Pendleton’s Life After She Retired

Victoria Pendleton is a former British track cyclist who has won two gold medals for Olympics, nine gold medals for World Championships and has had an outstanding racing record in the European Championships and Commonwealth Games. Now after retiring he is not ready to give up cycling all together. She is going to remain associated with the cycling events conducted for women only. She has decided to take up running and become a vegetarian. She feels she has got the freedom to be reckless now. When she was into competitive racing, she was not allowed to run because of the fear of injuries. But now she has the opportunity to do so without any fear.

Earlier she had to also follow strict diet plans and was not allowed to eat as she wished. But now she has the freedom to eat what she likes as and when she wants to. After so many years of staying attached to the racing track, Victoria is eager to enjoy her life away from the track. Now what you will notice a carefree and relaxed girl, totally opposite of what she was on the race track- that is determined and at times emotional. Pendleton is more than happy with what she has achieved in her cycling career. She had not expected this much popularity to come her way.

Victoria is the representative for Cycletta and after her retirement she is going to focus on the Cycletta events. She is also planning to design sports clothes for women as she has craze for fashion and designing. Pendleton is surely missing her competitive cycling career but is genuinely very happy that she is going to get an opportunity to try out new things and face new challenges. Victoria is also set to tie the knots with her fiancé this August.

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King & McConnell Aim For Canberra Cross-Country Titles

Jenni King & Daniel McConnell, the reigning Aussie national cross country champions are aiming for titles in the cross country championship in Canberra. Both the ace riders predicted hard fight at the latest Subaru Australian Mountain Bike Championship 2013 in Canberra. The championship is scheduled for 20th-24th of February, 2013.

Stromlo Forest Park trails would be hosting the best of mountain bikers in Australia where they would be vying for the desired gold and green jerseys of national champion in cross country trials, eliminator and downhill disciplines.

McConnell, the 2 times Olympian and only male biker from Australia in London, would be head-to-head with the fellow Victorians, Paul Ploeg and Chris Jongewaard.

“I had gold and green jersey last year and it was the first time when I could step up and gain some great results”, stated McConnell while speaking about the international season where he enhanced his UCI international rank from 80th to 22nd. “It was cool & I received fair recognition. It would surely be amazing to have that very chance again”, added in McConnell.

Jongewaard, the 5 times national cross country champion, stays undefeated in All Mountain Cup National series 2013, post his victories in the initial 2 rounds at Thredbo and Mount Buller. Paul, a 4 time former national champion (junior), would be focusing on standing out in Canberra. He returned to championship recently, after his shoulder surgery a couple of weeks back. Ploeg sought great success in Thredbo by clinching 2 of the 3 stage wins.

“Chris is in fair form & I believe he is the dude to beat. Ploeg is also there. There would be some guys to check out this time”, remarked McConnell. “It’s a pretty technical course, thus there would always be some surprises”, McConnell stressed while discussing on the 2009 course for World Championships that includes the infamous “hammerhead” section.

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Thomas Wins Tour Down Under

Welsh professional racing cyclist Geraint Thomas finished the Tour Down Under by snatching the first position. He said in reports that he is very much satisfied and happy with the results and he felt good from the beginning of the day of the race.

Geraint Thomas plays for the UCI Pro Team, Team Sky and he has won the Junior Paris–Roubaix in 2004, the British National Road Race Championships in 2010 and the Bayern-Rundfahrt in 2011. He is also an Olympic gold medal champion.

Geraint Thomas thanked the organizers and trainers for helping him out and makings his stay very comfortable. He also said that he had worked very hard all winter for the Tour Down Under and he is more than happy with how things turned out to be. He added that after the Olympics in Beijing he was a little under the weather and he had not been in his old form but after a lot of training, practice and determination he has now taken up the new challenges in his way with new, rejuvenated vigor and he feels that he is confidently back in form again. His fans all over the world are happy with this news and also delighted with his performance in the Tour Down Under.

With his win in the final stage, he also avoided a late pile up. People who were in the lead, Philippe Gilbert, Ben Hermans and Javier Moreno were a part of this pile up just when Javier was about to win the stage. This also gave Geraint Thomas a 5 second lead and the four of them shared the podium during the prize distribution ceremony.

Geraint Thomas said that this win has given him a newfound confidence which can help him with other races and tournaments ahead.

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Charity poker Bike Rides

As a keen cyclist, you may have heard of events like the bicyclepokerrun.com. Many charities organise these events to help raise money and give cyclists a chance to get fit and give something back to the community. The charity Spoke cards, cleverly combined cycling with poker to raise some money. The charity normally hosts the event every august and it is always a big success.

The charity aims to raise funds for the Young Survival Coalition (YSC), a charity that supports women under 40 who suffer from breast cancer.

The event sees the cyclists ride between various bike shops and pick up a playing card from each. The specified route is normally at least 30 miles long, but unlike a conventional cycle race, it’s not who finishes first that matters, it’s who has the the best poker hand at the end. It is a great way for keen cyclists to combine their passion for poker with their favorite sport. Read More Charity poker Bike Rides

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Lance Armstrong to feature on Mad Magazine cover

Mad Magazine is about to release their end of year magazine “The 20 Dumbest” by the end of December. And to nobody’s surprise the cover-boy of the magazine, Alfred e. Neuman, is depicted as the US cyclist Armstrong.

The USADA report charged Lance Armstrong with the intake of performance enhancing drugs and stripped him off of his seven Tour de France titles. They also deduced that Armstrong had committed the most “sophisticated” crime in the history of this sports industry. A number of teammates of Armstrong gave their testimonies against him and it led to show that Armstrong forced some of his teammates to take the banned drugs along with him.

Armstrong himself stated a few days back that the reports of the USADA failed to move him as he knew what was coming. He remained silent in the face of the report. Incidentally, Armstrong stopped his legal fight long ago saying that he didn’t want to get on with it because no matter what, the USADA and some people would fight to prove him guilty. Though he stopped his fight, but he consistently went on telling that he was not guilty of taking any kind of illegal drugs. But after the reports were published he didn’t speak a word in favor of himself.

Editor of the Mad Magazine, John Ficarra, told that they thought of Joe Jackson to feature the front page. But then ESPN emphasized on Armstrong to be depicted on the front page and he agreed. He thinks what Armstrong did is a shame and he is a real cheater. He cheated on the game, on his fans, on his teammates and even on himself. So according to Ficarra, Lance Armstrong is a nice choice to feature on the first page of the “20 Dumbest People, Events and Things of 2012”. But he doesn’t forget Shoeless Joe! He said he would be their next year’s target!

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