lance Armstrong “hospital room” conversation where he admitted to using PEDs. As a result of going public with this accusation, Betsy was vilified and intimidated for many years. Now that others have come forward, she’s been vindicated, and she talks with Diane this week about how this ordeal has affected her and her family, and her perspective on where the sport needs to go from here.
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Show #115 – November 3, 2012

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GUESTS: 6-TIME IRONMAN WINNER DAVE SCOTT; BIKECLEVELAND BOARD PRESIDENT CHRIS ALVARDAO

If you’re reading this in the eastern United States, congratulations. It means your power is on and the flood waters of Hurricane Sandy have receded. Please remember to support your favorite relief organization to help folks affected by this week’s storm get back on their feet.

In the meantime, we have a great show for you with two great guests. If they weren’t both so self-effacing, they’d wear shirts that say, “I’m kind of a big deal.”

<a title=”Dave Scott, Inc.” href=”http://www.davescottinc.com/” target=”_blank”><strong>Dave Scott</strong></a> is a six-time Ironman Triathlon champion, who has continued to compete and coach triathlon. Dave was in Cleveland this week as part of the <a title=”2013 Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit” href=”http://www.clevelandclinic.org/INNOVATIONS/SUMMIT/” target=”_blank”>2013 Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit</a>. As you listen to his conversation with Diane, you’ll get a full appreciation for the depth and breadth of his knowledge of sports physiology, and how willingly he shares it.

<strong>Chris Alvarado</strong>’s C.V. reads like a who’s who of Cleveland’s grass roots (Board President of Bike Cleveland and Board Secretary for EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute, member of the Bicycle Advocacy Council at NOACA, and past Board President of Tremont West Development Corporation). His current challenge is as a Fellow in the <a title=”Strong Cities, Strong Communities” href=”http://www.gmfus.org/programs/urban-and-regional-policy-program/strong-cities-strong-communities-fellowship/” target=”_blank”>German Marshall Fund of the United States’ Strong Cities, Strong Communities program</a>.

Two great conversations with two very passionate people, plus news and pontificating from Diane and myself. We hope you enjoy!

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Show #114 – October 27, 2012

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Richard Sachs, T.J. Murphy

It’s been difficult to escape the Lance-centric USADA-fueled, and now UCI-driven cycling saga of 2012. Billions of bytes and pixels have been spilled over the revelations of doping in the pro peloton over the past several weeks. You may think you’ve read and heard all there is on this topic, but you’d be wrong…

This week, The Outspoken Cyclist checks in with framebuilder, cyclocross racer, and opinionated observer of all things, Richard Sachs. Richard has a perspective that is unique and sometimes controversial, but always ‘atmo‘.

After a survey of the cycling news, including the announcement of a collaboration between Bianchi and Gucci, we welcome author T. J. Murphy, who has written a new book about CrossFit. Murphy’s book, Inside the Box: How CrossFit Shredded the Rules, Stripped Down the Gym, and Rebuilt My Body tells of how he went from a limping 47-year-old former marathon runner to the best shape of his life, all by using the nutritional and workout techniques of CrossFit.

Two quick programming notes:

  • After this TOC episode was recorded, the UCI announced it has suspended its suit against journalist Paul Kimmage, pending the outcome of an independent management review.
  • If you’re looking for the online raffle to benefit the family of the late Stan Bugarcic (the man who drowned in the 2012 Greater Cleveland Triathlon), here’s the link: http://www.imathlete.com/donate/Campaign.aspx?fCID=1607&fb_source=message

 

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Show #113 – October 20, 2012

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Ernest Gagnon, Dan Empfield

Halloween is still a week away, but a Big Yellow Elephant charged into the room this week, so Diane and I felt compelled to address it, because, well, Big Yellow Elephant. But don’t let that deter you, because we also have two great guests this week.

Ernest Gagnon is a big guy from New England on his way to being a smaller guy from New England. Two years ago, a combination of depression and a sedentary job in the tech industry helped him tip the scales at 570 pounds. Now, over 200 pounds lighter and several thousand miles later, Gagnon has both a different body, and a different outlook on life. This week we get the whole amazing story from Ernest and two of his cycling buddies, Steve Lachance and Zach LaBry.

The expansive website slowtwitch.com is ostensibly about triathlon (and there is a ton of excellent tri content there) but it’s so much more than multi-sport. This 13-year old site is the brainchild of Dan Empfield, who has a deep passion and understanding, not only of the sport itself, but of the athletes as well. This week Dan tells us how and why he started Slowtwitch, and also offers a bit of advice for first time competitors.

 

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Show #112 – October 13, 2012

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“Cello” Joe Chang, Brett Davis, Bina Bilenky

That’s more than just the usual Fall chill you feel in the air this week. The USADA’s release of its Reasoned Decision in the Lance Armstrong case, combined with admissions of doping from both George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer, have served to frost a lot of pumpkins in cycledom. Happily, there are other things going in in bicycling, and we have three of them for you on today’s show.

What do you get when you cross beatboxing with cello playing and bicycling? Cello Joe, of course: the “wildest beatboxing cellist in the west.” Joey “Cello Joe” Chang has toured the U.S. and Mexico on his bicycle, with his cello in tow, playing a unique brand of classical-inspired music. Today Diane brings you a conversation about his adventures, along with a sample of his music.

Over the summer, there’s been a hive of activity in Cleveland’s Broadway Avenue neighborhood. Fast Track Racing, along with volunteers from the Cleveland cycling community have been busy constructing Ohio’s only velodrome. This week we welcome back Brett Davis, board president of the Cleveland Velodrome board to talk about the first couple months of operation, and what they have planned for 2013 and beyond.

Wrapping up, we check in with Bina Bilenky, who is busy putting the final touches on the Philly Bike Expo, which drops on October 27th and 28th. This year’s theme is “Artists, Activists & Alternatives”. Should be a great chance to see lots of cool cycling stuff in the freedom city.

 

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Show #111 – October 6, 2012

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Daniel Coyle, Paul Steely-White, Doug Selee

Fall means it’s time to pull on your SPF Infinity sunblock (long sleeves and tights) and hit the road. For The Outspoken Cyclist, it means three great stories from the lighter and darker sides of our sport.

Joining us in the studio is Daniel Coyle, co-author with Tyler Hamilton of the book The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs. Coyle conducted extensive interviews and research with Hamilton and many others to paint an enlightening and sometimes disturbing picture of the culture of doping in professional bike racing.

Perhaps no other city in the U.S. has so radically transformed its street infrastructure than New York City. Where Portland streets seem almost ready-made for bicycling, NYC has gone from allowing cars in Central Park (!) to being one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the country. Paul Steely-White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives joins us from Brooklyn to update us on how NYC has pulled this off, and what’s on the horizon for the Big Apple.

Wrapping up the hour, Diane speaks with Doug Selee, Executive Director of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA). NICA’s mission is to start mountain bike racing leagues at the high school level around the U.S. With two leagues in California, and eight in other states, NICA is on a mission to get kids active and to create lifelong cyclists. See, it doesn’t take balls (literally or figuratively) to play high school sports!

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Show #110 – September 29, 2012

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Lesli Cohen, Andy Shen, Ingo Lou

This week’s show seems to unintentionally revolve around legal matters, but happily you’ll find very little legalese here.

Irish journalist Paul Kimmage is being sued by the UCI for his 1990 book Rough Ride, which deals with doping in professional cycling. Lesli Cohen of Cyclismas.com & Andy Shen of NYVelocity.com have started a Chip-In fund to help raise money for Kimmage’s legal expenses. Lesli and Andy have a lot of great info about the book, the lawsuit, along with some strong opinions on the current state of the UCI.

In the second half, we meet up with Ingo Lou, whose To Catch a Bike Thief project takes a rational and objective approach to what is almost always an emotional experience: the theft of one’s bike. Turns out, there are simple reasons why bikes are frequently stolen, and a few things you can do to deter bike theft.

 

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Show #109 – Interbike Part 2

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Jock Boyer, Kimberly Coats, Ed Rae, Mike Deme, Winona Bateman
Fred Clements

Greg and I went in to the studio this morning to bring you the second half of the interviews from my trip to Interbike. I hope you enjpy them.

A special bonus for podcast listeners this week: part 2 of Diane’s report from Interbike 2012: