Lucas Chan :: Weblog

This morning with Karl:

Via Rosamond:

If anyone has any good ideas or inspiration for decals, get in touch. :)

So the off-season is upon us and nothing much has changed. All “Operación Puerto” succeeded in doing is dragging the sport through the dirt. All charges against the implicated riders have been shelved and most of them are set to ride in the Pro Tour next year (with the possible notable exception of Jan Ullrich).

Was it really worth it?

There has been a lot of emphasis placed on DNA testing of the riders but this is surely not the only answer. It has some merit with regards to identifying (or clearing) those involved in “Operación Puerto” I suppose, but moving forward its uses are somewhat limited. Cycling needs a real solution if it wants to be taken seriously again.

From my position, there’s not much left to do but conclude that the majority of the peleton (or at least the significant few) are doping and that the Grand Tours are no longer a test of courage, strength, endurance and determination; but a test of pharmaceuticals, masking agents, avoidance, and legal technicalities.

I’ve ditched my France travel plans for next year. The real heroes of the Pro Tour are guys like Jens Voigt, Erik Zabel, Brad McGee and Stuart O’Grady, and that’s all you really need to know.

Don’t hate the players, hate the game. Or something.

I’ve never really heard of this happening before. Floyd Landis has declared that he will post three hundred odd pages of French legal documents on his web site so that his supporters may help discover things that will be helpful in his defense.

We call it the Wikipedia defense

I wonder if we’ll see more of this in the future? People using their high profiles to enlist a small army of legal assistants, litigation 2.0?

The prize for the most underwhelming piece of journalism on this topic goes to Jon Saraceno from USA TODAY.

It’s not a stretch to think that a dude who listens to Metallica, one who can’t remember how many shots of Jack Daniel’s he slugged back the night before rallying to win, would grab a needle or apply a testicular patch in a moment of desperation.

Results of his “A” specimen added to the “B” sample — with Landis’ vigorous but hollow-sounding defense — add up to “C.” As in Cheater.

So cheesy.

MELBOURNE’S gridlocked peak-hour traffic has slumped to roughly the same speed as a 60-year-old on a penny farthing, our experiment has found.

You can probably pick a few holes in their “experiment”. But it was moderately heart-warming to see this story on the Herald Sun web site. Andrew Bolt must be on holiday or something.

In addition to the time spent in gridlock, it would have been nice if they had mentioned the countless working hours devoted by the driver to paying for:

• The Citylink tolls between the start and end points in the experiment.
• CBD Parking.
• Petrol.
• Paying off a car loan?
• And possibly a gym membership?