Stage 5 - The Daily Grind

The fifth day in a row with pretty big miles and it's starting to take a toll. My head, neck, back, legs, arms, shoulders, pretty much everything, is sore, tender and tired. It didn't help that I had to split today's ride because of some non-cycling related obligations. What? Non-cycling obligations? I'm afraid so.

Anyway, The Boss and I went 41 miles early this morning. It was again windy and again Barry kept the pace high. Although I was tired because I still haven't been able to sleep well I felt strong on the bike. This is in stark contrast to the evening ride when I felt weak and lackluster. Maybe it was the four hour round trip car drive to the People's Republic of Madison, maybe it was the 334 miles of riding in the past five days, maybe it was a combination of the two. In any event, I'm completely bushwhacked as I write this entry so forgive me if I'm brief.

On paper it seems that splitting a day's ride would be an easier way. But it isn't. There is not enough recovery time for your body. In addition, it's tough psychologically because it seems that every time you turn around it's time to get back on the bike. One ride a day is enough, even if the mileage requirement is copious.

As we rolled along the beautiful summer countryside, complete with the sweet smell of ripening corn, The Boss and I discussed how doping is slowly killing the sport of cycling. As regular readers know, it is my position that although I don't know, I do believe that all of the top cyclists dope. If any top rider doped it would force the rest to follow suit. And we know that many top cyclists dope. Ergo?

Even the physician recently busted with blood, medical records and doping records of many of today's top riders says that it's not physically possible to ride the Tour at the speeds it's being ridden these days without "medical" help. For more read THIS. Continue reading down a little further on the link and you'll see that American rider Levi Leipheimer is apparently hanging with the doctor that likely provided illegal drugs to Lance Armstrong, one Michele Ferrari. The man Lance Armstrong considers a friend and the man who said, "If it doesn't show up in the drug controls, then it's not doping", and, "EPO is not dangerous, it's the abuse that is. It's also dangerous to drink 10 liters of orange juice". Nice guy. Really cares about the health of his "clients". Floyd Landis has also associated with Dr. Ferrari (sorry, I shouldn't refer to him as doctor since his medical license was taken away because of the fraud he was convicted of while providing illegal drugs to athletes).

Click HERE (scroll to the last paragraph) to read how one of the many pro cyclist's doctors work the system.

Bookmark this entry. Sooner or later we'll be reading about Leipheimer, Landis and failed drug tests. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. And I know that we all want our cycling heroes, but until this sport cleans up, and I mean really cleans up, I don't think that we can reasonably think of any of the top riders as anything other than dopers and cheaters. We should all be insulted when riders say things like, "I've never failed a drug test". So what? Neither had David Miller when he was found with all kinds of illegal performance enhancing drugs in his hotel room. He eventually broke down and admitted that he had been involved in an elaborate scheme to take drugs and cheat the testing system. Not failing a drug test means nothing.

So I'm calling on Lance Armstrong to come clean on the whole doping business. He's the one guy who could force the system to be changed. Allow tests that can actually detect illegal substances rather than the poorly designed and run tests we deal with now. Talk openly about how rampant drug use is in cycling. So you'll lose your 20 million dollars a year in endorsements. You already have enough money. You've always said that you didn't do it for the money, that you did it for the love of cycling. If that's true do your part to save the sport. Or were you just kidding about that not caring about the money part?

To read an interesting article that sums up how we know Lance is a doper go HERE. To read an interesting article that sums up how we know Lance is as pure as the driven snow go HERE. Then make up your own mind. Like I said, I believe that Lance and the rest are dopers, but I don't know it. And share your view by clicking on the "Comment" link at the end of this post. Go on, you can make up a name and be anonymous. If you don't have anything nice to say, we'd love to hear it.

The winner of today's Tour de France stage was Oscar Freire. He rides a Colnago C-50. Just like mine (see photo below).



A couple of reminders; you can keep tabs of the mileage goals, failures and successes by clicking on the "Tour Mileage Chart" in the column to the upper left of this page. You can also download a useful bike position chart by clicking on the cleverly named "Bike Position Chart" tab in the column to the upper left of this page.

Today's mileage goal; 67.89. Miles ridden; 68.