Alberto Contador has now been reinstated as winner of the 2010 Tour de France (AP Photo/ Francisco Seco)

Pro cycling was in the headlines again last week.

Without a doubt, doping in pro cycling is one of those things, like cycling fatalities that I could write about every week, but choose not to.

Alberto Contador has now been reinstated as winner of the 2010 Tour de France, and is free to pursue his pro cycling career, following a ruling by the Spanish Cycling Federation.

The Federation decided that any clenbuterol, a banned fat-burning drug, found in his system must have got there by accidently eating tainted meat.  As I write, Contador is currently lying second in his first come back race: The Tour of the Algarve.

The World Anti Doping Agency and the UCI have yet to come to a decision on the matter, and could appeal to the Court of Arbitration in Sport in Switzerland. They must do this within 30 days, so the story is not finished yet.

One of the more interesting bits of new is the retirement (yes again!) of seven -time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Whatever you think about the guy, he has certainly put cycling in the forefront of many non- cyclists’ minds. And here I don’t mean the ongoing doping allegations.

What I’m talking about are things like his book, ‘It’s Not about the Bike’, which talks about his return to cycling after recovering from testicular cancer, and his cancer charity; The Lance Armstrong Foundation. While there is no denying that his charities do great work on a worldwide scale, I know several cancer suffers who have taken solace and inspiration from his book, which is something that few other pro cyclists can lay claim to.

Sprint Bonuses

In the United Kingdom, a campaign called Bike Aware is pressing for more ‘cycle awareness’ to be included in the driving test; and for everyone taking a driving test to have first passed the Bikeability assessment. http://www.bikeaware.org.uk/index.html

Exhibitors are rolling in for the first UK Handmade and Boutique Bicycle Show in Bristol in June this year. Well-known bike builders like Condor and Brian Rourke will be there, together with new businesses like Going Going Bike and Tokyo Fixed. If you’ve an eye for the hand crafted or you’re massively on-trend, this is a show not to be missed. http://www.bespokedbristol.co.uk/Bespoked_BristolThe_UK_Handmade_and_Boutique_Bicycle_Show_2011.html

Halfords, the high street cycle and motoring retailer, recently commissioned an online survey among 2050 adults to find out how the new generation of multi-media smart phones was affecting their driving. The results were disturbing: the number of drivers checking text messages has gone up by 25%; people social networking has doubled, and people taking or making calls has gone up 29%. The cynical may see this as an effort by Halfords to sell more hands-free mobile phone kits – that is until someone close to them gets injured by a driver talking on their mobile phone.

http://www.halfordspressoffice.com/Press-Releases/MORE-MOTORISTS-THAN-EVER-TWEET-TEXT-AND-TALK-AT-THE-WHEEL-32b.aspx

If you’re considering a cycling holiday this year, and is there any other sort of holiday? You could do a lot worse than check out the website of new kids on the block, RatherbeCycling.  Recently set up by very experienced trans-world cyclists, Gav McDonald and Jersey girl, Cheryl Frost, it offers some exciting cycling holidays all over the planet.

http://www.ratherbecycling.co.uk/

The battle for having the honour, and the resulting economic benefits, of being the starting point for the 2014 Tour de France rolls on. Just a few days ago, the City of Barcelona made its bid. It joins Florence, Salzburg, Utrecht, Krakow and Scotland who have made approaches to the organising body, ASO, in recent months. Recent news that most of Scotland’s roads need attention can’t do much to help the cause. Audit Scotland released a report last Wednesday that claimed that the cost of the road maintenance backlog has now reached £2.25 billion, and this is despite £654 million being spent in the last financial year. http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/us/actus.html#zone165094

I’d imagine that some of you ride a bike for its green credentials, as well as the many other benefits cycling brings, so you will probably like the very environmentally-friendly Green Oil.  Developed by Simon Nash while at Southampton University, it has no petrochemicals or PTFE in it, so it is biodegradable. All the packaging is either biodegradable or recycled, and Green Oil even gives money back on returned bottles or offers to fill up your old one.

Now four years, and several awards and accolades later, Green Oil is available at Howies, the ethical clothing store, and it is distributed in the United Kingdom by Upgrade.

http://www.green-oil.net/About%20us.html

If you were thinking of going to see the Olympic Road Race at the 2012 London Olympics, then you might like to peruse the attached website. The race starts on The Mall and makes its way through six London boroughs before heading out into Surrey. An ideal course for spectators, the race goes through Richmond Park and Bushy Park and climbs the notorious Box Hill before returning to finish in The Mall.

The men’s race is provisionally planned for Saturday 28^th July and the women’s race for the 29^th July 2012.

http://www.london2012.com/news/2011/02/london-2012-announces-new-route-for-olympic-road-races.php

And finally,

Here’s another ‘Don’t do this at Home’ story; a chap was recently spotted in Cambridge cycling along with a full-size fridge on his carrier. How he kept his balance, and how the carrier didn’t collapse is amazing. What is also amazing is how close the white car overtakes him at the end of the clip.

Here is the very short clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac5FNV_UOO4

Arthur Lamy is a freelance writer specialising in cycling; www.cycleinjersey.com