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Where can you eat blackberries off the bush, have a glass of local pinot gris, enjoy magnificent views over the Waimea estuary from your bike and be home in time for dinner? The Tasman Great Taste Trail, of course.

The Mapua leg opened recently and my family quickly explored this latest offering. Miss 12-year-old had reservations about the excursion and had to be bribed with the promise of treats and fantastic scenery along the way, as well as assurances that there would be no big hills, no bad weather and no scary trucks.

The trail officially starts at the Nelson Visitor i-Site but you can join anywhere on the route. It has regular and distinctive blue signs so it's hard to get lost. It's a little bit like heading for the next DOC orange marker when tramping , or being in England and looking for the next signpost on a long-distance walk.

When tramping, I hope for a hut or, at the very least, a sign saying the hut is nearby, and in England I was often looking for the next friendly pub. On the Tasman Great Taste Trail, the scenery is so pleasant and the cycling so easy that I am content to enjoy the moment and not worry about what is coming up.

Once we reached the Railway Reserve, behind Victory School, the cars were left behind. We found perfectly ripe wild blackberries and continued cycling with stained hands and mouths.

We carried along the shared walking/cycling path to Richmond and headed north towards Mapua, riding over boardwalks around the Waimea Inlet. I ignored the rather industrial sawmill and recycling plant and instead looked out over the estuary, home to a range of internationally significant bird species, including the godwit.

I was hugely impressed by the range of people cycling with all ages and abilities represented. One family group we saw included dad and a young boy on an articulated tandem, mum with a child in a trailer, two young children cycling independently, and finally grandma steering granddad, who was pedalling hard on a recumbent trailer.

We know it was granddad because he called out as he passed, "And granddad follows at the rear!"

We mucked around at Rabbit Island and remembered times that we had spent here training for the Otago Central Rail Trail - a memorable bike trip.

We also talked about the section of the Tasman Great Taste Trail section from Richmond to Brightwater, which we had cycled before Christmas. This particularly beautiful section includes vineyards, artists and cafes, and the new suspension bridge to cross the Waimea River.

 At Brightwater our team needed sustenance. I was tempted by the Sprig and Fern, but it was too early and hadn't opened. My husband wanted a coffee but the Headquarters Cafe and Bar was overflowing with more than 30 bikes parked outside. We settled for icecreams at the dairy.

I reckon we have cycled one-fifth of the trail and hope to tackle the rest as it develops. The Mapua to Kaiteriteri, and the Brightwater to Wakefield legs open later this year.

That just leaves the Wakefield to Tapawera, and Tapawera to Motueka legs, which will be completed by 2017.

All up, the trail will be a 175-kilometre loop containing the best the top of the south has to offer in views, food, wine, beer, sea and mountain scenery. I predict that our local ride is going to be as good as, if not better than, the Otago Central Rail Trail.

I may be biased but we have the following advantages: it is a loop, so transport logistics are simple in that you start and end in the same place; it is shorter and can be done in a weekend, or you can dawdle and take four days; it is warmer - no scraping frost and ice off your bike seats in the morning; we have wonderful eating and drinking places; and finally, the scenery is terrific.

Even if I am biased, I am not alone. The trail is listed as one of New Zealand's best rides in by Paul, Simon and Jonathan Kennet's guide book, Classic New Zealand Cycle Trails who say you can experience the "best wine, food, art and fashion on offer in Nelson and Tasman as you gently pedal from one tempting attraction to the next".

Jonathan said, "The thing I love about the trail is that it is so easy I can ride it with my non-cycling friends and know they'll have a great time". I think this is the key, and is demonstrated by our Miss 12-year-old's grudging admission that she enjoyed herself.

Using her requirements for no big hills, no trucks, good food, pleasant weather and superb scenery, the Tasman Great Taste Trail scores extremely highly on the sections we've been on. And it's only going to get better as more is completed.

Chelsea Midlarsky moved to Florida when she was 6 months old, but she has an affinity for her namesake. And yet, says the 25-year-old event planner, Delray Beach’s weather, friendly people and slower pace make it an ideal place to settle down.

It’s also the perfect venue for the 2nd Annual Delray Beach Twilight Festival, which Midlarsky founded. The international professional cycling event, set for March 22-24 on Atlantic Avenue, will feature about 1,500 cyclists who will “race through the streets kind of like a NASCAR race,” she explains. Spectators line the street to watch the cyclists travel around the 1 kilometer course - at speeds of about 35 to 40 mph. Last year‘s inaugural event drew 8,000 spectators, 16,000 are expected at this year’s March 23 event.

The weekend also includes health-centric vendors, BMX stunt shows and clinics. Amateur cyclists can sign up for a 37 or 62-mile Granfondo Garneau Florida Ride along A1A (held on March 23 with proceeds benefitting Gumbo Limbo’s turtle preservation project).

Midlarsky came up with the idea for the event after seeing her brother, Michael, compete in a similar festival in Athens, Ga. “My brother got me involved with cycling, he has been racing since he was 10. He made the sport exciting for me and I want to make it exciting for others,” says Midlarsky, a University of Florida graduate who previously managed an 850-member South Florida cycling club.

“This is the only event like this in Florida,” says Midlarsky, who bikes about three to four times a week. “Think Mardi Gras meets the Tour de France.”

“It is pretty incredible, I never thought it would get to be what it is in such a short time. I love that Delray has been so accepting of it and has embraced it,” says Midlarsky, who has a bachelor’s in hospitality management and owns RAC Event Productions.

As for the future of the event? “When people hear about it, and hear the word twilight, I don’t want them to think of vampires, I want them to think about this event. I want to make it a staple here in Delray Beach.”

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) will push ahead with efforts to clean up cycling without help from Lance Armstrong after the disgraced cyclist rejected another deadline to meet anti-doping investigators by Wednesday.
       
Armstrong's lawyer Tim Herman said in a statement released on Wednesday that the former cyclist still had issues with USADA, who had exposed him as drug cheat and led to him being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.
       
In a television interview with Oprah Winfrey last month, Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.
       
Following his admission, USADA offered Armstrong an opportunity to come forward and tell what he knows about doping in cycling and provide details about how he cheated and was able to avoid detection.
       
The anti-doping agency had originally provided Armstrong with a deadline of Feb. 6, but on the cyclist's request extended that offer until Wednesday.

It is the only question that flummoxes Elinor Barker, at 18 years old the latest bright young talent to roll off British cycling's production line. When were you last in school?

This week is half-term so at least no excuse is required for her to miss more lessons at Llanishen school in Cardiff. When she returns next week to resume her delayed A-level studies she may well have the material to write one of the better "what I did in my holidays" essays. "Last week I became a world champion…"

Barker is one of seven British riders who will make their World Track Championship debuts in distant Minsk this week, the first such gathering on the road to Rio and the 2016 Olympics. Dave Brailsford, Britain's performance director, calls it a "changing of the guard".

There will be no Chris Hoy, no Victoria Pendleton, no Pete Kennaugh, no Geraint Thomas, no Jo Rowsell, all of whom stood on top of the podium in the London velodrome last summer. The much decorated likes of Laura Trott, Dani King, Jason Kenny and Ed Clancy will be there to ensure Britain is typically well represented in the medal table over the next five days but it is the lesser known names fill ing the 16-strong team sheet that stand out for those responsible for plotting the route to Rio.

Britain won seven gold medals in London, a return that will be almost impossible to match three years from now. Almost impossible; they, be it riders or coaches, like a challenge at British Cycling.

"Given where we are for the next Olympic cycle we are in a very good position," suggests Chris Newton, the former Olympic medallist now coach of the men's endurance team. "I don't think we have always been in that position but this year we are, in terms of numbers.

"In an Olympic programme, three and a half years out, the numbers we are working with are very promising. I've got a really good group of athletes to work with. They are not at that level of Brad [Wiggins], Geraint, Pete, but they will soon get there and they will soon surpass that."

Given the past record of success and the sure succession that has kept Britain at the forefront of the sport for the last three Olympics, that careful optimism – and it is one accompanied with plenty of cautionary smallprint – is striking, especially in terms of numbers. Ten of the 16 now in Minsk are 21 or under, including Philip Hindes and Trott.

"We're looking good for the future," said Paul Manning, another former Olympian turned coach. "We are in a good position, particularly this far out."

Of the newcomers, it is Barker, a former junior World Champion riding with the all-conquering Trott and King, who has the best chance of coming home having earned the right to wear the distinctive rainbow jersey of a world champion. Rowsell's decision to focus on the road for the next couple of years – she intends to revert to the track in time for Rio – opened a place in the pursuit and Barker has taken it with an alacrity that might have given Rowsell pause for thought.

"She is a high achiever," says Manning, the team's coach. He describes how she is always looking to learn more; when training sessions finish, Barker remains, pestering Manning and the coaches for more information – how is she riding, how can she improve. If the effervescent Trott, says Manning, is always first in for training, Barker is last out.

"To step up from a junior straight into an Olympic team is massive and she's done it with no problem," says Trott. "It's great – it's nice to see that British cycling has got that constant flow of riders coming through."

King, who made up the trio that swept to gold in London having already won the world title, has been equally impressed. "She's got a great future ahead of her, she's a really strong rider," she says of her new team-mate.

This rare opportunity – to take a place alongside the world's two best riders in their class – has come at least a year earlier than Barker expected. It was an illness to Rowsell that opened the door. A matter of days before the World Cup in Glasgow in November, Barker was hurried into the team. The replacement was seamless and the trio won gold.

"Before then this felt out of reach – being part of the team for this Worlds," says Barker. "The next Worlds was my goal really but after Glasgow I thought 'yes, I can do this'."

The first World Championships post an Olympics is often low key, with countries shuffling personnel, trying out different pegs in different holes. Brailsford will not be there, but for those who are the opportunity is one that needs to be seized.

"It's pretty nerve racking," admits Barker. "The expectation when you race with GB is to win. It is the first World Championships in the cycle leading up to Rio so it is usual for there to be quite a young team. It's about experience but winning is a priority – these girls [Trott and King] don't want to lose their jersey. It's still really important to them, you can see in training they are totally motivated. They really do care – it is not just another title. It's a big deal."

Trott admits these championships are a "stepping stone" – she restated her long-term ambition of overtaking Hoy's medal haul – but is equally adamant that she and King want to keep their grip on the title, especially as this is the final time the women's pursuit will be a three-strong team racing over 3km. From post-Minsk it will be four riders over 4km, which only increases the likelihood of Barker becoming a constant member of the team even when Rowsell returns.

From the summer when Barker moves to Manchester – in the build-up to these World Championships she has been retiring to a hotel with her school books after training – she will be fully integrated into the academy programme, one for which these World Championships will offer an instructive health check.

Barker will move north the very day she completes her A-levels in biology and PE. It will mark the start of her full-time cycling career, one for which she already appears ready made.

This presents a problem in the winter though, especially as I suffer from poor circulation in my extremities, so I need well insulated gloves to stop my fingers from falling off. As a result, I've been on a constant quest to find a glove that ticks both boxes.

The Glacier Premium Cyclocross Glove appears to tick both boxes. This American company specialises in cold-weather gloves, and they have several winter variants. Don't let the cyclocross tag put you off, these are just as at home on the road bike. In fact I've used them more on the road than off it.

They combine a weather resistant fleece-lined neoprene back with a perforated palm, with reinforced leather fingers, thumb and key areas of the palm. There's just a hint of padding. The palm is very grippy and gives a good feel on the bars which useful when it's peeing it down and you want a secure grasp on the bar tape. I've tried them off-road and they give a very good grip on mud covered bars.

The back is made from a thin neoprene that keeps the wind and rain out. They're not able to compete with chunkier winter gloves when the temperature is down below about six degrees, but above that they're just the ticket for shorter rides. I wouldn't want to be out in them for five hours, but a quick lunch hour blast around the park sees them coping just fine.

Across the top of the fingers the neoprene is interrupted with a section of elastic. The idea behind this is surely to increase dexterity, but I found it worked counter to any such benefits. The elastic works against the stretch of the fingers and as a result produces a restrictive feel. It's enough to ruin the gloves for me.

Fit is mostly good. Around the thumb it is excellent, but the fingers are just a touch long, with a small amount of space at the fingertips. I like the large panel of towel fabric on the thumb for wiping a runny nose.

The elongated cuff stretches to fit and ensures a decent seal around the wrist, as well as ensuring some overlap with the sleeves of jacket. They're very well reinforced around the thumb area, with the leather palm overlapping with the neoprene to prevent any wear in this area. The stitching is all solid and they've so far stood up to plenty of abuse. I've used them mountain biking as well and they've stood up just fine to the abuse.

Ultimately, they're not warm enough for longer training rides, but for an hour or so around a cyclocross race or a winter/spring crit race, where I would place fit and freedom of movement above insulation and warmth, they're ideally suited. The fit is just ruined by the elasticated fingers for me.

IT HAS been a compelling week in Spanish football. Then again, most weeks are. Lionel Messi scored for the 12th consecutive game in La Liga and brought his tally for the season to 32, while Barcelona’s great rivals Real Madrid added to the commotion by losing at 16th place Granada, the winning goal scored by Cristiano Ronaldo. An own goal, that is.

Now the unending drama switches from domestic to European competition and here again great theatre is guaranteed. Barcelona are about to face AC Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League and Real Madrid are readying themselves for the visit of Manchester United. It’s one great player after another and one thrilling spectacle after another in Spain. It’s no wonder that the other person of the week in their game, Inaki Badiola, didn’t get a particularly warm reception when he said his piece. For Badiola offered a glimpse of the underbelly of the Spanish game and nobody really wanted to take a look. Nobody ever does when the subject matter is doping.

Badiola is a former president of Real Sociedad and whether the establishment likes it or not, his status gives him credibility. In an interview with the AS newspaper last week, Badiola revealed that in the early years of the millennium, in a regime previous to his own, Real Sociedad employed the infamous doping doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes, who is currently on trial in Madrid as part of the famed Operation Puerto. Badiola stated that he discovered annual payments to Fuentes of almost 328,000 and that he sacked two of the club’s doctors when he realised what had been going on. The payments were repeated for a number of years.

Another newspaper, El Pais, has published documents which they claim show that El Real (Sociedad) used the services of Fuentes.

To add to the intrigue, the previous regime that Badiola was talking about (or one of them) was that of former president Jose Luis Astiazaran, who is now president of the body that governs La Liga. Astiazaran has since issued a complete denial of Badiola’s accusations, but Badiola has not backed off one inch.

Badiola said that the use of performance-enhancing drugs appeared widespread at the club. “Real Sociedad acquired medicines for 328,000 [￡282,000] that were not listed in the accounts,” said Badiola. He then sacked doctors, Eduardo Escobar and Antxon Gorrotxategi. “They acquired substances which were not authorised,” Badiola said. “In my years, 2008 and 2009, there were no strange medical practices. We did an audit of the previous six years. We have not gone against the players and we do not know if all were subjected to such practices. No names were mentioned. Our investigation was directed against the physicians. I think in football doping may not be as necessary as, for example, in cycling.

“The system is poorly regulated, there is a failure and doping is way ahead, with doctors who can cover it up perfectly. There are urine tests which does not seek EPO, which denotes a neglect and an unwillingness to clean up this sport... What is certain is that, in 2008, our board publicly denounced doctors Eduardo Escobar and Antxon Gorrotxategi because, in the six seasons before us, at least, the directors paid for medicines or products which at that moment were categorised as used in doping. These were acquired with dirty money on the black market.”

Astiazaran said in reply that he had no knowledge or suspicion of illegal practices in his time as president from 2001-2005 and insisted that had he seen anything he would have taken “proper forceful and diligent action”. He accused Badiola of dealing in falsities and reserved the right to sue.

Wherever the truth sits, it is a fact that Fuentes is on trial at the moment and it is another fact that he has admitted to treating not just cyclists but more than 100 other athletes from different sports, including football and tennis. Fuentes has said that he didn’t give his athletes performance-enhancing drugs, but there is a procession of bike riders who will testify that he did, that he was something of an overlord in the doping game, a man who used to refer to himself as El Importante.

One of his cycling clients, the self-confessed doper Jesus Manzano, has said in the past that he saw “well-known footballers” visiting Fuentes at his clinic. Who were they? Well, we’re not allowed to find out. The Fuentes trial has been deemed a cycling-only affair. The names of the other clients who visited one of the great godfathers of doping will remain a secret unless the trial judge has a change of mind.

All of this breeds suspicion and intrigue. Why no names of the other athletes on the books of a man that another cycling client, Jorg Jaksche, described as a “doping genius”? Why no insistence on transparency across the board? “Doping exists in football,” said Marcel Desailly, the World Cup winner with France in 1998. “That’s so obvious it would be stupid to deny it.” But plenty do. Plenty in Spain for starters.

When Badiola revealed his version of Real Sociedad’s past he was met with denial from the very top of the game in Spain. “Thanks be to God, there is no doping,” the president of the Spanish FA, Angel Maria Villar, told El Pais. “Well, very little, so little that the cases given are just an anecdote to an anecdote. In Spain, players take many tests each weekend and nobody is found to be positive. That is the reality. The rest is just talk, talk, talk...”

In dismissing the story, Villar, also vice-president of Uefa and Fifa, sounded like the men of the UCI who once declared as a fact that Lance Armstrong was not doping. “Never, never, never...”

Villar had an ally in Vicente Del Bosque, manager of the national team. Del Bosque said: “I have not seen (doping) before, and I don’t think I will see it. My eyes have never seen it. It is asubject that I prefer to ignore.”

Spain as a sporting country is notoriously lax in the battle against dopers. Tyler Hamilton once wrote that in Spain a juiced-up cyclist could go around the country with an EPO syringe taped to his forehead and still never get busted. There is a permissive attitude to doping there, a reluctance to investigate suspicion and come down heavily on the guilty. The comments of Villar and Del Bosque speaks to this psychology of indifference.

It’s just all “talk, talk, talk...” There is “no doping...” Del Bosque has never seen it and he doesn’t think he ever will. Ever? He doesn’t think that a doper will ever penetrate the holy land of Spanish football?

They already have, of course. Quite how Del Bosque has forgotten the case of Athletic Bilbao’s Carlos Gurpegi is hard to fathom, for it was an epic saga that stretched on for four years and bounced around from court to court, commanding headline after headline before the midfielder’s two-year ban for testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone was finally upheld.

The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday overturned Black Hawk's controversial ban on biking inside the gambling town's limits.

Black Hawk's 2010 bike ban violated state law that allows local municipalities to prohibit bikes from streets only when an alternate and nearby route is provided, the court wrote, siding with three cyclists who were ticketed for violating the ban.

The three appealed their $68 tickets — issued in June 2010 — all the way to the state's highest court, which heard oral arguments in November.

"I am so thrilled. There was absolutely no other way to go here," said Rocky Mountain Cycling Club president Charlie Henderson, who was not one of the people ticketed. "We are ready to go. We are going to ride through there proudly, taking advantage of our rights as Colorado citizens."

Black Hawk enacted the biking ban in January 2010, citing rising numbers of commercial buses and growing gambler traffic on the city's narrow, shoulderless roads. The ban did not apply to locals commuting on bikes.

Black Hawk mayor David Spellman said he would take the court's decision to his city council "and look at our options and decide where to go from there."

The city issued a statement saying it would comply with the ruling, but was "very disappointed."

"The city remains concerned that it is dangerous for bicycles to safely negotiate the commercial streets due to the volumes of vehicular traffic and the narrow right of way and steep grades," statement said.

Black Hawk's ban forced cyclists to walk their bikes through the city's casino-lined streets on the southern end of the famed Peak to Peak Highway, a high-country scenic by-way popular with road cyclists.

Black Hawk's busy Gregory Street is the only link from the city to the Colo. 119 segment of the Peak to Peak.

Black Hawk had argued that its home-rule status allowed it to script its own traffic laws. The city said the 2009 state law that required vehicles to give cyclists a 3-foot berth was unmanageable for gambler-toting tour buses and casino delivery trucks navigating Black Hawk's narrow streets. So the city's leaders chose to ban bikes.

Kent Powell asked the 1,700 riders in his 2011 Bike Tour of Colorado to walk their bikes through Black Hawk. A few did. Most kept ignored the ban and continued to ride a few minutes after the 7 a.m. start from Central City, a few blocks uphill from Black Hawk.

"They had signs all over saying no bikes and there were police out there hassling everyone," Powell said. "It was just baloney on their part. We left so early in the morning, way before their gamblers were even out."

The Supreme Court ruled the issue was not just local but impacted state residents. The court noted that municipalities can ban bikes — Denver prohibits pedalers on the 16th Street Mall, as does Boulder on a stretch of Pearl Street — but it must provide alternate routes within 450 feet, as required by state law.

The city's statement on Monday said it would "look for alternatives" to address safety concerns but would not develop an alternate bike path. "The city has no plans to construct any special accommodations to address this issue."

The court ruling also noted a "ripple effect" that resonated beyond Black Hawk, saying that the ban essentially prohibited bike access to Central City and "may also affect a bicyclist's decision to visit other mountain towns, such as Nederland, that benefit from recreational tourism."

"Because of Black Hawk's ordinance and the strong negative public perception of the bicycle ban, especially by bicyclists, the ordinance will likely cause future bicycle tours to bypass the area entirely, resulting in a 'ripple effect' harming nearly communities that rely on additional tourism," read the court's decision, written by Justice Gregory Hobbs.

The court's decision several times noted the state legislature's longtime efforts to promote and protect cycling as a viable mode of transportation.

"Everybody has to realize that bikes are the same as cars and have a right to be there," Bicycle Colorado executive director Dan Grunig said. "The Supreme Court ruling really affirmed the share-the-road law the state has passed. This may make Colorado's laws some of the most bicycle friendly in the nation because they have an affirmation from the Supreme Court."

CYCLING Australia risks having its federal government funding cut if it fails to meet the 17 recommendations of an anti-doping review by the end of the year.

In her formal response to an investigation by former Supreme Court judge James Wood QC, federal sports minister Kate Lundy highlights Cycling Australia's “inadequate governance arrangements”, “precarious financial position”, and “less than optimal administrative structures” as factors in recent tumultuous events.

In a document seen by Fairfax Media, it is also made clear that Cycling Australia, one of the nation's most richly funded sports, lacks foresight and initiative when it comes to anti-doping practices.

After considering Wood's review, Lundy concludes this also contributed to the embarrassing situation in October when Cycling Australia lost its vice-president, Stephen Hodge, and a national coach, Matt White, after their admissions to doping as pro cyclists.
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In a response to Wood's review, Lundy has ordered Cycling Australia to implement all of the recommendations within 11 months. That includes the adoption of an anti-doping declaration policy for staff and athletes “as soon as possible”.

Failure to comply will jeopardise the organisation's federal government funding.

The government said it would proceed with introducing legislation to strengthen Australia's anti-doping practices more generally.

According to the government response, Cycling Australia can “substantially improve” its governance and anti-doping arrangements, and the way it identifies past or present doping.

Employment of senior staff, coaches and athletes will now depend on them signing declarations that they have never doped or been involved with performance-enhancing drugs.

Hodge and White confessed to past use of performance-enhancing drugs after the US Anti-Doping Agency tabled its case against Lance Armstrong.

Hodge essentially initiated his own resignation from the vice-president's position and Cycling Australia's board with his stunning admission.

White, who was coach of the Australian men's road team at the London Olympics and a director at the Orica-GreenEDGE team, confessed to doping after he was identified in the USADA case against Armstrong.

The highly damaging events moved Lundy to call a review into Cycling Australia.

A separate review into the sport is being carried out by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, and Fairfax Media understands the announcement of significant early findings is imminent.

When Wood presented his report to Cycling Australia in mid-January, there was a feeling of relief within the organisation that the discoveries weren't worse. But the government's stern response, to be released on Friday, underlines the serious implications if the sport's national federation does not shape up.

A truth and reconciliation program is the "only way" to rid cycling of performance-enhancing drugs, and the sport's governing body should have no role in the process, Lance Armstrong said in an interview with a British publication.

Cyclingnews on Wednesday published questions and answers it exchanged with Armstrong through e-mails and texts. In an interview two weeks ago with Oprah Winfrey, the cyclist acknowledged for the first time that he doped to win a record seven Tour de France titles.

Armstrong said that no generation was ever "clean," and that the best way forward is a truth and reconciliation process offering amnesty to riders and officials who detail doping in the sport.

"It's not the best way, it's the only way," he said. "As much as I'm the eye of the storm this is not about one man, one team, one director. This is about cycling, and to be frank it's about all endurance sports.

"Publicly lynching one man and his team will not solve this problem."

Asked if he felt like a fall guy, Armstrong said: "Actually, yes I do. But I understand why. We all make the beds we sleep in."

In his interview with Winfrey, Armstrong said he would be willing to take part in any truth and reconciliation process.

When Tiburon cyclist Hunter Ziesing heard Lance Armstong confess to years of doping and covering it up, he wasn't shocked.

"I was not surprised in the slightest," Ziesing said.

Of course, many local amateur cyclists suspected what Armstrong told Oprah Winfrey in two taped interviews that aired more than a week ago — particularly after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released 1,000 pages of evidence against Armstrong in 2012. But, Ziesing had particular reason to know it was coming.

As the founder of ZTeam Cycling and then Echelon Gran Fondo, and now heading up a successful masters cycling team called Hammer/Charity of Choice, Ziesing's been friends with some of Armstrong's sharpest critics. That includes cycling legend Greg LeMonde, former teammate Frankie Andreu, and Frankie's wife, Betsy, who has testified that in the mid-1990s in a hospital room Armstrong said he had taken performance-enhancing drugs.

"I've been hearing stories from them for years," Ziesing said.

In fact, it was Armstrong's effort to control some of those stories and critics, through blackmail, lawsuits and smear campaigns, that convinced many who watched from the sidelines that he must be guilty. And, some considered the lying and the cover-up just as bad as the doping.

"Nobody tries to control anybody that much if they're living an honest life," said Katie Kelly, a San Rafael resident and cyclist.

Still, even if local fans had their doubts, there was always some hope that he was clean.

"I was a believer. I was probably the only one of my friends that was a believer," said Ian Charles, a triathlete who recovered from cancer a few years ago.

During and after his illness, the Tiburon resident found hope in Armstrong's story. Winning seven Tour de France titles after having testicular cancer seemed like an impossible feat and inspired legions of fans.

But, now, Charles just feels disappointed that Armstrong built his charity foundation and his image "on the backs of cancer supporters," he said. "He's done more damage than good."

It's exactly the undermining of Armstrong's miraculous story that Paul Dyrwal, a San Rafael cyclist, thinks is one of the saddest implications of his doping. "There are stories that transcend sports, that make people believe they're capable of great things," he said. "Now, it makes people doubt that that's true."

With doping in cycling so frequently a topic of discussion, whether Armstrong's confession changes anything is yet to be seen. In some ways, it could be "the best thing that ever happened," Kelly said. But, everyone agrees he's not done lying yet — or, at least, isn't telling the whole truth.

For years, Armstrong never failed a test and, perhaps, the biggest way he could help the sport is by telling officials exactly how he did that. But, with plenty of legal issues and money on the line, that seems unlikely anytime soon. "I think there's a lot of other things that will come out," Charles said.

Cycling has been battling its doping demons head on in recent years, with the Armstrong confession only the most high-profile of many. That, in some ways, has created a double-standard, with plenty of mainstream sports only just developing any testing program, Dyrwal points out.

Whether those demons have descended into local or amateur cycling is up for debate. Certainly, there are rumors and stories of amateurs being caught. And, one Category 4 cyclist (Category 5 is the lowest category) wrote a book about putting himself on a doping regime.

That cyclist, Andrew Tilin, an East Bay resident at the time, raced for Ziesing's ZTeam, though Ziesing was unaware of what he was doing. Though Tilin saw little improvement from his doping, he called and apologized to both Ziesing and team manager, Hans Gouwens.

Ziesing believes it was largely a publicity stunt and that there's simply not a widespread doping problem in local and amateur cycling. Doping isn't as beneficial in a short race, unlike the three-week Tour de France, and there just isn't a reason to do it, he said. Why would you dope to win a T-shirt at some obscure race in the Central Valley?

"I don't think it's ingrained in the culture," Ziesing said.

But, Dyrwal believes there are some people at his level — as a 42-year-old Category 3 cyclist — who are tempted to dope. And, that, he thinks, is really just sad for them, because there isn't much on the line other than your own sense of self-worth and pride.

Still, as long as there are awards to be won and the internet to order drugs over, there will likely be those who take that route. And, if it isn't doping, it'll be some other form of cheating.

When former pro cyclist Lance Armstrong recently admitted he'd used blood doping and other methods to dominate the Tour de France, it wasn't much of a surprise. And local cycling enthusiasts say they don't expect Armstrong's revelations to have much, if any, impact when the USA Pro Challenge returns to the Vail Valley in August.

“I'm hopeful that the vast majority of riders are clean,” Avon Mayor Rich Carroll said.

The pro cycling tour in August will come through Avon on its way to a tour stage finale in Beaver Creek Village. Carroll, who counts himself as a fan of the races, said he expects people to come out the way they did during the event's first two years. Both those events drew big crowds just about everywhere the racers went, even to the top of Cottonwood Pass between Crested Butte and Buena Vista.

Vail Town Council member Greg Moffet is also a cycling enthusiast. He said doping is “old news” to fans with a more-than-casual interest in the sport, likening the period to the “steroid era” in Major League Baseball, when the superhuman became almost normal.

There was a time when “riders with the best pharmacists” dominated the sport, Moffet said. Today, winners again are molded from hard work and training, he said.

The USA Pro Challenge and other cycling events are just what the valley needs to pursue in order to put people into hotels and restaurants, Moffet said, which is why he said the event is worthy of support with town funds.

“This is right in our sweet spot,” Moffet said.

The Vail Valley Foundation has been the primary force behind bringing the cycling tour's stages to the Vail Valley. John Dakin, the foundation's vice president of communications said he hasn't heard any complaints about the event, before or after Armstrong's recent revelations to Oprah Winfrey — Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France titles last year.

“There's been no fallout of any kind,” Dakin said. “You have to wonder if the majority of people weren't over the whole thing (before Armstrong talked to Winfrey).”

Part of the reason could be the excitement of the races, Dakin said — “Whether it's the time trials up Vail Pass or a finish stage in Beaver Creek, it's a spectator-friendly sport.”

That was true last year in downtown Minturn, when many people waiting for the peloton to streak through town followed the racers' progress on their laptops — the race was streamed live on the Internet.

The scene in Minturn is typical of bike racing in general, Moffet said.

“Sure, people are there to see the riders, but they're also there to be part of the happening,” he said.

The first two cycling challenges drew hundreds to the top of Independence Pass between Aspen and Leadville, where people camped out to see the riders pass. Local hotels mostly filled up during the 2011 and 2012 challenges, and thousands of people turned out in Vail to watch the Vail Pass time trial.

Jim Popeck, owner of the Mountain Pedaler in Minturn, said he actually expects a bigger turnout for the 2013 event.

“It's bringing more attention to cycling,” Popeck said.

There's a new wave of young riders who haven't been tainted by doping scandals, Popeck said, and people could be interested in those riders' stories.

Dakin said a lot of those spectators have ridden Vail Pass themselves. That's what gives bike racing “its own special brand of energy,” he said.

And the ability to draw people to a place that depends on tourist dollars makes the USA Pro Challenge a prime candidate for public money, Moffet said.

The native birds of Kaua'i are in grave danger, but they have some dedicated friends in the Kaua'i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project. For the Hawaiian petrel, Newell’s shearwater and the band-rumped storm petrel, that means hope for many of their generations to come.

The group plays a significant role in efforts to slow the rate of population decline. The team of scientists, headed by Andre Raine, is using state-of-the-art technology to gather data on the birds so that problems are better understood and solutions are established.

“It’s at a point where we need to come to a turnaround, otherwise this decline is just going to keep going,” says Raine. “It would be a huge loss for the island.”

By increasing their knowledge of the birds’ behavioral patterns, scientists can produce long-term management plans to help ensure their continued survival.

This year, for example, cameras were able to monitor birds at nesting sites including upper Limahuli Valley, and have provided never-before-seen footage.

“It’s just revealing the secret life of these birds,” says Raine.

A camera’s infrared sensor picks up any movement and, when triggered, fires off a rapid succession of pictures while remaining invisible to the bird.

“So it’s almost like watching a video,” explains Raine.

By learning how much time the birds spend at their burrows, accurately establishing the time of year they arrive and depart, and figuring out how often they are visited by rats and cats, KESRP can develop methods to help protect them. Determining when the birds spend most of their time at their burrows during the year, for example, would assist scientists in creating a way to deal with introduced predators.

By collecting data such as the exact moment chicks emerge from their burrows, translocation techniques also may be cultivated, where the babies can be placed into other colonies to help increase their survival rate. This is something that must be done before they emerge, as once they come out of their burrow they become “fixated” on their colony.

The videos also reveal just how meticulous the birds are about keeping their burrows clean, and the intimate interactions between adults and babies.

“It shows people a side of the birds nobody really gets to see,” says Raine. “It’s really amazing to see them interact naturally.”

In fact, this is the first time Newell’s shearwaters have been observed this way. The only time people really get a chance to see these birds are when fledglings have fallen to the ground on their way out to sea because of lights and power lines. They are almost always lost and frightened in the midst of an unnatural concrete jungle.

“Here, you’re going to see them doing their own thing,” says Raine.

Another new method of collecting seabird data this year includes radar tracking of seabird fledglings leaving their burrows during the month of October (they fledge between the months of September and December). Previously, radar work only was collected annually in June when adults had returned to their colonies to breed after being out at sea for several months. This annual data already indicated the Newell’s shearwaters population has dropped some 75 percent over the last 15 to 20 years. Now, additional data can be collected regarding decreasing numbers of fledglings leaving their burrows for the first time.

“Projections don’t look great at the moment,” says Raine.

But mitigation efforts are already under way, thanks to KESRP and other entities, including Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. This year, at least 11 pairs of ‘a’o returned to the refuge to breed, the highest number ever recorded.

Typically, the birds nest in the interior mountains and valleys, but they have a greater chance of survival by nesting at the Kilauea coastline because they don’t have to overcome barriers buildings, bright lights and utility wires.

During the 1980s, the translocation project began where some Newell’s shear-waters eggs were removed from mountain colonies and placed into the nests of the wedge-tailed shearwaters in Kilauea.

The project only recently has become more successful because of a sound system placed around the refuge in 2007 by KESRP, in collaboration with the refuge, that produces the calls of the ‘a’o in order to attract them back to the area.

Conserving these birds through efforts like this is vital to the health of the island. Nutrient cycling is just one example of their environmental importance.

“It’s something a lot of people don’t even think about,” says Raine. “Part of Kaua’i is this constant, never-ending movement of the seabirds bringing nutrients from the sea back up to the mountain.”