STUFFE

THE VUVUZELA
Science of Sport today;

I was going to crack on with the science series, looking at fatigue, but something that I almost have to discuss is the controversy that is rapidly building momentum regarding the vuvuzela. This is the name of the traditional horn that South African football fans blow at football matches. If you have watched even one single minute of the action so far, you know exactly what it is. Either that, or you are concerned that every match is about to be halted by the world's largest swarm of bees.

I rather want one, to be honest. The Science of Sport blog article is here, and their other coverage is worth reading too.

UK ANTI-DOPING
Cycling weekly covers the new agency which is;

"responsible for ensuring sports bodies in the UK are compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code, running an education and information programme, managing intelligence and processing possible cases of anti-doping rule violations."

I must admit, I'd not heard about this, CW's articles on it are here and here.

BASIC SKILLS FOR BIKE COMMUTERS
The Bike Commuter blog is mulling a "Bike Commuting Basics" series - if you've anything you think they should feature, add to the comments in this post.

Also at Bike Commuters is this look at the Soma Double Cross (which is a nice looking bike). I have my doubts about mudguardless commuters, but that aside, their build looks like a practical, fun bike.

SURVIVING THE ETAPE
Via Gem at Bianchista is this excellent series of tips for riding the Etape du Tour - well worth looking at if you have this (or any other large event) in your sights.

FROM HARE KRISHNA, TO PUNK SINGER, TO DRUG DEALER, TO VEGAN CYCLIST
In fact, that hardly does John Joseph McGowan's story justice at all. A great interview over at Cycling Inquisition;

Back then, people I knew would ask "how much did you spend on that bike?", and I'd tell them...but then I'd tell them they could have bought three of those bikes with the money they spent on beer and cigarettes.

SCOTT PILGRIM'S WORLD OF PAIN

A preview of the upcoming Scott Pilgrim game. As one of the commenters points out, it's very reminiscent of classic side scrolling beat 'em ups like River City Ransom, Streets of Rage and others that consumed my early teenage years and I'm rather looking forward to it.

URBAN SKETCHERS
Introduced to me by the fabulous drawn.ca blog, I love urban sketchers.