Tour De France @ MindSay

The final verdict is in, and tests confirm that 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is guilty of doping. Though he vehemently denied it, I had a sneaking suspicion that he had in fact used synthetic testosterone to fuel his comeback win.

If Landis doesn't appeal, he'll be the first person in the 105-year history of the race to lose the title because of a doping offense.

^{(The now-disgraced Alexander Vinokourov, from Kazakhstan)}

Here's a good site.

First, the Versus TDF coverage is quite compelling.

Next, the strategy of bicycle racing is exciting because it's based on suffering; to win the race, you must beat your opponents with pure will and the endurance of pain.

Riders must also fight against the course, and speeding down mountains is extremely dangerous, and a surprising amount of riders crash. Usually they grin and bear it and keep riding.

I saw one rider go headlong into a French dog.

And professional bicycle racing may have the best drama of all major sports, with all the suspicions of "doping," the amazing gains the riders sometimes make, the courage to break away from the peloton.

So, after Alexander Vinokourov got dropped by his team after heroically winning a stage, and now the yellow-jersey leader Michael Rasmussen got the same treatment -- both likely were on illegal substances or had blood transfusions -- I'm even more rapt.

The other thing that's sweet about the TDF is the panoply of obscure European languages and names.

The crazy fans are also a hoot.

And the visuals from helicopters flying over the French countryside, the Pyrenees, and Champs Elysee make me want to visit Europe once again.

And the fact that the sport places so much importance on bicycle technology is also cool.

It makes me want to ride my bikes.

So count me in, although those in the sport are tired of it all:

Fans booed Rasmussen at the start of Wednesday's stage, and mostly French teams staged a protest to express disgust at the doping scandals that have left cycling's credibility in tatters. As the starter's flag came down, dozens of protesting riders stood still as Rasmussen, ace sprinter Tom Boonen and several others began riding away.

Some riders were forced to lift up their bicycles to get around their protesting colleagues, who eventually rejoined the race after causing a 13-minute delay. But the message was sent.

"We're fed up," AG2R rider Ludovic Turpin of France told Eurosport television.

A lot has been said about Floyd Landis's recent drug test results.  And Landis himself has been doing much of the talking.  In my opinion, this can't be a good thing.  He's just drawing attention to it instead of just letting it blow over.  If he is in fact "clean" and didn't take anything to increase his testosterone, then I can understand how he'd want to clear his name.  But I don't see how all the interviews could've helped.  He was on the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno earlier this week, and he's given interviews on all four major network morning shows.  Way too much publicity!  Just issue a statement, and then shut up for awhile and see if things can get cleared up.

 

 

My mother has a funny way of saying things. For some reason she can take a complicated or hot button issue and put it in the simplest terms all wrapped up in a Southern accent.  Here's her take on the latest doping scandal involving the winner of the of the Tour de France:

 

 

Houston area retired teacher and mother of fellow Mindsay blogger, Myclette the Cocoa Goddess, is disgusted with the latest scandal involving doping at the Tour de France. 

"I'm sick of it!" Says Ms. Verra. "I'm tahrd of these folks takin' these drugs and gittin' own these bahsickuhs!"  (I'm sick of it! I'm tired of these folks taking these drugs and getting on these bicycles!) LMAO!

Wow, so it's been a long time since I made an entry.  It's nothing against anyone here, but I guess I just haven't felt like putting the time and effort into it lately.  I have pictures I'd like to post, but when I think about doing it, I think, I really don't feel like taking the time to crop them, resize them, upload them and make an entry.  Plus I'm becoming fairly active in an online SW collecting forum.  So, whatever the reason for my absence, my apologies. 

 

My wife and I have been busy with stuff in the new townhouse... well, not so new anymore I guess.  We've been living in it for 2+ months.  We painted the basement the weekend of the 4th, and went out this weekend for a couple new pieces of furniture.  So, there's a lot of furniture we still need and a lot of work to do yet, but it's beginning to come together. 

 

On a completely different note, Lance may be gone, but an American is still the Tour de France champion!  The French are gonna love that... :P  Floyd Landis, from PA, won yesterday.  It looked like he was going to lose a couple days ago when he bonked in the mountains, but he pulled it back in the individual time trial on Saturday.  It's hard to say how he would have faired if the whole drug scandal hadn't occured the day before the Tour, taking out over 10 riders including 2 or 3 of the top contenders.  Oh well, either way, he still earned it.

 

Well, this makes a long enough entry for now.  Can't say for sure when I'll post again, but I'll try to make it a little more frequent.  Until then...