I think she forgot she was in a car.. bikes are a bit smaller! – from BBC news http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/8294873.stm
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A drunk motorists who attempted to drive her car along a cycle path before hitting a tree has been banned from the road.
Sandra Millar, 52, from Pitlochry, drank gin and wine before setting off down the path, which runs parallel to the A9 dual carriageway.
Her car was discovered by police officers who spotted the stationary vehicle on the path from the road.
She was fined £400 and banned from driving for 15 months.
When officers approached Millar’s car, they discovered her sleeping in the driver’s seat with the lights on and the engine running.
Fiscal depute Charmaine Cole told Perth Sheriff Court that Millar told the officers she had been at a friend’s house and was heading home.

She said: “They went to investigate and found the accused sitting in the driver’s seat. The car had moderate damage to the front which was resting against a tree.”
‘Slightly confused’
Ms Cole told the court that Millar had thought she had simply parked her car “in front” of the tree.
Solicitor Mike Tavendale, defending, described the circumstances surrounding the case as “slightly strange”.
He said his client had visited her friend’s home, where she drank two gin and tonics and two or three glasses of wine.
She then decided to drive to the cycle path and walk the rest of the way home.
He added: “She drove down the path as far as she could go and at the end there is a locked gate which prevents vehicles going to and fro.
“She is not aware of colliding with a tree.
“When the police arrived she was sleeping in the car.
“She found herself in a situation where she was slightly confused, whether through alcohol or having been woken up.”
Millar also admitted failing to provide a breath specimen after she was found on the unclassified cycle route near Kindallachan in Perthshire on Sunday.

From Canada.com — make sure you have a good bike lock! Being in Canada I’m going to have to invest in a new one. Anyone know of a good lock I can get that is safe and has some insurance on it?

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RCMP issue alert after series of bicycle thefts

NEWS SERVICESOCTOBER 1, 2009

A series of bike thefts in the central Nanaimo area prompted police to warn cyclists to lock up their wheels.

In the last week, police say there have been at least six thefts in the Townsite Road area, targeting a region that ranges from Millstone to Boundary avenues.

Bikes have been stolen from yards in broad daylight while owners were home, in parking lots and around the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

In some cases, thieves cut the locks to take the bikes, including one worth $1,600, but in many others police say the bikes were not locked up.

A suspect is described as Caucasian in his early 20s, with short, dark hair and a slim build. He has an earring in his right ear, often carries a black knapsack and was wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and black pants.

Anyone with information is asked to call Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

They call him ‘Little Tyrant’ (from Asiaone.com, The New Paper)

FOR the past six months, Mr Ng Eng Gee, 46, has been taking pictures of vehicles parked illegally at a coffee shop located at Upper Aljunied Road.

Not because he’s a police officer looking out for errant motorists, but simply because he’s looking to get back at these motorists.

Here’s why: By parking illegally, they are blocking a ramp that allows the wheelchair-bound man from getting onto the road.

So intent is he on his task that he appears up to three times a day at the coffee shop, mostly in the evening, snapping pictures.

Once he gets them, he calls the traffic police.

Said Mr Ng: ‘Some of these cars even park on the pavement leading to the bus stop. They are very inconsiderate.’

Not everyone is supportive of Mr Ng’s actions. Some residents in the area told The New Paper that Mr Ng should not be contacting the police each time he finds someone parked illegally.

They are so unhappy with him that they are starting to call him names, like ‘little tyrant’, and ‘public nuisance’.

One resident, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tai, said: ‘If he wasn’t handicapped, he would have been beaten up by now.’

The stallholders at the coffee shop are not happy either.

Businesses affected

Ever since Mr Ng began his ‘mission’ in February, they claim that business has gone down by 20 to 30 per cent.Other businesses in the area claim they too have been affected.

‘Nobody will want to stop here for dinner when they run the risk of having to pay $70 in fines for a single meal,’ said a stallholder who wanted to be known only as Mr Neo. He sells fishball noodles at the coffee shop.

Some coffee shop patrons park illegally because the nearest car park is a few blocks away.

Deliverymen, who use the stretch of road to unload their supplies, are also unhappy.

One, Mr Seah Lak Tee, 50, alleged: ‘We stop our vehicles for 15 minutes at most to unload our supplies, but he still calls the traffic police and gets us into trouble. It’s unreasonable.

‘We are a civil society. He needs to spare a thought for those of us trying to make a living.’

But Mr Ng insists he’s doing nothing wrong.

‘People shouldn’t park illegally. Even if it’s only for 15 minutes, they still obstruct the way,’ he said.

The stallholders and residents alleged that Mr Ng often knocks into people and tables with his wheelchair.

‘He used to cause scenes at the coffee shop. It only stopped when the lady boss befriended him and started to give him free food, ‘ claimed Mr Stephen Loo, 51, a businessman.

Student Wong Ren Khang, 15, who lives in the area, claimed he had been knocked into before.

‘He hit my leg from behind, then went off without even apologising,’ he said.

Mr Ng, however, vehemently denied the allegations, arguing that no such incidents ever occurred.

He said: ‘If I knocked into them, I would have been sued already.’

Instead, he said he had been a victim himself on several occasions. Once, his wheelchair was locked with a bicycle chain, he claimed.

‘I was waiting behind the bushes at the other side of the road to see if any cars would park illegally when I felt someone behind me.

‘I tried to turn but couldn’t and discovered that my wheels had been locked,’ he claimed.

He then had to wait a few hours for the police to cut the bicycle chain before he could move, he said.

Mr Ng added that he had requested the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to build a walkway ramp from the coffee shop to the traffic light.

He said he had also requested bollards to be built to prevent illegal parking.

The New Paper contacted the LTA on Thursday, but it had not responded by press time.

Samuel Wee, newsroom intern

By Karolos Grohmann (from Yahoo News)

COPENHAGEN – Five athletes who tested positive for doping after blood sample retests from the 2008 Beijing Olympics will learn their fate in December, the International Olympic Committee said Monday.

Bahrain’s Olympic 1,500 metres gold medallist Rashid Ramzi, who could have his medal stripped, and four other athletes tested positive for the blood booster CERA. All first-time doping offenders could face a two-year suspension while second-time offenders are liable to a lifetime ban.

“A decision will be taken in December ,” senior IOC member Gerhard Heiberg told Reuters.

He said the executive board was not planning to meet in the Danish capital where the IOC holds its annual session later this week but would deal with the issue during a scheduled December meeting in Lausanne.

The positive results came in April after the IOC retested 948 athletes’ samples, focussing mainly on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics.

Italy’s road race silver medallist Davide Rebellin and German Stefan Schumacher, already banned for doping, were also confirmed positive as were Greece’s 2004 Athens Games 20km walk champion Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800 metres runner Vanja Perisic.

Weightlifter Yudelquis Contreras was initially tested positive but was cleared after her B sample came back negative.

IOC Medical Director Patrick Schamasch confirmed the IOC would decide by the end of the year.

“A decision will be taken by the end of the year,” he told Reuters. If found guilty, their cases would be referred to their respective international federations, responsible for handing out bans.

Nine other athletes tested positive during the Games as well as six horses in the equestrian events.

The IOC conducted the largest ever doping operation with about 5,000 blood and urine tests during the Beijing Games.

If you arrived on this post, you are probably looking for Bicycle resources in the Toronto, Canada area. We have assembled a list of websites and resources that can help you, the Toronto cycler, find what you need in Toronto, Canada for your bicycle and cycling needs.

First, a list of stores in the Toronto area. These are Google matches, but should point you in the right direction:

A. Bikes On Wheels Inc – maps.google.com – (416) 966-2453 – 6 reviews
B. The Bike Joint – www.thebikejoint.com – (416) 532-6392 – 8 reviews
C. Bathurst Cycle – maps.google.com – (416) 533-7510 – 2 reviews
D. Community Bicycle Network – communitybicyclenetwork.org – (416) 504-2918 – 1 review
E. Sweet Pete’s Bike Shop – www.sweetpetes.com – (416) 533-4481 – 2 reviews
F. Duke’s Cycle – dukescycle.ca – (416) 504-6138 – 6 reviews
G. Cycle Solutions – www.cycle-solutions.com – (416) 972-6948 – 2 reviews
H. Curbside Cycle – www.curbside.on.ca – (416) 920-4933 – 1 review
I. Trek Bicycle Store Of Toronto – trektoronto.ca – (416) 481-8735 – More
J. West Side Cycle – www.westsidecycleinc.com – (416) 531-4648 – More

Toronto International Bicycle Show
The Toronto International Bicycle Show is the best place to shop for bicycles and accessories, preview the newest trends in cycling
www.bicycleshowtoronto.com

City of Toronto: Cycling in Toronto – Toronto Bike Plan
City of Toronto Bike Plan – Promotion The Toronto Bike Plan establishes a vision for cycling in Toronto. To “shift gears” towards a more bicycle friendly place.
www.toronto.ca/cycling/bikeplan/

You can look at the actual bike map, which includes safe bike paths and all the roads that are safe to navigate on your bike, at http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/bikeplan/pdf/bikewaynetwork.pdf

As one of the most popular brands, Trek has a store in the Toronto area. You can find their store at http://trektoronto.ca.

Former USA Cycling Women’s Development Team rider Kristin Armstrong rode into retirement by earning a second world title in the time trial at the 2009 UCI Road World Championships, and the next generation of world-class American cyclists will make their way to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs next month for a National Talent Identification Camp.

The 2009 UCI Road World Championships wrapped up on Sunday with Australiaandrsquo;s Cadel Evans winning the menandrsquo;s road race. Twenty-four-year-old Craig Lewis was the top U.S. finisher coming in 59th in the grueling seven-hour affair. After a pair of near misses with fourth-place-finishes in the womenandrsquo;s road race and menandrsquo;s time trial, the U.S. team leaves the 2009 UCI Road World Championships with one gold medal, a blistering final ride by Olympic champion Kristin Armstrong in the time trial.

The 2009 UCI Road World Championships started off with a bang for the United States with Kristin Armstonrg earning her second world title in the women’s time trial on Wednesday. Armstrong’s time trial gold gave the United States its third world championships in the event in the last four years. Defending world champion Amber Neben finished sixth while Jessica Phillips was 14th. Tejay Van Garderen wast he top American in the U23 men’s contest in 13th.