On Cyclocross and Las Vegas

US Dominance at Cyclocross Worlds

This weekend was the greatest showing ever by Americans at Cyclocross Worlds. With Jonathon Page taking Silver in the Men’s Elite final after riding a dominant race, Katie Compton taking silver in the Women’s race, and Danny Summerhill taking silver in the juniors, it was the greatest weekend the United States has ever had in any world championship event. All three were in contention for the victory until the bitter end. All three over came poor staring positions due to their respective rankings.

Page came back from an incredibly disappointing early season as he found himself in early October with an injured shoulder from a fluke accident which resulted in surgery. Without the ability to race and earn UCI points until December, it was a miracle that Page was able to get to the front of the race as early as he did on Sunday.

Compton similarly lacked UCI points which put her farther back on the starting grid. She too overcame the poor starting position to dominate the race. With more experience racing at the top levels, Compton should be able to become America’s first women’s world champion in cyclocross.

Even more exciting is the UCI’s confirmation that the United States will host a world cup race next fall. The world cup season will kick off in the United States in October.

They don’t ride bikes in Vegas except inside the Aladdin.

I was in Las Vegas this weekend for meetings for the commercial real estate trade association I am the president of here in Boise. The weather was perfect with temperatures in the low 60’s. We were staying out at the JW Marriott Resort which is on the northwest side of Las Vegas in Summerlin. While the roads in and around Summerlin are posted with bike lanes in the western hills above Las Vegas, I only saw three cyclists in four days. Of course all three were bundled up like it was a snowy day in Belgium. What a bunch of little girls.

The only other cyclists I saw were the pedicab drivers and garbage guy inside the Aladdin who rode their cab and garbage bikes through the streets of the Aladdin’s “bazaar.” Although there is talk of having a criterium in conjunction with Interbike, I just don’t know where you would have a criterium in the vicinity of the Strip. I guess they could race up and down the faux Champs d’Elyssee entrance to Paris, I just don’t know where they would go when they turn left. Now, you certainly could set up an awesome cyclocross course in and around the construction sites along the Strip. Maybe an indoor cyclocross course starting inside the Bellagio, heading through the construction site to the south and then racing into the Monte Carlo and back again would be the perfect course.

Odds, Ends, and my New Bike

It has been two weeks since I last wrote. I have had a lot of work to do and other things but there are a lot of odds and ends that I have gathered over the past few weeks.

Odds

Prosecutorial Misconduct

The biggest problem with WADA and its attempt to clean up sport is the fact that it has the least discreet attorney at its head. Canadian attorney Dick Pound has been in charge of WADA since its formation. Pound's recent comments on the Landis affair are completely unacceptable for someone in his position. Pound's comments were offensive and evidence the fact that Pound is lacking the temprament to be the head of the crusade against doping. If WADA wants to be relevant and wants to occupy the role as the moral authority of sport, then Dick Pound must go.

Just ask Mike Nifong, Durham County prosecutor, who is not only facing ethical sanctions for his out of court comments on the Duke lacrosse case but has also been removed from the case, about the impact that prosecutorial misconduct has on ensuring that justice is done. Both Pound and Nifong may be right and the individuals they are prosecuting may be guilty, however, the more prosecutors talk about matters under their jurisdiction and the more bombastic they are in their comments, the less right they appear to be and the less moral authority they have.

WADA Code Revisions

WADA also announced that it is working on revisions to its code which would strengthen testing procedures but also attempts to address issues related to athlete privacy. The new proposed revisions include language which Dick Pound is clearly incapable of following: "[no official] shall publicly comment on the specific facts of a pending case (as opposed to general description of process and science) except in response to public comments attributed to the Athlete, other Person or their representatives." Another potential change to the testosterone threshold test would likely have not resulted in a positive test for Floyd Landis had it been in place.

If WADA Won't do it then L'Equipe Will

In another interesting turn of events, Oscar Pereiro, who finished second to Floyd Landis at the Tour de France and who announced he would not take part in the race this year if he was not awarded the victory, confirmed French press reports that he tested positive for using salbutamol, an athsma medication, during the 14th and 16th stages of the Tour de France this year. Pereiro has a "theraputic use exemption" for the drug and has been prescribed it by his doctor. As such, the UCI does not necessarily view his tests as a positive. However, French racing, doping and media officials have over the past few years publically railed against the use of permitted substances by athletes.

Puerto Silliness

In more surreal news out of Spain, the lab conducting the analyses of the Operacion Puerto samples is refusing to perform any more tests until the Spanish proscutors pay more than 25,000 Euros. I guess the Spanish prosecutors have been a little slow in getting invoices paid.

ProTour Silliness

With the European season just around the corner, there is no end in sight to resolution of the dispute between the UCI, the ProTour teams, and the organizers of the Grand Tours. The ASO, organizer of the Tour de France, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Fleche Wallone among other events, announced its invitees to this year's Paris-Nice and invited all of the ProTour teams except the newest ProTour edition, Unibet. That sent UCI officials into a fit over the failure of ASO to invite all ProTour teams. ASO officials responded by claiming that they had withdrawn from the ProTour two years ago. UCI officials had earlier gone to the European Commission claiming that the Grand Tour organizers are violating antitrust laws.

Ends

New Blog Link

Check out the blog by my friend BikeBoy, who rides his bike to work everyday, regardless of conditions here in Boise. He has moved his accounts of his riding from his website to his new blog "The Bike Nazi," which is rather ironic for how mild mannered and non-militant BikeBoy really is.

New Bike

I went and bought myself a new bike this week. I purchased a Trek 5200 from World Cycle this week. However, I have to go to a conference in Las Vegas this week and it has been particularly cold and icy here over the past few weeks, so I will not actually pick it up for a few weeks as they get my bike built and tuned. But riding a 5200 on Friday afternoon was really sweet. Smooth ride, smooth shifting, responsive in traffic. And best of all, since Trek has withdrawn the 5200 from its line for 2007, and because it was a 2006, it was on sale.

What a Cyclist can do When Motivated

It has been a quiet week for cycling news. Although the European National Cyclocross Championships are being held this weekend, those races just are not that important. I have also been busy with the law this week having had to travel to Grangeville, Idaho for a hearing on Thursday. Due to the weather the drive was five hours there and five hours back in windy, slick conditions. Typically it takes about three hours and fourty five minutes. Basically it was 40 miles per hour the whole way there.

As I pulled back into Boise, Thursday night about 9 PM, it was snowy, wet and windy. As I pulled up to the intersection of State Street and 27th Street, to turn right on 27th Street, I noticed a guy on a mountain bike slowly making his way diagonally across 27th Street. He was trying to get into the cross walk before the light changed but was riding against traffic. Once he got to the cross walk ramp, he pulled up on to the sidewalk. It was only then that I noticed why his speed was slow and his control was somewhat suspect. Attached to his bike was a beat up kid trailer and on the trailer was a fulsized washing machine bungie corded onto the trailer. I was tempted to go around the corner and see where he was headed. You have to hand it to a guy who is that motivated and committed.

Why Doping Is Different in the United States

I hope everyone has had an excellent holliday season. Unfortunately, tomorrow we all have to go back to the drag that is the first week in January. Having taken the last week off, I am sitting hear surfing between bowl games waiting for the Rose Bowl to get started.

This week several US sports doping stories have gotten attention on talk radio. Neither are cycling related, however, it has illustrated for me the difference that American athletes and American sports writers have on the issue performance enhancing drugs in sports. Here are the stories that have recently gotten my attention.

Dolphins' Taylor takes on Merriman, positive test

Track star Gatlin works out for Texans

Court: Feds may use drug testing data from 2003

In case you missed these stories or don't have the attention span to finish the articles from ESPN.com, here you go.

Shawne Merriman has had an incredible season for the San Diego Chargers. The second year linebacker has lead the NFL in sacks for the just completed season. Impressively, Merriman did this playing just 12 games as he served a four game suspension for failing a steroid test during the season. Merriman initially intended to appeal the suspension but ultimately decided to abandon his appeal and get the suspension served so he could return in time for the most difficult portion of the Chargers' season. Merriman blamed the positive test of course on a tainted nutritional supplement.

Justin Gatlin is the former olympic 100 meter champion who failed a test for steroids earlier this year. Gatlin had been suspended as a junior, thus this year's test was deemed a second positive test. Gatlin retained the right to appeal the duration of the suspension but agreed not to challenge the result of the failed test. As a result, Gatlin has been suspended from track competition for eight years. That has not stopped NFL teams from trying Gatlin out to play for them next year. Ironically, Gatlin has not played football since high school but due to the fact that he is a very fast athlete, Gatlin may come out of this suspension with an even better paying job as an NFL running back next year.

In pursuit of perjury charges against those athletes involved in the BALCO drug investigation federal prosecutors have obtained a court order entitling them to access the 2003 Major Leage Baseball drug testing data. In 2003, as part of the collective bargaining process, baseball players agreed to a testing program designed in part to establish a baseline for how much drug use had occurred in baseball. The program had triggers that would escalate the amount of testing in the event certain thresholds in the number of positive tests occurred. No one was supposed to be identified or disciplined as a result of the 2003 tests.

I have been surprised by the response from athletes and sportswriters to these stories. Having seen and heard several discussions on these stories on ESPN and ESPN Radio I have been surprised byt he almost universal response of those interviewed who have not been troubled by the positive drug tests and have been more concerned with the legality and equity of the process. Peter Gammons, one of the greatest American baseball writers, expressed his outrage over the actions of federal prosecutors in the BALCO matter. He objected to the use of the data and the fact that prosecutors seem to have focused exclusively on indicting Barry Bonds. Gammons outlined the timing for expected action by the federal government and noted that the prosecution and review of the 2003 data would not adversely affect Bonds' quest to surpass Hank Aaron as the all time home runs leader in baseball as it was unlikely any trial would occur before the end of the season.

Jason Taylor was criticized on ESPN Radio by comentators and players for not leaving his objections to Merriman's inclusion on the Pro Bowl roster in the locker room. The essence of the discussion was that Taylor should not have gone public with his objections due to the fact that Merriman was being honored even though he was suspended for failing steroid tests. The various comentators noted that Merriman still had the best season of any NFL defender even though he was suspended for 25% of the season, ignoring the fact that he was found to have taken a performance enhancing substance during the course of the season.

As for Gatlin, NFL teams have no problem working out a player who is a two time drug cheat and who has been closely affiliated with those involved in the BALCO mess. The NFL coaches interviewed have had a very unconcerned attitude regarding Gatlin's history. They are jsut focused on his speed.

This all has been very different from the European cycling doping coverage especially in Operacion Puerto. Unlike in the United States, the European riders were immediately suspended from competition. Cyclists have had difficulty finding new teams to ride for even though they have yet to be charged with any wrong doing. Clearly the Anglo-American notion of "innocent until proven guilty" and due process are different from the Euopean inquisitorial model of jurisprudence. Additionally, cycling has become almost a witch hunt when it comes to doping and drug usage. Cyclists have been black listed based solely on suspicion. European media outlets are doing all they can do to investigate and expose cyclists as drug users.

The treatment of cyclists in Europe, however, has been very different from the treatment of soccer players who have failed drug tests. There seems to be little or no impact on soccer players who have failed drug tests and suspended. Even though there have been some high profile drug supensions in soccer, in particular in England, the suspended athletes have had no difficulty finding jobs and have not been the subject of significant media speculation. In fact, European media outlets seem to be significantly less interested in exposing drugs in soccer than in cycling. Even though Operacion Puerto has been linked with some of the largest Spanish soccer teams there has been none of the naming of names that has occurred in cycling.

Cycling has a problem, however, its problem has been magnified by those that are unwilling to apply the same standards to all doping in all sports. In the United States however, we have not been outraged enough by the use of drugs in professional sports. As a new year begins, I hope for some meaningful resolution of Operacion Puerto, I hope that Americans take doping in sports more seriously, and that we can once again have clean heroes.