Blah…Blah…Shut this guy up!

The big news was announced recently that the USADA hearing with Floyd Landis will not be held until May.  Thus, it appears he will not race the Tour de France as by the time the hearing takes place, the decision comes down, the appeals are finished, the Tour will be over. 

 There is so much out there it is hard to know what is accurate.  Is Floyd still the Tour de France Champion?  Is the USADA causing delays?  Is Landis’ side causing delays?

There is something that the public just doesn’t seem to get about this whole thing.  The USADA is an enforcement agency.  It is not the job of the USADA to determine the guilt or innocence of an athlete.  It is the job of the USADA to prosecute all viable cases.  Do they have a viable case in the Landis’ case?  Who knows?  Landis’ side will obviously tell you no; however, there are two sides to  every story and we only know one side.  We don’t know the USADA’s side because they will not tell us their side.  Why?  They have ethics.  They are following their own rules not to comment on pending cases.  This just gives Landis’ camp, and his supporters, fuel for the fire.  While PowerPoint presentations are being made, revised, and sent all around the world via the internet, the USADA must patiently wait for a hearing date.  These same people supporting Landis will be the first to fire off on Dick Pound when he violates his own rules and runs at the mouth.

Do I think Landis is guilty?  No.  I do know this though, I have only heard one side of the story.  I also know that the USADA would not be pursuing this case if they did not thing their case was viable.  The power to prosecute is almost as important as the power not to prosecute.  All prosecuting agencies know this and don’t take their jobs lightly.  So, unless the USADA is a bunch of unethical cheats, which I would say they are not, they must believe their case is enough to prove Landis guilty.  If anyone thinks they are prosecuting Landis for any other reason than this, they have never worked in a prosecutors office.

I am sure people work at the USADA because they are sports fans.  They don’t want a national hero like Landis to be guilty.  However, they have been charged with the unenviable task of not being judge and jury, but a prosecutor.

Working in a law enforcement office, when a person makes a procedural argument, it is usually a guilty man’s argument.  I have to write though, I don’t think this is true in Landis’ case.  First, the nice powerpoint presentation points out some horrific errors in the handling, labeling (actually mislabeling) and use of ID numbers made by the French lab in the testing of Floyd Landis’ samples from the Tour de France that are in question.  Now, the French newspaper L’Equipe is reporting that the French lab has admitted to making “administrative errors” in the handling of the B sample.

 Something is wrong.  There are so many errors with the lab it is ridiculous.  They have destroyed a man’s reputation yet they cannot even get samples labeled correctly or follow the proper procedure for the re-labeling of samples.  Meanwhile, Dick Pound, President of WADA, continues to defend the mistakes.  After all, this guy doesn’t care who he tramples in the process of boosting his own ego.  He is still bitter from not being named head of the IOC.  So, he has made it his personal goal just to ruin sports for his own gain.

 At some point you have to state enough is enough.  Pound needs to respect the rules that are in place if he is to have any credibility.  The French lab needs to start answering for how it leaked information about Landis, how it mislabeled the samples and even how it let out the information on Armstrong.  Isn’t there a pattern here?  The lab is not reliable.

 The rules also need to be changed under WADA.  A and B samples cannot be tested by the same lab.  It would help solve a lot of these problems and prove that some of these labs are not as accurate as they are thought to be.

If you are from Lake County and like to cycle and do triathlon and you haven’t heard of Robbie Ventura or Vision Quest, well, you just aren’t paying attention. Robbie Ventura rode for US Postal as a pro cyclist. Yes, he did ride with Lance Armstrong. Since leaving Postal, all he has done is: 

1) Built a successful coaching business;
2) Put out a great crit/training video for athletes;
3) Coach Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis;
4) Put together the strongest cycling teams in the Midwest (okay this one might be disputable, but I will explain later). Vision Quest and Ventura in the Midwest for cycling has become akin to the New York Yankees. Everybody hates them, but everyone wants to be on the team. Some local athletes might even dub Vision Quest as the “evil empire.” I contend all of this is unfair. 

Robbie Ventura has used his position as an ex-pro riding for Postal to his benefit. Who wouldn’t? It is smart business. It is no different than sponsors wanting to pay athletes to wear shoes. Even closer is ex-pro players in any sport that get jobs as commentators or coaches of that sport. Why should Ventura be penalized just because he was an ex-Pro? Ventura has been masterful in turning his name into a brand people want to buy. I cannot fault him for that. As for his coaching services, yes, I have heard some negative reviews. I think that is true in any service oriented business. What I do see is his athletes performing well at races, whether it is cycling or triathlon. I see his cycling team working together as a team, not a bunch of individuals. 

I think the problem for Vision Quest is that the people that pay for the service are serious, especially the cyclist. Being a part of Vision Quest is not cheap, so you better be serious about your sport. In cycling though, his racers work together as a team. They have obvious strategies, goals and team leaders. Their group rides are planned out for getting stronger instead of aimlessly riding. Also, the group rides are well attended and always have a coach present. I think the problem is that other cyclists are jealous as that is what they would like from their own team. Thus, since they cannot be a part of Vision Quest, they denounce…. just like people who aren’t Yankees fans. Vision Quest and Ventura have moved into the sport of triathlon. This has been met with huge resistance from triathletes. How dare Ventura enter into triathlon? Who does he think he is? Hey people, he is a smart businessman. Triathletes spend more money on their sport than cyclist as a whole. Triathletes will spend $2000 on a wheelset if it will save them 8 minutes on an Ironman bike leg. They buy a new bike almost every two year. I cannot even convince cyclists that they need a power meter or a HRM. So, why not try to tap the triathlon market? It is obviously working as I see more VQ jerseys at triathlons. These people are getting good results too. Hey triathletes, I hate to break it to you too, the sport is not like cycling. Cycling is racing. Triathlons are events. People that show up to bike races in the Midwest are serious about their sport. Doing a triathlon is an “event” for most, not a race. 

I have read complaints from triathletes that VQ people are “cheating” by providing support or drafting in races. I have also heard cyclists state that the athletes are “jerks” that train with them. Come on people, we know this is all generalizations. Give me any large group, some people cheat, some people are jerks. I am pretty sure Ventura doesn’t advocate cheating in his pre-race pep talk. I am pretty sure he doesn’t tell his team to be jerks to other cyclists. Why? They are all potential clients. It is in his best interest to maintain good relations with all athletes. Plus, in the one time I have met Mr. Ventura, he seemed like a nice guy, along with Chris, another VQ coach.  Finally, on another website, Ventura took a huge hit for doing the unthinkable. He participated in a triathlon. He was undertrained on the swim and run, from what I have read and posted a pretty pedestrian time of 1:11:34 in a sprint. Good for 32nd place overall. How dare he decide to participate in a triathlon? Come on people, all endurance athletes are supposed to be inclusive. Instead we have people blasting him because he showed up and did a triathlon. I give him credit for trying to understand his clients better. There is no doubt that VQ and Ventura are an asset to the Midwest endurance scene. After all, he is building something that can compete with the East and West Coast teams. So, maybe someday I will be lucky enough to be coached by VQ and Ventura. Maybe someday I will be able to afford it. Until then, I am on the outside looking in. I do know though that each time I hear another endurance athlete criticize Ventura or Vision Quest, it is probably out of jealousy. After all, I know I would like to be a part of a team like that.

Yes, I may be a little old to realize that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, but this is a different type of Santa. I found out there was no Santa back in 2nd grade and it was a devestating year. This time it is equally is devestating. 

The Landis situation has made me realize that the entire peleton is doping. Bonds is under investigation. BALCO turned over Marion Jones. There are just so many heroes that are now found to be doping, I have had to change my entire outlook. 

Sadly, I will now watch all sports, tennis, golf, soccer, cycling, triathlon, football, baseball, all Olympic sports, and operate under the assumption they are doping. No longer will I marvel at how hard they hit a ball, how fast they run or how high they jump, after all, they are doping. We might all have had that potential on dope. So, when somebody tell me so and so is awesome, I will think… of course… he is doping. 

The whole idea takes away my excitement for watching sports in general. After all, if they cannot do it without dope, what is the big deal? Are they really special? 

Don’t get me wrong, I will still look for heroes. They might not be the one with the best stats anymore, they will be the ones I can at least try to believe didn’t dope (Frank Thomas, Carl Lewis, and I still believe in Lance). However, the assumption has changed. I will believe all athletes dope unless I have reason to believe otherwise. 

It is a sad day. 

Reports have stated that Landis’ Stage 17 drug test have come back positive. In case you didn’t know, that is the single stage that won Landis the Tour. 

This current situation is completely different than the allegations against Armstrong. Armstrong cannot go into the past, he cannot even have a second sample tested. Landis can do both in this situation. First, he can have his B sample tested to see if there are any irregularities. Even if that does come up positive, he can submit himself to independent testing to see if this is just a naturally occurence ala Rutger Beke. 

In any event, Landis needs to go on the aggressive to prove his innocence. If he take the relaxed attitude towards this, like he does everything else, we will be seeing him banned from cycling.

Floyd Landis staged an incredible comeback in Stage 17 of the Tour de France. A mere 24 hours after being crushed on the second Alps stage, Landis fired back. He made up 7:38 on the Yellow Jersey and now only sits 30 seconds behind. Landis’ is currently in third place, behind Pereiro and Sastre, but is the strongest of the three in time trialing. Thus, Landis is most likely the favorite to be wearing Yellow on Sunday for the final stage. 

Instead of talking in maybes, we should be celebrating what would have been a crushing blow to his nearest opponents today. However, Landis, never one to conform openly admits he doesn’t do things “like a cyclist.” He eats the wrong foods at the wrong times and has a care-free attitude when it comes to riding. This cost him dearly in stage 16 when on the final climb he bonked. His opponents gained over 8 minutes on him on one climb. 

Landis should have spent less time after Stage 15, when he reclaimed the Yellow Jersey, looking for a fan with a six-pack (although I do think it is cool he traded his Yellow Jersey for a six-pack of beer), and more time worry about the detail of replenishing his precious glycogen stores. He should have spent more time in Stage 16 worrying about his caloric intake and less time screwing around. 

Most importantly, the man, Pereiro, who is currently in Yellow was allowed to gain 28 minutes on Landis last week when Phonak refused to chase down a break to protect the Yellow Jersey that Floyd was wearing at the time. 

Now Landis must rely on his time trial ability to bring home the Tour even though he had the most incredible Stage win of this year’s Tour. What should have been the knock out punch, is mere drew him even with his competition. 

I will be rooting for Landis, I just wish he would have paid more attention to the details.

Sorry about the un-PC title, but it is the theme of this blog. Saturday I went out for a ride. I was meeting up with Dave W and Mike C on MB. Since I road from Antioch, and they came from thhe Center Club, we met up about 40 minutes into my ride. Dave and Mike are both IM finishers. Dave did IM Lake Placid in 2004 while Mike C did Moo in 2005. Dave is the only one of us signed up for an IM this year. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Dave has been busy producing TV shows this Spring and hasn’t started training yet. This was his first ride out in a while. 

I latched onto the ride and said hi. With that, we seemed to be moving to slow. I picked it up. I knew Mike could come with me, but Dave was a question mark. Mike, being nicer than me, stayed with Dave. We were going with the wind as far as I could tell so I wanted to keep moving. Dave was obviously struggling, so Mike and I would double back to get him. We got to Route 50, Dave mentioned how he was toasted and was going back. He also stated, “This is sad. This is where I usually consider the warm-up to end and now I am toasted.” Mike said he would turn around with him. At that point Dave remarked, “I feel like the special kid.” 

So, off I went to finish riding. Throughout the ride I couldn’t get Dave’s comment out of my head. At some point no matter when we bike, each of us is the special kid. Sometimes we bonk, have had a particularly hard training week, or just ride with people that are faster, we will all be the “special kid” eventually. So, next time you are out on a friendly ride and someone cannot keep up, remember someday you might be the special kid on your ride. Thus take care to be nice and not leave the poor guy or gal behind.

Well, I was able to make my first road ride with North Branch out of Harper on Sunday. This is billed as a ride with the team so we can get used to riding together. I thought that meant a friendly ride. Oh how wrong I was. We left the parking lot at a nice easy pace. I was told that the ride is usually pretty easy for 30 minutes before anything major happens. I guess that was not the plan on this day. About 10 minutes out, we started practicing echelons and thus the pace picked up pretty dramatically. We had about 12 guys out there. The “recovery” side, actually seemed to be in synch most of the time, but the side pulling through seemed to have issues to work out. For some reason, the person pulling through would always seem to accelerate. Although I know that when you are in the front, you have to put out more power/effort, really your speed should remain unchanged. I don’t think anybody put two guys followed this rule. I myself was guilty of this as I forgot my powertap at home and thus was riding blind as far as power, but particularly speed which was needed for this type of practice. So, on the pull side, you were working particularly hard. We actually did this on and off for most of the ride and over all, except for the above mentioned problems, seemed to go pretty good. 

While echelons were on, the ride was anything but easy. Even while drafting, I could tell my effort level was very high. Also, this ride would conclude a 16-hour workout week (11.4 riding, 3 running, 1.6 core/strength) for me. So, I was tired going into the ride. One of the problems with riding a route that others are much more familiar with is that you do not know what parts the leaders pick up the effort and how long it will stay at that intensity. This is hard for me as I am a numbers guy. I lot of times I can rationalize high effort levels when I at least can have a target end. So, when the attacks came I wasn’t ready mentally. After 10 miles, it was pretty much every man for himself. I am not sure when riders fell off the back, but I know that we had lost at least two at some point. Then, one of the riders, Jes, was falling off and I was falling with him at about the half way mark. I thought he was going to come with me, but I accelerated and thought he was on my wheel, but he wasn’t. So, I latched on and kept looking over my shoulder for Jes. At this point I realized that I needed to sit in. I stopped taking any pulls… well very rarely. I just sat in the back and hung on for dear life. 

Now, you have to remember, that my perception of time is somewhat skewed from the ride. I was riding roads I was not familiar with… which is enough to make you want to hang on to the group as I didn’t have a cue sheet. Plus, I was also trying to stay aware of what was going on around me. It seemed shortly after losing Jes, we hit a downhill that had a couple of winding turns. Nothing major, but I am not the greatest bike handler, plus I was unfamiliar with the roads. The group of course took off down the hills. We strung out just a little, but not as much as I would have liked at those speeds. So, we has just made a left bend and were coming back to the right. I remember thinking to myself, “I am glad there aren’t any cars as I cannot hold this lane around this next bend.” Wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I thought that, there was a car. So, now I am going into this turn at a high rate of speed with cyclists in the vicinity, and I have no choice but to stay in my lane or hit this car. I knew I couldn’t hit the brakes as the bike would most likely slide out from under me. So, I just pushed down with my left foot to create on anchor, pushed down with my right hand on the bar, and took the turn at speed. Luckily I made it. I do have to say that was the scariest turn I had taken in a long time. Looking back, the turn was not all that hard, I just was not prepared for the speed and turn at that moment. 

At one point, we were on Cuba road for a long time. At some point, a rider was far ahead. I knew that meant trouble as I had no pop left and I knew the group would want to track the person down. Of course we did. As we got closer, I noticed the person wearing a North Branch vest. I thought one of our riders had exploded off the front and we just didn’t go with him. The lead was so far up there, I was impressed. As we caught the rider, I realized it was Jes and he had taken a short cut to get back in the group. I said to him at that point, “Somehow I got screwed in all of this.” It was my way of saying I wish I had taken the short cut too. In the last 15 miles or so, I would once in a while start to lose ground and then work to make it up. I operated under the theory better to work really hard for the next 45 seconds and catch the group than be out here by myself working hard all the way home. In the last 5 miles, it got harder to do and I was falling off the back. Luckily some well times lights at major intersections saved me. 

At some point, there was a final sprint before coasting home. Once again I did not know this was coming and when the others went knowing it was a sprint, I just couldn’t keep up. Luckily they eased off after the sprint and we coasted the last mile or two home and I was able to finish with the group. All in all, I was happy. I had not only increased my volume by 50 percent for the week, but my intensity was up as well. Just wish I had a PT to know what my numbers looked like. I have a feeling that although the ride was very hard for me, the numbers wouldn’t prove me out. In any event, I did manage to finish with the group and have a fun time.

Tomorrow, we elected as a group to ride indoors. I am not disagreeing with the decision, but I cannot help but think of Paris-Roubaix. This weekend, one of the toughest one-day cycling events on the planet. It has 38 sections of cobblestone over 125 miles. The roads are so bad that the cyclists elect to ride on the grass. Those that do brave the cobbles can be seen falling over for absolutely no reason. On top of that, it is usually cold and rainy. So cold that the cyclists are decked out in full winter gear, including booties. The irony of it all is that the race ends on a track that is in perfect condition for racing. So, after 124 miles of grueling racing, the cruelest part of the race is that you have to dig deep for that final sprint in which sprinters have perfect conditions to beat you. A few weeks ago, during an indoor ride, Paris-Roubaix 2002 was our selection of choice. The conditions were as described above. George Hincapie was in good position to not only be the first american ever to podium at the race, but win the race. On one of the sections of cobbles, he wiped out forcing his then teammate, Tom Boonen, to leave him for his own race. It was a shame as less than 15 miles remained in the race. Hincapie ended up in 4th and Boonen took 2nd or 3rd. It wasn’t so much the results that astounded me, it was the sheer exhaustion that Hincapie diplayed in the post-race interview. What was even more amazing was that he seemed happy. He raced in just awful conditions, fell, lost a podium spot, and yet he was happy with 4th. 

It makes me think that sometimes with our multi-thousand dollar bikes and all the other toys we have surrounding cycling and triathlon, if we aren’t too wimpy when it comes to braving the elements. This also brings me back to my poster of Lance riding in the rain alone in the Spring of 1999 by himself because the rest of the team said it the weather was too bad to train. So, he went it alone with Johan driving along the side of him.  The point is that no matter whether you are doing a sprint tri, a marathon, Ironman, a CAT 5 race or a masters race, tomorrow morning, despite it being 30 degrees when we wake up, someone will be out there training. They will be getting stronger not only physically, but mentally for having gone out. Meanwhile, I will choose the more comforting, easy way out and ride inside. Maybe that is why, I am not a champion.

Over the weekend, I read two great article in Velo News presenting both sides of the Tyler Hamilton suspension for blood doping. It made me want to dig deeper so, I read the 28-page decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). I then went to Tyler Hamilton’s website (www.tylerhamilton.com), to read his side of the story. I also read some more interviews with Tyler at www.dailypeleton.com. 

After reading the CAS decision, I pretty much came to the opinion that Tyler is guilty as charged. It wasn’t as if the Vuelta test that led to his suspension was the first time he had tested positive. In fact, the only reason he was able to retain his gold medal was due to the technical rule that threw out his positive test since his B sample could not be tested. One of the agencies, either WADA or UCI, had been warning Tyler for a period of six months that they knew what he was up to and he needed to quit. 

My first inclination even buried Tyler even more. After all, he attacked the process more than going out to try to prove his innocence. At no point did he dispute the results of the test or try to offer another explaination, instead he attacked the process of testing the blood and the test itself. This was a stark contrast to triathlete Rutger Beke who tested positive at Kona and spent the next 9 months in independent labs that collected data proving he just happened to produce a higher concentration of EPO (or maybe just the proteins, I cannot remember). Beke never attacked the process he attacked the results and proved why his results were higher. 

Working in a prosecutors office, Tyler’s arguments were similar to those that are guilty of crimes. They cannot argue the facts are on their side. They cannot argue the law is on their side. Thus, they attack everyone else. In this case, Tyler’s lawyer attacked everyone in the process. The lab, the creators of the test, the study that validated the test, and WADA itself. 

Then I thought back to Lance and his recent bout with alleged drug use in the 1999 Tour. He also was attacking the process while maintaining his innocence. I have to admit, despite not wanting to believe it, Lance’s argument seemed weak also. 

I started to think about it. You really cannot prove a negative. You cannot prove God doesn’t exist. I cannot prove that I have not drank alcohol since my wedding day. Thus, for a person in cycling or endurance sports, who tests positive for PES, the only way to prove the negative is to attack the process. No other avenue exists. After all, they cannot prove a negative. 

Then I thought a little further about the situation. Actually, Tyler could have at least tried to prove his innocence. After testing the the Vuelta he could have had blood drawn and had it tested by an independent lab. After Athens, when he tested positive, he could have taken steps to prove he was drug-free instead of relying on a technicality to keep his gold. Most disturbing of all, is that for six months either WADA or the UCI thought he was doing something wrong. At no point did Tyler set out to prove that their lab results were leading them to the wrong conclusion. In essence over seven month, Tyler was given every indication that he was thought to be doping, but at no point did he take it seriously and try to figure out why others would think that and prove them wrong. Instead, he took a guilty man’s argument and attacked the process.