We reflect on another year of cycling; who has been naughty and who has been nice. The rusty chain award used to go to the biggest tool of the year but that has been folded into the Anti-V award. In years past the rusty chain award usually went to the present day dopers. Multi-year winners like Danilo “triple threat” Di Luca would now be eligible for the Anti-V award. To finally earn a lifetime suspension which should have been issued after his last infraction, that is something. To bring down a whole team because of his cretino behavior, that’s impressive. How many riders, coaches and support staff on Vini-Fantini Selle Italia lose a living because of his bad brain? But really, enough of him and his 2013 doping colleagues, let us leave them behind.
For those who did not read the Freddy Maertens recent interview, please do so before 2013 expires. It’s important to be reminded how tough he and his competitors were. They were racing more and being paid much much less. We have to admire how much Rule #5 was fueled on passion alone. This brings us to another personality in the running this year, Abandy Schleck.
We cannot criticize an injured rider. One can only compete at the professional level with mind and body working in harmony. Abandy seems to be suffering on both sides of the equation. We can criticize him for his lack of professionalism before he was injured. If you are a terrible time trialist and you want to win a stage race that might include time trials, you really should be working at that, even if it slows your awesome climbing talent. Contador was an impressive stage racer when he beat Cancellara in a TdF TT. Ha! When Freddy says today’s pros are paid too much and are too soft, he was winking at the interviewer and using international sign language to spell out “Abandy”.
Specialized threw itself in the running with it’s abysmal treatment of Dan Richter and Café Roubaix Bicycle Studio. CEO Mike Sinyard pulled Specialized out of the top spot for the Anti-V award with a personal apology to Dan and a promise to do business differently in the future. We take people at their word, let’s move on.
What really made us crazy was the notion that corporations have some legal rights to stop anyone to using the word Roubaix. Roubaix is a town in which the world’s most awesome velodrome decides the world’s most awesome bike race. Trek has a trademark on Alpe d’Huez and Specialized (and Fuji) have one for Roubaix? How clever of you. Well, keep it to yourself, leave the cycling community out of it. Cyclists made these places iconic, not lawyers so if want to have a slap fight over trademarks, do it in the privacy of your law offices. If you would like to do this in public, please make your argument in a bar in Northern France, in early April. You are not welcome to ride the secteurs of Roubaix on two wheels. Piss off. And yes, trademark lawyers, We are looking at you, you have earned both our incredulity and the 2013 Anti-V award.
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I think it is more commonly spelled "plebe." I think this is because, given the conventions of English pronunciation, the lack of the silent "e" would suggest that it is pronounced "plehb," which it isn't.
Stick around, though, and read some of the contributions to the site, if you have time, and you'll find an interesting range and complexity of perspectives on doping. Then, maybe, you'll begin to hear the discordant note that your initial contributions strike. Or not. It's entirely up to you, obviously.
@PeakInTwoYears
Ha! I withdraw my spelling complaint. The Oxford English Dictionary includes both spellings. I love little discoveries like that.
@crucible
Ok, ok, jesus, take it down a fucking notch already. Believe me, this discussion is an on-going one here on this site. Is Sky or Garmin for real or not, yes we would all like to know. I would like knowing more of your background before I can believe anyone saying "Trust me, I know". Someone close to a team doctor would have such a depth of knowledge as you. Riders might not be that smart.
I would hope the biological passport might be of some use here. Anyone racing close to a 50 hematocrit should be highly suspect. I've had mine checked many, many times, as a plasma donor and I'm always around 43-44%. Never higher.
Thanks for checking in, I'm not convinced but glad to have your point of view.
@crucible Bro... I'm speechless.
@Gianni
What do you need to be convinced? For a professional team, the logic couldn't be simpler:
1. Will it give our athletes a demonstrable, competitive advantage?
2. If yes, can we acquire the methods/substances employed?
3. If yes, can we avoid detection if said methods/substances are banned?
If you made it this far without any nays, congratulations! You just got an unfair advantage over the competition thanks to better strategizing and the tacit culture of ignorance doping "authorities" impose by rushing to ban anything and everything before they can figure out how to test for it, let alone the possibility that your team is gonna use it while the rest of the huddled masses look on.
Anti-doping culture is willful ignorance, the complicity with elitism, and class warfare at every level. The haves and the have nots play out a rigged game for your amusement. You think Team Sky would appreciate WADA temporarily making undetectable substances legal as part of a pilot program designed to study how the drugs were being used in competitive sports, only applying retroactive bans to athletes later who didn't come forward as part of a temporary amnesty agreement? Obviously this would speed up research for developing testing protocols, as well as help the officials and greater sporting community stay informed on who was using what.
You see, neither WADA nor Sky would appreciate such a logical approach, because it would make doping officials look "soft" and level the playing field for elite teams. None of them want for differing reasons, so the tacit collusion remains. Better to keep everyone blissfully ignorant and make an example out of some has beens every ten years or so, since public beatings haven't gone out of style.
The money is on doping, no matter what perspective you look at it from, and it's never going to stop.
Logically, it seems to me that if the money is on doping and always will be it doesn't make a ton of sense to do backflips working out new testing protocols for currently undetectable substances. Wouldn't that be merely another instance of "anti-doping culture"? Just another escalation of an elitist, class-based chemical arms race to the bottom of something or other?
I thought we were reaming patent lawyers, here, anyway. Way more fun. Some Assos model is about to make an appearance, I predict.
The Roubaix thing is just Spesh's most recent douchebaggery. They tried to bury Volagi a few years ago as well. Because the curved top tube and black and red are trademarked. Or something.
Here here! It's was the douchbag attitudes of Spech's lawyers (being rude and unhelpful) that caused all the shit. It appears Dan, realising his mistake tried to work privately with the lawyers to sort it out but they apparently refused. That being the case deserve the award
That said; It's moot whether a town name can be registered or not. If anything, the name that both Spech and Cafe Roubaix are trading, and profitingoff was brought to the status it has today by the Paris-Roubaix race and really they owe the owners of it for their sales. That said, anyone who wants to sell anything needs to take 30 seconds to do a (free, internet based) trade mark search before attaching it to a saleable good. Its not sufficient to say "oh, I never thought a town name could be trade marked, I'm a small trader so you should leave me alone". Who's to say he'll stay small and if they allow him, do they allow all comers? Also fail to see what the fact that he's a vet has any bearing on the issue. I love he fact that it's always "oh the big guy is smashing the little guy". Bull shit, regardless of size, it's simply one company protecting their profits by preventing others from trading off their tm's regardless of their size. If someone started selling, say "cafe Roubaix" coffee, or a component called "richter" Dan would be suitably pissed. Similarly if I started trading off the Velominati name without consent.
Anyway, I'll be very happy if this issue is never mentioned again. Yes, can we move on now?
@Puffy
Sure we can move on. Talk to @crucible.
@crucible
appreciate ur input; the tone could use some refinement, no? I mean, shit, on NYE you feel compelled to hold court, our court, with ur either god-given or insider knowledge and supposed insight. There's actually a wealth of knowledge, experience etc already here, so save the condescension and just chat, yo.
What I do find fascinating is the numbers of performance- they don't come from true studies; these are "scientifical" at best, only because no institution will give the approval for such studies. So at best you are looking at observational anecdotal medicine. Not to say it isn't accurate and borne out by practice/real racing, but it ain't from legit studies.
the other issue at play here for someone like me, is simply what to say for my kids generation as a moral compass. I do believe in a moral compass, an attempt, even if futile, to show a stigma about such bad behavior. Yeah, the bad guys always are a step ahead, name the arena where that isn't true. But you don't give up. thats how I see it anyhow.