Monday Roundup

News
The CyclingNews details further the UCI talks to create an as yet ill defined parallel series which will run along with the Pro Tour and would consist of ASO, Unipublic, and RCS races, and four of the "monuments". One wonders how this will make things better, and how it will substantially differ from what was proposed last fall.

The NY Daily News reports on rampant use of the as if now undetectable HGH in the NFL, and apparently it's all part of the "freak show". The seemingly ubiquitous Don Catlin is quoted on the lack of reliable HGH testing:

In fact, no such test is forthcoming, blood or urine, according to experts worldwide, including Dr. Don Catlin, the master engineer of conventional screening technology, which he also labels as inherently flawed. HGH testing currently purported by world anti-doping officials lacks critical clinical data and independent scientific review.

"Any test that I do in my lab, I will be all over (documentation of reliability)," Catlin said a year ago, having already waited three years for information he'd been assured was forthcoming, "because if I report a positive (for HGH), I have to go to court. I have to defend the test. You've got to have hard-core evidence of (valid testing): ‘Here's the study. Here's what we did. Here's what we found. Here's the (data) on false-positives. Here's the false-negative.'"

The NYTimes is reporting Roger Clemons is trying to convince people of his cleanliness with career statistics. This seems to us like the same argument Landis has been making for what happened on Stage 17, and will probably be met with the same reactions.

Blogs
WADA Watch does an astounding dissection of the AFLD decision in their case against Landis, with his own translations of points he considers important. Good reading for those seeking a practical definition of 'arbitrary and capricious' in legal studies.

Oliver Starr posts his promised follow up to last week's post about Floyd Landis and the 2006 Tour de France. He thinks he has found a "smoking gun" in the following Landis quote, there's apparently more to come:

“I was struggling even on the climbs before that,” Landis said. “I tried to hide it, but I wasn’t good, and then on the last climb there was only a certain speed I could go, which wasn’t very fast.” Floyd Landis following his disastrous finish on the 16th stage of the 2006 Tour de France

Boulder Report/Joe Lindsay rehashes "John Doe" and Leogrande.

Steroid Nation remarks on the "freak show", and it is us, the public.

Demon Cats questions what Floyd Landis' real role on Rock Racing might be in the wake of the Kayle Leogrande vs USADA lawsuit filed by Landis case lawyer Maurice Suh. DC may be reaching a bit.

Red Hawk Cycling notes the NUE's invitation asking Floyd Landis to compete in the MTB series this year.