gene therapy

Dreams of Olympic glory could make athletes risk their lives on an experimental procedure

Steroids seem so last-decade, now that gene therapy has caught the eye of athletes looking for a competitive edge. But scientists warn that gene therapy still represents a high-risk, experimental practice even within medicine, and that athletes could endanger their lives by giving it a try.

Gene therapy has shown promise in a few treatments by helping swap out defective genes or changing the degree to which genes turn on and off. For instance, it has helped establish some immune system function in so-called “bubble children.” But researchers have become extra cautious with gene therapy ever since the death of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger during a 1999 research trial.

Unsurprisingly, the practice has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency that regulates sports. But experts writing in the journal Science fear that gene therapy may still tempt athletes eager to duck the stringent drug testing at events such as the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

A German coach and a Chinese lab have already been flagged for trying to obtain gene delivery treatments that boost erythropoietin (EPO) production. EPO leads to a surge in red blood cells that carry oxygen in the human body, and has become somewhat of an item among endurance sports athletes. Doping tests can still pick up on signs of the gene therapy if they are done soon enough.

Watch out for GG in one of these

Race season is about to kick off for me.. .Yay!  The first race on deck is The Orginal St. Patricks Day 5k.  Short and sweet to get things started.  The best part about this race is that I have made a small wager with my friend Gareth on who is going to win between us.  What’s the wager you ask?  Well…. right now it stands that whoever loses has to wear one of those running skirts (or skorts) at the next race.  So keep an eye out for GG in a ’skort’ sometime this year.

The Race after that is one of the new Smith Event Races.  The series is being put on by Tony Smith.  These are bound to be a lot of fun and the first one looks great so far.  Its XTERRA Winter Triathlon at Mt Norquay.  We Bike from the bottom of the paved Norquay Access Road to ski hill base village. 5.75 km. Vertical Rise 353m From there we transition to the Foot Race – Climb From Mt Norquay ski area base (via Shenanigan & Lone Pine) to top of North American Chair Lift. 1.00 km. Vertical Rise 400m. Then put on the ski boots (this might be the hardest part) and transition to Downhill Ski – Descend from top of North American Chair Lift (via the North American and Shenanigan ski runs) to finish line at ski area base. 1.5 km. Vertical Descent 400m. Whooot! sounds fun

The best part of the race is going to be the start.  ”09:45 Athletes ride bicycles down the access road to race start. 10:30 Sharp ! Race Start.”  From what I’m reading it sounds like a mass start bike up the hill….. All most Crit Style!  Ya…. cant wait.

No more race radios in the US

USA Cycling earlier today announced that in response to a request from the UCI (The International Cycling Union) that radios be banned in all national calendar races, the USCF Board of Trustees have met and decided to amend the rule regarding the use of race radios in all USA Cycling sanctioned road and track races. Radios will now be banned in all USA Cycling road and track races.

“Riders may not use radios, telephones, or other such communication devices. No earpieces may be worn.  Audio playback devices are expressly forbidden.”

Check out the full article on http://www.roadcycling.com/

If your stumped on what races to tune into check this little ditty out. I found this little “table of races” the other day on the internet and I think it’s a great way to break down each race.

Click to Enlarge

Jens Voigt - Shut Up Legs

I thought I would post this for those people who don’t check out  the great Cycling Tips blog.

I laughed hard when I saw this shirt this morning… and it looks as though Wade is going to get some  made for people to order.  It would definitely be a hit at the bike races… and I am sure it would conjure up a few questions at the local pub.

If you want one just head on over to the blog and put in your vote.  I am sure in the coming weeks he will have something ready for people to purchase.

I’m in!

UPDATE…

I found a vid.

Monday – The Setup

The whole thing started when my plane landed in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon at 2:55pm coming from Cabo San Lucas. The guy sitting next to me on the plane asked me to loan him a pen so that he could fill out his customs form. I watched him fill out the form and clearly remember his birth year of 1984, but am a bit unsure about his name. I think it was —–, but in this story, we will refer to him as Pinche.

How It Was Lost

Seating on the plane

As we were about to disembark from the plane, I sent my friend Ramiro a text saying that I will be out of customs in about 30 minutes. I placed my phone back in my right pocket. I was sitting in seat 27A, next to the window, and Pinche was sitting in seat 27B. When it came time to move into the aisle, an old lady sitting in 27C started moving and so I stopped, but Pinche saw this as an opportunity. He bumped me, then jumped in front of the old lady and ran off of the plane. I waited for the old lady to step into the aisle, and I walked behind her. Five seconds later, I reached for my phone and it was not in my pocket anymore. I waited for everyone to exit the plane and went back to my seat. I looked everywhere but was not able to find the phone. One of the flight attendants (Karen) offered to help. She called the phone and it was not ringing. This was strange because I had perfect reception a minute ago. We concluded that the phone must be in customs because there is no reception in the customs area at LAX. My guess at this point was that as I rose from my seat, my phone fell out of my pocket and into Pinche’s bag. I hurried off of the plane and into the customs area.

Faceoff

In customs, I skipped passed the line and found Pinche. I asked him, “hey, did you accidentally grab my phone?” He responded, “No,” and took out another mobile phone from his pocket. What could I do? I didn’t want to accuse someone of a crime without any proof. I got the phone number of Karen the flight attendant, filed a report with the lost and found department for American Airlines and left the airport.

Tracking the iPhone

Tracking the phone

When I got to my office, I pulled up the MobileMe site and used the Find My Phone feature.To my surprise, the phone was in Sun Valley at a Daniel’s Taco Stand!!! My conclusion was that the phone had actually fallen in Pinche’s bag and he was driving around without knowing that he has my phone!

Why did I assume this? Because if I were to steal an iPhone, I would unload it fast. I would not want to drive around with homing device after committing a crime! I wrote down the address in Sun Valley. At this point, I remotely locked the iPhone to protect my personal information. I also placed a message on the screen saying, “Please return this phone to Sam. (310) 856-xxxx. I did not get a call. I sent message after message. You can make the phone sound an alarm even if is on vibrate… so I was hoping that Pinche would find this thing and return it…. but no cigar. Boy, the phone must be deep inside his bag and probably in the trunk of his car because, an hour later, the phone had moved again, to another location in Sun Valley.Then, to my dismay, the phone went offline! I guessed that it’s probably inside of a parking lot, or just in one of a billion AT&T deadzones. I kept tracking it and by 10pm, it was at 1500 Gramercy in Los Angeles. Interesting swimming pool in this picture no?

The swimming pool

Now I was beginning to get suspicious. I had sent 20 messages.Pinche must have opened his bag by now.

Tuesday – Faced with Defeat

The next day, I tracked the phone again, and it was traveling on the 99 freeway at exit 255 in Stockton! Now I knew that the phone was stolen.It might have been the cleaning crew, it might be Pinche, it might be someone who has purchased it. Again, I assume that whoever has it will soon, unlock, jailbreak and sell the phone on eBay. I sent message after message, but seeing that the phone was offline I assumed that it was either dead, thrown out of a car, or unlocked and sold. Goodbye my dear iPhone 3Gs. We had a beautiful month and a half together.

Wednesday – It’s All Over

I did not see any trace of the phone all day. Whoever had it had either turned it off, or reprogrammed it. I began looking for a new phone. A new iPhone without renewing your plan runs about $700 after taxes.Man, I was feeling down. It’s so depressing when you realize you’ve been had.

Thursday – Don’t Pickpocket the Devil

I got up on Thursday morning and checked my MobileMe account.Someone had turned the phone on at 7:30pm the previous night and he was in Lodi California. The iPhone lives! I posted the image of the apartment building and a map of the neighborhood on Facebook.

Many of you began commenting and a genius recommended me to check the calls made from the phone. I didn’t expect to find any calls because, why the hell would an iPhone thief leave a trail like that? It’s such a stupid crook thing to do.

I checked the calls, and HOLY CRAP!!! Someone made 2 calls to Mexico, one call to LA and one call to somewhere near Stockton within 5 minutes of me losing my phone!!! Pinche picked my pocket and began making calls as he was walking towards customs.

Calls made

SON OF A BITCH – I WILL GET YOU!

Now, I like using google to find information on people, but I never really dive in too deep. By stealing my phone, Pinche gave me the moral greenlight to stalk the shit out of him and take away any sense of privacy he has for the rest of his life. I really couldn’t get law-enforcement to help (they said that unless someone’s life is in danger, they cant do anything), so my only option was to keep fucking with this guy until he returns my iPhone.

I wanted him to know, I know where he is, I know who his family members are, I know where he lives, I know who his roommates are, I know who his roommates cousins are, I know what his sister drives, I know where he eats, I know his name, I know his age, his mothers age… anything and everything to prove to this Pinche that he is holding Satan’s cell phone.

My tools are, Google, AT&T, MobileMe, White Pages and ussearch.com.

The (323) Number

When I googled the (323) number, I came up with a name and an address.The address was the same location that I had tracked the phone to on Monday night. This is where he slept that night.

At the Pool with the iPhone

Notice theinteresting swimming pool? I also got a name.The name sounded familiar. I remembered that Pinche had filled out “m—–” on his customs form. At least now I know for sure that the guy on the plane is the one who took my phone, and he doesn’t seem very iPhone savvy.

I ran a ussearch on the phone number and name and came up with an apartment number at this location. There are 6 people living in Apt ### at this address. I saved this information in case I needed some “make you shit your pants from the sheer terror of how little privacy I have now” ammunition.

Number Search

I called the number, but the person that answered was an old lady and she only spoke in Spanish. So I asked my friend Ramiro to talk to her. He told me that the woman is really old and he doesn’t want to harass her because she seems like a nice lady. He just told her that someone who has stolen my phone called her on January 11th at 3:44pm and that we just want the phone back.

Me and a friend planned to go to the apartment on Friday and leave a document with all this information. Just so they know that we know who they are, and that we know where Pinche is and what he’s done!

The Mexico Number

I asked a lovely friend in Mexico to call the number since I was guessing nobody at that number would talk English. My friend told me that this number is from a place near Guadalajara. This is interesting because now I can devise that Pinche was not in Cabo for vacation, but probably connecting a flight. Also, he might be fearful of getting sent back to Mexico. More to scare him with! The woman who answered denied, denied and denied some more. She said she lives in a house with several other people and she has no idea who called who. She also said that she cant read or write so she cant write down our number or get back in touch with us. I have a feeling that this woman was his mother.

We called her again later that day to see if she found out who the person was who called her twice on Monday. Again she denied, but I think we got to her. I’m sure she had a talk with Pinche after that call.

The 209 Number

Phone Match

I called the (209) number. A woman picked up who called herself Luz.Luz was a bit confused as to why I was calling. I explained that someone who had stolen my phone had called her. She denied it, but I told her that she had a 4 minute conversation with him. She still denied it. Again I said, “he called you right after we landed, then he came to your town the next day. You must know him.” Finally she gave in and said that perhaps someone had left her a message (but who leaves 4 minute messages?). She “checked” the message and said that it was silent. No name and no message. I was going nowhere with this call unless I had more SCARY personal info on her. I said I would call her back.

I googled the number and got nothing. Then I tried ussearch.com. For $10, I got Luz’s full name and three other names associated with the phone number. Then I ran the names in the White Pages and got an address. I googled the address and got a streetview of the house.There is a white Ford Explorer parked out front of the house. Now I know what they drive. Muh huah hah hah ha ha hah hah hahhhh ha haaaaaa

Google Street View

Friday – I Own You Pinche!

I called her back and left a message using her full name, her husband’s full name, and mentioned their address in Manteca California. I also told her the street address of where I had tracked Pinche in Lodi California. I said, “If you’re protecting this guy, what you should do is have him call me and return my phone. If he doesn’t return my phone, I promise that I will have every law enforcement agency looking for him.”

Twenty Minutes Later

Luz called me and was extremely nice. She said she knows who called me and she is very mad at him. She apologized for his behavior and said that she was very embarrassed by what he’s done. Then, she said in a tone that is only possessed by angry Latinas, “If he doesn’t call you, I WILL MAKE SURE HE RETURNS THAT PHONE! I WILL GET TO HIM AND I WILL TEACH HIM A LESSON!” I thanked her and she insisted that I should not thank her because it’s my phone that was stolen. I’m guessing by the fact that she was embarrassed by the situation that Pinche is somehow related to her.

One hour later

I’m assuming at this point that Pinche’s mother, sister, aunt, uncle whoever these people were have talked to him and he is aware that we know his location. This is the image that was on the iPhone when he would turn it on. It says his name and his address in LA.

iPhone Screen

Pinche called. However, now he didn’t speak any English. No problem, Ramiro was in the office and he grabbed the phone. By now, we have so much info on this guy that we should be able to hear him crap his pants. Now, Pinche is not a good liar. First he said that he bought the phone in Mexico, which is ridiculous because I used it in front of his face in LA. Then he said that he’s in Nevada, but we had a track on him in Lodi California. He said his name is Alfonso… His voice was quivering. Ramiro told him to put the phone in a package and mail it overnight to LA. Pinche said “Okay, but you know, I spent a lot of money buying this phone. Can you reimburse me for the money I lost?”

Ramiro asked, “Who sold you the phone?”

“A friend of mine.”

“Well you have a very bad friend, maybe you should ask him to give you your money back.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think he can.”

“Okay, what we can do is, file a police report and have him fined and arrested, then he can pay you back too. We know the —- family that live in 1500 Gramercy in LA, the —- who live in Manteca and we know where the robber has been for the past five days. Should we file the report?”

“that’s okay. I’ll mail it.”

He gave us a phone number to reach him by, and I immediately did a background check on the number. It was a Lodi California phone number belonging to a man named Fernando N —–.

We told him that we’d give him a check for the postage if he doesn’t have it. He was very happy about that.

I showed Ramiro the name that had come up on the search. Ramiro asked, “Who is Fernando N. ____”

Absolute silence.

Ramiro started giggling.

Pinche gave us an address in LA to send the check to. It was the second location that I tracked in Sun Valley on Monday afternoon. Ramiro mentioned that we saw him at that location at 6pm on Monday.

Silence. Then he said, “It’s okay. You don’t have to send a check.”

I will still send him a check… to see what name he puts on it. I dont think he realizes that I can see a scan of the check on the bofa.com website.

Saturday – 12pm – Reunited

Back with the iPhone

Calgary Police Half

Online registration for the Calgary Police Half Marathon and 5K run begins at 8am Calgary Time, Saturday, January 30, 2010. As a past participant, we are providing you with advance notice to ensure you do not miss the start of registration. As you know, in years gone by we have sold out very quickly.

We are continually striving to streamline our registration process. Please take advantage of the opportunity to purchase a souvenir sweatshirt.

Please visit our new web site at http://www.calgarypolicehalf.ca to get the latest information.

Barefoot runners

All the latest footwear engineering in your running sneakers might not mean a thing when it comes to preventing injuries. The latest barefoot running study in the journal Nature deployed 3-D infrared tracking to gauge the difference in foot strike between shod and shoeless runners, Scientific American reports. Here’s a modern-day meme summation of the findings: “Shoes? You’re doing it wrong.”

Runners who wore sneakers ended up landing heel-first 75 to 80 percent of the time. By contrast, barefoot runners usually land toward the middle or front of the foot — a dramatic difference that recalls the more natural foot strike of early Homo sapiens. Needless to say, early humans certainly were not born to run wearing Nike or Reebok.

The heel-landing without shoes means a painful collision force of 1.5 to 3 times human body weight. But cushioned sneaker heels have allowed runners to change their stride to high-impact running, and likely open up a whole world of pain involving foot and leg injuries.

“Most people today think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts,” said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and lead author on the study. “But actually you can run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain.”

Lieberman and his colleagues point out that modern running shoes did not come about until the 1970s — a fairly late invention that latched onto that then-new fad known as jogging (or “yogging” as Ron Burgundy says). Now contrast several decades of sneakers with a human body that evolved barefoot running over thousands of years, and you begin to see a potential problem.

More bad news for sneakers came last December, when the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that running shoes can increase joint torques at the hip, knee and ankle. Their study suggested that even going for a run in high heels was better for preventing joint injuries than tennis shoes.

Runners who fear years of soft treatment giving way to foot calluses still have options. Certain footwear such as the Newton Running shoes or the Vibram Five Fingers permit runners to readjust their foot strike back to the more natural way, or simply act as a second tough skin to protect the foot in the latter case.

One more unstated benefit of running without sneakers — you’ll never, ever have the temptation of wanting to remove your toenails.

[via Scientific American]

SR-71 Blackbird

In April 1986, following an attack on American soldiers in a  Berlin  disco, President Reagan ordered the bombing of Muammar Qaddafi’s terrorist camps in  Libya  . My duty was to fly over  Libya  and take photos recording the damage our F-111’s had inflicted.. Qaddafi had established a ‘line of death,’ a territorial marking across the  Gulf of Sidra  , swearing to shoot down any intruder that crossed the boundary. On the morning of April 15, I rocketed past the line at 2,125 mph.

I was piloting the SR-71 spy plane, the world’s fastest jet, accompanied by a Marine Major (Walt), the aircraft’s reconnaissance systems officer (RSO). We had crossed into  Libya  and were approaching our final turn over the bleak desert landscape when Walt informed me that he was receiving missile launch signals. I quickly increased our speed, calculating the time it would take for the  I estimated that we could beat the rocket-powered missiles to the turn and stayed our course, betting our lives on the plane’s performance.

After several agonizingly long seconds, we made the turn and blasted toward the Mediterranean  . ‘You might want to pull it back,’ Walt suggested. It was then that I noticed I still had the throttles full forward. The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit. It was the fastest we would ever fly. I pulled the throttles to idle just south of  Sicily  , but we still overran the refueling tanker awaiting us over  Gibraltar .

Scores of significant aircraft have been produced in the 100 years of flight, following the achievements of the Wright brothers, which we celebrate in December. Aircraft such as the Boeing 707, the F-86 Sabre Jet, and the P-51 Mustang are among the important machines that have flown our skies. But the SR-71, also known as the Blackbird, stands alone as a significant contributor to Cold War victory and as the fastest plane ever-and only 93 Air Force pilots ever steered the ’sled,’ as we called our aircraft.

The SR-71 was the brainchild of Kelly Johnson, the famed Lockheed designer who created the P-38, the F-104 Starfighter, and the U-2. After the Soviets shot down Gary Powers’ U-2 in 1960, Johnson began to develop an aircraft that would fly three miles higher and five times faster than the spy plane-and still be capable of photographing your license plate. However, flying at 2,000 mph would create intense heat on the aircraft’s skin. Lockheed engineers used a titanium alloy to construct more than 90 percent of the SR-71, creating special tools and manufacturing procedures to hand-build each of the 40 planes. Special heat-resistant fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluids that would function at 85,000 feet and higher also had to be developed.

In 1962, the first Blackbird successfully flew, and in 1966, the same year I graduated from high school, the Air Force began flying operational SR-71 missions. I came to the program in 1983 with a sterling record and a recommendation from my commander, completing the weeklong interview and meeting Walt, my partner for the next four years He would ride four feet behind me, working all the cameras, radios, and electronic jamming equipment. I joked that if we were ever captured, he was the spy and I was just the driver. He told me to keep the pointy end forward.

We trained for a year, flying out of Beale AFB in California , Kadena Airbase in  Okinawa , and RAF Mildenhall in  England  . On a typical training mission, we would take off near  Sacramento , refuel over Nevada, accelerate into  Montana , obtain high Mach over  Colorado , turn right over  New Mexico , speed across the  Los Angeles   Basin , run up the West Coast, turn right at  Seattle , then return to Beale. Total flight time: two hours and 40 minutes.

One day, high above  Arizona  , we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. ‘Ninety knots,’ ATC replied.  A Bonanza soon made the same request. ‘One-twenty on the ground,’ was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was ‘Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,’ ATC responded.

The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walt’s mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walt startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, ‘  Aspen  20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.’ We did not hear another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.

The Blackbird always showed us something new, each aircraft possessing its own unique personality. In time, we realized we were flying a national treasure. When we taxied out of our revetments for takeoff, people took notice. Traffic congregated near the airfield fences, because everyone wanted to see and hear the mighty SR-71 You could not be a part of this program and not come to love the airplane. Slowly, she revealed her secrets to us as we earned her trust.

One moonless night, while flying a routine training mission over the Pacific, I wondered what the sky would look like from 84,000 feet if the cockpit lighting were dark. While heading home on a straight course, I slowly turned down all of the lighting, reducing the glare and revealing the night sky.  Within seconds, I turned the lights back up, fearful that the jet would know and somehow punish me. But my desire to see the sky overruled my caution, I dimmed the lighting again. To my amazement, I saw a bright light outside my window. As my eyes adjusted to the view, I realized that the brilliance was the broad expanse of the Milky Way, now a gleaming stripe across the sky.Where dark spaces in the sky had usually existed, there were now dense clusters of sparkling stars. Shooting stars flashed across the canvas every few seconds. It was like a fireworks display with no sound.

I knew I had to get my eyes back on the instruments, and reluctantly I brought my attention back inside. To my surprise, with the cockpit lighting still off, I could see every gauge, lit by starlight. In the plane’s mirrors, I could see the eerie shine of my gold spacesuit incandescently illuminated in a celestial glow. I stole one last glance out the window. Despite our speed, we seemed still before the heavens, humbled in the radiance of a much greater power. For those few moments, I felt a part of something far more significant than anything we were doing in the plane. The sharp sound of Walt’s voice on the radio brought me back to the tasks at hand as I prepared for our descent.

The SR-71 was an expensive aircraft to operate. The most significant cost was tanker support, and in 1990, confronted with budget cutbacks, the Air Force retired the SR-71. The SR-71 served six presidents, protecting  America for a quarter of a century. Unbeknownst to most of the country, the plane flew over  North Vietnam  , Red  China ,  North Korea  , the  Middle East , South Africa ,  Cuba  ,  Nicaragua  ,  Iran  ,  Libya  , and the Falkland Islands . On a weekly basis, the SR-71 kept watch over every Soviet nuclear submarine and mobile missile site, and all of their troop movements. It was a key factor in winning the Cold War.

I am proud to say I flew about 500 hours in this aircraft. I knew her well. She gave way to no plane, proudly dragging her sonic boom through enemy backyards with great impunity. She defeated every missile, outran every MiG, and always brought us home. In the first 100 years of manned flight, no aircraft was more remarkable.

The Blackbird had outrun nearly 4,000 missiles, not once taking a scratch from enemy fire.

On her final flight, the Blackbird , destined for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, sped from Los Angeles to Washington in 64 minutes, averaging 2,145 mph and setting four speed records.

Jumping Joe.... cRaZy!

His name is Captain Joe Kittinger, and he is a former Command Pilot and career military officer in the United States Air Force.  Serving as a fighter pilot during theVietnam War, he was shot down and spent 11 months in a North Vietnamese prison!!!…. but thats not the crazy part that caught me!  He is most famous for his participation in Project Excelsior.

What is Project Excelsior you ask?  well….

For Project Excelsior (meaning “ever upward”), he made a series of three extreme altitude parachute jumps from an open gondola carried aloft by large helium balloons.

Kittinger’s first high-altitude jump, from about 76,400 feet (23,300 meters) on November 16, 1959, was a near-disaster when an equipment malfunction caused him to lose consciousness, but the automatic parachute opener in his equipment saved his life (he went into a flat spin at a rotational velocity of about 120 rpm; the g-forces at his extremities has been calculated to be over 22 times the force of gravity, setting another record).

You think he would call it quits after that little accident but nope… not Joe.. he had guts (and large gonads)

On August 16, 1960, he made the final jump from the Excelsior III at 102,800 feet (31,300 m). Towing a small drogue chute for initial stabilization, he fell for four minutes and 36 seconds, reaching a maximum speed of 614 mph (988 km/h or 274 m/s) before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet (5,500 m). For those that dont know, the speed of sound is 340.29 m /s.

On this jump pressurization for his right glove malfunctioned during the ascent, and his right hand swelled up to twice its normal size!!! I wish i could find a picture of that!  He set historical numbers for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (four minutes), and fastest speed by a human being through the atmosphere. These are still current USAF records!

Watch this… amazing!

The BMW Oracle Racing team

The boat is a 90-ft. LWL, 90-ft. beam sloop rigged one-off racing sail trimaran Designed by VPLP Yacht Design with consultation from Franck Cammas and his Groupama multi-hull sailing team, BOR90 is very light for its size being constructed almost entirely out of carbon fiber and epoxy resin, and exhibits very high performance being able to sail at 2.0 to 2.5 times the true wind speed

I found the most interesting part of the boat was the sail. On Sunday, November 8, 2009 BMW Oracle Racing revealed the replacement to their mast that broke on November 3, 2009.   Instead of using cloth-like sails, they are using a hard surface shaped like a wing.  The wing can change shape so that the boat can sail at different angles to the wind. This allows it to sail in any direction that a conventional sailboat could go. The wing is very high aspect, meaning that it is very tall and narrow. It is 190 feet tall and is 80% larger in area than the wing on a 747. This allows the airfoil to be very efficient (producing lots of lift with minimal drag).  On November 10, BMW reported that they hit 32 mph boat speed while highest reported wind speed during this time was less than 10 knots. [2]

Notes on the wing

• The wing sail consists of two main components: the main element and the flap element. The main element is one single piece that rotates around the mast step. Eight individual flaps rotate around the trailing edge of the main element. Both elements are separated by a small gap and linked together by nine main hinges.
• The wing is primarily constructed from carbon fibre and kevlar with a light, shrinkable aeronautical film material used as an overall skin over the frame. Nearly 40,000 man-hours of construction went into building it.
• According to Joseph Ozanne, an aeronautical specialist with the BMW ORACLE Racing design team, the ability to trim the wing easily is one of its big advantages over a soft sail.
• With a soft sail, it’s so big, it’s difficult to shape as you only have control over three points (head, tack, clew). You need massive tension to trim the soft sail,” he says. “With a wing sail, you can get the shape you want much more easily.”
• The main trim parameters are: master wing rotation (similar to mast rotation on a conventional rig); master camber control (general rotation of the flap element); flap twist control (each flap can have a specific angle of rotation).
• “On paper, it’s a clear advantage over the soft sail,” Ozanne says. “It’s on such a different scale to what has been done before, it’s hard not to have some uncertainty. But we are more and more confident… I think it’s going to be a strong addition for us.”

You can read more about the boat and see a few videos on the teams website – http://bmworacleracing.com/

Bon Iver

A few nights ago I went up to the University of Calgary to catch ‘The Best of Banff Film Festival”. The show consisted of 5 or 6 adventure/outdoor films shot around the word.  The feature film was  46min film about Dominic Gil and  his mission is to cycle the 32,000 kilometers from the northern coast of Alaska to the southern tip of South America, on a tandem bike, picking up random strangers on the way.  It was amazing to see and almost made me want to take 2 years off to do something the same… but maybe not.

I was more blown away by a different film that night.  I am not a big ski video person, I would much rather be out in the white stuff than sitting on the couch watching people ski through it. The film Signatures: Canvas of Snow was no different, however it was by far the best cut and edited ski movie I have seen.  It focuses on Skiing, snowboarding and noboarding, in Japan. In Japan there is a cultural connection to the different signatures of terrestrial home – a sense that the rhythm of fall, winter, spring and summer influences the rhythm of the person, their energy, their riding style and the lines they choose.  This special edit features skiers, snowboarders, a photographer and a noboarder who are each in tune with this connection to winter and the environment they ride in.

The only clip I of the film I could find was this one so have a gander and if you can check out the whole film.

I also fell in love with the song that accompanied the film.  Bon Iver’s Skinny love.  Listen to it here.

This one is from some footage I took on New Years Ski trip down to Fernie soon.  I headed down with a few of Meghan’s friends and ripped up the hill with the camera she bought me for Christmas.  Its a GoPro HD camera and I cant wait to use it more this summer, she knows the way to my heart .  It mounts on almost anything so there will be some more vids to come!

Fernie 09 from Carson Bannon on Vimeo.

This one is a  cool commercial shot for Nike.  It uses the same style of footage as you would get from the GoPro camera but was made by a pro… wicked commercial none the less.

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I wanted to show everyone this video first thought. I have seen a lot of “the worlds best commercials” movies, and at least a few of the add are related to drinking and driving. This one takes the cake though…. Its a long one but gets the message across in a strong way. Watch it… and be safe this Christmas.

I was on facebook the other day and a fellow rider from out east posted this on his page.  I just about had to pause the video i was laughing so hard.  It might only be funny to people who ride, but have a watch anyways…

15 facts you didnt know about coffee, brought to you by http://theoatmeal.com/

1st crash from Bike Lemming on Vimeo.

But to keep all you regular readers reading i though I would post a link to a cool little track video I was sent the other day.

Its a little documentary on Craig MacLean.  MacLean (born 31 July 1971 in Grantown-on-Spey) is a Scottish track cyclist who has represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, winning a Silver Medal in the Team Sprint at the 2000 Olympics. He currently rides for the British Plowman Craven team.

A unique insight into a champion’s adrenaline and drive as he trains for the Olympics. Maclean’s heroic cycling is set against the story of Odysseus, creating a heart-stoppingly rich portrayal of man. ’Man, a being in search of meaning.’ Craig Maclean powers his bike at over 40mph, over a distance of 250m from a standing start. ‘Know yourself Odysseus – for a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories’. Taking you right into the blood, sweat and tears of the sportsman: remember to exhale after watching.

Unfortunatlly they have disabled the embedding option on the video so you will have to head over to youtube to watch it.

Click image to watch movie

Here are the official results thanks to Sanadra, and thanks to everyone who came to race, and to those who helped out and cheered people on.

My friend Dave came out to the race for moral support managed to snap a few pictures, check them out here