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Show #131 – February 22, 2013 – NAHBS!

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GUESTS: JOSH SIMONDS, BRETT HORTON

 

The 2013 North American Handmade Bicycle Show is in full swing as of this writing, and Diane is not only attending, she’s participating in Smoked Out Live at the Framebuilder’s Party on Saturday night. You can attend virtually at overthetopcycling.com.

To get us in the mood for this evening, Diane chats up Josh “Too Tall” Symonds from Velocipede Salon. Always irreverent and unpredictable, Josh will be one of those holding court at tonight’s event.

There is lots of news in this week’s show, followed by a deep dive into the world of bicycle racing memorabilia with Brett Horton. Brett is the curator of the Horton Collection, an outstanding, um, collection of jerseys, posters, bike and other physical artifacts from bicycle racing’s golden age. Brett is a former racer himself, who has honed the art of finessing top pros like Eddy Mercx out of some of their prized memorabilia.

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Show #130 – February 16, 2013

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GUESTS: ROD HUTTON, JOE FLORIAN, WILLIE WEIR

And, it’s the last few days of RADIOTHON!

Radiothon 2013 comes to an end tomorrow, and as Cyril said in Breaking Away, “We may plead, but we would never beg!” So consider this a plea to send a few bucks to WJCU and keep great, local, listener-focused radio on the air, and on the Internet.

And in the tradition of listener-focused radio, we have a great show for you this week. Rod Hutton and Joe Florian stopped by the WJCU studios to talk about their new business: Buckeye Country Road Bicycle Tours. Hutton and Florian are experienced cyclists who are now offering fully supported, multi-day tours in our fair state. Their first tour, the Amish Country Adventure, rolls out in late July, and there is still time to register.

After a bit of news, Diane welcomes a return visit to The Outspoken Cyclist from Willie Weir. Weir and his wife Kat just returned from three months of cycling around southeast Asia, including Myanmar. Willie gives us his account of the highlights of the trip, and you can see (and hear) more at Yellow Tent Adventures.

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Show #129 – February 9, 2013

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RADIOTHON!  Guests: Don Walker, Richard Pound, Larry Graham

Radiothon link! Pledge early & often!

 

Do you enjoy your weekly dose of The Outspoken Cyclist? Would you like to help ensure it continues to tickle your ears every Saturday? Then support WJCU during Radiothon 2013. WJCU is non-commercial, listener-supported radio, staffed by dedicated volunteers. That means your small annual donation goes directly towards keeping the lights on at WJCU, and keeping the Many Voices, and Many Choices on the air and on the Internet.

Thanks for your support; let’s get on to this week’s show:

The annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show is just a couple weeks away. We caught up with show director Don Walker in a rare moment of calm during his pre-show frenzy to talk about NAHBS, ‘Cross Worlds, and life in general.

Richard (Dick) Pound has a C.V. as long as your arm, including Olympic swimmer, attorney, university chancellor, and IOC board member. But the role for which we know him best is as one of the founders and president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. For the past several years, Mr. Pound has been swimming against the prevailing tide with regard to doping in cycling. Recent revelations have vindicated him, and he was gracious enough to join us from Toronto to share his thoughts on cycling’s ugly past, and his hopes for its future.

Finally, a little closer to home, it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming ultra-distance racing season, and one of the premier events is right in our backyard. Larry Graham, co-director of Calvin’s Challenge brings us up to date on the 22nd edition of this iconic race set for Saturday, May 4th, in Springfield, Ohio.

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Show #128 – February 2, 2013

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GUESTS: KEITH LAUGHLIN, JOHN PUCHER, RALPH BUEHLER

 

From the changing of the guard at US DOT to the upcoming Bike Summit, there is a lot going on right now in Washington, DC. Diane checks in with the head honcho at Rails to Trails, Keith Laughlin for the latest updates.

In the second half of the show, Diane welcomes John Pucher and Ralph Beuhler, who have edited a new book called City Cycling. Pucher is Professor in the Department of Urban Planning at the Bloustein School of Planning and Policy at Rutgers University, and Ralph Buehler is Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech. City Cycling is a deep dive into all aspects of the dynamics of non-motorized urban transportation.

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Show #127 – January 26, 2013

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GUESTS: INGA THOMPSON, MATT FITZGERALD

Would you hang up your bike cold turkey, and become a cattle farmer? Inga Thompson did exactly that in the mid-1990’s after a successful, yet frustrating career as an Olympian and U.S. National Team racer. Thompson learned that ‘not a team player’ was actually code for ‘clean rider’. She offers her inside view on women’s racing, and life beyond cycling.

In the second half of the show, Diane talks with nutritionist and author Matt Fitzgerald, whose book Racing Weight is now in its second edition. Weight is on many peoples’ minds this time of year, as we assess the toll our holiday indulgence has taken on our body mass. Matt has many practical tips on how to increase the quality of your dietary intake, and avoid “brain hunger”.

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Show #126 – January 19, 2013

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GUESTS: NEIL BROWNE, MIGHK WILSON

The cheater being out of the bag, as it were, part of today’s show is devoted to dissecting the Lance/Oprah event of the past two nights. Who better to help with that, than a journalist once called a “complete douchebag” by none other than Lance himself. Neil Browne, recipient of the aforementioned epithet, and proprietor of the Brown Eye Report joins Diane to break it down.

After the news, we take a welcome break from the LA Circus, and talk with transportation planner for Metro Plan Orlando, and the president of the Florida Bike Association, Mighk Wilson. The FBA is planning a colloquium for February 23rd and 24th. More details here.

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My Lance/Oprah Rant…

Please excuse the rant… post Oprah

I have tried to stay neutral; tried to get all sides of the story and not become emotionally involved.  But, today I just lost it and the anger, frustration, and sadness just smacked me in the head.

Here is what I posted on Face Book a few minutes ago…

For the first time since this entire sordid saga began, I am angry to the point of tears. I am tired of everyone trying to cover his own ass. I’m concerned about the FUTURE of the sport – not the past. What Mom would want her kid to be a bike racer today? Who can a young rider look up to now? Consequences? It’s time everyone took some responsibility for his/her part in this and look to cleaning it up; not rehashing the past. Let’s fix this!

Open for comments! (And, thanks for reading my rant!)

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Show #125 – January 12, 2013

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GUESTS: PATRICK BRADY; MICAH RICE; HENRY GOLD

Oh Lance, how can we miss you if you won’t go away? News surfaced this week that Lance Armstrong will sit down next Thursday for what will obviously be a hard-hitting (cough, cough) interview with legendary cycling journalist Oprah Winfrey.

According to our first guest Patrick Brady of Red Kite Prayer, the rumor is that Lance will confess…to being a really successful bike racer. You’ll have to listen in order to hear what else Patrick has to say about the upcoming train wreck interview.

After a bit of news and a break, we bring you an interview with Micah Rice, who is the Vice-President of National Events for USA Cycling. We caught up with Micah on Thursday, as he was preparing for the start of the 2013 U.S. Cyclocross Nationals, going on right now in Madison, Wisconsin.

Closing out the hour is Henry Gold, director of Tour d’Afrique, which runs global bicycles adventures on 6 continents, visiting over 60 countries. When we talked with Henry he was getting ready to depart for Africa to ride the Cairo to Capetown tour. Tour d’Afrique is not only a tour provider; it has a philanthropic arm that aims to give something back to the countries in which they operate.

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Show #124 – January 5, 2013

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GUESTS: LESLI COHEN; UCI-OVERLORD

As we launch 2013, it just made good sense to look back at the best – and worst – of 2012 with the always on-point Lesli Cohen and the UCI-Overlord (BKA “Not Pat McQuaid”) from Cyclismas.com.

We look at everything and everyone from the successful Chip In campaign for Paul Kimmage to the Flint family, whose legal suit against STRAVA might just come in under the heading of “are you kidding me?” As well as the state of funding for not just racing teams but cycling in general.

So, we hope you enjoy an hour of retrospective chat about our sport for this first show of the New Year.

Thanks, as always, for listening!

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Show #123 – December 29, 2012

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GUESTS: MICHAEL VITEZ; JEFF ARCHER

As we prepare to bid farewell to 2012, we’d like to take the opportunity to thank you for listening over these past 12 months, and for your continuing feedback about the show’s content. Without you, Diane and I would just be two people locked in a small room recording phone conversations. You are the secret ingredient that turns it into radio.

So celebrate safely, enjoy another edition of The Outspoken Cyclist, and be sure to come back for more in 2013.

First up this week is author Michael Vitez from Philadelphia. Michael is a Pulitzer Prize winning human interest writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He’s also the author of several books including his latest, The Road Back. It’s the story of collegiate triathlete Matthew Miller, who not only survived a horrific car-bike crash, but recovered to complete an Ironman, and enter medical school.

After a break and some news, we welcome Jeff Archer, who owns First Flight Bicycles in Statesville, North Carolina. First Flight is a Bicycling and Bike Retailer Top 100 shop, and the home of the Museum of Mountain Bike Art and Technology (MOMBAT). With so many hats to wear, Jeff naturally has lots of great stories to tell about his involvement in cycling.