Monday Roundup
News
Velonews runs their pointed interview with Landis on the main page. We covered this Friday when we saw it on the beta, but they just made it more visible, and others are noticing it now.
The CylingNews this morning reposts that the UCI , convinced of his innocence in OP, is trying to find sprinter Allan Davis a new team. The Age says that UCI vice-president Ray Godkin, a former Cycling Australia official, is "convinced" Davis had not violated anti-doping regulations, and will be helping him find a team for the coming European season. Wouldn't it be nice if the UCI found it in its heart to support all of its riders thusly? Even those who may have been suspected but not convicted or accused of doping should get this kind of support, it always pays to know someone at the top.
Variety reviews "Bigger, Stronger, Faster", the documentary about steroid use in American that contains an interview with Floyd Landis. They give it a thumbs up:
At 106 minutes, the film is long, but never dull. Its early playfulness (augmented by retro-styled animation and the tongue-in-cheek use of tracks such as "Eye of the Tiger" and "Holding Out for a Hero") blooms into poignant observation as the investigation takes shape.
Blogs
Racejunkie noticed the Landis interview, and provides the concise summary: Floyd may just have chewed through his leash to the horror of his lawyers. For once, it isn't RJ adding the pointed comments, it was in the original. Would anyone else like to get David Millar and Floyd Landis in the same room at the same time? RJ thinks Landis could be an attorney's Client From Hell for straight talk like this.
RacerBlueSquirrel picks out a favorite quote from the VN interview:
Sometimes an innocent guy is going to be convicted, sometimes the guilty guy is going to be exonerated, but you have to make sure that both sides follow the rules to the same standard. You can't just say, well, we just know everyone is cheating so f--k it, we're just going to do what we want because we don't care.
Rant writes more about the extensive profile Bonnie Ford did last week about Slipstream, and wonders about former Landis trainer Allen Lim.
Sacramento Mystery Cyclist says that even though dopers do suck, people like Floyd Landis have been unjustly sanctioned based on faulty lab work. If we are going to clean up the sport let's start at the top and go all the way, including higher standards for lab techs.
The Duckman read that Floyd Landis will be participating in the NUE MTB series this year and he is excited about meeting Floyd and racing against him, er, um, being on the same course as Landis. His goals for the year start with finishing all his races. Good luck on that!
The Boulder Report notes what Lance Armstrong may have had for breakfast, does anyone care? And Joe Lindsey notes that Cipo is in at Rock Racing, while Floyd Landis sounds angry. Go figure.
Podium Cafe says read the Landis interview over at VN, it's worth the time if you are "burned out" already.
I ride I write thinks Landis is guilty for now, but deserves due process.
VeloGoddess just did one of Landis' favorite training rides, up Palomar, and found snow. She might have found Landis -- go back a few more days VG, it's good for you anyway.
1 comments:
Racejunkie has a point. Floyd might be more open than his attorneys would like. On the other hand, sunshine is a great sanitizer and I admire straight talk. Floyd seems angry with the folks at Slipstream. That’s a little surprising to me. Vaughters seems to me to be, at least, benign in support of Floyd. Tom Danielson, new Slipstream member, recently stated in a very publicly accessible way that he doesn’t think Floyd did what he is accused of. Then again, if ASO/WADA/USADA had treated me the way they have treated Floyd, and my friends/acquaintances over at Slipstream were sucking up to ASO/WADA/USADA, in the self promotional manner that they are, in an effort to get a TdF invite, and it dragged me further through the mud, then yeah, I might be angry too. On the other hand, the source of the irritation could be altogether different?
RacerBlueSquirrel picked out the salient point/quote. The end doesn’t justify the means, especially if there are innocent riders being unjustly removed from the sport. “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work for most intelligent people. The “Golden Rule” just makes more sense. As the gatekeepers, a significant portion of the job should be to set the bar high and to support the setting of the bar through their own actions. Cops who commit crimes in the name of law enforcement are merely criminals in waiting. Take your pick, “Dirty Cops” or “pseudo McCarthyists”, each is a reasonable analogy for the current state of the “Alphabet Soup”.
On another related subject, when will the Alphabet Soup take a good look at the effects of drug testing on the competitors? In my experience, drug testing has most often been a stress factor for athletes and non-athletes, clean or not. The act of putting a portion of your future in the hands of others, with little or no oversight/recourse in the event of a mistake made by those “others”, is by it’s very nature, stressful. Add the taking of bodily fluids and various stages of undress in front of strangers to the mix, which is generally not a comfortable situation for most of us, and there is additional stress. Add again, questions about cleanliness, sterile instruments and collection devices, chain of custody, quality of lab work, and the likelihood that confidential information might be leaked in unflattering and costly ways, then you have even more stress. Also, look at the time it takes away from ideal recovery, especially wrt stage races. If the purpose of drug testing is to remove so called ped’s from the competitive equation, “even the playing field”, and to protect the health of the athletes, then it fails on several counts. Reforms need to be implemented to reduce the factors that cause stress to “clean” athletes. (And I didn’t even address the stress factors associated with the whereabouts system fiasco) From the collection process, to chain of custody, to lab work, to reporting of results, to confidentiality issues, the system is a mess. It doesn’t come close to doing what it purports to do. Whether a skeptic, an anti-doping crusader, or someone who can be described as falling between the extremes, I would think the process would be cause for concern.
That's my rant for today.
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