Wednesday Roundup

News
The Chicago Tribune's Phillip Hersh provides a short blurb on the upcoming FFF event in Wilmette,IL Saturday afternoon.

The Washington Post prints an AP piece by Eddie Pells on the end of Terry Madden's 7 year reign as head of USADA. Madden will be replaced by general counsel Travis Tygart:

Madden led a 39-person office in Colorado Springs that ran on a $12 million annual budget funded by the USOC and the federal government. The agency constantly seeks better science to stay ahead of the curve as the list of hard-to-detect performance-enhancing drugs expands.

Most recently, USADA has been at the forefront of high-profile cases against several elite athletes, including Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and Olympic champion sprinter Justin Gatlin.

The same piece is being reported in many outlets including The Sporting News.

The VeloNews posts a video taped interview with Neal Rogers and Floyd Landis from perhaps sometime during the ToC? In any case, this is very relaxed and honest and a must watch.


The Richmond Times Dispatch talks about the upcoming US Open Cycling Championship from Williamsburg to Richmond on April 7, 2007. Despite losing its director Tim MIller,who is being replaced by John Eustice, and having no title sponsor the 125 mile race will still be run. Floyd Landis is scheduled to make an appearance at the race.

Blogs
DCist informs us that there is an important fund raiser for the documentary film "Road to Roubaix" tonight at the Warehouse in Washington, DC. An art auction to raise money will include the full sized portrait of Floyd Landis that appears on the FFF fund raiser flyers.

The First 100 Miles' Sara Best seems to think that Floyd and Amber Landis might appreciate the "Inane Asylum". Who wouldn't appreciate an automatic beer launcher?

Tommy is very excited by his new team Jittery Joe, their new team kits, the ride up Palomar, and by being joined along the way by some dude named Floyd.

Crystelzenmud argues that under the "Pound Doctrine" Floyd should be freed.

I Don't Know Where the Angels Sleep is sick and tired of being lied to by athletes seeking an unfair advantage, and thinks that this lying is the end of our innocence. He believes that even those who MAY be innocent are still probably liars.

SciFiTwin gives repeats his believe that Floyd is innocent, but accepts it might not be so. He gives pointers to lots of places for people to become informed, flattering us in the process. That certainly earns a link.

The Sports Curmudgeon mixes in some snark from elsewhere to show current sentiment.

PowerTapGeek waxes on the benefits of racing with a power meter, using Landis at the TdF and stage 17 in particular as examples. TBV will attest to its value in mere group rides. It's sweet to pass stronger folks who went out too fast up the hill when they pop. When you know how much you can cook for how long -- an underwhelming 224w/30 min 187/60 min in my case -- it means you know not to start at 300+ even if you can do that for 3 minutes, because it's a 5 mile hill.

Forums

Over at The Daily Peloton Forums discussion continues about yesterday's web chat with LAT reporter Michael Hiltzik.

There is some superb detective work ongoing with the TE tests in terms of understanding which samples and which aliquots were worked on by whom, when, and what this implies for the consistency (or lack) of the reported results.

Odd things still seem to be happening with posts that don't please some moderators personal predilections. An attempt to determine if the community thought some moderators were behaving properly was silently deleted, and a follow up to that was moved into nowhere-land so it wouldn't show up to the casual reader. We'll report on what develops.


Thought for the Day

I occasionally hear about a criminal getting off on a technicality. While we’re at it, let’s make technicalities against the law. If we remove all the technicalities, then no criminal will get off on one.

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