re: Cycling

Floyd Again

It's not a surprise that Floyd Landis has filed an appeal of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's verdict against him. I'm prompted to remember what his mother said when that case went against him: something to the effect that she didn't think it was worth appealing, but Floyd being Floyd -- and seeing that he still insisted on his innocence -- how could he not appeal?

Now the case goes to the oddly named Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, and the word is that its ruling -- which will be the final, final, final legal verdict in the matter -- will come down early next year.

In the meantime, Tour de France officials will appear in Madrid on Monday to bestow their event's much besmirched champion's jersey on Oscar Pereiro, who finished second to Landis in 2006. I just love picturing what happens if the Swiss court rules in Landis's favor. Will there be a ceremony to retrieve the jersey from Pereiro and give it back to Floyd? (Of course not. In the unlikely event he wins his Swiss appeal, Landis will probably have to sue the Amaury Sports Organization, the Tour company, to get the championship back. Which reminds me of hearing Pete Dexter, the former newspaper columnist and fine novelist, asked about why he hadn't sued David Milch, the creator of HBO's "Deadwood," for what Dexter felt was theft from his much earlier novel of the same name. "You know, if you do that, that's what you do. That becomes your job. You're someone who sues." Not that I'm without sympathy for Floyd, but he looks like he's got a new job.)

Technorati Tags: doping, floyd landis, landis, tour de france

PBP: The Numbers

Thanks to randonneuuring comrade Bruce Berg, who ferreted out the info on the official Paris-Brest-Paris website, the quick official rundown on PBP finishers and DNFs is:

5,160 starters
3,603 finishers.
128 hors delai (riders who got to controls or the finish beyond the allotted time)
1,429 did not finish

Finishing rate: 69.8 percent. That compares to roughly 86 percent in 2003. What a difference a little rain makes.

Here's the link to the official rider list:
http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/EN/index.php?showpage=283

And for anyone who's interested, here's Bruce's Excel spreadsheet of American riders only (the color-coded riders are those of local Bay Area interest):

PBP results.xls

Technorati Tags: pbp

The Pasadena Peloton

OK, here's one of the many things I didn't know about Los Angeles and its cycling culture. Every Tuesday and Thursday, there's an informal event at Pasadena's Rose Bowl that's known as the Peloton. Depending on which print source you believe, as many as 100 (Los Angeles CityBeat's number) or 150 riders (the figure in the L.A. Times) turn out every Tuesday and Thursday during Daylight Saving Time to blast around a three-mile circuit outside the stadium.

It might be fun to do. Once. Or twice. Or at least until the first crash.

Both CityBeat (first) and the Times (second) thought the Peloton a fit subject for a major feature this week. That's because the city of Pasadena, having gotten an earful from some residents and businesses scared or just put off by the horde of high-speed cyclists, is talking about shutting down the ride. CityBeat's take, which I'll give points for sounding like it's written by someone who's ridden in the group, is to dismiss the idea. Sure, the ride is dangerous, but so is every peloton. By its nature, though, it's unpoliceable. The Times notes the conflicts and safety issues among cyclists, drivers, pedestrians and others, but the picture you get is that everyone's trying to work things out. For instance, car traffic might be limited in the area during the three or so hours a week the Peloton is on the street; and foot traffic might be required to move counterclockwise against the flow of the ride to try to ensure that walkers and runners are at least facing the bikes as they approach.

DST ends this year on the first Sunday in November. It starts again the second Sunday in March. That's how long folks have to come up with some sort of solution.

Technorati Tags: peloton, puppy

And the (2006) Tour Winner Is ...

Only six more days at the most and we'll know who won the 2006 Tour de France. That's because the doping cops' largely inscrutable process of deciding whether Floyd Landis is a doper or not has finally come to an end -- there are many good blog takes on this, including ones at Rant Your Head Off and Trust But Verify -- and the verdict will be announced by next Sunday. So, Landis will either pull off a win even more stunning than his famous escape in the final week of the '06 Tour or, more likely, he'll be found guilty of cheating and some guy named Oscar will belatedly get the now faded and much besmirched yellow jersey.

(And why do I say it's more likely he'll be found guilty of cheating? Just this: As shown time and time again, the anti-doping "system" in cycling is a "system" the same way a neck-tie party was a system in the Old West: It has shown itself to have no concern for due process. Landis is a cause celebre here in the States, but arguably much worse has happened to other riders at the hands of doping and cycling and team officials who feel compelled to act before all the evidence is in. The world will little note nor long remember Michael Rasmussen, but any time you yank the leader of the nearly certain winner of the Tour off the road and tell him to pack his bags, you've administered a cure that's far worse than the disease.)

Technorati Tags: doping, floyd landis, michael rasmussen, tour de france

Tuesday Notebook

Vuelta a España: The race went into the mountains today (which mountains? Some Spanish mountains). The winner was a Russian named Efimkin, of whom, due to my thin knowledge of the pro ranks, I can tell you nothing except that he was in a long breakaway today and managed to stay away from a hard chase even when the final climb hit 14 percent. Yesterday's stage went to Paolo Bettini, Italian of Quickstep, reigning world road race champ and member of my own Berkeley Bombers fantasy Vuelta squad. Of which, read on.

Fantasy Vuelta: Thanks to its second consecutive one-two finish, the Berkeley Bombers advanced from 58th to 35th place. Sunday, Oscar Freire won a finishing sprint with Bettini second. Monday, Bettini edged Freire. Of course, those are just about the only guys on my team of nine who have scored. And now that the mountain stages have begun, the sprinters are toast (for awhile) and the Bombers face a steady slide toward the middle of the 600-strong pack.

Today's top doping news: Handwringing in Britain, by way of The Telegraph, over the case of sprinter Christine Ohuruogu. She was recently banned from the UK's Olympic squad for missing random drug tests. But last week she went to the world track championships and won a gold in the 400-meter dash. Noting that Ohuruogu has never failed a doping test, the head of the nation's track and field federation is making noises about finding a way to get her reinstated. The Telegraph argues, in its headline, that "athletics faces ruin if it keeps bending its rules." Also today: T-Mobile fires another rider over a positive drug test.

Life in limbo: Floyd Landis raced this weekend, his new hip and ongoing problems with the sports doping cops notwithstanding. The event: a marathon mountain bike race, the Shenandoah Mountain 100. He came in third and according to the accounts you come across online left a pretty positive impression on fans and fellow racers alike.

Technorati Tags: cycling, doping, floyd landis, vuelta

Sunday Notebook

Vuelta a España: Two sprint finishes in the first two stages, and lots of crashes in both, including one that ended the race and probably the season for Discovery's Tom Danielsen. First stage: Daniele Bennati (an Italian from Lampre) won the sprint ahead of Óscar Freire (Spain/Rabobank). Second stage: Bennati crashed near the end, and Freire won, with Italian Paolo Bettini (QuickStep) second.

Fantasy Vuelta: Is the game functional or not? The Velogames site says it suffered a server crash on Saturday that blocked last-minute entries. After two stages, though, the site still shows no results. I'm impatient because two of the riders on my team, Freire and Bettini, have scored lots of points the first two days and I want to see where my managerial brilliance and pro-racing savvy (yes, that's a joke) have landed my squad. [Update: The first results are up. My team, the Berkeley Bombers is ranked 58th. Context, however, is everything: There are about 660 teams entered, so 58th doesn't look so bad. It must be noted, though, that just one rider, Oscar Freire, is responsible for about 70 percent of the points I've scored so far.]

David Zabriskie, sometimes described as a San Francisco Bay Area rider, successfully defended his U.S. pro time trial title yesterday, winning by a second over future Slipstream teammate Danny Pate. Slipstream is the official Team Clean of the future of cycling.

Floyd Landis Watch: If you're interested in any aspect of the Floyd Landis affair -- where he's riding this weekend, his latest interview pronouncements, what bloggers and the media are saying about our great Tour non-champion -- check out Trust But Verify. A great resource on the entire case to date.

Technorati Tags: floyd landis, vuelta

Testosterone: A Mood Enhancer for Landis?

A squib from the Scientific American on the still-unresolved Floyd Landis case. As the world of cycling knows, Landis's blood test results the day of his astounding Tour-winning stage last year showed high levels of testosterone. The reader question that Scientific American puts to its expert, Michael Bahrke, is one that most people have thought about: Could a dose of testosterone produce such "an immediate and profound" effect as the one from which Landis may have benefited?

Bahrke largely discounts the immediate physical benefits of testosterone, but then he raises another possibility: "...It is feasible that the improved performance could have come as a result of a shift in mood level."

Read Bahrke's entire answer here: http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=84EC9327-E7F2-99DF-3275ED1BD923D659&ref=rss

Technorati Tags: floyd landis, doping, tour de france