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Hmm' date=' what about the 120 riders implicated in Puerto? Basso claims that because he was tested repeatedly, this proves that hes clean, and never doped. These labs cant be very good. [/quote'] You have to accept the "face value" of the tests Christie. There may be doubts and there may be reasons to believe otherwise, but the record will show 180 riders were clean only Landis was doped. This is regarded as fact now and is accepted as such. TNT. Dope tests are a bit like speeding, speed today and get away with it, speed tomorrow and you will get caught. You cannot use the fact that "everybody was speeding yesterday and didnt get caught" or "the trap must be faulty because my clock said I was witihn the limits" as an excuse - you speed today, you get caught - thats it - even if the science is not 100% correct, its a standard and everybody accepts this. If you fall outside of the standard - you are caught - no excuses - its not good enough to say the tests dont conform to this or that or are not 100% foolproof - nobody cares - the "STANDARD" stands and everybody has to accept that, like it or not.

Is it not amazing that all these accused athletes can do is attack the laboratory.?? I find it quite amazing that 180 other cyclists were tested by the same lab and all passed - except Landis - so obviously the lab is to blame!! What a pin head, the lab has proved he doped, his team tossed him out,I for one have no doubt he doped and judging by his lack of support I am not alone, and I see he has had to go on a sort of "publicity road tour" to gather money and support for his quickly failing cause. Even his own lawyer has said the french lab is an accredited institution and although they would like tests done in the USA, they will have NO CHOICE but to accept the Labs credentials. In my opinion the sooner they toss him out and get rid of him the better.!

Yes, its very good and (I think I saw him mentioned in the tour of Romandy) as well. Obviously showing some good form right now and with his contract coming up for renewal within the year he is getting good coverage.

Hmm, one of the big reasons pro-cycling has managed to keep most of its sponsors as of late is the cost. Cycling is a dirt cheap form of advertising for major companies, sponsorships run about between 4 million euros to 7 million euros for an entire team for an entire year of advertising. David Beckham alone commands that kind of money for one premier league final. Michael Schumacher wouldnt even get into his car and lets not even talk about major league NBA players. ............but even at the ridiculously low cost, sponsors WILL think twice when considering a cycling sponsorship due to the poor media around the doping scandals. widget2007-05-04 04:45:01

Yup, I have to agree on Bassos career.Its over.!! I dont believe there are agendas, these things take time and everybody plays the delay game, its unfortunate about the upcoming Giro, but I think it will make some other "possible" dope head think twice before he signs on. I also have to agree with the other comment, personally I wont miss Basso either.!

I am just the opposite really, I buy very little locally and import just about everything I need, and I dont feel in the least bit guilty. Its nothing personal, its just my time is limited, I have no interest in becoming my LBS owners best mate and its my honest experience that 9 times out of 10 these shops are run on such a shoestring budget, they carry minimal stock and unless its a tube, it usually has to be ordered it in for you, which means you have to drive back wards and forwards in the traffic for nothing. To be honest, I dont care where I buy something, I dont expect favours from any shop, I buy where it suits me on the day, and from my experience, Cajees has the stock on hand, so if you need a basic item, going there first is at least a guarantee you will usually walk out with it. Which cant be said for too many other stores. I havent been to all of them but the chaps in the Four ways branch have always been polite and friendly to me.

Well, it cant be concluded because Landis is using delaying tactics as are all the other riders - its very simple. The UCI, WADA, the labs , everybody has put their cards on the table ages ago. It then reverts to the rider to defend the case if he says he is wrongly accused, all of them hire the best laywers available who know exactly what to do to delay, delay, delay and sooner or later hope people will forget about it or grow tired of it and loose interest. Tylers case went on for years, his laywers eventually were coming to court with 31 full A4 files on a trolley.Thats how much legal crap they generated and the court had to sift through - I dont imagine Landis is much differant.

No, sure, I agree with you 101%, the signing of Basso (who is tainted goods, in my opinion) was heavily critisised by the pro tour team management and a few riders (Voigt been one) - but Discovery flashed the cheque book a bit early here and may live to regret it. I think most teams have abided by the unwritten rule of "not signing riders involved or under any investigation" but of course there are always those (like Discovery) with deep pockets who think its okay to fight it out in court later or / if ever. With ASO now standing firm as well, these riders may find it hard to get into races, and then "no team will want them." widget2007-04-26 03:45:51

No, actually they arnt, of all the cyclists named and involved in Puerto, only Basso and initially Mancebo got teams - all of the others like Beloki, Gutierrez, Unia Osa, Aitor Ossa, David Extebarria and of course Oscar Sevilla are all standing in the dole line, no team would sign them. Mancebo has not raced to the best of my knowledge. Now it looks like Basso could be joining them.

Yes, sure no chain. Landis is a cheat, there is no doubt in my mind, this American / French nonsense is just ridiculous. People seem to think these labs only test cyclists for doping, fact is thats a small part of their business, they test for hospitals, surgery, specialists, life threatining situations where accuracy is not just important its vital, testing for drug induced metabolic changes is childs play for these labs. widget2007-04-26 03:32:48

I agree with Cruxpearl, "some folk just dont get it". To say the procedure was wrong is ridiculous, who is saying so (besides except the athlete of course)? Everybody including WADA and the UCI appear quite happy with the procedure, and they are the ones pulling the strings. For goodness sake the UCI is doing their very best to get the Spanish judge to re-open the Puerto case - if they were unhappy with the "procedure" I doubt this would be happening. In any case these labs are all accredited WADA labs and they are held (by WADA) to the highest standards. AS for Floyd even the USADA has said they will accept without question the french labs repot. Get over the French / American smokescreen (thrown up by largely American athletes) and look at the facts. As to it all been allegations regarding Basso, well again its a ridiculous comment, you can be a triple serial murderer, deny it, and until you get dragged through court its also all "allegations!!" However, for an allegation to exist there has to be evidence, and where there is evidence, circumstantial or not, there is sufficient reason to suspend the athlete or arrest them. By the way, the Puerto case was never closed and Basso was never cleared - again this was a smokescreen thrown up by teams and others with a vested interest in seeing this fall of the radar - the fact is Puerto was ONLY closed in Spain and the judge said it could be re-opened at any time should new evidence arise. The case remained open in all other countries and athletes could be prosecuted by any other association like the German federation (Ullrich) based on the facts at hand. Basso was only "cleared" to race, he was not cleared of the charge (there is a differance) and he remained under investigation by the Italian federation as has now been shown. To close Cycle Sport magazine (written three months ago) pre-empted the now Basso suspension. They predicted Basso s case was weak, the Italian federation were looking at new evidence and that Discovery erred in signing Basso and will probably have to suspend / release a very highly paid cyclist. The fact that they could predict this three months ago, shows there is compelling evidence here.

I posted an article probably about a year ago taken from a medical journal which showed that water bottles pose a serious cross contamination threat to cyclists. Its not so much what its filled with, but all the road grime and airborne bacteria pack onto the bottles which are transferred directly into your mouth and ingested. Another point is residual liquid not cleaned out can become a great bacteria breeding ground inside the bottle, and when filled again the bacteria are passed onto the bearer. So, if not washed and sterilised every time in hot water and a disinfectant soap the bacteria can cause illness. Lots of folk Pooh-poohed the article saying, they have never got sick from a water bottle (go figure , as if they are the only ones using them) but although in a healthy individual it may cause nothing or at worst, a mildly upset stomach , it can cause serious illness in a weakened immune system. Its also been shown, freezing your bottles dos nothing to the absobtion of the liquid, the body absorbs liquid better at its own normal temp (roughly room temp) - all it dos by freezing or cooling the liquid, is cool your core temp down (which may or may not be desirable) and of course make a sticky mess of your bottle cage and frame as it defrosts.

I am sure they will replace them, it really just makes good "customer care" sense. Its such a small amount of money its not worth the "possible" bad publicity.

Sorry,........ I didnt even know there was a "National Cycling Officials Body" - perhaps they should do something to get known better - maybe, plant a tree or something.!

I would have to say Petacchi is the best PURE sprinter, I think he is struggeling to find form after his very serious crash, but I have no doubt he will be back. ..........that said, there are others, Rene Haselbacher is no slouch when he is upright, Allan Davis is another, Jan Kirsipuu can hold his own, some of the lead out men like Marco Velo and Gert Steegmans given the opportunity could also feature regularly. Even our little mate Damiano Cunego can be very competitive in the sprint.

..............hot water again. Basically it has been ruled that all his other urine samples up to stage 17 be re-tested with urgency on Monday. Landis tried to get them to test the samples at UCLA (the French hate us Americans you know)but their machine is broken - so he as was kicking up a fuss about the French Labs and so on..................when his laywer Catlin interupted and said this of the French lab............... Catlin said "a Wada lab is a Wada lab." "I know they're card-carrying, full-fledged members of the (World Anti-Doping Agency) system," he said. "Wada holds everyone to standards. They do that with an iron club." I guess even he is tired of the "poor American" been singled out and bashed the French lab issues.!! So, it seems there is more coming up with Landis as well.

Obviously you have trained before running a few marathons etc, but I would still say have a professional check up at the doc and get a trainer to advise you on a training plan. 30 minutes can be as tough on the cardio system as 45 minutes, its not time, but more intensity based now . What works for young 18 year old athletes is gonna kill a middle aged man or woman, and if you are just doing it to increase your health and loose weight a structured plan gives you something to aim at.

Johan Bornman was on again?? Is he gonna be a regular or was it just a once off?? I always used to have a chuckle at his antics, an odd sense of humour but he generally "takes no prisoners" and says it as he sees it, so I would expect him to rile a few feathers.!!

Hmm Delgado, methinks you are right here. The way I see this is as follows - The organisers put out an "offer" to the public to ride a race for R xyz.00. You as the customer "accept" that offer and in turn pay the required amount on demand. This constitutes a legal binding contract. I dont see how they can legally dis-allow you to ride the race based on this contract, unless they have it in the "on-line entry form" that the offer is subject to the following conditions - You have to be a member of a club. You have to present a license. If you cannot conform to the above, you must pay an extra Rxyz.00 on registration for a temp. or day license. Its not good enough to have this info on a seperate web site, you MUST be made aware of this on accepting the offer. Legally they cannot turn around at registration and demand an extra Rxyz.00 to get a temp license, if you were not made aware of this at the time of purchase, this would in my opinion, constitute a breach of contract. This has legal consequence, and allows you to demand compensation and / or sue for damages. So it all boils down to the fine print, is the issue made known to the purchaser on the ON-LINE entry or not.?? It quite possibly is, I dont know, I havent looked, has anybody else looked.?