RAAM: Race Across America on the Weather Channel

The Race Across America 2006 will be featured as part of the Weather Channel's
"Road Crew" with Jeff Mielcarz.

Four segments will air next week: July 5, 6, 8, and 9, 2006.

Wednesday, July 5, 2006 - Evening Edition (9 p.m.-11 p.m. EST)
Thursday, July 6, 2006 - Evening Edition (9 p.m.-11 p.m. EST)
Saturday, July 8, 2006 - Weekend View (7 a.m.-11 a.m. EST)
Sunday, July 9, 2006 - Weekend View (7 a.m.-11 a.m. EST)

Basso, Ullrich suspended from TdF

This is absolutely stunningly jaw-dropping news about the Tour de France. T-Mobile suspended Jan Ullrich from the team along with Oscar Sevilla. Soon after, Ivan Basso was removed from Team CSC. This happened as new evidence was uncovered from the Spanish doping probe apparently implicating Basso, Ullrich and several other pro-riders.

I can't even imagine how Ullrich and Basso must feel.

Tags: ullrich, basso, tdf, tour+de+france, doping, drugs, t+mobile, csc, cycling

Go outside and play

For more children, less time for outdoor play. Busy schedules, less open space, more safety fears, and lure of the Web keep kids inside.

Some long-ago summer experiences can shock today's youth. As a child in Stoneham, Mass., in the 1950s and '60s, Neil Gussman rode his bike to Boston (about 10 miles) when he was 8. "When I told my kids that I rode to Boston one day, they could not conceive of doing something like that," says Mr. Gussman of Lancaster, Pa. "I think they suspected my mother of neglect." Noting that his four children are attending camps this year, he says, "My kids and I grew up on different planets."

Read more in the Christian Science Monitor.

Bicycle noisemaker

Did you ever put playing cards in your spokes as noisemakers? The Spokester Bicycle Noisemaker is a plastic doodad that you press onto the front fork of your bike for the same effect, only better and louder. Made in the USA and shipped from Greensboro, North Carolina.
Photo info: spokester by richardmasoner.

Starbucks Celebrity Blender Bike-Off

Starbucks realizes that coffee and cycling go together like, well, coffee and cycling, using Celebrity pedal-power to create their popular high-calorie Frappuccino drinks on stationary bike blenders. Yummmmm. Via the Bike Hugger.

Tour de France TV schedule

OLN TV will cover the Tour de France again this year, with live coverage starting every day of Le Tour at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time and "Enhanced Prime" shows starting at 8 P.M. Eastern, 9 P.M. Pacific. Without a clear-cut pre-ordained winner for the 2007 TdF, will viewership improve or decline over last year?