ServiceCourse

Fin

2011-01-20T09:58:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (AP) - Disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis has retired from professional racing, saying the battle to fix the sport's drug-tainted image is "not my fight.''

Landis told ESPN.com late Monday that he "spent five years trying to get back to a place that I can never really go back to, and it's causing more stress than is worth it.''

Landis won the Tour in 2006 but was stripped after an arbitration panel upheld the results of a positive test for synthetic testosterone. Landis later acknowledged using performance-enhancing substances and has alleged widespread doping on his U.S. Postal Service team, which included seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong, competing this week in the Tour Down Under in Australia, has steadfastly denied doping. He has also declined to comment on Landis and was uanavailable after Tuesday's stage.

Landis said the effort to get back to the level he reached five years ago had been stressful and he finally told himself "there must be more to life than this.''

"I've been riding my bike a lot, trying to figure out life, which is the same reason I did it to start with, so I've come full circle,'' Landis told ESPN.com. "But I'll never start on a line on a road and try to get to another line on a road faster than another guy. That's over.''

Landis claims he's been unable to find a salaried position in cycling since May, when he publicly alleged widespread drug use in cycling, specifically identifying Armstrong. Landis rode sporadially during 2010 as an unaffiliated rider.

"I don't want it to come across that I'm quitting because I'm bitter,'' Landis said. "I'm relatively sure this sport cannot be fixed, but that's not my job, that's not my fight.''

Spy vs Spy

2010-12-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

From Bike Radar
Landis 'wore a wire to gather doping evidence'
By Barry Ryan
Floyd Landis has been the centre of much debate this year

Floyd Landis has been the centre of much debate this year (Pensinger/Getty Images)

Disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis wore a wire and spy camera to gather evidence about former Rock Racing owner Michael Ball, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

Landis filmed images of what appeared to be doping products, including human growth hormone, in the refrigerator of Ball’s apartment in Marina Del Rey, California during a meeting in the spring, a source told the newspaper.

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) special agent Jeff Novitzky is said to have then used the information gathered by Landis to obtain a search warrant for Ball's apartment. "The quantity and the quality of the video surveillance was pivotal in the decision to serve a search warrant and essentially raid Ball's apartment to seize the drugs," the New York Daily News’ source explained.

Ball has not been publicly charged with any offence. His Rock Racing team disbanded ahead of the 2010 season when they failed to receive a licence, while his Rock and Republic clothing company filed for bankruptcy in April. Landis had been set to ride for Rock Racing in 2010.

Novitzky is currently leading an investigation into doping in American cycling, which is believed to be centred on the US Postal Service team. In May, Landis – who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France crown after a positive test for testosterone – outlined a series of alleged doping practices that took place during his time on the team.

In making his confession, he alleged that former team-mate Lance Armstrong was involved in systematic doping during his spectacular Tour de France career. Those claims have since prompted a federal investigation into the superstar American.

Best of SC - Posted in Dec - 2007 "People Review"

2010-12-20T09:58:00.001-08:00

Riding down here is very inspiring - I've met a group calling themselves "Try Athletes" and I guess that's what we're all chasing - trying to be athletes - but these guys got it dicked! As none of them seem to be athletes, they seem to be really try-ing hard - and good for them! They are snappy dressers and none of them seem to have an ounce of self confidence.

As time has past, they have developed a plethora of items to assist this.

Product tests for this entry surround how they choose to cut thru the thick ocean air - cleverly - I might add.

First off - the bars - who know where they get these things? But man are they trick! As you'll see, these guys have all kinds of tricks.

As a road rider, I take my lead from the likes of the Pro field. I thought these guys were the best in the world with the best and fastest gear- I am wrong! However, the bars these Try folks use confuse me... Why don't the pro guys add the garbage shoot to their bars? For years watching the pro peloton throw all that trash on the side of the road has really bugged me - the Try folks have solved that problem - 2 points for their concern for the environment! I like how they throw caution to the "literal" wind!

Next is the clever way to ID one's self - With a Try-Sharpie (available thu Trysports.com $39.95) you simply write your number right on your arm - and then you can remain identifiable for days after the event!! Super Clever!

Next up is how they have a special place for their stuff - no, not like the first picture here - but things like their keys, their gu's and their charm bracelets - clever again - once I rode up beside a girl who had what they call a "Bento Box" and said "Hey, whats in your box?" which was met with a bit of a harsh look? I know I was on a road bike.....

I don't know what the fuck this is? Looks like it would burn....

(click to enlarge)

Marketing is a big thing with them - and from what I can see it works! That's a frickin hot that baby Elephant!!!

But in the end their bikes are so light they can carry them home.

Learning lots - wish you were here!

Soon to come, butt watter and little wheels-

Tour of Ca - we get French footage.... Again, Ahem...

2010-12-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

From the sidelines of ToC last yr:

FAN: "What do you with the Tour?"

STAFF: "I work on the TV coverage."

[pause]

FAN: You know, your coverage is very bad.

STAFF: Oh?

FAN: Yes. You know what you need to make it good?

STAFF: What?

[he leans in as if he's about to give the staffer the tip of the millennium]

FAN: You need the crew that does the coverage of the Tour de France.

STAFF: You ARE right! I will let my boss know...

From Cycling News

2010-12-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

US Postal backers could be under investigation

WSJ says FDA are to question whether investors knew about alleged doping practices

US Federal investigators looking into allegations of doping on the former US Postal Service team are said to be looking into whether the owners of Tailwind Sports, which owned the team, were aware of any doping.

The Wall Street Journal looked at the background of Tailwind and its participants. The moving force was Thomas Weisel, a former amateur cycling champion and investment banker. He set up Montgomery Sports in 1989, which put together the original USPS team in 1995. In 1999, he set up Tailwind with five other investors for about 2.5 million dollars.

The company never made a profit, however, losing between $200,000 and a million dollars a year, the WSJ said.

The doping allegations started almost immediately. At the 1999 Tour de France, Lance Armstrong tested positive for a corticosteroid, which he claimed was from a cream used for a saddle sore. The next year, French tv reporters found suspicious items in trash dumped by the team. The UCI cleared Armstrong and neither case resulted in any action.

However, it was enough to make sponsor US Postal Service nervous. Gail Sonnenberg, who was then senior vice president of sales, said that some USPS board members wanted to drop their sponsorship, but that Tailwind managers assured them there was no doping on the team, and that the French media was out to get Armstrong.

Weisel's attorney said his client would not respond to the WSJ story saying the questions they asked contained “statements or assertions” that are “factually inaccurate.”

Lemond

The Tailwind owners were equally involved in squelching criticism from outside sources. When Greg Lemond publicly criticised Armstrong's involvement with trainer Dr. Michele Ferrari, he soon heard from Weisel. Lemond said he found Weisel's comments to be a threat. Days later, another Tailwind partner, Terry Lee, asked him to stop criticising Armstrong.

Landis

The Tailwind partners were also involved in the Floyd Fairness Fund, set up to finance Floyd Landis' defence after he tested positive for testosterone during the Tour de France 2006.

Landis claimed that he spent about $2 million dollars defending himself, with about 70 per cent of the funding coming from the Tailwind backers, including Weisel, John Bucksbaum, David Williams and Richard Cashin Jr.

James Cox Kennedy, of Cox Enterprises, was not part of Tailwind, but sponsored a fundraiser for the FFF and made a donation. He was one of many who thought Landis was telling the truth about not doping. “I believed him when he said he was innocent and then was highly disappointed when he later said he lied and cheated.”

Landis claimed that in the summer of 2008, he was doubtful of his chances of appealing his suspension. He discussed a plan with Williams, of Williams Trading LLC, to post a confessional video on YouTube, but the plan was dropped.

Williams later paid $200,000 to sponsor Landis' new team when he returned to racing in 2009. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of the Lance Armstrong's Foundation, pledging a million dollars to it. However, a dispute over the use of the foundation logo and discussion of a return of his donations, which did not happen, soured the relationship.

When Landis first considered his public confession, he discussed it with Williams, who encouraged him. Landis later cited Williams' support as one of his main grounds for going public.

Landis didn't stop there, but also filed a suit in US federal court under the False Claims Act. Weisel, Tailwind and Armstrong are among those named in the suit, which alleges that the US government through the US Postal Service was defrauded. If the charges are upheld, Landis could be entitled to a portion of any monetary damages awarded.

Italy.....

2010-12-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

Driver believed to have been under the influence of marijuana

Eight cyclists have been killed in an accident in Calabria in southern Italy after a speeding car crashed into a group of riders on Sunday morning. The incident took place near Lamezia Terme and the driver has been arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter.

La Repubblica has named the driver of the car as Chafik Elketani, a 21-year-old of Moroccan origin. He is reported to have been under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash. He was also driving without a licence, as he was serving a six-month suspension for dangerous driving.

It is understood that Elketani emerged without serious injury from the crash. His eight-year-old nephew, who was a passenger in the car, was also not seriously injured.

The eight riders were part of an amateur group linked to the “Atlas” gym in Lamezia Terme. The group had been in activity for five years.

The deceased riders were Fortunato Bernardi, Rosario Perri (55), Francesco Stranges (51), Vinicio Pottin (47), Giovanni Cannizzaro (58), Pasquale De Luca (35) and Domenico Palazzo.

Silvio Rocca of the White Cross was one of the first people to reach the scene of the accident. “We were alerted to an accident in which only one cyclist was involved, according to the first information we had,” Rocca said. “When we reached the scene, however, we saw that we were talking about a massacre. They were all people we knew personally which made it even more painful.”

The mayor of Lamezia Terme, Gianni Speranza, has declared a state of mourning in the town, which Italian Cycling Federation president Renato Di Rocco has also expressed his condolences to the families and friends of the deceased cyclists.

Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed

Craig's List - Sent in from Reader Karl!!

2010-12-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

A few things from the bike shop.
Craig's List

Whoo-hoo Seattle, the sun is out! Let's discuss a few things before you fumble with swapping the unused ski rack for the unused bike rack on the Subaru.

So yes, you've noticed the sun is out, and hey!- maybe it would be cool to to some bike riding. Let's keep in mind that the sun came out of all 600,000 of us, so for the most part, you're not the only one who noticed. Please remember that when you walk into my shop on a bright, sunny Saturday morning. It will save you from looking like a complete twat that huffs "Why are there so many people here?"

Are we all on the same page now about it being sunny outside? Have we all figured out that we're not the only clever people that feel sunny days are good for bike riding? Great. I want to kiss all of you on your forehead for sharing this moment with me. Put your vitamin D starved fingers in mine, and we'll move on together to some pointers that will make life easier.

SOME POINTERS FOR THE PHONE:

- I don't know what size of bike you need. The only thing that I can tell over the phone is that you sound fat. I don't care how tall you are. I don't care how long your inseam is. Don't complain to me that you don't want to come ALL THE WAY down to the bike shop to get fitted for a bike. I have two hundred bikes in my inventory. I will find one that fits you. Whether you come from the north or the south, my shop is downhill. Pretend you're going to smell a fart, ball up, and roll your fat ass down here.

- Don't get high and call me. Write it down, call me later. When I have four phone lines ringing, and a herdlet
of people waiting for help, I can't deal with you sitting there "uuuuhhh"-ing and "uuummm"-ing while your brain tries to put together some cheeto-xbox-fixie conundrum. We didn't get disconnected, I left you on hold to figure your shit out.

-I really do need to see your bike to know what is wrong with it. You've already figured out that when you car makes a noise, the mechanic needs to see it. When your TV goes blank, a technician needs to see it. I can tell you, if there is one thing I've learned from you fucking squirrels, it's that "doesn't shift right" means your bike could need a slight cable adjustment, or you might just need to stop backing into it with the Subaru. Bring it in, I'll let you know for sure.

- No, I don't know how much a good bike costs. For some, spending $500 dollars is a kingly sum. For others, $500 won't buy you one good wheel. You really need to have an idea of what you want, because every one of you raccoons "doesn't want to spend too much".

FOR YOU INVENTIVE TYPES AND DO-IT-YOURSELFERS:

- Just because you think is should exist, doesn't mean that it does. I know that to you, a 14 inch quill stem makes perfect sense, but what makes more sense is buying a bike that fits you, not trying to make your mountain bike that was too small for you to begin with into a comfort bike.

- If some twat on some message board somewhere says that you can use the lockring from your bottom bracket as a lockring for a fixie conversion doesn't mean that A: you can, or B: you should. Please listen to me on this stuff, I really do have your best interests at heart.

- I love that you have the enthusiasm to build yourself a recumbent in the off season. That does not mean however, that I share your enthusiasm; ergo I won't do the "final tweaks" for you. You figure out why that Sram shifter and that Shimano rear derailleur don't work together. While we're at it, you recumbent people scare me a little. Don't bring that lumbering fucking thing anywhere near me.

A DEDICATION TO ALL THE HIPSTER DUCHEBAGS:

-If you shitheads had any money, you wouldn't NEED a vintage Poo-zhow to get laid. Go have an ironic mustache growing contest in front of American Apparel, so that I can continue selling $300 bikes to fatties, which is what keeps the lights on.

- Being made in the 80's may make something cool, but that doesn't automatically make something good. The reason that no one has ridden that "vintage" Murray is because it's shit. It was shit in the 80's, a trend it carried proudly through the 90's, and rallied with into the '00's. What I mean to say is, no, I can't make it work better. It's still shit, even with more air in the tires.

SO YOU'RE GONNA BUY A BIKE:

Good for you! Biking is awesome. It's easy, it's fun, it's good for you. I want you to bike, I really do. To that end, I am here to help you.

-Your co-worker that's "really into biking" knows fuck all. Stop asking for his advice. He could care less about you having the right bike. He wants to validate his bike purchase(s) through you. He also wants to sleep with you, and wear matching bike shorts with you.

- You're not a triathlete. You're not. If you were, you wouldn't be here, and we both know it.

- You're not a racer. If you were, I'd know you already, and you wouldn't be here, and we both know it.

- So you want a bike that you can ride to work, goes really fast, is good for that triathlon you're doing this summer (snicker), is good on trails and mud, and costs less than $300. Yeah. Listen, I want a car that can go 200 miles an hour, tow a boat, has room for five adults, is easy to parallel park but can carry plywood, gets 60mpg, and only costs $3,000. I also want a unicorn to blow me. What are we even talking about here? Oh yeah. Listen, bikes can be fast, light, cheap and comfortable. Pick two, and we're all good.

ABOUT YOUR KIDS:

Your kids are amazing. Sure are. No one else has kids as smart, able, funny or as good looking as you. Nope. Never see THAT around here.

- I have no idea how long you kid will be able to use this bike. As it seems to me, your precious is a little retarded, and can't even use the damn thing now. More likely, your budding genius is going to leave the bike in the driveway where you will Subaru the bike to death LONG before the nose picker outgrows the bike.

- Stop being so jumpy. I am not a molester. You people REALLY watch too much TV. When I hold the back of the bike while your kid is on it, it's not because I get a thrill from *almost* having my hand on kid butt, it's because kids are unpredictable, and generally take off whenever possible, usually not in the direction you think they might go. Listen, if I were going to do anything bad to your kids, I'd feed them to sharks, because sharks are FUCKING AWESOME.

I hope this helps, and have fun this summer riding your kick-ass bike!

* Location: Seattle
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

SKLZ-Pista Palace team

2010-12-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

Rahsaan Bahati joins ambitious SKLZ-Pista Palace team for 2011

* By VeloNews.com
* Updated: Dec 1st 2010 12:40 PM EST
*

Former U.S. pro criterium champion Rahsaan Bahati, who had a difficult 2010 season when his eponymous team fell apart mid-season, is joining an ambitious Southern California amateur team.

The renamed SKLZ p/b Pista Palace team is built on the former Pista Palace bike shop squad. The team will focus on National Racing Calendar wins and the USA Crit Series title.

Team director Justin Beope calls the squad a “rag-tag fugitive fleet of America’s best criterium racers.”
2011 SKLZ p/b Pista Palace roster

Anthony Aker
Rahsaan Bahati
Joseph Binder
Lucas Binder
Ben Bradshaw
Stevie Cullinan
Chris DeMarchi
James Gunn-Wilkenson
Michael Johnson
Shane Lawlor
Adam Livingston
Eric Marcotte
Jamie Paolinetti
Corey Steinbrecher
Mike Telega
Shaun VanGassen

2010 Texas Tough champion Eric Marcotte returns to the team. He’ll join Bahati, masters national criterium champions Chris DeMarchi and Jamie Paolinetti and a handful of younger riders.

“Our goal is simple, we want NRC wins,” said Beope. “We have the two fastest sprinters in the country and the NRC race schedule is dominated by criteriums and so I think (winning the NRC team title) is very possible. Has an amateur team ever won an NRC title? How cool would that be?”

“I truly believe that the American public is disgusted and disenfranchised with what is happening in pro cycling. All these tour champions and pros being busted for doping and just the general lack of investment and interest in amateur elite cycling is such a downer. This team is about a group of guys from every different walk of life, age, and profession coming together to prove to the “normal dude” they represent that cycling is about passion and commitment and not contracts and drugs. And I think it will be interesting to see who will be considered the David and the Goliath when we show up at NRC criteriums.”

Driver Sues Family of Deceased Cyclist

2010-11-29T18:04:00.001-08:00

Matthew Kenney, 14, was an honors student, and a popular athlete who was active in several sports. David Weaving, 48, had five drunken driving convictions on his record, four of them in a 31-month period between 1996 and 1999. On April 27, 2007, Weaving was speeding down Route 69 in Prospect, Connecticut; the speed limit was 45 MPH, but Weaving attempted to pass another vehicle at 83 MPH. This time, his reckless driving caught up with him, with tragic results. Matthew Kenney and his friends were on their bikes, and according to Weaving, the youths were jumping their bikes off a ramp, when Kenney suddenly appeared in the road, in wet, foggy conditions at dusk. Weaving slammed into Kenney. Though Kenney survived the initial impact, he suffered severe head and internal injuries, broken bones and lacerations. He did not survive beyond the next day.

Weaving was subsequently convicted of manslaughter, and is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence. Kenney’s parents are seeking permission to file suit against the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. The Kenneys allege that under state law, Weaving’s multiple DUI convictions should have resulted in his license being permanently revoked in 1999. The Kenneys have already filed suit against Weaving, seeking $15,000 in damages. It was Weaving’s response to the Kenneys lawsuit that brought national attention to the case. Alleging that he has “endured ‘great mental and emotional pain and suffering,’ wrongful conviction and imprisonment, and the loss of his ‘capacity to carry on in life’s activities,’” Weaving has counter-sued the Kenneys for “contributory negligence,” claiming more than $15,000 in damages.

Matthew Kenney, he alleges, was not wearing a helmet, as required by Connecticut law, and according to Weaving, that makes Kenney’s parents negligent, and he alleges, responsible for Matthew Kenney’s death.

Naturally, Weaving’s inability to behave responsibly before Matthew’s death, and to accept personal responsibility after Matthew’s death, left people appalled. But in fact, counter-suits are a routine response to lawsuits, because they serve as a means to transfer some of the risk of a lawsuit from the defendant back to the plaintiff, so it’s not particularly shocking that Weaving would go on the counter-offensive, alleging parental negligence in this case.

That’s not the same thing as saying Weaving will win on his counter-suit. For one thing, although Weaving denies that he was speeding, his speed has already been established as a fact in a court of law, and based on that fact of his reckless speed, and Matthew Kenney’s death, he has been convicted of manslaughter. Attempting to re-litigate that fact in civil court will likely only work against Weaving.

Still, even though it’s been established that Weaving was speeding, he could attempt to prove that Kenney’s parents also bear some responsibility for their son’s death, because Matthew Kenney was not wearing a helmet when Weaving hit him. I don’t think he’s going to get very far with that argument, either.

True, in Connecticut, helmets are required for riders under the age of 16, and police may verbally “warn” parents that their child must comply with the law if their child is riding without a helmet. However, Connecticut law is quite explicit on this point: “Failure to wear protective headgear as required by this subsection shall not be considered to be contributory negligence on the part of the parent or the child nor shall such failure be admissible in any civil action.” In short, the law prohibits Weaving from claiming that Kenney’s failure to wear a helmet contributed to his death.

Nevertheless, even though it’s not allowed under Connecticut law, his argument that the failure to wear a helmet contributed to Matthew’s death is what caught my attention. To prove that argument, Weaving would have to present evidence that a helmet would have prevented the fatal injury that Matthew suffered to his brain. On the surface, this seems like it might be an easy argument—Matthew was not wearing a helmet, Matthew was hit by a car and suffered a severe head injury, and was declared brain dead the next day. But even if he could make this argument—and under Connecticut law, he can’t—he would have to prove that but for the lack of a helmet, Matthew Kenney would be alive today. To do that, Weaving would have to prove that a helmet would have saved Kenney’s life, even though Weaving hit Kenney at more than 80 miles an hour.

And that is a lost cause, even if Weaving had the resources (and he doesn’t) to hire an expert witness to make that laughable assertion. Even the most ardent proponents of helmet use acknowledge the fact that bicycle helmets are only designed and tested to protect your head in a low-speed impact—typically, a fall of only a few feet, at no more than about 14 miles per hour. That is the standard required by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Helmet manufacturers could make helmets that withstand greater impacts, but as they laconically note, there are trade-offs. Would you want to wear a motorcycle helmet while riding your bike? Because that increased weight and heat retention is what it would take to manufacture a bike helmet that would withstand high-speed impacts. For that matter, why reinvent the wheel? Helmet manufacturers could just begin marketing motorcycle helmets as “bike helmets”—but as the bicycle helmet manufacturers ask, who would wear one?

The fact is, many cyclists wear helmets because they perceive that any potential for increased discomfort is outweighed by the safety benefits gained. But if safety standards only require that helmets withstand a low-speed impact, are there really safety benefits to wearing a helmet? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is a qualified yes. In a low-speed fall from your bike, a bicycle helmet may protect you from sustaining a head injury, and considering the fact that the majority of bicycle accidents are solo crashes, helmet impact standards do address the types of impacts associated with the majority of bicycle accidents. From that perspective, there is some safety benefit to be derived from wearing a bicycle helmet.

The problem, however, is that nobody straps on a helmet because they’re afraid that they might have a low-speed solo fall from their bike. Nobody driving by a cyclist who is riding sans headgear yells “wear a helmet” because they’re afraid that cyclist might have a low-speed solo crash. Nobody passes mandatory helmet laws because they want to protect cyclists from themselves. No, the reason helmet use is considered de rigeur is because people believe that a helmet will protect the cyclist from the head injuries associated with the high-speed impact of a collision with an automobile.

This is why we see police and media reports noting whether a cyclist who was injured or killed in a collision with an automobile was wearing a helmet. We see this even if the cyclist’s injuries were not head injuries; the media (and their audience) still want to know “Was the cyclist wearing a helmet?” They might as well be asking, “Was the cyclist wearing a talisman?” And if you think about it, that is exactly what they are asking. It’s exactly what insurance company attorneys want to ask in court. It’s exactly the issue David Weaving wants to bring into court, to absolve himself of any liability for his own reckless driving—“But your honor, the cyclist was not wearing a magic talisman to protect against my reckless driving!”

It’s this kind of magical thinking that the Connecticut Legislature had the foresight to address in their mandatory helmet law, with the proviso that the failure to wear the mandatory helmet “shall not” be considered to be contributory negligence on the part of the cyclist. Yes, the legislators decided, we want to encourage children to wear helmets because children in particular are subject to low-speed solo crashes. But no, the legislators emphasized, we do not want reckless drivers shifting the blame for the injuries they cause to the children they’ve injured, even if that child is not wearing the mandatory helmet.

Of course, when police and media ask, “was the cyclist wearing a helmet?” and when passing busybodies yell “wear a helmet” at total strangers, helmet use for cyclists of all ages is treated as being virtually mandatory, in practice, if not in law. And that sense that helmet use is mandatory, or should be, inevitably leads to calls for mandatory helmet laws—something I will be discussing in my next Road Rights column.

Research and drafting by Rick Bernardi, J.D.

Connect with Bob on Facebook

Livewrong

2010-11-28T16:04:00.001-08:00

(CBS/AP) U.S. investigators met with police officials at Interpol headquarters in Lyon on Wednesday as part of their probe into allegations of doping by seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and other cyclists, a French newspaper reported.

The meeting, reported on the website of sports daily L'Equipe, followed talks Tuesday between U.S. Food and Drug Administration agent Jeff Novitzky and French anti-doping officials.

L'Equipe said Wednesday's discussions in Lyon included Novitzky's team and police officers investigating doping in sports in France. The talks reportedly centered on a case dating back to the 2009 Tour de France involving Armstrong's former team Astana.

Armstrong's former teammate Alberto Contador won the 2009 Tour. Officials opened an investigation last year after the discovery of suspicious syringes during the race. Police questioned former Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel, former sporting director Alain Gallopin and the team's two doctors.

On Tuesday, the American delegation met with Francoise Lasne, the director of the French anti-doping agency's lab who co-pioneered the test for the performance enhancer EPO, and testing director Jean-Pierre Verdy. They were heard as witnesses at the headquarters of Interpol, the international police agency.

The American delegation is believed to include U.S. federal prosecutor Doug Miller and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart.

A French official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Tygart met former French anti-doping lab head Pierre Bordry earlier this summer to discuss the matter. Bordry resigned in September.

The official, who was speaking anonymously because the investigation is still ongoing, said Bordry met Tygart in Paris and that the "French anti-doping agency's general secretary (Robert Bertrand) also went to Colorado a few days ago to speak with him during a meeting of international anti-doping agencies."

The French official confirmed American legal authorities asked their French counterparts for cooperation on the case in September.

"The procedure is currently being implemented. At this point, no documents have been transmitted to the Americans. I would say we are making contact with them and everything is going perfectly," the official said. "But if we need to submit documents and other stuff, we will do it."

Also Wednesday, Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that police officers from Spain's Guardia Civil, French police, and Italian police and customs officers, headed by public prosecutor Benedetto Roberti, first met at Interpol headquarters at the end of July.

Novitzky's investigation was sparked by disgraced 2006 Tour winner Floyd Landis' allegations that Armstrong and members of his former U.S. Postal team systematically doped.

L'Equipe reported days after the 2005 Tour finished that Armstrong's samples from the 1999 Tour contained traces of EPO. Armstrong, who retired in '05 before coming back for the '09 and '10 Tours, has repeatedly denied allegations he doped.

"The samples were clean when originally provided and tested," Mark Fabiani, an attorney for Armstrong, said in a statement sent to the AP on Tuesday. "So we have nothing to be concerned about. Period."

FSA - recalling FSA BB30 Gossamer double cranks

2010-11-28T15:48:00.001-08:00

Full Speed Ahead (FSA) is recalling some FSA BB30 Gossamer double cranks that were installed as original equipment on several bicycle models sold this year.

FSA is working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to conduct the voluntary recall.

If the fixing bolt is over-tightened on the non-drive crank arm, the bolt shoulder can crack or break. If this occurs, the non-drive arm can fall off.

Owners of bicycles with the affected cranks are being advised to stop riding them immediately and take the bike to a retailer where a replacement crank will be installed.

About 9,300 cranks are affected by the recall. The cranks were installed on the following bike models, sold between February and October this year:

Always something.....

2010-11-23T18:19:00.001-08:00

NCNCA CX Championships

2010-11-23T17:56:00.000-08:00

Nash and Candelario Storm the NCNCA Championships – Updated: More Photos

Posted by CXM on 11/22/10 • Categorized as race reports
Katerina Nash took the win close to her Truckee home. NCNCA 2010 Cyclocross Districts. © Tim Westmore

Katerina Nash took the win close to her Truckee home. NCNCA 2010 Cyclocross Districts. © Tim Westmore

by Paul Guerra

This year’s Northern California and Nevada Cycling Association District Championships were held in Reno, Nevada, at Clayton Middle School and were hosted by the Reno Wheelmen in addition to their normal Sagebrush Cyclocross series lineup. Although Reno has a vibrant cycling scene and is in close proximity to excellent road and off-road terrain, most of the cycling population, and therefore most of the racers at this even,t had to travel from points west in California over the infamous Donner Summit on Highway I-80. In a repeat of the events of November, 1846, an early season storm dumped 12 inches of fresh snow on the Summit over the Friday evening prior to the race. Many racers spent a cold night parked on the highway, waiting for accidents to be cleared and scraping ice from their windshields only to arrive in Reno in the wee hours of Saturday.

The expectation then was that serious snow would have accumulated at the racing venue, making for a rare snow race. The high desert of Nevada, however, didn’t let that happen. While temperatures hovered in the 30s during the race, only a light dusting of snow blanketed the course and melted off by the time of the Elite Men’s race at 1:30, leaving the faintest bit of mud on the grassier sections of the course.
Donner Summit was a snowy, stormy mess. by {Stardustza} on flickr

Donner Summit was a snowy, stormy mess. by {Stardustza} on flickr

The course was laid out with a minimum of elevation change. Long grass and sand sections demanded more power and cardiovascular fitness of the racers and less technical ability. Sets of closely spaced barriers and a forced dismount and run-up completed the circuit. Several locals took advantage of the proximity of the race and their adaptation to altitude to take home the coveted bear-and-star jersey of NorCal/Nevada.

Nash shows her National Championship form

A light women’s field saw Truckee, California local, Team Luna Chix phenom, Winter Olympian and Czech National Champion Katerina Nash run away with victory. From the end of the first lap, Nash held a commanding lead over second place, 2009 40-44 Masters national champion Gina Hall from Cal Giant Strawberries. Third place in the strung out Elite Women’s category went to Emily Thurston of team Missing Link. Both Thurston and Hall could not match Nash’s superior performance at altitude, as both hail from the San Francisco Bay Area and Nash was fresh off a win at the USGP in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Nash said after the race, “I was really happy that a big race like Districts was in Reno, so close to home.” She also appreciated the relatively dry and grassy course, having spent the morning shoveling her way out of her nearby mountain town home.

The Mountain Men Rule the Day
Alex Candelario wins the District NCNCA 2010 Cyclocross Districts. © Tim Westmore

Alex Candelario wins the District NCNCA 2010 Cyclocross Districts. © Tim Westmore

As a warm-up for the Elite Men’s race, Bjorn Fox (Clif Bar Development Cyclocross Team) handily won the Junior’s race. Fox hails from the nearby ski town of Incline Village of Nevada and echoed Nash’s comments, saying, “I’ve been racing a lot around the US, so it’s nice to have a race close to home.” ’ Cross legend Don Myrah (Ibis-Buy-cell.com) also won his Masters 35+ age group race as a warm-up for later racing in the Elite category. Myrah waltzed away with the win, putting 30 seconds on his closest competitor, Anastasio Flores of Cal Giant Strawberries.

Both Fox and Myrah joined a strong, if slightly small, field in the Elite Men’s race to battle it out for top honors. Reno native and World Bicycle Relief representative Alex Candelario had other ideas however. Similarly to Nash, Candelario has recently had a commanding performance at altitude at the Colorado Cross Classic and carried his form to Reno where he had an exceedingly strong showing. Candelario began lapping the field with three to go and held a significant time gap over his nearest rivals, second place’s Brue Silversten (De La Paz Coffee) and Abe Rotstein (Hunter-Freewheel). Myrah narrowly missed his second podium of the day after being out-sprinted for third by Rotstein. However, with prizes in this category going 10 deep, and additional swag handed out by the promoters to spectators and racers, no one went home empty handed. Hopefully the memories of the racing and the loot kept racers warm as they assaulted a socked-in Donner Summit again on their way west, back home or to a Sunday of racing for those who could recover from the travel and racing effort of Saturday.

[Newly minted women's 35+ district champion Heather Langendorfer contributed to this report.] Full results below the photos.

Has Popovych become key to the investigation?

2010-11-18T21:55:00.000-08:00

From Cyclingnews;

US federal agents, including Jeff Novitzky, have met with Italian police, in addition to their French counterparts, according to a report in Gazzetta dello Sport.

The investigation of alleged doping at the former US Postal Service team, including seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, continues to pick up pace and this latest development comes off the back of Novitzky's meeting with the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD).

Armstrong has repeatedly denied ever using banned substances during his career but the investigation has intensified thanks to coordination between US agents and investigators in Europe that began in July. Also said to be present in Europe are federal prosecutor Doug Miller and US Anti-doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart.

AP and Reuters have reported that the US government officially asked the French authorities for their cooperation before the delegation arrived, and the French have agreed to assist the investigation. On Tuesday the US agents reportedly questioned the director of the Châtenay-Malabry anti-doping laboratory and the ex chief of the Agence française de lutte contre le dopage (AFLD) Pierre Bordry and current head of testing Jean-Pierre Verdy.

Gazzetta dello Sport claims the Italian police revealed details of the recent search of Yaroslav Popovych’s home in Tuscany to the US investigators. Popovych’s address book, computer and mobile phones were seized. The search was carried out on Thursday November 11, just over a week after the Ukrainian rider was questioned in Los Angeles as part of the investigation.

The Italian sports newspaper suggests that Popovych could have become a key to the investigation. He rode with Armstrong in 2005 at the Discovery Channel team, at Astana in 2009 and at RadioShack this year.

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CA Bicycle Law- know where you should be and who should not!

2010-11-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

ARE YOU A SAFE BICYCLIST?

Safe Bicycling involves more than wearing the proper safety equipment and keeping your bike in good mechanical order- you must also learn the rules of the road.

The following are important excerpts from the California Vehicle Code (VC) relating to the operation and equipping of bicycles.

Bicycle Defined. VC 231

Defines bicycle as a device upon which any person may ride, propelled exclusively by human power through a belt, chain, or gears and having one or more wheels. Specifically provides that persons riding bicycles are subject to Vehicle Code provisions specified in Sections 21200 and 21200.5 (see below).

Bicycle Use. VC 21200

Every person riding a bicycle upon a street or highway has all the rights and is subject to all the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, including the provisions of law dealing with driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages or drugs, except those provisions which by their very nature can have no application.

Bicycling Under Influence of Alcohol or Drugs. VC 21200.5

Provides that it is unlawful to ride a bicycle upon a street or highway while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or drug or the combination of alcohol and a drug, punishable by a fine of up to $250. A person arrested may request a chemical test. If the person is under 21 but over 13 years of age, his or her driving privilege will be suspended for one year or delayed for one year once the person is eligible to drive.

Equipment Requirements. VC 21201

a) No person shall operate a bicycle on a roadway unless it is equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make one braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement.

b) No person shall operate on the highway any bicycle equipped with handlebars so raised that the operator must elevate their hands above the level of their shoulders in order to grasp the normal steering grip area.

c) No person shall operate upon any highway a bicycle which is of such a size as to prevent the operator from safely stopping the bicycle, supporting it in an upright position with at least one foot on the ground, and restarting it in a safe manner.

d) Every bicycle operated upon any highway during darkness shall be equipped with the following:

1. A lamp emitting a white light which illuminates the highway and is visible from a distance of 300 feet to the front and the sides of the bicycle.
2. A red reflector mounted on the rear of the bicycle and visible from 500 feet to the rear of the bicycle.
3. A white or yellow reflector mounted on each pedal visible 200 feet to the front and rear of the bicycle and a white or red reflector on each side to the rear of the center of the bicycle, except bicycles which are equipped with reflectorized tires on the front and the rear need not be equipped with side reflectors. All reflectorized tires must meet DMV requirements.

e) A lamp or lamp combination, emitting a white light, attached to the operator and visible from a distance of 300 feet in front and from the sides of the bicycle, may be used in place of a lamp attached to the bike.

Duty of Bicycle Operator: Operation On Roadway. VC 21202

a) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at such time shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations:

1. When overtaking and passing another bicycle or motor vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
2. When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
3. When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions (including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes) that make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge. For purposes of this section, a "substandard width lane" is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.

b) Any person operating a bicycle on a one-way street or highway with two or more marked traffic lanes, may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of such roadway as practicable.

Hitching Rides. VC 21203

No person riding upon any motorcycle, motorized bicycle, bicycle, coaster, roller skates, sled, or toy vehicle shall attach the same or themselves to any streetcar or vehicle on the roadway.

Riding On Bicycle. VC 21204

a) No person operating a bicycle on a highway shall ride other than on a permanent and regular attached seat.

b) No person operating a bicycle on a highway shall allow anyone to ride as a passenger other than on a separate attached seat. If the passenger is four years old or younger or weighs 40 pounds or less, the seat shall adequately retain the passenger in place and protect him/her from the bicycle's moving parts.

Carrying Articles. VC 21205

No person operating a bicycle shall carry any package, bundle, or article which prevents the operator from keeping at least one hand upon the handlebars.

Permitted Movements from Bicycle Lanes. VC 21208

a) Whenever a bicycle lane has been established on a roadway, any person operating a bicycle upon the roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction shall ride in the bicycle lane, except under the following situations.

1. When overtaking or passing another bicycle, vehicle, or pedestrian within the lane or about to enter the lane if such overtaking and passing cannot be done safely within the lane.

1. When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
2. When necessary to leave the lane to avoid debris or other hazardous conditions.

b) No operator of a bicycle shall leave a bicycle lane until it can be done safely and then only after giving an appropriate hand signal in the event that any vehicle might be affected by the movement.

Parking. VC 21210

No person shall leave a bicycle lying on its side on any sidewalk, or shall park a bicycle on a sidewalk in any other position, so that there is not an adequate path for pedestrian traffic. Local authorities may prohibit bicycle parking in designated areas of the public highway, provided appropriate signs are erected.

Obstruction of Bikeways. VC 21211

No person shall place or park a bicycle or vehicle so as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of any bicyclist on a bikeway or bicycle path or trail unless the placement or parking is necessary for safe operation or otherwise in compliance with the law.

Youth Helmets. VC 21212

Prohibits persons under 18 from riding or being a passenger on a bicycle without wearing helmets meeting specified standards (ANSI or SNELL). Violations are punishable by a fine of not more than $25.

Bicycles on Roadways VC 21650.1

A bicycle operated on a roadway or highway shoulder shall be operated in the same direction as vehicles are required to drive upon the roadway.

Bicycling on Freeways VC 21960

a) The Department of Transportation and local authorities may prohibit or restrict the use of freeways or any portion thereof by bicycles.

b) Such prohibitory regulations shall be effective when appropriate signs giving notice thereof are erected upon the freeway and the approaches thereto.

Hand Signals. VC 22111

All required signals given by hand and arm shall be given in the following manner:

1. Left turn-hand and arm extended horizontally beyond the side of the bicycle.
2. Right turn- left hand and arm extended upward beyond the side of the bicycle or right hand and arm extended horizontally to the right side of the bicycle.
3. Stop or sudden decrease of speed signal- left hand and arm extended downward beyond the side of the bicycle.

Toll Crossing. VC 23330

Except where a special permit has been obtained from the Department of Transportation, bicycles shall not be permitted on any vehicular crossing, unless the Department by signs indicates that bicycles are permitted upon all or any portion of the vehicular crossing.

Headsets and Earplugs. VC 27400

No person operating any vehicle, including a bicycle shall wear any headset covering, or any earplugs in, both ears. There are exceptions for persons operating authorized emergency vehicles, special construction or maintenance equipment and refuse collection equipment, and for any person wearing personal hearing protectors designed to attenuate injurious noise levels and which do not inhibit the wearers' ability to hear a siren or horn from an emergency vehicle or horn form another motor vehicle, and for any person using a prosthetic device which aids the hard of hearing.

License Requirement. VC 39002

a) A city or county may adopt a bicycle licensing ordinance or resolution providing that no resident shall operate any bicycle on any street, road, highway, or other public property within the city of county, unless such bicycle is licensed in accordance with this division.

b) Any bicycle not licensed under this division may be additionally regulated or licensed pursuant to local ordinance or may be licensed upon request of the owner.

c) It is illegal for any person to to tamper with, destroy, mutilate or alter any license indicia (marking) or registration form or to remove, alter, or mutilate the serial number, or the identifying marks of a licensing agency's identifying symbol on any bicycle frame licensed under the provision of this division.

Throwing Substances On Highways Or Adjoining Areas. VC 23111 7 23112

No person in any vehicle shall throw or discharge from or upon any road, highway or adjoining area, pubic or private, any lighted or non-lighted cigarette, cigar, match or any flaming or glowing substance.

No person shall throw or deposit upon a highway any bottle, can garbage, glass, wire, nails, paper or any substance likely to injure or cause damage to traffic using the highway.

Note: Some of the sections of the laws listed above have been reworded slightly and/or abbreviated. For exact language, refer to the referenced sections in the California Vehicle Code.

In addition to these state laws, many communities have local ordinances. Check with your local police department regarding bicycle registration, licensing, and regulations (sidewalk riding, etc.) in your area.

Final Thoughts
Each year in California, over one hundred people are killed and thousands more are injured in bicycle collisions. We can make bicycling safer for all by observing the following safety tips:

* Always wear a helmet.
* Obey all traffic controls.
* Ride your bicycle near the right-hand edge of the road.
* Never carry another person on your bicycle.
* Always use hand signals when turning or stopping.
* Look out for cars at cross street, driveways, and parking places.
* Be careful when checking traffic and don't swerve when looking over your shoulder.
* Give pedestrians the right-of-way.
* Keep your bicycle in good condition.
* Always ride carefully.

Remember a bicycle is a vehicle. Bicyclists share a complex traffic environment with other larger forms of transportation. Youngsters under age nine lack the physical and mental development to interact safely in that environment.

More than worth watcing!!! Lots of these around - this is the best!

2010-11-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks Pasco

CA Masters super team based in Los Angeles??? From: Phoenix Cycling Examiner, Joe Wells

2010-11-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

In recent days it has been leaked that the USADA (United States Anti Doping Association) has been planning over 25 cases against US based Professional and Masters riders. There have been many rumors heard, including one from California that a current National Masters champion will be sanctioned for doping. Finger pointing has already begun with a specific Masters super team based in Los Angeles.

In news today, Jelly Belly Professional rider Jonathan Chodroff admitted to EPO purchase and use, and has quit cycling. Many will remember his early season performances at such local events as the Valley of the Sun stage race and larger California races.

Several weeks ago Kenny Williams, a well recongnized Masters racer from Seattle was suspended for doping. For some time doping had seemed to be reserved to professionals with money to be made. We now see findings in all areas of sports. A major race earlier this year in California announced doping controls prior to the start of a masters event. A significant number of riders removed themselves from the start line to prevent being tested.

Part of the fallout that is on the near horizon stems from a case where Joe Papp is involved. Who is Joe Papp? Well he was a very low level Professional rider that raced some in Europe, and had a few finishes here in the US. He has been sanctioned for his own doping but has revealed also, and has been punished for selling doping products to racers throughout the US. The expectation is that many of the cases are based on those sales.

Savannah Gold Riding A Bike....Kind Of - Amateur sex video - Tube8.com

2010-11-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

Savannah Gold Riding A Bike....Kind Of - Amateur sex video - Tube8.com

Shimano Di2 - The single greatest evolution since click click...

2010-11-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

New race series and world championship for amateur riders starting in 2011.

2010-11-15T07:41:00.000-08:00

Cycling's international governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), announced on Friday that it will introduce a new race series and world championship for amateur riders starting in 2011.

The UCI World Cycling Tour (UWCT) - not to be confused with the UCI's top-level professional WorldTour - will comprise up to 15 UCI approved races around the world for amateur riders. It's part of the UCI's commitment to open up cycling events for all riders, and not just top-level sponsored athletes.

The top 10 per cent of each age group in the qualifiers will earn the right to compete in the UWCT final, where the winning rider in each age category will become world champion and wear the corresponding rainbow jersey.

The UCWT final will replace the existing Masters Road World Championships.

The UCI's Cycling for All, Masters and Sustainable Development Coordinator, Ms Andrea Marcellini Mendonça said: "If we look at cycling as a pyramid, professional racing is at the very top and occupies a very small portion.

"Everything that comes below this is the amateur side of the sport and involves impressive numbers of riders. These enthusiasts are part of the UCI family and it's time for them to race for a World Champion title."

No dates or venues for the UWCT have yet been announced, but the UCI has said that it is accepting applications from "regions willing to organise a high standard cycling event that will attract riders from all over the world".

The UCI will undoubtedly have to draw up strict guidelines on the definition of 'amateur' to prevent semi-professionals from entering, and also put into place an anti-doping programme for the events.

Mark Hurlbert needs a bike ride.....

2010-11-14T23:22:00.000-08:00

Colorado District Attorney Mark Hurlbert has dropped felony charges against Martin Joel Erzinger, a Morgan Stanley Smith Barney wealth manager who controls $1 billion in investments, because financial rules would require Erzinger to notify his clients that he was charged with a felony, and this would have "serious job implications" for the financier. Erzinger is facing charges for allegedly rear-ending cyclist Dr. Steven Milo, and then leaving the scene of the crime. Milo, a liver transplant surgeon, has spinal and brain injuries, disfiguring scars, and will likely be in pain for the rest of his life.

So, where is the team on this issue?

Armstrong's United States Postal Service - Is this why my mail nevere gets here?

2010-11-14T23:11:00.000-08:00

Federal prosecutors have spoken with a former Lance Armstrong teammate who backed allegations that the seven-time Tour de France winner took part in and encouraged systematic doping, according to The New York Times.

The cyclist said he had spoken with investigators detailing his own performance-enhancing drug use and widespread doping by members of Armstrong's United States Postal Service team. The source did not say he told prosecutors about Armstrong's alleged use of PEDs, but said Armstrong knew of and encouraged doping, according to the Times report.

The former teammate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had spoken with investigators detailing his own performance-enhancing drug use and widespread doping by members of Armstrong's United States Postal Service team.

The rider said he has not been called before a grand jury convened in Los Angeles to investigate the case, according to the report.

Armstrong, who beat testicular cancer before returning to competitive cycling to win seven Tours, has steadfastly denied allegations of doping.

On Thursday, his attorney Bryan D. Daly released a statement saying the report contains "inappropriate leaks designed to create a circus-like atmosphere."

"To the extent that any riders are suggesting that Lance Armstrong violated cycling rules or doped, they are either mistaken or not telling the truth. Lance has ridden with hundreds of riders over the years who will support his position, and over all that time he has never failed even a single test," Daly said.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, declined comment about the report and Daly's reaction to it.

In May and during the Tour de France, ex-Armstrong teammate and admitted doper Floyd Landis claimed Armstrong and other team members used blood transfusions and performance-enhancing drugs. He claimed Armstrong encouraged doping and that the team sold racing bicycles to fund those activities.

Armstrong denied those claims, saying Landis -- who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for doping and denied using PEDs until acknowledging in May that he had in fact doped -- has no credibility.

But prosecutors now have more than Landis' accounts, two sources with knowledge of the investigation said, according to the Times.

Former Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton has met with the grand jury and more riders are expected to meet with the grand jury as early as next week, the sources said, according to the report.

Hamilton's lawyer, Chris Manderson, has previously said Hamilton, who is serving an eight-year ban for a second doping offense, had been subpoenaed by the grand jury.

Three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond has also reportedly been subpoenaed.

And earlier this week, Armstrong's attorneys said the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is offering cyclists a "sweetheart deal" if they testify or provide evidence that Armstrong cheated.

Armstrong's attorneys say USADA's current offer is for riders to talk to federal investigator Jeff Novitzky, who could then give the information to USADA.

"We understand that riders may be being offered sweetheart deals to change testimony that they have given in the past, under oath," Daly said. "The power of the federal government is being abused to pursue dated and discredited allegations, and that's flat-out wrong, unethical, un-American, and a waste of taxpayer dollars."

Novitzky, a special agent for the Food and Drug Administration leading the investigation, has already contacted Hamilton and former Armstrong teammate George Hincapie.

Last month, Landis told ESPN.com that he had not received a subpoena but would not hesitate to tell a grand jury what he told Novitzky and U.S. anti-doping officials in lengthy interviews last spring.

Daly said cyclists who claim Armstrong was doping aren't telling the truth, according to the Times.

"They just want them to incriminate Lance Armstrong and that's my concern," Daly said, according to the report. "To the extent that there's anyone besides Floyd Landis saying things, the bottom line is, if you take away the soap opera and look at the scientific evidence, there is nothing."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Some one you know?

2009-11-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lDxPv0zx1g

God damn it - How Much Can He Take.......?

2009-11-17T17:24:00.000-08:00

MSG’s president surprised by Landis exit

By:: Kirsten Robbins
Published:: November 18, 11:28,
Updated:: November 17, 22:32

Floyd Landis (OUCH) responds to an early attack.

view thumbnail gallery

OUCH funds replaced with new title sponsor

Floyd Landis and Momentum Sports Group (MSG) announced today the early termination of their rider-contract agreement, releasing Landis from OUCH-Maxxis Professional Cycling team before the end of the 2009 season. While slightly surprised by Landis’ departure, MSG President Thierry Attias wished Landis well in his future endeavors when speaking to Cyclingnews.

“There was no big climax,” Attias said. “He communicated his desire and game plan to move forward and we told him what our game plan was and it was in the best interest of both to allow him to meet his goals in the future.”

Attias admitted he expected Landis would sign a contract with the team’s management company for the 2010 season. Landis had returned to cycling at the start of 2009 with OUCH-Maxxis after finishing a two-year suspension following a protracted legal battle over urine test results from the 2006 Tour de France.

“We did expect him to ride in 2010,” Attias said. “We planned on having him on board. It was a little bit of a surprise but he is a big talent. When he is firing on all cylinders he is really strong and he thinks big. He is working his way back from that hip procedure. This was the first year back after two years and we saw glimmers of greatness in him.”

Landis has a desire to compete in longer stage races in Europe that better suited his former reputation of being amongst the top general classification riders in the world, according to Attias. The American rider recently ruled out a return to the sport’s top stage race, the Tour de France.

“He had more success in that area and he wanted to do more international races too,” Attias said. “Our team has a US focus. We wish him nothing but the best. He came on board and really helped us patch a hole, so to speak. We had a great season and we are sorry he won’t be with us next year.”

Landis’ presence on the squad brought title sponsor OUCH on board to void a financial hole left by former long-term sponsors Health Net. He underwent an unconventional hip replacement with OUCH Sports Medical Centre, needed after a case of bone death that resulted from excessive scar tissue which blocked blood flow to the hip joint.

“To have a guy that has won the Tour on our team was another level for us and he gave leadership and direction,” said Attias who expressed gratitude for Landis’ involvement with the team. “He has an all or nothing attitude. He gave his all and that gave something to the other riders to show them how to go all in.

“He was a solid guy all around,” he added. “He did a good bit of media for us. It was a positive and a learning experience for both of us. We’ve never had someone of that stature in our program. We learned how to work with that level and he learned how to work with us so it was a nice relationship overall. He was always friendly and brought great sponsors.”

Landis won the 2006 Tour de France with Phonak Hearing Systems, however was stripped of the title following a positive urine sample.

OUCH Sports Medical Centre will not continue to sponsor Attias’ team in 2010. While Attias said OUCH has been replaced by a new title sponsor to be announced at a later date, a recent Continental license application to USA Cycling had the team’s name as UnitedHealthcare presented by Maxxis.

“OUCH is not moving forward in 2010 with us. I don’t know what OUCH will do now,” he said. “We have a new title sponsor all lined up and we are just finalising minor details. We’ve kept over half of our squad and brought in a few young guys.”

How could we loose this? We can't!

2009-11-12T19:16:00.001-08:00

TD Bank confirms three-year extension with Philly

By:: Kirsten Robbins
Published:: November 13, 11:08,
Updated:: November 13, 00:15

Riders pass under the Philly skyline.

view thumbnail gallery

Organiser promises rider prizes will be paid

TD Bank has renewed as title sponsor of the Philadelphia International Championships for a three year term. Dave Chauner, president of the event’s organising committee Pro Cycling Tour (PCT), welcomed the sponsorship extension after the economic downturn pushed the United States of America’s iconic 250-kilometre one-day classic to the brink of collapse.

“They worked with us and many of the same people with Commerce Bank realised what a valuable branding opportunity it was,” Chauner said. “It doesn’t make sense to do it for one year and keep changing. We insisted on a three-year contract with our sponsors. We are still crawling out of the economic downturn but we are seeing a lot of interest in other sponsorships. I’m very optimistic about next year.”

Next year will be TD Bank Philadelphia International Championships 26th season. Formerly the USPRO Championships, it has undergone three name changes in the last decade. It began as the CoorStates and was passed to First Union in 1998, and then Wachovia in 2002 and finally Commerce Bank in 2006. Last year Canadian bank Toronto Dominion (TD) bought the Commerce Bank and inherited the final year of a four-year term to sponsor the bike race.

According to Chauner, it costs two million dollars to run the TD Bank Philadelphia International Championships. The race fell into jeopardy in August of 2008 when the city of Philadelphia requested the PCT cover nearly $250,000 in costs for police road closures and other city fees. The event also lost $225,000 from long-term sponsors CSC and last year’s sponsor Rock Racing.

Furthermore the tough economic crisis precluded long-time broadcasters WPVI-TV from televising the race. “I think the race ran extremely smooth and it was as good of a race as we’ve ever had,” Chauner said. “In order to keep the event the way it was in the past, we have to get back to live TV. National and international coverage and that is what we’ve secured.”

The Pro Cycling Tour confirmed the development of a new media partner to be announced at a later date. “We restructured and worked a relationship with a major media partner to bring the race back to live status which will be a major support for the event,” Chauner said. “We are creating a broader interest and more awareness of this event. I think this new media partner is going to be huge.”

No contract has been signed to date but Chauner is optimistic that the media partner will sign the dotted line soon. “Yes, it’s for sure,” he said. “The ink isn’t on the paper yet but all deals are negotiated and the contract is in their hand. We have no reason to believe they won’t sign.”

Chauner admitted that the Pro Cycling Tour has outstanding payments to make and the majority of those debts are owed in rider-prize funds. “We will pay them,” Chauner said. “We have to wait anyway until all drug testing is back before we can pay prize money, usually in the fourth quarter. Its normal but, it is later than we would have liked and they will be paid.”

At this point in time PCT will not bring back the Triple Crown series in 2010. The series included three events held over one week that began with the Lehigh Valley Classic Classic followed by the Reading Classic and concluded with the TD Bank Philadelphia International Championships. “We have no plans to add the other two races back next year,” Chauner said. “We will keep our eyes open for additional sponsorship and we want to get that back on track for 2011.”

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Dr. Inmate.... Justice!

2009-11-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

The interview is 1/2 way thru the clip

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/LOSANGELES-CA/KFI-AM/JK1104096P.mp3?CPROG=PCAST&MARKET=LOSANGELES-CA&NG_FORMAT=talk&SITE_ID=616&STATION_ID=KFI-AM&PCAST_AUTHOR=KFI_AM_640&PCAST_CAT=Arts_and_Entertainment&PCAST_TITLE=KFI_AM_640_JOHN_AND_KEN

Fuck him!!!!

2009-10-30T16:50:00.001-07:00

LA road-rage trial closing arguments wrap up

By Patrick Brady

Published: Oct. 30, 2009

Road Rage Trial: Thompson's rear window after the July 4 incident.

Photo: Chris Roberts

Prosecutors and defense attorneys made closing arguments Thursday in Los Angeles, in the trial of a former emergency room doctor accused of injuring two cyclists when he stopped his car suddenly in front of them.

Dr. Christopher Thomas Thompson's attorney said it was all an accident. "This was not an attempt to hurt anyone."

Deputy District Attorney Mary Stone said Thompson's actions "crossed a line you cannot cross."

Thompson is accused of assault with a deadly weapon, reckless driving causing specified bodily injury, battery with serious bodily injury and mayhem. The most serious charges stem from a July 4, 2008, incident on the road where Thompson lives. Other charges relate to a similar incident on the same road that did not result in injuries.

Stone said that, in the earlier incident, Thompson had three options when he caught up to cyclists Patrick Watson and Josh Crosby as they descended Mandeville Canyon Road. He could have driven behind the two cyclists at 30 mph (the speed limit and the cyclists' speed according to GPS data) or he could have passed them and kept driving. Instead, he passed them and then stopped, later saying that he wanted to take a picture, a claim Stone called “patently ridiculous.”

In that incident, Watson and Crosby said they narrowly avoiding hitting the rear of Thompson's Infiniti sedan when he stopped.

Stone played Thompson’s 911 call, from after the July 4 incident, once again for the jurors. Jurors heard Thompson tell the operator, “They said fuck you; I slammed on my brakes.”

On the tape the operator asked Thompson if the injuries were serious, and he said, “They’ll tell you they are, but they’re not.”

“What a callous statement is that?” Stone asked. “He had no right to make that statement."

Stone reminded the jury how the first police officer to arrive testified that Thompson told him: “I wanted to teach (the cyclists) a lesson,” and “I’m tired of them.”

Those words did not fit with the profile of a man who, as an MD, “knows the fragility of the human body,” Stone told the jury.

Defense closing

Defense attorney Peter Swarth began by putting a sheet of paper on an overhead projector. It had a single word, “accident.”

“This was an accident that could happen to anyone,” he said.

Swarth portrayed the cyclists as at fault; they “endangered (Thompson) by not allowing him to pass,” he said.

“If you have even a feather of doubt, then you have reasonable doubt and you must acquit,” Thompson said.

In regard to the Fourth of July incident, Swarth asked the jury, “Where is the evidence of anger? The injury doesn’t make this criminal.”

He accused Ron Peterson and Christian Stoehr, the riders in the July 4 incident, of being dishonest and said of Stoehr, “He looked back at his friend Ron Peterson; he lost his balance and fell.”

Of Peterson (a cycling coach) he said, “This teacher, teaching his student about the dangers of the road, teaches him about anger.”

He referenced Stone’s statements about the permanence of Peterson and Stoehr’s injuries and then asked the jury, “Where does Dr. Thompson go to get his reputation back?

Next, he asked, “If you’re in a rage why are you going to get out of your car and call 911?”

Speaking of the 911 recording, Swarth said, “Did he choose the best words? No. This was not an attempt to hurt anyone. He wanted to get a photo.”

Swarth sought to convince the jury that Thompson was actively seeking to create a safer situation. “The universe is like that ... the thing you seek to avoid becomes the thing you can’t avoid.”

“The facts in this case don’t add up to a criminal act.”

The final word

In Stone’s rebuttal, she laid out an allegory of sorts, re-telling the three Mandeville Canyon incidents the prosecution presented during the trial.

Oct. 30, 2009: Closing arguments
Oct. 29, 2009: Thompson cross-examined
Oct. 28, 2009: Dr. Thompson takes the stand
Oct. 26, 2009: Prosecution rests
Oct. 22, 2009: 'I wanted to teach them a lesson'
Oct. 20, 2009: Defense suggests cyclists were looking for a fight
Oct. 19, 2009: Road-rage trial begins
Oct. 12, 2009: California road-rage case heads for court
Dec. 24, 2008: Mionske: Mandeville incident inspires Cyclists Bill of Rights
Aug. 15, 2008: Mionske: Bikes v. cars
Aug. 8, 2008: Mionske: Where's the justice?
July 14, 2008: Mailbag: Readers sound off
July 13, 2008: Doctor charged
July 10, 2008: LA incident rallies cyclists

First, she goes to a Trader Joe’s. Goes to the aisle where they have granola she wants. Someone is in the way, preventing her from getting her granola, so she swings a bat at the person, but doesn't hit him. With that, Stone held up a baseball bat, swinging in an abrupt arc.

Weeks go by. She returns to the Trader Joe’s and again there’s someone in the way, someone preventing her from getting her granola. This time she swings the bat at them and they duck just out of the way.

A few more weeks go by and she’s back at Trader Joe’s. Someone, she said, “is in my aisle, blocking me from my granola. So I blast his nose with my bat.”

“But of course, I get arrested.”

Then, donning a white doctor’s coat, she said, “But I shroud myself in this because I want to deflect what I did.”

What's next?

The court is closed Friday. A jury verdict is expected early next week. If convicted of all charges, Thompson could spend up to five years in prison.

USA Cycling Professional Championships to be contested three weeks later than previous editions in Greenville

2009-10-30T09:42:00.001-07:00

USA Cycling Professional Championships to be contested three weeks later than previous editions in Greenville

GREENVILLE, S.C. (October 29, 2009) – The Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Championships will return to Greenville, S.C. for a fifth consecutive year in 2010, with new dates set for September 18-19, 2010. The Championship weekend features the USA Cycling Professional Time Trial Championship on Saturday and the USA Cycling Professional Road Race Championship on Sunday.

USA Cycling, which owns and sanctions the event, has extended the licensing agreement for 2010 with Medalist Sports, a sports management company that specializes in the planning, promotion and production of professional cycling and fundraising events. Medalist Sports has produced the Championships since 2006. The Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Championships is part of the USA Cycling Professional Tour, a men’s-only, season-long calendar comprised of UCI events that determines the best professional rider and team on American soil. It is also one of 17 national championship events that USA Cycling, Inc. sanctions across five disciplines in the sport for amateurs and professionals.

“We appreciate the ongoing support of the city of Greenville and the Greenville Hospital System,” said Sean Petty, USA Cycling chief operating officer. “We also appreciate Greenville’s understanding and flexibility in adjusting the dates for the 2010 event. While the date change was out of our hands, the result is a good one as U.S. riders who are preparing for the World Championships will have the ability to do quality, final preparation at North American events starting with Tour of Missouri, followed by the Canadian Pro Tour events and the USA Cycling Pro Championships.”

The USA Cycling Professional Championships will be contested three weeks later than the previous editions in Greenville. The date change was precipitated by a number of changes to the international racing calendar. In 2010, two new UCI-sanctioned Pro Tour events have been scheduled in Montreal and Quebec City, Canada (September 10 and 12, respectfully), thus shifting the Tour of Missouri, to August 30 – September 5th. The USA Cycling Professional Championships will be followed by the UCI Road World Championships, scheduled for September 29 – October 3, in Melbourne, Australia.

“I’m very excited that the USA Cycling Professional Championships are coming back to Greenville for 2010 and the new dates should fit nicely into a very exciting fall schedule,” said George Hincapie. “I’m proud to have won the Championship for the third time and I’m looking forward to defending the title with my new team, BMC Racing. The only thing better than winning the stars-and-stripes jersey is being able to wear that jersey for the entire racing season. With my new team, I will focus on the spring classics, and the fall will be my second priority. It looks like my season will end up with great races like the Tour of Missouri, the new Canadian Pro Tour events, the US Pro Championships and the World Championships.”

Medalist Sports also announced today results and a summary of the 2009 event.
o David Zabriskie (Salt Lake City, UT; Team Garmin - Slipstream) repeats as USA Cycling Professional Individual Time Trial Champion
o George Hincapie (Greenville, SC; Team Highroad – HTC) wins as USA Cycling Professional Road Race Champion
o Greenville Hospital System as Title Sponsor and Duke Energy as Presenting Sponsor
o Over 80,000 spectators attended the event weekend
o Over $120,000 raised for charity by the Palmetto Peloton Project (over $400,000 in four years) by 750 riders, who represented 21 states and two countries
o Over 120 credentialed, national media covered the event
o Live television coverage in partnership with WYFF-4 (NBC)
o Website visits from all 50 states and 130 countries
o Partnership with the US Handcycling Federation (USHF)

“The amazing community support since being awarded the Championships in 2006 is one of the main reasons to stage the event in the Upstate for another year. In addition to world-class courses, a strong foundation has been built with the help of partners such as the Greenville Hospital System, Duke Energy, the City of Greenville and Greenville County,” said Chris Aronhalt, managing partner of Medalist Sports. “These Championships provide a first-class venue for the best professional cyclists in the country, and has now become an annual tradition for the Greenville community.”

Additional details regarding activities and event schedule for the 2010 Championships will be announced at a later date. All updates will be made available at the official website www.usacyclingchampionships.com.

Photo caption: Nearly 200 of the nation’s best professional cyclists took to the start of the Greenville Hospital Systems USA Cycling Professional Championships on Sunday, Aug. 30 in downtown Greenville, S.C.
Photo credit: Casey B. Gibson/USA Cycling

ABOUT MEDALIST SPORTS
Medalist Sports is a full-service international sports management company. Medalist Sports specializes in the planning, promotion and marketing of multi-day, multi-jurisdiction sports and fundraising events. The Medalist Sports team has experience in all facets of the successful management and promotion of world-class sporting and cycling events in the United States, Australia and China. Clients and event experience include the Amgen Tour of California, Tour of Missouri, USA Cycling, Inc. and the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s LIVESTRONG Challenge Series. Medalist Sports’ headquarters are located south of metro Atlanta, Georgia. The company website is www.medalistsports.com.

ABOUT GREENVILLE HOSPITAL SYSTEM
Greenville Hospital System is one of the Southeast’s leading healthcare providers, nationally recognized for advanced technology, innovative research and teaching excellence. The system's five campuses include a Level I trauma center, three acute-care hospitals and numerous outpatient facilities. GHS’ Cancer Center offers the region’s broadest array of cancer specialists, many working through the Oncology Multidisciplinary Center. This multidisciplinary approach to the effective management of cancer allows patients to meet with a medical oncologist, radiation oncologist and surgical oncologist to receive a comprehensive treatment plan all in one day. More information is available at www.ghs.org.

ABOUT PALMETTO PELOTON PROJECT
The Palmetto Peloton Project (P3), based in Greenville, S.C., exists to promote the advancement of cancer research and advocacy efforts locally, regionally and nationally through fundraising cycling events. Through support from local businesses and enthusiastic cyclists, the Palmetto Peloton Project has raised over $400,000 for cancer research and advocacy since its inception in 2005. In 2009 as part of the Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Championships, P3 will host the “Stars and Stripes Challenge” for a fourth year, a recreational cycling event to support local cancer research. For more information, visit www.palmettopelotonproject.org.

ABOUT USA CYCLING
Recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the Union Cycliste Internationale, USA Cycling is the official governing body for all disciplines of competitive cycling in the United States, including road, track, mountain bike, BMX, and cyclo-cross. As a membership-based organization, USA Cycling consists of 64,000+ licensees including 1,500 coaches, 4,000 student-athletes, 2,200 officials, 1,800 clubs and teams, 350 professional cyclists, 200 certified mechanics, and 34 local associations. The national governing body sanctions 2,500 competitive and non-competitive events throughout the U.S. each year and is responsible for the identification, development, and support of American cyclists through various initiatives and programs. Additionally, USA Cycling conducts national championship events for all categories of amateur and professional cycling. To learn more about USA Cycling, visit www.usacycling.org.

ABOUT U.S. HANDCYCLING
United States Handcycling Federation, is an association of individuals and organizations that creates integrated cycling opportunities for wheelchair users and athletes with lower-mobility impairments, including disabled veterans and members of the U.S. Armed Forces. The U.S Handcycling Series, presented by the Paralyzed Veteran's of America, is the premier Para-Cycling racing series in North America and will feature more than 150 of the World’s top cyclists with disabilities, racing at major – integrated – cycling events across America. Shining the spotlight on the elite athleticism of Paralympic cyclists, this series focuses on the “ability” rather than the “disability” of its participants, most notably disabled veterans. Visit www.ushf.org.

responce from a USA today article...

2009-10-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

These bike riders that ride in the middle of the road are just plain stupid for playing in traffic.And then they wonder why they get hit. Lots of big fast moving vehicles wizzing by that will send them flying. That little bike helmet will crack open like an egg shell along with your skull. These idiots on the bikes that got run over and killed were riding on a road with no shoulder. Very bad idea.. My buddy has a lifted F-350 diesel and comes around a blind turn and there they were. Like a couple of squirrels in the road waiting to get squashed. He just crushed the one and the other went flying 30 feet head first into a tree. Both dead on impact. There was chunks of flesh and clothing on his bumper. But he was lucky he didn't get hurt When you ride your bicycles like that on roads with no shoulders where cars are going 50 mph you are going to end up a red skid mark of road kill. Somebody texting or talking on their cell phone can take you out and turn you into road kill in an instant.

Yup - that's america for ya -

From Velonews

2009-10-22T20:58:00.001-07:00

'I want to teach them a lesson." — Road rage trial resumes.

LAPD investigator tells jury in road rage trial he was shocked at a driver's comments.

By Patrick Brady

Published: Oct. 22, 2009

A traffic investigator told jurors in the Los Angeles road rage trial this week that a driver’s comment at the scene of the incident “was so shocking his words burned into my brain.”

Dr. Christopher Thomas Thompson is on trial in Los Angeles Superior Court for assault and other charges related to an incident on a narrow canyon road involving two cyclists on the Fourth of July, 2008. Thompson also faces charges related to a similar, earlier, incident on the same road, involving a different cyclist. If convicted of all charges, Thompson could spend up to five years in prison.

Prosecutors say that after a brief exchange of words on the Fourth, Thompson passed the two cyclists then slammed on his brakes, causing the riders to crash into the rear his car.

On Tuesday, the jury heard testimony from a Los Angeles police traffic investigator, a doctor who treated the cyclists at the scene and a plastic surgeon who operated on one of the cyclists’ broken nose. The testimony was graphic enough that one juror had to leave the court room for a few minutes after feeling faint. Jurors also heard from the cyclist who says he had the earlier encounter with Thompson.

After a break Wednesday, testimony resumes Thursday.

’Burned into my brain’

LAPD traffic investigator Robert Rodriguez said he arrived at the scene on Mandeville Canyon Road with the fire department and asked Thompson what happened.

According to Rodriguez, Thompson said, “I just live up the road. I was driving to go to work. The bikers were in front of me, three across. I honked my horn and yelled ‘ride single file.’ The bicyclists flipped me off and yelled back. I passed them up and stopped in front to teach them a lesson. I’m tired of them. I’ve lived here for years and they always ride like this.”

Thompson’s attorney, Peter Swarth, questioned Rodriguez extensively about how he could recall the exact words, since Rodriguez did not write them down for more than 90 minutes.

Later, Deputy District Attorney Mary Stone asked Rodriguez in re-direct examination how he was able to remember.

Rodriguez replied, “That statement was so shocking his words burned into my brain.”

Stone asked, “Have you ever been to a collision where someone said they wanted to teach that person a lesson?”

“Never,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said that after Thompson’s comments, he decided the incident was assault with a deadly weapon and called the department’s patrol division to take over the investigation.

Samaritan neighbor

Physician Bruce Rogen later testified that he came upon the scene while driving up the canyon to his home that morning.

Rogen said he approached Peterson, who was “sitting cross-legged leaning forward dripping blood. The piece of cloth to his face was sodden with blood. There was a fair amount of trauma. I identified myself as a doctor and asked a few questions. I was concerned there could be more damage.”

Rogen checked Peterson for a head injury. He checked the injury to Peterson’s nose and removed his own shirt and used it to apply pressure to the wound.

In listening to the description of Peterson’s blood loss, one juror began feeling faint and court was recessed for five minutes.

On cross-examination, Swarth asked Rogen about any exchange he had with Thompson and with the cyclists regarding Thompson — a former emergency room physician.

“(The cyclists) didn’t want him to treat them,” he said. “They didn’t want him nearby." Asked to describe Thompson, he said, “He seemed agitated, anxious.”

Surgeon testifies

Geoffrey Keyes is the plastic surgeon who operated on Peterson. In his testimony he said Peterson’s injuries included a broken nose and broken internal structures as well as scars on his lip, chin and nose. He needed nasal septul reconstruction.

The surgery was performed under general anesthesia, required re-breaking the nose and using chisels to shape the bone and took an hour and half to complete. Displays included photographs taken before and after the surgery.

The earlier incident

Oct. 20, 2009: Defense suggests cyclists were looking for a fight
Oct. 19, 2009: Road-rage trial begins
Oct. 12, 2009: California road-rage case heads for court
Dec. 24, 2008: Mionske: Mandeville incident inspires Cyclists Bill of Rights
Aug. 15, 2008: Mionske: Bikes v. cars
Aug. 8, 2008: Mionske: Where's the justice?
July 14, 2008: Mailbag: Readers sound off
July 13, 2008: Doctor charged
July 10, 2008: LA incident rallies cyclists

Final testimony on the day came from Patrick Watson, a former professional adventure racer who filed charges against Thompson for an alleged incident that occurred in March, 2008.

Watson said he and training partner Josh Crosby were descending at roughly 30 mph —the speed limit for the road — when Thompson approached from behind. Crosby and Watson moved to ride single file, he said.

Watson said, “The car came so fast and so close I had to jump off the road. I did a bunny hop up the curb into the grass. When I jumped back on the road Thompson slammed on his brakes.”

Watson said he bunny hopped back onto the curb and stopped. He got off his bike and leaned it against a fence.

“(Thompson) drove straight at me and then he drove off,” he said.

Watson contacted the police and attempted to press charges, but ultimately, no charges were filed.

Asked by Stone why he contacted the district attorney, Watson said, “I wanted to make sure they did something this time.”

Garmin

2009-09-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

TEAM GARMIN-SLIPSTREAM ANNOUNCES EXCITING ADDITIONS TO 2010 TEAM ROSTER

Team continues mission of developing young talent while adding accomplished pro riders

BOULDER, COLORADO (September 1, 2009) — Team Garmin-Slipstream, the American professional cycling team dedicated to ethical sporting and developing the next generation of cycling champions, today announced six exciting additions to its 2010 roster:

Robbie Hunter – the South African joins from Barloworld and in his new role with the Garmin-Slipstream squad will be a huge asset in leading out sprinter Tyler Farrar. Garmin will also look to Hunter for various stage wins throughout the year.

Fredrik Kessiakoff – Kessiakoff is undoubtedly one of the most talented, though slightly unknown, climbers in the peloton. The Garmin team has a history of helping lesser-known riders blossom and believes Kessiakoff is no exception. The four-time Swedish mountain biking champion joins the team from Fuji-Servetto.

Michel Kreder – 21 year-old Kreder is a climber who can also sprint, and Garmin will look for him to perform in one-day races and stage races. His younger brother Raymond currently rides for Slipstream’s Felt-Holowesko Partners U-23 team.

Peter Stetina – true to its mission of developing the best young American talent, Garmin is calling up Peter Stetina from the ranks of its U-23 team, Felt-Holowesko partners. The two-time U-23 National Time Trial Champion has been with the Slipstream operation since the outfit started when he was just 15 years old.

Johan Vansummeren – the two-time top ten finisher of Paris Roubaix joins Garmin from Silence-Lotto, where he supported Cadel Evans. The addition of Vansummeren creates a triple-threat for Garmin’s Cobbled Classics crew, including Martijin Maaskant and Tyler Farrar.

Tom Zirbel – the number-one ranked rider on the domestic circuit, Zirbel is an accomplished time trialist and was recently second in the US National Time Trial Championships to Garmin’s own David Zabriskie.

“We’re poised for another exciting year with these riders rounding out an already strong roster,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports. “We started the team with the goal of developing young talent, so riders Peter Stetina and Michel Kreder were natural fits for us. And this year we’ll continue to build on the success Tyler has had by giving him more lead-out guys, and the success that Christian and Wiggo have had in the mountains by adding talented climbers. But make no mistake, the riders on this list are all capable of stage wins and one-day race victories. 2010 is shaping up to be a big year for us.”

Team Garmin-Slipstream will unveil a full roster later this year.

Time for a break from racing....

2009-08-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYvOgnabABU&feature=related

Performance??????

2009-08-12T09:26:00.001-07:00

I guess we really are Dorks!

Bruno Kammerl jumps

2009-08-08T20:32:00.001-07:00

Just a break from the bike-

Tour of Missouri

2009-07-30T19:11:00.001-07:00

Planet Energy rounds out roster

Tour of Missouri organisers announced the Canadian team Planet Energy as the 15th and final squad for the September race this week.

The team will join ProTour teams Astana, Columbia-HTC, Garmin-Slipstream, Liquigas, Quick Step and Saxo Bank and Professional Continental teams Cervelo TestTeam and BMC. Domestic teams include Jelly Belly, OUCH presented by Maxxis, BissellPro Cycling Team, Colavita / Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light, Kelly Benefit Strategies and Team Type 1. BMC Racing, which is a Swiss and American based team, rounds out the field.

"Just as we have a commitment to top American teams, we have always tried to include a top North American-based continental team in this race to support the goals of the UCI," said Chris Aronhalt, managing partner of Medalist Sports, the tour's organizer. "Planet Energy is one of the top teams outside the U.S. in this hemisphere, and we are glad to reach an agreement to include them."

The 2009 Tour of Missouri begins September 7 in St. Louis and finishes a week later in Kansas City. The seven-stage race was won last year by Garmin-Slipstream's Christian Vande Velde.

Hmmmmm.......

2009-07-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Cancellara's great downhill on stage 7 TDF 2009

2009-07-21T07:53:00.001-07:00

Frickin Jackass'

2009-07-17T16:59:00.001-07:00

Tour riders hit by pellet gun

Published: Jul. 17, 2009

Police have launched an investigation after two riders suffered light injuries when hit by shots fired from an airgun on the 13th stage of the Tour de France on Friday.

New Zealander Julian Dean of Garmin-Slipstream and Spaniard Oscar Freire of Rabobank were hit with pellets near the 165km mark of the 200km stage in the hilly Vosges region.

Freire, a three-time world road race champion, had to have a pellet removed from his leg by his team doctor after finishing the stage.

"He's got a bit of bruising but he will be able to start on Saturday," said his team boss.

Dean, the main lead-out man for American sprinter Tyler Farrar, was hit on a finger of his left hand, according to his Garmin team.

Police working on the stage were immediately alerted by the teams.

"Julian was shot by an air rifle or BB gun (pellet gun) at the top of a climb during the stage. He has a minor injury on his finger but he was able to finish," Garmin-Slipstream spokeswoman Marya Pongrace confirmed.

"(Tour organisers) ASO have asked police to open an investigation."

A spokesman for Rabobank said: "Oscar heard three shots and then felt a sting. A small shot was removed."

Tour organisers have confirmed an investigation had been opened and said both riders had given statements to the police.

Honey, me n the guys are going on a "bike" trip......

2009-07-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

German brothel offers discounts to cyclists

A Berlin brothel has come up with a novel way to offset the impact of the global economic crisis and target a new group of customers at the same time - offering a discount to patrons who arrive on bicycles.

Published: 12:59AM BST 14 Jul 2009

"The recession has hit our industry hard," said Thomas Goetz, owner of the Maison d'envie brothel.

"Obviously we hope that the discount will attract more people," he added. "It's good for business, it's good for the environment - and it's good for the girls."

Customers who arrive on bicycle or who can prove they took public transportation get a 5-euro ($7) discount from the usual 70-euro ($100) fee for 45 minute sessions, Mr Goetz said. He said the environmentally friendly offer was working a charm.

"We have around 3-5 new customers coming in daily to take advantage of the discount," he said, adding the green rebate has helped alleviate traffic and parking congestion in the neighbourhood.

Germany is one of the few countries in the world where prostitution is legal. It has about 400,000 prostitutes who, since 2002, have been allowed to enter formal labour contracts.

Oh my God!!!

2009-07-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

Missy Giove lived her life astounding those around her.

The iconic mountain biker, who resided in Durango for more than a decade, won 14 national titles and was the world champion downhill racer in 1994. She screamed down slopes on the edge of control, landing in either an ambulance or on the podium.

Her persona — she dangled a dried piranha around her neck and tucked her dead dog's ashes in her bra when she raced — and talent made her mountain biking's highest-paid athlete, earning her well over $2 million.

Then last month, six years after she formally retired from racing, federal agents busted the 37-year-old and an accomplice with 400 pounds of marijuana and $1 million in cash.

"Everyone in the circle of

Missy Giove was mountain biking's "first rock star." She faces drug-trafficking charges. (The Denver Post)

mountain biking is shocked by the news — not because she was arrested, because that was not surprising. She had numerous car wrecks and slight problems with authority," said Giove's longtime friend and former bike racer Craig Glaspell. "The fact she might be involved in some pretty heavy drug trafficking is the crazy thing. I mean, real crazy."

According to authorities, on June 16, a team of federal drug cops watched Giove meet a confidential informant at a hotel in Albany, N.Y., and drive away in a rented truck pulling her own trailer. Cops had already found 350 pounds of marijuana in the trailer. Giove drove the rig to the Wilton, N.Y., home of Eric Canori, 30, where police found another 50 pounds of the weed and $1 million packed into a duffel bag in a hallway closet.

Mountain biking "rock star"

Giove bailed out of jail on June 22 on a $250,000 bond, facing a possible $2 million fine and up to 40 years in prison if convicted. She could not be reached for comment.

Days after her arrest, her public defender, Tim Austin, alleged the drugs were planted in Giove's possession, possibly by police. Her next hearing is scheduled Tuesday.

While it was shocking to hear of Giove's arrest, her friends say it is not that surprising that "Missy the Missile" would be found at the top level of anything she was doing.

"When she was riding, she was willing to throw it all out there. She was either going to win or crash hard," said Scott Montgomery, who, as vice president of marketing for Cannondale in the mid-1990s, enlisted Giove to ride for his team. "She was mountain biking's first rock star. She transcended the sport. She was larger than life."

She was sponsored by Reebok. She appeared on MTV, Conan O'Brien's show and David Letterman's "Late Show." She drew thousands of fans to formerly obscure mountain-biking events.

She was unquestionably gifted on her bike and carefully fostered her Dennis Rodman-esque image.

"That got her a huge amount of publicity, attention and money," said Alison Dunlap, a professional mountain biker who raced cross country during Giove's downhill blitzkrieg. "She knew what she was doing."

But she didn't roll like a rock star. Yes, she trained part time in the south of France. But in Durango, she drove a modest car and lived in a yurt behind a friend's house. It was her father, who died three years ago, who secured big dollars for his daughter.

Montgomery remembers a "shrewd and tough" Ben Giove, working with executives at Cannondale and Volvo on her sponsorship contract. She earned $250,000 a year after her world title in '94. In 1997, Cannondale-Volvo upped Giove's year-long contract to $450,000.

"The next year, (Ben) came back even more aggressively, and we had to cut her," Montgomery said.

Toward the late '90s, mountain biking's luster began to wane — and with it racers' income.

Invested in dad's restaurant

"She was still making some good money, and I think she took a lot of her money and invested it in her father's restaurant," said Brent Foes, who still has posters of Giove hanging in his Pasadena, Calif., bike-making headquarters. "If she had invested properly, she probably wouldn't be in the situation she is now."

By 2002, Giove's litany of injuries was catching up to her. By her own tally — reported in various bike magazines during her heyday — Giove suffered 33 fractures, including cracked ribs; broken wrists, collarbones, legs, vertebrae, heels, knee caps; and a cracked sternum. She endured concussions regularly. During the 2001 World Cup races in Vail, she went airborne, twisted and landed on her head. The blow knocked her unconscious and caused her brain to bleed.

It was "the very worst I have ever seen her crash," said Glaspell, who raced with Giove on the professional circuit for almost a decade. "I don't think she was the same since then."

Giove retired from racing in 2003 and left Durango. But she didn't stop racing. While she lived in the East, most recently in Chesapeake, Va., she would show up at local races, handily beating all comers. She briefly worked peddling indoor bike-training equipment at cycling shows.

"She really didn't know what she wanted to do after racing. She once said she wanted to be a rapper and this and that," said Foes, who would occasionally help her out with a bike to keep her racing.

Staunch drug foe

The most shocking aspect of Giove's arrest, say people who knew her, was her longtime anti-drug stance. Back in the early 1990s, drugs were part of the counter-cultural scene that went with mountain biking.

"Missy was always the one who was giving people crap about it, saying, 'Don't drink, don't smoke, stay clean and stay focused,' " said Montgomery, who now manages Scott USA's bike division.

As a fledgling racer in her early 20s, Giove coached other young racers on how to eat healthy and stay strong, Glaspell said. She pushed natural diets and meditation and a strict training regimen.

"I never ever, ever saw Missy smoke pot, never saw her do any drugs. She was always into super heavy hippy homeopathic (stuff)," Glaspell said.

That leads many to wonder whether, if the charges are true, the adventurous thrill of drug-running appealed to Giove.

"You are one step away from going to federal prison. The challenge of getting away with it, making money at it, I am sure that is incredibly invigorating and thrilling," said fellow bike-racer Dunlap. "Maybe for Missy, when she was used to that kind of feeling when she was racing, not having it anymore was a like a withdrawal from a drug."

My Hick Fingers are still Crossed!

2009-07-14T14:54:00.001-07:00

The state funds for the Tour of Missouri have been given approval to be released, and the 2009 Tour of Missouri is on track for the most successful year yet!

Please plan on calling in to hear details on this momentous news at 4:30PM CST.

There will be no questions taken. This is to share the immediately available information.

Call is limited to 1000 callers.

Additional details of this fantastic turn of events will be available on the Tour of Missouri website soon - http://www.tourofmissouri.com

712-432-1001 Attendee Access Code 422623590#

San Rafael Crit!!! fast-

2009-07-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.marinij.com/sports/?bcpid=29155188001&bctid=29189234001

A Little Help Please......?

2009-07-10T09:49:00.001-07:00

A letter from Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder...

Friends,

By now, some of you may have heard rumors regarding Gov. Nixon freezing state funds for the 2009 Tour of Missouri. I would like to share with you the details that we currently have:

On Wednesday, at the close of business, I was informed by the Division of Tourism that the money set aside for the Tour of Missouri was frozen by Gov. Nixon’s administration. The state’s commitment for the 2009 Tour of Missouri was $1.5 million. Without these funds, which are available and approved by the Tourism Commission, the Tour of Missouri will cease to exist.

At this time, I have requested a special meeting of the Missouri Tourism Commission to evaluate our options and decide what our next step should be.

As you know, we are very close to putting the final touches on the race this year. Our sponsors have invested and we are on track with our fundraising goals. Teams from across the world, the same teams now racing in the Tour de France, have been invited to our state, and communities across Missouri are making great preparations for the race. Contracts have been signed by the state, cities, sponsors and vendors and cutting this funding will leave the state susceptible to wasteful litigation.

Right now, I am urging cycling fans across our great state, and around the world to contact Gov. Jay Nixon at 573-751-3222 and tell him to release the funding for the largest sporting event ever held in our state.

I am grateful for the supporters, sponsors, volunteers and spectators who in the past two years have helped generate nearly $60 million in economic impact for our state, and brought over 800,000 visitors to the race.

With your help, I truly believe we can ensure the survival and success of the 2009 Tour of Missouri.

Sincerely,

PETER D. KINDER
Lt. Governor, Chairman of the Missouri Tourism Commission

Call Gov. Jay Nixon at 573-751-3222 and tell him to save our race!

Additional Contact Info: Emails can be sent to Governor's office at http://governor.mo.gov/contact/

Off to the National Championships - In KY....

2009-07-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Fun Facts to enjoy when you are not racing...
Sent in from my good friend Ken A.

Just some interesting facts about where you are going:

Kentucky has the only waterfall in the world with a regularly occurring moonbow (a moonbow is like a rainbow but appears at night).

Nobody born in Kentucky has ever been elected to Congress.

In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry ice cream in your back pocket.

It is illegal to fish with a bow and arrow in Kentucky.

How do you know when you're staying in a Kentucky hotel? When you call the front desk and say "I've got a leak in my sink," and the person at the front desk says, "Go ahead."

Where was the toothbrush invented?
Kentucky. If it was invented anywhere else it would have been called teethbrush.

This is why I've been lax on posting.....

2009-06-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

You can tell a lot by a persons dishwasher.....

Gotta call Bullshit on this one-

2009-06-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

American Chris Horner seemed to be a sure bet for Astana's Tour de France roster. After all, he put in a brilliant performance as a mountain domestique in the Giro d'Italia before exiting early after a crash with a broken tibia.

Yet when the team announced its final roster earlier this week, the Oregon resident was not on the list. Upset at the prospect of missing one of his last opportunities to race in the sport's big show, the 37-year-old's first reaction was to try to leave the team and find another squad which would bring him to the Tour.

Writing on his blog on OregonLive.com, Horner revealed the inner workings of team manager Johan Bruyneel's choice of nine riders for the Tour.

"Knowing there was no reason to get upset with Johan, I hung up the phone after thanking him for what I knew was a hard call to make, and for the fighting I knew he had done on my behalf with sponsors and riders on the team to get me on," Horner wrote.

Chalking up his exclusion to politics, he explained that one spot had to go to a Kazakh rider to please the team's sponsor, who scrambled to keep the team afloat after its financial crisis.

The top four riders on the team were given expected spots: Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden.

Horner explained that Haimar Zubeldia and Yaroslav Popovych were selected early as support riders, leaving two spots on the team. The first went to Gregory Rast, who is "a big guy who could help tackle the flats", and Horner thought he would surely get the final place on the team.

Instead, the place was given to Sergio Paulinho, who was Contador's choice as a support rider.

Horner did not place blame on Bruyneel, instead he thanked him, saying to his fans, "don't be too hard on him -- he has a difficult job and was stuck in an impossible position."

Thriller-

2009-06-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD!

Now go ride a bike-

IFAC Press Conference

2009-06-25T11:52:00.001-07:00

Preview of the new Pearl campaign - CLEVER!!!

Sometimes the winners are just below the podium.....

2009-06-24T10:15:00.001-07:00

Sent in from my buddy Steve S.
...maybe you should click on it...

Well OK then..... Hey Chad, may not be the walk in the park you thought...

2009-06-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

Nevada City Classic promoter Duane Strawser has been working with Lance Armstrong's manager to coordinate the potential entry of Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Chris Horner into the race. Thirty minutes ago Lance twittered that they would, indeed, be coming to the event (https://twitter.com/lancearmstrong). We can't guarantee this will happen, but Lance certainly intends to be there.

Lance Armstrong goes for 8

2009-06-15T20:08:00.001-07:00

Sent in from My buddy Ams!

Ho, Hum.........

2009-06-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

PARIS (Reuters) -- This year's Tour de France will be the most scrutinized sports event ever by anti-doping authorities, International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat McQuaid said on Wednesday.

More than 500 tests will be carried out during the world's greatest stage race featuring 180 riders, with 50 of them set to undergo more tests than the others.

The 50 riders have been targeted because they are either top contenders or because their biological passports have raised suspicions in the UCI.

"The Tour de France will be the most tested event in the history of sports," McQuaid told a news conference, adding the UCI would work in collaboration with the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD). "It is enormous".

"The 50 riders were picked on a sporting basis, among the favorites of the Tour de France, and also from the knowledge we have got from the biological passport.

"What is important is not the number of tests, but the fact that we target riders," said AFLD president Pierre Bordry.

He added the names of the 50 riders would not be made public.

All riders will give two blood samples on Thursday, July 2, two days before the start, which will be analyzed and stored for possible further testing. UCI doctor Mario Zorzoli said eight to 11 riders would be tested every day.

Bordry said the UCI and the AFLD would work closely together to zero in on cheats following a first collaboration during the Paris-Nice stage race in March.

"I want to state that those who dope will have to be very careful because we will be extremely thorough," he said.

In October, 2007, the UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced they would collect blood samples from all professional riders to create a medical profile, or passport, that would be compared to the data registered in doping tests.

The Tour de France has been marred by doping scandals in the past three years.

In last year's edition, top Italian rider Riccardo Ricco was kicked out of the race after failing a test for the new generation of EPO called CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator).

Austrian Bernhard Kohl, third overall and the race's top climber, as well as Italian Leonardo Piepoli and German Stefan Schumacher were also found guilty of using CERA following retroactive tests carried out in September.

The Horror....

2009-06-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

Nick Schaffner- Wild Cherries, Takes out Mike Margraf - Team Safeway-
Mike gets the worst of it-

It's coming........ Big Purse!

2009-06-09T14:44:00.001-07:00

Come see Team Safeway dominate!

So This is OK With You?

2009-06-08T19:17:00.000-07:00

One more quick thought about this....I'm not clear on the timing of the officer's employment as a cop and his DUI's, but... aside from the incident of running over the cyclists, how does ANYONE with two DUI's either keep their job as a cop or get hired as one?? A person who's job it is to spend most of his day driving around, enforcing the laws of the road!?

Seriously!

On Sun, Jun 7, 2009 at 3:27 PM, Mike Berry wrote:

Hello,

I am outraged at the decision that two people can be killed by a police officer who then has to sit at home and watch TV for four months as his punishment. Not only do I no longer feel safe to ride my bike on the road, I don't feel safe having my children walking on the sidewalk knowing that anyone can drive right into us, claim they fell asleep, and get to watch TV for four months as their punishment. This is an affront to justice, sets a horrible precedent, increases the fear of the population, destroys the reputation of the police force, justifiably inspires the anger of victims, and causes us all to lose confidence in the fairness of the judicial system.

I would ask that the case be appealed to a higher court and that a proper, far more severe sentence be leveled upon James Council regardless of whether he feel asleep at the wheel or not. I further ask that the law be changed so that anyone involved in a fatal crash be required to submit to tests at the time of the accident to see if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

And what were the results of the drug test that was given to Council by the Sheriff's office? How come this has never been made public? With two DUI's on his record already, not revealing this information certainly smells of conspiracy, or at the best gross negligence, in the case of the worst crime. Many people will feel that the Thin Blue was never crossed, to the joy of Council's family and the tears of the families of the lives he took.

Mike Berry
Bay Area cyclist and father

Article referenced: http://www.sfgate. com/cgi-bin/ article.cgi? f=/c/a/2009/ 06/06/BAK7181IQE .DTL&type=printable

[copy: Santa Clara Sherriff's office, Santa Clara District Attorney's Office, Peninsula Velo cycling club, all Supervisors of the County of Santa Clara]

The Nature of Racing... Don't look back....

2009-06-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Sent in from Dan Martin-

This Whole Season Comes Down to One Hour...

2009-05-27T09:16:00.001-07:00

Five weeks away - Masters Crit Nationals at Churchhill Downs.... tic tic tic...

Know who you are before you go.......

2009-05-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

This came in from a guy who showed up for a group ride with a race team...

Comments: To the Ranchos cycling team in Escondido
Thanks for waiting up for me!
This Memorial Day weekend I spent the weekend with family in Fallbrook, CA and thought I could get a ride in with some of the locals. I emailed the Ranchos cycling team and they let me know where to meet them for a Saturday ride. They sounded like a great group to ride with and their website encouraged riders and newcomers to ride along…” If you want to ride with a group of riders that are safe yet fast, serious yet willing to wait for you if you flat, who are willing to teach and learn, and just all around fun, come out and ride with the Ranchos.”
I arrived in Escondido only to be snubbed by the person that I was corresponding with. Only one person took the time to chat a little. They didn’t give me any indication that this was going to be a “race to the finish” type of ride. They did inform me of the distance, which was no big deal, but during the ride there were no riders that took me under the wing. I’m not looking for pity, but they could’ve said, “ hey dude, this is gonna’ get pretty tough we got big hills ahead be prepared” or even “ you might want to think about turning up at this next street ‘cause we’re gonna’ be taking this hill full sprint for the next few miles.”
…They’re not a group willing to bring anyone new along. If they were training, as a team, for an event then they should have let me know and I could have rode with someone else. I would never recommend riding with this group of guys who don’t mind leaving riders behind and there is definitely no “willing to teach and learn” aspect.I was lost in the hills and climbed out a gruesome hill called Cole Grade Rd. They need to change their website and I discourage people coming out to ride with them. Pricey outfits and bad sportsmanship is all you’ll get. http://www.ranchoscycling.org
THANKS

So, I relied-

Wow David, that's a bummer. I read your "review" of the ranchos and I have to say I've had a polar opposite experiences with them....
Like you, I live in Norcal and have family in Escondido. Same deal, I looked em up, saw they were a racing club, made contact, and showed up..... same reception as you met with but I have ridden with a bunch of these groups and its ALWAYS the same - some kinda guy thing- once you prove yourself, your in. Now I go out with them and make sure we all hurt-

As it turns out, over the yrs of riding w/ them whenever I'm down there, I've made some friends in the group and am very close with the person heading up the team- Same prick was cold to me till he was in oxygen debit! And then he was great - ;-)

From the Ranchos site: If you want to ride with a group of riders that are safe yet fast, serious yet willing to wait for you if you flat, who are willing to teach and learn, and just all around fun, come out and ride with the Ranchos.

Am I missing something? Where is there any commitment to hand holding?

In looking at their website, its clearly a race group. Which is necessary when your looking for a group to ride with to know this. If I went to a site and saw pics of guys w/ helmet mirrors or riding recumbents I would know this is not what I'm looking for- I find it hard to believe you would not see this on their site - or when you showed up just look around at the guys there and know you are in the wrong place.

Maybe not so fair to slam them but write something to those other riders in your situation on how better to assess a group ride and your current fitness fit to a ride?

This could be a better resource for future rides:
National - League of American Bicyclists
The League of American Bicyclists promotes cycling for fun, fitness, and transportation and works through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly American
Website: http://www.bikeleague.org/

Just my .2 cents, hope it helps- no offense

2009 May 24 Auburn Crit , one lap

2009-05-25T14:53:00.001-07:00

This is the best course yet! The video kinda changes it a bit but the DH into the left was 45mph if you were fast!

I soloed for the whole race to win, so I had full access to the speed of the DH which was worth the price of admission!

(the video was from someone in the cat 4 race - note the pre-race injury on the guy riding..... scary)

Steve Larsen

2009-05-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

Thursday 21st May 2009 - Cycling Weekly

Former world-class road and mountain bike professional Steve Larsen collapsed and died during a training run on Tuesday, May 19, aged 39.

Larsen was running at a local track in Oregon when he suddenly collapsed. Initially a heart attack was suspected, by the exact cause of death has yet to be confirmed.

Larsen had a varied career in cycling, and was a well-known and much admired figure in US cycling. He was part of the Motorola and US national road squads in the early nineties, but it was in mountain biking that he was probably best known.

Larsen was the US NORBA (national MTB series) champion in 1998 and 2000, and was a regular on the international mountain bike World Cup circuit. He later switched to racing in triathlon events, where he also excelled. From 2003 he ran an estate agency, Steve Larsen Properties, in his hometown of Bend, Oregon. Larsen leaves a wife and five children.

Many current riders knew and were influenced by Larsen, and tributes have been posted by riders via Twitter.

Lance Armstrong, Astana
"So sad hearing about the loss of Steve Larsen. Leaves a wife and five kids. Terrible. He and I were on national team and Motorola together."

Levi Leipheimer, Astana
"Heard this morning the tragic news of Steve Larsen passing away, didn't want to believe it but unfortunately it's true. Very sad news."

Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Slipstream
"Just read about Steve Larsen. Thoughts are with his wife and family. He was one of my idols growing up."

Nooooo, not the bulks?

2009-05-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

Bodybuilders flee drug testers; event canceled

Associated Press

Time to act.......

2009-05-14T10:37:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! I got this note from Kristy Gough's mother today. If you have an opinion about the case, I would encourage you to attend the sentencing.

Subject: Kristy

"Hi Lorri - as you may have heard, the man who killed Kristy will be sentenced soon. The DA has reached a deal to give him 4 months of house arrest and 800 hrs of community service. ALL her friends are able to speak in her behalf before the judge sentences him. It may make a difference. I know the biking community realizes what a travesty of justice this is. Please get as many of them to come as possible. Even if they do not speak, just being there will make a difference. It will be on June 25 at 1:30 at the San Jose Court House, Hall of Justice, Dept 30 on the 4th floor. There is a parking structure just across the street. Let me know what you think. They have set aside a little over 3 hours for this hearing so everyone can have a chance to speak. Karen"

__________________________

Lorri Lee Lown, founder & coach
Velo Girls
USA Cycling Coach
ACE Personal Fitness Trainer
specializing in bike fit, skills instruction, and program design
USA Cycling Club of the Year: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008
City Sports Magazine Best of the Bay: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

Movin on up!

2009-05-07T10:03:00.001-07:00

California tour moves to May next year

By Neal Rogers

Published: May. 6, 2009

After four years of racing in February, the 2010 Amgen Tour of California will be held May 16-23, during the same time slot as the Giro d’Italia.

America’s biggest stage race will move from its winter dates into the spring, taking dates on the UCI calendar occupied this year by the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya ProTour event.

The race's organizers discussed potential dates in April, May and June with the UCI road commission before deciding on the late-May time slot, a source close to the matter told VeloNews, adding that the Amgen Tour of California will not be a ProTour event in 2010, but will be starting in 2011.

Asked for comment Wednesday, Andrew Messick, president of race owner AEG Sports, said only, “it’s premature to make that announcement.”

Levi Leipheimer, the race's three-time winner, said he was excited about the change.

"I think we can expect some big mountain climbs now that the ToC is in May," Leipheimer said in an email to VeloNews. "I wouldn't be surprised to see even bigger crowds as well, due to the better weather and classic mountain stages we normally see in a Grand Tour. I'm excited about this change, I know Santa Rosa is gearing up for another year."

Leipheimer, who is currently in Italy for the Giro d’Italia, has won the race three years consecutively after American Floyd Landis won the inaugural event in 2006.

After the race’s first two years were held in sunny, warm weather, the last two editions have been marked by harsh winter weather, precipitating the calendar move.

With the date change, the race will have the option to travel into California’s mountains, including the Lake Tahoe area and the High Sierras.

Although the California race will conflict with the world’s second-biggest race, the date change will allow riders preparing for the Tour de France to recover from the spring classics season, race in California, and return to Europe to prepare for June’s Tour de France warm-ups, the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour de Suisse.

Gila - From the Eyes Of a Texan....... Bickel

2009-05-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

Tour of the Gila – 2009

A play in 6 acts. Some shorter than others.

ACT I – Hope

It’s a 12 hour drive from the Dallas/Ft Worth area to Silver City, NM. This presents a conundrum of sorts. You can opt to arrive early, rest from the long drive and scout the course, or arrive just prior to the day of and take advantage of the 24-48 hour grace period you get before your body starts going haywire trying to adjust to sleeping at 5895 feet and racing considerably higher at times.

I went with the former.

Riding Monday and Tuesday I felt great, especially scouting the Sapillo creek climb, the poison fang of the “Gila Monster” final stage.

“I feel good” I told the guys I was riding with.

I did.

Honest.

ACT II – Desertion at the River’s Edge

Stage One, “Mongollon”, 72 miles. 5600 feet of climbing. 50 or so miles of flat, then a few rollers, until the right turn at mile 66 to start the final 6.7 mile category one climb.

Wednesday morning came with a 5:00 AM alarm and a chill in the air. Eat, catch another hour’s sleep, then put on the kit and sign in.

Before we roll out I have to answer nature’s call. Several times. We have a “natural break” (NB) during the early part of the race, which I use to full advantage. This is a bit unusual for me, I’m not a camel but it’s rare I need to go during the race.

Several brief attacks, then at mile 40 Steve Holland goes off the front followed a few minutes later by Tom Bain. Both begin to get some distance.

I ask Phil Sladek, Tom’s teammate on Geri Atrix and a member of our unofficial Texas consortium (and my roomie), about giving it a shot. We decide if the field responds right away, I shut it down, if not, I make the bridge and try to gain some time before the climb.

No immediate response, so I go to work. In a couple of minutes I catch Tom, and we work together to quickly get to Steve. After we start rotating I can feel my legs just aren’t right. Like having a crimp in a garden hose, you know there should be more force there, but all you get is a weak flow.

The lawn still needs watering, so I keep my head in the break, and hope somehow the faucet gets turned up.

Some dude in a “Ride Clean” kit bridges up and as he begins to take his turns at the front, it’s clear he’s super strong. Both Tom and Steve are having trouble just hanging on, and the rotation begins to come apart. His presence also animates the field, Mike Carter, I was told later, goes to the front and begins to go hard.

A quick word on Carter. Won the Master’s class at Gila the last two years running. Rode professionally for Motorola, mostly in smaller races like the Tour De France, the Giro, the Vuelta, the Worlds…that sort of thing.

I later found out that the guy who Carter was chasing and who was ripping our little break apart was Jamie Carney. Carney also raced smaller stuff like the 2000 Olympics, where he missed a medal by two spots.

This would become a recurring theme. As my teammate Kevin Barton noted “Man, everyone you talk to is some kind of ex-pro, ex mountain bike pro, or PRO”.

We get gobbled up, and calm prevails. We’ve got 20 miles before the climb and are tooling along when my eyeballs begin to float.

I gotta go bad.

I see Carter pull out of the field start the slow one-handed roll along that indicates passing on the right might get you wet, so I pull out myself and take yet another NB. It takes a while.

Bad move.

I finish up and begin to ride back to the field when I notice they have sped up.

A bunch.

The field is strung out single file, and it takes me almost 10 minutes to finally get back on. When I arrive I find out both Carney and John Korioth (40-44 National road race champ) had headed up the road without me. Or “us” for that matter.

They would eventually arrive at the bottom of the climb with a 3 minute advantage.

Our group hits the rollers a few miles before the climb and attacks start in earnest. I still feel like how a baby treats a diaper but make the selections until I’m in a small group just a few seconds behind Carter and Roger Worthington.

A quick word on Worthington: Ahhhhhh, never mind. I think you get the picture.

We come through a throng of cheering spectators (Lance and I can draw a crowd) and brake for the turn to begin the climb. I stop pedaling as we start to corner and my right thigh muscle cramps hard.

Try to pedal.

My calf locks.

Then my right buttock.

Then my back.

I unclip and try to shake my leg loose. No luck.

I’m in agony. Pull out of the group and jam on the brakes. Spend several minutes doubled over in pain watching the race vanish up the mountain. Finally my leg unlocks, and I remount.

“Demoralized” is probably putting my mental state lightly at this point.

Months of prep down the drain. GC gone. As I roll I wonder if I should just soft pedal and deliberately drop time or try to get back what I can. I opt for the middle ground, and ride legs that have gone from bad to worse at tempo past people who are also suffering.

I pass one guy and we exchange a few words. I tell him I cramped at the bottom of the hill. His comeback, in accented English, stuck with me:

“Dees race, ees not like others. Dees race ees only against yourself”

Carter wins the stage, Carney’s 3 minute head start puts him in second, Korioth comes in a bit less than 3 minutes behind Carter for 3^rd.

I’m 24^th and 8 minutes down. Kevin rides well for 15^th.

ACT III – Escape

Stage 2- Inner Loop Road Race. 77.9 miles, 3 categorized climbs. 4000+ ft of climbing

It’s pretty clear the altitude is hurting me. Fluids are a problem so I cut out the morning coffee, throw my usual caffeinated drink mix back in the suitcase and stop taking nervous sips of water prior to the race start.

The guys have bucked me up the prior evening and I’m going in like Old Lodge Skins in “Little Big Man”:

“Today is a good day to die”

We roll out and as soon as the race gets the green light I attack. A few rollers later I’m joined by Al Senft, last year’s 35+ runner up. We pound into a headwind up the first categorized climb, cresting at 12.5 miles alone. Phil tells me later that he started to bridge, but shut it down when the field jumped on his wheel.

Thanks my friend.

Al disappears backwards as we descend, and at mile 20 Carney and Carter rocket past me. I look back and there’s just eight of us, other than Al it’s all the top GC guys. We start the second categorized climb and it’s clear my volume knob still only goes to 8. Al has disappeared from the group at some point, he tells me later that he pulled over to vomit several times.

We go down the infamous Sapillo Creek descent, which we’ll be going up in the final stage, and I resurrect my old Moto GP skills to hit the bottom ahead of the group.

I’m taking any freebie I can.

The next 38 miles are a blindingly fast rotation, I have to sit out turns and explain to the guys that I’ll give them what I have, but that I spent most of the prior evening removing knots from my leg. Sitting between Carney and Carter at one point, I’m just grinning at how butter smooth a rotation can be.

The time checks are getting into the double figures, at 14 miles to go we hit the final feed zone and Carter rides off. I get detached, fight my way back on, and with 12 miles of rollers and nasty headwind to go, I come off for good. Put my head down and TT my way past what seems like most of the Cat3 field. Cross the line for 7^th. Carter wins.

Later that evening I find I’ve gone from 24^th to 7^th, with 55 seconds on 8^th place.

ACT IV – All by myself

Stage 3, Tyrone TT. 16.15 miles, 1050 feet of climbing

When the pros go off in the morning, there’s barely a wisp of wind. By time we’re ready to race it’s blowing so hard I pull off my 100mm front wheel and stick on my 46.

The top ten riders will start at one minute intervals, inverse order. I don’t feel great, but I slowly catch my one minute guy, who has just caught his one minute guy. Blow past several other riders on my way to the finish, using the 56 tooth front ring to hit 49 MPH several times.

It’s an even effort; only a few watts difference between the “out” and “back” legs. It’s 30w down from my better efforts though.

Damn knob is still stuck on “8”

39:05 is good enough for 4^th, a scant 3 seconds ahead of Korioth, who is bumped to 4^th on GC by David Zimbleman. Kevin drops the hammer on the new Fuji and moves up to 13^th on GC. I pull back 50 seconds on Joel Grimmet in 6^th, which isn’t nearly enough.

Carter wins.

4^th on the stage, still 7^th on GC.

ACT V – Can’t Dance That Dance No More

Stage 4, Silver City Downtown Criterium. 22 miles

Hide for most of the race. Get caught out a bit on the last lap move; shoulda known better. Jump across two gaps to the lead group and blow like dyno-mite when they hit the gas. Volume knob slipping to 7, which is where I finish. Kenny Wehn, ex pro mountain biker wins our little chase group sprint.

Carney beats Carter.

Watch the Pro’s crash into the pavement like the best Cat5’s in their race, including my much respected Chris Horner.

7th on the stage, 7^th on GC. Did gain a whopping 2 seconds on 6^th.

ACT VI – Kill the Lizard

Stage 5, The Gila Monster. 72 miles and too much climbing to even think about

I’m in trouble: the knob is at “6”. Any acceleration hurts like heck. Fortunately only Phil is willing to take a serious flyer, he goes into the headwind 20 miles or so into the stage and is helped out when the field slows to let Korioth get back on after he flats.

It’s a nice bit of sportsmanship before we start slicing each other up with straight razors.

I can’t wish any bad luck on the guys ahead of me, which would be the only way I’d move up. 8^th place is Bill Stalhuth, nearly three minutes down but he starts chucking out ill-conceived attacks that we have to answer right before we hit the base of the Sapillo climb. Things shatter here; I watch a large group ride off and pass some people looking pretty dead, including John Korioth, who’s fighting to get back to a podium spot. Stalhuth cracks also.

Kevin’s in the group ahead and I try to keep him in sight figuring we can work together if I can reach him.

I do, because as he said later: “The lights went out”.

Behind me Korioth, Stalhuth and two other riders have regrouped; as the climb flattens out they are reach me and we pick up a couple of stragglers.

Our chase rotation simplifies: John and the bigger guys drill it on the flats and downhills, I do the up stuff and the really technical downhills, then hang on by my teeth the rest of the time. At one point I see Stalhuth is in trouble and I hit it hard during one of the few moments I feel like the volume knob might be coming unstuck.

He pops.

With a couple of miles to go we can see the front chase group, I ease off a bit knowing I’ve locked down my GC.

They’ve barricaded the last 200 uphill meters and people are lined three deep on both sides. I ride through a cacophony of cowbells and cheers across the finish line. The lizard stuck his poison fangs in, but I survived.

Carter won. Surprise surprise.

Kevin gutted it out and while he dropped to 16^thon GC, a top 20 in this field is a big ride.

Oh, and remember that guy who went OTF 20 miles in? Captain Barbed Wire? We didn’t catch Phil until the top of the Sapillo, he hung with us all the way to the finishing hill.

Epic.

I end up 7^th on GC. Hardest race I’ve ever done, made harder by my vanishing form. Had my parents “gotten busy” two months earlier I would have taken 2^nd in the 50+, so I guess I’ll have to give it a shot next year.

43 of 55 starters in our field finished the race.

Final GC Standings: http://www.tourofthegila.com/2009race/day5men40plusgc.html

ROLL CREDITS

Thanks to the Gila crew for putting on a great event, Lance for drawing the crowds, and SRAM for tossing in much needed funding.

Thanks to Phil, Tom, George, Frank, Kevin, and the Bicycle Heaven crew who were there with words of encouragement, logistic support, and vital race info. I got dozens of calls and text messages during the week from friends keeping my spirits up, which really helped to keep me going. And Karen was always on the other end of the phone reminding me that it’s only a bike race.

But what a bike race.

Kirk-

Fast Wensday's......

2009-05-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

TRUCKEE’S WED NIGHT BICYCLE RIDE 2009: Starts 5/13

The Truckee Wednesday night bicycle ride now has two different versions. The “A” ride will depart at 6:00pm and the “B” ride will depart at 6:15pm. Both groups require pack riding skills, with the “A” ride requiring racing skills/abilities as well.

The "B" Group will be the original format that the Wed. ride has been since 1994. Meaning is it is a fast, yet controlled ride, where pace line work, group riding techniques, proper pace line rotations, are the main emphasis.

For the fast guys / girls who are going in the “A” group, the idea is to get more of a “race style” training ride. Here again, pack riding; as well road racing experience is a must.

The "B" ride and the "A" ride take the same route. The "B" group will ride down Hwy-89 in a single rotating pace line at a warm up speed of approximately 20mph. On the front pulls last 50-100 pedal rotations, then out right. When the ride turns onto Alpine Meadows Road, its fair game, fast or slow, up to the parking lot sign where there is a re-grouping. The return to the Squaw Valley traffic light is mellow. There stop and regroup. For the ride back, depending on the number of riders, break into two or more groups. (Could even have a women's group, up to the riders there?) The first group is the fastest, generally returning at 30-32 mph. The following group(s) not quite as fast. The return is ridden as a team time trial format back to West River St. It is a single pace line, with fast rotations, up front for only-25 pedal rotations, riding at the average speed each group can maintain, not the pace of the fastest rider. Get up to the pack’s pace, then maintain that speed. No surging, no attacks, not unlike a steady team time trial or a working break away. Keep it steady and safe, no sprint at the end. It is most important to not ramp up the speed. Likewise if you can not pull thru at the established speed, it is equally OK to sit out in the back.

The difference with the "A" Group is it will open up the pace from the dump road on. On turning up Alpine Meadows Road any thing goes to the top, with a re-group at the Alpine parking lot sign, then a re-grouping between Alpine and Squaw so everyone is together for the start back from Squaw to Truckee. The "A" group will discuss the night’s format further when they all meet before the ride or up top at Alpine: i.e. attacking, sprints, multiple small chase groups, etc... Whatever everyone feels is safe and productive. Besides having road racing skills, be prepared to come back fast, 32-36mph.

The choice of which group to place yourself in is up to you. Just remember that what ever group you are in, know the guidelines and follow them. Both groups will obey all the traffic rules, stay out of the car lanes on 89, and stop for ALL red lights and stop signs. Riding safely is of paramount importance.

Both rides leave from the east side of the Safeway/Gateway Center parking lot by Round Table Pizza.

Dan is The Man!

2009-05-04T19:43:00.001-07:00

Cats Hill Win!!!!!!

Girlz off bikes too....

2009-05-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Oh Boy..... Just In.......

2009-04-30T15:16:00.001-07:00

LONDON (AP) -- The gold medalist in one of track and field's glamour races and a silver winner in cycling are among six athletes from the Beijing Games nabbed for blood doping in the latest Olympic drug scandal. National sports bodies in Bahrain and Italy confirmed Wednesday that 1,500-meter champion Rashid Ramzi and road race medalist Davide Rebellin turned up positive for the new blood-boosting drug CERA in retests of their samples. Dominican women's weightlifter Yudelquis Contreras and prominent German cyclist Stefan Schumacher were among the others. A person with knowledge of the results told The Associated Press that Greek race walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800-meter runner Vanja Perisic also tested positive.

Rashid Ramzi Country: BRN Sport: Athletics Beijing results: 1,500m -- 1st	Davide Rebellin Country: ITA Sport: Cycling Beijing results: Road race -- 2nd	Athanasia Tsoumeleka Country: GRE Sport: Athletics Beijing results: 20km walk -- 9th	Yudelquis Contreras Country: DOM Sport: Weightlifting Beijing results: 53kg -- 5th	Stefan Schumacher Country: GER Sport: Cycling Beijing results: Road race -- WD Time trial -- 13th	Vanja Perisic Country: CRO Sport: Athletics Beijing results: 800m -- 6th (Round 1, Heat 3)
If their backup "B" samples also come back positive, the athletes face being disqualified, stripped of medals and banned from the next Olympics. The International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday that a total of seven positive tests involving six athletes came back positive for CERA, which increases endurance by stimulating production of oxygen-rich red blood cells. The IOC has not named the athletes or the sports involved. The six new cases bring to 15 the total number of athletes caught doping in Beijing, and underscore both the persistence of cheating across sports and nations and the IOC's aggressive policy in catching drug users even outside the period of the Olympics. The IOC reanalyzed a total of 948 samples from Beijing after new lab tests for CERA and insulin became available following the Olympics. The testing began in January and focused mainly on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and track and field. Ramzi won Bahrain's first gold medal in track and field and is the first champion from the Beijing Games to be busted for use of performance-enhancing drugs. The Moroccan-born runner, who won the 800-1,500 double at the 2005 world championships, gave Bahrain its first ever Olympic track and field gold medal with victory in Beijing in 3 minutes, 32.94 seconds. Ramzi's "B" sample will be tested in France on June 8 and he will face an IOC hearing the same day, the Bahrain Olympic Committee said. "The Bahrain Olympic Committee apologizes for receiving such news from the International Olympic Committee since it ensured Ramzi went through all the necessary doping tests before the games and they were all negative," the committee said in a statement. Ramzi became a citizen of Bahrain after moving to the Gulf nation to take up a job in that country's armed forces in 2002, but retains a Moroccan passport and trains with old coach Khalid Boulami. If he is stripped of the Beijing victory, Asbel Kipruto Kiprop of Kenya stands to be upgraded from silver to gold. Nicolas Willis of New Zealand would go from bronze to silver, and fourth-place finisher Mehdi Baala of France could move up to the bronze medal. Track and field has been battered by Olympic drug scandals, from 100-meter winner Ben Johnson in 1988 to sprinter Marion Jones in 2000, both of whom were stripped of their golds. The International Association of Athletics Federations confirmed it had received notification of three cases in track and field, but declined to give any names because they were considered confidential. However, the person with knowledge of the results identified the two others as Tsoumeleka and Perisic. The person confirmed their identities to the AP on condition anonymity because the names haven't been released by the IOC. Tsoumeleka finished ninth in the 20-kilometer walk, and Perisic was eliminated in the first-round heats of the 800. Tsoumeleka announced in January that she had tested positive in Beijing rechecks. She was charged by a Greek prosecutor earlier this month with using banned drugs. "The IAAF would like to commend the IOC for their efforts in the storage and re-analysis of samples and for their coordination with the IAAF in this process," the federation said in a statement. "This step shows that athletes who cheat can never be comfortable that they will avoid detection and sends a strong message of deterrence." In Rome, the Italian Olympic Committee suspended Rebellin and anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri called him to a hearing on Monday. The 37-year-old Rebellin finished second behind Spain's Samuel Sanchez in the Olympic road race. If he loses his medal, Switzerland's Fabian Cancellera could move to silver and Russia's Alexander Kolobnev to bronze. Rebellin's pro cycling team, Diquigiovanni-Androni, temporarily suspended the rider, pending analysis of the "B" sample. "I don't see why I should take a path that would ruin me or my image," Rebellin told Italy's state TV on Wednesday. "I don't know if I'll still be able to race, but I will always ride because cycling is my life." The German cycling federation announced that Schumacher, who finished 13th in the Beijing time trial and dropped out before the finish of the road race, was among the positive cases. The 27-year-old Schumacher already has been banned for two years by the International Cycling Union after being caught by French authorities in retesting of Tour de France samples for CERA. Schumacher won two individual time trial stages at the Tour de France last July and wore the yellow jersey for two days as race leader. "One of the riders (Schumacher) is already under suspension and, for the other one, (Rebellin) we will be writing to him and suspending him provisionally," said International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid. The Dominican Olympic Committee identified Contreras as another of the athletes snared by the retests. She competed in the 116-pound category as Yudelquis Maridalin and finished fifth. The IOC previously disqualified nine athletes for doping at the Aug. 8-24 Olympics. In addition, there were six doping cases involving horses in the equestrian competition. The IOC has already stripped four athletes of Beijing medals - Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska (silver), Belarusian hammer throwers Vadim Devyatovskiy (silver) and Ivan Tsikhan (bronze) and North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su (silver and bronze).

I figure this is what the pricks in the car that just buzzed you must be reading while they're driving?

2009-04-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Bicycling is an important factor in less carbon-intensive commuting

Of all the Fastlane entries over the first days of this Administration, the one that has generated the most responses is the one on my address to the National Bike Summit. We all know that bikers are passionate about their wheels; we also know that bicyclists are vulnerable to automobiles and need secure lanes and greater awareness from drivers. On Earth Day, it seems appropriate to talk about bicycling, not only as recreation, but as an environmentally sound commuting option. And, about what the DOT is doing to improve the cyclist's commute.

Bicycling was one of the earliest beneficiaries of stimulus funding, with portions of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act explicitly devoted to bicycling, and this department has been very active in getting that funding out the door. States must spend 3 percent of their allocation on the Transportation Enhancements program, which is a primary source of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure funding. The remainder of the “highway” money also creates an opportunity to build complete streets. All of the highway funding is flexible, and bicycle and pedestrian projects are eligible. The 3 percent in Transportation Enhancements is a floor not a ceiling. 30 percent of a state’s allocation is sub-allocated to urbanized areas, where commuting by bicycle is most likely.

$3.1 billion is provided for the Energy Efficiency and Block Grant Program, which provides formula funding to cities, counties, and states to undertake a range of energy efficiency activities. One eligible use of funding is for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. $1 billion is provided for the Community Development Block Grants program, which provides formula funding to cities and counties that meet certain criteria to undertake community improvement activities. One eligible use of funding is for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

So, a number of funding opportunities exist, but cycling advocates must get their cities and states to request funds for these purposes. Many states, counties, and municipalities have already done so.

When I told the League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit that "Cyclists are important users of America's transportation systems," I meant it. And, when I wrote that "With DOT, bicyclists have a full partner in working toward livable communities," I meant that as well. President Obama has challenged us to transform the way transportation serves the American people by creating more choices and encouraging less carbon-intensive transportation, and we are working hard on that challenge.

The upcoming reauthorization of DOT’s surface transportation programs provides an opportunity for us to feature bicycling as part of a new American mobility within livable communities. As I said today in testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, this includes fostering communities where bicyclists feel both safe and welcome on the roadways. Bike-friendly development also has the potential to contribute significantly to the revitalization of downtown districts and offer an alternative to sprawl and automobile-focused commuting.

Earth Day is today, but we'll need the sustained engagement of bicycle commuters and their advocates in the weeks and months to come to help keep the wheels of bicycle-friendly legislation on the road.

Twitters From the Gila.........

2009-04-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

Levi_LeipheimerEarly breakfast with UCI anti-doping for Team Mellow Johnny'sabout 2 hours ago from Tweetie
lancearmstrongUCI anti-doping control. #25. Been awhile. Thought they forgot about me.about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

How The Tour of the Gila was saved!!

2009-04-29T18:43:00.001-07:00

Two dynamic women with the #1 TV show single-handedly saved the race!!!!
Oh my..........

Philly is ON!!!!!

2009-04-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

Pro Cycling Tour News...

EMBRACE THE RACE!! YOUR SUPPORT NEEDED!

4 29 09 5:55PM BREAKING NEWS: RACE IS ON!!! RACE IS ON!!! read all about it!!!

4 28 09 5:45PM BREAKING NEWS: IT'S NOT OVER YET! ...And We DO believe in miracles!...read more...

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? If 50,000 people give $5, or 25,000 people give $10 we will have a bike race!!! CLICK HERE TO HELP!

Buy tickets, posters, stickers, donate now and help us save the race!!!!

The event that started it all for international, professional cycling in the U.S. needs your help. After 24 years as the largest single-day, professional cycling race in North America, the Philadelphia International Championship is in jeopardy.

The economic challenges experienced in both corporate and civic circles have converged to create a shortfall in the operating budget of the race’s 25th year, and the reality of the situation is that unless a $500,000 gap can be closed in the next several days, the race will be cancelled. (To read an article on the status of the race in The Philadelphia Inquirer, click here. To read their helpful editorial, click here)

While the scenario seems extraordinary, what we know is truly extraordinary is the love of this event among fans, cyclists and sports enthusiasts in Philadelphia, throughout the Delaware Valley and across the country. This is a decidedly difficult position for any event organizer – and perhaps one that’s become too familiar in recent months.

However, it is because of the incredible support the Philly race has enjoyed throughout its history, that we are bringing an appeal directly to you, the fans and cycling community. Thousands of fans line the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and streets of Manayunk each June to watch the world’s best in this sport. There is power in those numbers, and we’re hoping that power can help save the 25th running of the race.

Full Story and How You Can Help

From Velonews -

2009-04-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Armstrong, 2 teammates will meet the Gila Monster

By Patrick O'Grady

Posted Apr. 28, 2009

It seems Lance Armstrong will meet the Gila Monster after all.

The seven-time Tour de France winner and two Astana teammates will race the SRAM Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico, after USA Cycling and the UCI negotiated a compromise over the international governing body’s rules regarding UCI Pro riders’ participation in national events.

The nature of that compromise is unclear. According to Andy Lee, communications director for USA Cycling, “the UCI interpreted one of their rules in a way that ultimately allowed Lance as well as two other Astana riders to compete.” A UCI spokesman, meanwhile, told Agence France Presse that the international governing body notified American officials about a loophole within their own rules.

"It was actually the UCI who told USA Cycling about the existence of a rule within their own regulations, which allows three riders from the same professional team to compete wearing neutral jerseys," the spokesman said. "USA Cycling were unaware of this."

UCI rules
Chapter VIII, Individual races
2.8.003
1. riders enter on an individual basis;
2. riders of a UCI ProTeam can take part a maximum of 3 times a year in an individual race;
3. a maximum of 3 riders of the same team registered with the UCI can take part in an individual race;
4. the minimum prize money shall be 8000 Swiss francs;
5. the maximum distance shall be 170 km for men and 120 km for women;
6. if the race is ridden on a circuit, that circuit shall be at least 10 km long;
7. technical support shall be provided by neutral cars;
8. team vehicles shall not be admitted to the race.

According to Lee, UCI rule 2.8.003 permits a maximum of three riders from a UCI Pro team to enter national-calendar races as individuals, but bars them from competing in their pro-team kit.

The compromise also affects BMC, a Continental Pro team subject to the UCI’s restrictions. As a consequence, team manager Gavin Chilcott said his squad, "per se, is not participating in the Tour of the Gila." Five of his riders are leaving Silver City, and while three will remain to compete — Scott Nydam, Florian Stalder and Chad Beyer — "they are not entered as a team and they will not be allowed to wear team uniforms," Chilcott said.

Armstrong, who will return to racing for the first time since breaking his collarbone in Spain's Vuelta a Castilla y León last month, said he was eager to get back in the game.

"I'm excited to get back to competitive racing. The recovery training has been going well but nothing compares to getting back into the bunch and racing," he said.

Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner — who is also coming off the disabled list after cracking a collarbone and rib in the Vuelta al País Vasco — will join Armstrong in Silver City, reportedly racing under the auspices of "Mellow Johnny's," the name of Armstrong's bike shop in Austin, Texas.

"Lance and I are psyched to race the Gila," said Leipheimer. "It's great preparation for Europe, and we know this race will be challenging. There is a hell of a lot of uphill."

Horner should be pleased, too. On Monday, he was critical of the UCI rule originally used to exclude Astana from the Gila, calling it "wrong."

"It’s a pro race, you should be allowed to race your bike," he said. "If we are skipping ProTour races to do a non-ProTour event, then it makes sense. But you should never, never, never just not allow a rider to race his bike. ... Every man should be afforded the right to work."

Fab and his new rig?

2009-04-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Sent in from Josh R.-

Tic tic tic.......

2009-04-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

(File photo)

Posted: Monday, 27 April 2009 1:13PM

Phila. Pro Bicycling Group Stretches Deadline to Close Funding Gap

by KYW's Steve Tawa

Monday's announced "go/no-go" deadline for Philadelphia's pro bicycling race has been pushed back by one day by the race organizers.

The June 7th event has been in danger of being canceled as organizers race a different kind of race -- to line up sponsors and close a budget gap.

Race co-founder David Chauner says they are still about $400,000 short of the $1.7 million they need to hold the 25th annual installment of the race (see previous story).

And now, he says, a new name has stepped forward as a possible savior.

Chauner says that entity wants a Tuesday meeting to potentially seal the deal and save the race:

"The party that wants to talk to us requested that we postpone the decision for 24 hours."

Chauner says they had originally set the Monday deadline because contracts need to be signed for vendors, vehicles, tents, and catering. Also, he points out, participants -- comprising roughly 25 pro teams -- come from all over the world and need to make arrangements in advance.

Governor Rendell, who previously committed $200,000 from the Commonwealth, is also pledging to buy $50,000 worth of VIP tickets for state workers. He's also urging the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce to get its member businesses to buy some of the those $75 and $100 VIP tickets.

Econ-no-me! Shit!

2009-04-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

Philly race threatened

On the eve of its 25th anniversary edition, the Philadelphia International Championship is in jeopardy of cancellation due to a USD 500,000 budget shortage.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the race organisers has raised only $1.2 million of the $1.7 million it needs to hold the 1.HC-rated UCI event. Despite title sponsor TD Bank's contribution, the race still faces the shortfall due to the City of Philadelphia's own budget crisis. The newspaper reported that the city, which used to provide police and other services for free, has decided to charge the race organisers for the city's services this year.

Jerry Casale, who co-founded the race, didn't blame Philadelphia. "The city has been a great partner for 24 years. Everybody is facing an economic crisis," he said to the Inquirer.

Past winners include Americans Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie and Eric Heiden. Last year Danish rider Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank) prevailed on the Philadelphia course, which takes in the famous Manayunk Wall, with a gradient of up to 17 percent.

"This is an event that adds so much to the quality of life and vibrancy [of] the city," said Loree Jones, former city managing director, who now is executive director of the Manayunk Development Corp. "It would be a terrible loss."

City Councilman Curtis Jones knows the importance of the race. "We understand there is a recession, but we don't want to lose this. I'm going to try to rally some people with deep, deep pockets and see what we can do."

According to race organisers, the event more than pays for itself by bringing between $15 million to 20 million in revenue to the city.

OK, just watch this..... Jeeeeez-us!

2009-04-20T19:56:00.001-07:00

Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey 2009 Stage 8 Final Kilometers

Sent in from Lens-man Greg P.

I guess some antidepressants are in order.....

2009-04-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

U.S. cyclist Tyler Hamilton tests positive for banned substance

American cyclist Tyler Hamilton participates in a Tour of California press conference in Sacramento on Feb. 12. Hamilton tested positive for a banned substance for the second time in his career and has announced his retirement from the sport.
The 38-year-old gold medal winner says test results were triggered by an over-the-counter antidepressant, adds that he will retire.
Associated Press

7:56 AM PDT, April 17, 2009
Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton, whose win at the Athens Games was overshadowed by a blood-doping scandal, tested positive for another banned substance and will retire from cycling.The latest positive test stemmed from usage of an over-the-counter antidepressant, Hamilton said Friday.

"There's nothing to fight about," Hamilton told the Associated Press. "I took a banned substance. I accept the consequences. You make mistakes in your life and I accept the penalty like a man."He served a two-year doping suspension that ended in 2007. The new positive test -- which the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency hasn't revealed -- could bring a ban of eight years or more, essentially ending the career of the 38-year-old racer."I made a poor decision," Hamilton said.
Hamilton said he has been fighting depression for some time, brought on largely by a divorce and his mother's struggle with breast cancer. He was clinically diagnosed, he said, in September 2003 -- a year in which he won a stage of the Tour de France."Should have been the best year of my life," Hamilton said.A year later, he won the time trial at the Athens Olympics, capping one of the finest days USA Cycling had known. The Americans won three medals that day on a road along the Saronic Gulf, with Hamilton's gold and Bobby Julich taking the bronze in the time trial and Dede Barry winning silver in the women's time trial.Soon after, Hamilton's first positive test for blood doping came back, but he was ultimately allowed to keep the gold medal because his "B" sample could not be tested. A month later, he tested positive again.Hamilton has long denied participating in blood doping, the transfusion of extra blood that can increase endurance because more red blood cells are available to deliver oxygen to muscles.This time, he denied nothing."I knew it was banned," Hamilton said.Hamilton said he knew the antidepressant included a banned substance and chose to take the risk anyway. He took the product on a Saturday and Sunday, he said. That Monday, USADA testers showed up to see him.Hamilton said he got the positive test results back in mid-March."There's always going to be doubters, regardless if this happened or not," Hamilton said. "I would live with the doubters for the rest of my life. This isn't about a test. It's a bigger issue. It's a disease that I'm going through, that my family has gone through, that I need to take care of."Cycling is just a sport, racing your bike from Point A to Point B. What I'm going through is so much bigger."Still a polarizing figure in the sport, Hamilton's absence from some races in recent weeks raised eyebrows.Citing bronchitis, Hamilton did not ride in the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon in Spain -- the race in which Lance Armstrong fell and broke his collarbone. And he was expected to be the leader of Rock Racing's team for a race in Portugal earlier this month, but was replaced on the roster shortly before that event.

Looks like Dan's puttin the Hurt on Ol Levi.......

2009-04-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

First timer makes good!

2009-04-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

Cop is a no joke race... this sent in from a first timer

Copperopolis

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

This is my first post so I'm sure I'm going to take some flak. I'll try to avoid power numbers, weight and whether or not I had a good crap that day.

First race of my 55+ racing career was good fun. I'd pointed toward Copperopolis since my last ski race in mid February. Had a cold 3 days before the race and debated not going but figured it could still be a good training ride. 35 in the field. Paco told me to keep an eye on John Elgart so I did. The road was pretty crappy but after a while it was forgotten. The first climb reduced the field to about 15 and then we kind of cruised, noone wanted to work into the wind. The first climb of the second lap reduced the field to about 11. No real moves until the second climb where Rich Larson and a few others took off. I matched them and stayed in the top 5 or so. I led the downhill to stay out of trouble. Barely noticed the bad road. I let the group catch up and then stayed in the top 3. No moves until about 200 or 300 meters out. John and Mark Caldwell take off. I jump on John's wheel and then sprint past him inside 100 meters. Caught them by surprise as they hadn't seen me before. Did a goofy fist pump crossing the line which I apologized for later. Neither John or Mark seemed to mind. They were quite gracious but I know they will be out to kick my ass next time.

Peter

Horner.....

2009-04-09T16:34:00.001-07:00

johanbruyneelXrays didn't show fracture 4 Chris Horner. Has to repeat in a few days. He's in good spirits and says will be at the GIRO...

Tour de Nez!!!

2009-04-08T09:08:00.001-07:00

TRUCKEE — The annual multi-day pro bicycle race known as the Tour de Nez will once again visit Truckee and Northstar this summer.

See the schedule of events below:

Wednesday, June 17

• Park and Ride to the Reno Aces afternoon baseball game.

• Ride back to Amendment 21 for “Meet and greet” Pro racers

• Reno Film Festival bicycle film; "Pee Wee's Great Adventure" at the Amendment 21

Thursday, June 18

• Downtown Truckee Criterium for Pro men/Pro women/Masters 35+1,2,3 and Handcycles

• Downtown Truckee races for clunkers, messengers, and kids

• Music and feast after races in downtown Truckee

Friday, June 19

• Group ride with athletes in the morning with coffee stop

• Downtown Reno Circuit Race at riverside Wingfield Park, Pro men/Pro women/Masters 35+1,2,3 and Handcycles

• Races for clunkers, messengers, and kids at Wingfield Park on the river in Reno

• Reno Film Festival bicycle film; "Breaking Away", at Wingfield Park Amphitheater

Saturday, June 20

• Village circuit race at the Village at Northstar at Tahoe for Pro men, women, and masters, Juniors and Handcycles

• Village races for clunkers, kids and messengers

• Expo, music, demos, food, festival, and party, all in the Village at Northstar

• “Ride with the Pros” in morning*

Sunday, June 21

• LUX The great Tour de Nez Century ride along the shores of beautiful Lake Tahoe*

"Twitters" Own Responce........

2009-04-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

lancearmstronghear they arrested 2 guys 4 stealing my bike at the ToC. These guys musta been @ the back of the line when they were handing out the brains.about 14 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Funny... They Look Like Time Trialer's....

2009-04-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento police arrested two people in connection with the theft of Lance Armstrong's one-of-a-kind time-trial bike.

Dung Le and Lee Crider

Lee Crider, 39, is suspected of burglary. He was already in custody on a parole violation, Sacramento police said.The specially made Trek bicycle was one of three stolen in mid-February from a Ryder truck behind a downtown Sacramento hotel while cyclists visited for the Amgen Tour of California prologue.The truck from which the bikes were taken was parked Feb. 14 in an alley between 15th and 16th streets near L Street. Investigators said they think Crider committed the theft as a crime of opportunity.

Sacramento Police Dept.

Crider then sold one of the bikes to 34-year-old Dung Le, police said, and he eventually turned it over to police. Le was arrested on possession of stolen property.Word of the theft spread quickly around the world, spawning Craiglist postings calling for its return and a Facebook group called "1 Million Citizens Looking for Lance Armstrong's Stolen Bike."Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner and self-described full-time cancer fighter, had offered a reward for the bike's return. A Sacramento bail bonds company also offered a $1,000 reward.

What? No...........

2009-04-07T09:52:00.001-07:00

Michael Ashenden

Submitted by Andy on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 21:57.

"So there is no doubt in my mind he (Lance Armstrong) took EPO during the '99 Tour."

Dr. Michael Ashenden began his career as an exercise physiologist with the Australian Institute of Sport. After assisting in the development of an EPO test for the Sydney Olympic Games, he left the AIS to focus on battling blood doping. In 2005, Dr. Ashenden was among of group of scientists who questioned the validity of a physiological study on Lance Armstrong, a dispute that led him to serve as an expert witness in an arbitration case involving Armstrong and a bonus payment for winning the Tour. Dr. Ashenden kindly agreed to speak with us and shed some new light on that controversy. He also helped us analyze the 6 positives from Armstrong's '99 Tour samples with a level of detail never before made public.

Personal background, the 2000 Olympics, EPO testing

Andy Shen: Can we start with a little background on you, starting with the Australian Institute of Sport? I guess at that time you were doing some work on blood doping, but you were also doing some work on performance enhancement.

Michael Ashenden: I was employed as an exercise physiologist with the AIS, and my job was to do physiological testing on the athletes, for example, to give the coaches feedback and assistance with their training programs. At the same time I was doing my PhD thesis that was studying what happened to athletes' blood when they were exposed to simulated altitude, hypoxic tents and such which have since become popular.

And that dovetailed nicely with research at the time that was looking for indirect markers of EPO, because not coincidentally I guess, the changes in the blood that we see with EPO were sometimes similar to changes you'd see at altitude, though dramatically on different scales. But it was easy for me to transfer my research and my knowledge there over to this EPO field and I guess that's where I began my career in anti doping, being part of the team in Australia who were working on what's since been called the Sydney Blood Model. And from there I left the institute and I've been working as a freelance researcher not just in EPO doping but other kinds of blood doping. Blood tranfusions, blood substitutes, pretty much any avenue I think an athlete might be tempted to abuse, we try to conduct research in those areas.

AS: The work you did for the Sydney Olympics, that was in 2000?

MA: Yeah, at that time there was no test at all for EPO, and the UCI was using a 50% hematocrit rule to stop athletes from competing, but it couldn't go any further than stopping them competing. So, there was a group in France that was researching what's since become known as the urine test for EPO, and we collaborated with them, we shared samples with them, to help the research move forward. But we took a different strategy, we looked for indirect evidence.

We were looking for changes in the blood that were not only apparent in the period when the athlete was using EPO, and that's the period when EPO is still in the urine, but blood remains disturbed for several weeks after you stop taking EPO as well. The urine test can't help you there, but the blood test still gives you a signature, depending on how much EPO you took, a couple of weeks after you stop injecting.

AS: The EPO test was implemented for the 2000 Olympics?

MA: At the Sydney Olympics they had the two part test. There was an initial blood screening, and if those results exceeded the threshold that were put in place, then the urine was analyzed. And the criteria back then was that you had to fail both the blood and the urine test in order to be found guilty of having used EPO.

Since that time WADA has revised the rule and now you only have to fail the urine test. Whether your blood fails criteria or not is not taken into account in today's test.

AS: So just to be clear, the urine test looks for the actual presence of synthetic EPO, but EPO leaves your system in two or three days?

MA: EPO is a hormone, it's a very small molecule, and it's present in very very low concentrations in the bloodstream, even lower concentrations in urine. And the half life of EPO is something in the realm of eight to twelve hours, so one day after you've had an injection the levels are dramatically lower. Usually three or four days after you've had an injection all traces of EPO have left the circulation or at least aren't present at a high enough level for the urine test to be a definitive piece of evidence that EPO is being used.

AS: When you test positive in a urine test, it's not a yes or no thing, it's a percentage and a threshold, is that correct?

MA: I think that's arguable. It's a test that discriminates, it puts in different positions on the gel, synthetic EPO and natural EPO. Now, there is no confusion when you see it on the gel, when there's synthetic EPO in the sample. It's simply in a different position to where the natural EPO occurs.

So when you say it's not yes or no, you can see visually if there is synthetic EPO in the gel. They build in some allowance, some tolerance, the positivity criteria that are in place today follows specific rules. And even though there's EPO in the gel, unless it fails those specific criteria a sanction isn't imposed.

AS: Ok, so in other words, the tester will know you're using it, but you won't be busted for it if you're below a certain number.

MA: Yeah, and there are situations like that floating about today. Where it's clearly a pattern that an athlete has been using synthetic EPO, but for different reasons the pattern doesn't follow a specific criteria. So the answer is, yes, obviously they're using EPO, but they weren't sanctioned because the samples didn't fail a very specific criteria that were applied.

AS: And this number is a percentage of isoforms?

MA: That was the first generation of tests. Since then the positivity criteria has been modified, and now it looks at several different aspects, not just the percentage of basic isoforms.

EPO use in 1999

AS: I want to go to the '99 Tour samples. Just to set the scene, in '99 there wasn't a test in place for EPO, and Frankie Andreu told us there was no anxiety about using it, because as long as you made sure your hematocrit was below 50% you knew nothing could happen to you. Would it be fair to say that at that time it was pretty easy for cyclists to beat the test, or use EPO with impunity?

MA: Well, I wouldn't say that it was easy for them to beat the test, because there was no test. Simple as that. There was no way, before the Sydney Olympics in 2000, where an athlete could be found guilty of using EPO, because there was no test in play. There's no reason for an athlete to be careful using something for which they can't be caught.

AS: As long as they kept their hematocrit below 50.

MA: And that's a relatively easy thing to accomplish. I mean, you can either use careful adjustments of your dosage, or you can use saline to dilute the blood. It's a relatively simple and fast procedure to bring your hematocrit below 50.

AS: Yeah, in fact, from the time you're notified of a test you can actually dilute your blood fast enough to beat the test.

MA: Yeah, it was quite disturbing for me to be told that right up until perhaps 2004, the UCI weren't actually chaperoning riders between the finish line and doping control. So not only was there an opportunity for them to dilute their blood before a blood test in the morning, there was also a very real opportunity for them to manipulate or mask their urine before they provided their doping control sample. That wasn't important pre 2000 because there was no urine test for EPO, but after 2000 there was still, to me, unacceptably large loopholes for an athlete, even if they've been using EPO, to still escape detection. Particularly by masking their urine, in between the time they crossed the finish line and dope control.

'99 Tour urine samples re-tested in '05

AS: Let's go back to the '99 urine samples, these were B samples which were preserved. Was it for academic reasons that they re-tested, to get a sense of how things were at the time?

MA: I mentioned earlier there'd been revisions over time of what the positivity criteria were. Initially it was 80% basic isoforms. The research that was conducted with these samples was informing them of whether new criteria they were considering applying would have been effective in catching athletes in previous events.

The only kind of samples that are useful in that context are samples that have got EPO in them, 'cause then you could say by criteria A you'd fail, but by criteria B you didn't fail, and by criteria C we saw nothing at all. And that was the purpose of the Paris investigation - to go back, to look at samples, and to see how the different criteria applied. And it was, I don't think it was cynical, it was realistic, they realized that the most likely samples where they would find EPO were samples collected before the EPO test was introduced. And that was the '99 Tour de France.

Lance Arms trong's '99 samples test positive

AS: So out of the 87 usable samples that they gathered, they got 13 positives and 6 of them belonged to Lance Armstrong.

MA: Depending on which criteria you applied. Yes, six of them failed the definitive criteria. There were another two samples in fact where the EPO was visually there in the gel. You could see it was there, but for one reason or another, the percentage isoforms weren't calculated, or had to be re-analyzed, or it was a little bit too faint to get a definitive result. Yes, there were six samples with EPO in it, and there were another two samples where it was pretty plain to a trained observer that there was synthetic EPO in those as well.

AS: You were able to analyze the results, correct?

MA: I interpreted the results. They assessed each sample according the different criteria, and those were the results that we were given.

AS: I found it kinda interesting, we've talked before this, you found some very interesting things about those results that really were not widely publicized, the way the percentages fluctuated.

MA: One of the things, I guess there's been misinformation in this particular area - is that the samples weren't analyzed properly, that they were analyzed using a different protocol than what was used in proper dope controls - and that's just not correct. Obviously in research where the data you come up with is going to govern how you do testing in the future, you're exceptionally careful with these measurements. You want to make sure that you don't make any mistakes. And you want to make sure that you, for example, weren't looking at urine that has been contaminated with bacteria, or isn't what we call unstable urine, where sometimes the bands shift not because of EPO use, but because of some other factors. So all of these checks and cross checks were put in place with these samples, so the data is valid. The laboratory, I've checked with the people who did the analysis, and I very carefully went through it with them. They're absolutely 100% sure that these results are valid.

And as far as the fluctuations you speak of, when we took the samples' dates, and matched them with the percentage of isoforms, and overlaid that with the performances during the Tour de France, then a clear pattern begins to emerge. You can see that on some days there's a preponderance of EPO in the urine sample, perhaps on the next day they come down a little bit, then they come back up, which is suggesting you've taken another EPO injection.

You don't have EPO every single day. You might take it every two or three days. So your values go up or down according to when you took those injections and when those urine samples were taken. Now, you overlay all of those data together and you can begin to see a pattern that's consistent with EPO use.

Stage	Vial #	Visual Interpretation	% Isoforms	Stage description
Prologue	160297	+	100
1	157372	+	89.7
2-7				Out of lead, not tested
8	186584	+	To be reanalyzed	Metz ITT
Rest day
9	185557	+	96.6	Sestriere
10	185479	+	88.7	L'Alpe d'Huez
11	185476		Sample missing
12	185475	+	95.2
13	185895	+	Weak intensity, no % recorded
14	186397	+	89.4
Rest day
15-20			Undetectable, insufficient EPO in urine

AS: The prologue had the highest number, 100% if I remember correctly, and the next day it goes down a bit. Same thing before the first mountain stage, etc.

MA: And the unusual thing about the prologue sample is that the prologue was run in the morning, and the sample was collected at 9:45 am. Now, every other sample during the Tour de France is collected in the afternoon, after the stage is finished. This sample was collected very early in the morning, and there was 100% basic isoforms, which is saying that 100% of the EPO that was showing up in the gel was synthetic EPO. There was no endogenous EPO visual in the gel.

The possibility of tampering

AS: I guess I should set the background a little bit more now. This study was done for research purposes so the urine was marked with code numbers and there was no way for the testers to know who the samples belong to. It was only through some subterfuge by some French reporters that it was revealed that the six positives belonged to Armstrong.

MA: Well, again, there's been a lot of disinformation about this. The laboratory absolutely had no way of knowing athlete identity from the sample they're given. They have a number on them, but that's never linked to an athlete's name. The only group that had both the number and the athlete's name is the federation, in this case it was the UCI.

The UCI had those documents, and an investigative journalist, Damien Ressiot from l'Equipe, went to the UCI and said, "Can I have copies of Lance Armstrong's doping control forms from the '99 Tour?" Now, the UCI had to go to Lance Armstrong and ask his permission, which he gave them. Now, Lance Armstrong gave permission to the UCI to give these doping control forms to Damien Ressiot. Damien Ressiot took those forms, which have the athlete's name, obviously, and the sample number, so he matched the sample number with the results from the laboratory that had the sample number and the percentage of isoforms. And in that way he linked the percentage of isoforms with the number, the athlete's name, and in that way identified them as Lance Armstrong.

AS: Right. So the lab is carrying out these tests blindly, and you showed me this statistical study of the odds of them tampering and successfully framing Armstrong, and it was 1 in 300.

MA: There was only two conceivable ways that synthetic EPO could've gotten into those samples. One, is that Lance Armstrong used EPO during the '99 Tour, and we've since found out that there were teammates from US Postal in that '99 Tour that have since admitted using EPO while riding for US Postal in that Tour.

The other way it could've got in the urine was if, as Lance Armstrong seems to believe, the laboratory spiked those samples. Now, that's an extraordinary claim, and there's never ever been any evidence the laboratory has ever spiked an athlete's sample, even during the Cold War, where you would've thought there was a real political motive to frame an athlete from a different country. There's never been any suggestion that it happened.

However, Lance Armstrong made that claim. Now, it's very easy to go back and assess the possibility of that scenario. We know the laboratory could not have known which samples belonged to Lance Armstrong. And we also know from the results, how many of Lance Armstrong's samples had EPO in them, and when during the race it occurred. Now the odds of the laboratory randomly selecting Lance Armstrong's samples out of those 87 samples, and let's just do it conservatively, just 6 times, 6 times they got his samples correct out of 87 possible tubes, the odds of that occurring are at least 1 in 300.

So we come back to the original scenario. Either Lance Armstrong used EPO during the Tour, or the laboratory spiked his samples, and we know the probabilty of that happening was at least 1 in 300.

(I needed to reassure myself that tampering was inconceivable, so I did some follow up with Dr. Ashenden. Click here if you're interested in what it would've taken to spike these samples.)

An irrefutable profile

AS: And of course, if you take it to the next level, let's say, not only will they have to spike it, they have to spike it in a way that when positive samples are on concurrent days, the second day has to be a lower percentage. And not only that, when they spike the prologue sample they have to spike it really high because it was after a short effort and it was tested earlier in the day. Now if you take those factors into consideration the odds become astronomical, don't they?

MA: I honestly can't conceive how you could possibly do that. I don't understand how you could inject enough EPO so that the percentage was slightly lower on the next day, it just beggars belief that you could adjust the amount of EPO you put in a sample by such a miniscule amount. And to be quite frank, it doesn't hold up to scientific scrutiny, it's a fantastic claim in the literal sense of the word, it's not backed up by a shred of evidence at all, and I think it needs to be taken on that merit.

AS: So outside of deliberate tampering, is there any way contamination, degradation, is there any way synthetic EPO appears in urine because of contamination, degradation, bad handling, bad refrigeration, anything?

MA: The short answer is no but I have to clarify that. There is evidence that sometimes if a urine sample is stored unfrozen, there can be some contamination of the sample that shifts the band up towards the area we associate with synthetic EPO. Now, it can still be distinguished but it makes it more difficult. There is a test and this is in place throughout laboratories today, they can determine whether or not the sample has that unstable profile.

That possibility was excluded in all of these samples. So yes, it's conceivable that contamination can shift the band, but it didn't happen in this case, that was definitively excluded. There is no way that synthetic EPO can suddenly appear. It can disappear, you could conceivably have degradation where synthetic EPO could break down, it's not likely but it's conceivable. But in that scenario you've got synthetic EPO disappearing, not appearing. It's breaking a pretty fundamental law of physics to say you can generate a molecule of EPO from nothing.

AS: So based on that, you can definitively say that Lance Armstrong used EPO in the '99 Tour. No doubt in your mind.

MA: There is no doubt in my mind these samples contain synthetic EPO, they belong to Lance Armstrong, and there's no conceivable way that I can see that a lab could've spiked them in a way that the data has presented itself. So there is no doubt in my mind he took EPO during the '99 Tour.

The rest of the '99 samples

AS: The other thing that struck me about these results, which I was surprised never came up before, was that if you take away those 6 positives, you have 7 remaining positives out of 81 samples. That's 8.6%. Does that say to you that at that time the peloton was relatively clean?

MA: Yeah, it's an interesting observation, 'cause you cast back to the '98 Tour, obviously it was a debacle. And, I've heard anecdotal or off the cuff remarks, that '99 was a new beginning. It had gotten as bad as it could possibly get, or so we would've thought, and '99 was, "Ok, let's start again, we've really got to make an effort to be clean this year."

Well, obviously, based on Lance Armstrong's results, he wasn't racing clean. But for the rest of the samples collected during the Tour, relatively speaking there wasn't a very high prevalence of EPO use in the rest of the peloton, at least in the peloton that was tested, which was your top 3 place getters, for example.

The prologue was interesting. First race of the event, every one of those samples had EPO in them. So it seems a little odd, the first day of the next year's race, and all of your place getters have got EPO in their urine. On the one hand, yes, it seemed less prevalent than you would've otherwise thought, but on the other there's still evidence there was doping in the peloton. Not just by Lance Armstrong.

AS: I guess it's possible that some guys were injecting during the Tour, and some had an EPO program leading up to the Tour and counted on the effects to remain with them?

MA: It's conceivable. It's widely known that you don't have to be using EPO to get the benefits. You can have a treatment regime that could last as little as ten days, and the benefits are substantial and they'll stay with you for four weeks afterwards. And certainly for the Tour, which is three weeks. So, you don't have to use EPO during the Tour to get the benefits.

AS: I just want to go back to the percentage. Obviously, stage winners are always tested, and there were, I believe Cipollini won four, Steels won three, Etxebarria won two, so, not that I'm accusing them, but there's a chance that some of these positives are from the same person, so there's a chance that the number of people positive is even lower than 8%. And not only that, a great deal of these samples are from stage winners, so they're the stronger riders. So the samples are a skewed sampling of the entire peloton.

MA: Yeah, that's correct.

AS: So you could say as a whole it might've been 8% or less.

MA: And there is no way to identify who those other samples belong to without getting access to the medical records and matching the numbers to their names. So, I've read reports, but I've never seen documented evidence to link names to numbers.

AS: It's interesting because when I spoke with Paul Kimmage he made a pretty big deal about that year's Tour, that it was supposed to be this Tour of redemption, and his point was that Armstrong came along and brought things back to the old ways. These results lend that belief a little bit of credence, don't they?

MA: I think there's a couple of things that strike me as well. Yes, these results are consistent with that argument. The other is that we know how Armstrong performed before the '99 Tour. '93, '94, '95, '96. And look, a couple of those races he couldn't even finish, another race I think he's an hour and a half behind. Specifically in the time trial he was dropping minutes to the other competitors.

Now compare that with '99, and it's a helluva transformation. Instead of dropping off and not being competitive, he was actually dropping the rest of the peloton off. So something dramatically changed in relation to Armstrong versus the rest of the peloton across that period of time. That's unarguable.

There's, as we've been talking about, pretty unequivocal evidence, well, it is unequivocal evidence, that he was using EPO during the '99 Tour. Now, that would go a long way to explaining that reversal in competitiveness in Armstrong v. the peloton.

Ed Coyle publishes a study on Armstrong

AS: Actually, that's the perfect segue for us to start talking about Ed Coyle a little bit. Ed Coyle wrote a study in 2005 about the work he did with Armstrong from '92 to '99, where he claimed that he was able to improve his watts per kilo 18%. Armstrong himself holds this study up as proof that he didn't need dope to win the Tour. There were two ways Coyle went about it. One, Armstrong's efficiency improved, and two, his weight was reduced. How did you become aware of this paper?

MA: I guess I need to put it in a little bit of context. Muscle efficiency is sort of like a holy grail in physiology. To put it in context, a 1% improvement in efficiency has been calculated with various modeling techniques to give you about a one minute improvement in a 40k time trial. So an 8% improvement in efficiency is simply unheard of. It has never been measured before, and so naturally, when Ed Coyle published a paper reporting that, there was an enormous amount of interest. Not just in the lay media, but in scientific circles as well, because lots and lots of people have tried to see if they could change cycling efficiency with different training protocols, it has never been found to change.

And so when you report that not only has it changed, it changed by 8%, then obviously that seems a very unusual finding. As scientists, the first thing you want to do is say, "I want to read the paper, I want to satisfy myself with the methodology that he used, because, gee, this seems like a strange result."

AS: Let's just define the term real quickly, cycling efficiency. The idea is that if you're riding at 400 watts, your body is actually producing much more energy than that, and the efficiency is the percentage of cycling power vs. total power?

MA: Yeah, in very simple terms, it's how much of the energy production in your muscles actually go into the pedals and gives you propulsive force.

AS: And overall energy is measured by how much oxygen you're burning?

MA: Yeah, it's a laboratory test where the subject is put on an ergometer, you measure very carefully how much oxygen the body is using, and that will tell you how much energy is being burned, if you like, in very crude terms. And then you look at the ergometer, and you measure very carefully how much energy the athlete is producing, and the ratio of those two after some adjustments give you the index of efficiency.

So, how much oxygen is he using, versus how much energy is he putting into the bike gives you that index of efficiency.

AS: So Coyle was claiming that for a given oxygen consumption, Armstrong was producing more watts because he was making himself more efficient through training.

MA: That's right. The claim was that because Armstrong had been training for three to six hours on his bike over a period of years, that probably altered his muscle composition, which led him to having a greater efficiency. Now, the only, the glaring oversight there, is that Lance Armstrong is NOT the only cyclist that trains for three to six hours on his bike each day, it's pretty much routine for a professional cyclist.

So, many other professionals have been measured after they've done this same sort of training, but none of them have shown a change in efficiency, which immediately brings into question the basis of Coyle's claim.

And he speculates that this was due to his unique ability to convert his fast twitch muscles to slow twitch muscles.

Again, there was no data to substantiate it. It was his speculation, attempting to explain what he had measured. Again, it just comes down to a simple case of, well, ok, if that was the underlying biological reason, then you'd expect to see it happen over and over again. There's nothing, despite what other people want to believe, there's nothing unique about Lance Armstrong. He's a human being, and he responds as other human beings do to training. And no one else has ev er measured those changes that Coyle speculated might've happened in Armstrong.

AS: As a matter of fact, you could take a biopsy of his muscles and analyze it, but he never did.

MA: To put it in context, this wasn't a carefully planned study. This was an opportunistic approach where, the students in the lab related to us, it was simply a matter of Lance Armstrong swinging by occasionally, and Ed Coyle would test him almost as a favor to him, to give him some data. If he came into the lab, great. If he didn't, then there was no data.

And I think that's borne out. If you look at the timing of when these test sessions took place, there really isn't any coherent pattern. For example, if you really wanted to show that your cycling efficiency had increased leading up to a Tour de France, then you want to measure him immediately before, or immediately after the Tour. You don't wait four or five months, like Coyle did in '99, when he's stopped training and was almost beginning the next season.

So, it wasn't carefully planned, the timing of the test sessions were opportunistic rather than carefully thought through.

AS: Let's go in chronological order. You became of aware of this study, and then did you and some of your colleagues lodge a complaint with the University of Texas?

MA: The way it happened is, obviously when the article came out, it spiked a lot of interest and discussion in the scientific community. And the way that scientists address those issues is to write letters to the journal that published the article. Essentially in the letter, you're raising some questions, and then the author is given an opportunity to respond. So both your concerns and his response are published side by side to inform of the rest of the scientific community so they can judge for themselves - well I agree with that, or I don't agree with that.

So that's the first thing that happened, there were two letters published in the journal that questioned very specific aspects of the study. One of those aspects was which ergometer did Coyle use to measure Armstrong's power during those seven years. Now, the reason that's so critical is you HAVE to use the same ergometer very carefully calibrated to make sure that when you measure, say, 300 watts in 1992, that seven years later in 1999, if the ergometer reads 300 watts, you want to be sure that that's correct, and not just an artifact of the ergometer that you're using is different, or uncalibrated, or whatever.

So, the first question related to that, because we had experience with these longitudinal studies, they're exceptionally difficult to carry out successfully. The first question that we had was, "Did you use the same ergometer to measure power output?"

And categorically Coyle responded, "Yes I did. The same ergometer was used for all tests." And, we had to take that at face value. When you question a scientist, they publish their response, and you are obliged to accept whatever they say. So we pretty much had to accept that. We still had reservations, but that was as much as we could know.

Then interestingly, the paper itself became involved in an arbitration hearing where I was asked to serve as an expert witness and interpret this paper for the hearing. In that process I did some background checking to verify to myself what was happening and could this data be relied on. And I was very surprised when we were given a photograph showing Lance Armstrong in the first test session on an ergometer that was definitely not the ergometer that Coyle claims he tested him on.

It was a very disturbing revelation and it was purely a fluke occurrence, where the journalist had been in the laboratory, was taking photos for this journal article, and happened to take a photo while Armstrong was being tested. So we had that reservation and several others that we still felt uneasy about, and we elected to take those directly to Ed Coyle confidentially. We spelled out our concerns, and we said, "Professor Coyle, with the greatest respect, we really don't believe this paper is worthy of publication, would you please retract it?"

And his response was characteristically vehement, and adamant, that he would not retract the paper. And so, from that point we had no option but to seek some other way of getting what we felt was a scientific error corrected. And the next step up was to go to the journal themselves, and say, "Look, these are our concerns, what do you propose we do about it?"

And it came after a lengthy round of discussions, that the journal weren't going to do anything until we made a formal application to the university of scientific misconduct, and that's a very serious step, when you actually go to the scientist's institution and formally claim that he has conducted himself in an inappropriate way. And you're formally asking the university to take action. So those were the steps that began with just an initial "Gee, this paper seems unusual" and gradually became more and more disturbing as more evidence came to light, and eventually resulted in lodging this allegation of misconduct.

Previously undisclosed inconsistencies

AS: Of all his errors, I think only two were allowed to be made public. One was the use of different ergometers, and the other was this misapplication for the formula for gross efficiency and delta efficiency. And I have to confess, I've read about it a lot and I cannot for the life of me understand it. Something about the y-intercept and pushing a line through the origin that shouldn't have gone through the origin b ecause I guess if that line goes through the origin you're probably dead, 'cause your body's not doing anything.

And I think that very esoteric issue, the misapplication of an equation, made it hazy for a lot of people. But in fact, there were a lot more complaints of Coyle than those two issues, weren't there?

MA: Let me clarify the use of that equation. You're right, essentially forcing the line through the 0 intercept, it is inferring there is no other metabolic activity in the body. That the energy your body uses simply to breathe, to sit upright on the ergometer, there's just 0 energy being used. Obviously that's incorrect. Coyle's own publications, previous to this one, he argued that you cannot use gross efficiency, which is ignoring this metabolic energy consumption. The significance of that slope and that intercept is "are you making allowance for this other metabolic activity?"

Now, in his publication, he led us to believe he used the correct equation. However, once we launched this allegation of misconduct, again he's given the opportunity to defend himself. His defense was to produce one of the raw data sheets from the first test session to validate that he has done the testing in the way that he says that he has in the publication.

Now, we were given access to that data file, and immediately we went through it and it seemed very odd. The most striking thing was that in the publication he said that he used five minute workloads, I thin k there was five of them. And in the raw data that we saw, there weren't five workloads, there was only four workloads and some of them were two minutes long. Completely contradicting what he'd written in the publication.

The other thing that became apparent when we looked a little further, was that if he applied the equation that he said he had, he would've come up with a very different answer. In fact, the correct equation applied to that data gave an efficiency that was the same or fractionally higher, even, than the last result Armstrong obtained in '99. Which is to say his efficiency didn't change at all if you applied the correct equation.

Now, we weren't privy to that information until after we made that allegation of scientific misconduct. So every time we peeled off another layer, even more disturbing evidence came to light. The university said that the evidence wasn't sufficient to impose an allegation of misconduct, but they did recognize that there were some anomalies, they did recommend that these needed to be brought to the attention of the scientific community. It was very much steering us back to the journal and saying, "You're gonna have to write another letter."

So in that second letter we wanted to address everything that we found. All the different equations, the different workloads, the different ergometers, the fact that he hadn't controlled for prior exercise, all these sorts of things. But we were given a very strict directive by the journal, that we could only talk about this delta efficiency equation, and we weren't allowed to discuss, for example, that Professor Coyle had refused to give us any more data to back up the other test sessions. His claim was that he'd lost the data.

So the letter seemed, probably, very dry, perhaps even a bit paper thin. But underneath that letter there was a lot more issues that we knew about that we weren't allowed to publish.

AS: And of course you said his '92 numbers were off, and you weren't able to properly compare it to his '99 numbers because he wouldn't give you the rest of his raw data.

MA: That was one of the most disturbing things to me personally. I've always had it hammered into me during my studies that you have to keep all of your raw data in case another scientist brings it into question. You can always fall back on your data and say, "Look, you go do the calculations yourself and satisfy yourself that what I've written and what I've published is correct."

And it's pretty much the first thing that you learn as a student: keep your data. Now, contrary to that, Professor Coyle claims that this data he collected on the person he thinks is the most gifted endurance athlete on the planet, I mean, he did win the Tour de France seven times in a row, he's a unique case study in every sense of the word. And yet, Professor Coyle would have us believe he lost the data that he collected on this athlete.

And bear in mind, he published this study in 2005. This is well after Armstrong had clearly dominated the Tour de France, and the last collection date Professor Coyle recorded was in '99. So it wasn't as if he could argue, "Well, I didn't know he was going to be a big star, I sorta just chucked the data away." In 2005 he went back, published the data from '92 through '99, and somehow between 2005 and when we made this allegation in 2007 he lost the data. Now I find that incredible.

AS: Now would be a good time to throw in the stipulation. You had collaborators when you lodged your complaints. Now we want to make clear that you're only speaking for yourself, especially when you're talking about Armstrong. Their issue is purely with science and with Coyle.

MA: Yeah there's two layers to this if you like. I have an interest in the Coyle paper primarily because I was asked as an expert witness in the arbitration hearing to interpret it and to provide my opinion to the hearing. Now, that is my interest.

In contrast to that, my colleagues, who were co-authors on the letters to the journal, their primary concern is the scientific validity of the study. They're still working in the field of physiology, and they're very disturbed that data is in the public domain which we believe is simply false, it's incorrect. And they wanted to correct the data from a scientific integrity viewpoint, my personal interest stems primarily from the fact that the paper was introduced into this hearing, was used to defend against allegations that Armstrong had used doping. And therefore my interest is different from that of my co authors.

A laundry list of errors

AS: Let's just do a rundown of the other issues raised in this formal complaint. Prior exercise was not controlled for, so some days he might've showed up to the lab after doing a training ride. You're not supposed to do that, are you, when you're doing testing?

MA: Everyone realizes that if you've just come off a one hour bike ride, you can feel that your metabolism is kicking up, your body is hot. Your efficiency measures then will be different. Coincidentally, the kind of differences you see associated with exercise are pretty much the same as the differences we see over this seven year period. The potential for exercising before your test is very important, it can completely cloud your results.

Again, relying on more than one student, there were several students who contend this, Armstrong for example on one day had just been riding up in the mountains with one of his professional teammates, came into the laboratory and did an efficiency test. Now, from a scientific perspective that's simply unacceptable. You just cannot do that. Efficiency is very difficult to measure at the best of times, and you go to every length that you can to control all the things you're able to in the hope that your results are as accurate as you can get. And obviously one of the most important things is you make sure your athlete comes to the laboratory rested every time they're tested. And that simply didn't happen with these results.

AS: And the other side of this efficiency calculation was that he got 8% more efficient, and because of his weight loss, if you add those two things together, his watts per kilo improved 18%. But he never did directly weigh Armstrong for some of these calculations, did he?

MA: The 18% improvement was half attributable to the increase in efficiency, and half attributable to a decrease in body weight. As you say the power per kilogram increased 18%. So half of it was the power, half was the kilograms. Again, it's very basic science that if you are going to include a value that is so fundamental to the result, such as body weight, you measure it.

Now essentially, and Coyle admits this in the paper, he just guessed. He said, "Well, Lance Armstrong told me that he was 72 kg, so that's the body weight I'm going to divide these power measures by." Now, obviously, when you take your first measure and you say I'm going to use 79 kg here, and then you take the last one and you say I'm going to use 72 kg there, automatically you have an enormous difference.

And instead of that being a real difference, it was simply Coyle's guess at what his body weight was. Now, interestingly enough, during the proceedings, not just the allegation of misconduct but in the arbitration hearing itself, when people are sworn under oath, even Lance Armstrong himself acknowledged that his body weight had never dropped to 72 kg. So it was factually wrong.

So half of the 18% improvement attributable to a change in body weight is again demonstrably false. It's just not real. It's incredibly sloppy science to use a value that you just guessed rather than measured. It's simply unjustifiable in my view.

AS: I personally find it a very dangerous claim because just last week it appeared in a credible paper, the Washington Post. For a finding that's very shaky, for casual fans, it might be a number they actually believe.

MA: The Journal of Applied Physiology, which published the paper, it's not exactly a coffee table magazine. It's a fairly dry, scientific journal. It's highly regarded in physiological circles, but it doesn't get much publicity elsewhere. This article received enormous media attention. Ed Coyle essentially went on a lecture tour publicizing it. I think, because of that public and media interest, it became the most read journal article at the time. So it did receive enormous coverage, and the fears we have as scientists is that people unfamiliar with the area would accept it at face value. And that's why we felt so compelled to correct the scientific record so that it wasn't perpetrated as, "Gee, cycling efficiency can change by that much, and all you need to do is train six hours a day!" It's just not right, and so we need to correct that.

AS: Is there any evidence of fast twitch muscles being converted to slow twitch muscles?

MA: Sure, sure, that happens. All you need to do is collect muscle biopsies, and there are those transitions. But the scale of them is nowhere near sufficient to give this 8% improvement in efficiency. That's the thing that's never been measured before. It's a difficult to understand area inasmuch as to say that everything Ed Coyle speculates on has got a scientific basis. The problem is that it's just never happened in cycling. For example, in runners, there's been documented improvements in running efficiency, and that can happen. It's all got to do with elastic energy storage in tendons and things like that. But there is no elastic component in cycling, and as I've said before, lots of researchers from all around the world have tried to measure it and find the difference, and no one ever has.

AS: In fact he's quoted in a National Geographic article as saying that this has never been documented in any other human. To me, that's an anti-scientific statement, it's like saying he's magic.

MA: That's odd because in his testimony at the arbitration hearing he brought the evidence of a runner improving his efficiency to the table. I don't dispute efficiency can change in other sports. It doesn't change in cycling.

AS: Have you ever observed an 18% improvement in a cyclist after he has turned pro and been a World Champion, competed at a very high level. Is an 18% improvement plausible, have you ever observed it?

MA: The answer is no, but you don't need to go that far down. The data recording the 18% improvement are wrong. There's no need to second guess or say, "Well, could it have happened?" The data is wrong.

The Cloak of Secrecy

AS: The other thing that surprised me is this idea of cancer taking away 15 pounds, it's another one of these publicly held beliefs that became so ingrained, and it was surprising to find that he didn't lose any weight post cancer. And not only that, he's listed as 5' 9", 5' 10", but we know from speaking to his teammates he's more like 5' 5", 5' 6". I guess you're on the metric system...

MA: You cast yourself back to 2005, and I'm very acutely aware of this, there was a wall that came up against me immediately as I was trying to interpret the background data on Armstrong. There virtually was none. Before the Ed Coyle paper no one really knew for sure anything about Armstrong. Not his VO2Max, not his power output, we didn't even know how much he weighed. All you could rely on was very loose, for example in the article that was published after his first test session in Coyle's lab when the photographs were taken, they report him as being 77, 78 kilos. You contrast that with the data in Coyle's paper, and he shows that the lowest body weight was 75 kilos in '93, but in November after his first Tour victory, it was 79 kilos.

Now, Coyle would have us believe that he was 72 kilos at the Tour de France. Armstrong is on the record saying that he was absolutely fastidious about what he ate, and when he ate and how he ate. It is incomprehensible that someone would get himself into such perfect condition and then essentially eat like a horse so that his body weight ballooned up to 79 kilos, and then somehow intend to go back through that hell to lose 7 kilos again for the next race. That's just not true, it doesn't happen.

Armstrong acknowldeged under oath that his body weight never got to 72, he was a little vague, but he said he was happy when he raced in the 74's. Now if you admit you were probably 74 you were probably a lot heavier than that.

It all comes back to this mystery. It's power to body weight that determines your performance, particularly in mountain stages. It's all power to weight ratio. If people know how much you weigh, they can then extrapolate back from your times and your speed, and get a pretty good approximation of what your power output must be. And once you know the power output and the body weight, then you can get a pretty good guess at what the VO2's were like. And when you start plugging some of those figures back in, you see that during some of his performances at the Tour, his VO2 must've been through the roof. Some people say it had to be in the 90's. Now, that's just not physiologically possible, when at other times they're in the 70's.

And that's what Coyle documented in his paper. So the way to get around that, if you don't tell anyone your body weight, they can't even get the first step towards estimating what your power outputs and VO2 must been. And that's just not Armstrong. Most riders are pretty cagey about revealing that because it would give their competitors an insight into their physiological limits, and therefore a strategy to defeat them. So before Coyle's paper we had nothing, no idea at all. And then the paper comes out, all of a sudden the cloak's pulled back, and what is a fairly modest, in elite terms, profile is revealed. There's nothing special about Armstrong's physiology at all.

AS: Coyle makes a big deal of his heartrate being able to go over 200, that it was a contributing factor in his dominance. I think he even said it's unusual for people to go over 190, which I find ludicrous. I have many friends that go into the high 190's. Is there anything to the high heartrate theory?

MA: No, of course not. Any recreational cyclist who rides within a group on weekends will know. Some people heartrates are high and some people's are low. It's really go nothing to do with your maximal performance capacity, and Ed Coyle knows that. And it still beggars belief how he would attempt to perpetrate otherwise in front of a cyclist audience. To me it's just nonsensical.

Coyle's study at the SCA arbitration

AS: And just to clarify, the reason we're talking about this, Coyle was used as an expert witness in the arbitration case where an insurance company refused to pay out a bonus, and so he was called to prove that Armstrong was able to win the Tour without doping.

MA: Essentially the arbitration was between SCA promotions and Tailwind, who'd taken out a contract that said if Lance Armstrong wins X Tour de Frances you will pay him bonuses, and the bonuses began around a million dollars and increased up to the last victory where he was due a payment of five million dollars.

Now, this began when some of David Walsh's information became public, there was a real growing body of evidence suggesting that Armstrong had doped. SCA's position was, "Hang on a minute, before we pay you this last bonus," they'd paid out all the ones before then, "before we pay this last bonus, we need to get to the bottom of this. Have you doped or not?"

At the end of the day, the case, and Armstrong's lawyers made this argument themselves, in the end it was irrefutable. The case came down to "Does the contract say you'll pay him if he wins?" And the contract said that. It didn't say anything about "We won't pay if you doped," or any clause that if there's any suspicion of doping we won't pay you out. It was a simple black and white: if you win you get paid.

That became apparent during the case, and it was recognized that because of that letter of the law, there was no way that SCA couldn't be held liable to pay that amount out. And for that reason they ended discussions and the case was settled out of court. The hearing body wasn't asked to rule did Armstrong dope or not. The hearing never had to make the ruling, because the case was settled, and it was settled because both parties recognized it was simply a letter of law, he had to be paid because he did win the Tour.

So all of this evidence that was brought to the hearing was brought with the understanding that the hearing would take a slightly different view of things, and it wasn't supported in the end, but all of this evidence was nonetheless brought to the hearing, and Ed Coyle was asked to be a witness and produce his paper to defend our allegations that Armstrong had doped.

(Dr. Coyle has been contacted twice to respond to these charges. If he agrees to talk to me I'll run his response unedited.)

Tyler Hamilton, a brief history of blood doping

AS: You developed the test for homologous blood doping, which eventually caught Tyler Hamilton.

MA: That's right. The test was introduced at the Athens Olympics in 2004, and there was initial evidence of transfusion even before the Olympic games, there was more evidence during the games, and then during the Vuelta immediately afterwards he failed both an A and a B sample. And that was when he was sanctioned.

AS: And in fact at the Olympics, it was because his B sample was mishandled that he got away with it.

MA: Yeah, the A and the B sample rule dictates that the A has to be positive, then the athlete is allowed to come in and witness the B sample being opened and tested. The test for homologous transfusion relies on the red blood cells being intact. And what the laboratory had done was to freeze the B sample. It's a little bit like when you freeze water, it expands. When you freeze blood, the red blood cells expand and burst.

Once it'd been frozen it was unusable for our test and so the B sample couldn't be analyzed, therefore he couldn't be sanctioned.

AS: Maybe we should go into a little bit of the history blood doping. Transfusions had been around, and I guess EPO replaced it because it was easier - you didn't have to draw blood, you don't have to risk putting someone else's blood in you.

MA: It's interesting, the history, because probably it wasn't until the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City that coaches or athletes or physiologists for that matter really took much notice of altitude or oxygen consumption or for that matter blood doping. And in the leadup during the games which were held at altitude, people realized how dramatic the impact on performance was, when you had less oxygen available to the body.

And it was a relatively straightforward link to say, well, if the body suffers when there's not enough oxygen, it'll probably perform better when there's extra oxygen. And that's the basis of blood doping. You put more blood into the body so that it transfers more oxygen into your muscles, and you perform better.

So that was in 1968. Probably midway into the 70's we begin to see anecdotal reports of athletes experimenting with blood transfusions, EPO wasn't invented at that time, so it was conventional blood doping: taking blood out of one person and giving it to you, or storing your own blood in the refrigerator for several weeks, and putting it back in just before you race. So that was present during the 70's. As late as 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics, the US cycling team at that stage were practicing both homolgous transfusion, which is using someone else's blood, and autologous transfusion, which is using your own blood.

Soon after the IOC were put under a lot of pressure to ban this practice, at the time it was considered unethical but it wasn't banned, so soon after that there was a ban in place, but because it couldn't be tested for, there was nothing to stop its use. But it is a pretty time consuming and messy procedure. You've gotta take the blood out and store it, it could get contaminated or infected in the meantime, then put back in.

During the mid 90's, they isolated the gene that produced EPO in the body. They were then able to make synthetic EPO, and that was a much easier scenario. It was as simple as taking a few injections, three or four injections, and you got the same benefits, probably even more so, than if you used blood transfusions. In the mid 90's EPO overtook transfusion. It's a lot quicker and more effective.

And then in 2000 when there was a test for EPO, we suspected that probably shied some of the athletes back towards transfusions, which at that time were undetectable. So it was kind of this middle period straight up after 2000, where we suspected the athletes resorted back to transfusions. They were still using EPO but transfusions reappeared.

And it was on that basis that we did the research and introduced the test for homologous transfusion, because that in particular is a horrendous, especially dangerous method of blood doping. The risks are very real and very severe. So there was a very strong medical and moral reason to bring in a test, to stop athletes from going down that path.

And that's pretty much where we are five years later. We have the test for EPO, we have the test for homologous transfusion, but there's no test for autologous transfusion, and we know that athletes, by carefully monitoring their EPO injections, can continue to get away with that as well. So that's the scenario we're faced with at the moment.

AS: The EPO tests probably brought about Puerto? The storing of blood bags and so forth?

MA: I guess you could make that speculation. I don't know that it's quite as simple as that, other than to say that Puerto seems to have occurred from early 2000 onwards. The timing's at least coincidental.

The Bio Passport

AS: There's no test for autologous transfusion, though there's news today that a new test might be developed. Is that where the longitudinal passport concept comes in?

MA: The passport, we held a lot of hope that it would reveal autologous transfusion, the underlying theory is that if you re-infuse a bag of blood, then the concentration of red cells in circulation, the hemoglobin concentration, is going to be increased. And we should be able to spot the elevated values compared to what it was before the transfusion.

The unfortunate reality is that we've conducted a couple of studies in Denmark where we have replicated that practice in volunteers, and we were puzzled and disheartened to find that there just wasn't the increases in hemoglobin that we had expected. For some reason the body regulates differently between transfusions and EPO. With EPO your hemoglobin rises markedly. With transfusions it just doesn't seem to.

We don't fully understand why, we've got a few clues, but the bottom line is yes, transfusion is apparent in the blood passport approach, but the changes aren't usually substantial enough that in itself we will be able to impose a doping violation just on changes in the blood. We would probably need to supplement that with other sorts of evidence.

AS: Is that why no one's been caught using the bio passport to date?

MA: No, that's more related to the care and the diligence that the UCI is using to gather all of the evidence they'll need before they'll prosecute the first case. So no, there is no relation to that.

Police Intervention

AS: It's said that dopers are nine years, a number of years ahead of the testers. A lot of the famous cases are broken by traditional police techniques: surveillance, raids, etc. Is that, moving forward, how most dopers will be caught?

MA: Yeah, I think that's a very insightful comment. If we look back, certainly over the last decade, the major drug scandals that've raised the awareness of drug usage, that have confronted the public with how it is, they've all come from police style investigations. You talk about Puerto, or Balco, or Austrian skiers at the Olympics, all of those came from a police intervention of some kind.

If you look back, really the only significant high profile case that was purely from a doping control standpoint, is probably Ben Johnson in Seoul, and Floyd Landis at the Tour de France. Other than that, I think you struggle to really come up with a big fish caught with a doping control.

I think that speaks to how loose urine control has been historically. It has been too easy for a loophole to be found, and I think the results speak for themselves. With EPO and growth hormones, it's slightly different, because the molecule itself is just so hard to detect. That's a technological challenge as well as a logistics challenge, getting the doping control officer to the athlete at the time when the drug's present in the urine.

So I think the passport will take us a big step forward, not necessarily because it will be where sanctions are suddenly imposed, but because it tells the agencies which athletes are suspicious and which are not, or for all accounts clean. So you can focus your tests accordingly. Rather than having a pool of a thousand athletes, suddenly you narrow it down to a pool of say, fifty, and you focus your testing on those. And I think that indirect benefit of the passport, plus the continued police involvement, are going to be the conerstones of the anti doping efforts. At least in the foreseeable future.

AS: So the passport may not catch someone, but someone might find himself subject to more 'random' tests?

MA: Exactly. And when you've shown these unusual variations then you can expect the federations will continue to pursue you until your values came back to normal and stopped deviating, or you're caught and sanctioned. It's an element of the passport that perhaps wasn't emphasized as much as it could've. There are some people who believe that's what the passport is best suited to do, to highlight the athletes who are doping so that you can then follow up with targeted testing.

Crime and Punishment

AS: Is doping criminalized in Australia?

MA: No, it's not, and it's a little perplexing to me, because many times the Australian model is held up to be the world's best practice. But it's not criminal, there is a dialogue between Australia's anti doping agency and our federal police, and that's resulted in low level athletes being caught. District level basketball or football players. It still hasn't netted any big fish, high profile successful athletes. The ones who are winning competitions, to my mind, they're the ones we need to satisfy ourselves either they're doping or they're not. They're the ones getting the publicity and they're the enticements for other athletes to use drugs.

Once we take care of those, I think we're going to be a lot further down the road to controlling this problem. At the moment Australia doesn't have criminalization for possession of some of these banned substances, even though law enforcment agencies are cooperating with anti doping agencies. I think we've got a little bit of room where we can improve on the domestic front.

AS: It's also not criminal here in the US. Just today we see that Bernard Kohl was caught, and he might spend up to five years in jail. It seems that for a lot of riders, they might get banned for two years or life, it's nothing compared to the prospect of jail time.

MA: Actually, if you sort of get into this conversation, you begin to look at some of the implications, it's not cut and dry to me. I don't disagree that if it's a criminal activity to possess or traffic a drug, and an athlete is caught doing that, they should face criminal prosecution. I have no argument about that. I'm not particularly sure in my mind that an athlete using drugs in a context outside of that stipulated criminal activity, I'm not sure we should regard them as criminals. They're not murdering people, they're not kidnapping anyone, they're not extorting anyone, they're breaking a rule of sport which says you don't use this particular drug when you compete. You can use it in hospital to make yourself better, but you can't use it when you're playing sport.

It's breaking a rule of sport in my mind, and I think we need to maintain that perspective. I don't for a second condone it, but at the same time, we need to recognize that these guys aren't commiting a criminal activity unless in a specific country it's categorized as that. I think it's a symptom of our anti doping efforts' frustration at not being able to identify who the athletes are who are doping and when they're doping.

And the response to that frustration is, well, when we do catch them, by hell you better believe we're going to punish them. There's people arguing at the moment it should be a lifetime ban the first time you're caught. I think that's a symptom of that frustration, "Gee we only catch one every x number of years, and we gotta make an example of him." I just think we're getting a little bit hysterical, and perhaps we're losing that perspective of what we're trying to do and how we're trying to do it.

An empathetic approach

AS: Interesting. It's interesting for me to hear that for someone who's working so hard at anti doping, you have a very measured view of it.

MA: Well, it probably doesn't come across in most media because more often than not I'm being asked to defend the science of our tests, for example in the Hamilton case. Or I'm being asked to defend my opinion regarding Armstrong. Now, they're fairly polar circumstances. I believe that, I know that I carry out my research with the highest possible integrity. And I am empathetic with athletes, that is my background. I worked with elite athletes and that is my original passion.

I only became involved in anti doping so that I could stop doping and come back eventually and begin working with athletes again, and reassure them that you can be clean, you can compete, and you can win if you're good enough. I couldn't do that back in 2000 'cause I knew athletes could still get away with doping, and therefore whatever I did to help an athlete prepare wasn't going to be enough. So I felt I was better off using my energy in that field of anti doping so that in the long run I could come back to where I wanted to be. So I empathize with the athletes.

Something that sits at the forefront of my mind, a discussion that I had with a group of cyclists, I'm not going to say who they were, and I said to them, "Look, guys, if you tell me what you're doing, I don't need names, so I can go away, develop that test, and come back here and remove that particular doping problem once and for all."

And their response is still a guiding light to me. They said, "If you can come back to us with a test that captures everyone so that we can all stop, you can expect us to support it. But if you come back with a test that only captures a quarter of the people, and those quarter are punished but then they're replaced by another quarter and the problem keeps going, don't expect us to support it. Because you're destroying careers and families and livelihoods, and you're not getting rid of the problem." And I've always held that as an ultimate goal.

That's why I was particularly proud of our homologous test, because there is no way you can get away with homologous doping now if you're tested. It's as simple as that. I believe that the incidence of homologous doping is virtually zero. I think the only time an athlete would get caught now is if they've made a mistake and put someone else's blood in them when they thought they were putting their own.

And that's the sort of strategy that I think if the scientific world can come to athletes and say, "Here, this is a test that will stop doping," I think the athletes will support it 100% and I'd expect them to. And until the scientists can come to the athletes with that argument, we're forever in this grey area where "We'll get some of ya, and we sort of wish you'd help us catch some of ya", and on a personal level I can see that's just not...it doesn't comply with human nature. We're asking the athletes to do something which, I don't think if I were in their position I would do either.

Which is to say, you talk about the Simeoni's and people who speak out, overnight they virtually, well they do jeopardize their career, and perhaps they even destroy it. And what has it achieved? Some could say it has raised awareness, but has it changed anything? And that's an incredibly hard choice for us to foist upon an athlete, to say, "We want you to be brave, stand up in the media, tell us that you doped, tell us who else doped, and we'll publicize that story." Now, the athlete could do that, next day, particularly with this omerta in cycling, the guy's going to be out of a job, he's gonna be ostracized from his friends and his peers, and a week later that newspaper is fish wrappings, and nothing's changed. That's the sort of humane perspective that I always try to keep with me, and as I've said before, it doesn't show usually, because I'm being drawn into these polar arguments of yes and no, right or wrong.

AS: It seems we've come full circle. In my first question I asked about your work at AIS, where you were doing performance enhancing work, making athletes better, and you found that there was no point until anti doping was perfected. In a way, this is the ultimate performance enhancing measure, isn't it?

MA: Yeah, I guess, if ever I ended up back at the AIS or working with elite athletes again, I'd like to think it was because I felt satisfied that the job or the task I've set myself has been accomplished. Today, I have to be honest, sitting with you now, I'm not all that confident that we will reach that, not in the foreseeable future, but at the same time I do have cautious optimism that we can improve things and make them significantly better. Perhaps not bring them down to 0%, but I do think it's achievable that if an athlete dopes and wins, he'll be caught. He could dope and not win, and might not be tested or might not raise any suspicions, but if he wins, and he dopes in order to win, he'll get busted. To me, that would be a point where I could say, "Great, I'm going to sit back and I'm going to do the things I really enjoy doing now, because my job is done."

Tour of Flanders / Ronde van Vlaanderen 2009 Final Kilometers

2009-04-05T19:37:00.001-07:00

Brutal sprint crash!

Slipstream Crack.......

2009-04-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

Arrgh! Blake Caldwell broke his femur in training yesterday......

Red Bull Road Rage

2009-04-02T08:37:00.001-07:00

I keep coming across video stuff right now waiting for the classics....

On of the best clips ever..... Just a good primer for the season....

2009-03-29T21:04:00.001-07:00

Winter Truckee Training.........

2009-03-28T08:32:00.001-07:00

ServiceCourse

Fin

Spy vs Spy

Best of SC - Posted in Dec - 2007 "People Review"

Tour of Ca - we get French footage.... Again, Ahem...

From Cycling News

Italy.....

Craig's List - Sent in from Reader Karl!!

SKLZ-Pista Palace team

Driver Sues Family of Deceased Cyclist

Livewrong

FSA - recalling FSA BB30 Gossamer double cranks

Always something.....

NCNCA CX Championships

Has Popovych become key to the investigation?

CA Bicycle Law- know where you should be and who should not!

More than worth watcing!!! Lots of these around - this is the best!

CA Masters super team based in Los Angeles??? From: Phoenix Cycling Examiner, Joe Wells

Savannah Gold Riding A Bike....Kind Of - Amateur sex video - Tube8.com

Shimano Di2 - The single greatest evolution since click click...

New race series and world championship for amateur riders starting in 2011.

Mark Hurlbert needs a bike ride.....

Armstrong's United States Postal Service - Is this why my mail nevere gets here?

The former teammate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had spoken with investigators detailing his own performance-enhancing drug use and widespread doping by members of Armstrong's United States Postal Service team.

Some one you know?

God damn it - How Much Can He Take.......?

MSG’s president surprised by Landis exit

How could we loose this? We can't!

TD Bank confirms three-year extension with Philly

Dr. Inmate.... Justice!

Fuck him!!!!

LA road-rage trial closing arguments wrap up

Defense closing

The final word

Related articles:

What's next?

USA Cycling Professional Championships to be contested three weeks later than previous editions in Greenville

responce from a USA today article...

From Velonews

'I want to teach them a lesson." — Road rage trial resumes.

LAPD investigator tells jury in road rage trial he was shocked at a driver's comments.

’Burned into my brain’

Samaritan neighbor

Surgeon testifies

The earlier incident

Previous articles:

Garmin

Time for a break from racing....

Performance??????

Bruno Kammerl jumps

Tour of Missouri

Hmmmmm.......

Cancellara's great downhill on stage 7 TDF 2009

Frickin Jackass'

Tour riders hit by pellet gun

Honey, me n the guys are going on a "bike" trip......

German brothel offers discounts to cyclists

A Berlin brothel has come up with a novel way to offset the impact of the global economic crisis and target a new group of customers at the same time - offering a discount to patrons who arrive on bicycles.

Oh my God!!!

My Hick Fingers are still Crossed!

San Rafael Crit!!! fast-

A Little Help Please......?

A letter from Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder...

Off to the National Championships - In KY....

This is why I've been lax on posting.....

Gotta call Bullshit on this one-

Thriller-

IFAC Press Conference

Sometimes the winners are just below the podium.....

Well OK then..... Hey Chad, may not be the walk in the park you thought...

Lance Armstrong goes for 8

Ho, Hum.........

The Horror....

It's coming........ Big Purse!

So This is OK With You?

The Nature of Racing... Don't look back....

This Whole Season Comes Down to One Hour...

Know who you are before you go.......

2009 May 24 Auburn Crit , one lap

Steve Larsen