The Blog Page

News, commentary and humor about bicycling and other topics of the day

 

Travels in Quebec

Tom Uhlenbrock, the talented travel writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has articles about a recent journey to Quebec, the Canadian province I've had the privilege of visiting three times since 1997. Participants in TC Tours' Tour of Quebec walked all the stairs to the top of Parc de la Chute-Montmorency. Tom suggests you take the tram, but I say take the stairs. It gives you a real sense how big the falls are. Here are the links to the stories:

Les couleurs du Quebec

Old Quebec's stone walls surround cafes, historic homes and museums

Accommodations, etc., in Quebec

Roger 0 comments 2:35 PM

Sunday, November 28, 2004

New map of St. Louis bicycling trails

The Edwardsville Intelligencer recently published a story about a new map of St. Louis bicycling trails produced by RideFinders, which promotes carpooling and vanpooling in the St. Louis region. The new Regional Bikeways of Metro St. Louis map highlights more than 40 dedicated bikeways located in parks, conservation areas and railroad corridors throughout St. Louis and the Metro East. You can order the map by calling 1-800-VIP-RIDE.

Roger 0 comments 1:48 PM

Rebirth of St. Louis velodrome?

Did you know St. Louis has a velodrome? It's true, but don't feel bad if you don't know much about it. The velodrome is in Penrose Park in north St. Louis, and it's easy to miss while you're driving along on Interstate 70. It was in bad shape nearly 15 years ago when I photographed bicycle racer Scott Cain there, and I can imagine it's in worse shape today.

Fortunately, some individuals are trying to raise money to revive the velodrome, and you can read about it here.

For another view about the velodrome, read Steve Patterson's blog page.

Roger 0 comments 1:25 PM

Monday, November 22, 2004

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Hello, hello! HOYA!

The new U2 album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," comes out in U.S. record shops Tuesday! You can hear it online at the band's Web site, and I'm liking what I hear. Like the album "All That You Can't Leave Behind," U2 takes a back-to-basics approach with the songs. Listen for yourselves, then buy the CD!

Roger 0 comments 1:45 AM

Sunday, November 21, 2004

MetroLink trail update

There's good news for those of you who use the MetroLink bicycle trail in Belleville. It's a lot easier to ride from Southwestern Illinois College to the Belleville station because of the traffic signal that has been placed at the SWIC entrance at Greenmount Road. Cyclists are able to activate the crosswalk signal so they can safely cross Greenmount and get on the southbound lane of the trail.

Before the signal, cyclists had to endure long waits and small gaps to get to the southbound lane. The less patient cyclists among us often rode against traffic in the northbound lane, not a wise thing to do on that road.

The one downside of the crosswalk signal is that cyclists have to get off the path to activate the signal. It's too bad the planners of that signal didn't check with the people who designed the crosswalk signals at several Madison County trails so that they could have placed a button in easy reach of a cyclist on the path.

While the crosswalk signal is one of many flaws on the MetroLink trail -- too many stop signs and sharp turns -- St. Clair County residents should use the trail to show public officials there is a demand for bicycling trails. Let's hope O'Fallon leaders are successful in their efforts to build a trail designed to link into the Madison County trails.

Wouldn't it be nice if St. Clair County had a network of trails that take people places like the network Madison County has?

Roger 0 comments 3:33 PM

Review of the 2004 cycling season

One of these days, I will write my account of the 2004 West Shoreline Tour. But it has been one of those years where cycling -- and writing about cycling -- has taken a backburner to other things. Since it's a gloomy November day and the St. Louis Rams are getting killed by the Buffalo Bills, I figured it's a good time to review the 2004 cycling season.

As I mentioned, cycling hasn't been high on my priority list. I'm not really sure why, but I felt really burned out about the sport this year. I only did one weeklong tour this year, and I had no great desire to do another trip.

I guess the tone of the season was set during April when planning the Tour de Stooges and rainy weather gobbled up most of the month. In a normal year, April is a good month for me to build up some mileage to prepare for weeklong tours. Instead, I spend a lot of time in front of the computer answering e-mails and compiling T-shirts orders.

There were times where I felt motivated, and the unusually mild summer we had in the St. Louis area helped. But there seemed to be a lot of other priorities that got in the way.

Shoreline was a great tour: wonderful scenery, good roads and trails, and exceptional people. But, still, something was missing. I wasn't riding as strongly as I should have been, and it killed my desire to do any more weeklong trips this year.

I am hoping my motivation returns for the 2005 cycling season. It will be the 20th anniversary of my first weeklong cycling tour, the Bicycle Across the Magnificent Miles of Illinois ride from Chicago to Edwardsville, the community where I was living at the time. I think it would be appropriate for me to do an Illinois ride to mark that milestone

Roger 0 comments 3:14 PM

Thursday, November 11, 2004

"Saving Private Ryan" indecent?

While most of America is able to watch the film "Saving Private Ryan" tonight, Veterans Day, the people of St. Louis cannot. KDNL-TV, which is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, decided not to take the risk of showing the film because of language. Here's a paragraph from Sinclair's press release:

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) announced today that as a result of ambiguities in the Federal Communications Commission indecency rules, it will not be airing the movie "Saving Private Ryan" on any of its stations which carry programming from the ABC television network. Sinclair deeply regrets notbeing able to broadcast this highly acclaimed motion picture this evening. (Link to full press release)

While I normally don't condone foul language or gratuitous sex on television, the First Amendment defender in me says that Sinclair should have taken the issue head-on. Sinclair makes a legitimate point about the FCC not making it clear whether a film such as "Saving Private Ryan" would be considered indecent under the new rules. However, those of us in the media -- newspapers, television, radio, etc. -- always need to be vigilant to protect First Amendment rights. Sometimes, that may involve defending speech that may be objectionable to some, but it has to be done.

In the case of "Saving Private Ryan," ABC made it clear that the film has objectionable language, and people have the the option not to watch the film.

It also bugs me that the case that led broadcasters not to air "Saving Private Ryan" involved Bono, the lead singer of U2, one of my favorite bands. Yes, Bono should have known better not to use the f-word at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, but the FCC really messed things up with its ruling in that case.

Roger 0 comments 9:05 PM

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Four more years

John Kerry is giving his concession speech as I write. I'm glad we're not going to have the protracted mess that we had four years ago. I'm also glad that my friend Marie, who is a dentist in the Cleveland area, and the other fine residents of Ohio will not be the brunt of jokes as the people of Florida were because of their hanging chad controversies. I remember the pathetic pictures of election judges examining ballots for hanging chads, and I thought to myself that that's a heck of a way for a democracy to work.

I'm not going to offer political opinions on this blog. The reason for that is because of my position at the Belleville News-Democrat. I don't want opinions that I express here to be construed as compromising my objectivity at my job. Every journalist has opinions, but I do believe the vast majority of the people I've encountered in the newspaper field do their best to keep those opinions from clouding their ability to present the news in a fair manner.

Roger 0 comments 1:05 PM

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Hey you! Go out and vote!

I'm about to step out the door, walk two blocks and cast my vote. It's most important duty we have as Americans, and it's one I take very seriously.

There are lot of big races out there, not just the presidential race, but Illinois and St. Clair County races as well. It's really important for you to get out there so your voice can be heard.

Roger 0 comments 1:10 PM