I saw that USADA announced that another asshole cyclist was suspended for a technical doping violation.  Shawn D’Aurelio, a KHS rider from Dana Point, refused to give a sample when USADA conducted a “random” test, so he has to sit out 4 years.   Obviously, he was going to be positive or he wouldn’t have done a refusal.

I don’t know Shawn.  I looked around the internet a little bit and nothing special seems to be there.  I guess he would have been a lowly Cat 4 or something without the performance enhancing products he was using.  That is my assumption for all of these guys.  The dude is a coach,  go figure.  If, by chance, you’ve paid this guy some $$$ to coach you, I would demand my money back   .

What really bugs me is that this guy maybe could have been racing with a bunch of friends of mine.  I really don’t know Shawn’s status on the KHS team, but that team is merging with the Elevate Pro Team for 2017 and that means maybe he would have been racing with the newly merged entity.  I know most all the guys on the Elevate Team and am super glad that this dude was caught before they got together.

I often wonder why USADA shows up on a guy’s doorstep? This guy in particular?  It must have been a call USADA them by one, or multiple others.  Or maybe he bought something from Thorfinn Sassquatch and got caught up in the squeeze?  Whatever the case, I’m glad he is out of the competitive part of the sport for the next 4 years.

Seems like this USAC program, Race Clean is doing something.  Maybe it is nothing, I have no idea how many silly amateurs feel the need for speed.  But it does seem like a bunch of guys that wouldn’t normally be on anyone’s radar screen are getting popped.  Whatever the reasons, I applaud them.

Yeah, Happy Birthday Shawn!!!

I’m not nearly a smart enough guy to understand all the issues involved with medicine. Especially taking medicine while racing bikes.  I do know it isn’t very fun racing while you are sick, but that is part of the job many times.

And it really doesn’t even matter if you are a professional, where it is really a job or just a guy focusing on any given weekend.  You might have be training for a specific race for a full year, only to come down with some crud the week before.  There is no way you could not start the race.  I’ve done that many times.

And the results are sometimes surprising, which is why doing things out of the box is amazing and sometimes the only way to push the limits of things.

But this TUE thing is ridiculous.   A TUE is a exemption that allows athletes to compete while taking normally banned medicines.  It is also a way for athletes to take substances that enhance performance, without being ill.

Bradley Wiggins can go on the BBC and or do an interview with The London Times and say that he was just trying to stay even or whatever, but everyone, including Bradley, knows that the reason he was taking those triamcinolone injections was to enhance his performance, not to get well, or his his words, ” to cure a medical condition”.

Here’s the deal.  WADA and USADA knows when something is being abused.  They can just look at the number of athletes applying for TUE’s for the same substance and if the number gets ridiculous, then they need to address the problem.  But that doesn’t seem to be the way the process works.  It drags on for years until it gets to a tipping point.

The guys at The Outer Line wrote a piece about TUE’s today.  If you have some extra time, and are interested in the subject, here is a link.  As always, they cover the topic pretty well.  They don’t have a solution, but do address the problem pretty solidly.