Velonews/Cyclingnews, etc. reported today that Jeannie Longo’s husband, Patrice Ciprelli, bought some EPO from Joe Papp. That is not a good thing.

This story bothers me for a variety of reasons. One is feeling bad for Jeannie. I have known her forever and I have witnessed her doing incredible feats for decades. Way before these oxygen carrying drugs came on the market.

The 2nd is, that it is my opinion, that everyone that Joe has named so far has turned up to be “guilty” of purchasing EPO.

3rd is, why Patrice would need to purchase EPO from Joe Papp here in the United States.

But the real problem I have with this is Joe’s statement that Ciprelli said it was for Jeannie – “Papp said: “I sold EPO to Ciprelli around this time. He contacted our website and specifically asked how much it would cost for 80,000 iu of EPO to be sent to France. He mentioned it was for his wife.” That doesn’t make any sense at all. None. I don’t know Patrice, but I have to say that I don’t know anyone that is stupid enough to be buying drugs from someone and telling them the drugs are for someone as famous as Jeannie Longo.

So I’m in a quandary here. Obviously, we don’t have all the facts. But I’ve come to the conclusion that Joe’s list is accurate. But the statement that Joe said that Patrice bought it for his wife makes the whole thing seem ridiculous. That one statement alone makes the whole thing suspect. I’m hoping it is.

Say it aint' so Jeannie.

Yesterday, Bill, Keith and I rode the complete Chequamegon course from Fish Hatchery to Telemark. I’ve been feeling kind of weird. Like I’m coming down with Ned’s cold, but it never gets worse. I never really got going too good, but was never really winded.

The course seemed really bumpy. Of course, it is going to be somewhat bumpy since it is a MTB race, but if you’ve done Chequamegon before, you know that it isn’t a typical MTB race. Of the 40 mile distance, only 10 miles or so are on the Birkie Trail, which is a singletrack down the middle of a nordic ski trail. The rest is either on gravel roads, logging roads and/or double track snow mobile trail. They are dumping a lot of gravel on the roads this year. It is definitely slower than years past.

That being said, Bill and I rode it in about 2:19, which seemed pretty fast to me. We were missing the first 3 miles or so from Hayward to Fish Hatchery, but that is a pretty fast time. Gary has already moved the Chequamegon office over to the hut at Telemark, so it was nice seeing him and Trish.

I have to drive to Duluth and pick Trudi up at the airport this afternoon. She drove a BMC car to Detroit after the World Cup in Montreal and now is flying to Duluth. That’s it for the season for her. I know it seems early, but when it starts January 1 and is non stop until the middle of September, it is long. So, 3 months off and it starts all over again. It’s kind of crazy.

I’m not sure what we’re doing for a ride today. My legs are good, just this lingering cold/head ache thing. It’s only 39 degrees and wet out now, so maybe we’ll wait until after Duluth.

Keith doesn't usually make the trip up this early. Here he is making sure the windshield is spotless.

They were pouring new gravel on the first snow mobile trail coming off the Birkie for the first time. It was like dry, wet concrete. It is going to be a really slow, hard part of the race.

Here is Keith and Bill doing some sort of core exercises after the ride yesterday. I didn't have the energy or motivation to participate.