It's All About the Bike » Alberto Contador

Q&A with Joe Parkin, 6 Years In a Rain Cape

moto — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:08:20 +0000

Looks like my buddy Joe is up to a new project. If you haven’t read Dog In A Hat yet, get on it. Should be required reading for anyone who follows modern cycling. Visit Joe’s latest blog, 6 Years In a Rain Cape, and maybe ask him a question. His head is full of all kinds of knowledge type stuff. I had to post a comment and disagree about whether or not the Tour has been boring thus far. I want to see Lance and Contador fight it out. It hasn’t happened yet. Never mind the fact that their jobs are to win the race, not entertain us, but I miss the drama. Here’s a question for Joe: while riding the Tour, did Alexi Grewal really refer to Bernard Hinault in the French media as “The Gerbil?” Note to readers: back then Bernard Hinault was Michael Jordan to the French, and his nickname was the Badger. Waiting for your answer.

by benmckune

Reflections On Horner Missing Out On Astana Tour Team

moto — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:00:19 +0000

Check out Chris Horner’s latest blog post with his account of “getting that call” informing him he wouldn’t be riding this year’s Tour. I think they should rename this team ASStana. The Kazakh sponsors don’t pay the team riders’ salaries while they are competing in the Giro, but then they pay up and mandate that a Kazakhi rider makes the Tour Team. Then they let Contador have some cronies, because he is a basket case and too worried the Yanks will gang up on him from within the team to support Lance. All of the sudden, there’s no room for Horner. I think the race just got less interesting with that one decision.

New Link to Blogroll: Service Course Blog

moto — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:31:29 +0000

Correction: I originally posted that Service Course was Dylan Casey’s blog, but it is not. He was only mentioned in the post. My apologies to the editor’s of Service Course, a great blog, so we are keeping our post here and links intact.

I picked this up via Twitter from Marty Jemison (@MartyJemison), who is over in Europe running his cycling tours. It must be absolutely electric to be in Europe right now, with all the buzz about the upcoming Tour. Despite the usual Juice News which we like to comment on, there seems to be a lot of speculation about a possible duel between Lance and Contador. Marty forwarded this link to a blog post on Service Course speculating that Contador had one foot out the door and was headed to Garmin. Interesting speculation on what it would do to the dynamic of Vaughters’ outfit. Read for your self and decide. What do you think? Will there be an Armstrong vs. Contador internal battle, like the LeMond vs. Hinault feud? It could be the most exciting thing that has happened in a long time.

Confessions Of A Fallen Juicer

moto — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:44:01 +0000

Check out this article in Velo-News, with some confessions and opinions of fallen juicer Bernhard Kohl. Many people might remember Frankenstein climbing his way to the podium in last year’s Tour de France, and winning the Polka Dot climber’s jersey. Nowadays, it seems, the red dots on the jersey stand for the number of times the riders have pricked themselves with hypodermic needles. Kohl reveals details of his transfusions, and gives his opinion that pretty much everyone in the top ten is doing something. On what he was was using, Kohl goes on to say:

“…the blood transfusions were the only “safe” way to cheat during the race without risk of getting caught. Other doping products were used in the weeks and months before the Tour to avoid detection.

“Nothing else, there were too many random controls. Never a testosterone patch,” he said. “Apart from the caffeine, pseudo-ephedrine, painkillers, EPO, human growth hormones, insulin, I took all that before, not during (the Tour).”

Interesting that Kohl describes transfusions as “safe,” to hell with his health, the safety refers to getting caught. In cycling, riding clean to some riders means getting away clean, and nothing more. I guess as we are a few weeks away from the Tour, the distraction of whether or not Lance and Contador will have an inter-team clash will deflect some of the suspicions of which riders are putting extra juice in their morning smoothies. Kohl is an example of someone who went from hero to zero in less than a year, and he’s almost forgotten already. What a beautiful but dirty and cruel sport bike racing is.