Dopers Suck

Hey fuckers! Thanks for ruining what could have been the best race in a long time. This is from Velonews.com.

Tour in turmoil as Basso and Ullrich ejected

Mancebo out, too

By AFP

This report filed June 30, 2006

The Tour de France was thrown into its biggest crisis since the 1998 Festina scandal Friday following the suspensions of the men most favored to take the yellow jersey in this year's edition.

photo: AFP

A day before the start of the race, the first since seven-time winner Lance Armstrong retired, organizers said even more riders could follow Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla in being suspended from the race by their teams.

Earlier in the day, 1997 winner Ullrich, and his teammate Spanish teammate Sevilla, were suspended by T-Mobile when fresh evidence from the ongoing Operación Puerto doping probe in Spain - which has implicated a reported 58 riders to blood doping - was released late Thursday. (see list below)

Riis walks to a press conference after reaching his decision...

photo: Casey B. Gibson

That decision was soon followed by Ivan Basso's exclusion from CSC's Tour squad, as team manager Bjarne Riis told reporters here Friday that Basso's link to an ongoing doping probe in Spain had forced the team's decision. Basso, the recent winner of the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France runner-up last year, is also named on a 58-strong list which Spanish investigators claim have been involved in blood doping.

Francisco Mancebo, who finished fourth overall last year, was also suspended by his AG2R team because his name appears on the list.

... but didn't make it to the podium.

photo: Casey B. Gibson

If the 28-year-old Italian is thrown out by his team, it would mean that three of the top five finishers from last year's race would be absent.

There are also doubts over Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan, whose team Astana was given the green light to race the Tour by the Court of Arbitration for Sport late on Thursday.

Astana is the team which has most riders' names on the list.

After a series of crisis meetings Friday between the recently-installed Tour director Christian Prudhomme and the AIGCP, the body which represents the managers of all the teams taking part, Prudhomme was unequivocal in the race organizers' position.

"We're happy about T-Mobile's decision to suspend Sevilla and Ullrich," said Prudhomme, who is directing his first race in place of the retired Jean-Marie Leblanc. "Last night we received official documents from the Guardia Civil (Spanish police) via the Spanish cycling federation.

"We then had a meeting with the AIGCP. During that meeting it was decided that the race's ethical code will be applied to the letter and that none of the riders suspended will be allowed to be replaced. "The sporting directors of each team will now contact the riders concerned."

Tour organizers, who have been keen to avoid any repeat of 1998 when the race almost collapsed due to a major drugs scandal, are putting pressure on teams whose riders are being linked to the probe in Spain.

CSC team manager Bjarne Riis, a Tour winner in 1996, emerged from one of the crisis meetings saying nothing had been decided over Basso's participation.

"We had a good meeting. Everyone agreed on the ethical program we have with the different teams. Now I'm going to talk to my team, and make a statement a little later," said the Dane.

Riis later said he personally made the decision to exclude his top rider.

"It's my responsibility to make this decision and suspend Ivan from the race," Riis said. "I have to think about the team, that is now the most important thing. I trust Ivan Basso, but now it is up to him and his lawyers to show he has nothing to do with this affair."

Prudhomme meanwhile reserved special criticism for the Astaná-Würth team of Vinokourov, suggesting organisers could put further pressure on them to pull riders out.

Prudhomme said fresh evidence from Spain which arrived late Thursday was even more damning and would have condemned them in the eyes of the CAS had it been made available earlier.

"Astaná-Würth is a bit more complicated because there are so many names from that team being linked to the doping probe," added the Frenchman. "Some of those implicated are on the Tour, and some are not. To us, it looks like they have been operating a team doping policy."

---

The following riders were named in the ongoing Operación Puerto doping case by Spanish investigators on Thursday

Astaná-Würth

• Michele Scarponi (I)
• Marcos Antonio Serrano (Sp)
• David Etxebarria (Sp)
• Joseba Beloki (Sp)
• Angel Vicioso (Sp)
• Isidro Nozal (Sp)
• Unai Osa (Sp)
• Jaksche Joorg (G)
• Giampaolo Caruso (I)

CSC

• Ivan Basso (I)

Caisse D'Epargne-Iles Baleares

• Constantino Zaballa (Sp)

Saunier Duval

• Carlos Zarate (Sp)

Ag2r

• Francisco Mancebo (Sp)

T-Mobile

• Jan Ullrich (G)
• Oscar Sevilla (Sp)

Phonak

• Jose Enrique Gutierrez (Sp)
• Jose Ignacio Gutierrez (Sp)

Communidad de Valencia

• Vicente Ballester (Sp)
• David Bernabeu (Sp)
• David Rodriguez (Sp)
• Jose Adrian Bonilla (Sp)
• Juan Gomis Lopez (Sp)
• Eladio Jimenez Sanchez (Sp)
• David Latasa (Sp)
• Ruben Plaza (Sp)
• Jose Luis Martinez (Sp)
• Manuel Llorent (Sp)
• Antonio Olmo (Sp)
• David Munoz (Sp)
• Javier Cherro (Sp)
• Javier Pascual (Sp)former rider and now an official

Unibet.com

• Carlos Garcia Quesada (Sp)

Riders retired or suspended for doping

• Roberto Heras (Sp)
• Angel Casero (Sp)
• Santiago Perez (Sp)
• Tyler Hamilton (USA)
• Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp)

Enraged

So I hear about this this morning while listening to NPR. Not a good thing when I'm pepped up on espresso. I hear some moron Senator from Alabama explaining why we needed this amendment and I got royally pissed off. In fact, I felt that way throughout my commute to work.

Don't get me wrong, I love baseball (die hard Braves fan), hot dogs(with mustard), and PBR (in a can), but the fact that this Amendment only failed by one vote amazes me. Talk about desecration. One of the greatest documents in the history of man was almost desecrated with this Amendment. My and every other United States citizen's freedom of speech was almost restricted. Bad things happen in bad times. I'll be glad when this war and administration are gone. I don't know how much further deterioration of my rights I can handle.

While doing a little reading for this post, I found out that my local Democratic Senator voted for this Amendment. I knocked on doors at night in some very questionable neighborhoods for this man. I'll not vote for him again. If you live in Colorado and feel the way I do, give him a ring. http://salazar.senate.gov/contact/index.html
If you don't live in Colorado and your Senator voted for this Amendment, look them up and give them a ring.

On a side note, I guess ol' Frank is anti-American too.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5517421

Edited to add my letter to Senator Salazar:
Senator Salazar,

I am writing to inform you of my utter dismay and great disappointment after discovering that you voted for the Flag Desecration Amendment.

I spent many evening and weekend hours last year knocking on many doors in an effort to get you and Senator Kerry elected. Unfortunately, only one of you was victorious, but I took pride in the fact that I possibly helped deliver you to your seat.

After reading about your yea vote for this Amendment, I can assure you that will not be the case come time for your re-election. In fact, do not be surprised if you see me working for the other side. Even if that means I have to knock on doors for a Republican.

Had this resolution passed, you and your colleagues may have prevented desecration of our beautiful flag (and yes, I do believe it is a beautiful flag), but you would have scarred one of the most beautiful documents known to man.

Every day I fear the further deterioration of our freedoms due to the Republican controlled congress and current administration. Now, I have to fear the very people I voted for to defend my freedoms.

Alan

Check it

For hours of entertainment.
http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36588/Staff_List_100_Awesome_Music_Videos

Of course A-Ha is at the top of the list. Definitely watch 16 Military Wives by The Decemberists and the classic Nuthin But A G Thang by Dr. Dre.

Much better than seeing that stupid Ford commercial with the American Idol moron over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and . . .

Horseshoes and Handgrenades

Unfortunately, I haven't been playing with either of those the last 3 weeks.

Fortunately, 3 almosts have resulted in my best set of results in my (not so) illustrious racing career. It started with the last race I mentioned in a previous post. 2nd place in a STXC. Two weekends ago was a cross country race in Winter Park. 22.5 miles and 4200 ft. of climbing. I'm not sure about that last stat because my time was 1 hour 46 minutes. Damn fast for that distance and elevation gain. Again a 2nd place. I actually lead that race for a while, but ended up losing it on the 2nd to last lap.

This past weekend was a race in Crested Butte. Tough one too. The promoters claim it's a 10 mile lap with 1800 ft of climbing. This always a hard race, but also one of my favorites. I felt great, followed my game plan, and thought I had pulled off a win. Even the guys I usually race with thought I won, but some local schmocal dude went off the front at the beginning of the race and stayed away. Somehow I missed that, or forgot about him. People usually take off a little too fast in this race and eventually pop due to the length and climbing. I guess I didn't mark the guy in my mind thinking that would happen to him. Dang locals.

That's the way racing goes though. I was happy with the result. I was really happy with the free beer after the race.

I was once told by a friend that is much faster than I am, "learn how to win." He said this to me when talking about the possibility of upgrading to semi-pro. I've taken that to heart. I definitely learned that lesson this past weekend. I was able to catch up to the guy I thought was leading the race. This guy is a good rider, and I was able to get away from him and to the line first. Now I just have to snatch the real deal. Maybe this weekend.

One of the cool things about racing here in Colorado is that you get to hang out with a World Champion. Not only a World Champion, but THE VERY FIRST cross country mountain bike World Champion. Yes, Ned Overend. The man is a freak of nature. I think he'll be 51 this year and he is still out there puttin the hurt on some fast dudes half his age. Oh yeah, and he is retired.

I doubt he is on the dope. No reason for a retired 50 year old to do that, but there contiunes to fallout (alleged) from Operacion Puerto. The latest names to crop up. Tyler Hamilton and Jan Ullrich. Not good whether it is true or not. Just when this year's Tour looked like it was going to be one of the best in a while, it now looks like we are headed to another '98, or worse.

Remember Dopers Suck. I've been sporting these lately.

Is it true?

I think I finally have the computer up and running (maybe not for long), I'll report soon.

Quick Post

from work. Shhhhhhhhh. My laptop is on the fritz. I think it is serious this time. The recovery disc (completely deletion and restoration of files) isn't even working. May be time for a visit to the computer doctor.

The last couple of races went ok. I had two last weekend. A standard cross country and a short track cross country. One is around 2+ hours the other around 30 minutes. For whatever reason, I didn't get enough food in me the day before the cross country race and I bonked on the last of 4 laps. Not a fun feeling. I was nauseated for about 3 or so hours after the race. On the ride home, I had to keep my feet on the dash of the car. If I put them on the floor, I thought I was going to puke.

I was excited about the STXC because if I have a bad day in a race, I usually have a good day the next day. I did end up having a good day and finished second. I think I coulda shoulda won, but the guy that did win was pretty strong that day.

I don't have anything else to report. No new music because of the lack of a computer, and I'm having a serious emusic.com withdrawal. I did just use my last few mp3 of the month to pick up some music by Grandaddy and Art Brut. Who knows when I'll actually get to download it.

Ok, back to the grindstone.

Use It or Lose It

Well, my employer has that policy with regards to vacation time. I was saving some days to go out to the NMBS race in North Carolina and/or Vermont, but I decided not to go. Traveling to races across the country just wears me out. You have to pack a bike, pack bike gear, and pack regular ol every day stuff. I usually have to rush around the night before leaving doing all of that because I have to go to work and ride on that day. Then you have to drag above mentioned stuff through the airport. You get on the plane and without doubt get stuck next to some sick kid or adult or both. Then, you finally get to the venue. You rush around putting your bike together and getting to the course for a pre-ride. Hopefully you have an extra day and get another day to pre-ride the course, but often times you (me) don't have enough vacation time to do that. Then, you race for about 2 to 2.5 hours. Then, sometimes you have to rush back to the room, repack the bike, skip taking a shower, and rush back to the airport to go home. Sometimes you don't.

Then then then. Well, it really is a lot of fun, but doing all of that and rushing back so you can go back to work for busy week kind of wears you out. Damn work. So the local series gets the nod for my focus this year. To be honest, it's a little more competitive than most of the NMBS races anyway. Plus, they changed the NMBS rules this year. You have to complete 4 races plus the final to compete for the series championships. That's 5 races and I probably wouldn't have made that many, so there goes my chances at being a repeat winner.

So here I sit. I'm taking today off and Monday off. Not going anywhere but to the couch. It's kind of nice. I woke up a little late this morning (7:30), and went over to a new coffee shop. The name of it is SML Coffee, and it actually has good coffee. There are a lot of shops around here where the coffee is mediocre at best. Some of them try to pawn off Daz Bog coffee on you. Daz Bog is ok, but it's not coffee shop coffee. Others just suck. Like the one that won't let me charge anything under $5. I think to myself, "it's a freaking coffee shop. Everthing you sell is under $5." I rarely carry cash anymore and always use my check card. I don't think I'm in the minority either. What is the theory behind the $5 minimum anyway? From what I understand of the credit card companies is that they charge something like 2% on each charge. 2% of a little is less than 2% of a lot. Is there some minimum amount the credit card companies take on small charge amounts that I don't know about?

Back to the coffee shop. It's located in this 60s or 70s looking office building. The building has a little drive through, covered area. Above the drive through are office buildings, and on each side of the drive through there are stairwells. The creative owner decided to put up a garage door on either side of the drive through and make it usable space. Pretty cool looking. If you have a myspace account, you can see the pictures on the website.

I had a macchiato (a real one, not the abomination Starbucks tries to pass off) and read my new Rolling Stone. There was a pretty good article about how Bush supposedly "stole" the 2004 election. It is a pretty slanted article, and I usually read such articles with great care. It did, however, have some pretty convincing arguments. I'll have to do some research. Here is a piece from that article. Click on it to see the whole thing.

• I. The Exit Polls
  The first indication that something was gravely amiss on November 2nd, 2004, was the inexplicable discrepancies between exit polls and actual vote counts. Polls in thirty states weren't just off the mark -- they deviated to an extent that cannot be accounted for by their margin of error. In all but four states, the discrepancy favored President Bush.(16)

  Over the past decades, exit polling has evolved into an exact science. Indeed, among pollsters and statisticians, such surveys are thought to be the most reliable. Unlike pre-election polls, in which voters are asked to predict their own behavior at some point in the future, exit polls ask voters leaving the voting booth to report an action they just executed. The results are exquisitely accurate: Exit polls in Germany, for example, have never missed the mark by more than three-tenths of one percent.(17) ''Exit polls are almost never wrong,'' Dick Morris, a political consultant who has worked for both Republicans and Democrats, noted after the 2004 vote. Such surveys are ''so reliable,'' he added, ''that they are used as guides to the relative honesty of elections in Third World countries.''(18) In 2003, vote tampering revealed by exit polling in the Republic of Georgia forced Eduard Shevardnadze to step down.(19) And in November 2004, exit polling in the Ukraine -- paid for by the Bush administration -- exposed election fraud that denied Viktor Yushchenko the presidency.(20)