Bahati Foundation to Race at Tour of Utah

Hey boys and girls, it is time once again for the Tour of Utah! Billed as America's most difficult stage race with three thousand feet of climbs: including the infamous Little Cottonwood canyon climb, thirteen kilometers at eight percent, with a mountain top finish at Snowbird ski resort!

The USA Cycling sanctioned Tour of Utah will include five stages with the time trial prologue at the State Capitol. Stage 1: Ogden to Salt Lake includes East Canyon Lake, Big Mountain, Emigration Canyon, Little Mountain, a good afternoon ride, ending at Research Park in Salt Lake City. Stage 2: Thanksgiving Point to Mount Nebo. Stage 3: Individual Time Trial at Miller Sports Park. Stage 4: Park City, Utah: Downtown Criterium. Stage 5: The Queen Stage, ending with a brutal climb up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird Ski resort.

The teams have been announced but the team rosters have not! The Tour of Utah press release mentions BMC Rider George Hincapie as a participant. Jeff Louder, winner of the 2008 Tour of Utah and who in 2009 placed third overall, will race. David Zabriskie will be in town. Bahati Foundation will field a team, for the Tour of Utah without Floyd Landis, who was recently released from the team after Landis accused seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong of doping allegations. Floyd Landis raced at the 2009 Tour of Utah with OUCH presented by Maxxis, with average results. However, the decision of Bahati Foundation to part ways with Floyd Landis after he admitted to performance enhancing substance use during the 2006 Tour de France, may have prompted OUCH to withdraw as a sponsor. Consequently, there have been conflicting reports that the Bahati Foundation Cycling Team will cease to exist for financial reasons. So will Bahati Foundation race the Tour of Utah? Stay tuned for further updates.

Also missing from the 2010 Tour of Utah; Rock and Republic Racing and 2009 Tour of Utah winner Francisco Mancebo. But, as Strbuk pointed out in the comment section, Micheal Ball is currently under subpoena in the Jeff Novitzky doping investigation.

It has been widely reported that Levi Leipheimer will race at the Tour of Utah.

To the people who write and print the Tour of Utah race program: Steve Miller, guys, please include the rider bib numbers this year when you publish the team rider lists. Last year at the prologue the fans I talked to all complained about this omission of the rider numbers; be more circumspect, please!

I will try to update information on the race as it becomes available and include some photographs.

2010 Tour de France; Alberto Contador Wins

The 2010 Tour de France was an odd race with many problems and with consequences that may have lasting effect for a good number of years. The first two stages were mired by multiple crashes, rain soaked roads transitioned into ice skating rinks, when riders attempted to navigate turns in the road, the bicycles refused to respond. Unattended dogs ran onto the course causing further mayhem. By the time the race covered the seven sections of cobblestone road used in Paris-Roubaix, the Hell of the North, over half of the peloton had fallen, some with serious injuries. The Stage three cobblestone road was a hot, dusty affair with additional crashes. Frank Schleck retired with a broken collarbone. Mechanical problems were common on the cobblestone road. Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador both lost time due to flat tires.

The fact that the riders continued to race on the cobblestone roads after the bloody mayhem of the first two stages confirms the fact that pro tour riders have balls of steel. Unlike some wimp sport such as the National Football League where injured players retire to a training table for treatment and where players have a whole week to recover from injury, professional cyclists hold on to a medical car traveling down the road at thirty miles an hour, are patched up on the spot by a doctor, and then paced back to the pack by teammates. Failure to return to the pack after injury means the broom wagon. And in contrast to the NFL, riders are required to ride stages day after day with little or no recovery time. This is why the Tour de France is considered the toughest sporting event in the world and why it is beloved by cyclists. Cyclists have an astonishing ability to crash, to be injured, to shake off the dust, and to continue to ride, just like their heroes! Some dolts don't get it and never will, but morons like Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio who don't understand the majesty and beauty of the Tour de France, do have an astonishing ability to generate vitriol against cyclists among people who are prone to be aggressive drivers. Drivers who spit on cyclists, who throw objects, who honk horns in your ear, who shout obscenities in your face, who open car doors, who give you the middle finger salute, and who try to run you off the road. Among other crimes.

Yes, I was speaking of the Tour de France and got distracted on a tangent. Mark Cavendish won five stages. Cadel Evans wore the golden fleece but had to retire after suffering a fracture to his elbow during a fall. French riders won six stages, which may or may not indicate "clean riding." The race finally boiled down to a duel between Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck; a contest that should have been decided on the Col de Tormalet in the French Pyrenees mountains. But!

Chain Suck Spoils the Day

Chain suck is caused when the chain skips a cog on either the chainwheel or the freewheel ending up against the frame or wedged between the freewheel and the spokes. During Stage 15, Andy Schleck with a :31 second lead and during an uphill attack against Alberto Contador on the Port de Bales experienced freewheel chain suck, his chain was stuck behind the freewheel against the wheel spokes. Schleck's bicycle rolled to a stop and at this moment Alberto Contador attacked, contrary to the unwritten law of cycling etiquette which states that the golden fleece is never attacked during a crash. Contador gained :39 seconds, which in an interview after the stage he considered "insignificant." The significance of the :39 seconds would become apparent at the end of the race, however.

Andy Schleck was an angry man at the conclusion of the stage and he vowed revenge. Schleck declared that he would attack on the Col de Tormalet and take back the time he had lost.

In the meantime, on Stage 16, Lance Armstrong, now hopelessly behind in the general classification, attempted to win a stage with a break away. Armstrong failed to win the stage, but his effort was appreciated by the fans, being that this is his last Tour de France. Team Radio Shack claimed that Lance Armstrong lost significant amounts of time during the race in order to conserve energy for the stage win attempt. No harm, no foul. Have a good retirement Lance Armstrong!

Stage 17 was do or die, win or lose, all in. Andy Schleck had to attack to make up the lost eight seconds he lost to Alberto Contador on the Port de Bales. The attacks were fast and furious up the fog and mist shrouded Col du Tormalet. Fist Andy Schleck attacked, then Alberto Contador counter attacked in a classic mono a mono duel. The duel ended in a draw and no change occurred in the general classification, however.

Alberto Contador did gain an additional :31 during the time trial stage and all was over. Andy Schleck lost the tour by :39 the exact amount of time Alberto Contador gained when he attacked the golden fleece. If Alberto Contador would have been a gentleman and waited for Andy Schleck to repair his chain; the race would have ended in a tie!

Andy Schleck was the supreme good sport and gentleman to Alberto Contador after his anger subsided; shaking his hand and sharing a joke; a picture of pure bliss. The behavior of Alberto Contador is a different matter, however. El Pistol should be aware that as of now he is a marked man. Cycling races used to be among gentlemen who worked as a team; not about me, me, me. Now it is Viva Yo, me first, piss on you. Alberto Contador has been a lucky man, he won his first Tour de France after Micheal Rassmussen was ejected by Rabobank for lying about his whereabouts and for missing out-of-competition drug tests; during a Tour de France which Rassmussen would have won.

Beware; Alberto Contador. Instant Karma is going to get you! Next time you may be the person with a mechanical problem! Expect to be attacked!

See you all next year!

Floyd Landis Doping Allegations Warrants Grand Jury Testimony

New York Times reporter Juliet Macur has reported that a grand jury will be assembled to hear testimony relating to the accusations made by Floyd Landis that Lance Armstrong used and encouraged teammates to use performance enhancing drugs during the era when Tailwind Sport was sponsored by the United States Postal Service.

The Federal probe is being lead by Food and Drug Administration investigator Jeff Novitzky. Novitzky is best known for leading the probe of Victor Conte and the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO): a company that trafficked a unique designer performance enhancing drug "the clear" to track athletes Marion Jones and Tom Montgomery.

Apparently, the Federal Government and Novitzky are most interested in determining whether Taliwind Sport or anyone associated with Tailwind Sport used U.S. Postal Service sponsorship money to fund the acquisition, purchase, or financing of performance enhancing drugs during the U.S. Postal Service Professional Cycling Team years. Associations could include rider Lance Armstrong as well as his teammate Floyd Landis.

The Federal Government also is interested in probing whether Tailwind Sport used a organized doping stratagem for profit. This would constitute, de facto, sport fraud.

Greg LeMond is Subpoenaed as a Witness

The investigators have subpoenaed Greg LeMond as a grand jury witness according to ESPN. Although it is difficult to understand what sort of evidence Greg LeMond could contribute to the investigation in the way of knowledge of performance enhancement use by the U. S. Postal Service Team; there is still the issue of the airport telephone call where Greg LeMond accuses Lance Armstrong of making threats. In response to the grand jury subpoena Kathy LeMond is reported to have said "We are overjoyed, I hope the truth comes out." Yes! There are so many questions to ask Greg and Kathy LeMond. For example: How did Kathy LeMond compile such an exacting transcript of the alleged threat; did she have pencil and paper at the ready when Greg took the call? Or was the conversation reconstructed after the fact with embellishments? Kathy LeMond should remember that this is not an arbitration hearing where the prosecution witness is allowed to testify without cross examination. There will be defense lawyers who will attempt to discredit Greg LeMond, they will question his agenda, his motives. The grand jury will ask questions. This should prove interesting.

Greg LeMond: Mr. Clean?

Greg LeMond is one of the best cycling historical revisionists. LeMond claims to be the only Tour de France champion in history to ride clean; in a clean peloton. Is this claim creditable? No. There was doping going on during this period: Dr. Francesco Conconi was dispensing performance enhancing substances to Italian athletes with the blessing of the Italian Olympic Committee as early as 1980. These substances included rEPO and human growth hormone. Dr. Francesco Conconi also provided the following cyclists with performance enhancing drugs: Gianni Bugno, Laurent Fignon, both of whom were contemporaries of Greg LeMond. Francesco Conconi also trained another doping doctor who might be of interest to the Federal Grand Jury investigation: Michele Farrari. Nevertheless, myth one of the Greg LeMond fabrication is debunked.

Oliver Starr, who was a ten year member of the U.S. National Junior and Senior Teams made this revealing statement concerning Greg LeMond:

I raced against LeMond, rEPO couldn't be detected at the time but was widely available. Who says LeMond was clean? Him? Look at his performance from the beginning of the year to the end. His improvement was beyond miraculous the year he won the Tour de France after being shot-----it was indescribable. Dropped at DuPont by the sprinters on the climbs, to winning the Tour de France a few months later, unnatural is the only word that comes to mind for that kind of improvement and I was there to see it first hand. LeMond should shut up lest someone find an old vial of his urine on ice somewhere and run a few tests on it.

Oliver Starr raises an important point that cannot be ignored. How could a man who was dropped by sprinters suddenly solo to the top of L'AlpeD'Huez with teammate Bernard Hinault in the 1986 Tour de France? This exceptional exponential increase in performance in so short a time must place Greg LeMond as one in six billion as a cyclist. Unnatural? Perhaps. But there are no conclusive tests that Greg LeMond ever used performance enhancing substances. But Greg LeMond has an unusual aptitude for beating people who had known associations with doping doctors: Gianni Bugno and Laurent Fignon for two. Impossible to beat a doped man while clean? Not according to Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong. So yes, Kathy LeMond, I hope the truth comes out and clears the air, once and for all. If you are disappointed that your man rode dirty...well that can't be helped.

Will the Grand Jury file an Indictment?

Unknown. But until then everything is speculative and not of much use. The prosecutors might also want to invite Michele Farrari (doctor blood) to testify. But if Michele Farrari blood doped Lance Armstrong, he was privately employed, so there will be denial, denial, denial, no proof, and probably not much information coming from this source.

Enough!

Lance Armstrong Is Cooked

Good things don't last forever. Lance Armstrong has finally reached the point in his career where he cannot continue to win races. Armstrong had a run of bad luck with three falls during the 2010 Tour de France; he lost large chunks of time on the cols; he may have been injured more severely than he admitted to. Nevertheless, Lance Armstrong is cooked, his attacks of old and his former superior climbing abilities have waned. Lance Armstrong can't attack the young guys anymore. Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, and Cadel Evans are too strong. Levi Leipheimer is the leader of Team Radio Shack now.

Passing of the Torch

Before the 2010 Tour de France Lance Armstrong told the world that this would be his last Tour. Armstrong told the world that it was time to spend more time with his five children. An excellent, commendable idea. But Lance Armstrong said the same thing in 2005 when wearing the golden fleece in Paris, he said, "fair well to the Tour forever."

This retirement did not last long. Lance Armstrong joined Johan Bruyneel, Alberto Contador and Team Astana in a "comeback." There was immediate team friction between Contador and Armstrong, a rivalry that turned vicious during the 2009 Tour de France. Alberto Contador won the 2009 Tour de France and amazingly Lance Armstrong finished third. Some critics claimed that the 2009 Tour de France would have been a Astana "sweep" Contador, Armstrong, Leipheimer, if only Contador would have been more of a team player and followed the orders of Johan Bruyneel. During the 2009 Tour de France, Alberto Contador launched what most cycling experts consider a foolish attack; this attack dropped teammates Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer and allowed Frank Schleck to win the stage and Andy Schleck to reach the podium in second place overall in Paris.

During the awards presentation of the 2009 Tour de France, Lance Armstrong announced the formation of a new team, Radio Shack. While Team Astana was celebrating the 2009 Tour de France victory, Lance Armstrong and his new Radio Shack lieutenants were having a banquet celebrating the formation of a new team.

Alberto Contador and team Astana may feel justified, if not smug, for the 2010 Tour de France collapse of Lance Armstrong. It is an end of an era for the man who many considered indestructible. Lance Armstrong should have never returned to professional racing, he has suffered physical injuries, broken collarbones, eye lacerations, injuries to his hips and shoulders; accidents that never seemed to occur during his seven year Tour de France reign. The goddess of cycling seems to have turned her back on her favorite son and the result has been devastating.

Age has caught up with you Lance Armstrong. For your own safety; quit now. Enough is enough. How much fame and money do you need anyway?

It's Not About The Bike

Sadly, the Lance Armstrong saga is not over. Off the bike may be a bigger challenge than colliding with the pavement at forty miles an hour. It is not "only about the bike." There is still the Floyd Landis federal investigation of allegations that Thomas Weisel Partners and Tailwind Sport committed sport fraud when Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis were teammates on the United States Postal Service Professional Cycling Team. There are accusations that Lance Armstrong encouraged Floyd Landis and other U.S. Postal teammates to use performance enhancing substances. The doping crimes seem to have been organized.

Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, and the other people involved had better pray that this case does not drag on for the next seven years!

Cobblestone Causalities

The 2010 Tour de France has been most interesting. Multiple rider crashes, blood, broken bones. General Classification favorite Frank Schleck suffered a broken collar bone and withdrew from the Tour. Stage three of the race included eight sections of cobblestone road. The greatest causality of the cobblestones, Lance Armstrong. While Lance Armstrong was getting a wheel change, Alberto Contador, Alexander Vinokourov, Cadel Evans, and Andy Schleck hammered to gain time. Indeed, the Lance Armstrong flat tire in the Arenburg Forest (the most difficult section of cobblestone road in the world) was lethal. Armstrong will never make up enough time to win the Tour de France; this is not 1999 and his incredible luck seems to have vanished.

Amaury Sport Organization has, once again, lost their collective minds. Everyone knows that early stages of the Tour de France has skittish, nervous riders, and the early race is accident prone. To include a stage three that contains eight sections of cobblestones, after the probability of bloody mayhem of the first two stages, is a feat of bad planning comparable only to sadistic acts of cruelty once enjoyed by loathsome miscreants; Henri Desgrange or the Marquis de Sade.

In the old days when riders used to carry their spare tires around their necks, begged housewives for provender, when riders shared bottles of wine while riding the road, when the stages were hundreds of kilometers long, when the mountain roads were unpaved single track, when bicycles were so heavy that they had to be pushed up hills, when saboteurs who wished to influence the outcome of the race threw nails into the road, when new inventions like the derailleur were promptly banned by L'Auto and the brake was attached to the front wheel; and when the riders had to perform their own bicycle repair; Henri Desgrange was considered a man who could teach the Marquis de Sade how to make people suffer.

Well, in 2010 the fans are more sophisticated than to throw nails into the road; but very little else has changed. Amuary Sport Organisation still loves to make riders suffer with cobblestone roads in the early part of the race; when bloodied and bruised riders are trying to recover from broken bones, road rash, and sleepless nights. In addition to the above trauma, cobblestone roads make life miserable for riders and teams in other ways; flat tires, broken bicycles, lost time in repairs. Viva le Tour!

ASO says that the fan loves a bloody spectacle, like feeding the lions warriors at a Roman coliseum. Grand, but a hundred riders on the ground from multiple falls and some eliminated from General Classification contention after three stages; what a bore.

2010 Tour de France; Will Team Radio Shack Survive?

It is time for the Tour de France, which in America is the only race that matters. The rest of the year America slumbers through the bicycle racing season like a somnambulist, only an occasional newspaper story appears related to doping.

Floyd Landis is still alive and talking to the federal investigators about traffickers; past teammates and support staff who he alleges aided him with his nefarious past performance enhancement abuse.

The results of this investigation into performance enhancing drug abuse by Floyd Landis is confidential; but some comments appear to indicate that the investigation is still in the infancy stage. No new career threatening revelations seem to be forth coming; at present.

This is good news for team Radio Shack. Lance Armstrong and his team have not been banned. Johan Bruyneel is still sport director, even though Floyd Landis accused Bruyneel and the United States Postal Service Professional Cycling team of receiving midnight blood transfusions at a French mountain peak rest stop. Allen Lim is still a physiological consultant to team Radio Shack; he has not been arrested, even though Floyd Landis accused Lim of giving him performance enhancing drugs.

Allen Lim is a mystery man and suspect; because anyone associated in any way with Floyd Landis is suspicious. Allen Lim has a huge Cheshire cat grin and an immense ego; he figured out that yarn pasted onto riders could be used to model air flow. Lance Armstrong, the most wind tunnel tested man in the world, has worked to maximize his time trial position with computer generated air flow models using sophisticated computer programs. But the Allen Lim yarn model works better than computers for team Radio Shack.

Allen Lim, the great innovator, has even determined that body core temperatures are critical in performance! When Jan Ullrich was warming up in a air conditioned bicycle shop while Lance Armstrong was warming up under the shade trees; and when Ullrich beat Armstrong by 1:15 in the time trial; and when Lance Armstrong was riding in squares with a dried salt saliva ring around his mouth; and when later Armstrong admitted that he wanted to quit that day; well even the thickest of cyclists learned that body core temperatures were important. Recently, Allen Lim designed ice filled jackets to lower body core temperatures. This is a very good innovation, but not space age design, because cycling clothing manufactures have been working with wicking away of moisture and improvements of air flows through clothing for years. The goal of these clothing innovations? Lower rider body core temperatures.

Allen Lim is suspect because even though he works for cycle-ops and is an expert in power by riders measured in watts; he must have known that the impossibly high watts generated by Floyd Landis during those training rides in Spain must have had an artificial source, performance enhancing drugs, if Lim is half the physiologist that he claims to be.

So, the nonsense that Allen Lim asserts as to the shock he experienced when Floyd Landis tested positive during the Tour de France is difficult to believe, even though Lim proclaims himself as a tour de force anti-doping crusader. If something sounds too good to be true it probably is.

Because no matter how you spin it riders need help to defeat doping tests and that help must come from a medical or physiological experts of some sort. The excuse that the WADA anti-doping laboratories are incompetent, though true, is not enough to explain how a rider could abuse performance enhancing drugs for years without being caught.

Team Radio Shack is alive and well today but will they survive the 2010 Tour de France? Will some revelation of wrong doing destroy the team? Will the team be expelled during the race?

WADA, the UCI, and The Dope Testing

One footnote: The dope tests will be done by the WADA laboratory at Chatenay-Malabry once again. WADA will do a report on the UCI anti-doping efforts done during the 2010 Tour de France. We only hope that this report is more than self serving drivel written by WADA.

Fabian Cancellara: A Doped Bicycle?

You knew it had to happen, technological advances have introduced the new doped bicycle! Mechanical doping...the new fad in cheating...when performance enhancing drugs are not enough.

You Tube is full of films of the great Fabian Cancellara attacking the peloton with amazing speed, on the cobbles, at Roubaix. How could such a thing happen? Must be a battery powered motor, silent and deadly, ready when needed at the time of attack!  The gasping competition is left in the dust at the crucial moment, on to victory!

Evolution

Gone are the days when some fool (obviously a non-cyclist) would tell you with a straight face that he connected a fifty pound lawn mower engine to a bicycle frame and "got up to sixty miles an hour." Rubbish! The most likely thing that would happen at sixty miles an hour with a fifty pound engine mounted on plain gauge steel bicycle tubes would be, a broken down tube, plenty of road rash, death, a detached engine rolling along the ground, and the undertaker. Not necessarily in that order! Next time buy a motorcycle and spare me your fairy tales!

The old electric bicycles ran the power through the hub, the battery weighed a ton and was very bulky and not aero dynamic. Wires were strewn everywhere and prone become tangled in things and break. Ladies with cruiser bikes with attached baskets, or older gentlemen, rode old style electric bikes to help them up hills.

Now new electric motor batteries have been developed that will fit into seat tubes of road racing bicycles! The motor in the hub; as before. The cables would have internal routing; the switch could be located next to the ergo-powers. The battery in theory could last long enough to be decisive in a time trial, on a col, or in a sprint.

Mechanical Doping: The New Craze?

Is there never any end to this nonsense? The Fabian Cancellara mechanical doping charge is probably unfounded. But just to be sure, the UCI should have portable scales ready at the feed zone. Pat McQuaid could point at the riders, "Halt! Your bicycle has been selected for random testing!"

Of course, this is absurd. Things would be better if weighing of the bicycles occurred before the race started. But doesn't the UCI already weigh the bicycles before the depart? Yes.

Floyd Landis; Additional Problems

Floyd Landis is an interesting person. Stricken by grief and remorse, Floyd Landis sent intimidating e-mails to anti-doping crusaders threatening blackmail if immediate action was not taken to investigate his allegations of doping by former teammates and the facilitation of doping by former team officials.

As a result of several interviews of Floyd Landis by United States law enforcement; president of the UCI Pat McQuaid announced, according to the New York Times via the Associated Press, that a UCI investigation of the following people will ensue; Matthew White, Johan Bruyneel, Michael Barry, and John Lelangue.

An investigation of Johan Bruyneel is understandable; rumors surfaced. There were suggestions that a culture of doping existed on Johan Bruyneel teams; that doping was tolerated under the justification that the ends justify the means. The ends were Tour de France titles, seven won by Lance Armstrong (United States Postal Service Professional Cycling Team) and one won by Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel). Roberto Heras also won the Tour of Spain while riding for US Postal Service.

US Postal Service riders present and past did some amazing things on the bike. So amazing were these feats that most cycling fans wondered if such miracles could be accomplished without some form of performance enhancement. Doubts began to escalate when former teammates of Lance Armstrong began to test positive for performance enhancement use. Eyebrows were raised when former teammates of Lance Armstrong began to admit to performance enhancement drug use.

Teammates:

Floyd Landis; former winner of the 2006 Tour de France; tested positive for synthetic testosterone use; stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title; suspended; admitted to human growth hormone use; blood manipulation.
Tyler Hamilton; winner of the Olympic time trial gold medal. During the Olympics Tyler Hamilton tested positive for a double red blood cell population due to an illegal blood transfusion: only a blunder by the Olympic testing lab saved his Olympic gold medal time trial title. Tested positive at the Tour of Spain for a double cell population; suspended. Implicated in Operation Puerto. Banned from cycling for life for a second doping violation caused by ingestion of a homeopathic depression treatment that contained a prohibited substance.
Roberto Heras; former winner of the Tour of Spain; tested positive for rEPO use during the Tour of Spain; Tour of Spain title stripped; suspended.
Frankie Andreu; super domestic; 1999 Tour de France. Admitted to rEPO use during the 1999 Tour de France.

Quite an impressive list! What adds ammunition to the Johan Bruyneel "clean" era doubters is the competition that Lance Armstrong faced during his impressive seven year Tour de France title run; competition that Lance Armstrong seemed to beat with ease.

Competitive Riders:

Ivan Basso; guilty of blood doping manipulation. Proven participant in Operation Puerto; suspended.
Iban Mayo; tested positive for rEPO use; suspended.
Jan Ullrich; admitted to involvement in Operation Puerto; suspended, retired. Jan Ullrich admitted to rEPO and other performance enhancement substance use during the 1997 Tour de France. Jan Ullrich won the 1997 Tour de France. Jan Ullrich was never stripped of his 1997 Tour de France title.
Alex Zulle; Festina Affair; admitted using rEPO. Lance Armstrong defeated Alex Zulle in the 1999 Tour de France by seven minutes.

Quite an impressive list! The list could, in theory continue forever, ever expanding in all directions like a matrix. But there is no need, the point has been made. People wonder, how could a man defeat such a list of miscreants riding clean, with such large margins, for seven straight years?

Conclusion:

Fact is nobody can figure out Lance Armstrong and his incredible run. The information that Floyd Landis provided the anti-doping establishment may provide some answers about Johan Bruyneel. Maybe. It is difficult not to be skeptical though. Because except for former Phonak sport director John Lelangue who may have aided Floyd Landis in his 2006 Tour de France "victory" and who is included in the UCI investigation, very few people are being investigated by the UCI, in spite of the voluminous amount of detailed incriminating "evidence" provided in the Floyd Landis testimony.

Don't laugh! This is serious business. Floyd Landis may want to mislead the "fools" with false information in an attempt to force the anti-doping crusade into conducting mountains of re-tests for past races where he makes allegations of doping by other people. Expensive tests; the UCI and WADA will scramble to find something on Lance Armstrong et al., while Floyd Landis is snickering at Pat McQuaid, Travis Tygart, and all of the other people who "wronged" him.

In this instance, even though Floyd Landis claimed that he confessed his drug use so as to not be part of the problem, he continues to be a problem. Floyd Landis you are an additional problem and maybe the anti-doping establishment will figure you out before a disaster and major lawsuit occurs. If only the anti-doping establishment could prove that they had some sense for once and dismiss Floyd Landis as the vindictive liar that he is and move on to more constructive tasks that don't require so much expense. Pat McQuaid; end the folly! Don't be a dupe!

Floyd Landis Is A Creative Enabler

The New York Times did a first rate job of investigative reporting on the new revelations of Floyd Landis; who now demands of USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson an immediate investigation into his numerous allegations of prohibited substance use by his old teammates at US Postal Service. Floyd Landis basically told Steve Johnson to make a choice; investigate his allegations or claim loyalty to the doper establishment. Steve Johnson has no choice but to comply with Floyd Landis because such an important witness can not be ignored. John Fahey is in the same position as WADA president; he must order re-testing of old samples for possible prohibited substance use by old teammates of Floyd Landis; even though these samples will provide very little evidence of blood tampering; frozen blood samples render red blood cells useless; ask Tyler Hamilton who still has a Olympic time trial gold medal because the laboratory froze his confirmation 'B' sample.

Exactly, so many tests from so many riders will probably prove expensive, though worthless; and my even generate false positive results. As everyone knows with the current draconian WADA laws concerning prohibited substance use; mere existence of a substance constitutes a crime for which there is no defense!

Stored Samples Create Problems

rEPO samples stored in vaults that have a tendency to degrade over time; six year old samples that generate 100% pure rEPO isoforms are suspect in a scientific sense; hint: the 1999 Tour de France prologue results of one Lance Armstrong.

Christiane Ayotte warned that 100% rEPO isoforms are very unlikely in urine samples tested six years later; the scientific basis of her argument that rEPO is a biological agent and therefore prone to degrade with time; was never addressed by David Walsh, Micheal Ashenden, Jacques DeCeaurriz, the French Sports Ministry, or WADA. The UCI did ask questions though and the Vrijman report was the result. In the Vrijman report LNDD was accused of poor laboratory practice, lack of acceptable chain-of-custody, and poor security measures that would prevent sabotage of rider samples.

Damien Ressiot; obtained the 1999 Tour de France doping control form numbers of Lance Armstrong from the UCI. These numbers were assigned to the 1999 Tour de France rider samples that were being tested for "scientific" reasons by LNDD. LNDD did have the sample numbers included on the sample bottles and the date the samples were given...so no great deductive logic would have been needed to solve the puzzle of whom the samples belonged to. If Ressiot had some contact at LNDD.

Bingo! Damien Ressiot published the results of the LNDD research test results in L'Equipe before the results were known to WADA, the UCI, or the French Sports Ministry! The results were provided by someone at LNDD.

What are we to make of all this nonsense? Were the Lance Armstrong samples "sabotaged" after Ressiot received the doping control numbers from the UCI? Is Lance Armstrong a doper and do these prologue results of 100% synthetic isoforms prove it? There are no confirmation tests that are required by WADA; the sample must be collected and divided in half; one half of the sample will be designated 'a' and one 'b'; if the 'a' sample is deemed positive then the athlete has the right to test the 'b' saple in the presence of a representative selected by the rider.

Will WADA abandon the confirmation tests? Will USADA file an adverse analytical finding (AAF) based on an old sample result that has no confirmation test? Will the athlete be able to defend him or herself from these "new" rules?

Because even though 'Roid Floyd' did dope, he was still correct when he stated in Positively False; the anti-doping agencies will take liberties with the rules; if the rules are not written in stone in WADA code. And that is a very scary proposition.

To think after fighting WADA for two years, Floyd Landis may be the clown that enables the anti-doping agencies to hang an innocent person. That is a damn shame.

Floyd Landis is a Compulsive Liar

Floyd Landis is cooked.  After four years of denial of performance enhancing drug use, Floyd Landis admitted in a surprise interview with ESPN writer Bonnie Ford, that he used human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone throughout his entire cycling career. Even worse, Floyd Landis admitted that he used human growth hormone and testosterone during the 2006 Tour de France!

Unbelievable!  Floyd Landis claims that he tossed and turned all night wrestling with the deception that he perpetrated on the cycling community. Overwhelmed with the pangs of consciousness, poor Floyd finally decided it was time to come clean and confess.

Bother Floyd.  You could have saved me and other people who supported you through thick and thin the pain we suffered from insidious attacks from the doubters, if you would have admitted to your crime, at once, without reservations. Floyd, you were supposedly offered a deal by USADA CEO Travis Tygart with the shortest suspension in history if you would have implicated Lance Armstrong in a doping allegation.  Why did not you accept this offer? Or was this deal that Travis Tygart offered you another fabrication of your demented mind?

What are we to make of your nonsense Floyd? You state that you took performance enhancing drugs without remorse because you reasoned that since others may have doped, why not you as well? That reasoning is similar to the logic you used on people whom you exploited with the Floyd Fairness Fund: a slick presentation, solicitation of money, accusations of wrong doing by the anti-doping-crusade. You were the innocent victim, you presented your case so convincingly that fools supported you based upon your word of honor.

Velo Vortmax respected your honor and maintained the position that you were speaking truthfully. This position is now forfeit. Floyd, from this moment, this blog will regard you as nothing more than a psychopath, a narcissist, a compulsive liar, and a skillful manipulator. You should retire from cycling immediately!

Because, Floyd, if you have the audacity to think of yourself as the new whistle blower of the peloton, if you think that you are destined to assume the role of the man who will convict Lance Armstrong of a doping allegation based upon unsubstantiated witness testimony, then quit riding and start writing. Use David Walsh, the author of From Lance to Landis, as you ghost writer.  But don't expect me to buy a copy of your book.  I expect you to spin yarns, and I have better fiction to read.

Note to ESPN Radio

Colin Cowherd is a complete moron and his evaluation of cycling fans was one of the most despicable accounts I have ever heard on radio. According to Cowherd, cyclists are nothing more than rich tri-athlete snobs who shave and wax their backs, ride four thousand dollar bicycles, have six figure incomes, and who are Francophile fairy fags. Cowherd thinks cycling fans are nothing more than drunken idiots who wear outrageous costumes during the Tour de France. Listen to this you xenophobic clown.  American people do care about cycling races, and these people are not the typical obese American slobs who endanger the lives of cyclists, slobs who text while driving four thousand pound vehicles, slobs who are lost in space while listening to morons like Colin Cowherd on the radio! Non cyclists eat sausages and drink beer on the couch all day in front of a television watching football games. These football fans are fat, lazy people who could not ride to the nearest corner. Obesity is at epidemic levels in America, these fools should be encouraged to get some exercise. Get out and ride! You might become a true red, white, and blue American cycling fan patriot with a body fat content of less than five percent. Get off the couch and get a life!

The Tour of California is an important race, we want more coverage! Enough of Tiger Woods and his alleged actovegin, human growth hormone, and platelet therapy already. Doping is not confined only to cyclists, by the way. Every sport is rife with drug use.  People caught doping is growing at an exponential rate. Awake! Colin Cowherd, you moron. Does Tiger Woods need a doping doctor to hit a drive five hundred yards, and do we need to be reminded of this fact on your crap radio show every five minutes?

To the Anti-Doping Agencies

Your labs suck. You have no harmony. Your behavior in the Floyd Landis case was beyond belief. Your draconian laws are as unfair as ever. You need to reform. You are not above the law.

Conclusion

Floyd, you have nothing left to prove. Quit. Your e-mails to the anti-doping agencies won't make you a pro-tour rider again. You have an outstanding warrant pending in France, do you not? Did you hack the computers at Chatenay-Malabry? Did you tell Martin Dugard that Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs? Did you orchestrate the drunken phone call to Greg LeMond? Liar! Why should we believe anything that you say ever again?

From Lance to Landis; A Review

Lance Armstrong accomplished one of the most remarkable sport comebacks in history after being diagnosed with cancer. There have been a number of people who have questioned this comeback as an impossible feat; some have even accused Mr. Lance Armstrong of using a systematic doping regimen for success; although no laboratory test has detected a prohibited substance to refute Lance Armstrong's seven consecutive Tour de France victories.  However, in spite of an absence of any clinical evidence of doping, people exist who insist that the performance increases of Lance Armstrong post cancer are impossible: they have formulated an agenda based on circumstantial evidence, or an agenda based on past witness testimony of people who had intimate contact with Lance Armstrong, or teammates, or support staff, who rode for or had contact with the professional cycling teams where Lance Armstrong worked.

David Walsh author of From Lance to Landis is a person who is convinced that Lance Armstrong used prohibited substances during his remarkable Tour de France seven year reign. David Walsh wishes to convince the reader that his circumstantial evidence is enough to convince, beyond a reasonable doubt (not to a comfortable satisfaction) the veracity of his claims. Statements made by Betsy Andreu, for example, that she recalls Lance Armstrong admitting to an Indiana University examining doctor, in her presence, that he used performance enhancing drugs while riding for Team Motorola is substantial evidence supporting the doping allegations. This testimony by Betsy Andreu although interesting (Lance Armstrong would insist that her testimony is delusional at best or pernicious at worst) the so called "smoking gun" is not verified by any hospital medical records or physician citations; although such references to past use of performance enhancing drugs would have most certainly been included in Lance Armstrong's medical history. Betsy Andreu may have simply been mistaken in her recollection (Frankie Andreu as well) although it is certain that Betsy Andreu was a hateful person with a score to settle with Lance Armstrong. After all, Frankie Andreu was a domestique for Lance Armstrong during the 1999 Tour de France.  Frankie Andreu bought vials of rEPO voluntarily from a pharmacy in Switzerland, he claims to support the team, and he voluntarily used rEPO during the 1999 Tour de France.  But Betsy Andreu may have irrationally blamed Lance Armstrong after she found a vial of unused rEPO in the ice box and demanded to know from Frankie how he could climb the cols so quickly.  It is certain that Betsy Andreu wanted revenge on Lance Armstrong whom she considered the kingpin who forced his lieutenants to use dope. Also, Betsy Andreu's testimony complicates the effort to pin down what exactly Lance Armstrong did to increase his performance post-cancer. If we discard the performance enhancing drugs Betsy Andreu claims that Lance Armstrong admitted to using during the Motorola years (a 20% increase in performance due to rEPO use, for example) finding the reason for the performance increase is extremely complicated.

One in a Million? Lance Armstrong

The most pertinent and best researched chapter of the book is Lance Armstrong: One in a Million? where the SCA Promotions vs. Lance Armstrong testimony is evaluated, where the Ed Coyle weight loss/performance increase theory is so eloquently refuted, where possible physiological factors that could account for the miracle increases in the post-cancer Lance Armstrong performance are disputed, where Michael Ashenden insisted that the capillary density, lactic acid production, heart stoke, and other physiological values of Lance Armstrong were not of an exceptional athlete, and where David Walsh states his hypothesis that Michele Ferrari was the doping doctor of evil who increased Lance Armstrong's performance with a program of blood manipulation that was never detected by WADA. Micheal Ashenden also insisted in his SCA Promotions vs. Lance Armstrong testimony, after a lengthy physiological parameter evaluation of Lance Armstrong, a conviction that Lance Armstrong improved his performance by using blood manipulations. Micheal Ashenden never offers any direct evidence in support of his blood manipulation testimony, so his conclusions are speculative.  However, Micheal Ashenden was a expert paid witness for SCA Promotions, therefore it is safe to assume that his conclusions were tailored to support the SCA Promotions accusation that Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs to win six straight Tour de France titles in order to be paid a six million dollar bonus.  Unfortunately, it must also be conceded that autologus blood transfusions had no test at the time (1999-2005) so the conclusion that Michele Ferrari did not use blood transfusions to increase Lance Armstrong's performance during all of his Tour de France victories is impossible to refute, or confirm.

Ed Coyle, the originator of the weight loss/power increase theory as the causal factor in Lance Armstrong's increase in performance made several errors in his methodology.  Even though his research showed a slight decrease in weight of Lance Armstrong between 1992 and 1999, the Tour de France weights are missing.  It is impossible to maintain a Tour de France weight in the off season when Ed Coyle measured his values, so the weights he presented are questionable as evidence to support his conclusions.  Perhaps ASO has Lance Armstrong's Tour de France race weights locked away in some vault. Sampling off season weights and using an average to make a point is very unscientific, although some might argue that this is the critical point of the chronology.  David Walsh and Micheal Ashenden also insisted that Ed Coyle did not calibrate his instrumentation properly, and after a lengthy peer review of his findings, Ed Coyle admitted that his computations were in error.  Therefore the weight loss/increase in power theory advocated by Ed Coyle was a myth.

Was I convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Lance Armstrong doped after reading From Lance to Landis? No! Nice try but no cigar, there is no proof of anything.  A midnight meeting between Lance Armstrong and Michele Ferrari in some camper van in the middle of the night just before a race could provide substantial evidence of foul play.  Unfortunately, no one witnessed what Michele Ferrari and Lance Armstrong did in the camper van, although witnesses stated that Lance Armstrong emerged from the camper van in a state of euphoria.  Then there is the Lance Armstrong telephone call at the airport to Greg LeMond, where Kathy LeMond states that Greg was threatened by Lance Armstrong.  In the telephone conversation Lance Armstrong allegedly admitted to Greg LeMond that he used rEPO and that if Greg LeMond did not play ball Lance Armstrong would 'find twenty people who will state that you [LeMond] used rEPO during the Tour de France.' These events sound more mythical, as did the Betsy Andreu hospital recollection, than factual. Very good circumstantial evidence, taken in context they collectively could amount to something, but circumstantial evidence is not proof.  Reasonable people, those without an agenda, will read the book with an open eye, and think for themselves. Those with an agenda will be lead like sheep. The information is all there, read and think.

France Issues an Arrest Warrant for Floyd Landis and Arnie Baker

ESPN Radio reported that the French government has issued an arrest warrant for Floyd Landis and Arnie Baker. The issue is related to the hacking incident of the WADA accredited laboratory LNDD and the purloin of sensitive documents that relate to a conspiracy of incompetence by the laboratory and a subsequent cover up. The authenticity of the documents has been questioned and they may be fabrications. The documents may be found in the What is Fair is Clear slide show, with a disclaimer by Arnie Baker in the wiki defense.

ESPN Radio mentions that the warrant is confined to France, it is not an international warrant. ESPN Radio also reported that the hacking was discovered in response to a claim made by Floyd Landis that certain files pertaining to the Carbon Isotope Ratio Test were missing. The validity of these claims will be, perhaps, ascertained in a court proceeding of some kind. Floyd Landis calls the hacking accusations, fabrications. One other item of note pertaining to ESPN Radio and this is an unpardonable error, the report claimed that Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the 2006 Tour de France. For accuracy sake, Floyd Landis did not test positive for high levels of testosterone at any time during the 2006 Tour de France. The test used to screen for high levels of testosterone, was artificially created by the French accredited laboratory LNDD. These testosterone/epitestosterone tests were rejected by the AAA arbitration panel as invalid. Floyd Landis was banned from competition for two years for the presence of a single metabolite that indicated synthetic testosterone use. But as Christiane Ayotte stated in David Walsh's book From Lance to Landis the WADA rule pertaining to metabolite(s) of testosterone above threshold indicating testosterone use, never meant anything other than a single metabolite above threshold, except at Don Catlin's UCLA accredited laboratory...that is. Nevertheless, simple research into the case before spouting off would be helpful, even by a prestigious news organization like ESPN Radio. The myth of the Floyd Landis high testosterone test has become reality, simply due to sloppy journalistic practice, and this is a direct consequence of sloppy laboratory practice by LNDD, and a very skillful smear campaign by the likes of former WADA director Dick Pound. ESPN Radio should strive to improve the content of their news stories to reflect fact, not fantasy...more of the fabrications that Floyd Landis was speaking of?

Positively False an Aside

One brief issue on Floyd Landis' book Positively False.

Allen Lim seems to have been nothing more than a physiologist who had a fresh PHD and nothing to do, (apologies to strbuk), but record SRM power meter data from training rides Floyd Landis did in Spain. These power meter readings are supposed to be available on the Internet. This is important news because it supports the assertion made by Floyd Landis that the Stage 17 ride was no more difficult than a hard training ride. In fact, Floyd Landis asserts, and this assertion may be verified by checking the SRM power data, that he produced more power in training than during Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France. The notion that the Stage 17, 2006 Tour de France ride was nothing more than a rocket fueled marvel is not supported by the SRM power data. This is another popular myth, created by a popular misconception that a rider could not possibly recover from a previous stage bonk without some form of performance enhancing substance (testosterone.) As Floyd Landis would insist, another fabrication?

Nevertheless, Positively False is a good introductory read into the background of some the characters that would later play such a prominent part in one of the most unjust doping cases ever conceived. Better and more comprehensive information for the serious student can be found on the websites listed under best blogs, trust but verify, rant your head off, WADAwatch, racejunkie, all of which link to velo vortmax. Read, learn, then make an informed decision.

After all, we don't need any more fabrications.

2010; A Year of Hope For Clean Cycling?

It is a sad state of affairs this doping in cycling business. Everyone was enamored with the prospect of an Italian rider winning the Giro d' Italia, for national pride and to support the unfortunate victims of the earthquake that devastated so much of Italy. Bah! EPO-CERA was detected, the dream vaporized into thin air.

This will continue. Every time we hope for improvement, every time we dream of a clean season, people screw up. Greed is always a factor for risk taking behavior. People are so clever in applications of prohibited substance use, newly designed drugs, genetic manipulations, synthetic haemoglobin. There still is no perfect way to detect artificial growth hormone use in athletes. Test samples are stored on ice and the laboratories hope that science will catch up in time to right a wrong. Athletes who cheat roll the dice and take chances of beating the statute of limitations, hope that they will not have to forfeit prizes and money. Gamblers.

Hope that you will not be detected, perfect the methods, beat the tests. In the old days that Pat McQuaid seems to dream of, cyclists used artificial bladders to pass clean urine samples. This method was finally rectified after several cyclists were caught red handed by dutiful examining doctors. The examination process was changed to prevent these events from occurring again. But no matter how clever the examiners are, the cheaters will adapt and succeed, for a fashion.

The treat is always there. Victor Conte and Balco designed the "clear" a designer performance enhancing substance that was undetectable until an honest coach sent a sample to the United States Anti Doping Agency for laboratory examination. Next athletes thought they could use EPO-CERA because EPO-CERA stimulates red blood cell production for several weeks. Clever, trying to alter the isoform profile and metabolite syntheses by masking agents or flushing the system with water, or by other means. Fortunately for the anti-drug crusade, ROCHE developed and supplied testing data to WADA and other agencies that provided the exact molecular model to look for. Otherwise, with the lack of commitment that WADA shows toward funding of scientific studies to detect newly formulated substance enhancement use, the use of EPO-CERA and other newly synthesized performance enhancing substances would have and will continue unabated, perhaps forever.

We can only hope that 2010 will be the year when everyone will come to their senses and compete in a fair and equitable manner. This is a very desirable outcome and it could be achieved very simply. Ride clean. Resist temptation. Respect yourself and others. Give the sport of cycling some dignity.

Remove Race Radio?

Pat McQuaid has once again bested himself by suggesting that professional cycling would be better off with out race radio. This is an extremely strange idea and almost no one likes it. The riders don't like it. The teams don't like it. The fans don't like it. But even though there is a consensus of disapproval, Pat McQuaid and the UCI fancy that everyone should endorse the no race radio paradigm because everyone is hankering for the days of yore, before Motorola introduced radios into professional cycling.

What, was Lance Armstrong World Champion then? Did radios convey an unfair advantage to Team Motorola who could discuss tactics from afar while other teams has to convey instructions by word of mouth? Yes indeed, the good old days. A specious argument might exist if only one team used radios during races while others were deprived. Sort of like one team using performance enhancing drugs while everyone else rides clean. But this is not happening, no one is deprived, all team cars have sophisticated electronics to aid riders, the gaps shown on the motorcycle board is known to everyone, in high definition television. So Pat McQuaid what is the problem? With radio communication the problems sport directors encounter become almost academic, grab a microphone and issue instructions. Reel them in. You have a mechanical? Order the team to block, organize the domestics, come to the car for repairs. What could be simpler?

Yes, the radio less stage was tried in the Tour de France, the riders were furious for good reason. The issue is safety. Under the new Pat McQuaid radio less future of professional cycling, team cars will weave in and out of the peloton to issue instructions, this will interrupt the flow of the peloton, hazards will be created. Some one may die. Someone may be injured. There will be unnecessary accidents. No thank you.

Most cycling fans to not wish to return to the days of yore. The Grand Tours are a wonderful, beautiful exhibitions of rider skill and tactics. Pat McQuaid, leave things alone.

2009 Tour of Utah: Some Reflections

The Tour of Utah was a very successful stage race. The race was won by Rock and Republic racer Franciso Mancebo. I did not want to appear negative about the event, however some comments are in order.

This is the post information age, I understand that. Everyone is tethered on an Internet link, blogger, twitter, or a social network site. Problems emerge when people are deprived of a computer, say during a race, and they have only conventional news outlets to rely upon for information. This happened to me during the Tour of Utah and the results were less than satisfying.

The main and only media outlet was KFANZ radio in Salt Lake City, Utah. Although KFANZ repeated advertisements for the Tour of Utah thousands of times a day, the race summaries were perfunctory five minute news releases. The prologue was won by Jeff Louder who beat David Zabriskie by four seconds. Finis. Even the so called queen stage with a mountain top finish at Snowbird Ski Resort, which was advertised to have regular race radio updates...well the updates never materialized...the station ran a syndicated ESPN radio program discussing Brent Farve and Micheal Vick ad nausea. The Tour of Utah should work to improve the race coverage in 2010 beyond a mere two minute summary of the stages, realizing that some race fanatics do not have access to the Internet.

KSL radio did not even mention the downtown Salt Lake City criterium race in their sport report the following day even though there were several thousand people downtown. Bizarre.

One other thing. Take my advice and never decide to ride your bike up Little Cottonwood Canyon, in the afternoon, on race day, in one hundred degree plus heat. Duh! Being a fool and ignoring advice, I set out from Salt Lake City at 11:00 a.m. rode thirty miles to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon and started to climb. I felt great for the first five miles. But the traffic was bumper to bumper and Little Cottonwood Canyon has no shoulders, a very dangerous situation. Of course, there is no need to mention the exhaust fumes, the ozone, the smell of burnt rubber, the heat, the 8% grade, or the fact that at mile marker seven I ran out of water. There is also no need to mention the fact that spectators who lined the road waiting for the professional riders to appear cheered me on with shouts of appreciation and applause.

Darn. I bonked with less than one mile to go, sick of the exhaust fumes, the traffic, the heat, the stench of burning rubber, and the ozone. There was not one breath of wind in the canyon that day. Only thirty eight miles back to Salt Lake City to ride! Panic and a fateful decision. Turn around and leave before they close the canyon road for the professional race. Bad idea, which I regret to this day.

But as you can see from some of the photographs I took maybe it did not matter. The camera may be great for portraits but not so good for high speed bicycle racing. The queen stage did not have any race changing attacks or unexpected bonks as many people had expected. The only bonk was from the idiot riding the orange and red thirty pound mountain bike up Little Cottonwood Canyon that day...me.

Lastly, I wish Floyd Landis would have been a little more interactive with the fans. Floyd you don't have to be paranoid, come out and play. I still love the way you ride man. I was there and you were there and that beats an unfair suspension every time.