Free Republic

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) -A tip for all potential arbitration witnesses out there: Never take the mike after Greg LeMond. The three-time Tour de France winner stole the show at the Floyd Landis hearing Thursday during a short, explosive bit of testimony filled with talk of sexual abuse, blackmail and backstabbing that led to the on-the-spot firing of Landis' business manager. It was Landis who asked for this hearing to be public, though he couldn't have expected a scene like this to break out. And though it's hard to know what impact these blockbusters had on the arbitrators, it will be...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A gang stripped a South African man before supergluing him to an exercise bicycle while they ransacked his house, according to a report Thursday. SAPA news agency said the attackers, dressed in suits, hijacked a man in his 50s and forced him at gunpoint to take them to his home in Johannesburg. "The victim was then forced to strip, after which he was superglued to the seat of an exercise bicycle, his hands were superglued, as were his feet and then his mouth was superglued shut," SAPA quoted Mark Stokoe, a spokesman for emergency services Netcare 911,...

Frank Gonzales thought the black-and-yellow Honda motorcycle whizzing past him last week looked awfully familiar. He recognized the distinctive scrapes he'd put on the exhaust pipes popping wheelies. But he didn't recognize the man driving his stolen bike. "I got a look at him," Gonzales said. "He turned and looked at me and took off." A high-speed chase ensued through southwest Springfield neighborhoods, pitting a 150-mph street bike against Gonzales' battered Ford Explorer car with 180,000 miles on it. He eventually corralled the suspect behind a church and got his bike back — after a chase several police authorities called...

A Suzuki racing bike screaming at 80 mph in a 25-mph zone slammed into Gigliotti on Oct. 4 as she was leaving her job at Long Beach City College, igniting a fireball inside her Ford Escort. "It is not uncommon to see these kinds of accidents with motorcycles, particularly high-powered super bikes," said Raymond Dennison, the Long Beach detective who investigated the crash. "The whole function is to go as fast as they can."

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2006 -- Jeff Klare put his bicycle where his heart is Oct. 1, and set out on a 300-mile trip to raise awareness of the need for more corporations to hire workers with disabilities. Eric Madaus, 8, leads Jeff Klare, chief executive officer of Hire Disability Solutions, to the finish of a 300-mile bike ride at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6. Klare began his ride at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York to bring attention to the need for more corporations to hire workers with disabilities. Madaus suffers...

September 25, 2006 'A total maniac'     We had hoped that conservative commentator Laura Ingraham would be the one to finally provide a rare peek into President Bush's mountain-biking world, which for whatever reason rotates in secrecy.     Mr. Bush invited the popular syndicated Washington-based radio host along for this past Saturday's two-hour-plus bike ride atop the dusty trails of the Secret Service training facility in suburban Maryland -- although, as usual, there wasn't a single sighting of the presidential trekkers.     "Of course it was OTR," Miss Ingraham told Inside the Beltway afterwards, feeding us the presidential code for "off-the-record."

COCOA — Local motorcycle builder Billy Lane turned himself in at 1 p.m. today in connection with a fatal accident Sept. 4. Among the charges Lane faces are driving under influence, manslaughter and driving with his license suspended. Lane, 36, arrived with his lawyers at the Florida Highway Patrol office on State Road 520. FHP spokeswoman Kim Miller said Lane’s blood alcohol level was .192 when the accident occurred on State Road A1A south of Melbourne Beach. She said bond would be set at $15,000. Investigators have said Lane was trying to pass two other vehicles on a double-yellow-lined stretch...

COVINGTON, Ind. -- A vehicle hit by a truck slammed into charity bicyclists Tuesday, killing a state trooper and a sheriff's deputy and injuring three other riders, police said. Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Joe Watts said several police agencies were participating in the ride. The group was traveling south on Indiana 63 about two miles from Interstate 74 in Vermillion County near the Indiana-Illinois state line. Riders were raising money for survivors of police officers killed while on duty. Karen Shelton, director of operations for the Indiana Troopers Association, said a state trooper and a Lake County Sheriff's deputy...

Confederate motorcycles, the US makers of the amazing Hellcat and Wraith, has unveiled its latest prototype – and it looks just as mad as its predecessors. The Renovatio is still in concept stage but the designs and specs look pretty far down the line considering the firm has had to recover from the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, which devestated the factory. The minimalist design is centred around a GM based v-twin engine and not much else. The engine puts out 150bhp in standard trim but there’s a supercharger option that boosts that to 190bhp. Confederate describe the concept as “Minimal;...

Miserly Burger King charges hurt kid for ice By Jennifer Roy/ Daily News Tribune Wednesday, August 23, 2006 - Updated: 10:35 AM EST Ice does not appear on Burger King’s menu, but it should after a Newton teen limped into the Moody Street fast-food restaurant last week looking for some cool relief of a sore ankle. John Michael Jasset staggered into the restaurant about 5 p.m. last Thursday after being hit by a car. He was thrown from his bike and also scraped his knee, arms and hands, his mother, Cheryl Jasset, said. But when he asked for some ice...

President Bush, in York, Penn., gets on a motorcycle during a tour of the Harley-Davidson vehicle operations plant. At right is roll test operator Joel Toner.

Harley-Davidson enthusiasts now have their own stamp of approval, thanks to the United States Postal Service. A 1965 Harley Electra-Glide is featured as one of four new first-class stamps being rolled out in Wisconsin at 11 a.m. Saturday at Capital City Harley-Davidson/Buell, 6200 Millpond Road, on Madison's far east side. The stamp rollout ceremony at kick-starts the third annual motorcycle ride to raise funds for the Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center. The stamps were officially introduced to the public Aug. 7 during the 66th annual Harley rally in Sturgis, S.D., and have been unveiled in local ceremonies throughout America since...

The controversy surrounding Floyd Landis is actually different then other controversies over illegal steroid use for one major reason: Both his blood and urine has been tested eight times (three blood tests) throughout the French de Tour. These other tests combined are more significant and telling then the single sample test found with an abnormal T/E ratio. As it stands, Landis' single positive test is just a distraction that sheds little light on the truth of any illegal drug activity on his part. To get any benefit out of an anabolic agent it must be used over weeks, not hours...