Another one bites it...

Zirbel's B sample also positive from Velonews. com. Oops, looks like someone tested positive 2 times now, and will be banned for a couple of years. Say goodbye to the career you never really had doper. Don't let the proverbial door hit you in the arse on the way out. Seems as though, he has read the excuse list though, because just like everyone else who has ever gotten busted (well, almost everyone), he's got several excuses, all of which are 99.9% lies. Sure there is a small, very small, almost miniscule chance he's telling the truth, but those chances are not very good. I think it goes back to the old slim and none, and instead of slim just leaving town, slim and none both RAN outta town. Anyone have the over and under on how many doping positives we'll get this year during the race season once it gets cranked up? How many more times will Boonen get busted for recreational drugs? He does seem to like to snort the powder. My wife has officially jumped off of the Boonen fan wagon, after she found out he was dating a 16 year old girl (well, she's probably 18 or so now I guess, or getting close to that age). Now, she finds him creepy. She's moved over to liking Cavendish, or Millar. She has a thing for pale lanky Englishmen. How she ended up with me (swarthy, dark, hairy, Frenchman) I'll never really know, but I'm not going to question it. She pretty much rocks my world.

Anyway, regardless of doping going on, I'm still pretty psyched for the real season to start. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, spring classics are where it's at. This is where the hard men (or the best dopers) come into their own. I think I read somewhere the Lancey-poo is going to be riding the Classics this year, which makes me like him, just a little bit. I know, another Lance hater. Don't get me wrong. I completely respect what he's done on the bike, and I respect what he's done off the bike (Livestrong and cancer stuff and things like that), it still doesn't make me a fan of him though. That's all I will say about that for now. But, get out there like you did in the old days Lance, and get in the mud, it'll be good for you. Ride some cobbles. Taste some cow shit from the roads in Belgium. It's going to be another great Spring season.

Cross Worlds happened this weekend. And I'm disappointed and sad for one Katie Compton, who had cramp issues this weekend, and didn't finish the race. I feel sad, because she's is one fucking super fast woman out there, and she's not yet gotten her World Championship, and this year, she was on FIRE. Vos won, again, which doesn't surprise me, because after Compton, she's got the goods as well. Here is hoping that Katie can figure out her leg cramping issues, and come back again next year, and put the smack down on the women 'crossers of the world. Maybe she needs to pull a "Page" and just pack up camp, and just stay in Europe from late August until World Championships, because it does appear that her cramping issues come up with lots of travel. She doesn't need to come back to the US to ride National Championships, she's already proven, time and again, that she can kick the shit out of the women's fields here (most of the time) without really trying. Stay in Europe Katie, and bring home the rainbow jersey. What I hope she doesn't do though, is give up, because she seems to be getting stronger every single year (when she's not cramping). Good luck Katie, here's hoping you come back stronger next year, and kick the ass that most of us know that you can.

Paging Page...

No doubt, most of you out there have seen this little item about Jonathan Page missing a drug test post race after a recent outing. When reading the article, you see that, the Page’s have a ton of excuses about “why” Mr. Page missed his doping test after the race. He crashed. He didn’t finish the race. Nobody came and told him he was due to be tested. None of his friends didn’t tell him about his test. And so on and so forth.

Look, I’ve got to believe that this is NOT Mr. Page’s first time at the rodeo as far as large scale UCI cyclocross races go. Meaning, he’s done this before. He knows, as does just about everyone else racing in these races, that he might get pulled for a random drug test, and if he does well in a race, he will get tested after he finishes. OK, sure, he didn’t finish this race. He crashed hard, and was feeling the ill effects of said crash as he went back to his motor home to call his doc, and wait for his support team (mostly his wife Cori) to head on back to the motor home to see how things were going.

Now, again, he’s been here before. He’s done these races. In this situation, Mr. Page has nobody to blame for his missing his required test, other than himself. He had plenty of time to head back, change, call his doctor, go over things with his wife and friends, and then head back towards the finish line to see or to check the testing list. Apparently, he even went and collected his travel money for the race, which is presumably somewhere near where the testing list is posted. Wouldn’t you think, maybe, just a little due diligence would have been a good thing? Walk over. Check the list, and if you’re on it, go and pee in a cup and get it done and over with. Now look, I’m not casting any aspersions towards Mr. Page. I don’t believe that he’s a doper. Nope. Not in the least. I don’t think he was trying to dodge the test on purpose. I think he was just stupid in not following up, and again, there is nobody to blame except for one person. Jonathan Page.

He goes on to say his “entourage” isn’t as big, or even as close to as big as other racers. Sure enough. Sven Nijs no doubt has hundreds or maybe even thousands of people hanging around him before, during, and after his race, but again, you couldn’t blame his supporters if he missed a doping test. Again, only Nijs would be to blame.

I see this recurring thing with Mr. Page, over and over again. Bad things happen to him, but those things never seem to be his fault, or he never makes himself accountable for what happens. He has a falling out with sponsors? Not his fault, nope. Someone else. He doesn’t get good support during races? Not his fault, must be someone’s else’s. Can’t find new sponsors? Must be some sort of conspiracy against him. Thing is, when something bad happens to Mr. Page, it appears that the only connecting factor to the bad things happening to said person, is Mr. Page. This latest incident is no different. Except this time, it could very well affect his living, the way he makes his money. Why? Because a missed test is an almost automatic admission of guilt of doping, whether or not you have doped or not. Meaning, it’s pretty likely that Mr. Page is going to get suspended, and won’t be riding his bike for money in the near future.

Here’s the thing. Even though I just excoriated him, I don’t think anything should happen to Page. Why? He’s not a doper. I think that he can prove it. I know that he can prove that. I’d love to see USADA excuse him for his missed test, take the blood that was taken from him the day after the race, test it, and find him innocent of doping, and then we can move forward, and let him continue to race, and be able to support his family in the way that he has been accustomed to, and that they have come to expect. I think it dumb of him to have missed his doping test, but it happened. We need to move past it. We need to let him race. Slap him on the wrist, and move forward. Will that happen? Knowing the inflexibility of USADA, probably not. Meaning, he will see some suspension time no doubt. He won’t be racing at World Championships this year, and we probably won’t see him again. For America’s most successful cyclocross racer in Europe, he has said that he’d retire, and not be seen racing bikes again. It’s a shame, but, it is ALL HIS FAULT.

For your high level racers out there, make sure you personally check the drug test board. If your name is on there, go and pee in the cup. It makes things SO much easier.

Just because...

Yo...

So I was perusing one of my more favorite blogs on the internet the other day, that being Drunkcyclist.com and I saw a posting up there about how the main man Jonny is in law school, doesn't have much time to write on there any longer, and things like that. Well, I volunteered my services, and am now a guest writer on that page. I'll be listed as "giantcu92" so drop on by, and check it out. Whatever I put up on there, I'll put up on here as well.

Over and out, and oh, head on over there to check out my post from yesterday. It's morning, and I don't feel like cutting and pasting.

And now...

And now we have Rassmussen kicked out as well? What in the world is going on in this Tour?

And Moreni...

Sure, still not as bad as Festina in 1998, but still, holy hell Hanna! Shit is going down.

I, of course, am disappointed. Who wouldn't be in this whole fiasco that this has turned into thus far. Now we have Contador taking over the yellow jersey, but, he was once suspected of doping last year as well (Operacion Puerto anyone?). Now, this will hang over the rest of the Tour. Yellow jersey kicked off of his team, and booted from le Tour. Guy in 2nd place was suspected as a doper. Last year's "winner", busted for doping. And so on and so forth we go.

And to think I was enjoying this year's race, a lot. But since Rassmussen won today's stage, I didn't bother to watch it, because it matters not once again. What I do think though is that the system, is slowly, and surely catching up with the dopers and the cheaters. Why do I say this? Well, more guys are getting busted, so the tests must be getting better, and the dumb asses who continue to cheat, are going to keep getting caught. It also makes me feel better that there are now teams taking measures to head off doping on their own without the help of the UCI, or the rider's national testing bodies. T-Mobile, CSC, Slipstream, and a couple of other teams have put into place stringent controls over and above what the UCI or the doping testers are doing on their own. I think that people who are putting these programs into place (Bob Stapleton, Jonathan Vaughters, and Bjarne Riis namely) are trying to save the sport from itself, and are doing the right things for sure. They want to see the sport flourish, and want to see it done cleanly. I applaud their efforts, and applaud the efforts of the UCI in catching more damn cheaters. Sure, it makes it looks like there is a pox on our house, but I'd rather have these guys get busted, and have me disappointed for a few days, or weeks, rather than having those same assholes still riding, and probably winning races.

To sum up. I'm disappointed, but hopeful. I love the sport, and want to see it continue to get better and better, and cleaner and cleaner. Will it ever be squeaky clean? I doubt it. That flies in the face of human nature and competition in general, but it can get a lot better, and it will. It has to, I think, to survive.

OK, that's it...

Vino busted for transfusing blood at the Tour de France

Are you freakin' kidding me? You took away what was turning out to be a great race, and made it into ANOTHER doping affair. Nice going, jackass. May Borat kill you 2 times in your sleep.

Not to mention, you had Sinkewicz (spelling??) testing positive for testosterone.

The Tour leader is embroiled in his own possible doping scandal back home for missing out of competition tests.

Contador was implicated, and then let go in Operacion Puerto.

Lindsay Lohan got busted for cocaine this morning.

Has the entire world gone mad?!?!

The Giro d'Italia has ended. Does anyone care?

I know, I know. The little bit of information that I've picked up about the Giro this year indicates that it was a good race, with some good racing, and some hard stages. There were some quality wins, by some quality riders, and let's face facts here. I think Danilo Diluca is a worthy winner of this race. But the question that I really have is this; does anyone much care right now? I might be in the minority of this path of thinking, but I couldn't care less about this race. And that's just sad to me, because in years past, I have been a HUGE fan of this race. Out of the grand tours that are contested every year, the one that takes place in Italy is my most favorite grand tour. The Tour de France is great for the mere size of it, and the Vuelta is good because you can see the passion of the Spanish riders for that race. But they Giro, it is the best. The best courses, the most passionate riders, and most of the time, it ends up being a good race.

This year though, I have no passion for it. Normally, I would be reading updates all during the stages while I'm at work. Getting the blow by blow. I would be checking out the results on a daily basis, arguing with other people on internet forums about who was doing what, what teams are looking strong, which ones are looking weak, and commenting on the various riders and tactics. This year, I've got nothing. I blame my lack of passion, and or interest in this race, and in racing in general due to the most recent doping revelations. It's been like a kick to the head, and has made me not want to follow pro bike racing that much, or at all. Sure I keep myself sort of updated, but I'm sick of it right now. More sick of the doping, and the people and riders wrapped up in it, than the racing itself. It feels like to me that everything is tainted. I have a hard time believing race results, and I have an even harder time believing riders who say, "I only doped for this one race..." or others who have said, "I only doped for a week back in 1996..." or some other nonsense such as that. Come on guys. We're not stupid over here. You're saying that you doped, but that you only did it "once" or maybe "twice". Yeah, come on. Do you see turnip truck around here anywhere? I mean, we all know that doping exists, and that it is probably rampant. It's just that we haven't had this amount of revelation in the sport. Guys coming out, who never got popped for doing anything, saying that they did it.

I know right now, I'm feeling beat down. But I'll get over it. Here's the thing. I'm not a big sports fan for the most part. I watch a game here and there, or go to a game here and there, but cycling for me, is different. It's different because I actually am a big fan of the sport and before I just wanted to believe that the riders weren't doping, and in my mind, I went with the whole, "Well, if they don't test positive, they're good to go." I can't use this assumption any longer really. I'm going to have to go the opposite way. I'm just going to assume from now on that every rider who does win, is most likely doping. Sure, there are going to be exceptions, but I think by far, and by large, the guy first across the line, probably shooting something into his veins to make him go faster. What else are we to think really? I do love the sport, but my patience is starting to wear thin.

Let's make a list...

I was out on a ride today, and I was thinking about making a list. So here we go...

1. Floyd Landis
2. Roberto Heras
3. Alex Zulle
4. Eddy Merckx
5. Ivan Basso
6. Johan Museuw
7. Frank Vansebroucke
8. Tyler Hamilton
9. Lance Armstrong
10. Alejandre Valverde
11. Jan Ullrich
12. Tom Simpson
13. Joseba Beloki
14. Raismandas Rumsas
15. Bjarne Riis
16. Richard Virenque
17. David Millar
18. Marco Pantani
19. Laurent Brochard
20. Oscar Camenzind

Now, there are 20 names of cyclists up there on this page. What do they all have in common? They've all been singled out for doping in their cycling careers. Review that list. Take it in. Look at it again. There are some seriously big names in there, and I mean really big names in there. Some of them have been proven out to be dopers, others were suspected of it, and some were found out after their careers were over. This is by no means a full and comprehensive list, this is just the names I came up with thinking about it for a few minutes. Can anyone add some more to this list?

My point with this, is that, look at the names. Look at the races that they won. Now, do you honestly think that there are any racers out there at the highest level of the sport who are not doping? To be certain, I'm sure and certain that there are a few folks out there who are not doping to ride their bikes, but I firmly believe that they are the exception, rather than the rule. With testing catching up to riders, and their "techniques" for enhancement, this is why we're seeing more and more riders pop positive these days. This is why folks keep getting nailed, and it will continue. I don't know if we'll have any pro cyclists left after Puerto is all said and done, there will be a few less boys in the peloton for sure. I think that we're in a dark time as far as cycling goes and we don't know what's going to happen to the sport. I for one, haven't been paying any attention to the Giro D'Italia, which is odd for me, since I love that race, but this year, I'm disinterested. I'm interested in racing, and riding my bike, but now more on a local level as opposed to watching the big time pros too much. I still watch some races, but I'm tired of opening up cyclingnews.com, or velonews.com in the morning, and seeing who got busted for what today. It's maddening, and sad at the same time.

Down in flames...

I'm not the one going down in flames of course, but one Mr. Jan Ullrich after the revelations of this past week. We have, a man, who I would say is, or rather, was one of my cycling heroes found out that indeed, he did have a bunch of blood banked ready to re-inject into himself to give a little boost on those "off" days. Jan, what the hell were you thinking? I know, all of those tough years when you were supposed to be the golden boy of cycling, the NEXT BIG Tour de France star, and then you had that pesky Armstrong guy roll in and take your thunder. And not only that, but he had a better back story than you did. How do you compete with someone who battles and wins against cancer, and then continues onward to win Tour after Tour after Tour? I could see why you would prescribe to more devious means to go faster, and to be able to possibly take down the Tour champ Armstrong, but you didn't need that. What you needed to be doing was you needed to train more. Lay off the strudel and the danish in the off season, and just go out and ride your bike. But instead, it appears that you decided to try and take shortcuts instead of the hard working route. Yes, I understand, even with the shortcuts you still had to work hard, but man oh man, it's such a disappointment.

Not to mention that the support that you received from your fans over the years was pretty much unparalleled as far as I can tell. People were behind you every single step of the way in your quest to win the biggest most prestigious race on the calendar. Hell, you had the entire nation of Germany cheering you onward up the cols and through the time trials and over the flat stages, and look at the turnout you had when the race took a turn into Germany. Unbelievable how many people lined the roads just to see you pass by.

But then, this week, your career took a turn towards negative town, and even worse, you let your lawyers make stupid statements about why Dr. Fuentes (and OB-Gyb if I'm not mistaken) had 9 bags of YOUR blood in his storage bin. While it being true on the surface that this is not for sure an indication that you blood packed, and or blood doped, but it doesn't look too good my friend, not good at all. And to have one of your lawyers pop up and say that this does not mean anything at all, and that it is "normal" for people to have their blood stored in different locations just makes it look even more insane really. Let the long list of excuses continue. So, if indeed you were storing your blood for a possible future surgery Jan, what kind of surgery was an OB-Gyn going to performing on a world class cyclist anyway? I'm not sure that his particular branch of specialty really applies to you does it?

This week, cycling took another hit to its reputation when your DNA came back matching those blood bags, and literally every good thing you did in your own career Jan has come to be recognized as being tarnished now. The Olympic medals, the Tour title, the national titles, everything, as far as I'm concerned, tarnished. Who knows how long you've been doping, possibly your entire career. It's not as if the East Germans (who you used to ride for) were known as being scrupulous in their means of making their athletes faster, stronger, and better. I'm probably certain that behind the iron curtain, there were many bad things going on as far as doping was concerned. Then you had your "trusted" advisor Rudy Pevenage, who I'm certain, had undue influence on you, and I believe to the detriment of your own career that you listened to him a little too much. He was a hanger on, looking to get rich off of you, and it appears that he offered you lots of bad advice no doubt.

But none of this matters anymore. You've gone down in flames, and your further damaged cycling just when many of us, fans of the sport, thought it couldn't be damaged any further. Thanks for that. It has now gotten to the point where it is hard to enjoy the sport for the actual sport of it, and any good performance is looked upon with apprehension and or suspicion, and this is in part because of people like you. My love for the sport will of course go on, and I will still watch the big races, and talk about the results, but always with a wary eye towards the headlines of cyclingnews.com to see who got busted for what on a particular day.

Thanks Jan for helping to chip away at the sport just a little more.