Here's a good recap of what has transpired in the past week on the doping issues plaguing professional cycling by the Chicago Tribune's Phil Hersh.

Of Bjarne Riis's confession on Friday, Hersch writes:
"What shred of credibility remained about elite pro cycling has disappeared as 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis of Denmark on Friday became the first Tour winner to admit he used banned performance-enhancing drugs."

What we have always feared and suspected has now been laid bare. Cycling's dirty little secret is no longer everyone's secret.

So, what about Our Boy Lance? Hersh writes:
"Between [Marco] Pantani and [Floyd] Landis came the Lance Armstrong era, with its record-breaking seven straight victories, nearly all by humbling margins over rivals known to have doped during their careers.

"Armstrong has claimed abstinence from the prolonged orgy of doping his sport has indulged in for more than two decades.

"He never has been sanctioned for a doping positive and apparently is not discomfited by the unofficial retroactive testing at a French lab that found EPO in six of his samples given during the Tour in 1999, two years before cycling began testing for that endurance-building drug."

It is a sad time for professional cycling. I maintain that the sport is TOO difficult, the tours too long, the climbs too difficult, the temptation to cheat too great because the sport drives its athletes beyond human endurance. We marvel at these beyond-possible accomplishments and turn our heads, pretending we don't know.

Now we know. Or at least we've been told -- to an extent. Who else will have the courage to come forward? How honest can the sport be with itself -- and us -- and still survive?

It all makes the Bad Boy Floyd hearing this past week rather superfluous. The testing process stink. But so does Floyd in all likelihood.

And what of Our Boy Lance? Can he remain silent any longer? Can we continue to admire his courage without one last courageous act of admission? I continue to want to believe. So do a lot of people. But how long can we continue to fool ourselves just because we want to?

It's time for cycling to come clean. For Bad Boy Floyd. For Our Boy Lance. It's time to come clean.

MORE:
-- SFGate.com Matthew Tom: Cycling has broken my heart for the last time

Remember the first couple of lines of the Grease song, Greased Lightning (c'mon I know most of you just broke out into song)?

Need some prompting...
Why this car is automatic
It's systematic

Systematic...ah there's the rub.

It was the first word that crossed my mind when I thought about the recent doping scandals.

With an almost religious-like zeal, Dick Pound and WADA have systematically dismantled the top echelon of cycling. Armstrong retired, Ullrich implicated, Landis is awaiting his arbitration hearing, and now Basso confesses.

Could the elasticity of pro cycling's attempts to perpetuate their culture of falsehoods have finally snapped? Would cycling's fanbase return if the sport was cleansed of all it improprieties? Should we now anticipate others following Basso's lead and take responsiblity for their actions?

Could've, Would've, Should've...

Whole Lot of Nuthin'
How much dope could a doper dope, if a doper could dope blood?

Apparently, NONE!

That's what essentially came out of the Ivan Basso's "admission of guilt" presser.

He gave his blood with the intention of doping, but he never doped. He has proclaimed himself CLEAN! "All my victories were obtained in an honest manner and nobody can contest what I achieved in the 2006 Giro d'Italia no more than the other results I achieved during my career," Basso said.

Sound the trumpets, release the doves...all is right in the world of cycling! One of our heroes is still CLEAN!
Ah Granny, we don't have any of that? We have a kazoo and a grasshopper.
A kazoo and a grasshopper??!!
Ah yeah, that's all the sponsors would flip for.
Wait a minute, we have sponsors??

Frankly that's all this non-admission of guilt deserves. Don Vito? Sounds more like Fredo!

So the request to leave Discovery Channel, all the consternation, the weight on his shoulder, was all for what, giving blood to the wrong person...isn't that a Red Cross violation!

Damn, I gave a pint last month, where's WADA, where's USADA, where are all the journalist?

Ah Granny, you've never won a Grand Tour, and you're blood was intended to help others.
Then, sound the kazoo, release the grasshopper...

For more on the press conference, Click HERE.

The above title was the ubiquitous catch phrase of my former college roommate, Billy, who for some reason or another always spoke with a twang that ranged from Kentuckyish to Bayouish although he was originally from Kansas City, MO.

It would go a little something like this, "So, how's it goin,' Billy?" "I'm Sick and Tired, Sick and Tired." "So Billy, ya gonna head to the game?" "Sick and Tired...Sick and Tired."

But, Billy's sentiments aren't lost on the fans of professional cycling, especially in its current state. We are all just a little bit more than "Sick and Tired."

At times, I feel like comedian, Chris Rock, who during a bit about Michael Jackson, exclaimed, "Another Kid...Another Kid?! C'mon Man...Another Kid?!!"

Another Scandal...Another Scandal?!! C'mon Man...Another Scandal?!

The fact is, the use of performance enhancers has long been sports’ (not merely cycling’s) dirty little secret, only reaching a crescendo in the past few decades. How far back does it go and to what extent have people used extraordinary means to win in cycling? It’s been purported that as early as the 19th Century cyclists were known to have taken caffeine, sugar pills, and even cocaine to enhance their performance. In the late 1960s, even the great Eddy Merckx was not without his critics. Just look at the following list (in no particular order and simply off the top of my head) of cycling scandals and those who have been accused of, alleged to, implicated, confessed, suspended, retired, and even died from doping in cycling’s recent past.

Lance Armstrong
Tyler Hamilton
Floyd Landis
Roberto Heras
Santiago Perez
Frankie Andreu
Oscar Carmenzind
Operacion Puerto
Jan Ullrich
Oscar Sevilla
Ivan Basso
Jorg Jaksche
Liberty Seguros Squad
David Millar
Jesus Manzano
Kelme Squad
Festina Scandal
Marco Pantani
Richard Virenque
TVM (Dutch) Squad
Members of the 1984 US Olympic Cycling Squad
Dutch Cycling in the late 1980s
T-Mobile (Telekom) in the late 1990s
Bjarne Riis
Laurent Fignon
Eddy Merckx
Tom Simpson
Tammy Thomas
Kirk O’Bee
Adam Bergman
Matt Decanio

And that's literally just what, and who, came to mind while I was writing this, imagine if I actually put some research into it? So why is it all coming to a head in these, and what some consider, the darkest days of cycling?

The main reason is that anti-doping agencies, such as WADA and USADA, have adopted a “fight fire with fire,” an “eye for an eye” philosophy and have seemingly dropped their ethical standards down to the level of those that they are trying to catch. While their methods have certainly vindicated those riders who have raced against known cheaters, their McCarthyistic and Gestapo-like tactics have also tainted innocent riders along the way, merely because of their associations. As a person of science, I'm especially distraught at their current disregard for certain known standards and practices. Would you really trust your life to some of these laboratories if they were doing an analysis to diagnose your disease condition?

But Granny, I'm a lowly Cat 5. racer, this doesn't even affect me?

Oh, Really?

You may not feel it directly. You may even choose to disregard all that transpires in the professional ranks, but we've all been implicated to some extent. A friend in the women's ranks, Liz Hatch, is even beginning to feel "a trickle down effect." Honestly, how much longer will it be before someone brings into question one of your hard won efforts? How much longer will it be before we begin to question the sheer talent of a phenom in the junior ranks, attributing it rather to performance enhancing drug use?

It just goes to show that when one person attempts to elevate him/herself above the rules the opposite occurs to the rest of us.

Cranky? You Bet...

Sick and Tired? No Doubt.

Doping, Doping, and Doping...
You hear the word so often these days that...

...its almost become synonymous with "cycling" (what's next, looking up the word cycling in Webster's and finding a reference to performance enhancing drug(s)?).

...you have to begin to wonder whether "doping" somehow refers to you being a dope for even liking (let alone loving) the sport.

...you have to question whether the sport has ever been without performance enhancing drugs?

Regardless on what side of the fence you fall (and there seems to be a very distinct line between the athletes and the anti-doping agencies these days), both sides seem to be pulling the sport of cycling into the same arena, oblivion.

For a sport that is considered (in America) fringe at best, its fanbase is being drowned by the constant barrage of waves of deceit, McCarthyistic tactics, and yellow journalism. In its current state, the only names we'll soon remember are those of the legendary heroes whose bravado was tied to a sense of competition and some higher glory; for love of the sport, and not monetary compensation.

At some point this year, the professional cycling ranks may resemble those of the highest amateur ranks in another fringe sport, Track & Field. Athletes will train, lose, win, and possibly set or challenge records, but there won't be anyone to care.

What goes around comes around.
When Ivan Basso came under suspicion in the Spanish doping scandal, it seemed to me that his team, CSC, and director sportif Bjarne Riis were not very supportive and ultimately cast him aside. Maybe they know something we don't, but I wasn't particularly impressed.
Now, Riis is dismissing an allegation from a former team masseur that he used doping substances en route to his Tour de France title in 1996.
Riis said in a statement that he had never been close to Jef D'hont during his time at Team Telekom. Riis, who is Danish, won the '96 Tour for the German team and is now head of the CSC team.
"I have never had a particularly close relation with Jef D'hont and he has no validation for the allegations he is making," Riis said.
"There will always be someone out there trying to make money by talking about the past and in my opinion that is probably what he is trying to do here."
D'hont said in an interview with Belgium television on Sunday that Riis was under the influence of the forbidden blood doping substance EPO when he won the Tour in 1996. He said he could not produce evidence because he burnt that in 1998 during a police investigation against the Festina team, whose riders named him a key figure in supplying doping substances.
You have to wonder why this is all coming up now.
But then, you always have to wonder.
That's the problem with cycling.

I suppose that if you've admitted to doping, taken your two-year ban like a man, then returned to the pro tour with some success, you get to be a spokesman against the practice.
At least David Millar thinks so.
"Last Thursday and Friday, I was in London for a conference about drugs," said Millar (photo by Graham Watson), who won the prologue to the Paris-Nice race on Sunday. "I feel that I have a new responsibility in the fight against drugs. I want to be a voice in the clean up of the sport for the coming generations. I can't forget the mistakes from the past. I want to be an example every day now.
"The young riders must not believe that there is a need for injections of recovery products. It's useless."
Millar, who is British, has set several goals.
"I have set the year 2012 as the end of my career," he said. "In the five remaining years I want to become the world's best rider. I have come back a long way but I'm stronger than ever. Confidence will be the key for winning the prologue of the Tour de France in London."
I hope to be in London for the start of the 2007 Tour July 7 and in Kent the next day for the conclusion of Stage 1.

Make sure you read the previous item before you read this one.
Belgian cycling great Eddy Merckx says riders should not be treated like criminals in the war against doping.
"Doping has to be fought, cheats must be unmasked, abuse should be punished but all this should remain human," Merckx told French sports daily L'Equipe.
The International Cycling Union unveiled an anti-doping program last week that will ask riders to contribute to the development of new tests and sign a document authorising DNA tests to help identify them when banned substances are found.
Merckx, who won the Tour de France five times between 1969 and 1974, said he would not have abided by the new anti-doping program.
"I would not have given my DNA," Merckx said. "It could be done in case of a contractual problem between the rider and his employer. Otherwise, you just debase the rider by asking him for his DNA.
"Riders are not criminals."
Riders aren't innocents, either.

Oude Granny was taught to never judge a book by its cover...but sometimes the cover just fits. Take for instance the case of former elite sprinter, Jarmila Kratochvílová (inset right) of the former Czechoslovakia. In a side-by-side comparison to her contemporaries, her, and what has been described as, "less than feminine features," certainly made her stand out and bring to question whether the sprinter was less than honest about performance enhancing drug use. Of course those were during the days where drug controls weren't the standard.

Now comes word that former elite cyclist, Tammy Thomas, wasn't so forthright is her BALCO testimonies. A picture says a thousand words...in this case it might say anabolic steroid use. Cranky...yuppers...Surly...as Burly as Surly gets!

For the full story, Velonews.com

The Daily Peloton has a terrific two-part article (Part I, Part II) aptly named "Cycling's Winter of Discontent." It seems that Thursday's announcement of the 2007 Tour de France route did not generate the usual excitement that it normally does. In this post-Lance Armstrong era of rampant doping allegations, professional cycling is a beautiful sport in trouble. Obviously, it has been sick for a long time -- for at least a decade if not longer.
The article's subheads tell the story.
Part I looks at the problems:
-- The Sport of Doping Scandals
-- The Sport of Questionable Ethics
-- The Sport of Misguided Loyalty
-- The Sport of the Doping Suspect
-- The Sport of the Doctors
-- The Sport of Doping Controls
-- A Sport in Disrepute
Part II looks at the solutions:
-- More Openness
-- The Teams must start Acting as if Doping matters
-- The Cyclists must start Acting as if Doping matters
-- “Truth and Reconciliation”
-- Fight the facilitators of doping, rather than the dopers
-- Cycling must start acting as if Ethics matter
The long investigation's second part, by Michael Akinde, begins with this famous quotation: