Tim McG Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 For only the 5th time in California history the Golden Gate Bridge was closed...to host Stage 2 of the Tour of California. Thursday, they start Stage 5 in my town. Now how cool is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted February 17, 2009 Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 They usually come right by my corner-- unfortunately I'm in Toronto, not there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted February 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 They usually come right by my corner-- unfortunately I'm in Toronto, not there. As luck would have it, I found out today that the tour rides past my HS Thursday morning. My students should get a charge out of that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadcoldfish Posted February 17, 2009 Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 We walked up 2 blocks from our house on Sunday, and got soaked in the rain, but we got to see Lance and Levi and all whizz by in said rain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalupa Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 We walked up 2 blocks from our house on Sunday, and got soaked in the rain, but we got to see Lance and Levi and all whizz by in said rain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Lance the [add your favourite medication]-head? Why the hell has he got to come back? And is Cancellara really clean? I mean, he seems nice and all, but that would make it even easier to fool the press and public... (not that I really care, but I did cycle in my teen years... and I'm bored at work today, so...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBop Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Lance the [add your favourite medication]-head? Why the hell has he got to come back? Because he is the ultimate media whore...and the parade of celebrity girlfriends apparently didn't get him enough time in the spotlight. No, I don't much care for Armstrong...aside from what he has done for cancer victims and survivors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Lance the [add your favourite medication]-head? Why the hell has he got to come back? And is Cancellara really clean? I mean, he seems nice and all, but that would make it even easier to fool the press and public... (not that I really care, but I did cycle in my teen years... and I'm bored at work today, so...) Why the Armstrong comeback? I dunno. Complete mystery to me. Cancellara? I'd never be surprised by any professional athlete testing positive. Under the general principle that one has to dope in order to medal in any major international competition (Worlds ITT in his case), certainly not. But I enjoy seeing Cancellara do well, since his listed height and weight are almost exactly the same as mine (and I'm a horrid cyclist, btw). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted February 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) Why did Lance come back? The media doesn't hate American riders in California. Edited February 19, 2009 by GoodSpeak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 And Goodie loves athletes pumped up on drugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 Why did Lance come back? The media doesn't hate American riders in California. Not even close. The media in France doesn't hate American riders. In fact nobody had a problem with Lance until the drug issue came out. I witnessed Armstrong in person riding in Karlsruhe, Germany (which is on the French border, if you don't know that) 7 years ago, and he was cheered on LOUDLY by both the Germans and French in the crowds, and the few Americans there like myself. People like their heroes to have earned their accolades honestly. Armstrong as it turned out didn't. He's tainted just like Rodriguez, Bonds, Clemens..... and so are his records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted February 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) Why did Lance come back? The media doesn't hate American riders in California. Not even close. The media in France doesn't hate American riders. In fact nobody had a problem with Lance until the drug issue came out. I witnessed Armstrong in person riding in Karlsruhe, Germany (which is on the French border, if you don't know that) 7 years ago, and he was cheered on LOUDLY by both the Germans and French in the crowds, and the few Americans there like myself. People like their heroes to have earned their accolades honestly. Armstrong as it turned out didn't. He's tainted just like Rodriguez, Bonds, Clemens..... and so are his records. Please. Such bullshit. The French media and Le Tour de Farce have tried incessantly to discredit every American winner/rider of Le Farce since the start. They either spread ironclad innuendo or pretend drug testing [which has been proved to be a joke] or smear American riders in the press. I sincerely hope the Tour of California becomes a huge event which eventually and completely over shadows and buries Le Tour de Farce. I further hope Le Tour de Farce is reduced to a pretend event only for the French cycling bigots that nobody gives a tinker's damn about. The French are a bunch of American haters. I say: Fuck 'em. Edited February 23, 2009 by GoodSpeak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) I sincerely hope the Tour of California becomes a huge event which eventually and completely over shadows and buries Le Tour de Farce. That could become true, as the pro cycling business must become more selective when choosing where to hold their competitions, because of the tightening anti-doping laws in many european countries. Maybe in a few years all that's left is the Tour of Antigua. About Lance: your are right, in the beginning it was mainly the French being jealous about his successes in "their" Tour. But now it's different. Many former riders from his generation (and his team) have admitted that their were doped, but Lance still maintains that every accusation against him is all just a conspiracy based on jealousy. Edited February 23, 2009 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) Not all the Armstrong dope talk is Euro in origin... Here's a funny photo montage of LANCE and a fat dope heckler at the Tour of Cali. Or is the snowy fattie a French tourist? Edited February 23, 2009 by T.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted February 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 (edited) I sincerely hope the Tour of California becomes a huge event which eventually and completely over shadows and buries Le Tour de Farce. That could become true, as the pro cycling business must become more selective when choosing where to hold their competitions, because of the tightening anti-doping laws in many european countries. Maybe in a few years all that's left is the Tour of Antigua. About Lance: your are right, in the beginning it was mainly the French being jealous about his successes in "their" Tour. But now it's different. Many former riders from his generation (and his team) have admitted that their were doped, but Lance still maintains that every accusation against him is all just a conspiracy based on jealousy. I disagree. Pro Cycling needs to go where it is respected not vilified. The French started this mess by hating on Americans and their incessant jealous vendetta against them. Now, I sincerely hope it costs them their precious Tour de Farce. The bastard sons-of-bitches. Fuck the French. Edited February 24, 2009 by GoodSpeak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 The French started this mess by hating on Americans and their incessant jealous vendetta against them. Now, I sincerely hope it costs them their precious Tour de Farce. The bastard sons-of-bitches. Fuck the French. It really scares me that you're a school teacher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted February 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 (edited) The French started this mess by hating on Americans and their incessant jealous vendetta against them. Now, I sincerely hope it costs them their precious Tour de Farce. The bastard sons-of-bitches. Fuck the French. It really scares me that you're a school teacher. It already scares me that you are actually a human being....and that you post here. Edited February 24, 2009 by GoodSpeak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Some funny recent cycling dope items. I've copied/pasted rather than give links, because they're buried in longer pages. It appears that doping has been rampant in pro cycling. But of course we know that LANCE never used banned substances! 1) From cyclingnews.com today (Tuesday): Vandenbroucke fought with equal dirty weapons Frank Vandenbroucke said he only took the same stuff as the second placed rider... Photo ©: Roberto Bettini (Click for larger image) Frank Vandenbroucke said that he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1999 "honestly", because he and all the other top riders were all using the same doping preparations. In an interview with the Belgian men's magazine Che, he said, he won the race "in an honest manner. Because I am 100 percent certain that I had taken nothing differently that day than the second, the third, the fourth and the fifth place finishers. Everyone rode with the same thing in himself, we fought with equal weapons. "Therefore it was an honest race, with an honest result. That day, or rather that year, I was the best of all. Everybody in the peloton knew it." The 34-year-old said that new drugs were introduced into the peloton by "pioneers". According to HLN.be, which reported the interview, he said that the Italian team Gewiss "was the EPO pioneer, everyone knew that. Furlan, Berzin, Argentin ... there is a reason why at a certain moment some men are riding 10 kilometre per hour faster than the others." Vandenbroucke, who will ride this season for the Belgian-Australian Continental team Fuga-Down Under, regretted never having "had the chance to be a pioneer, to try out new doping products first." He said that if he had had the chance, he "would have done it without doubt. .... Everyone would have seized that chance. Nobody should be hypocritical about that!" Some of his major victories did come while he was not doped, Vandenbroucke insisted. In 1994 he won the Queen Stage of the Tour Méditerranéen, ahead of riders "with a hematocrit of 60. Mine was 42!" Vandenbroucke ranked that mountaintop finish as greater than his later win in L-B-L. "Because I fought them with unequal resource. They had been prepared by their doping doctors Michele Ferrari and Luigi Cecchini. Whereas I ... I rode, so to speak, on bread and water."(SW) 2) From cyclingnews.com Monday: Jaksche allegedly named big names By Susan Westemeyer Jörg Jaksche allegedly named some names during his 2007 interrogation Photo ©: Luc Claessen (Click for larger image) Jörg Jaksche is said to have named names in his interrogation by the German Bundeskriminalamt (federal police) in July 2007, names which include individuals still active in cycling, such as Rudy Pevenage and Bjarne Riis. In July 2007, Jaksche confessed to having been a customer of Operación Puerto's Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. According to the German tabloid Bild am Sonntag, the German rider was interrogated on July 25 and 26, 2007, for ten hours each day. This weekend, the publication claimed to have received a copy of the transcript of the interrogations. He is said to have named his former team manger at then-Team CSC, Bjarne Riis, former Telekom team manager Rudy Pevenage (now with Rock Racing), former Telekom team doctors Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich, and Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, among others. In addition, Jaksche apparently claimed that he paid Pevenage for doping products in the Vuelta a España 1999. According to Bild, Pevenage gave him EPO every two days. In addition, Pevenage and Heinrich allegedly told him to ride the Tour de Suisse that year without any doping, as police investigations were expected. The tabloid claims that while at Telekom, Jaksche used EPO, growth hormones, Synachten and cortisone. Jaksche rode for Riis and Team CSC in 2004. During this time, according to Bild, Riis decided who should take how much of what product, with Jaksche saying how he was helped to avoid a positive doping control. Team Saxo Bank did not have a comment on the story. He also is alleged to have claimed that Claudio Sprenger, who was team doctor at Team Polti for Jaksche's first two pro years, 1997 and 1998, injected him with insulin. Sprenger, who is now team doctor for Team Milram, denied the claim. "It's one man's word against the other. Dr. Sprenger tells us that there is nothing to these charges. We are looking into it," Milram spokesman Max Biermann told cyclingnews. Jaksche would neither confirm nor deny the statements, telling the dpa press agency that he had not released the information, and that any subsequent investigations had already been closed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted February 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) But of course we know that LANCE never used banned substances! If using testosterone in an effort to combat testicular cancer is "doping" then we two have glaringly different definitions for the term. Edited February 26, 2009 by GoodSpeak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) But of course we know that LANCE never used banned substances! If using testosterone in an effort to combat testicular cancer is "doping" then we two have glaringly different definitions for the term. Uh, where did I say "doping"? I was in fact quoting Armstrong, who has said many times when interviewed by cycling journalists, "I have never used banned substances." Plonk. Edited February 26, 2009 by T.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted February 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 (edited) But of course we know that LANCE never used banned substances! If using testosterone in an effort to combat testicular cancer is "doping" then we two have glaringly different definitions for the term. Uh, where did I say "doping"? I was in fact quoting Armstrong, who has said many times when interviewed by cycling journalists, "I have never used banned substances." Plonk. Oh, c'mon. Be serious once. You said "doping/dope" twice in your opening remarks and in direct connection to the term "banned substances". To wit: Some funny recent cycling dope items. I've copied/pasted rather than give links, because they're buried in longer pages. It appears that doping has been rampant in pro cycling. But of course we know that LANCE never used banned substances! Gimme a break. You know exactly why you were capitalizing Lance Armstrong's name and on the heals of the "doping" comment. And if by "banned substances" you mean a medicinal aid to cancer remittance, you are just plain off your crock by a mile and a half. Don't waste my time. Blam. Edited February 26, 2009 by GoodSpeak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 Of course riders are allowed for substances prescribed by doctors for medical treatment, and they need to declare those to the anti-doping agency. There are detailed rules for this, and also abuses of the system: Petacchi out of Tour after tests show excess of asthma drug (2007) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 I am Swiss and I am opposed to the banking secrecy, but I have a hunch that GoodSpeaks eff-offs me, too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 I am Swiss and I am opposed to the banking secrecy, but I have a hunch that GoodSpeaks eff-offs me, too... I hope Yurpeans realize attitudes like that one are NOT shared by most Amerkins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted February 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 I am Swiss and I am opposed to the banking secrecy, but I have a hunch that GoodSpeaks eff-offs me, too... I hope Yurpeans realize attitudes like that one are NOT shared by most Amerkins. Maybe the ones in Texas...but there again, they are responsible for that moron who just left the presidency, too. And we all know how well loved he is by the European countries, huh. And on behalf of us real Americans, I sincerely apologize to the World for the past 8 years of the Bush/Cheney Reich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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