bikes and drugs

Ullrich and Basso out…


At 9:34am on Friday morning, T-Mobile announced that it has suspended Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla and Rudy Pevenage in the wake of the Operacion Puerto affair. The three were implicated in the doping scandal as being clients of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes. None of them will take part in the Tour de France.

As the announcement was made, the three sat in the team bus on their way to what was supposed to be a "meet-and-greet" press conference. They were informed on the way.

Team spokesman Stefan Wagner said that the team had received documents from the ASO which made it "impossible" for the team to further work with the three. Wagner also confirmed that the team would take two of its reserve riders and would ride the Tour: Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) and Stephan Schreck (Ger).

"We have only now gotten the evidence," said Wagner. "As soon as there were suspicions, we asked to see the files. We don't know why we didn't get them until today. The facts in the case contradict Ullrich's claims of innocence so strongly that we had to take this step, in order to follow our goal of a clean sport."

"Our stance was always unequivocal," said T-Mobile's spokesman Christian Frommert, in a statement. "If we are presented with evidence, which leads us to doubt the credibility of one or other of our riders, then we act upon it immediately. That is the case now."

Team manager Olaf Ludwig was also deeply disappointed. "We talked to the riders several times and even have their declarations of innocence in written form." Following the first reports emanating from Spain about the possible involvement of T-Mobile Team riders in the Madrid-based doping scandal, the team management instructed all its athletes to sign a written declaration certifying that they were not involved in the scandal, which everybody did. "There are clear guidelines arranged with the riders, which leave no room for interpretation. This was also clear to Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla and Rudy Pevenage," added Ludwig.

Against this background, the sponsor as well as the team management repeatedly questioned the riders and the sporting director. "At first we had no reason to doubt the riders' statements. Therefore, we couldn’t make any decision merely based on speculations, rumours and guesses," said Frommert. But the situation has now changed. "Accordingly, we will now live up to our responsibility towards making cycling a clean sport."

Although it hasn't yet been established that Ullrich and Sevilla doped, it has been proven that they had contact with the doctor, which they lied about to T-Mobile.

The list gets longer

On the eve of the Tour de France, Spanish radio Cadena SER has published a more detailed list of names that are among the 58 (56, according to the radio station) cyclists implicated in Operacion Puerto. The list still includes big names such as Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, as well as a sizeable representation from Astana-Würth and Comunidad Valenciana. The riders are alleged to have used the services of Dr Eufemiano Fuentes, who is alleged to have prescribed them with detailed doping programs.

The Spanish Civil Guard collected four boxes of papers, according to Cadena SER, and has deciphered three of them, identifying the riders by using the key to the codes hidden in Dr Fuentes' notebooks. In addition, El Pais has published copies of the alleged doping programs of Comunidad Valenciana and Joseba Beloki.

The Spanish Secretary of State for Sport, Jaime Lissavetsky, is meeting with his French counterpart Jean-Francois Lamour today in Strasbourg to discuss the implications of the official 500-page court report, which could lead to the ejection of 22 riders from the Tour de France.

The list so far (31 riders)

Astaná-Würth: Michele Scarponi, Marcos Serrano, David Etxebarria, Joseba Beloki, Angel Vicioso, Isidro Nozal, Unai Osa, Jörg Jaksche

CSC: Ivan Basso

Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears: Constantino Zaballa

Saunier Duval: Carlos Zarate

AG2R: Francisco Mancebo

T-Mobile: Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla

Phonak: Jose Enrique Gutierrez, Jose Ignacio Gutierrez

Comunidad Valenciana: Vicente Ballester, David Bernabeu, David Blanco Rodriguez, Jose Adrian Bonillla, Juan Gomis Lopez, Eladio Jimenez, David Latasa, Javier Pascual, Ruben Plaza, J.Luis M. Jimenez

Unibet.Com: Carlos Garcia Quesada

Retired/suspended riders: Roberto Heras, Angel Casero, Santiago Perez, Tyler Hamilton

Laramie Enduro

Ah, Laramie.

I've seen you every year you've been there, and you've only managed to keep me from finishing once. What do you say we give it another go around, for old time's sake?

My registration is in the mail. Anyone else?

It was a great ride tonight. Heck, we even had a rider come all the way from Munich. Well, not really for the ride, but he is from Munich... Anyway, we rolled out of Jamestown for some good times riding in the dirt. Stats were something like 2700' of climbing in 13 miles. Not too bad for an after work ride.
Here, Dave is thinking, "Hmm, not too bad for an after work ride."


Pretty good scenery for an after work ride, too.


It gets dark in them thar trees. This section is fun. It's like you're teleported from the front range of CO to Washington for a bit. Dark, trees, and black dirt. mmmmm, good.

redstone underground

Our own occasional Redstone Contributor, Scrubby Dave, got himself in some trouble on one of the drops on Keystone mountain yesterday. You can see the details and wish him well over here...http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=204537

Ride safe, Redstoners. I've seen a little too much blood already this summer.

fixed

The latest wheel build was fun. We used a Level hub. It's a flip flop fixie. This particular one is fixed on both sides. They do make a thread on version, though, that's fixed on one side and threaded on the other. The hub is sweet. Level uses their proprietarily pimp machined cogs to fit their hub. The end result is bomber. Almost makes me want a track bike just so I can run this hub.





Riding Tues 6/27. Jamestown Post Office at 6pm. I may be a couple minutes behind, so don't go getting all uptight now.

good day today

Old Denver bud Ted stopped by today. He was on his way to Hall Ranch to meet James from Black Sheep Bikes. He was stoked to have James deliver to him his prototypical 29er Full Suspension bike. They've been working on it for 2 years now. Every so often, James will reweld something in a different place, change bearings, etc. After the ride, Ted stopped back in with James. The bike is dialed now, says Ted. Despite his Clydesdale frame, Ted says it's stout. He's been riding for many moons and knows what's up, so I'll trust him on that. Check it out:



James got out his personal ride, too. It's super cool. Clean, sexy and 29. Very nice:
That green Brooks Swift is the icing on the cake.

Also, take a look at James' custom made Enduro Mustache Bar.


After DaveM stopped in, I took off a hair early to squeak in a little ride whilst I still had daylight in which to do it. I drove up to Peaceful Valley. Time was limited, but I wanted to get in a good ride. I headed west up Middle St Vrain Road to the wilderness boundary. Man, it's been a few years since I've ridden that. What a great jeep road. If you like water, this is the ride for you. Numerous creek crossings and stellar views the whole way up. There were times when it was tediously rocky but I perservered. I only had to dab a few times, mostly due to wet tires meeting slick rocks. At the boundary of the Indian Peaks Wilderness, I turned around and came back downhill on Buchanan Pass. Probably not the wisest choice of a trail for nursing a knee injury. I rode with caution and walked quite a bit of the uber technical upper section. The lower 2/3, though, how fun. Fast, swoopy, and lots of things to launch off. No wonder Melis is addicted to BP.


If you're still reading this far, come out for the Tuesday ride. We'll meet in Jamestown at 6pm. It's a grunt of a jeep road up, but there's sweet singletrack awaiting. Plus, we've now got the loop dialed in. We'll have fun.

I'm a week late

Here's a bunch of stuff I meant to get up last week. First, here's a shot of Stan's super sweet large Intense Spider. Forgot to get the scale on it, but this thing ended up awesome. The unpainted "works" finish must be seen to be fully appreciated. It's raw, unpainted, and just sanded down to be smooth. Parts were XO/XTR throughout, along with the new 2007 Fox F100rlc fork, and DT Swiss 1540 prebuilt wheels. Oh, and an RP23, too. Yep. I'd ride heck out of that bike.



So then Chris and I headed up to the foothills of Mt Audobon for a little ride. Not long into the ride, I did this:

It was one of those 3 mile per hour endos. I'm sure you know the type. My knee landed smack dab on top of a sharp rock. This pic doesn't do it justice. The cut was deep enough that I could see white. I didn't want to abandon the ride, though, so I cleaned it out, sprayed on a little Nu Skin and was off. It hurt pretty good, but still had a good ride.

Here's Chris rolling thru the rocks on that big ol 29er. Single. I had full squish and gears and he was still dropping me.

Yep, it's pretty up there. This isn't too far from the headwaters of the South St Vrain. It was raging last weekend. We even saw a little bit of snow.


As it turns out, in retrospect, I probably should have gone in for stitches. Oh well. Chicks dig scars, right?

More CB, more words

Over there. (Click the title).

Crested Butte Weekend

Oh, had a great 3 dayer in CB, got back last night. Lots of riding and camping and good old times. Zana rode all 3 days too, and was outclimbing our new friend Alex. Go Zana!

Instead of bogging down the blog with pictures, I posted pictures over here.

The Reno/Flag/Bear/Deadmans loop was amazing. 6 hours on trail, 4 hours wheelspinning (all from camp!). After a stiff climb on 2 track, it was all money the rest of the day. The Bear dh was sick - my new definition of flow, every turn was exactly where I expected it to be, as tight as I expected it to be. I wasn't feeling "on" I was feeling "IN" the trail. After that, a long climb up deadmans (trail 420) watching fish in the creek. And then the last descent claims to have 20 some switchbacks. I lost count.

An instant classic weekend.

out

I'm out o town this week, so no Tuesday ride. That is, of course, unless Chad wants to lead 'er up.

See you next week!

speaking of racing... wp roll call

Who's racing at Winter Park this weekend?

redstone underground

Short track ect.

I raced the short track in Boulder yesterday in the 102F heat. I figuerd I would show up and see if anybody was foolish enough to race. Well, the B class was about filled to capacity and I knew I was not the only fool. I brought out the On-One 29er single for the inaugural race. The course was so dusty and dry it made Hall Ranch look like a tacky ride.

Usually I race a couple of these races every summer until my allergies get to me. This course is notoriosly bad for those who suffer hay fever. So much so that the coughing fit after finishing is called "the short track hack". On one peticular year somebody decided that using sheep to cut the grass would be a good idea. I arrive, with sniffly nose, and sign up for the suffering. After the race, drooling and hacking laying on the ground, I notice all the sheep shit. It was covering every square inch of the course. I look to the far corner of the property and see about a hundred sheep grazing. How I didn't see them before I don't know. Then I notice half the race field is looking and sounding like me, sitting on the shit covered ground hacking away the dust and sheep shit from their lungs.

That gives you an idea of what I think of the short track race is like. But it is also a great chance to race against the fastest guys in the U.S. You name them and they probably raced here. That is what keeps me coming back every year. You will find out exactly how good your fitness is by racing here.

My race went well. I didn't know how my singlespeed gearing would work out but I happened to pick a good gear. 32x16 with 29"wheels was a taller gear, but proved to be perfect. I was a little slow on the one straight section, but otherwise very good. I was 10th after the second turn and started picking off a riders one at a time. I was in fourth near the end but got caught on the last lap. I finished fifth or sixth. I didn't check because I was suffering from the "short track hack" and didn't feel like checking. As usual that race made my lungs burn and my nose run. I even had to go to the doctor today for some hay fever relief (see prednisone). I don't know if I will do another one. Maybe on a rainy day. I think I may just do the Wednesday time trial on 36.

Summer roadtripping has begun: Winter Park

Click the title for more...

Winter Park was excellent this weekend. Rode some great terrain, had a blast.

Flux deux

It's always sad to see them go. At least it's going to a happy, loving home.

Tuesday ride 6/13

Meet at the bike shop and we'll ride from there. 6pm, see you there.

the fun stuff

It's all fun here in the office. Turner Flux's are cool.



Thomson. No explanation required. 31.8, mmmmm.



The Fox is pretty cool.




Chris King Headsets are cool, too. Especially when they're lined up ;)




Heck, even Turner TNT suspension is pretty darn cool.



As is the indisputable quality in the welds.


Stay tuned for more.

Europe, Part Deux

More pictures:

It's no wonder these people eat so many snails. Along the coast of Normandy, there were millions of them in the fields between the coast and the road. Notice the faint singletrack in the background leading east along the coast. I have no idea where it went.



The view from the top of Ventoux. Ventoux meands windy. No kidding.
















Tom Simpson's memorial, along the climb up Mt. Ventoux. A good example of why not to drink and do amphetamines while racing the Tour De France.

Picture of me, sporting the Redstone pride, stuffing my face in a way I knew would make Dave Chase proud. It wasn't a burrito, but the closest European equivalent I suppose: the kebab.

Redstone goes international

At the risk of making this place look like some kind of road riding blog, I'll try to consolidate this into two posts. But I did take the redstone pride to Europe for 3 weeks, and, despite having ridden only road, had a great time.

Picture 1: my brother riding in the Alpilles - the more coastal beginnings of the same geological formations that eventually run north to make the Alps. These ones are only about 800 feet tall, making for a fun day where you can ride 4 or 5 of them and brag about the "mountain passes" you rode later at the bar. They are, at least, dramatic.

Picture 2: Climbing up Mount Ventoux (The Dauphine just passed through there) I saw this guy railing down on some kind of downhill road carving contraption. Two wheels, very fast, full armor apparently is needed. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

An Organized Road Ride

If you know me, you must know how strange that looks coming from me, but somehow a friend convinced me that I should attempt the Elephant Rock Century ride in Castle Rock. I'm still not entirely sure what convinced me to do it, but Sunday at 4 in the morning my alarm was waking me up, and I was soon headed south with just a whisper of dawn starting out east.

Riding with 7000 people is just crazy. I still can't get over how many people were out riding their bikes. All day long I was passing riders, and riders were passing me. Hours and hours of passing. I ride all day with my 4 guys - we managed to stop at each aide station within minuted of each other, every time, regrouped with fresh water and food, and headed out again. I still can't believe how closely matched the four of us were, especially concidering I've only ridden with one person from the group! It made the ride and the day much more fun to have folks to talk with.

There were only a few bad things to report. Some stupidity - seeing folks cross the yellow line on just before the crest of a hill. Some annoyances - just okay food at some of the stops, and riders who wouldn't take advantage of their momentum on the hills. Some training - I'm still pretty tired, both from being up early, and from riding all day.

Add it all up, and I'd do it again. The majority of the roads down there were in great shape, traffic stayed away for the most part, and it was beautiful country, whether we were out in the farmland, in the Black Forest, looking right at Pike's Peak, or cruising in the foothills. And there really is a "Rollercoaster Road" and yes its hilly.

One other thing - as we were pulling into Castle Rock at the end of the ride, mile 101 according to my odometer, we were stopped by a light and as I stood there someone behind me said, "I sure could use on of those Dale's Pale Ales right now."

The new Redstone jerseys rock. I was glad to be packing a Gordon's in the cooler in the car!

Now to decide if the Triple Bypass is in my future...

steamboat

We went up to steamboat over the weekend. Awesome riding right in town and tons more up by steamboat lake.

While we were there, Laura did the Marathon and won it!

Tuesday 666 ride

Might as well ride to hell and back tomorrow. To celebrate 6/6/06 at 6pm, where do y'all want to ride?

Meet up in Jamestown again?

Went for a little ride this morning. Found some spots that had been unused for quite some time.



water, too. South St Vrain
where I'm going(*ting*)


where I was

steep hike out. 30-45 minutes of hiking and climbing

unpredictable and loose.

but yielded good views

and crossed more water