Whiney Bitches?

This guy is crying 'cause he gots hisself suspended for missing 3 examen de dopage in 18 months. His excuse? I didn't wanna fill out the paperwork any more. He says he wasn't racing at the elite level, and didn't consider himself a racing cyclist any longer. He knew what was going on. RTFA. http://www.velonews.com/race/mtn/articles/11309.0.html

This on top of Race to Replace winner dissing Disco for signing Basso.

I think a lot of these elite to semi elite riders have lost sight of where they fit in. If you are on the out of competition list. It's a fact of life. You are there because you wanted to be at a certain level. Once it becomes too much, take care of it. Like paying your credit card bill. It's gotta be done, it's your responsibility. Do it, fucktard. Nobody cares about your story.










By Fred DreierVeloNews associate editor
This report filed December 11, 2006
On September 25, cross-country mountain biker Jimi Mortensen received a two-year doping suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for missing three out-of-competition tests during an 18-month period from late 2004 to early 2005.
Mortensen wasn't exactly dodging the tests. The Eagle, Colorado, resident says he simply stopped filling out his USADA paperwork because he was fed up with being a part of USADA's out-of-competition testing group.
Mortensen became a member of the group after representing the United States at the 2003 world mountain-bike championships in Lugano, Switzerland. But after 2004, his career began to wind down, and Mortensen says he had become more focused on his new child, his tile business and his family life than racing bikes or putting his life on hold for drug testers.
USADA saw things otherwise.
"He didn't fill out the papers for four quarters and then was given the opportunity to show up for testing and didn't," said USADA general counsel Travis Tygart. "That's very grievous behavior. The rule is a fair rule. Fortunately the overwhelming majority of the athletes comply with it on any given quarter."
Following is an excerpt from an interview with Mortensen for an upcoming piece that will appear in the January 2007 issue of VeloNews. The magazine piece will include more comments from USADA on Mortensen's case, as well as the cases of Cale Redpath and Jason Sager, who both received one-year bans for missing post-race tests at the July 9 NMBS race in Deer Valley, Utah.
VeloNews: Why did you stop filling out the paperwork?
Jimi Mortensen: Well, I guess after the 2004 season when Specialized dropped sponsorship for our team, I said I'm not going to be on any team next year, so I would be pretty much semi-retired. I had a new business of my own and I bartend full time, and I was feeling guilty about having to win prize money to pay my mortgage. I was like, hopefully, my business takes off and I can start racing again before I get too old. I mean, I like the scene and I like to train. In 2005 my racing schedule was hardly anything. I did the Teva Games, two local races in Vail and the Vail 100 and RAAM. I was just doing whatever races I could do around here. So I was trying to get USADA to take me off of the [out-of-competition testing] list. I told them a couple of times, "I would really appreciate it if you would take me off the list. I'm not racing and you're wasting your time and money on me."
They told me I'd have to officially retire, and if I wanted to race again I'd have to fill out paperwork six months before the race and start getting randomly tested again.
So I let my paperwork slip, and when you do that it's an automatic red flag. This guy was late on his forms and so he gets tested.
VN: Did they send someone to your door?
JM: Yeah, and I was in Denver on a Sunday at my brother-in-law's wrestling tournament, and [the tester] comes and finds you where you're supposed to be, so the guy showed up in Eagle and I was at the Pepsi Center. [The testers] basically show up to your door and if you're not home they don't call you, they have a four-hour buffer and sit outside your house, and basically call you when the time is up and say you have missed your test. He called me when I was in Denver and I said, "If you're coming back through Denver, stop by the Pepsi Center and it'll be all good." But I missed the test. I should have had the foresight to know that I was going to be gone.
VN: So that counted as three missed tests for you. What happened next?
JM: They said I can't miss three tests in an 18-month period. I was like, whatever, I'm not worried. I wrote them a letter and explained my situation and said my results and the races I had done in the last two years. I told them I wasn't a cyclist anymore. I don't have a team, I've never had a doctor and I don't know how to use the drugs they're even testing for. They were like, "No, that's not good enough, so you're suspended for 18 months." I said I didn't like the sound of that, give me a hearing. I'm not going to waste time and money on a lawyer, I'm just going to go tell my side of the story [to an arbitration panel] and hopefully they'll understand my situation. That was kind of dumb.
VN: What have been the repercussions of your suspension?
JM: Looking back, I should have just retired. I can still do the Vail 100 and RAAM because they're not NORBA-sanctioned, but I can't do the local Vail races because they're NORBA now. That's a bummer because I've been racing in the Vail valley since 1996 and in Eagle County it's a big cycling community and everybody knows me and Jay [Henry] and Mike [Janelle] and I've never had any ding on my reputation, and now I look like a jackass for our county. They threw it on the front page of the Vail Daily. "Local cyclist banned for two years." The story was pretty much what I told you, but when you have a headline like that, I was totally screwed. I mean, that's how I pretty much ended my cycling career in my community, with people thinking I'm a doper. My friends are asking if I did it. I do construction for all of these guys in the valley who are cyclists, and now I'm losing jobs because I'm "the doper." I mean, anyone who knows anything about cycling knows that I'm not a doper. There's no way I could even access or use doping products. It was a huge joke until one day you wake up and see it on the front page of the paper. Then the joke was on me. If I would have foreseen that, I would have kept filling out those forms for the rest of my life so I wouldn't look like a doper.

The CAN!

From projo.com

http://www.beloblog.com/ProJo_Blogs/newsblog/#054084
"Former Red Sox pitcher Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, left, acts as an election recount observer for his father-in-law, Isadore Ramos, candidate for East Providence's council-at-large seat. Stephanie Brelsford, a Board of Elections worker, feeds ballots from the Rumford Towers precinct into the voting machine. The recount showed Isadore leading Mayor Joseph Larisa Jr. by 16 votes. Larisa had requested the recount."

My mayor to be is the Can's father in law. I love Rhode Island.

il Bruce

Happy Thanksgiving, bloggo-geek friends.

Remember how much we have to be thankful for, friends, family, too many bikes, the ability, means and health to enjoy them all. So enjoy them.

Il Bruce

Grand Funding

The RI Sports Council, a state funded organization, has contacted the Club regarding an event they are “supporting”. This event will be a RACE! According to the events director of RISC it is definitely a race not a ride.

It is being promoted, run, foisted, by an organization called Velo USA. There will be 6 divisions, and 800 riders. They want a 120-130 mile parcouse. (In lil’Rhody) According to RISC they are applying for a USAC permit. Hmmm….

The RISC is looking for our support. They are not being specific about what they mean by that. I have been named point person for all interaction between Velo USA/RISC and the Club.

I have doubts as to whether these people have any idea as to what they are proposing. They want to have it on the same weekend as Gary Dalton’s Cox Charities race in Providence. The Club has historically supported the Providence race and I’m not pleased about possible conflicting events.

I have never hear of Velo USA and the RISC seems to be a group of politicians looking for economic development based on bringing sporting events (mainly golfing) to RI. Anybody have any history with these entities?

Il B

Cyclocross Touring, gumby style

Saturday morning Gary , Marc and I rodethe Airline Trail from Rte. 169 in Pomfret toWillimantic.It was a great time.

The trail is an unfinishedrail-trail conversion. The surface varied from loose gravel, loose sand, mud, bumpy single track, smooth double track and once we got near Willimantic it was cinder for a few miles then paved.

It seemed to be slightly uphill most of the way, like the West Bay trail to West Warwick from Providence. The trail is beautiful. It is very scenic and littleused. It is a bit tough to find the trail and there is no parking or signage. The Connecticut state bikemap and website only offer marginal help. Only the equestrian set seemed to use it much. There was agood amount of horse poo around. We saw a boy scoutgroup out mountain biking on the first leg but otherthan one dog walker about halfway along we saw noother trail users.

I had heard everything from it is manageable on a road bike to it is totally impassable. I certainly wouldn’t recommend thin road tyres but we all were on cyclocross bikes with 30mm or so knobby tyres. A mountain bike would have been overkill for all but the roughest sections. I would not recommend the trail to anyone not confident of their off- roadskills. The bike will bounce, skitter and skid. We averaged 10.5mph for 22 miles and we are all in the17-18 mph range on the road. It was a tough ride.

We did not cycle back to Pomfret, we were met at theWillimantic Brewing Co. pub by our rides. After lunchand a few beers we gladly climbed in the cars for alift home.

More info on the Airline Trail at:http://pages.cthome.net/mbartel/ARRabout.htm

Crazy Brucie's

I want to sell off some wheels and have no idea how to set prices. At work we pull prices for products out or our butt. Manual-rectal retrieval.

Don't wanna screw anybody, 'specially myself.

The point of selling off unused wheels, apart from making room in the cellar, is to buy some lighter, spiffier wheels for the Surly winter bike. I'd like to do some trail/off-road stuff and want stout wheels that can take fat tyres but not add too much weight to an already portly bike-rider combo.

What ya think?

Anybody but GeWilli read this thing?

Skeleton Brakes

I'm not sold on the mega-ultra-PeterTork crank set Campy is selling. It looks klugy to me and I bet the fred shade tree mechanics will figger out all sorts of ways to screw it up.

Their new brake design is Exta-klugy. Looks like a step back into the CNC age. I wonder if they will anodize them graple.

http://www.campagnolo.com/groupsets.php?gid=2&cid=10&pid=46

What it’s all about

I pulled the plug on the Tuesday night rides. Just too aggravating. It just wasn’t fun having t ride heard every week.

So instead of going in circles, literally and figuratively, I rode with GeWilli and Giulia. We rode the EBBP to Warren then took a tour of Touisett. Just lovely.

I shan’t miss the paceline. Maybe I’ll do them again next year but 5 years of herding pussies is plenty for now.

Yours, mine and theirs.

When we at Deathnic sample a customer solution for metal reclaim we take 3 samples. They have one analyzed, we have one analyzed and if there is a discrepancy the tiebreaker goes to a third agreed lab.

How’s come drug tests are left to 2 samples?

Effin' Floyd:

LONDON (Reuters) - Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone, the U.S. rider's Phonak team said on Thursday.

"The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by (world cycling body) the UCI of an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France," Phonak said in a team statement.
Landis produced a remarkable effort a week ago to win the 17th stage of cycling's showpiece event following a disastrous 16th stage in which he dropped from first to 11th place.
Phonak said Landis would not ride until the matter had been clarified and said that if the B sample analysis confirmed the result of the A sample, the rider would be dismissed.
Phonak added: "The team management and the rider were both totally surprised by this physiological result.
"The rider will ask in the upcoming days for the counter analysis to prove either that this result has come from a natural process or that this is the result of a mistake."
Landis had earlier pulled out of a race in Denmark on Thursday. He also did not ride in a scheduled race in the Netherlands on Wednesday.

My second fifteen minutes of fame has been postponed.

I was scheduled to tape a public access show yesterday promoting National Trails Day http://www.trails.com/national-trails-day.asp & cycling. I was, along with a DOT representative, going to be on a show hosted by a local legend (86 years old) and we were booked by another local legend and bike path advocate (82 years old). Well 168 years of life experience is a wonderful thing and both men have made their mark on the Rhode Island landscape but the all that living has taken a toll on the memory banks.

We arrived to a dark studio and our camera operator rushing off to shoot a local town financial meeting. Our 86-year-old host had forgotten that we were coming. We had to cancel. The taping schedule at the cable company will not allow for getting it shot and on air before Trails Day, June 3.

I wasn’t really looking forward to the taping but I had taken the time out of work and figured I’d do my best. I felt bad for G who had put the thing together. The East Bay Bike Path exists due in no small part to his efforts and it meant a lot to him. He was very disappointed. We drowned our sorrows in a couple of Del’s and he perked up a bit.

We may give it a try again as a retrospective on the event.

Goddam it!