After Atalanta

OK. OK. I lied. I bullied you into reading this post and expressed a mistruth. This post is indeed about Lance Armstrong. Judge me as you see fit. But it's not some moral diatribe about ethics and truth and sportsmanship, blah, blah, blah. I didn't have any sort of urge to comment on this story. I mean, come on, I study sport and gender. This is not surprising. I am somewhat bemused by my cyclist friends who are just so sad about the whole thing. And I have felt that my ardent cynicism has been completely validated this week. But the people who are still holding on because Lance has done so much for cancer...really? Because we need Lance to enlighten those last few people who aren't aware of cancer? Still wearing your Live Strong bracelets because you like the mantra? Go ahead. Sure a duplicitous man used his ill-gotten fame and spearheaded a charity/movement that raised money for cancer. It's not as if cancer charities are operating in especially transparent ways th...

Pretty interesting interview with Kathryn Bertine over at the Huffington Post the other day. Bertine is a senior editor at espnW and is trying to qualify for the Olympic Games and has written a book about her attempt to qualify in 2008. ESPN sponsored her quest to do so, but she didn't make it for those games. So she's at it again looking to be a cyclist in London in 2012. Here's what impressed me: her clear recognition of the skewed treatment of female athletes with sport itself and, of course, the media coverage. She gives the example of the lack of prize money in women's cycling, but notes that so few cyclists will speak up because of fear of alienating sponsors. Because there's nothing worse, we know, than an athlete who speaks her/his mind. And it's especially bad if that athlete is a woman who is complaining. I mean, she could be a feminist. Horrors! So Bertine, being the only cyclist from Saint Kitts and Nevis (she got dual citizenship as part of her qual...

Some girls, they go get fitted for wedding dresses. I get fitted for bicycles. OK, well I just had my first fitting ever for a bike. And I think I am going to be really happy. So this whole bike shopping experience has brought up a few issues for me. Thankfully, financial was not one of them because my parents were very generous and financed the bike as a birthday gift. [Thanks, Mom and Dad!] I have been kind of looking for a new road bike for about a year, and it went far beyond what materials and components I wanted, and though the shop/bike mechanic I eventually chose had a brand I was very interested in, I chose him for other reasons. Because every other shop I walked into took me right to their women's bikes. Many of which are called, in the catalogs, "femme." (more on that in a second) Women's bikes are constructed in such a way as to account for the fact that women are generally shorter and have short torsos, narrow shoulders, and smaller hands. And do I apprec...

I am an athlete. I think. I've been having this conversation a lot this summer: what is an athlete? Seems to be going along with lots of conversations, internal and external, about identity--self and otherwise. So since I am being so contemplative and self-reflexive these days, I thought I would post about whether I should ride my bike up a mountain tomorrow. It's all related, trust me. So this summer I was diagnosed with Achilles tendinitis. It's been a major bummer that I initially (in April) had a good attitude about. I haven't been able to play tennis, but I also have not had to deal with all the drama that seems to come from playing tennis in a women's league. I couldn't run the bases in softball, but I could hit and do some fielding. I also, apparently, have a high pain tolerance which helped me push through activities like biking and spinning. But my good attitude is turning bad. And there's nothing worse than an athlete with a bad attitude. Let'...

In case you missed it, a dude won the Tour de France keeping alive the tradition of dudes winning the grueling, multi-week bike race. There were ladies involved, though. How could you miss those stunning outfits on the women who flanked the jersey winners? Kiss kiss and some pretty poses and smiles and a couple of very poofy white dresses with big red polka dots (for the king of the mountain jersey). (Apparently it's a pretty good stepping stone gig. American cyclist George Hincapie married one of the podium "girls" he met during the 2004 tour. He was "mesmerized" by her.) It was a watershed year for women in the Tour, though. For the first time ever, a woman rode on the back on a motor scooter and held up the time (written on a blackboard) for the cyclists. There was even a special segment on her during the last day of Versus's coverage of the tour. The one comment on the You Tube video which showed her getting ready appropriately sums things up: "oh g...

I don't know what my problem is with finding things to blog about lately. But I am headed to s different country later this week so hopefully that will provide some information. It's not as if there has not been things going on. After all, the women's college world series is nearly upon us. I went to a regional game this past weekend and had a very enjoyable time. WPS is in full-swing. Though I have been a little bitter since the Abby Wambach suspension decision. But I am building a bridge and trying to get over it. So here are just some tidbits to tide--well, mostly me, over--until I find my blog-jo again. Lots and lots of Title IX stuff happening these days. With the recession has come a lot of cuts in sports programs and when cutting programs schools must consider from whom they are taking away opportunities. Also making news is the case being brought by the axed volleyball team at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. The volleyball players and coach are alleging that ...

1. Finally some good hockey news (besides the fact that the season has started). The city of Brampton, Ontario has named its new community centre after hockey star Cassie Campbell. The facility has a fitness center, pool, basketball courts, tennis courts, and of course, ice rinks. 2. From the "oh, you've got to be kidding me" department: over a quarter of British women surveyed said they avoid cycling because they fear helmet hair . No wonder there are big problems in Britain with women's physical fitness and activity levels. Other reasons for not cycling include fear of being seen without makeup and arriving to work sweaty. But wait, it gets better. The reporter noted that women should not fear such things because cycling can be sexy. Proof? Olympic gold medalist in cycling pursuit, Rebeca Romero, posed naked recently in an ad for a sports drink. That doesn't make cycling sexy. That makes nudity sexy--though not universally, I would add. Besides cycling is sexy--...

If you have ever been stuck in traffic in Boston--specifically on (or because of) Storrow Drive, you may be interested in this bike ride on Sunday (21st) morning called HUb on Wheels . Storrow Drive is shut down and you ride your bike on it. It's ten miles on Storrow but there is a 30-mile and 50-mile option that takes you around the city but in such a way that there is reduced car traffic. (There's a link to the route map on the left-hand side of the page linked above.) Registration is still open. At least it was as of last night when I signed up; and is only $50. (It';s $55 for same day registration on Sunday morning.) The money (you can give or fundraise more) goes to bringing more technology to the Boston Public Schools.

Here's where I and a lot of my friends are this weekend. Positive thoughts for good weather and that my back holds out for the whole ride are welcome!

Back in Boston. Well Cambridge which I know technically is not Boston though such thinking caused me a little trouble yesterday as I drove in to town. Because yesterday was the celebratory parade for the new NBA champions, the Boston Celtics. "But that's on the other side of the river," I thought to myself. And yet as I pulled up to the parking garage and found it full and then found myself in the midst of a green-clad throng of fans I realized it didn't matter that my destination was Cambridge and theirs was downtown. I am not sure if it helped that I too was wearing green yesterday--more grass than kelly. The fans were loud and represented a pretty diverse demographic: men and women of many races, parents, kids, older (no one past middle age that I observed though) and younger; preppy people and those sporting a more hip-hop style. This is what I like about Boston fans--they're diverse. But generally Boston fans scare me with their fervent fandom. And despite th...

I was snowbound from about mid-afternoon yesterday until 8 this morning. National Public Radio was on the whole time (except during the few hours when I was sleeping). And in that time I heard the story (there was actually more than one version) about the Mitchell Report and doping in baseball at least a dozen times. The first time I heard it I said "Hey that's the guy that spoke my commencement, except he was talking about Ireland then." When I kept hearing it, I started thinking, "well dur--of course there was widespread doping. What do you expect will happen within an organization that only began drug testing less than five years ago and has pretty lax testing procedures and standards?" Come on. Did everyone really think that Barry Bonds was some kind of outlyer? Have we really wanted to believe so badly that 40+ year old Roger Clemens was doing it naturally that we refused to even contemplate the notion that he might be doping? If you're a baseball fan,...

If you live and ride a bike in Massachusetts please consider emailing your senator and representative to ask them to support a pending public safety law that would mandate that police officers know more about bike safety, specifically the rules of the road in regards to cyclists. It would also impart fines on drivers who injure cyclists by pushing them off the road or opening car doors into them. [Please, please get into the habit of looking back before you open your door when you're parked on a street--any time of the year.] Mitt Romney vetoed a similar bill last year (of course!). Check out the Action Alert issued by MassBike which is asking concerned folks to help get the new bill out of committee. And check out their website if you want to know how to be safe on a bicycle and if you want to know how to be a safe and conscientious driver when you're around cyclists. Of course being safe--as a driver and cyclist--does not eliminate the harassment cyclists face from drivers, w...

The more I learn about women's sports, the more I realize just how remarkable Billie Jean King was--not just for her time--but for our time. An Australian paper reports on the disparate prize money for male and female cyclists. And like the female tennis players of the 70s, female cyclists are making a tenth of their male counterparts. And the article does not contain any sort of rationale besides some vague reference to, perhaps, an old boys network that does not want to see women biking professionally. And despite the fact that she believes female cyclists put in the same time and effort as male cyclists, an Australian cyclist Lorian Graham said: "That's just the way it is. I'm more interested in getting out there and promoting what women can do." Not exactly the sentiment of someone looking to change the system.