In July, cross-country skiers are as rare as Christmas ornaments. Unless they’re on roller skis like Lars Floras and his friends. No snow is no problem for these elite cross-country skiers. They just pull into a sno park, snap their boots into the bindings on a pair of roller skis and head off toward Mount Bachelor-on paved shoulders of roads. “This is the most specific training we can get for cross-country skiing without being on snow,” said Flora, 31, a Portland native who represented the United States in the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics.

A sixty-year-old British man has fallen more than 300 feet to his death while mountain biking in the French Alps on a camping holiday with nine friends. The body of the man, from Brighton, was discovered on Friday afternoon by police in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc.

A British climber plunged 130ft to his death while scaling a rockface in the French Alps with no safety rope. The 44-year-old, also not wearing a helmet, was killed instantly as he climbed the 12,000ft Milieu glacier.

From sprint stages to the gruelling mountain climbs, we assess the key stages in this year’s Tour De France. TV coverage starts on Eurosport from 2pm GMT and 3pm standard European time.

If you’re looking for an Alpine MTB trip but want to venture away from the (justifiably popular) Morzine/Les Gets/Portes du Soleil axis, you might want to consider Italy’s Alpi Bike Resort. Like the Portes du Soleil, Alpi Bike Resort encompasses a substantial area — nine towns across four valleys, with 50 freeride routes, several hundred kilometres of XC riding, skills parks, 4X tracks, dirt jump areas and North Shore aplenty.

Last week we learned locusts were swarming in Ethiopia, wiping out crops vital to the survival of local people. Now we hear grasshoppers are invading Tooele County, Utah, near Salt Lake City. They’re all over the ground, with people crunching them underfoot. The infestation is “worse than anyone can remember,” AP reports.