Today’s Outdoors page in The Roanoke Times featured a listing up upcoming races in the region. There was a long list of running races, and a not-so-long one featuring bike races, triathlons and the like.

This was not a complete list. I had sought input, but some race organizers who didn’t see my calls for submissions missed out. At least on this list. I run events listings in notes columns, the weekly outdoors calendar and the like.

Speaking of running, in an earlier post, hard core endurance athlete and hunter Brandon Lindsey made a comment about Wild Lifers getting together for a post-race photo after the Blue Ridge Marathon, which Lindsey is tackling again this year. I know Ralph Barton has done the half before, as has Steve Stone. I don’t know about Ralph, but I’m pretty sure Steve is running because I’ve passed him in training a few times out there on the road this winter.

Anyone else?

I’ll help Brandon coordinate a post-race photo and be happy to post it here. Unfortunately, I won’t be in it. Nor will I be able to take the shot.  I wasn’t planning to run this year as last year’s half really trashed my legs (the downhill; not the uphill) and, while I love the race, I was worried about that happening again.  I can’t afford that as I train for that July Ironman I’m committed to.

Anyway, as it turns out, some Roanoke Times-related travel  came up and I won’t even be in town. That’s a bummer as I love covering the event.

Even if you’re not tackling the Blue Ridge half or full, take a look at the list and sign up for an event or two (such as the fun Run with Grace, pictured here).Training for a race is a great way to get in shape for hunting season, which will be here before we know it.

My friend Rob Issem sent me this shot of his son, Andrew, riding at the recent Mountain Cross event in Bedford County.

As he watched that race Rob couldn’t help but think back to an early appearance of the low-key mountain biking event, which he hosted more than a decade ago at his home on Bent Mountain.

“My son Andrew was 3 months old at the time the 1999 race was held and article published,” Rob Wrote. “He’s 13 now and he raced in this past weekend’s MTX race (see attached pic) Photo credit Roger Spivey.

“The series has stayed true to the spirit of the original MTX after all these years, still employing the equalizer handicapping format, and race director Kenny Palmer does an amazing job, providing professional race timing, fun courses with technical skill building features, custom number plates, free food, and a very welcoming atmosphere – all for an unbelievably low $10 entry fee!”

The series is over for this year but will surely be back next winter. Click HERE for more information.

Meantime, Rob asked if I could get my hands on a Roanoke Times story on the event, and I was able to pull it from our archives. For the benefit of Rob, his buddies and others interested in cycling, here it is:

Monday, November 29, 1999

Edition: METRO
Section: VIRGINIA
Page: C1
Source: JON CAWLEY THE ROANOKE TIMES

BENT MOUNTAIN BIKING EVENT PUTS THE METTLE TO THE PEDAL
COMPETITORS SEEK NOT THE HOLY GRAIL, BUT A HOLEY INNER TUBE

Summary: The self-styled MountainCross World Championships are more for fun and training, though the host hopes to make it an annual event.

Read more »

We are in the process of overhauling Roanoke.com, and we’ve been reaching out to readers for feedback on what they’d like to see with the new site. We even have a blog, The Refresh RT blog, to keep readers in the loop.

So, let me pose that question to you all: How can we improve the Outdoors content on Roanoke.com? What are we doing well? What can we do better? What else would you like to see? Are there other outdoors sites we should look at for ideas?

Be blunt and honest. Your input will make a difference.

First, some basic background on what we have now.

–Outdoors stories and columns that appear in The Roanoke Times comprise part of our online Outdoors package. I write nearly all of these.  Read more »

Roanoke Times staff shooter Sam Dean is hosting an outdoor photography workshop at the paper’s offices on Thursday, Oct. 21. The workshop, from 7:30-9 p.m., is free and open to the public. An RSVP is required and the deadline is today. You can RSVP by phone at 981-3393 or by e-mailing photo@roanoke.com.

Those of you who pay attention to photo credits probably know that Sam is by my side on a lot of outdoors adventures, such as for several of my Fun in the Sun series stories this summer. He is not my personal shooter, and all of our staff shooters do a good job with outdoors content. But it just kind of works out that Sam is out there a bunch. He loves the outdoors as much as I do, and is up for anything. We’ve had some fun days out and about. And we’ve also some pretty epic — i.e. challenging — days out there. He never complains. And he always gets good art.

Those of you have any interest in outdoor photography should try to get to this workshop. Again, it’s free. And I think they may even be serving refreshments.

I’m sitting here at my desk wrapping up work on tomorrow’s Roanoke Times Outdoors page while dealing with a difficult distraction — live coverage of the Tour de France on the Versus network.

I’ve watched quite a bit of the tour this year, and I admit it’s because of Lance Armstrong’s return. I never expected that Armstrong could win, but I figured his being in the race would make things more interesting, and that’s been the case.

A lot has been made of the supposed rivalry between Armstrong and his teammate, Alberto Contador of Spain.

As much as these guys ride together, Armstrong knew full well that Contador would be stronger in the big mountains, where this race is won. But I think early in the race Armstrong played things up in regards to the rivalry, if for no other reason than to help fuel interest in the race.

Once Contador established that he wouldn’t lose (barring a crash, illness or other catastrophe) Armstrong was left fighting for a spot on the podium, and that’s still pretty interesting considering his age (ancient, by pro cycling standards).

As for Contador, I was pretty ambivalent about him until yesterday, when he pulled one of the most baffling moves I’ve seen in years of closely following this race.

About 2 kilometers from the top of the day’s final climb, Contador was in a group with rivals Andy and Frank Schleck, and teammate Andreas Kloden. 

Had the four reached the summit together, there was a good chance that Kloden could have hung with the others to the finish, and solidified his chances of finishing in the top three overall come Paris. With Armstrong still also in the mix for a podium spot, there was a chance Astana could sweep all three top spots — a remarkable team achievement.

So what does Contador do? He attacks, meaning he put the hammer down. The strategy was questionable, because even if he had dropped the Schlecks, he wasn’t going to get much time on them. And he didn’t need time on them anyway.

The problem was, the Schlecks were able to hang on, but Kloden couldn’t. He ended up losing two minutes, and was passed in the standings by the Schleck brothers.

So the only thing Contador accomplished was to hurt his own teammate. So this guy is either really selfish, or really dumb. Or, maybe, both.

As I write this it appears that Contador may win today’s individual time trial. So he’s clearly the best in the race. But I can’t imagine he’s winning many friends in the peleton with moves like Wednesday’s. That might not hurt him in this race, but it will come back on him at some point.

I’m intrigued by a dilemma Radford city leaders are facing. At issue is who should get priorty use on a tract of 250 acres in Montgomery County that the city owns.

The short of it is the city has long permitted hunting on the property by special permit. Recently some bikers helped build about 6 miles of trails. Bikers surprised to find out that hunting is allowed during all open seasons, not just the two-week general firearms deer season, as they assumed, recently asked the city council to change its policy and allow hunting only those two weeks. The council is waiting to decide what to do, and will hear public comments at a meeting in October.

As I wrote in my Sunday column, I’m confident a reasonable compromise can come out of this. No one will have to give up much.

Apparently, others aren’t so confident. Our lead editorial today discussed the same topic, and the writer/writers are much more pessimistic.

Maybe I’m a hopeless optimist. I know there’s no perfect solution. But I have full confidence the hunters, hikers, bikers and Radford City leaders will prove me right and come up with a good solution.

Why do bicyclists wait until I’m around before they try to kill themselves?

OK, the guy I found crumpled on the Roanoke River Greenway last year wasn’t trying. He just had the bad luck of hitting a huge pothole. But the bloody mountain biker pictured a month ago on this blog was lucky all he got was bloody when he hit a tree without a helmet.

And the kid I just saw crash in Roanoke got lucky, too.

I was coming back from an assignment in Vinton when this pack of teenaged kids on BMX bikes converged on the intersection of 8th and Wise. That spot is on one of my road bike loops and it’s a confusing intersection with a bunch of yield signs. I get nervous riding through there and I pay attention. These kids weren’t paying attention.

They were just riding willy nilly in the road, crossing back and forth and not looking. I sometimes see that kind of behavior from pedestrians who seem to be daring drivers to hit them.

The drivers all defered to the kids. But one of the kids didn’t see that a pickup truck was stopped and turning into a convenience store. The kid smacked the back of the pickup and crumpled on the side of the road, about 30 feet in front of me. I stopped, put on my flashers and got out.

The kid was crying and rolling around in pain saying, “Oh, my knee. My knee.” I said, while dialing 911, “Don’t worry, I’m calling help.”

And, miraculously, he quickly got better. He staggered back onto his bike and took off after his “friends,” who hadn’t exactly stuck around to make sure he was OK. I tried to convince him to sit tight — really all you can do — but he would have none of it.

I could just see a kid like that going home and telling his mom some guy hit him and
took off. So I stuck around with the driver of the truck to talk to the cops because I wanted to make sure the police knew that it wasn’t that driver’s fault.

Pretty interesting.

The other day the family and I went for a little hike in First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, and enjoyed watching nesting osprey.

On the drive out I saw a mountain biker on the side of the road holding his head, which was covered in blood. I stopped to check on him.

He had smacked a tree and cut his scalp pretty good. The heavy bleeding, which is normal for even a minor head wound, made it look worse than it was. My wife couldn’t even look at him. My girls did and the guy said, “This is why you should always wear a bike helmet.”

I shaved my head this morning in protest of the Tour de Farce.

Actually, that’s only partly true. I did shave my head. But not in protest.

I cut my own hair. It’s an advantage of having not much. I use a cheap pair of Wahl clippers and use the No. 1 attachment. Zip. Takes about five minutes. I remove the No. 1 to go extra tight on my neck.

So, this morning I grab the clippers and take two quick swipes at the right side of my head. And I was almost blinded by the reflected glare from my stark white skull. I’d forgotten to put the No. 1 on.

If I actually had any hair on the top of my head I could have gone for the high-and-tight Marine look. You know, shaved sides and back with a little more on top. But that’s not physically possible. So I just ripped it all off.

Truth is, I’m probably only a few days from where I would have been with the No. 1 cut. It really doesn’t look much different, except for that stark white skull thing.

And that is hard to miss. I walked downstairs and one my girls looked at me, while shielding her eyes, and asked, “Daddy, did you shave your head?” She didn’t really shield her eyes, but she did ask that. And then she said, “You look like Donnie,” my head-shaving neighbor.

As for the Tour de France, the past couple of days have been a bummer. Not that the ejection of Vino and removal of Rasmussen were surprising. In fact, Vino’s popping positive for blood doping was about as shocking as that day’s other big news — that Lindsey Lohan was allegedly driving drunk and had cocaine in her pocket.

A couple of pro riders have had some really interesting things to say in their Internet diaries the past couple of days. Check out this column by Bobby Julich and this one by Christian Vande Velde.

As I wrote about in my column today, which you can read HERE, my Sunday morning bike ride was interrupted early when I happened upon another cyclist who had just crashed on the Roanoke River Greenway.

I wasn’t the first person to stop to offer assistance to Sam Butler, a 52-year-old physician from Roanoke. Melissa Ivy and her boyfriend, Ismael, were already there. They stayed the whole time, and even took Sam and his wife, Helen’s, bikes so Helen could ride in the ambulance with Sam. They returned the bikes the Butlers later that evening.

I’ve started carrying my cell phone when I ride, in case of emergencies. This is the first time I’ve needed it. I called 911.

A number of other folks stopped and asked if we needed help or to borrow a phone. One guy didn’t ask. He just stopped his van, got out and approached Sam.

“My name is Steve and I’m a paramedic in Roanoke County,” he said, then added that he was going to help Sam out while he waited for the on-duty squad.

When the ambulance got there, Steve briefed them and then was on his way before I could get his last name. (Full disclosure: I didn’t get Melissa’s last name either, but Helen had it.)

Today I found out his full name was Steve Simon, a division chief with Roanoke County Fire and Rescue. He and his 5-year-old son had just finished a bike ride. In an e-mail, Steve thanked me for the column — which focused on the importance of bike helmets. He wrote that the Butlers had tracked him down to thank him for his help. He was glad to hear from them.

“It made my day,” he wrote.

Seeing how a bunch of strangers can come together to help somebody in trouble made my day Sunday.