Tour de France!

Good ol' Landis is from the city I live. They had a city celebration ready for him, then he popped a day before it. Celebration was canceled. Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the parents, you know they must have gone through some crap over this.

So it looks like the Frenchies might have a chance this year

Soon to be renamed Tour De Farce.

isaac wrote: Soon to be renamed Tour De Farce.

Beat me to it.

never watched it either. must be a french thing. even more boring than F1.

hills!!! fuck all that pedalling.

Sham!!! just like F1. Cheats!!!

A total waste of good drugs on a pack of tight-panted maniacs,perhaps... May the best drugs win,natch...

Sounds harsh,but banning cycling is the only way to go..

Do we really want future smack addicts blaming the bike.." I started on a Raleigh Racer,and I was double dropping 12 E's and 16 g's of toot a day thereafter..

Nip this in the bud,and put an end to ridiculous headwear at the same time.Seems reasonable.

That's why I look so good in me cycling shorts - all the gear's stashed down the front

I won't try to explain the sport, or try to condem or justify the doping. Unless you've cycled 150 miles in a day, or up a mountain, or done 60mph back down the other side on 23mm tyres, you just won't get it.

Suffice to say, the doping in cycling is nothing new. English rider Tom Simpson died half way up Mont Ventoux in 1967 on a cocktail of Congac and amphetamines.

And doping in many other sports is rife but swept under the carpet. :\ohwell:

You're right about the headgear, Boaty, ban the daft things

I cycled into town on my lunchbreak today.Wanted to catch the Farmers market.

Er yeah , tour de france.. I'll stick on the kraftwerk song in their honour

MAILLOT JAUNE. Yet to be caught. wrote: I won't try to explain the sport, or try to condem or justify the doping. Unless you've cycled 150 miles in a day, or up a mountain, or done 60mph back down the other side on 23mm tyres, you just won't get it.

I don't know, I've done itbefore, but never really appealed to me. Now mountian biking, there's a better sport.

Every other summer I go up to Mammoth, a ski resort in CA. They open the ski liftsto mountian bikers....ALOT of fun. Though I did make the mistake of riding the Kamakazee not thinking properly.....3.2 miles at an unbelievable grade straight down. I started out pedaling (stupid idea!) at the end I was going 68 mph, on a mountian bike...brakes and steering were ineffective, so I just hung on for dear life, screaming at everyone to get out ofmy way. Blew through 1/4 mile of woodchip before I stopped........needless to say I fell off the bike and lay there, as it really scared me s**tless. But it sure was fun

MAILLOT JAUNE. Yet to be caught. wrote: I won't try to explain the sport, or try to condem or justify the doping. Unless you've cycled 150 miles in a day, or up a mountain, or done 60mph back down the other side on 23mm tyres, you just won't get it.

Suffice to say, the doping in cycling is nothing new. English rider Tom Simpson died half way up Mont Ventoux in 1967 on a cocktail of Congac and amphetamines.

And doping in many other sports is rife but swept under the carpet. :\ohwell:

You're right about the headgear, Boaty, ban the daft things

right on all counts - TBH i'd probably like something mind-altering (as opposed to performance enhancing) to help me cope with the downhill speed - i remember coming out of cloud cover, into heavy rain, fairly deep darkness, down a steep hill off the Wicklow mountains - then i saw a Bus parked just ahead . . . those shorts ended in the bin anyway. Biggest climb you can cycle in Ireland is around 300m - mountain stages in leTour normally include 3-5 climbs of around 1km (thats height climbed, not distance!).

Its hardly surprising that doping is rife in such a demanding sport - but the authorities ARE TRYING to clean it up.

I hate the headgear too - bloody uncomfortable crap - i've never had one of those lids, but I suppose i'll have to get one soon, traffic here these days is so bad (or the drivers are so uncaring / careless).

EdelBrock wrote: Good ol' Landis is from the city I live. They had a city celebration ready for him, then he popped a day before it. Celebration was canceled. Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the parents, you know they must have gone through some crap over this.

So it looks like the Frenchies might have a chance this year

No chance. 22 years without a win Ireland have won it more recently.

i need E just to commute to work.

i get the feeling that the french are sabotaging the riders outside of their country. They are desperate for a french winner.

MAILLOT JAUNE. Yet to be caught. wrote:

EdelBrock wrote: Good ol' Landis is from the city I live. They had a city celebration ready for him, then he popped a day before it. Celebration was canceled. Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the parents, you know they must have gone through some crap over this.

So it looks like the Frenchies might have a chance this year

No chance. 22 years without a win Ireland have won it more recently.

1987 - Stefan DeRoiste - OK Stephen Roche then - still my fave sporting moment - very possibly the last CLEAN winner too (although there has been some mud flung towards him too)

CuanaD - D-plus wrote:

MAILLOT JAUNE. Yet to be caught. wrote:

EdelBrock wrote: Good ol' Landis is from the city I live. They had a city celebration ready for him, then he popped a day before it. Celebration was canceled. Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the parents, you know they must have gone through some crap over this.

So it looks like the Frenchies might have a chance this year

No chance. 22 years without a win Ireland have won it more recently.

1987 - Stefan DeRoiste - OK Stephen Roche then - still my fave sporting moment - very possibly the last CLEAN winner too (although there has been some mud flung towards him too)

and what was Lance Armstrong? He never tested positive, although alot of accusations were thrown around by jealous people.

Lord Summerhouse wrote: I cycled into town on my lunchbreak today. Wanted to catch the Farmers market.

now theres a turnip for the books. :p

EdelBrock wrote:

CuanaD - D-plus wrote:

MAILLOT JAUNE. Yet to be caught. wrote:

EdelBrock wrote: Good ol' Landis is from the city I live. They had a city celebration ready for him, then he popped a day before it. Celebration was canceled. Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the parents, you know they must have gone through some crap over this.

So it looks like the Frenchies might have a chance this year

No chance. 22 years without a win Ireland have won it more recently.

1987 - Stefan DeRoiste - OK Stephen Roche then - still my fave sporting moment - very possibly the last CLEAN winner too (although there has been some mud flung towards him too)

and what was Lance Armstrong? He never tested positive, although alot of accusations were thrown around by jealous people.

I'd take out the word 'jealous' & replace with 'honest' or 'sensible'

CuanaD - D-plus wrote:

EdelBrock wrote:

CuanaD - D-plus wrote:

MAILLOT JAUNE. Yet to be caught. wrote:

EdelBrock wrote: Good ol' Landis is from the city I live. They had a city celebration ready for him, then he popped a day before it. Celebration was canceled. Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the parents, you know they must have gone through some crap over this.

So it looks like the Frenchies might have a chance this year

No chance. 22 years without a win Ireland have won it more recently.

1987 - Stefan DeRoiste - OK Stephen Roche then - still my fave sporting moment - very possibly the last CLEAN winner too (although there has been some mud flung towards him too)

and what was Lance Armstrong? He never tested positive, although alot of accusations were thrown around by jealous people.

I'd take out the word 'jealous' & replace with 'honest' or 'sensible'

Please enlighten me on how someone who has taken hundreds of tests, because of accusations, always tested negative for drug enhancements.....yet those that accussed him were honest and he was not?

EdelBrock wrote:

Please enlighten me on how someone who has taken hundreds of tests, because of accusations, always tested negative for drug enhancements.....yet those that accussed him were honest and he was not?

1 - there have been clouds around his doctor for decades - since before the cancer etc.

here in europe its about being seen to be honest - Rasmussen was sent home because his team had been told he was training in mexico, but he was accused of being seen in Italy once during that time. whereabouts have to be recorded for each day so out-of-comp testing can be done at ANY time.

it is public knowledge that this is not adhered to in the US it it public knowledge that the US are far behind the rest of us in trying/wishing to stamp out doping among their own

No, i do not have FACTs to support this - thats the whole point - here sportspeople are guilty unless they can prove their inocence, (Rasmussen) there they are icons and pandered to. (see Carl Lewis - who IMO was only doing what everyone else was doing - but he admitted it afterwards)

There is a whole other argument about when drugs should be banned - at the moment they are banned if they could be - in ANY way - performance enhancing - so too much cough bottle or coffee will get you banned whereas the best idea IMO would be only to ban anything that could detrementally affect the person's health - so whatever Flo-Jo was taking should have been banned, for example but then - the money/adulation is so tempting that people will ALWAYS want to push the barriers & they aint gonna worry about the long term effects if there could be a short term Olympic Gold or whatever.

CuanaD - D-plus wrote:

here in europe its about being seen to be honest - Rasmussen was sent home because his team had been told he was training in mexico, but he was accused of being seen in Italy once during that time. whereabouts have to be recorded for each day so out-of-comp testing can be done at ANY time.

The Mexico thing was additional information to the blood test though. There is absolutely no evidence that Rasmussen took anything.

He did however provide a blood sample which had different blood cells, indicating he had undergone a blood transfusion, between stages. This is regarded as guilty also, and quite understandably so.

Burt Reynolds wrote:

CuanaD - D-plus wrote:

here in europe its about being seen to be honest - Rasmussen was sent home because his team had been told he was training in mexico, but he was accused of being seen in Italy once during that time. whereabouts have to be recorded for each day so out-of-comp testing can be done at ANY time.

The Mexico thing was additional information to the blood test though. There is absolutely no evidence that Rasmussen took anything.

He did however provide a blood sample which had different blood cells, indicating he had undergone a blood transfusion, between stages. This is regarded as guilty also, and quite understandably so.

No, that was not Rasmussen - with him it has been ONLY about his whereabouts

the 2 blood types was Alexandre VINOKOUROV - who's whole TEAM were ejected from LeTour when he failed that test 2 days ago.

CuanaD - D-plus wrote:

Burt Reynolds wrote:

CuanaD - D-plus wrote:

here in europe its about being seen to be honest - Rasmussen was sent home because his team had been told he was training in mexico, but he was accused of being seen in Italy once during that time. whereabouts have to be recorded for each day so out-of-comp testing can be done at ANY time.

The Mexico thing was additional information to the blood test though. There is absolutely no evidence that Rasmussen took anything.

He did however provide a blood sample which had different blood cells, indicating he had undergone a blood transfusion, between stages. This is regarded as guilty also, and quite understandably so.

No, that was not Rasmussen - with him it has been ONLY about his whereabouts

the 2 blood types was Alexandre VINOKOUROV - who's whole TEAM were ejected from LeTour when he failed that test 2 days ago.

You sure?.. thought i heard it on the radio last night.

OK.. well anyway, it sounds like blood transfusions could be a common, if somewhat extreme way of beating drugs tests.

CuanaD - D-plus wrote: here in europe its about being seen to be honest - Rasmussen was sent home because his team had been told he was training in mexico, but he was accused of being seen in Italy once during that time. whereabouts have to be recorded for each day so out-of-comp testing can be done at ANY time.

it is public knowledge that this is not adhered to in the US it it public knowledge that the US are far behind the rest of us in trying/wishing to stamp out doping among their own

I'm not really understanding you here (probably why the Americans aren't adhering to this well ), So if the perception is that the person is guilty, the person is guilty? That doesn't seem to make any logical sense at all. These are athletes, not polititians running for office.

Burt Reynolds wrote:

You sure?.. thought i heard it on the radio last night.

OK.. well anyway, it sounds like blood transfusions could be a common, if somewhat extreme way of beating drugs tests.

Yeah - transfusions are reputedly widely used - simply, you keep giving blood throughout the off-season & it's stored & pumped back in for race-day, to give you a boost of extra cells to pump oxygen quicker around your body. - VERY difficult to prove any wrongdoing. obviously Vinocourov was accidentally given the blood of one of his Astana team-mates instead of his own

EdelBrock wrote:

I'm not really understanding you here (probably why the Americans aren't adhering to this well ), So if the perception is that the person is guilty, the person is guilty? That doesn't seem to make any logical sense at all. These are athletes, not polititians running for office.

No, its not about perception, its about CONSTANT PROOF - as a professional athlete you must give prior notice of your whereabouts for EVERY day - Rasmussen said he was in Mexico, but did not prior-notify his national federation with regard to a 3-day period when he said he was still in Mexico - that was enough for them to kick him off the national team. Then his Rabobank team were told that he was seen in Italy when he said he was in Mexico - THAT was enough for them to kick him out of the team & off LeTour. these athletes are signed up to this strict system to prove their honesty - if you don't agree with the system, you don't compete. the same system is blatently not applied to US athletes (don't believe the spin doctors).

they are not politicians, but they do also vie for the hearts, minds & pay of the public - they represent your country, don't you want them to do so in a fair & honest way? or, do you just want them to win for the USA, at all costs?

Burt Reynolds wrote:

CuanaD - D-plus wrote:

No, that was not Rasmussen - with him it has been ONLY about his whereabouts

the 2 blood types was Alexandre VINOKOUROV - who's whole TEAM were ejected from LeTour when he failed that test 2 days ago.

You sure?.. thought i heard it on the radio last night.

OK.. well anyway, it sounds like blood transfusions could be a common, if somewhat extreme way of beating drugs tests.

CuanaD's right, Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping. Rasmussen hasn't actually failed any tests but wasn't where he said he would be for out of competition tests. His team basically sacked him for lying - gross misconduct.

Blood doping is training at high altitude to oxygenate your blood (more red cells) and then taking it out of your body to store ready to be transfussed back in during competition. Using your own blood makes it safer and harder to detect, but not impossible. Each rider has their normal Red cell count recorded and if that rises by a certain percentage it indicates doping. No actual drugs involved.

ThWhy the fuck Vinokourov used someone elses blood is anyones guess

You're obviously following LeTour too Dave, do you do a lot of cycling yourself?