Saturday, February 09, 2008

Saturday Roundup

News
The CyclingNews reports the UCI wants Michael Rasmussen punished for not being honest about his whereabouts while "training" last spring. And WADA is chomping at the bit as it hopes for a reopening of the Operation Puerto investigation. Oliver Niggli, legal director of WADA, feels the UCI and WADA will take over as lead investigatory agencies should the case be re instituted.

The VeloNews Mailbag has one note in sympathy with Dick Pound's lobbying efforts to head the CAS, and another from a Canadian who is embarrassed to be the same nationality as Mr. Pound. This writer wants to start a campaign to keep Pound from the CAS post. The majority of the remaining letters express heartfelt sympathy at the loss of cycling wrench guru Sheldon Brown, who was one of Mr.Strbuk's personal heroes.

The NY Times dryly notes that as Roger Clemens continued his "meet and greet" with Congress yesterday, Brian MacNamee was alleging that Roger was not the only member of the Clemens family MacNamee was injecting.

The Washington Post expresses concerns that this summer's Olympic games in China may be virtually impossible to adequately police for doping violations.

Santa Clara University gives us all another chance to catch Greg LeMond speaking on the topic of "ethics, doping, and the future of cycling"

US News and World Reports says that 80 year old former Senate page Floyd Landis has found a treasure trove of old visitors passes. This has nothing to do with anything here, but hey, it came up in a search.

CBS Sports.com posts a snarky little piece about "Generation A", athletes who make sports writers long for the good old days when jocks, or coaches, were merely drunken fools. Floyd Landis inevitably makes "the list" of arseheads:

Upon learning that Floyd Landis had beaten his foes by something like 89 minutes during one of the 2006 Tour De France's most punishing stages, I burst into a "U-S-A!" cheer and talked trash about the inferiority of other countries' cheeseburgers and romantic comedies. Not for a second did it dawn on me that such a surge could only have been fueled by a pre-race testosterone smoothie.

The cheating -- affirmed by numerous arbitration panels and such -- doesn't land him on this list, though. No, it's his revolving barrage of explanations for his elevated testosterone level, which have ranged from the medical to intimations of an anti-Floyd conspiracy to the c'mon-dude-seriously? claim that a massive hangover spurred it. Even worse was the revelation that Landis' business manager called up Greg LeMond and mocked him about a private conversation between the two cyclists regarding LeMond's childhood sexual abuse. What a cur.

Blogs
Fitzy was inspired to train rigorously for a marathon by Floyd Landis, before he knew about the "doping", and he now writes an article about the dangers of over training.

CaliRado Cyclist notes some unusual "invitees" the ASO may want to include in this year's Tour de France. Pictures are provided.

"Dr. Joan" posts an entry discussing the possible existence an accurate test to detect the use of HGH. The test has been developed in the UK.

The Sacramento Mystery Cyclist wonders if USADA is a criminal organization. Should Landis win his CAS appeal, he'll probably be asking that question in a relevant forum.

Our friend Pommi got a new bike.

Phonak Convention in Castro Valley
On TBV's first big ride of the year (61mi, 1880 kj), he shared waves with another rider wearing Phonak kit in Castro Valley. If it's a reader, drop a comment and take a bow. That made more Phonaks than Discoverys seen today.

3 comments:

Ali said...

Sheldon Brown was one of my heroes too.

I gained much information on Italian bottom bracket threads, etc from the man.

RIP Sheldon. You set the bar high. There are few who can claim such selfless indulgence in cycling. I know you saved my sanity on many projects.

Respect.

Ali

bobble said...

"Oliver Niggli, legal director of WADA, feels the UCI and WADA will take over as lead investigatory agencies should the case be
reinstituted"

Cue theme from Jaws...

snake said...

That Le Putz guy just makes me SICK ! Now he's cashing in on the misery ?!? I am tempted to go to this speech, just to yell.

Oh, look, the perfect shirt for the occasion: