Saturday, January 26, 2008

Saturday Roundup

News
The CyclingNews' MTB roundup finds last year's NUE champ Chris Eatough anxious to defend his title, and he seems to be looking forward to racing against Floyd Landis:

"I'm sure Floyd Landis [Smith & Nephew] will be a factor. He has excellent fitness and takes these races fairly seriously," he said of his newly committed competition. The two raced at the Shenandoah Mountain 100 in 2007, but Eatough did not finish after suffering a severe mechanical within the first 20 miles. Landis finished third.

In other CyclingNews Tom Vannoppen confirms that he did test positive for cocaine, but that he did not rat out Tom Boonen as his supplier as was stated in the Belgian press. CN also runs a small piece on the Kayle Leogrande vs. USADA story still referring to him as the "anonymous" cyclist..

The Guardian Unlimited writes about cyclist David Millar's contribution in helping to "establish" Slipstream/Chipotle, and Floyd Landis' comments about Slipstream are included in the piece.

The Street lists the Sundance Film Festival's best entries this year and includes "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" in which Floyd Landis has a "cameo."

Blogs
Rant writes about "John Doe", now presumed to be Rock Racing cyclist Kayle Leogrande and the filing of a lawsuit on his behalf by Maurice Suh and Howard Jacobs against USADA for testing "B" samples when "A" samples have tested negative. Rant feels USADA is trying to run Leogrande (and maybe Rock Racing?) out of cycling, and Don Catlin's comments sound very discreet, approaching disingenuous.

VeloGoddess got to ride the perfect ride on the perfect day yesterday in California near Torrey Pines, and thinks she saw Floyd Landis, in black, with a group of riders in blue. If true, Floyd, please wear your helmet!

UltraRob mentions the fact that Floyd Landis will be running the NUE this year and even though UR thinks most of the top riders do ,or have doped, he feels Floyd got bad lab work. He cites comment on Landis going to the NUE here.

Super Rookie bets he knows who the "anonymous cyclist" is in the USADA lawsuit just filed by Maurice Suh. If he reads Rant (or us) this morning he will know with even more confidence."

Welcome to the Tea Boutique also reviews "Bigger, Stronger, Faster".

Dr. Joan Bushwell seems to have caught up on her reading here, glad she didn't take certain comments too personally, we'll be sure to do the same with hers. For the record, Strbuk drinks Peets.

14 comments:

kemibe said...

"Strbuk drinks Peets."

Sweet. We're from the Boston area, so we appreciate a nice cup of Peet's even though I myself am curiously partial to Dunkin' Donuts.

Starbucks is just awful. They don't just burn their beans, they nuke 'em.

Unknown said...

Re: Rant's Blog entry

Is this another example of “blind testing” being broken, is it another example of “results shopping”, is it both, or is it something else altogether???

How does this work?

Leogrande does well @ Superweeks. Leogrande is selected for testing. He gives samples. His samples are tested. No AAF’s on his “A Samples”?

Does USADA say something like: “Okay, we know this Leogrande guy must be riding dirty. Lab Director xyz, you need to analyze B Sample associated with #gdmf1000ko, and lets make sure it comes up an AAF.” Or, perhaps, they labs are queued to issue an AAF when directed to analyze a specific sample??? Dunno, maybe???

It will be nice to get the opinion of an authority, outside of the anti-doping machine system, regarding the testing of B Samples when the corresponding A Samples have not registered an AAF.

Still, if USADA is acting within the rules, I can’t imagine a scenario where we should be able to make an educated guess as to the identity of John Doe in lawsuit filed by Suh and Jacobs. Suh and Jacobs didn't leak it, and they'd be putting their reputations/professions on the line if they did. Maybe someone else can enlighten me?

Anonymous said...

Thinking about the John Doe case vis a vis Suh, I think it's best to wait and see if this individual is eventually named, or comes out publically. If we engage in too much speculation, it kinda makes us as bad as potential leakers, eh? Also, isn't the filing of the lawsuit public? I'm not a lawyer so I know little about this...

I am also wondering about how certain samples are randomly tested. If there are suspicions about certain riders, does that somehow impell a lab/organization to seek out that sample? It seems that that is in contrast to established protocol, or is it? I guess it depends on the circumstances / country / relevance / timing... I'm beginning to get more and more confused about who is testing who, and what country has a final word over another country (if that is the case.)

On that last point, why doesn't the EU at least have a standardized ruling body whose rulings would override any specific EU country's rules - it just seems as though it would make far more sense. Seeing how the EU's legal authority is increasing, I don't think this is an impossible scenario.

Anonymous said...

kemibe, strbuk - I'm in Boston as well, and Pete's is the greatest. I have to drink decaf; their french roast decaf is the best ever. Besides, they haven't become this mega corporation that starbucks has become, marketing just about anything and everything possible in the name of coffee and fair trade practices - they're just a bit too commercially vested for me...

bobble said...

The USADA are who we thought they were!!!!

Sorry, I just had to...

Unknown said...

BLT wrote, "On that last point, why doesn't the EU at least have a standardized ruling body whose rulings would override any specific EU country's rules - it just seems as though it would make far more sense."

As I understand it, it does. It is called CAS. The cycling world as I understand agrees to live by their rulings, except for maybe AFLD. OH, now I understand your confusion BLT. :)

Cal

daniel m (a/k/a Rant) said...

BLT,

Peet's is the best. It's finally made its way into a few gourmet shops in the Milwaukee area. I've been a loyal mailorder customer of theirs for 22 years. Decaf French Roast is pretty amazing, so is the Decaf Special Blend. Starting next month, they're going to be offering a Decaf Major Dickison's Blend to replace the Decaf Special Blend. (Rant is powered by Peet's but has been restricted to decaf for a number of years now.)

Starbucks is the McDonald's of "gourmet coffee". (Sorry, strbuk) The beans are roasted to the point of being dry, and while some of their blends have a strong flavor, it's nothing like the stuff I get delivered from Emeryville.

grimid said...

"Strbuk drinks Peets"

...I always assumed strbuk was shorthand for Kara Thrace...

strbuk said...

Grimid, I have been asked about Kara Thrace before, but I never saw BG. I have been "Strbuk" since I got "on line" in 1993, I took my "phonetic" name from "The X-Files" character Dana Scully who was given the nickname "Starbuck" by her dad. That was taken from the character in "Moby Dick. I'll bet you're sorry you commented!!

str

grimid said...

I forgot all about that tidbit about Scully - although I should have done - I still remember & chuckle for hours over her naming her little yap-dog (Yorkie?) "Queequeg!"

strbuk said...

Queequeg was a Pomeranian!! Sad to see such an adorable little dog eaten by a gator.

str

DBrower said...

I thought Queequeg was a Maori (unlike wannabe David Clinger), and he died following Starbuck one last time -- and the coffin he made in anticipation saved a guy who was so embarrassed, he used "Ishmael" as an alias, long before Jennifer Garner tried something similar.

confused,

TBV

strbuk said...

You are NOT confused wisest TBV, I am referring to the bastardization of that scene perpetrated by the "X-Files" wherein the Pomeranian "Queequeg" followed Scully (a.k.a. Starback) to his demise. Well, actually he ran into a swamp and was consumed by a giant gator, but you get the picture.

str

grimid said...

It's nice to know that we're not all just Bike Geeks, we're "Lit Geeks," too :-)

I'm a "Don Quixote" fan, myself...which is why my bike is named Rocinante.