Contador 'meats' his fate.

Some time ago Alberto Contodor tested positively for the performance enhancing drug Clenbutrenol. The winner (his third) of the tour De France's epic battle with Andy Schleck (a title he has now quite rightly lost) claimed he had eaten contaminated meat. A claim that was proved to be untrue.

Contodor has just received a 12 month ban demonstrating he has doped. The length of the ban though is concerning. Doping carries a mandatory 2 year ban not one. One year bans just haven't been given out before. So, why twelve months. Is it to encourage an appeal, if so he has ten days to lodge one, if he does, will it continue beyond July to allow to race for his fourth title? There are still likely to be chapters left in this tale. Contador has always said he will give up cycling if he is found guilty. This to me just sounds like a naughty child trying to get out of trouble. He has a press conference tomorrow so perhaps we will learn more. It won't be easy though... it is a zero tolerance approach to doping. If it is in your system, no matter how minute, it is up to the athlete to prove they are not guilt of knowingly using the drug.

Where does this leave other riders? Well hopefully turning down any drug offered to them and competing on their own merits. Armstrong is still facing indictment after the admissions of Landis and claims that Armstrong personally gave him drugs. The difference for him is that, as he was sponsored by US Postal he faces charges of defrauding the US government. A more substantial charge than Contodor's.

My argument though remains the same. If Contodor has been convicted with so small an amount of the drug in his body that some scientists say the test should not be valid surely Armstrong, as the most tested athlete on the planet and the extraordinary lengths the French went to to find traces of drugs in his blood (often over years),  would have been caught during his tours. If you want to know more on my opinion read the blog 'cold case detectives' from late last year. For now let's see what happens tomorrow.

Cyclists aren't always professors but professors can always be cyclists.

Last year cycling lost one of its iconic figures. Laurent Fignon is remembered for many things including the blond pony tail, the big glasses and the sweat band that made him look like a dancer from Olivia Newton John's single let's get physical. The last two things you may remember him for can test to see if you are an optimist or a pessimist. Do you remember him as the man who lost the tour of France to Greg LeMond by eight seconds (pessimist) or the man who won the tour twice (optimist). He was one of the few people to win the Tour at his first attempt beating Bernard Hinault. However you remember him you will remember how exciting he made cycle racing. He also took back to back wins in 1988 and 1989 in the Milan St Remo classic amongst many others. His defeat to LeMond is seen by many as the greatest tour ever. Fignon began the final 25km time trial with a 50 second lead but, unfortunately, a sore on his backside as well that made him suffer. LeMond used a radical new set of triathlon bars that gave him a 1 second per kilometre advantage. The rest is history. Interestingly though the bars were illegal and banned in other races though Fignon never complained or appealed. Fignon went on to other races but found the battle against EPO to much to compete against and retired. He remained involved in the sport for many years as a race organiser and commentator until his untimely death of cancer. His nickname in cycling was 'the professor'. Not because he had a PhD but because he thought about studying for a degree! How times have changed and now many cyclists are involved in the science of the sport. Thanks Laurent for the memories.

So why the professor link? Late last year I blogged about a new lady in my life 'Trinity'. A giant time trialling bike. I also said I would test the bike to see if it was worth while. Why the link to Fignon? Well I tried to test the bike in laboratory conditions hence me as the professor and I bought my first set of tri bars after watching Fignon lose the Tour. The difference with those bars was they were just that. Bars, the gears and everything else remained the same. I love time trialling. Known as 'the race of truth' it is you against the clock. Even if you lose you get a result. Fantastic. The time trial bikes of today are the 'bling' of the cycling world. Aerodynamic they push you into the optimal position for wind efficiency and pedal power.

I wanted to find out how much faster than a road bike they are. To do this, any professor will tell you test conditions have to be the same. I decided on a ten mile route and earlier in the week I went out on a windless day, completed a one mile warm up, 10  miles, and a one mile cool down. Today after a gentle ride yesterday I decided to try the Trinity for the first time. Same food before hand, same drink for the route, same time of day. Perfect? No.... the gods conspired against me. It was blowing a force four straight off the Irish sea and had just started to rain. I decided to go for it anyway.

Straight after the one mile warm up as the 10 began I hit a traffic jam that slowed me down for 750 meters. Then a straight road, and wow, I had a wry smile on my face after yesterdays blog - when did the bike become too fast? This bike is fast. It has a 53 ring on the front and off it went hovering around the 30mph mark with no extra effort (I thought). I soon realised the bike was carrying me away with it and I loved it.

Don't get me wrong, there were problems. The bike is more twitchy due to the narrow handle bars designed to round your shoulders. The gears are difficult to get used to being so far away. This left me powering up hills in the 53 when I should have dropped a ring. I also found it difficult to reach the drink from the tuck position. Also it is difficult to use the bars to power up hills with the narrow width. I only used the tri bars twice. I want to get used to the bike a bit more first. The end result of all this was I ran out of energy round about the 9 mile point and slowed down, My average for the second half was 3mph less than the first half, something that didn't happen on the road bike.

Overall though I have to say this was so much fun I am hooked and can't wait to go out again, consider this force 4, rain, traffic jam, first go on the bike and the mistakes made, I dropped a whopping 59 seconds off my ride earlier in the week, nearly a full minute faster. I would expect to get that to at least two minutes when I work out how to ride the bike properly. They are pure speed. There is no sitting up on the bars you are sculpted to fit the bike and achieve the fastest you can. Incredible. I'm going to read up about riding the bike, ask questions and build my skills on the machine. It is going to get better!

People often talk about things to do before we die. If you are a cyclist, whatever your age or experience you have to have a go of one. If like most cyclists you love to talk about your times you won't regret a time trial bike. So, to answer my earlier question 'when did bikes get too fast?' The answer, 'Today when I couldn't keep up with it!'

Orca SLT

Cycling to the moon (in just over 200 years) When did the bike become too fast?

Today's blog is a bit of a history lesson finishing with the latest in technology. Did you know that the word bicycle comes from a combination of two Latin words? Bi for two and cycle for circle or wheel. So much kudos has been placed on the invention of the bike that some people claim that Leonardo Da Vinci (before designing the puzzle that caused Robert Langdon so much grief in the Da Vinci code) dreamed up the earliest design, while others say the design was inserted by an over enthusiastic monk  reviewing his papers. Imagine! Such was the desire to claim the first bike design.

The first official bike was the Draisienne or hobby horse, a bike with no pedals that you scooted along on.

The hobby horse

People being people, racing soon followed and over the next fifty years some of the most famous races of today developed with people pushing themselves to their limits to reach the highest speeds and longest distances in set times. The six day events and the Madison appeared and were probably the most popular sport of the day. Cities competed with one another to provide the best roads for cyclists who often travelled hundreds of miles to ride a smooth surface [much as we do today for a good sportive].

Blacksmiths put together the latest ideas in bike design with the more famous of these going on to manufacture the motorcar. The basic shape of frame the 'diamond' we use today was invented by William Starley in 1885 patented as the Rover safety bike in Coventry, it was the first bike with two wheels the same size, the rider over the centre and able to touch the ground with both feet. In 1896 he floated the Rover cycle company. In 1904 it became the Rover motor company taking cycle technology into the motorcar. As a piece of trivia, when Starley died every bike manufacturer in the country closed on the day of his funeral which was attended by over 20,000 people. The point is his design has remained the same while lesser engineers such as the Wright brothers (who started by building bikes) and Karl Benz motorcar have all moved forward in design specification while the bike is pretty much the same, just the material differs. Rover wasn't the only bike manufacturer  to move into cars, many others did the same including Peugeot that moved into cars and bikes, dropped bikes and are now back designing and building bikes. Others included Bianchi, Singer, Opel, Morris, Hillman, Humber, Winton and Willys

Many other engineering designs sprang up from the bike, gears were added in 1868 to the bike now called the velocipede and a whole new range of competition emerged in the velodrome. Changes in cogs followed in the quest for speed. A Swiss textile manufacturer living in Manchester invented the chain to allow variable gears - his name - Reynolds (heard of them?) The bike designers invented wire spokes, pneumatic tyres, ball bearings, steel tubing and differential gears all of which were borrowed by the motorcar industry. Bike mechanics included Henry Ford, Charles and Frank Duryea and William Hillman, you may have heard of them.

So onto my point, without the bike would we have put a rocket on the moon? Think about the advances mentioned above and how many of them are in the rocket ship. Still not convinced? Campagnolo as well as designing the campio corsa -the first derailleur - also built the chassis for a NASA satellite launched in 1969.

I could go on and usually do... so if someone trivialises the bike to you, ask them if they enjoy their car, flying on holiday and satellite TV...I'm sure you can think of many more. If they do then tell them they are welcome to whatever it it is they love.

So where next? Well look at this.

This is Cervelo's latest offering http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/bikes/2011/P4/  Let me leave it to the manufacturer to describe this piece of art

The world's first fully-integrated aero TT/Tri bike

While outlandish claims fly in the world of “superbikes”, the quiet redesign of the P4evo keeps it firmly atop the ranks for the ultimate in TT/Tri bike design. 25 upgrades including a better IBT rear brake, ICS3 cable routing, more secure seatpost clamping and improved downtube & seattube shapes help it to remain the fastest in our latest test of all the newest TT/Tri bikes. Faster than ever while easier to set-up and maintain, a golden combination.

The P4 is part of the P-series, made for the timed solo effort from prologue to the Race Across America and from sprint triathlon to Ironman.

Experience:

1. Cervelo’s tried and true geometry, putting the rider in a fast and comfortable position.
2. Aerodynamic design to reduce drag resistance and increase speed.
3. Handling and stiffness characteristics straight from the road models.

MAIN TECHNOLOGIES

- Smartwall for Carbon
- TrueAero shapes
- P4 aero seatstays
- Aero chainstays
- Aero headtube
- Internal Cable Stops ICS3
- P4 rear wheel cutout
- Integrated hydration
- IBT Integrated Brake Technology
- Dropped downtube
- Integrated seatpost clamp

 

Not yet accepted (my belief) by the cycling authorities - it is so fast... it is limited to triathletes and those interested in pure speed. Here's a thought though, Lance Armstrong used a helmet in a Tour of France that was banned right up to the day he used it when setting the fastest team time trial in history. Just think, at some point this speed machine will be made legal, think how difficult it will become to get hold of one and how much more they may charge..... At the moment they are less than you think.   Is this the first real progression since the diamond frame?

How to organise a mass ride in less than five minutes.

Some time ago I wrote about the 'cold case detectives'. A group of American investigators touring Europe trying to find evidence that Lance Armstrong used drugs to win the Tour D'France a record seven times. For my views on this farce read my previous blog. In short however I believe dollars are being wasted and if there was anything to be found it would have been found already. I also mentioned the risk to the highly successful Livestrong foundation raising millions of dollars for cancer research. Reputations can be destroyed by whispers and gossip. Take a look at what a true champion can achieve by reading the below report from Sky. Lance, prior to starting his final (maybe) professional race has organised another mass ride on his twitter in support of the flood victims. No long organisation period, no high percentage going to organisers, just a plea from a true cycling champion for some help... and boy did the people respond.

Thousands of people have taken up cycling legend Lance Armstrong's Twitter appeal to join him in Adelaide for a fundraising ride in aid of Australia's flood victims.

The American sports star organised the event by posting this message on his Twitter page: "Hey #Adelaide - Twitter ride!! Let's show our support for Queensland those affected by the floods. Saturday 10am Wigley Reserve, Glenelg!"
After personally donating $50,000 (£31,000), Armstrong asked the crowd on the outskirts of the city not to forget the people of "Brisvegas".
He said: "We're here to let the people of Queensland know that you are not going to be forgotten.

Around 8,000 turned out for the sporting star's Twitter ride

"We are all thinking about you, we're all riding for you and we're raising money for you.
"As an American it's amazing to see the solidarity that goes on in Australia."
With nearly 2.5 million people following Armstrong's online musings, it is no surprise that such rides attract cyclists in their thousands.
The seven-times Tour de France winner is in Australia to kick off the 2011 racing season at the Tour Down Under along with his new RadioShack team-mates.

Great Expectations

Charles Dickens knew a lot about the expectations we place on ourselves and others. In his book the expectations fall on people with money and education. Sneak the poor into these exclusive areas and expectations increase. These days expectations can be seen in second rate entertainment such as football. Don't believe me? Look at Liverpool and Chelsea. Money and education through academies and the best managers money can buy raise expectations to a Dickensian level. Every team expect to win the premiership. Now I don't know how many teams are in a premiership but I do know there can only be one first place. If they aren't there everyone wants blood and usually it is the managers. Funny thing, I think my expectations would be higher of someone paid £250,000 a week who is incapable of scoring a goal for Manchester United.

Back to cycling. The tour down under starts this Sunday. It will be Lance Armstrong's last professional race. Expectations were high when he returned to the Tour D'France. And in my mind he delivered; managing to be the oldest person on the podium the first year of his return and showing how much he enjoys cycling the second year. He is a hero in many places around the globe and rightly so. He is particularly embraced in Australia as a sporting legend. Are there expectations of him? Well not from me. I hope to see him entertain, I hope to see some close calls and would love a victory for him. The reality is that as we get older we get a bit slower and someone else ends up a champion. What you can guarantee is they will never make the level of Uber Champion Lance. To continue competing at this level over the period he has shows the level of skill and ability he has. Hope he enjoys it and I look forward to watching the event. No, my expectations aren't what they were when he was master of the tour but it is a pleaasure to see the man cntinue to race, entertain and raise the profile of cancer through the livestrong trust,. Just Do It Lance.

The Road Racing Specialists are back.

Some years ago mountain bikes did to road racing what the grey squirrel has done to the red here in England and much of the rest of the world. They bred so fast and took all the food (read money for bikes) from the red squirrels (road bikes) that the red (road) was nearly extinct. Road bikes almost disappeared as everyone turned to the bikes that made them look 'cooler', the baggy t-shirt and shorts could be worn almost anywhere unlike the tight Lycra that is less forgiving of any bulges. Also you didn't need to push yourself as hard on a mountain bike, some people even took to taking ski lifts up mountains and rolling downhill. Great fun and a real buzz but .... I just think you should ride up the hill as well.

Personally I think this goes back to the Raleigh chopper. A totally unrealistic bike that defied the science that makes the bike the efficient machine it is; working in harmony with the human body. It's wheel was smaller at the front and gear changes were on the cross bar. This led to an unstable bike. I know my brother went over the handle bars and was in a comma for three days. Why then was it one of the biggest selling machines of all time and reputedly saved the Raleigh brand? Because it looked cool. Teenagers rode them in PVC leather look jackets smoking menthol cigarettes imagining they were covering route 66 on a Harley. and so because of this the universe shifted.....

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. By saving the company the world moved from the road bike to the chopper and on to mountain bikes. Now I don't blame Raleigh and I am glad they survived and went on to sponsor a team again but the pay off was in the bike shops. Road bikes have been coming back for a while now thanks to television coverage and super stars like Lance Armstrong and the epic battles between Contodour and Schleck. Add to that the Sportive and road bikes have been saved from extinction. However, they are still under the wrong care. When I went to my bike shops this year they stocked everything from road bikes (in the smallest numbers) to mountain bikes ( the largest numbers) and BMX, kids and commuters. The people that sold the bikes to me where BMX or mountain bike enthusiasts. Happy to help but short on experience and I always left with my bike feeling I had got something wrong. There just wasn't the expertise. It was a quick ride round the car park a couple of questions and do you want it or not? No proper set up. Well try Cheshire cycles just outside of the outlet village or even 69 cycles in Chester, they know what they are talking about and how to fix your bike,
. It's like walking around a Ferrari dealership. Go have a look and see what they can do for you. Remember if you don't support your local dealer they won't last long and like I love the red squirrel and want it to survive I love the road bike shops and want to see them survive to