Larry is a favourite of mine for many years. Whenever I have access to a channel that shows his programme I will make the effort to organise my day to view his outstanding programme material.
Most occasions these days you will find me on the Taxc trainer or rowing machine with the volume turned up so that a can hear what is being said. Rarely does his show content disappoint and even today his producers were able to reorganise the programme content so as to catch up with the sad news of the death of Elizabeth Edwards whom I have enjoyed watching with him in past years. This remarkable lady has been let down badly but got on with her life and became an inspiration to other big C victims. When Lance tweeted about Elizabeth earlier in the week it did not take much effort to realise to whom his tweet was referring. Big C has become the scourge of modern society and organisations such as Livestrong are playing catch up as they seek to assist sufferers.
Larry , as you finish up your series of LKL, I hope you will make the effort to remind your viewers of an inspirational segment of the population, these are the Paralympians. This segment is growing due to the need to fight “The War on Terror”. Organisations such as “Wounded Warrior Project “ in the USA and “Help 4 Heroes” in the UK need the exposure only you are able to provide.
Chris Reeves was a guest in past years, as was the Scientist (Stephen) and Stevie Wonder recently but there are others out there who are as yet undiscovered but are victims of Iraq, Afghanistan and earlier conflicts, that are working hard to represent their country once again but this time as participants in international sports events (Paralympics being the ultimate).
Alex Zennardi returned to car racing after his life changing event but there are many who are unaware of his desire to represent Italy with the Handbike at London 2012 Paralympics. Michael Milton in the early part of the century was the International Sportsman as a result of his efforts at Salt Lake 2002 Winter Paralympics, he has continued since as a Para Cyclist at the Summer Paralympics also.
Looking for an international flavour, then there are many : Pierangelo Vignati (Italian Paracyclist), Fabrizio Macchi( Italian Paracyclist), Laurent Thirionet ( French Paracyclist) and Zavier Ochoa (Spanish Paracyclist), Oscar Pistorious (Blade runner (South African Para Athlete), Laurie Stephens (USA Para skier), Dame Tanni Grey-Thomson (British Para Athlete) and Louise Sauvage (Aussie Para Athlete). Teams also deserve recognition and an outstanding example are the “Voralberg Para Team that raced the “Race Across America” in recent years.
Mike Tyson who was recently on your show would agree that there are many of his ilk that support Paralympian Athletes in their endeavours. I had the pleasure to meet up with Alberto Tomba at the 2008 Bormio Ski Finals Week, that weekend he organised some of the Italian Paralympian Ski Team to be hosted at the event. Bode Miller often talks of events to which he has invited a para friend.
Qatar in winning the Football World Cup plans to build Prefabricated Stadiums for those events and some of these could be easily converted to contain other sports events. In trying to find out whether Qatar has a Velodrome I discovered they have a track team and that they have both Men’s and Women’s UCI Road Race events in the early part of the year. One wonders if there will be a bid for the Summer Olympics to be in the Middle East in 2020 or 2024 with Qatar being the focus of a combination of countries providing the facilities.
Qatar Airlines would enjoy increased exposure through this initiative, but since so much Hotel Accommodation will be required in 2022 it seems likely that many more World Events will be sought to justify an expansion of the existing hotel facilities. With a combined bid the hotel accomodation of nearby City/States would help absorb the massive influx of visitors to the region.
Qatar should give some thought to becoming a centre of excellence for "Paralympic Sport"since all the stadia they will build will require "Wheelchair Access" and the Adaptive Community is the fastest growth area in Tourism. Any Qatar Airline tickets they have to spare i am sure i can put to good use as i get around to visit the various Pro Tour Events each year.
PS Please check my profile as there are other websites worth visiting and of course i would appreciate comments since there is so much going on out there that i am as yet unaware !
YOU TOO CAN ASSIST " ADAPTIVE / PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED SPORT"!!..... THIS BLOG REMINISING ON PLACES AND PEOPLE VISITED OVER 24 YEARS OF PEDALING "PRO TOUR " RACE ROUTES". SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE VISIT . Note that i ride alone and unassisted ! I represent NOBODY and my views in relation to " Para Sport " are personal BUT what others do is their OWN affair ! I encourage ALL to help their National Paralympic Org. assisting those living in their area with dreams of Sporting Achievement .
Showing posts with label WORLD CUP SOCCER. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WORLD CUP SOCCER. Show all posts
Dec 8, 2010
Dec 3, 2010
Cynthia Banham
Coming up to the anniversary of the starting of this blog i was delighted to find an article about "Aussie Troops" whom like the US & UK media are rarely reported !
In the past year i have sought info on these courageous people who are starting their life once again after serving their country. Help4heroes and Wounded Warrior Project are orgs. i was aware of but regardless of whom i asked was unable to find a similar org. in Australia. Whilst there are ONLY 45 as reported by Cynthia's article i am sure there are many more that should be considered as part of this segment of the population and qualify for the assistance being offered.
Years ago i was fortunate to be involved with Legacy a truly inspiring organisation but felt there must be more dedicated orgs. to assist these service personnel. Legacy is a remarkable organisation and each year has a fund raiser when amongst other activities you are able to buy and wear "Pins" of a variety of sizes and colours although then they gave recognition to the size of your donation(keeping the sellers honest/upmanship? who can say) and as i went to and from work that week i sold off the tray and was invited to a committee lunch to recognise my efforts.
Not my place to comment on Government Policy but i will say that ALL the troops deserve recognition and those injured/disabled deserve better treatment than being ignored by those who should know better. Seeing that there are 4 of this number striving to serve their country once again as Paralympian Athletes backs some of the comments i have made in earlier blogs. To those i wish success, regardless of whether they medal they are role models to us all.
Yesterday i tried to add comment to Cynthia's article but when i tried today i find that comments are closed. WHY? In that article there is a link to the Economist article .I now add a further link for the comments related to the economist articleThere is a blog fatcyclist.com who this week received over 1000 comments and it was only about losing 10lbs, cynthia may not have time to read the comments but this is an important issue and the public pay taxes which should be put to use to improve the lot of these TAXPAYERS so that they are able to rejoin the community once again. Think what the 45million spent on the failed World Cup bid would have achieved if allocated to the facilities needed by these Returned Service Personnel
Would appreciate comments on this issue but also more info on any organisation in Australia raising funds to assist these Service personnel adjusting to their new way of life.
In the past year i have sought info on these courageous people who are starting their life once again after serving their country. Help4heroes and Wounded Warrior Project are orgs. i was aware of but regardless of whom i asked was unable to find a similar org. in Australia. Whilst there are ONLY 45 as reported by Cynthia's article i am sure there are many more that should be considered as part of this segment of the population and qualify for the assistance being offered.
Years ago i was fortunate to be involved with Legacy a truly inspiring organisation but felt there must be more dedicated orgs. to assist these service personnel. Legacy is a remarkable organisation and each year has a fund raiser when amongst other activities you are able to buy and wear "Pins" of a variety of sizes and colours although then they gave recognition to the size of your donation(keeping the sellers honest/upmanship? who can say) and as i went to and from work that week i sold off the tray and was invited to a committee lunch to recognise my efforts.
Not my place to comment on Government Policy but i will say that ALL the troops deserve recognition and those injured/disabled deserve better treatment than being ignored by those who should know better. Seeing that there are 4 of this number striving to serve their country once again as Paralympian Athletes backs some of the comments i have made in earlier blogs. To those i wish success, regardless of whether they medal they are role models to us all.
Yesterday i tried to add comment to Cynthia's article but when i tried today i find that comments are closed. WHY? In that article there is a link to the Economist article .I now add a further link for the comments related to the economist articleThere is a blog fatcyclist.com who this week received over 1000 comments and it was only about losing 10lbs, cynthia may not have time to read the comments but this is an important issue and the public pay taxes which should be put to use to improve the lot of these TAXPAYERS so that they are able to rejoin the community once again. Think what the 45million spent on the failed World Cup bid would have achieved if allocated to the facilities needed by these Returned Service Personnel
Would appreciate comments on this issue but also more info on any organisation in Australia raising funds to assist these Service personnel adjusting to their new way of life.
May 21, 2010
WORM CRAWLS OUT
AS I start this blog entry the Giro is 87km from the line and they have just shown video of the worm on Deutsche Eurosport in a split section with the race where real racers are earning their living by suffering long distances and for the most part unseasonably cold and wet weather for this section of Italy.
Most of the commentary since the start of this transmission has featured an incident in 2006 which should have been long consigned to the dustbin of history as of no interest to cycling or the encouragement of sponsorship. However ever since a certain Jan was accused of engaging in “Unsporting activities” the Germans in particular have tried to distance themselves from the sport.
Last week in the Cuneo area I was fortunate to ride with Eric Zabel as I have done many other times in past years. One occasion that comes into sharp focus is the Vuelta Rest day in 2001 at Barcelona
Most Spanish teams stayed in the same neighbourhood so the were about 50+ in the group including yours truly. Training on rest day starts out at a moderate pace through the suburbs and as we were going along I got my leg pulled unmercifully as there were any number of the racers who knew my story and wanted to know why I support “Disabled Sport” even though some of them remembered me from the 2000 Olympic in Sydney.
Not sure who started it but I had paper thrust under my nose and the request for autograph, “are you kidding” I asked but the straight face answered their family had seen me on TV so were asked to oblige. Well I went to the back of the group and tried to do the bike autograph, I was then doing like Stephan Roche as I wobbled down the road. This got to be a bit of a joke as some of the Telecom boys joined in as well. Later the group broke up into several sections and together with Telecom I rode up to the observatory behind Barcelona . Returning to the hotel in the traffic a little fat local hopped out of his car with a tyre iron to threaten the Telecom guys, Eric broke out in laughter as did the others , the lights changed and we took off bemused as to what the rabbit was raving about..
Back to the return ride to Cuneo, following Eric was a long haired Italian looking guy in a red uniform letting Eric ride point. I saw them coming towards me and having seen Eric in Savigliano early that morning was surprised so turned as quickly as I could to chase but was 150m behind so was red lining to catch the draft. After I got on I found that the pace was uncomfortably high so with a strong wind in the face decided to draft rather than chat.
Now here’s the thing that stands out, we were easily going faster than I have ever gone with him on “Rest Days” regardless of the head wind, closer to 40kph if not more. This amazing guy is not racing and yet he is pulling us both along quite easily ,and he is not named by the worm as a user. The next day with Moser, Motta, Bettini & Fondriest started out at a lower tempo but the return trip was equally as fast again Maurizio is not named by the worm. Fact is he seems to have a grudge against his countrymen and US Cycling and their connections but then he was looking for attention at the Tour of California and caught the attention world wide.
What a sad day it is when “helping someone” in past years is rewarded with this type of behaviour. As I was growing up I was taken to the beach and would build sandcastles and at home like other kids would throw mud at the wall hoping some would stick , well we all know that Media Circles have deep pockets and access to teams of lawyers so what’s a little mud between reporting on Iraq and World Cup Soccer?
Earlier this week I thought it was “April Fools day “as I caught an article about tiny motors being buried in the frames of bikes. YUP there are those who think that a bike can be assisted by a tiny motor! Where do you hide the batteries that are needed to transform the power of the athlete into mechanised assistance?
Marco Bugnotti made a comment as a member of the UCI that was reported in Cyclingnews.com which I thought summed up their attitude to the Media’s interest in this subject. Looks like it has been overtaken as a matter of speculation by the worm!
Two grand tours on the go and both with Aussies wearing the leaders jersey with 20+ Aussies vying with each other to achieve recognition the rest of this week will be great viewing. Another thing I notice regularly is the Columbia team spends consistently more time on the front of the peleton than other teams, is this my imagination or is this fact.
Perticara has been passed with a 6min lead for the breakaway and it reminds me of Linus running out of steam before the finish in an earlier etappe, disappointing to see someone have “Hitting the Wall(usually in marathons) syndrome” in a bike race and within the final kilometre.
PLEASE IF YOU ENJOYED THIS BLOG click the “FOLLOW” on the navbar and LEAVE a COMMENT as “Sponsors react to interaction and I cannot help “Disabled/Physically Challenged Athletes without their support! Helping Para Athletes is why I make this blog available!
Most of the commentary since the start of this transmission has featured an incident in 2006 which should have been long consigned to the dustbin of history as of no interest to cycling or the encouragement of sponsorship. However ever since a certain Jan was accused of engaging in “Unsporting activities” the Germans in particular have tried to distance themselves from the sport.
Last week in the Cuneo area I was fortunate to ride with Eric Zabel as I have done many other times in past years. One occasion that comes into sharp focus is the Vuelta Rest day in 2001 at Barcelona
Most Spanish teams stayed in the same neighbourhood so the were about 50+ in the group including yours truly. Training on rest day starts out at a moderate pace through the suburbs and as we were going along I got my leg pulled unmercifully as there were any number of the racers who knew my story and wanted to know why I support “Disabled Sport” even though some of them remembered me from the 2000 Olympic in Sydney.
Not sure who started it but I had paper thrust under my nose and the request for autograph, “are you kidding” I asked but the straight face answered their family had seen me on TV so were asked to oblige. Well I went to the back of the group and tried to do the bike autograph, I was then doing like Stephan Roche as I wobbled down the road. This got to be a bit of a joke as some of the Telecom boys joined in as well. Later the group broke up into several sections and together with Telecom I rode up to the observatory behind Barcelona . Returning to the hotel in the traffic a little fat local hopped out of his car with a tyre iron to threaten the Telecom guys, Eric broke out in laughter as did the others , the lights changed and we took off bemused as to what the rabbit was raving about..
Back to the return ride to Cuneo, following Eric was a long haired Italian looking guy in a red uniform letting Eric ride point. I saw them coming towards me and having seen Eric in Savigliano early that morning was surprised so turned as quickly as I could to chase but was 150m behind so was red lining to catch the draft. After I got on I found that the pace was uncomfortably high so with a strong wind in the face decided to draft rather than chat.
Now here’s the thing that stands out, we were easily going faster than I have ever gone with him on “Rest Days” regardless of the head wind, closer to 40kph if not more. This amazing guy is not racing and yet he is pulling us both along quite easily ,and he is not named by the worm as a user. The next day with Moser, Motta, Bettini & Fondriest started out at a lower tempo but the return trip was equally as fast again Maurizio is not named by the worm. Fact is he seems to have a grudge against his countrymen and US Cycling and their connections but then he was looking for attention at the Tour of California and caught the attention world wide.
What a sad day it is when “helping someone” in past years is rewarded with this type of behaviour. As I was growing up I was taken to the beach and would build sandcastles and at home like other kids would throw mud at the wall hoping some would stick , well we all know that Media Circles have deep pockets and access to teams of lawyers so what’s a little mud between reporting on Iraq and World Cup Soccer?
Earlier this week I thought it was “April Fools day “as I caught an article about tiny motors being buried in the frames of bikes. YUP there are those who think that a bike can be assisted by a tiny motor! Where do you hide the batteries that are needed to transform the power of the athlete into mechanised assistance?
Marco Bugnotti made a comment as a member of the UCI that was reported in Cyclingnews.com which I thought summed up their attitude to the Media’s interest in this subject. Looks like it has been overtaken as a matter of speculation by the worm!
Two grand tours on the go and both with Aussies wearing the leaders jersey with 20+ Aussies vying with each other to achieve recognition the rest of this week will be great viewing. Another thing I notice regularly is the Columbia team spends consistently more time on the front of the peleton than other teams, is this my imagination or is this fact.
Perticara has been passed with a 6min lead for the breakaway and it reminds me of Linus running out of steam before the finish in an earlier etappe, disappointing to see someone have “Hitting the Wall(usually in marathons) syndrome” in a bike race and within the final kilometre.
PLEASE IF YOU ENJOYED THIS BLOG click the “FOLLOW” on the navbar and LEAVE a COMMENT as “Sponsors react to interaction and I cannot help “Disabled/Physically Challenged Athletes without their support! Helping Para Athletes is why I make this blog available!
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