Sunday Roundup

CURRENT STATUS REVIEW and KEY REFERENCES updated.

Blogs
Yesterday's TBV post on a ferreted lab sheet yielded an unprecendented number of comments as folks tried to glean meaning. These have been productive: There is sentiment the detected morphine is below a WADA screening threshold, and not in need of an AAF. Multiple hands are seen on the document over multiple days, but there is nothing particularly sinister about it. One partly legible line was decoded as Triamcinolone Acetonide, a corticosteroid used for asthma or as a topical medication for dermatitis. This also appears to have been at a sub-threshold level, but without the same notation. Both of the uses suggested have their own histories. There are many TUEs for asthma, and Lance had his trickiest run in over a cream used for saddle-sore butt-rash.

Everyone seems confused by the T/E reporting. On the sample assumed to be Landis, there are two values given, 4.9 and 11.4, and we don't know where they came from. If the 4.9 was value from an earlier test, it should have been an AAF. It if was an initial reading of this sample, its replacement with an 11.4 suggests inconsistent or cherry-picking lab practice. On another sample we may be seeing a 10.0 TE, and if so, it should have been reported as an AAF. Looking closely, it is hard to conclude it's a 1.0, but that might make more sense.

TBV's reaction is no surprise: more data, please! Release the full lab pack, and the ADRB filing. This week would be nice. The ferret business only goes so far, and leaves an incomplete picture that will never be convincing.

Rant runs with it.
Picked up on Japanese blog. Bring your Kanji display support.

Forums
Topix discusses the lab sheet. First reactions are that it's just a smoke screen with nothing really to do with the case. Turns into a debate about TUEs, painkillers, and steroidal anti-inflammatants, like cortisone. Argument is made that no TUE should have been granted Floyd for hip cortisone. Injured? Tough. Little illumination, comments on TBV were more productive.

At LetsRun, Old Runner guy points to TBV's ferret post, making leaps and conclusions that exceed the known facts. In particular, we don't have any idea which sample is ostensibly Peirero's; nor do we know the morphine in whichever sample was 'just' below the threshold. Since no quantification was given, it could be way under as far as we can tell.

News
E-mailer Paula points out an article on this Dave Zabriskie appearance in Deseret to give away bikes. He's delicate talking about Landis, but willing to say doping is bad. He's in a very awkward position, and the distraction from the goal of the event speaks to the continued impact of the allegations on cycling.

Calendar
2007 Tour route presentation on Thursday, 26-Oct-2006 according to this.
[end]