Monthly Archives: December 2014

USAC Changes Stance/Ruts and Guts

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I saw that the USAC changed their line in the sand qualification process for the Elite race at Cyclocross Nationals in Austin and now allows for a rider to petition to get into the event.  I was a little pissed initially, but then reconsidered.  I was being selfish.

I have pretty much written off the cyclocross season.  I knew, at best, I might, just might be able to race by January, and not a day before.  And I only wanted to race the Elite race, not the Master’s, if I had to make a choice.  But, since I didn’t race last season, and now not again this year, I wouldn’t have been in the top 90 of the rankings or have a UCI point, so I couldn’t compete.  Now, I guess I could/can.  It  made me a little mad that they announce this just a little over a month ahead of the race.

But, it is a good rule and I applaud that they reconsidered.  Better late than never.  There are other guys like me, riders that race in Europe and don’t have any UCI points, riders hurt early season and are just recovering by January, and others that have peculiar problems that need to be taken into account.  The rule is good.

If you want to take advantage of this exclusion, you need to apply by December 20th, after December 10th.  The specifics can be found here.

Down in Broken Arrow, near Tulsa, this weekend, they are holding Ruts and Guts Cyclocross races.  The races are on the National Racing Calender this year, and next season, are going to be UCI races, so they are going through the stages to grow.  I’ve done the race a few times and it is a blast.  I think the racing in Tulsa will be a lot like it will be in Austin in January.  There is a little Ruts and Guts logo above that is a link to the races.  You can also click here for the race specifics.    Tulsa is a cool place to hang out, so if you have the opportunity, you should try to get over there.

I ran two miles the other day.  Well, I “ran” two miles 100 meters at a time, pretty much stopping when I started limping badly.  But I ‘m going to stay at it.  I think the impact is good for the muscles surrounding my hip.  The bone is healed now, but my muscles aren’t working well yet.  It is amazing to me that it is such a slow process.  Attrification of muscles starts as soon as they aren’t used.  It’s pretty hard to get them back to normal.

 

It's not going to look like this in Tulsa, or Austin for that matter.  But, it is supposed to be pretty nice this weekend, in Tulsa, 50's.  I've done the race when it was in the 90's.

It’s not going to look like this in Tulsa, or Austin, for that matter. But, it is supposed to be pretty nice this weekend, in Tulsa, 50’s. I’ve done the race when it was in the 90’s.

 

 

Drug/Dope Testing is a Joke in Sport

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I saw an article over at Velonews, then went to The Guardian, citing a German TV documentary that had done investigative reporting on a systematic doping program throughout the sport’s programs in Russia.  They say that maybe 99% of the Russian athletes that competed at the  recent Olympic Games were doping.

99%.  That is a very inclusive number.  Even if this number is off by a factor of 2 or 3, which I very much doubt, it just goes to show that all sports are super polluted and that the whole system is very much broken.  Like catastrophically.

I know, by personal observation, and studies, how much better today’s doping products make an athlete.  So when the Russians don’t sweep the podium in all the sports it shows that they aren’t the only ones using drugs.

And how many positive tests were there?  It is hard to find, but here at Wiki, they show around 15 athletes were caught doping before or during London.  And there were 8 caught in Sochi.  Only one of those 23 were Russian, a discus thrower.

Russia led the medal count at their Olympics this past year.  And not one of their athletes tested positive.  And the documentary says that 99% of their athletes were doping.

I’ve said it before and now I’ll just restate it again, in complete, utter disgust.   Dope testing is not a viable way to control the use of drugs in athletics.  It doesn’t work and catches only the stupid and unlucky ones.  Very, very few.

But, we knew this already.  That is one thing that the whole Lance thing showed us is that the testing isn’t catching anyone.  Not Levi, or George, Dave, Tommy, Ryder, Christian, Kevin, Lance, not one of them.  So why should it be any different in all sports, including cycling, still.

Lance told me this spring, when he called me, that he “didn’t want to burst my bubble, but all great cyclists doped”.  Merckx, Hinault, even Andy Hampsten.  I told him that I didn’t have any personal knowledge of most of those guys, but very much doubted that Andy took anything to race bicycles.   I don’t doubt that most cyclists took drugs, historically, but the drugs only got out of control since he had been competing on a Professional level.    It got to the point of where you were not even close to be competitive if you didn’t participate in doping.

Now this.  In cycling, all the riders are trying to convince the public that the sport is so clean.  But, 99% of the Russian athletes, which I assume includes all the Russian cyclists, are on a doping program.  And the Russian guys aren’t smearing all the other professionals cyclists, so it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that cycling still has big issues.

After hearing of this, former WADA president Dick Pound said. “Somebody’s got to come up with an answer.  If something of this nature is being organized in any country, it’s a very serious problem for the credibility of international sport and the credibility of anti-doping efforts.”  Yeah, sports have a credibility problem.

It is really all a shell game, with us, the athletic community, riders and fans holding the empty shell.

 

shellgame