Two days ago, USADA announced that jillion-time US National Cyclocross Champion Katie Compton tested positive for anabolic androgenic steroids. To say this took the US cycling world by surprise is an understatement. Between top-level results, ready availability for fans and media, and just generally being bad-ass, no other US cyclist comes close to matching the…
Tag: Dopage
Deconstructing Self-Destruction
I got into a little Twitter dust-up this weekend with VeloNews’ John Bradley. It wasn’t on purpose—yes, I did tweet a rebuke at him, but it was based largely on my misinterpreting something he’d written. @johnwbradley @velonews shop your feelings away. Strong take. — Cyclocosm.com (@Cyclocosm) January 31, 2016 @johnwbradley @velonews my apologies. My interpretation…
Rantcast #3: Improving the "Credibility" of the MPCC
Script (not verbatim, contains typos, and sometimes I go off-book) What is the definition of credibility? In cycling, the term has largely become what you are not. I am not glibly big-ringing myself to the top of Hautacam. I am not suing the living daylights out of every journalist and assistant who dares suggest that I…
Rantcast #1: On Dave Brailsford and "Innuendo"
Transcript Hey there Internets—as I mentioned on Monday, I’m a little cranky this week and so I figured, what with my ample amounts of free time and top shelf home production facility, I might as well turn some of that angst into entertaining multimedia web content. So I guess I want my first rant to…
A New Year’s Resolution for Cycling
I consider myself among the more optimistic commentators as far as cycling and doping go. But as the year wraps up, I can’t help but think a nice Resolution for the sport might be to stop asking me to ignore what a more cynical man might call “the obvious”. Consider the example of Sven Nys,…
Rabobank Brings the Fight to Aigle
“We are no longer convinced that the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport. We are not confident that this will change for the better in the foreseeable future.” Rabobank, on their departure as a professional cycling sponsor That about sums it up. As someone who has advocated, and…
"No Comment" is the New Doping
There’s an easy way to make a million people agree with you—present an argument that’s both simple and entirely compatible with their existing values. An example: A man is suspected of burglary. He has left fingerprints near, but not at, a number of crime scenes, 11 friends are willing to testify against him, but the…
Saxo Bank Stress Test is a Self-Defeating Effort
It’s a welcome change each February to watch the lead stories in cycling move from the minutia of law and bio-pharmacology to the nuance and verve of actual bicycle racing. The wild line-changing leading into a bunch sprint, fading desperation of the second echelon, and poker-playing as a break pulls itself appart before the finish…
The Spanish Cycling Bubble
20% unemployment. Massive cutbacks in public funding. A looming credit downgrade. There’s no question that “La Crisis” marks a major threat to the fortunes of the Spanish peloton. But if recent history is any indication, the increasing internationalization of cycling will force a near-total collapse of the Spanish peloton in the next few years, if…
The Piti of an Unrepentant Valverde
“[T]hey wouldn’t even do that to a criminal. None of what they did was legal” -Alejandro Valverde It’s tough to imagine a doping scandal more fraught with irony than Operacion Puerto. Even before it had a name, the fantastic contradictions were there; Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes ran a doping ring where he saw his job as…