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Seb Piquet is the voice heard by teams and organizers of the Tour de France cycling race. He rides behind the main group of riders in one of the Skodas of the tour organizer and gets information from three cyclist helpers going with the lead cyclists. Piquet is the one man narrator that everyone depends on, and without him no one knows what is going on in the race. WSJ looks at Piquet and this year's Tour. 

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Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent takes us on a fell running and yoga weekend in Wales in this article in The Guardian. Just the kind of thing to break out of the grip of the pandemic on mental health. These kinds of weekends can be structured in many places around the world that have the scenery and quiet for yoga and walking or running outdoors. Some of this can even be structured into a daily routine if you live somewhere with lots of green spaces and include cycling.

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Imagine a place that is rural, far from industrialization, and facing high levels of air pollution. In Gaborone, Botswana, the social prestige of driving cars and increasing car population is creating levels of air pollution from second hand older cars with poor emissions control. People driving cars see cyclists as coming from poor families and simply drive them off the road. 

See how cycling to work is being promoted as normal and dignified by a Swede who is the Ambassador of the EU to Botswana, and how many in the middle class and colleges are cycling to work to promote a return to older ways of doing things that make sense as healthier for the environment and for one's health.
 

 

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Reduce risk of dementia later in life by taking up exercise seriously says this report in The Times. Habits of exercise are learned early and help later in life is proven. As people grow older the following forms of exercise and activities can reduce risk of dementia is proven in medical journals. Exercise such as walking, cycling, running. Strength training with weights and exercise balls.Yoga and Tai-Chi, standing on one leg for balance, and meditation. Household chores such as ironing, washing, and cleaning. Gardening and outdoor activities. Running barefoot on grass also help the mental process and brain.

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A tandem 3900 bike ride from the Pacific coast of northern California to the Atlantic coast of Florida, as part of the first 3 months after retirement is shown here in the WSJ. An effort to clear the mind for retirement- the effects of cycling through the saguaros in Arizona, cresting a peak in New Mexico, and up coastal areas on the Atlantic coast. The scenery takes away many of the worries of retirement.

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General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US says "I do think this is a very protracted conflict and I think it is at least measured in years." He added that the US and others states supporting Ukraine will be "involved in this for quite some time." His advice was that the US should create permanent bases but don't permanently station forces, so you get the effect of permanence by rotational forces cycling through permanent bases. He said the Baltic States, Poland and Romania would be willing to pay for such bases.

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During the grueling days of cycling in the high altitude of the Alps region cyclists are mostly close almost shoulder to shoulder they can hear the breathing. Each cyclist senses the other and this is how they decide when to make a break for it and pedal harder. Sensing an opportunity to break away. Geraint Thomas does this in this stage of the Tour de France in the Alps mountains. Other riders are Julian Alaiphillipe of France, Quintana of Colombia who trains in the Andes, and Nibali of Italy. Five riders are within two minutes of each other in this high stakes game on the road.

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Djokovic who struggled with a knee injury and pain put every effort he could muster into his game. He won over young Spanish player Alcaraz in 2 tiebreakers 7-6, 7-6. The injury happened for a miniscus tear during his quarterfinals game with Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. He had only 24 hours to recover before the semifinals game against Italy's Mussetti and seemed very worried. It shows the effort put into the games by athletes in the face of adversity. In cycling overcoming tire punctures and precious seconds, in rowing 0.18 seconds separating Netherlands women's scull quad from the second place,  injuries of women's rower Brayshaw in a horse riding accident and a British rower who came back from a surgery after a bike accident to win gold.

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Cities including London, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Melbourne, Milan, Caracas, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Vancouver, have pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Reducing transport emissions is a big challenge. London has Ultra low Emission Zone which encourages people to switch to low emission vehicles.  Paris is creating 650 kilometres of cycling paths and plans to open up the whole city to bicycles by 2026. Buildings have a large carbon footprint - producing 38% of global carbon emissions. Of this 11% are in the construction materials of steel and concrete, Wood is an alternative material that is being tried in buildings. Passive heating is a way to heat or cool buildings by building underground canals around a building and using the natural temperatures of the earth to cool or heat the air above. This is seen in the Energon building in Ulm, Germany.

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The runup to Intenational Yoga Day on June 21, 2021.  Pictures of Yoga Practice in wonderful outdoor settings in places all over the world from the Ministry of External Affairs, India. India Post issues a cancellation stamp for Yoga Day. The United Nations supports yoga practice as a way to promote physical health and mental health during the pandemic. Much remains to be done to bring yoga practice to people in India and around the world. The tremendous neglect of physical and mental health during the last three decades, in nutrition, eating habits, in exercize, has led to rising obesity and resulting diseases. The benfits of modern medicine and technological advances in medicine have largely been lost due to  poor habits of nutrition and exercize. Yoga and other forms of exercize including walking and cycling are an excellent way to get back to living in the proper way.

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How one can meet the needs of older people in small rural communities is the subject of this video report in DW.com. Cottbus is 12 kilometres away and the nearest town to a small rural community Neuhausen in Brandenburg state, Germany. Many older people rely on public transport and there are no stores in the small rural areas. Hildegard Blaske in her 90, still goes cycling, and remembers the time before unification in 1990 when older people still counted in a different way and quaint little stores provided their needs in the area.  

Former Day center employees Ulrich and Cindy use a retrofitted Peugeot Boxer vehicle to take groceries to older people where they live. Older people hesitate to go to stores during the pandemic. And they offer a chat and local news. This kind of effort is also a part of life in France today.

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Kamala Harris is a lifelong learner, this is how she has overcome different situations that were not favorable to her running for District Attorney, running for Attorney General, and running for president against Biden, then after being chosen VP nominee and VP elect navigating the last 4 years. Each time the effort to learn and always with a sense of belief that one associates with some of the Olympic athletes in cycling and rowing in the recent Paris event. BBC News looks at different events in her career and how there were doubts about her, she was put in unwinnable situations,  yet she continued her work resolutely with determination, keeping her values she gained from her mother and grandfather and learning from each situation to be better. So that when the time came after the first Biden Trump debate one long time Democratic supporter told her "Put on your seatbelt," to which she replied "I was born with a seatbelt."

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It is hard these days to walk on streets in Germany, Austria and other European countries without the fear of being hit by a speeding bicycle. Some cyclists are known for aggressive cycling on city streets and make it difficult to go out for a walk without constantly being on the alert for bicycles. This is completely different from when bicycles were rare ocurrence.

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The Glasgow COP26 summit could be the beginning of a new era for mankind as the city that started the industrial revolution in Britain takes the world on a turn into a new era of ecologically conscious living. This BBC report looks at changes we should be experiencing in 2022 to 2030. Electric cars that take the place of current automobiles, increasing use of construction materials other than cement and concrete, use of solar and wind energy. From a mental health standpoint lifestyles built around walking and cycling, more forested areas and green spaces in and around cities, cleaner air, quieter cities, food choices and agricultural choices made around health and better ecology. Personal investments, corporate investments and pensions of $139 trillion invested in a way that cuts carbon emissions. Governments and private citizens enabling transparency and regulation, weekly monitoring on matters relating to emissions in one's own neighborhoods and local region.  ...

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Some countries such as France are increasing kilometres of bike lanes in Paris and suburbs. Traffic has dropped in Paris and other cities to a point where people living in cities are looking for ways to preserve some of the good things from the public health crisis such as the quieter streets, less or no pollution, less traffic congestion. Some cities are closing areas on their rever fronts so that people have more room to walk and exercize. Cities doing this are Oakland, Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago and Philadelphia in the U.S., and Calgary, Winnipeg, Vancouver in Canada. Cycling and walking is becoming popular.  In Berlin motor vehicle lanes are being replaced with bicycle lanes in many streets. In Bogota 35 kms. of auto traffic laneshave been converted using cones into bicycle lanes. In March the mayor of Mexico City suggested 130 kms of temporary bicycle lanes. This report in the Guardian says London is one of the cities that have not acted quickly to make these changes for larger bike use. ...

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People have to take charge of their own lives by eating healthy food and lots of fruits and vegetables, to reduce obesity in this pandemic. Studies show that people with obesity were twice as likely to end up in hospital, and 74% more likely to end up in intensive care. Efforts to rid our diets of sugary drinks and junk or processed foods need to be escalated, and exercize, walking, cycling, other activity need to be made part of our daily activity. This needs to be taken up as a fight for life, a war against decades of neglect and reckless behaviour in eating habits.  Even vaccines will not work well when body mass index BMI is over 30. Obesity has reached unbelievable and scary levels - 66% in the UK, U.S., high in the Middle East, and increasing all over the world. Added risk is high smoking levels in China and India. Coca Cola takes the place of water in parts of Mexico where obesity is high and Mexico has suffered from high coronavirus cases. ...

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Zoom calls in the wee hours of the morning or night, and emails at all hours, the scrambling that happened during 2020 and 2021 during work needs some structuring and laying down of boundaries. The work day got kind of crazy. Here Rachel Feintzberg offers tips on getting back to a healthier and more productive worklife by setting clear work boundaries and hours. The key experts say is to be respectful but resolute. Some tips are to follow boundaries such as a 6.00 pm for last calls you take- to do this 80% of the time and compromise on remainder. If pandemic habits are hard to break try innovative ways, like getting out on sports, cycling or gym routines at 6.00 pm. Its alway good to remember and articulate to peers and bosses that you will be most productive and producing higher quality work when you have time for taking care of your health and healthy living. Its hard depending on the boss but over 6 months it gets you to a better place. German practice of Feierabend actually refers to when you stop working for the rest of the day and is done in Germany. It sets a clear demarcation or boundary between work and leisure hours needed for healthy living. ...

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The cooperation of Paris residents and visitors was key to the security achieved during the Paris Olympics. The stadiums were full, 743,000 people attended venues on July 30, and millions of people lined the streets for the men's and women's cycling road races. "The Games took place amid a great atmosphere, and the police were very well received by both Parisians and tourists, who cooperated well with them," says Axel Ronde of the CFTC police services union. Clarisse Agbegnenou, bronze winner in the women’s 63kg judo category was a member of the police force. 75,000 police, private security and soldiers were used for smoothly carrying out the Olympic games with the Olympics integrated into the city of Paris for opening and closing ceremonies in a way not seen before. It was also intended to revitalize neighborhoods of Paris that had fallen into decline. In this sense the designers aspired for something different and can draw satisfaction that they made the effort and it may leave a lasting value in revitalization of Paris. Yet considering the lack of adequate investment most cities in Europe and the US were getting over three decades of laissez faire economic theory of Reagan/Friedman there is a lot that remains to be done with new investment scale and spirit. ...

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Two Slovenians were in the lead for the Tour de France as new talent has emerged. Roglic was leading as he entered the last two stages of the cycling event. He represented a Dutch team Jumbo Visma which failed to make it after Roglic simply failed to find his true form in the stage before the last stage. What was astonishing to see on French television was the gradual collapse of Roglic's lead during the climb and Pogacar building a comfortable lead of about 2 minutes at the end of the stage before the last. Roglic seemed exhausted shocked and ruffled at the end and Pogacar appeared to be calm and assured as he finished the race. Before the stage the sports director of the Dutch Jumbo- Visma team had strong disagreement and altercation with the organizers when a routine check of Roglic's bike was made to see if it was within regulations. He was cited for poor behaviour and barred from further attendance of the remaining stages which could have affected the team's overall composure. ...

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Australian actor Hugh Jackman is shown here in The Guardian advocating working hard but not too hard, the idea being that if you work at 85% of your capacity, you will be more relaxed and perform much better. Sports athletes do this. In the French cycling race Tour de France some cyclists practice with much lighter routines to do their best the following day in the actual races. The idea is doing what brings out the best in you. There is also a principle behind this. Intel's founder Andy Grove called it the "slack" principle in which by having slack in your daily routine when something suddenly came up to be done one could accomodate it easily and not waste horrendous amounts of energy tackling the chaotic situation when one tried to do it crossing the 100% of your capacity to do it to reach 101% or 102%. At that point one is not at one's productive best but deteriorating in quality of work. The slack could be 5% leaving an additional slack of 10% for yourself to do things that give your mind a rest which is what sports athletes and productive workers do. In actual practice the work is done in less time with slack because you can concentrate better which means you are getting more done than before this 85% approach. ...

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Honda will run a CR-V commercial during the Super Bowl broadcast by NBC on Feb. 5, 2012. This is part of its effort to spruce up its image with a younger demographic. The ad will show a woman who is proposed to and says she wants to do some other things first before getting married such as the fun things - going on some amazing hiking trip, going sailing, mountain cycling, finish my short film and so on.

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What is the one thing experts say is most beneficial for health? Improving our minds by building self-awareness. Understanding your feelings, motivations and behaviours in more depth, enables us to make better choices. To do this try journaling, meditating, practicing mindfulness or simply making time for self-reflection at the end of the day.

In doing this also pay attention to diversity in eating plant based foods for as many as 30 plant based foods, incorporating different exercize routines that get you motivated and happy, and get a good seven or eight hours of sleep, say these experts in health and nutrition.

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By August 6, Britain had 16 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze medals at the 2012 Olympics in London, more than any nation except the U.S. and China. Andy Murray won the Olympic gold medal in tennis defeating Federer in straight sets. Britain won gold medals in cycling, sailing, long distance running. Runner Mo Farah won the 10,000 metre race. At one point Britain won three medals in one hour in track and field events as Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Farah won gold.

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Lee Kwan Yew reflects on life in his 87th year with his wife, 89 years, mute and bedridden. He keeps active with a regimen of cycling, swimming and massage and keeps up his schedule of meetings and work as he understands not doing this wold be to go downhill quickly. And also laughs at the futility of it all, as each year he has less energy than the last. His wife Kwa, has been a constant companion since their days as law students in London. He misses the comfort other people find in religion and prayer.