New scandal rocks Tour de France 2008

July 17, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
8 Comments

tour_de_france_logo.jpgAfter losing a couple of individual riders who returned positive drug tests in this year’s Tour de France, the race has been rocked with the withdrawal of the entire Saunier Duval-Scott team.

Until the start of today’s 12th stage Riccardo Ricco held both the white and the polka dot jerseys. Today it seems his two stage wins in this year’s event, stages 6 and 9, can be explained by his positive tests for the performance enhancing EPO. Ricco has now been taken into police custody.

It’s being reported that one of the climber’s urine samples collected by the French Anti-Doping Agency AFLD showed traces of a third generation EPO called CERA (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator).

Team mate Juan Jose Cobo Acebo was one place higher in the general classification than Ricco with the Saunier Duval-Scott team mates in 8th and 9th places respectively.

Leonardo Piepoli, another member of the team, crossed the line in first place on the grueling 10th stage, finishing at the top of Hautacam. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo was a close second on the day giving Saunier Duval-Scott a coveted one two finish on one of the most prestigious stages of any Tour de France.

The decision to withdraw the entire team became clear after the team failed to sign in for the start of the day’s racing.

At the time of their withdrawal the team was also wearing the yellow numbers of the best team in the race.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading New scandal rocks Tour de France 2008? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

Smells like plasticine

July 17, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
7 Comments

plasticine.jpgI know it wasn’t plasticine but it sure smelled like it.

I was cycling through an intersection this morning and got a quick whiff of something that suddenly took me back almost forty years to my grade one class in room one at Wembley Downs Primary School with Miss van Kampen. It was a smell like plasticine. I was immediately six years old again and just starting my formal education.

I remember my first year of school being a relatively happy time. If I had the opportunity to go back there …. I’d say no thanks. Life was good then but with a beautiful wife and two enormously talented kids it’s so much better now.

Isn’t it amazing how smells can bring back such strong memories? I wonder what are the smells that bring back memories for you. Are there places you go that awaken memories simply by the odours you smell there? Do some smells bring back things you’d rather forget or are they generally happy memories?

Cycling to work each morning I head past the local drive through coffee place and take in the wonderful aroma of fresh coffee. That’s always a smell associated with good things for me.

I often smell fresh baked goods as I cycle past by the local shopping centre and as I get closer to work the smell of pies and sausage rolls wafts across from the nearby bakery.

I love the fact that I can take in so much more of the world on two wheels.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading Smells like plasticine? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.

There is only one Jeep

July 17, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
4 Comments

jeep.jpgI had a close call on the way to work this morning.

I was cycling up to a set of red lights and noticed a Jeep with a sticker on the back saying “There is only one Jeep”.

Well, I’ve seen lots of Jeeps so I knew right away that this vehicle was clearly delusional. I went past it as quickly as possible.

Then as I was stopped at the lights I saw another Jeep going through the intersection and I thought, “Hurry up. You don’t want this vehicle behind me to see you. There’s no telling what it might do if you shatter its illusions. It thinks it’s the only one.”

Thankfully it got through the intersection without incident. I don’t think the first Jeep saw it and if it did it certainly didn’t recognise it.

If you’re out on the roads today, take care. There’s no telling what some vehicles might be thinking.



Do you think some of your friends would enjoy reading There is only one Jeep? Please use the buttons below to share the post. Thanks.