Stage 18 - The Hard Road

The good news was that I found myself in beautiful Door County for the start of the week-end. The bad news was that the wind was whipping at 30 mph right out of the north. Since Door County juts out into Lake Michigan at a northeast angle it was difficult to find a stretch of road that wasn't either into the killer headwind or through a nasty side-wind. Although I was in one of the most beautiful areas of America's midwest, today's ride ended up being a solo 66 miles of mind and leg numbing madness.

Some of the roads here are unfamiliar to me and as I neared the turn-aorund point I found a road that appeared to point towards home. I had been head down and pushing for almost 30 miles and the short reprieve from the headwinds was going to feel good. And it did as I spun easily over some rollers and into a State park. Unfortunately, the road was a big loop and before I knew it I was facing the gale and going back the way I had come from - away from home. By the time I got back onto the main road the frustration of having to double-back combined with the unrelenting wind almost had me in tears and ready to call for the broom wagon. I suppose the three weeks of non-stop riding had finally weakened the body. And the three weeks of windy weather had finally broken the mind. The road home was a death march. My legs cried out in pain, my mind cried out in agony. The worst ride of my life.

Even scenes like this couldn't raise my spirits;

After rides like this it's easy to see why professional cyclists fall into the doping trap. No matter how fit you are, a three week stage race will get the better of you at some point. You'll have at least one bad day and in a race like the Tour de France one bad day will end your chances for a podium spot. The human body simply can't recover and get back into top form day after day.

I found it interesting that the VS. announcers, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin spoke about the obvious cheating of Michael Rasmooosen; obvious by the way he climbed in the mountains. With 20-20 clarity they thought it obvious that Rasmoosen's repeated good days was a tell-tale sign of doping. But they said nothing about the near identical climbing abilities of Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador. The two Discovery boys finished neck and neck with Rasmoosen on the mountaintops as the three left all other riders miles behind. Why didn't anybody point out Rasmoosen's questionable abilities before he was kicked out and why doesn't anybody question the other rider's questionable abilities now?

It's also prudent to mention that Michael Rasmoosen did not fail any of the drug tests that he underwent during this year's Tour. 18 in all. Nor did he fail any drug tests in any other events over the years of his cycling career. Since the cycling authorities saw fit to yank this guy out of the Tour while he was donning the coveted yellow jersey we must surmise that there is more to the story than an odd missing or incorrect date on his itinerary. Officially, he was kicked out because of the suspicion that if he was not where he was supposed to be during some period of time this past Spring he must have been hiding from the dope testers. This is likely true but if cycling kicked out every rider simply for suspicious behavior there would be no one left to ride in the races. Therefore, the truth of his being kicked out is hidden somewhere in all of the noise. But the overall point remains - he was kicked out for cheating yet he did not fail a drug test. Meaning that systems and substances are readily available so that the riders can avoid any detection of their cheating. Keep that in mind when you hear guys like Lance Armstrong drone on and on about how they have never failed a drug test. It's a meaningless statement. Although it may suggest something about the character of the individuals that hide behind it.

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