Pretax dollars to pay for sports and fitness. Good idea if not to convoluted.

SportsOneSource.com - Sporting Goods Business UPDATE

Physical Fitness Bill Introduced in Congress
SportsOneSource Media Posted: 4/29/2009

According to the SGMA, Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI) has introduced the Personal Health Investment Today Act of 2009 (PHIT) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressmen Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Zach Wamp (R-TN) joined Kind in sponsoring the PHIT Bill.
ADVERTISEMENT The SGB Question
The PHIT Act would change current federal tax law to allow for the deduction or use of pre-tax dollars to cover expenses related to sports, fitness and other physical activities. Americans could invest up to $2,000 annually to pay for physical activities by investing money in existing pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Medical Savings Accounts (MSA) and/or medical reimbursement arrangements. PHIT would only expand the expenses eligible for reimbursement to include physical activity costs as a form of prevention; PHIT would not increase contribution limits to these accounts. Once an individual or family spends 7.5% of their income on qualified medical expenses, they could deduct physical activity expenses directly.

“SGMA has been supporting this bill in recent years and we are delighted to see that Representative Ron Kind is leading the effort on this legislation,” said Bill Sells, SGMA VP of government relations. “For the consumer, it reduces expenses associated with exercise, fitness and sports participation through the use of funds in pre-tax accounts. By encouraging more physical activity via financial incentives, we will improve health, reduce medical costs and lower absenteeism at school and in the workplace. PHIT has the potential to make a big difference in people’s lives, the economy and health care spending.”
“Regular physical activity is the best preventive medicine we can prescribe,” said Kind, a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. “This bill will give people the incentive they need to get active – to participate in that exercise class, join an intramural sports team, or sign up for a gym membership.”

With Kind, Blumenauer and Brady all serving on the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee, the prospects for PHIT are improved. Health care reform is a top priority in Washington and PHIT is consistent with reducing health costs – a primary objective of reform efforts.

One of the main reasons PHIT is getting attention on Capitol Hill is due to the Congressional support generated by physical activity advocates last month during SGMA’s National Health Through Fitness Day (NHTF). On NHTF Day, a delegation of well known athletes, sporting goods and fitness manufacturers, sports retailers, concerned citizens, physical educators and association leaders met with Members of the U.S. House and Senate to encourage passage of two legislative initiatives that will help Americans (of all ages) become more physically active and healthy. In addition to PHIT, the sports industry also promoted higher funding for quality physical education through the Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP). PEP provides grants to school districts and community based organizations for innovative physical education and activity methods. Since 2001, PEP has provided close to $600 million for equipment purchases and P.E. training.

“Both pieces of legislation are important,” said Sells. “Basically, PEP provides support to school-age children while PHIT will provide financial incentives for all Americans to lead more active and healthy lives.”

Underarmor Cups, not so armor like

SportsOneSource.com - Sporting Goods Business UPDATE

RECALL: Under Amour Protective Cups
SportsOneSource Media Posted: 4/29/2009
Under Armour, Inc., in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Safety Commission, has issued a recall for 211,00 protective athletic cups, which the company said can break if hit-thus posing an injurt threat to the wearer.

The company has received five reports of the cups breaking, including an injury that involved cuts and bruising. The recall involves all cups with that have the Under Armour logo, including adult, teen and youth sizes. The cups in question were sold individually and as part of a set with compression, slider or jock shorts. Consumers should immediately stop using the cup and contact Under Armour for a $20 voucher for use online or at any Under Armour specialty or outlet store.

Boulder sheriff decries 'bicycle safety' bill approval

Boulder sheriff decries 'bicycle safety' bill approval : Cycling : Boulder Daily Camera

BOULDER, Colo. — A bill that clarifies cyclists' rights and seeks to better protect them from aggressive drivers has been approved by the Colorado Legislature and is headed to Gov. Bill Ritter's desk for a final decision.

But Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle says the bill "goes too far" and warns that there could be trouble if Ritter gives the bill the go-ahead.

Senate Bill 148, also known as the Bicycle Safety Bill, would make major changes to how drivers and cyclists share the road. It passed both the state House and Senate on Monday, tallying final votes of 57-7 and 29-6, respectively.

Provisions of the bill would require drivers to give cyclists at least three feet of space when passing, allow vehicles to cross double-yellow lines to pass riders safely and allow cyclists to ride two abreast as long as they don't impede the normal flow of traffic.

But while bicycle advocates are celebrating the victory and anticipating a final approval by the governor, the Boulder County sheriff said Tuesday that the law would make cyclists virtually immune to prosecution.

"It will be very difficult or impossible to enforce anything against the cyclists," Pelle said.

He said language that allows cyclists to ride in the middle of mountain roads or two-abreast, for example, could lead to increased conflict between riders and drivers.

"There's really nothing now that requires them (cyclists) to yield or move over," Pelle said. "This bill gives them full access to the road."

On the county's open highways, he said, cyclists would not be required to use the special shoulders added specifically to separate riders from traffic.

"Under the old statutes, if a bicycle lane or bicycle path was provided, cyclists were required to use it -- and now they're not" if the bill passes, Pelle said. "Boulder County spent million to build bike lanes."

He said he hopes that most riders will continue to use the designated lanes as a matter of safety.

"There has to be accountability and common sense on both the drivers' and the cyclists' part," he said.

While cyclists should be given a three-foot-wide berth while passing, as the bill would require, the rest of the proposed law gives cyclists "carte blanche," he said.

The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, said Pelle's concerns are unfounded.

"You can ride two-abreast as long as you're not impeding the normal flow of traffic," Brophy said. "It goes to show we need to educate law-enforcement officers along the lines of what the cycling statues say and don't say."

Donald Cicchillo, president of the Boulder Cycling Club, said he thinks most riders will use common sense and not take advantage of the law.

"The reality is that it's safer to be over on the right in the bike lane," Cicchillo said. "I don't think it's going to cause people to be less courteous."

Dan Grunig, executive director of Bicycle Colorado, called the statehouse approval "a victory for everyone who wants safer roads in Colorado."

"It's been a long time coming," Grunig said. "It gives real clear guidance" about how drivers are to treat cyclists on the roads.

Grunig said the governor, himself an avid cyclist, is expected to sign off on the bill. If he does, the law would likely be signed during a June 7 ceremony and would go into effect Aug. 4.

A spokesperson for the governor's office did not return a phone call Tuesday.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie about this story at (303) 473-1328 or urieh@dailycamera.com.

VeloNews Photography | Blade Re-Sharpened: Notice the shape of the top ... | The Journal of Competitive Cycling.

VeloNews Photography | Blade Re-Sharpened: Notice the shape of the top ... | The Journal of Competitive Cycling.

Litespeed's TT Bike

VeloNews | After a two-year hiatus, Litespeed's TT bike is back and looks sharper than ever. | The Journal of Competitive Cycling.

After a two-year hiatus, Litespeed's TT bike is back and looks sharper than ever.
By Robbie Stout
Posted Mar. 13, 2009
Article Extras

* Photos

Blade Re-Sharpened: The new Blade has super high-profile frame tubes.
Blade Re-Sharpened: The new Blade has super high-profile frame tubes.
Photo: Robbie Stout

Re-introduced in September 2008, after a two year hiatus, the Litespeed Blade is a bike with a storied history. The signature titanium airfoil tube shape was created by accident in the early 1990s and brought to widespread prominence when Lance Armstrong used one (disguised as a Trek) in the 1999 Tour de France. Ten years after that historic ride, Litespeed is wielding a totally new Blade, and we had a chance to check out one of the first bikes to leave the test lab.
Sharpening the Blade

I drove to Moab, Utah, a month ago for a training camp with Chip Chilson of Aspen Sport Performance. The Litespeed Blade ridden by Chilson is the first to be released outside of the company. Litespeed engineer Brad DeVaney met Chilson a few years ago at an Interbike dinner and felt that he would be a good candidate to test the prototype Blade.
Blade Re-Sharpened: The new Blade has downtube cable routing and an under-stay rear brake.
Blade Re-Sharpened: The new Blade has downtube cable routing and an under-stay rear brake.
Photo: Robbie Stout

Though the geometry on Chilson's Blade is custom, it gave DeVaney a chance to test the capabilities of the manufacturing process. "We're also creating tools and fixtures to build the bike while we build the bike," said DeVaney. The process used to create the dramatic titanium tube shapes requires innovative methods and tools that didn't exist until the design of the Blade was created.
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More than ever, the storied Litespeed time trial bike lives up to its name. This new Blade has drastically flatter tubes that taper off into a sharp edge. Using 3/2.5 titanium, a more malleable alloy branded “T1,” Litespeed is able to achieve the ultra-narrow tube profiles for the Blade. A front view of the Blade shows the efforts that were made — the frame has a broad side profile and minimal frontal area. The seat tube similarly takes an extreme approach to aerodynamics and to match the effort, Litespeed created a bladed seatpost. Finally, the top tube is triangle-shaped, flat on top and pointed on the bottom, providing added lateral stiffness with minimal side and frontal exposure.
Blade Re-Sharpened: The downtube is left open at the bottom.
Blade Re-Sharpened: The downtube is left open at the bottom.
Photo: Robbie Stout

The wing-like downtube also functions as a conduit for internal routing of the rear brake and derailleur cables. Cables enter near the headtube and exit the open-ended downtube at the bottom bracket junction. As on a growing number of time trial bikes, the rear brake is mounted to the chainstay bridge for maximum aerodynamics.

To complete the package, Litespeed designed a matching titanium aero fork. As a gesture to the stealthy aesthetics of the frame, the logo is printed in black and placed on the inside of the fork, keeping the visible side uncluttered.
Blade Re-Sharpened: The bike is almost two-dimensional.
Blade Re-Sharpened: The bike is almost two-dimensional.
Photo: Robbie Stout

Component Highlights of Chilson's bike:

* Wheels: ZIPP 1080 Tubular Rear and 808 Front
* Handlebar: Zipp VukaAero
* Stem: Look Ergostem
* Drivetrain: Wireless SRM FSA K-Force Light with ceramic bearings
* Saddle: ISM Adamo Racing

A slice through time: the history of the Blade

In this era of carbon fiber, a material permitting almost any frame shape imaginable, a titanium time trial bike radically bucks the trend. But the Blade has a legendary history that lends credibility to this latest iteration.

In 1992, DeVaney was shaping a large titanium tube that was meant for a tandem. Just as he had it heated and under pressure from the press, the tube cracked. "Once a tube is cracked, it's garbage," recalled DeVaney, "Therefore in my frustration, anger, embarrassment, I completely squished the cracked tube as I bottomed the press faces together." At that moment a second crack and pop were heard. When the press was raised, to DeVaney's surprise, there lay two perfectly symmetrical, slightly ovalized halves of a tube. "I was off the hook by having mistakenly formed the first Blade tube halves," he said, "I dressed the edges and had the two parts welded into a tube immediately."
Blade Re-Sharpened: Notice the shape of the top tube and the narrow profile.
Blade Re-Sharpened: Notice the shape of the top tube and the narrow profile.
Photo: Robbie Stout

After the initial discovery, Litespeed developed a more consistent, cost-effective process of manufacturing tubes for the Blade. After four years of research and development the Blade was first brought to production in 1995, said Litespeed's Chris Brown.

DeVaney then worked with Steve Hegg and Lance Armstrong in 1996 on building the best available time trial bike. Hegg won his third elite U.S. national time trial championship and Armstrong won the final time trial (and overall) at the Tour DuPont in 1996 on a Blade.
Blade Re-Sharpened: That's no Trek under that paint.
Blade Re-Sharpened: That's no Trek under that paint.
Photo: Graham Watson

In 1998, Armstrong called DeVaney seeking a UCI-legal time trial bike for the 1999 Tour de France. He went on to race the prologue and time trial on a Blade, painted blue with Trek decals.

Not only did Armstrong famously ride a Blade, the RLX Polo Sport triathlon team used the Blade in 2002 and 2003, as did the Lotto-Adecco team at the 2002 Tour de France.
Carving a new niche

Now after 14 years and 12 generations of the Blade, Litespeed has once again designed a time trial bike unlike any other on the market.

Even though Chilson’s frame is a prototype, the design is virtually complete. “It’s down to aesthetics,” says DeVaney, “When a bike is at that segment of the market you just don’t make any compromises.” By “aesthetics,” he means the slightest details of joints and welds, not so much the shape of the main tubes.

Due in part to the high price tag of the new Blade, upwards of $10,000, DeVaney expects that a good percentage of these bikes will be made with custom geometry — Litespeed has the capacity to make every Blade fit like a glove.

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Top Stories > More Tech Articles

HyperPower Protocol #4 -- The Redemption

HyperPower Protocol #4 -- The Redemption - The Cycling Network

I sure am glad I'm not doing this workout tonight with the boys.
This is the exact email I sent them:


Hope you are psyched cuz tonight's gonna be off da hook.

Everyone's zones increased based on the files I received from last week, including the power profile test if you sent me one.

There is one caveat in that if you are feeling tired, we will modify (especially in Orion's case).

However, tonight's workout is going to challenge you to the next level...meaning, remember the flow we spoke about last week where the first workout was kind of an opener but was perhaps too conservative, the second one was tough and the last one felt easier. Well, my bet is that this one will be tough again.

So gear up mentally because I'm sure physically you've already done all the right stuff.

Now, don't get hung up on the primary digits of your zones. Just round up or down as appropriate (example: Mike's will target 355 or 360 watts for the first 5min workout, Orion 420, Stan 350 and so on).

I sure am glad I'm not doing this with you!!!

Kam

HyperPower Protocol -- mid-way analysis

HyperPower Protocol -- mid-way analysis - The Cycling Network

We are 3 weeks into our HyperPower Protocol and everyone is doing great. Some are feeling a bit fatigued and others are thriving under the workload.

Last week's session was a fun one in that our guest coach, Hunter Allen, added an element of support and inspiration to help us through the grueling 3rd week workout.

I don't know if it was Hunter's presence, the added fitness or perhaps a little bit of both, but all four athletes commented that last week's workout felt easier than the previous week's protocol (number 2). Since I did not reduce the workload nor their target power zones, it must be the combination of gained fitness and Hunter's presence that added that extra OOMPH the boys needed.

Last week ended with a scheduling of the second Power Profile Test, which the athletes performed before our very first session to establish a baseline of their fitness. This very same test will be performed again at the end of the HPP to measure the fitness gained during this 6-week protocol. Take a peak at the PPT and see what entails this test.

Only two of the four athletes had the opportunity to perform this test and their results are posted on the published spreadsheet we use through Google. Take a look at each athlete's numbers by clicking on their name in the tabs on the bottom of the spreadsheet.

One athlete, Orion Berryman, participated in what turned out to be an epic road race with regards to the conditions: snow, wind and cold hammered the racers at this year's Boulevard Road Race in San Diego East County.

Orion did well just to hang in there with the conditions, let alone taking 26th in the Pro 1-2 race, a race in which 2/3 of the field dropped out. From a coaching perspective, Orion is sure to pay for that race for a few days and so I will modify his Wednesday training with either lower power zone targets or have him do only 1/2 the number of intervals by taking twice the rest.

A quick look at Orion's performance management chart reveals several interesting things.

1. His Chronic Training Load (CTL) is heading in the right direction. CTL has long-term effects and measures the accumulation of long-term training. Is Orion training effectively to peak at a later date? The answer is YES. The trick is to make sure CTL doesn't rise too aggressively and that he backs off in time to peak for his season's top event(s).

2. His Acute Training Load (ATL) shows a more erratic pattern but this is to be expected as athletes mix high-intensity days of training with easy recovery days during the week. What is important to note is the deep trough before the sudden peak towards the right side of the graph. This says that Orion took it easy the day before Boulevard and that it was a hard race for him. The astute observer will notice that the ATL for the Boulevard race is not as high as the first HPP session or the few workouts after that. The answer is that while the first HPP was certainly hard, because of missing data prior to the first HPP the algorithms used to measure ATL and CTL will measure the physiological impact of the first workout against no workouts. In other words, the software assume Orion suddenly put away his potato chips, wiped his hands on his T-shirt and jumped on his bike to do a massive workout. And, we know that while he may have wiped his hands on his T-shirt, Orion is certainly favors spicy tortilla chips to potato chips.

3. Because of the longer interval requirements associated with a road race, I would expect to see power numbers for longer than 5min intervals to head up. And, we certainly see this happen in 5, 10 and 15min power graphs. And we see a drop in all the less than 5min power zones, including 2min, 1min and 15sec power...the same 15sec power that we have been hammering on during the HPP. Oh, Orion...how could you? Nah! This to be expected because in reality, we don't expect to see too many all out 15sec bursts and the road race, especially Boulevard, is mostly about sustained effort. So, in a sense, one could say that Orion was perhaps not doing the right kind of training for Boulevard, which is okay because it is very tough to train effectively for that race the first year out. I my opinion, it takes one year to learn the course and one year to train for it effectively.

4. Last, and perhaps most importantly, Orion's Training Stress Balance (TSB) is headed in the right direction, up, which indicates that there is a high probability that he would have had good legs for the race last weekend. TSB, oversimplified, is a measure of how good you can expect to feel for a particular ride, whether it is training or racing. TSB is a function of work and recovery, the two "duh" variables needed to gain performance in athletics. A positive TSB number means there is a greater chance of the athletes being ready for a good performance. A negative TSB means the opposite.

Thanks for reading.

Coach Kam