For the first Monday in a long time there is no football to look forward to on the weekend. Leaving college basketball, golf, and ill conceived snowboarding competitions to waste weekend hours with. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if training for something. The yo-yo of getting in long miles on Saturdays only to have that effort derailed by the local sports bar on Sundays is, for now, a thing of the past. On to the winter miles.
The Feed
Some big news in the cycling world over the weekend. First, the federal investigation looking in to “allegations of federal criminal conduct by members and associates of a cycling team owned in part by Lance Armstrong” has closed. This does not mean that Armstrong has been cleared of anything. I think the closure of the investigation is more indicative of the Prosecutors’ lack of solid, case winning evidence than anything else. When you are trying to take down a public figure with great lawyers and huge public support you have to have something more than cyclists pointing fingers. Unfortunately the government had to waste two years and millions of dollars to come to this conclusion.
The second big story is that Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title and 2011 Giro d’Italia title for doping. Meanwhile, Lance is back in his underground lair cackling maniacally.
On the political front, cities and other local governments are struggling with a new crop of activists that are protesting efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy based on the theory that such efforts are “part of a United Nations led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens towards cities.” The activists, who have ties to the Tea Party, believe that such conservation actions are an effort to implement Agenda 21, a UN resolution designed to encourage countries to use fewer resources and restrict development to already developed areas. People of America; rest assured that you have a dedicated group of freedom loving activists who are fighting for your right to not have smart meters attached to your home that track data in order to save not only energy, but money, and to ensure that the pristine piece of open land that you loved hiking on as a child will soon be home to an Applebee’s, a Starbucks and some sort of dollar store.
For those of you watching weight for the summer running/cycling season; a study out of Sweden seems to demonstrate that lack of sleep creates increased “reward” association with food, resulting in a higher probability of eating more when you don’t get enough sleep. Check out the analysis at Sweat Science, and get some sleep this week.
