WORKING OUT BEFORE BREAKFAST BURNS MORE FAT

If you can get your ass out the door before a slug of yogurt and granola, a new study suggests you’ll cook off 20 percent more body fat by exercising on an empty stomach. Researchers from Northumbria University in the U.K. studied two sets of subjects: one that ate breakfast before hitting a treadmill at 10 a.m. and another that hadn’t eaten since the night before. Both sets drank chocolate milkshake recovery drinks after the workouts. Either way, morning exercisers lost weight, but those who worked out in a fasted state burned almost 20 percent more fat compared to those who had eaten breakfast beforehand. The morning workout results are bolstered by a study from BYU last year that also suggested that exercising first thing in the day suppressed hunger and increased weight loss. Via CTV.

PATAGONIA GETS MAJOR NEW ROUTE AND CLEAN ASCENT

An incredibly stout, new clean line was put up on Patagonia’s Fitz Roy, encompassing 28 pitches that have never been linked up before into a summit bid. The route was put up by Flavio Daflon, Sergio Tartari (Brazil), and Luciano Fiorenza (Argentina). Named Samba do Leao, it’s only fitting that Fiorenza was involved. Over the last three seasons he’s climbed close to 100 new pitches on Fitz Roy and also put new routes on Aguja Guillaumet, Aguja Val Biois, and “Destreza Criolla”, a beautiful new line on Aguja de la Silla. He is far and away the most prolific new first ascender in Argentina, with new routes at Cerro Catedral (Frey), Cerro Lopez, Cochamó, Cerro Tronador, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Colin Haley and Chad Kellogg did the first “fair means” ascent of the Corkscrew linkup on Cerro Torre, connecting the southeast ridge to the west face Ragni Route without using any of Cesare Maestri’s bolts. The Corkscrew was climbed by a Norwegian team five years ago, but they relied on the bolts for pro. Via Pataclimb.com.

“INDEPENDENT” CYCLING COMMISSION WAS “HANDCUFFED”

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, a.k.a., the guy who caught Lance, has called a decision by the UCI to kill its very own Independent Commission to report on allegations of corruption and doping in the sport nakedly self-protective. “The UCI blindfolded and handcuffed its Independent Commission and now hopes the world will look the other way while the UCI attempts to insert itself into the investigation into the role it played in allowing the doping culture to flourish,” Tygart said. What does Tygart really think about the UCI? “It is clear that the UCI cannot be allowed to script its own self-interested outcome in [an effort to clean up the sport].” Oh, and for good measure, the body that overseas what sports are allowed in the Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), called UCI’s decision “unilateral and arrogant.” It’s looking increasingly likely that the Lance fiasco will also bring down the entire cycling governing body. Via Cyclingnews.com.

WATER RIGHTS ISSUES FOR COLORADO SKI RESORTS AREN’T GOING AWAY

While Colorado ski resorts managed to rebuff a recent decision by the U.S. Forest Service to curtail some of their water rights, you might say the courts sided with the resorts on a technicality. The USFS says it will now begin taking public comments this spring on a new directive, which would clarify ownership of water rights on national forest lands because the court said the last plan lacked serious public input. However, the courts never said that the USFS was out of line in suggesting that the rights have to remain linked with the ski areas where the water is used. And in yet another lean snow year ski resorts are likely only part of the puzzle the Forest Service is struggling to piece together; communities along Colorado’s Front Range are also likely to start filling the courts trying to demand their fair share of the state’s slim supply of water if snowpack conditions don’t improve considerably. Via Summit County Voice.