2006 was the craziest year for drugs in cycling ever. The craziness of Operation Puerto probably eclipsed anything that happened in 1998 with the Festina Affair. Now that Ivan Basso and several others are cleared of involvement from Operation Puerto for the time being the hot news is who is signing for whom.
Jan Ullrich is talking with sponsors and teams, while Tyler Hamilton has already signed with Tinkoff. “Il Bufalo” (Italian spelling) Gutierrez is signing with a small Italian team to get back to the Giro and similarly Santiago Botero is signing with a smalll Columbian team. Genevieve Jenson is getting ready to comeback. On top of all this the Tour de France will feature a prologue in London that could be won by David Millar the man who made 2006 his comeback year. Manolo Saiz may be back in the ProTour with the Astana team or some variation. The list goes on and on of riders who are making a comeback either from being cleared of involvement in Operation Puerto or having served their suspension and returning to cycling.
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Latest reports now indicate that Lance Armstrong is hacking into people’s computers too. First Floyd and now Lance have been accused of hacking into people’s computers. Cyclist sure are a geeky crew, but the uber tough guy pros don’t seem to have much spare time to hack away. Maybe L’Equipe still remembers War Games and thinks that every American Male easily hacks into the local school to change his grades, so that it would be a natural transition to hacking into French Lab to change his drug test.
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With the latest streak of great weather up in the Northeast it has been easy to get out for a bike ride or run. Friday I did a hilly 34 mile spin with Dave VanWie. On the ride I concentrated on keeping it in the small chainring for most of the ride. There were a few descents where I was spun out, so I clicked it onto the big ring, but not other time did I switch out of the 42 tooth ring. My goal was to concentrate on spinning my legs. Keeping a high cadence is key and after seeing the discussion on junior gearing it reinforced my original ideas. Mashing bad, spinning good. It is one approach, but I would like to spin much faster next year on the road. Spinning classes are a good way to increase cadence.
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tuttobiciweb.com reports that Tyler Hamilton has signed with the Tinkoff Credit Systems Team for 2007. The long rumored move is said to be complete as Hamilton joins a 17 man continental Italian squad.
Oliver Piscina says that “With Tyler on the team we will have an immediate increase in the quality of our team”
Tinkoff is made up of riders from the now disbanded LPR team. We understand his past, but every athlete deserves a second chance”
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Skinny high pressure tubulars may not be the fastest tires you can use. The latest RoadBikeRider newsletter has some interesting info on tire pressure and rolling resistance.
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Checkout this helmetcam view of a MTB ride through some jumps and ramps and other obstacles.
The Floyd Landis case will not end cleanly. This week brings news of hackers breaking into the French labs’ computers and the lab itself admitting that there were errors in the numbering of the samples. The French lab clarifies that this error in no way affected the positive result, which is part of the Landis defense. To say that the lab work and security are shoddy is an understatement.
The revelation of the computer hacking that includes a letter written in poor French that misspelled the name of the lab in the fake logo is bordering on hilarious. This is almost as bizarre as the Tyler Hamilton “Fake Mustache Man” story that was floated about, but never really followed up on.
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eDiets.com has a good writeup by Raphael Calzadilla who can pass for a younger looking Jack Lalane. The hair and puffed up chest make the resemblance seem uncanny. Anyway, Raphael Calzadilla has some very good points about getting fitness and losing weight. Most of these tips jibe with the Abs Diet program I have been following this year. Point number 4 seems to get to the core of the Abs Diet theory:
4. Calories are the only thing that counts when trying to lose body fat or gain lean muscle. FALSE!
Ratios of protein, carbohydrates and fats are also important. The key in losing body fat and getting lean is controlling and manipulating insulin levels. In simple terms, when we consume excessive calories or excessive amounts of high glycemic carbohydrates at one meal, the body’s blood sugar rises. When this happens, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin to lower the blood sugar levels.
7. The best way to lose fat is to eat very few calories. FALSE!
Always consider your body from the inside out. Your body’s main objective is to survive. It doesn’t care if you want to lose body fat. In fact, it would prefer to increase fat in case of famine. Internally, the body has no idea that it’s the year 2003. It could still be 10,000 years ago for all it cares. Survival is its number one objective.
If you eat very little (less than 1,200 calories), the body perceives an emergency and will accommodate you by holding onto stored body fat. As well it should, because it has no idea when it will be fed again…
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(pic from flickr, UPDATE: Actually this is from Graham Watson)
Ivan Basso wasted no time climbing on a new Trek and donning the Discovery Channel kit after word of his signing was released to the world last week. To say that Ivan is motivated for 2007 is an understatement. Basso is already dressed in Discovery Channel blue and has the matching blue SiDis. This move must have been close for a while since the matching blue SiDis are not a standard color in their 2007 lineup. They need to be custom made and the turn-around time on those must be more than a few days.
Basso is probably counting down the days until the December 3rd Discovery Team training camp. No cold nights in the Norwegian tundra this year. Just some warmer nights getting to know a team that is probably just as eager to meet him.
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Ted King (Priority Health) takes the penultimate race of the 2006 Louis Garneau Central New York Cyclocross Series
(pic from spokepost.com)
BINGHAMTON, NY (November 13, 2006) – Eventual 8th place finisher, Mike Kumiega (RUUD Racing) took the hole-shot, but Ted King (Priority Health) took the reigns quickly, and never looked back. It’s probably a good thing he didn’t, because he would have seen Cory Burns (Fiordifrutta) chasing within 20 seconds for the entire race. Matt Dickinson (Placid Planet) solidified his position in 3rd after being over-taken by Burns inside the opening laps.
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