Lance is racing in Crested Butte this weekend on his MTB bike. He could just as easily be racing up here in Northern Wisconsin at Chequamegon. Here is the article, with quotes from the promoter.

“Our thought was, like him or not, doping or not, allegations or allegories, the dude has done a ton for cycling and we wanted to basically to show our support,” said David Ochs, the local organizer for the Alpine Odyssey, which is part of the Leadville Race Series, owned by Life Time Fitness. I have to say the guy is completely off base with his rational.

I agree, this isn’t about Lance Armstrong, whether you like the guy, believe the guy, or even know his name. This is about cycling and the sport of bicycle racing. If this guy wanted to show support of the sport of cycling, then he would be telling Lance, politely, that he has a lifetime ban from racing bicycles and that since he is promoting a bicycle race, you are not welcome. He can still support Lance in any personal way he feels comfortable with, but Lance shouldn’t be racing his race.

I’m not a big rule guy in general. But, there are some rules that aren’t negotiable. This is one of them. When you have a lifetime ban in sport, then you don’t get to compete in sport any more. And when the participates that have such lifetime bans imposed upon them, don’t accept them, then it is the obligation of the promoters to tell them, sorry, you can’t compete.

The Chicago Marathon did just that. Actually, all sports that have signed onto the World Anti-Doping code don’t want these athletes. And cycling is one of those sports.

Tyler Hamilton rode the Mt. Washingon Hillclimb twice, while he was serving his 2 year suspension. And he won the Mt. Washington Hillclimb twice. Ned Overend, finished 2nd to him one year. Anyone now, think Tyler should be racing these races? Is Tyler any different than Lance? I think the whole thing stinks.

There are plenty of sports these guys can compete in. Most of the mainstream US sports, football, basketball, & baseball for sure. So, these spurned souls do have options.

Cycling is very unique in sport. Even though it is a big sport worldwide, the competitive aspect of it is small. It’s like a family. And when promoters, such as David Ochs, completely dis-regard the rules that we, as competitive cyclists, have agreed to adhere, then they damage the sport of cycling, not support it.

Nothing is stopping him from running with his friends on the beach.

It turned from serenity to chaos yesterday up here at the compound. Kent and Katie Eriksen showed up, then Pat Lemieux rolled in a little bit later, along with his girlfriend, Gwen Jorgensen, plus his dad, and finally Catherine showed up at the River Eatery around 8, during the Packers/Bears game.

It’s hard to stress how important Packers football is in Wisconsin. Especially rural, Wisconsin. So when the Packers play the Bears, the roads are empty.

I’m not going to ride much today. Probably about the same I did yesterday. Just over to the course and then the last 6 miles. Turned out to be a little under 25 miles. I don’t think I can get any fitter in two days, but I sure can get a lot more tired.

I haven’t really been checking into who is coming. So far it is the normal contenders, Brian Matter, Tristan Schouten, Cole House and Co. Cole’s team mate on the road, Mike Olheiser, Competitive Cyclist, who finished 2nd last year, is back. Along with 3rd place finisher Jason McCartney, ex- Radio Shack, now United Healthcare Pro is also back. New to the mix is Matt Busche, current Radio Shack Pro. I haven’t heard antthing about Christian Vande Velde yet, but his family has a place up here somewhere, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see him at the line.

It is funny, but everyone is asking if I get more nervous when the field is better. It is exactly the opposite. I would like to be racing against the best guys in the world every weekend, if I had the opportunity.

One year when the MTB Worlds were in Canada, there was a rumor that a bunch of European road pros were going to come over and race. My friend, Thomas Frishknecht, said something I thought was great. He said that he’d pay for up to 10 airfares of any Pros that wanted to come over. His rational was that he was going to beat them all and that it would just make him look that much better. And that would have been the case for sure.

Today always gets away from me. By the time we ride, clean our bikes, go over to pick up the numbers at Telemark and eat dinner, it is nearly tomorrow already. It is good that Dennis has so much room here for guests, the only problem is tomorrow morning for breakfast. It always takes a bit of a juggling to get everyone out the door tomorrow morning for the 10 am start. It should be fun though.

We stopped at the Rivers Eatery yesterday after the ride to have a beer. Here is Bill, Chap, Deb Wood, and Jeff Bradley.

Here is Dennis making a couple peg board hangers for the Kansas garage.

Here is Gwen making a “strange” oatmeal concoction.

The oatmeal contains – oatmeal obviously, plus walnuts, poached eggs, raisins, honey and almond butter. Yummy?

Here is Gwen on last months cover of Triathlete magazine. She gave Dennis a framed, autographed copy.

Dennis brought out the autographed copy, but……..

Dennis also brought his “cover photo” from Silent Sports.