As the early kilometres of Stage 5 rolled by, with the usual early break forming, the protagonists being assessed for their chances of actually making the move stick, one name stood out from the rest; Thomas Voeckler. “He’s just a media-whore” was the expert opinion of a colleague. I begged to differ. Ever since his…
The Archives
I’m going to come out and say it: Jan Ullrich is my favorite rider, ever. He had it all: class, strength, talent. On top of all that, he was also tall and he was big. He was Frank’s Perfect Storm of cycling. I am not a fan of doping in sports, especially in cycling. At…
Am I the first to make this pun? Probably, because I suffer from a condition called “Awesome”. I could validate that assertion by doing a search on The Google, but that sounds overly complicated and likely to yield results that I’m not interested in seeing. Mark Cavendish – or “Cav”, as those for whom uttering…
I wanted to take a moment to talk about my favorite Tour Favorites. And, the best way of doing that is to go over which of the Favorites annoy me or don’t look cool enough or have never raced on Cervelos. So, onto Frank’s inaugural “How Dost Though Annoy Me” list. Alberto Contador. Primadonna. I…
Jens Voigt can always be relied on for entertaining comments to the press. One of my favorite quotes of his was during an interview discussing the role that a rider’s mind plays during a race: When you go hard, your body says, ‘STOP!’ and your mind says, ‘BODY, SHUT UP!’ And, sometimes it works! And then…
Dutch news outlets are reporting that Erik Breukink has been informed of additional positive cases and is going to be coming “clean” tomorrow. There is much speculation that it could involve Denny Menchov. Never been a big fan of his but his Giro was very impressive. Yuck.
It was announced this morning that Thomas Dekker tested positive for EPO on Christmas Eve, 2007. He was reportedly caught by studying blood values using the new Biological Passport; after reviewing his data, WADA requested his old samples be retested. “The UCI’s request is based on two elements of evidence collected within the biological passport…
I love every kind of bike, from the tricked-out fixies all over Seattle (hello – hilly-ass town! Unless your fixie is a 39-27, you are not making a sensible choice!), to the awesome Dutch Bikes, to the phenomenal racers around town, I love them all. I am, however, a bitch when it comes to bike…
Seattle is a much hillier town than most people realize. Hills of 15% grades and 2-4 km in length are a dime-a-dozen, and there are several, such as the Lighthouse and Dravus, that are considerably more. Lighthouse is around 22% while Dravus’ grades make me test my track-stand abilities (I have none). Our normal route,…
Tom Boonen, one of my favorite riders, tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition drug test (for the second – or maybe his third – time). Cycling Doping BoonenBoth WADA and the UCI don’t consider this a positive dope test because cocaine is an amphetamine whose effect lasts for only a short while and thus…
I didn’t get a chance to write very much about cycling this year, which is one of my favorite topics when it comes to this blog. It’s been quite a year for cycling in our household, with both Michelle and I buying our dream bikes and, more importantly, us getting out on them much more…
Cycling is a unique sport in the sense that suffering is a badge of honor. Greg LeMond once said, “It never gets easier, you just go faster.” Cyclists love to suffer – it’s a badge of honor. Bernard Hinault claimed that as long as he breathed, he attacked. At a primordial level, cycling is about…
I just rode around Lake Washington on my single speed. “So what, you pussy?” I imagine you are saying. Fair enough. But what if your brother-in-law is keeping the pace at a brisk 24 mph on your 9-spd Cannondale, hills and all? My knees are numb and my quads feel like jello. I will never…
I spent Memorial Day weekend in Boise, and on the actual holiday I headed out for a big ride with my brother-in-law. We started at 2800″² elevation, and ended up at the local ski area, Bogus Basin- where the parking lot is a mean 6200″². It was a great ride, until the skies opened up…
This morning was one hell of a shiny one in Seattle. It snowed/sleeted/rained/somethinged last night, and every surface was a sheet of ice. Undeterred, I rode the trusty steed in to work with my brethren (yes, many other cyclists were out and about). A few near misses ensued, but then I had my moment at…
“They” say hindsight is 20/20, but I tend to disagree. Hindsight is only as good as your vision is in the first place. In my case, I can see just well enough not to run into things without my glasses. Plus, “they” dangerously forget to point out that hindsight is only helpful if you are…
This will be a very short follow-up on yesterday’s post regarding the suspension of UCI ProTour leader, Danilo Di Luca. Cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, has decided to disqualify Danilo Di Luca from the UCI ProTour due to his suspension. That means that the rider will loose the ProTour which he was leading…
The Italian cycling federation is so eager to appear “tough on doping” that they are now suspending riders for the following offense: Maybe looking like they might have talked to a doctor who might have had something to do with doping at some point. But no one is sure yet. And might never be. We’re…
After almost 14 months, the verdict was finally handed down in the Floyd Landis doping case. A three-person panel voted 2-1 to find Landis was found guilty of doping during the 2006 Tour de France, stripped of his title, and has been suspended for two years. I have mixed feelings about this case: I was…
Yesterday, the very sad news broke that Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a homologous blood transfusion Saturday after winning the first long time trial at the Tour de France. Vino was one of the last riders who were at the top of the sport during the Armstrong era who had managed to avoid doping suspision….