Yeah, so as if WordPress nuking every file on my server wasn’t bad enough, there was a brief mix-up with DNS records that temporarily bumped Cyclocosm.com to a GoDaddy parked URL page.
The whole rigamarole would have been fixed much sooner—and possibly avoided entirely—if Verizon, my grundle of an ISP, hadn’t spent hours redirecting me to Bangalore, where a series of phone-mashers pretended that they had fake Anglo-Saxon names and that disconnecting my router from the phone jack would magically fix everything.
Long story short, I’m still sitting in my shoe box apartment, watching the simple-minded prattle of no-radio retro-grouches trickle onto my screen at 0.05Mbps—and knowing my bandwidth issues will only harden their fervor. No doubt we can expect petitions demanding a return to cup-and-cone bottom brackets as they continue to advance their Byzantine agenda.
For as anyone with half a brain knows, all cycling’s ills are a result of technological advances, and the racing was far better when race tactics involved dropping tacks, hopping trains, and carrying 2 spare tubulars and a large spanner over 400k-long stages. Truly, the second Tullio Campagnolo invented the quick-release, the sport was set on its inevitable track to the Festina Affair.
And then there’s the ASO, the transparent, level-headed, and above all, equitable body in charge of cycling’s biggest event. They’re a pillar of truth and honesty in a sport clouded by unscrupulous hard chargers like the Quick.Step team. Couldn’t those stupid Belgians just be like Caisse d’Epargne and have the social grace to simply leave controversial riders off the Tour roster?
Or, better yet, be like Team Katusha, and cover up a string of positive tests with a comically draconian anti-doping policy. While I suppose Russians might intuitively have a better grasp on overcompensation than the people of Flanders, Quick.Step should have at least inferred from the caravan vehicles of middling French squads that a some token distraction is the best way to make up for a shortcoming where it actually matters.
I’m think the racing will be better without radios. And I’m not a Luddite.
Without radios, sprinters’ teams won’t be able to mathematically calculate, with real-time data, catching the breakaway of the day in the last 5km (or 1km or 100m).
On average, radios reward those who play by this formula. And they discourage risking taking, even calculated risk taking.
As for the Boonen, cocaine, ASO circus, it’s a great illustration of an issue that drives me nuts: a lack of transparency on the rules of the game (or maybe a lack of rules). The ad hoc and seemingly arbitrary application of ‘rules’ isn’t helping the sport.
It’d be nice to know some of the rationale behind ASO’s decision making in recent years: No Cipo in 2003 Tour, no Astana last year… Valverde…
I agree that the rules should be enforced a lot better in the game. I am a huge fan of any anti-doping policy. I don’t know if you guys heard but there’s a movie coming out on the Sundance Channel in a couple of weeks called Blood Sweat and Gears about a cycling team that enforces ant-drug policies and competes in the Tour de France. I just watched the trailer and it looks very good. You guys should check it out…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Rj8KDHn_w
That does look like it going to be a great film. Thanks for the advice
To clarify, I’m not talking about enforcing the rules. I want more clarity on exactly what the rules are, e.g. if rider commits offense ‘A’ then punishment is ‘B.’
Tom Boonen’s exclusion from the Tour for his positive cocaine result appears to be an arbitrary application of the rules. If WADA/UCI is testing for a substance there should be:
– Clear rules on what substances are to be tested (both in competition and out of competition)
– Clear consequences for a positive test (or missed tests, see Rasmussen)
If there were an open policy on this, there wouldn’t be any question as to whether Boonen would be able to ride the Tour.
Imagine getting pulled over for speeding only to have the police from various municipalities debate what the speed limit was, if you were in fact speeding and what the punishment should be, assuming you were guilty.
Dave & Mike, this site logs IPs. Even without them, your sock puppetry would be blatant.
Josh, I agree on the fact that the ASO needs a stated policy. But then they lose the flexibility to ban whosoever they chose from “their” race.
That is so cute a fantasy movie about cycling the Tour De France and not doing drugs. Must be by Dreamworks and mostly computer generatied since it has no grounding in reality.
I think clear policies would benefit the sport by creating some accountability at multiple levels. Without clear guidelines, teams (which are complicit in doping problems) facilitate doping-friendly behavoir until there’s publicity around said behavior. Then they throw the rider under the bus to take the pressure off. Sometimes the rider deserves to be there but he shouldn’t be alone.
Is Cyclingnews ever going to provide a start list for the Tour?
Will VeloNews provide a link on its homepage to its TdF page (https://tour-de-france.velonews.com/)?
My ranting my not be productive but it does help me.