I mentioned in my last blog that looking for data that verified that women have shorter torsos than men lead to dead ends. The data I found did indicate that in all cultures, on average, men are taller than women.

Since bike fit typically begins with stand-over height, I looked at body dimension differences for men and women of equal leg lengths. For a male and a female having equal leg lengths, their torsos lengths are within 0.1 inches (0.3 cm) of each other-pretty close.

Although torso lengths are very close on my sample subjects, the reach distance to the brake levers differed by nearly 2 inches (5.1 cm). This dimension difference comes from women having shorter arms and smaller hands, on average. If women tend to have shorter arms and smaller hands, steering the bike and squeezing brake levers designed for an average male becomes more challenging for a female.

The data I used in the investigation came from a mixed population of men and women in the U.S. military in the late 1970s. This data has some issues and to name a few:

• Certain selection criteria has to be met in order to be accepted into the military. The physical standard eliminated small and obese people.
• I do not have the data to back this statement up, yet, but I doubt the average U.S. military person in the late 1970s is the same as the average person in the U.S. military in 2007.
• People of certain ethnic populations are not well represented in this data. For example, Southeast Asian males are on average smaller than U.S males. They also have smaller hands.

When looking at bike design and marketing in 2007, heading into 2008, it is getting better for the gals all the time. Manufacturers are producing a larger range of bicycles, with several offering high performance models in the smaller frame sizes. It used to be a "women's specific" bike was a smaller version of the men's bikes with lower grade materials and pink paint. While this can still be the case for some, others are putting serious thought into quality, performance-oriented bicycles for women.

Something to ponder...women are at an advantage in that they can purchase women's specific gear or men's gear with no social backlash. The guys, however, are generally not as lucky. Have you ever seen a male intentionally purchasing and riding a women's specific bike?

And, what if a "women's specific" design is a better fit for a sizeable piece of the male population under 5-feet, 8-inches tall?

While you are busying pondering the pros and cons of marketing smaller bikes with some changes in design to women, I have a homework assignment for you.

Pick up any magazine you subscribe to, or purchase from the news stand, that is not a gender-specific magazine. Something endurance- or outdoor-sport related is what I'd like you to select. Thumb through the magazine and count the number of male images and the number of female images you see in the main magazine body (not the small add section at the back of the magazine). Count the head shots of authors and publishers. Include ad photographs. Include story photos and race results.

While you're counting, make a mental note of the photos. Is there a difference between how the males are portrayed versus the females? Look for these general categories:

• Strong, athletic, powerful
• Sexy
• Recreational, fun
• Unattractive, unbecoming

I have to tell you it is hard to focus on writing about things that are fun and frivolous when I know people getting evacuated from their homes due to the fires in California. I spoke to a friend, Dallas, in Malibu late last night and he spent his day helping one of his friends evacuate his home.

How to keep the family safe? Where to stay? What to take? What is important?

Dallas described driving to the home to try to get important items and watching the smoke and fire lap the landscape. Places once beautiful are charred black and smoldering. He said experiencing a disaster is like no other experience in his life. It makes people evaluate what is important.

South of Malibu, I know some of my San Diego area friends have been evacuated from their homes. To all of you there, I hope all goes well. Stay safe.

I shouldn't complain, or be mad, about getting a cold. The average adult gets two to three colds each year. I haven't had a cold with all the common trimmings since 2004. No kidding.

Between 2004 and last Tuesday, when people would talk about colds, anything about colds, I'd join in. I didn't want any kind of cold germ looking at me like an opportunity to break a winning streak, to gain a crown to be the King of Germie Germs.

But alas, a germ, or a group of germs, attacked me.

Day 1, morning: Denial.

I don't have a sore throat and this is not going to be a cold. I just have a scratchy throat and dry mouth from snoozing on an airplane, mouth agape. I wonder if anyone on the plane noted how many crowns I have in my mouth?

Day 1, afternoon: All out attack

Just in case this "thing" is thinking about becoming a cold, I will stop it dead in it's tracks. I will attack it with my arsenal of homeopathic remedies and my voodoo combinations. There is no way a cold is invading my body. +NO WAY++!+

Day 2, morning: Relief (More Denial?)

Whew, dodged a bullet. That was close. I'm feeling better today. The sore throat seems better. I do have a few sniffles, but that's probably seasonal allergies.

Day 2, afternoon: Anger

Hmmm, not feeling so great. I better not get sick, I don't have time for that kind of nonsense. I always take care of myself. (Well, almost always. There was that sleeping only four hours on my travel day three days ago, sitting on an airplane infront of a sneezing/coughing/throat-clearing hack for 12 hours, eating fewer fresh foods than normal, drinking less fluids and being confined to a very small space for hours on end. But the rest of the time I'm really, really good.) I don't deserve to get a cold!

Day 3, morning: Yet More Denial

I'm not quite well yet, but it seems I'm on the mend. Woah, that was close. I'll probably be fine by the weekend. That will be great, I have lots to do. Now where are the tissues? Seems my nose is causing me fits. Yep, probably allergies.

Day 3, afternoon: More Anger and Bargaining

This is ridiculous. It's not fair. I slept 11 hours last night and I should feel better. My nose is worse, my eyes are watering and my throat is sore again. This not right! I took care of myself. I ate fresh foods, drank plenty of fluids, reduced and eliminated exercise, went to bed early.

Really, I'll do a better job of getting to bed early and eating right from now on. I was getting a little sloppy in the last few weeks. I'll do better now, I promise. Cold, cold, go away let me have a better day.

Day 4: Sadness

I don't want be sick. I don't want a box of tissues next to me at all times. I don't want piles of tissues everywhere I spend more than 30 seconds. I don't want a cold. I don't feel like doing anything. I can't think about anything in a logical process. I'm totally unproductive. This bums me out...

Day 5: Acceptance.

Okay, okay, it's not the end of the world. I have a simple, common cold. I'll be better in a couple of days, when this virus has run its course. Until then I'll have to put up with a chapped nose, eyes that water unpredictably and a nose that won't shut off. I can't believe people get these symptoms two or three times a year. Intolerable.

Day 6 and 7: Tolerance.

More nose issues and now coughing has invaded my body. Nice. I just as well have the entire buffet of symptoms. I'll take some stuff to relieve the symptoms and just get through this. Once I get through it, I'm set for a long time to come. I've paid my cold dues.

My voice has been reduced to squeaks and tones that are not normal. I can barely get through two sentences without coughing. It's easier not to talk. I think some people are happy about that.

I'm now back home after the trip to Rhodes, Greece for the ITU World Cup event. I have to say it was a well-managed event. Rhodes stepped up to the plate within the last few weeks and offered to host a World Cup when another city backed out. With the help of ITU World Cup Director of Operations Thanos Nikopoulos, Director of Events and Technical Officals Gergely Markus, and many other ITU staff, support personnel and fabulous volunteers-the event was fantastic. From an outsider's view, you would never know this was a first-year event with a very short preparation time. Hats off to everyone involved in producing the event.

Before I get into the results from the race, I want to introduce you to the group that went to Rhodes. Because it is easiest to view a large numbers of photos within the blog in a condensed format, I have attached a document that has a photo of each of the athletes and the staff members as well. If you don't see an attachment at the bottom of the page, double-click on the title for the blog. This opens the blog's page and the attachment should be visible at the bottom.

Looking at the smiling faces of the athletes makes me feel great about the opportunity to help with this sport development project. For some of the athletes, it was their first opportunity to travel to a World Cup event as part of Team BG. (BG being the sponsor for the program.)

I have to say I am blown away at the speed at which the athletes bond together as a team, support each other and look to the staff for help and support. They are very polite and thankful for the help they receive. They are quick to say "thank you" and "I appreciate your help" to each staff member. They are easy to like as fellow human beings and as top athletes.

Thinking back to the first race I supported in Vancouver, Canada in June, I recall thinking to myself, "What can I do to speed up the process of helping these athletes? Is it possible to increase the speed of building trust?"

It was a passing thought and I ended up behaving as I normally behave when supporting athletes at World Cup events. I try to be helpful, answer questions, find answers to questions I don't have answers for and share my knowledge. In short, I try to do what I can to help them succeed.

Sometimes, due to language differences and the initial steps of building trust, what I think is a good deed is not perceived that way. On only the second day in Vancouver, I had one of the athletes in tears. Nice, Gale, really nice.

The condensed story is that some of the athletes travel to the races with minimal equipment. Sometimes the equipment is not optimal, by any stretch of the imagination. Seldom do any of the athletes travel with any spare equipment-such as cassettes.

After doing a course inspection, I realized the hill in the Vancouver course was really tough. There were a few of the athletes that were running 23's as their easiest gear. We did have access to some cassettes that had 25's and I suggested they consider running 25's. Really encouraged the 25's. Ranted and raved about the 25's.

The athlete I mentioned was sitting in Dave Coleman's room (mechanic for Vancouver), staring at her bike. I walked into the room and could tell there was a problem. Dave relayed to me that the athlete didn't want to change wheels and cassettes. She wanted to keep her current set-up.

Right as I was saying, "Oh, man I really think it's best if she'd..."

I looked at her face and saw small rivers of tears streaming down both cheeks. Dang.

I told her, "Look, what gears you run is ultimately your choice. I want you to use the 25 because I want you to be able to use your weapon-fast running. I just want you to be successful. I won't be mad at you, no matter which one you use."

I hoped she understood that I only wanted to help.

On race morning I asked Dave what she went with and he told me the 25. I didn't know whether to feel good or be worried.

The women raced first, then the men raced. I thought she had a good race, best I could tell.

While I was standing on the run course for the men's race, she came jogging along for her cool down run. She ran up to me and said in broken English, "Thank you very much. I have good race. Bike work. Best finish ever. Fastest run by two minutes. Thank you."

She gave me a hug and trotted off. Then tears welled up for me. It felt great to make a difference.

At that Vancouver race, there was a wager made, as I mentioned in a previous blog. Since this blog gone a bit long, I'll have to finish in the next blog. I'll let you know about that bet...

I am now in the beautiful city of Rhodes on the island of Rhodes, Greece. I arrived to my hotel yesterday, Tuesday, at 2:30 pm local time (5:00 am Mountain Standard Time). It felt pretty good considering I left my home in Colorado on Monday morning at 8:00 am.

I flew from Denver, Colorado to Montreal Canada. That flight was about 3:30 long. I had to go through customs in Montreal, pick up my baggage and go through the flight check-in process for a second time. With nearly zero layover time, I jumped on a plane to Athens, Greece. The Montreal to Athens flight was 9:00.

My luggage was checked from Athens to Rhodes, so I only needed to go through immigration. The flight from Athens to Rhodes was easy, only about an hour. My total "up" time, from real bed to real bed was 30 hours.

As I was going through the travel process, I couldn't help but think of the athletes that were traveling from all parts of the world to race in Rhodes. Most of them have learned to travel well. This means learning to sleep and eat while traveling across multiple time zones. Then, they must deliver a top-shelf race performance.

In my last blog, I mentioned my travel was to support the ITU BG Sport Development Team. One of the athletes, Lisa Norden was here when I arrived and the remaining athletes are arriving today, tomorrow and one on Friday.

Here are the athletes racing on Team BG:

Lisa Norden (Sweden)

Flora Duffy (Bermuda)

Fabiola Corona (Mexico)

Yuliya Yelistratova (Ukraine)

Mari Rabie (South Africa)

Dan Alterman (Israel)

Zvonko Cubric (Croatia)

Leonardo Chacon (Costa Rica)

Javier Cuevas (Dominican Republic)

As the team continues to arrive, I will post photos of the athletes.

In the mean time, the photo at the beginning of the blog shows one of the entrances to the "old town" of Rhodes that is literally enclosed by the stone walls. Part of the bike course goes around these hand-built, historic walls.

Within the city walls are shops and several historical sites. The first thing that grabbed my attention when I entered the old city was a gigantic stone ball. As I walked through the first courtyard, I saw more individual stones and piles of stones. The photo at the end of the column shows a pile of stones next to part of an old weapon. I'm assuming the weapon was a type of cannon, but I will need to confirm. I have seen the term "bombard" (a type of late medieval siege weapon) used in some of the literature, but I don't know the difference between a bombard and a cannon .

As the story goes, bombards were used to launch 260 kg (572 pound) stone balls some 100 to 200 meters (110 to 219 yards) to defend the city against attackers.

Looking at the defense weapons and the architecture, I am just amazed at the human labor it took to manufacture 500+ pound stone balls and to assemble walls around a city. The chasm of differences between the old world and the current era is mind boggling. Imagine, if you will, what life was like then.

If you would have told them, that you arrived on a "jet" that flew across the clouds and air from a land called USA to their island, what do you think they would have said to you?