Listen now by clicking here:
[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/spokesmen/The_Spokesmen_139.mp3]
Today’s Spokespeople:
Topics
Pro Cycling / Racing / Doping News
- Dauphiné Report
- Tour de France Predictions
- Broeckx in Vegetative State
- Rio Olympics
- Russian Track & Field Athletes and Weightlifters Banned from Rio Olympics
- Brazil’s Anti Doping Lab Suspended by WADA ahead of Olympics
- Carmen Small left off US Olympic team in favor of Kristin Armstrong
- Lance Armstrong Begins Weekly Podcast
- Floyd Landis Starts Marijuana Business in Colorado
Industry News
- Carlton’s Press Camp Report
Advocacy
Other
- Your Strava Data Could Be Used to Ban Cyclists from Trails
- Alleged killer of Mountain Bike Hall of Famer Mike Rust found!
- 9 News Bike Safety PSA
Tips / Hints / Best Practices
- David: Jens Voigt’s Book, Shut Up Legs!
- Donna: Get a Trail Bell! Timber! Trail Awareness MTB Bell
- Carlton: Cycling Cities book
- Tim: Send a Message to the UCI
- Jim: Use IFTTT to Track Rides
- Neil: Stretching and Core Work & “The Perfect Stretch”
How to Listen:
Re: the 9 News PSAs – The first one says “Stop at every intersection”. Not every stop sign or every traffic light, every intersection. Kind of makes me wonder about the rest of them.
While I am not myself a cannabis user, I have nothing against people using it where it is legal. That being said, the WADA list of banned substances has Cannabinoids listed as a banned substance for use during competition. On the podcast the Floyd’s of Leadville products seemed to be marketed heavily towards competing cyclists. With products like a chamois cream presumably intended to be used in and out of competition, won’t there be a concern for positive doping controls? Will athletes be made aware of this possibility when they go to purchase a Floyd’s of Leadville product?
Hi Guys
I always listen to your pod and I appreciate the effort you must put in to produce it..thank you.
I’m just writing to try and disabuse you of your use of the term “third world country”. This is generally seen as a derogatory, insulting and outdated term these days. The closest thing I can come up with would be calling black or African-American people “colored” or women “chicks”.
I think people are more comfortable with terms like “developing world” or “developing nations” although even this can upset some people.
I have never written before but I know you guys like to be accurate with your terminology when it comes to crashes/accidents/collisions etc., so please bear this in mind when discussing “third world countries”.
Thanks again for the pod!
@Ruby_Roubaix
(PS I emailed you the same then heard Comments was the best approach)
Enjoyed the show, interesting point about using the bell. I have mine hidden underneath my stem as in Australia it is compulsory like many other things here (helmets, voting, etc).
I have heard from pedestrians, “you should use your bell” while I’ve also seen pedestrians abuse riders for using their bells.
Myself, I tend to use my bell when I see a possible issue in the long and medium distance while I prefer to use my voice up close (politely).
Hi Chris – I think we were mentioning the PSAs as s good start. Not perfect, but better than ignoring cyclists all together like many cities.
Hi Tom – I stayed silent during the show on this topic, so I’ll do the same here and let Neil answer.
Hey Ruby – thanks for the comment here. It’s a good place to reach us all. We do like to be correct and we don’t like to offend anyone usually (a couple of people may be exceptions to that statement) but when we get going, and get passionate, we may say something not so PC. We’ll try to be better!
Hello Phillip – very cool that you are listening in Australia! On my bucket list to get there someday. Bells have a very good purpose. Sorry if people abuse that sometimes. Cyclists really do put up with a lot of crappola, right?
Thank you all for listening and for your comments. We appreciate it!
Ride safe.
@Ruby_Roubaix
I agree, and I use “developing world”, and have done since 1990s having been schooled by ‘New Internationalist” magazine. However, my 16-year-old daughters have talked about “the third world” and it’s a term they said is still used in UK geography lessons. This surprised me.
The “extended” discussion of Floyd’s new business was, in my opinion, inappropriate for the podcast. Considering how often you cover drug use among the pro riders, I just can’t see taking time to promote marijuana use. It may have a small place as a medical substance, but is still basically a recreational drug with many associated dangers!!
Things I hate:
Distracted drivers
E-MTBs on public dirt
Weed culture
and the thought of 250K$+ driverless cars roaming the roads with the-software-is-responsible impugnity. Who’s to say the coders responsible for those vehicles will be under anymore scutiny than VW and their ilk.
Congrats on coming up to speed on the gravel thing and the associated gear. You should go back a couple years and listen to yourselves. It really isn’t just a niche to sell bike n+1 into.
I still don’t get the gravel grinder scene. Feels like n+1 to me. What’s wrong with a mountain bike?
Hey guys. Another great podcast. I have a question. I have a VPN provider. Where can I watch the Tour de France on the internet live? Thank you!
Kelly
SBS in Australia has a the Tour Tracker app. You could also watch EuroSport. Best place to see all the live feeds is on steephill.tv
Thanks for the show you all do:
I am tired of my friends being hit by cars this so I emailed Jim Moss(a contributor to the SPOKESMAN)I appreciate his feedback so I wanted to share both in the comments sections. First the new from a friend being hit by a car and the police report follow by Jim Moss’s response:
Friends- we just saw a copy of the police report from James’ accident. The driver did not have insurance, proper registration OR a drivers license. His license was revoked. An eye witness stated that he saw the driver swerve toward the middle of the bridge and then back to the bike lane where he hit James. The driver then proceeded to crash into a pole. To make matters worse, the driver was NOT drug or alcohol tested. He was NOT cited with violating the 3 foot law. He was NOT cited with distracting driving or reckless endangerment or anything else aside from license/registration/insurance inadequacies. The driver has claimed his power steering went out but it will be expensive to retrieve that data from his car. I am outraged by the handling of this “investigation” and I am urging my friends and family and cycling community to rally behind James to ensure proper charges are brought and that our law enforcement upholds our bicycle laws. This man was not allowed to be driving and should be held accountable. He should not be allowed to place other lives in harm’s way.
Contact the Knoxville District Attorney and Police Department. Lay out the facts of the case and ask them to prosecute. Tell them you vote and this is an important issue that you will remember at election time.
Contact all your cycling friends, friends, bike clubs, etc. in the area and ask them to do the same. Send them the info here to make it easier for you.
Post the info on your social media sites and on the social media sites for the Mayor, the city, the District Attorney, Police Department and send to the local newspapers and TV stations.
Make sure you point out all of these issues to newspapers. Newspapers have the time and space to report on things like this when TV and radio will skip it.
The only way you are going to make changes you need to ride safely is to put pressure on your local politicians. And keep it on. Social media is a great way to do it, because everyone else can jump on board then.
Thanks Jim
“It may have a small place as a medical substance, but is still basically a recreational drug with many associated dangers!!”
I’m curious if anyone would have a problem if Floyd had opened a micro-brewery? Alcohol has zero place as a medical substance, and is entirely a recreational drug. With more associated dangers than THC. If it’s illegal in your particular jurisdiction, then by all means, you should steer clear. Meanwhile, in the saner areas of the country, I see no issue whatsoever with talking about marijuana. Completely appropriate.
regarding Strava: smart mtb’ers will set their preferences to /exclude/ their data from the heat maps that cities may use to ban people from using public trails and also set rides on cheeky trails to ‘private’ [using the little padlock icon].
Podcasts over 90 minutes long are just reaching the top of my playlist, so I’m listening to this nearly a week after the Olympics. Didn’t Kristen Armstrong do great! Sure, Rio had problems, but the important part, the reason the athletes were there, the sport, the competition, was exciting. They could have done without the robberies, the fake robberies, the murder(s?), and sailors getting sick. Same for a lot of previous games. I’m glad for Rio that they were given this opportunity, and I hope the IOC makes it easier to take the games around the whole world.
The discussion about driverless cars in cities left me with the impression that the status quo is to proceed without regard for life. Sure, a few pedestrians die around here each week, and a few cyclists in a year, but my car doesn’t go home with blood on the tires each day. I think driverless cars will get along just fine in crowded cities.