I watched a video the other day from a law professor and also a police officer, saying that under no circumstances, should you open your mouth when being questioned by the police. I wouldn’t have thought that it would be any harm if I had nothing to hide, but now I think I am wrong on that.

Michele Scarponi probably should have watched the video and applied it to the press. I just saw this article over at Cyclingnews.com where the in the interview, Michele can’t really get his story right and contradicts himself. That isn’t a very good thing if he would like the readers to believe what he’s saying.

When repling to questions about using Dr. Michele Ferrair, Lance’s guy, he says“…I only saw him once for a test. To say that I ‘frequented’ him is a bit much. I was given a suspension, I accepted it and basta. It ended there.”

Then just a little later on he says, “You’re still asking these questions and it’s something from the past. I repeat: my story was blown out of proportion and I suffered the consequences. For this reason, I don’t even like talking about it. I saw him once, if that, and I paid for it with a three-month suspension.”

If that? Either it was once or more or not at all. It can’t be once, if that. If that, would mean, he didn’t see him at all. Or just saw him when he was riding by and didn’t have any relationship with him. But he has already admitted to meeting up with Dr. Michele Ferrair, a doctor that had been banned by the Italian Federation since 2002, for a two-day test on the Monzuno climb, near Bologna.

Cyclingnews did go and ask the guy why, after already serving a suspension for blood doping, relating to Dr. Fuentes, would he use Michele Ferrai for anything. His response was, “I understand the question. Do I have to answer this? I’m thinking about how to respond. I never thought that going to see him one time would have brought all of this on top of me. I didn’t think I’d done such a serious thing. Clearly if I could go back, I wouldn’t do it.”

He probably should have asked the first three lines in that paragraph to himself, early on in the interview, and then walked. Or better yet, never do interviews.

Vinokourov, Nibali and Astana threw Scarponi a bone. It’s such a joke. I don’t understand why these guys get their 2nd, 3rd, whatever chances. They aren’t smart enough to quit doping. Or maybe they are and just know that they were super unlucky getting caught in the first place. If you use him as an example, the only way he ever served a timeout was when got nabbed with his doctors. It’s not from testing.

Anyway, I doubt these guys are going to get much smarter and are going to keep doing these interviews, thus piss me off. I don’t think he should be racing at all, let alone finishing 4th in the Giro or riding the Worlds last year. I guess that pisses me off more. The whole thing stinks.

I read a tweet a couple days ago that said something like wasn’t it about time that Steve Tilford did a rant about cyclocross nationals. I admit I rant some, but not for unnecessary reasons usually. I don’t have a rant here. I do have an issue. I didn’t like the decision to award The Cyclocross Nationals Championship to Boulder. Don’t get me wrong, I think the promoters, venue and setting are great. Here’s link to a Q & A article from Velonews with Pete Weber, course designer. My one complaint, before the race, is that the race is at altitude.

Most of you haven’t raced at altitude much. I have. A ton. More than a ton. And let me tell you, it affects each rider differently. I know some of you are going to say that the race isn’t that high, at only mile, 5280 feet. Believe me, that is enough to really change up your ability to perform.

I have to applaud USA Cycling for keeping the Cyclocross Nationals all at in the same city, on the same weekend. I really think that should be the way for all the National Championships. But since all categories race in Boulder, it seems a little unfair to some of the other classes, but not to the Elites. Elite racers should have the ability to schedule a couple weeks and prepare properly, to get used to the thin air. Not the case for juniors or Master’s. And since cyclocross in the US is a participatory sport, and the majority of competitors at Nationals aren’t Elite riders, then I have to question putting the event on at altitude. But, playing devil’s advocate, I guess putting the race on in Madison, where it was pretty much guaranteed to be icy and slick, or for that matter, in Austin next year, where most likely it will be dry and somewhat warm, if not hot, is a disadvantage for the majority of riders too. But, altitude is something that is a little different. At least to me.

So, if you’re planning on going out there and compete, and you are putting more of an emphasis on race placing than overall experience, my suggestion to you is that you is get out there as late as possible, like the day before. And ride super easy the day before. Then don’t start too crazy hard. Once you get redlined at altitude, it takes so long to get composed again.

When Nationals were at the Colorado School of Mines, in Golden, in the 90’s, I drove out to Colorado the day before. I rode two laps of the course, super easy, then went to Boulder to stay with my friend, Roy Knickman. I had a horrendous start, getting a pedal jammed into my front wheel at the first dismount, then having to hobble to the first pit. So, redlined at the start. I ended up finishing 2nd, but was awarded the Professional National Championship Jersey, which was the reason I was there, so it was all good.

My pick for Sunday is bases exclusively on who I think prepared best. And the most important preparation, I believe, is getting used to the thin air. So I’m picking Jeremy Powers. As far as I can tell, he’s the only one of the top contenders that has been training high. I might be wrong here, though. I’m not sure if Jonathan Page flew back to the US and has been training at altitude in Utah. If he has, then I get him as a discretionary pick. I read that Ryan Trebon has been training in Southern California. He says he is flying in on Thursday. That is nearly the worst day for me. I’m usually the worst on the 5th day and it will only be the 4th for Ryan. Tim Johnson has been riding the canyons North of LA too. Unless he flew to Boulder right after his last ride on Strava, in my opinion, he’s getting there too late.

So, the Nationals are officially on as of today. If you live anywhere near (or just Priceline a ticket) and haven’t seen a big cyclocross, you should go out of your way to attend. Watching at altitude is not really an issue. And the watching in Boulder should be fantastic.

I was looking for a photo from the Nationals in Golden and saw this letter from Thomas Frischknecht. I didn’t remember it. I remember once talking to Thomas and Henrik Djernis once about cross and Thomas said something like I did more cyclocross races before I was 10 than you’ll do in your whole life. That might still be true. Thomas’ father was an awesome cross racer. He finished 2nd in the World Champhionships something like 5 times. Thomas’ career followed his father’s, with a ton of 2nd place finishes at the Worlds. Then he figured out how to win kept doing just that. (You can click on the letter to enlarge.)

Taking the letter out of the scanner, I noticed this drawing Thomas did. I didn’t really know he was such an artist.