Increasingly Irregular Report 48

Just when I thought I was out.........they pull me back in

(link)

Hey, we finally updated the Timeline, but not yet the Current Status, or the Key References.

Critical Section got an email from a pal who said Floyd Landis has been taking part in weekly rides with his cycling club. CS then goes on the reminisce about Floyd's amazing stage 17 ride all those years ago. It was indeed a "white swan". Here are the stats that prove it:

* 5 hours 23 minutes and 36 seconds.
* Covering 125 miles (81 miles alone in the wind).
* At a speed of 19.3 mph/hr.
* Hitting a max speed of 52 mph/hr.
* Averaging 281 watts when moving for the whole ride and 318 watts over the last two hours.
* Averaging 324 watts while pedaling for the whole ride and 364 watts over the last 2 hours.
* At an average cadence of 89 rpm.
* Transferring 5,456 Kjoules of energy to his Cycleops PowerTap.
* Taking, no joke, a total of 70 water bottles (480 ml each) from the car to keep himself cool and hydrated.
* Attacking about a quarter of the way up the Col des Saisies for 30 seconds at 544 watts, which settled into a 5-minute peak of 451 watts, which continued for 10 minutes at an average of power of 431 watts, and left everyone in his dust after 30 minutes at an average power of 401 watts.
* Spending 13.2% of his time or 43 minutes coasting like a rocket on the descents and another 60% between 4 to 7 watts per kilogram of body weight (aka, the pain cave).
* Holding onto 373 watts over the Col de Joux-Plane.

New OUCH teammate Bobby Lea was just interviewed by The Morning Call:

I just got back from a training camp in Temecula, Calif.

What was that like? Well, it was mostly the new guys to the team, just some informal training sessions. Real camp starts Jan. 22.

Anybody of note on the team? Floyd Landis [2006 Tour de France winner, stripped of his title after testing positive for steroids].

What's he like? I was a little apprehensive at first, just because I knew the level of riding that was going to be required was going to be harder than any team I've ridden for in the past. I didn't know what Floyd's approach would be, if he was a high-strung guy, but he's just the opposite.

What were training rides like with Floyd? Well, the first part of riding with Floyd, he's so fit right now that most of us were having trouble keeping up with him. Another part that made it an adventure is that he never knew where he was going, nor did we, and every once in a while, we'd get lost. When we got split on climbs, part of the group always seemed to make a wrong turn.

Cycling Fans Anonymous passes some Landis trash and wonders why OUCH has no internal testing program. Could it be they have no money for one?

Rumors are flying about Landis at the moment. Some people are saying that he may have spilled the beans on some version of The Truth to one of his rich benefactors, supposedly giving some sort of confession to one-time doping after his bonk. Time will tell if there is any truth to this. Meanwhile his OUCH teammate Tim Johnson suggests that Landis is in good shape as he prepares for his comeback, saying that Landis "crushed us at training camp a few weeks ago in Asheville." As far as I can tell, OUCH is not part of any bio-passport program, which raises a whole other set of questions.

In the same post, CFA points to a report on a symposium about genetic doping futures that included openly pro-doping participants. We can't go along with "no holds barred", but wonder how to enforce limits. And, he reminds us of a Cyclingnews interview with Tim Johnson, CX whiz, and OUCH team member:

The excitement of the revamped team has been brewing for months with the addition of OUCH and Landis to the US-registered continental team. Johnson confirmed an on-bike relationship with his new teammate since the mid 1990's when Landis was well-known as a professional mountain biker. "I think on a basic level I'm excited to be able to have another tool at our disposal," Johnson said. "Floyd has a lot of experience obviously one of the most talented riders in the world. Having him as a card to play is going to be huge. I would think after having a major joint like a hip replaced, that a come back to the highest level in cycling would be difficult. But he crushed us at training camp a few weeks ago in Asheville. I know for a fact that he will be on good form at the Tour of California."

Johnson also says there will a last OUCH camp towards the end of January before the AToC, and there may have been another one recently.

Yahoo has a lawyer discuss a recent settlement between NASCAR and a female former employee who claimed harassment, saying she probably did pretty well:

I just think you have a very deep-pocketed defendant who was suffering in the court of public opinion. This was a way for NASCAR to stop the bleeding and not air any dirty laundry or even any allegations of dirty laundry.

You can’t help but notice the timing, which is during the holiday season when news gets less emphasis and people aren’t really paying attention to NASCAR.

...

The vast majority of litigation is settled without a trial. It’s no great prediction for an experienced litigator to predict settlement.

The key to a case of this kind is to survive summary judgment. What a defendant tries to do is present evidence that a plaintiff doesn’t even have a leg to stand on. Even if her allegations are true, there is no legal cause of action.

...

This case could have dragged on for two years before it went to trial and then many more on appeal. That’s expensive and stressful and by settling both sides eliminated risk.

We mention this because there are still people who think Landis paid USADA to settle his suit -- which USADA settled before it came to a determination about the cause(s) of action.

While we are winding down, Rant is running a series with lively discussion in the comments, working Towards a New Anti-Doping Approach, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV and Part V

Race Junkie offers a list of ten Christmas wishes, #6, "Hooked on Phonics" courses for one WADA lab; #7, a good dose of common sense for Boonen; and #5, and another crack in Europe for one Floyd Landis.

Pepperdine Law School is having a symposium retrospective on the Landis case on Weds, Feb 27th. For some reason, they've invited some idiots from a blog to be on a panel with a Pulitzer Prize winner. Standards are slipping everywhere.

TBV summited Diablo today (20-Dec) for the first time
since The Mishap on 24-Sep. There was some ice and snow between
the American tower and the base of the Wall,
but it was pleasant to climb since they'd closed it off to cars.
Need to remember the scuba gloves for the descent, though, brrrr.

Those who don't know history, dept.

The Virtual Musette bemoans the lack of knowledge of cycling's past, telling a story of a site that wouldn't provide a link because TVM is largely about that old stuff, and now what's happening now. Amends here, TVM is a very interesting site we recommend checking out.