Here’s one of the deals with the professionals taking drugs to race, it trickles down to others. Namely juniors and amateurs aspiring to make it to the big leagues. That is one of the things that most pro riders don’t consider. I remember hearing a interview with Johan Meseeuw about 10 years ago after he was “caught” distributing HGH or EPO or something. He didn’t address that specifically, but said something about how sad it was that amateur riders and juniors thought they needed to take drugs to race. He said that when he was that age, it never occurred to him to use drugs. I was thinking at the time, “Man, what an idiot. You’re one of the guys that makes these guys think it is mandatory to take drugs to race.” Are the “Pros” naive thinking that the riders that worship them wouldn’t want to do the same thing they are doing to get to their level?

Another, study I saw over 10 years ago, they did at the JUNIOR Italian National Road Championships, two tests, a couple years apart. Just hematocrit tests. One year it was somewhere in the lower 40% race, which is pretty normal. Then two years later it was up above 48%. This was an average for the whole junior field. I remember thinking, “Wow, even juniors in Italy are using EPO?”

Now I’m reading that people are using EPO for Gran Fondos. Unbelievable, right? No true.

Two riders from the Gran Fondo in New York tested positive for EPO. David Anthony, of New York City and Gabriele Guarini from Prato, Italy both acknowledged that they took EPO to race bicycles. Shit. EPO usage by an American master rider and some asshole Italian guy for a tour/race. Craziness. Maybe Anthony was drinking the stuff instead of injecting it, checking out his previous results.

Here’s an article my friend, Ian Dilly, wrote for Bicycling Magazine about The Doper Next Door. I hadn’t seen it before and makes you wonder.

Anyway, the point is that somehow we need to try to really deter the use of drugs in our sport. I don’t believe it is ever going to be completely drug free. But, the current way we do things isn’t working. Sorry, but that’s true. The same old guys are working the races, the same doctors, the same soigneurs. The riders come and go. Some stay in the sport. The penalties are bullshit. It is so strange that Alberto Contador is going to be racing again in a couple weeks. I’d bet he wins the Tour of Spain maybe even the World Championship Road race, you never know. It doesn’t seem like he missed a beat.

And the sponsors should be ashamed of themselves. Especially the American bicycle manufactures that have decided that the Pro Tour Team sponsorship is what sells their bicycles. Look at the sponsorship money that goes into these Pro Tour riders that keep getting popped over and over again. If I had one of their bikes hanging in my garage, that I bought because of some Pro guy riding it and I thought it was cool, and then the rider was caught for doping, I’d send the bike back and ask for my money back. It seems like fraudulent advertising. Especially since most of the people in the marketing departments of these companies are completely cognoscente of what is going on with their sponsored programs.

Okay, I sort of got off track there. Let’s applaud all and every way that WADA, USADA and the all the governing organizations use to stop this pollution in such a beautiful sport. Greatness happens all the time in sport, but drugs make those special moments meaningless. And let’s quit giving our juniors role models that cheat their friends and fans for money and fame. It’s not just an issue of Pro riders beating up on other Pro riders that are using drugs too. And, I’ve only ever heard one guy, Johan Meseeuw, mention that the trickle down was a problem. And he was caught with 8000 doses of Aranesp. The way our sport works, he’ll probably be a team director pretty soon.

I was riding back from Lawrence the other day and made a stop at a convenience store only 10 miles from home. I hate those stops, but since it has been so crazy hot, I’m starting to get used to drinking a ton of cold liquids and since I was in no hurry, I did it.

I was sitting there drinking a Gatorade when a guy comes walking out of the store with a bag of ice. He says something about it being pretty hot to be out. And then he asks me where I was going. I told him that I’d ridden over to Lawrence and was coming back to Topeka. Then he goes into a story about a time when he rode to Lawrence.

He told me that when he was 9, he ran away from home with his older brother, who was 11. They got on a Schwinn Stingray and rode the 30+ miles, him on the handlebars, facing and pedaling backwards, and his brother on the seat pedaling normally. He said he had no idea how long that took them, but that was as far as they got. I said something like that was a very long ways to go riding like that, plus it was super far for running away from home at that age. He agreed.

Why this story resonated with me was because my brother and I used to ride this way. I’m not sure why we did it because we both had bikes. I had the Stringray. My brother usually had a Collegiate. We went through a ton of bikes, most being stolen within a year or two. But, when we really started “breaking the rules” and straying outside our set perimeter of our parents, we rode this way. I was on the handlebars and he would ride normal.

This was the way we rode when we started to really explore the city of Topeka. We rode all the way down to the river, which was maybe 3 miles from our house. We found a dirt jump track at a park that was way out of bounds for us. We kept all of this secret from our parents of course. But, this was the time that I really started loving the aspects of riding a bike, not just for the transportation benefit, but for the exploration and new frontier aspect.

I’ve never stopped having that feeling. Riding a bike in a new place is always great, even when I just end up getting lost in a business park, seeing new terrain is always good. And when I’m somewhere where I don’t have the ability to ride, I always wish I had my bike, or the time, to explore.

I asked the guy at the convenience store when was the last time he rode a bike. He said he hadn’t ridden one for years and years. I told him he should try it again, it might surprise him. He said he had a bad knee and was too old, that he leave it to young guys like me. I asked him how old he was and he said 48. I held my tongue and told him he had plenty of time and maybe next time he saw a bike laying around, he should take it for a spin. I think I caught a thought, through his eyes, that he might just do that. I hope I was right.

Trudi just told me that her nephew, Parker, was riding his bike from his home in Glen Ellen up to Delavan Wisconsin this morning, alone. It’s 80 miles. I hope he has a great time and enjoys the scenery. I wonder if he’s riding his single speed?

We don’t see this much here in the US.

And don’t forget the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games tonight. Here’ a link to Podium Insight where they have all the schedules for the cycling events and links to where to watch them on the internet.