Contracts and Transfers- John Herety has just been appointed the British National Road Team Manager. Background blurb on JH below this - he had quite an impressive career as an amateur in France, pro in Europe and UK before team management. Currently works for Boardman's management team but starts the new job Jan 5th.The FBI storyIt shows we are in the off-season as I am now reporting about how the US Olympic Committee has requested that the FBI swoop on the Internet site I spoke of the other day which is selling banned substances (including steroids) and is also providing readers with a step-by-step plan to avoid getting caught when that UCI-authorised officials smiling, taps you on the shoulder and says piss.The latest is that the WWW site Price's Power International claims the business is legal. Sid Price, the proprietor is reported as saying: "I'm not selling anything (department store) Wal-Mart wouldn't sell." He alleged that there were more than 50 other Internet sites that were selling steroids. The US Olympic Committee president is reported by official sources as saying: "The United States Olympic Committee is committed to ensuring a level playing field for all athletes, and this kind of advertising has the potential to destroy the careers and health of existing and aspiring Olympians alike." Now get this. Price's Power International has been pumping for nearly 3 years and was only discovered by officials last week. As a source asked - does the FBI read www.cyclingnews.com? The officials of the USOC only "stumbled" on the site after reading reports elsewhere that it was selling the drug Androstenedione - which we have been having a little "experts" forum about on these pages. Price claimed that Androstenedione were natural products and were licensed by the Food and Drug Administration as food supplements. A visit to his site reveals the following about the drug (yep I went there to do some research) - "a steroid hormone found in all animals (meat) as well as some plant extracts." A reader wrote back about our last research (he was the one who said I should do more research) and offers this: I guess the letter that your other reader sent to you best described what I was trying to say. While the drug may be a "steroid", the DEA does not regulate it because it is derived from natural sources (but so is cocaine). I checked at my local health food shop and found that the request for this was high. They were expecting to recieve their shipment soon and their reply was,"We are expecting this soon. We are ordering a great deal of it because of all the requests. You might want to check back often if you want to get some." Hmmm, seems like the secret is out. I think that illegal and banned are two different words that may or not be used interchangably. Adrostene is illegal and banned if you are a competing cyclist, but not illegal if you are an average joe. Semantics I suppose, but that is where most confusion comes from. [Bill: yeh, and can you just imagine the bedlam in your local health food shop as all these riders who don't want to train hard enough are trampling customers to get something "natural". Its a joke.] Prudencio plays what?Yesterday I wrote saying the Prudencio was injured playing a game called frontenis. Well some readers have kindly sent me emails to tell us all what the hell this dangerous game is.Bob was first: Apparently frontenis is "tennis against a wall usually played by children" - Prudencio means "cautious". Jim says: I think the game you mentioned in your story about P. Indurain's injury is Jai-Alai. It is a fairly popular sport on the east coast of the U.S. and it has Basque origins. It was popular as a betting sport in my home state of Connecticut until recently when "irregularities", read "fixing" , were uncovered and it was closed down as a professional sport. The court is called a "fronton" and the ball reaches extremely high velocities. By the way, your page is the best source for cycling news that I know of. Yeh I said to Jim (return email) but it still doesn't say what it is. Jim, being the citizen he is then replied. Jai-Alai is played in a tall, 4-sided hardwood court with a small, hard rubber ball called a "pelota" and hand-held rattan "scoops" which the players use to capture the ball. A quick swinging motion with the scoop accelerates the ball which is then released from the scoop to bounce off the wall of the court to the other player. The ball moves at extremely high velocities and inexperienced players can be injured badly. I don't claim to know the rules of the game, but I don't think it is like handball. Players wear helmets and protective gear. Tom calls it something else: I assume that this is in fact a game called Pelota, since it is a traditional (and popular) Basque sport played on an outdoor court called a Fronton. Every village there has it's Fronton, consisting of a high wall and a long, hard area in front. Roughly speaking it is like squash, except there are no side walls. Additionally, there are variants depending upon how the ball is hit - everthing from the hand, to a hard bat (like a table tennis bat) to a long, curved thing (for want of a better word) that fits over the arm that allows the ball to be scooped up and then flung at the wall at great speed. Singles and doubles games are known; the sport is often quoted as being the fastest raquet sport in the world, so it is easy to imaging a broken arm. So you hate ShimaNO?Well if you are like me and would rather walk than ride a bike (can it be so) with that stuff sort of crudely hanging off it then start singing. This was sent to me by the provider of the great Campagnolo Only Page page, Eric Norris. Its origins are unknown. Get with it though if you know Billy Joel's "Big Shot". The terminology is a little "American" but the message is universal.
Well, you went uptown riding on your STI in your cheap Bike Nashbar clothes you had the STI levers in hand and snot runs from your nose But, you were up all night with your derailleur apart and now your eyes are too bloody to see go on and ride on it broken but don't come bitchin' to me... Because you had to buy Shimano, didn't ya? you had to go along with the crowd you had to ride Shimano didn't ya now it's time to throw it out... you had to have the cheap stuff didn't ya don't know what quality's about you had to ride Shimano didn't ya... Well, they were all impressed with your Dura Ace when you stood at the starting line But when your shifter blew out you lost 5 minutes of time And, now you're not real sure where the race leaders are and you're not sure that you wanna know I'll give you one hint buddy, they ride Campagnolo! But, you had to ride Shimano, didn't ya you thought you go along with the crowd you had to ride Shimano, didn't ya but all your parts they just flew out you had to ride the cheap stuff, didn't ya don't know what quality's about you had to ride Shimano, you had to ride Shimano Well it's no big sin to ride with Italian it costs more but you might win it alone but when you went over the line everyone else had gone home No no no no no, you had to buy SHIMANO didn't ya? Leipzig 6 Day Race - Brief After Night 11. Andreas Kappes - Carsten Wolf (Ger) 102 2. Jens Veggerby - Jimmi Madsen (Den) 73 (+1) 3. Silvio Martinello - Marco Villa (Ita) 69 (+1) 4. Bruno Risi - Kurt Betschart (Swi) 55 (+1) 5. Gerd Dörich - Svend Teutenberg (Ger) 61 (+2) 6. Jens Lehman - Scott McGrory (Ger/Aus) 51 (+2) 7. Etienne de Wilde - Rik van Slijcke (Bel) 33 (+2) |