As the news (and opinions) keep on coming regarding Floyd Landis and the doping scandal during the 06 Tour, things are starting to make sense. Actually, as far as the reports go, nothing really makes sense. But when you read between the lines and think about the other issues at hand, things come into focus…

For starters, there are probably two names that come to mind when you think of doping in cycling - Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong. Why is that? Because of all the propaganda issued by those that did not win the Tour de France!

Ever since Americans started to dominate professional cycling, there has been a lot of hate coming from other countries. France hasn’t claimed a Tour de France victory in quite some time, so they have every right to be pissed off. But instead of doing something respectable, they have tried to implicate Armstrong as a doper any way they can. There were so many made up stories I can’t remember them all! Germans were pretty pissed too, as Ullrich just couldn’t manage to beat Armstrong when it counted. Again, I can’t blame them for their thoughts, but c’mon.

Now that Landis has achieved an eighth consecutive Tour victory for America, that was just too much. All the Europeans were expecting American cycling to falter without Lance. Well, they were wrong, and Floyd’s performance pushed them over the edge.

So everyone’s pissed off. The racers, the sponsors, families, even the general public. With all the scandals and even scandals behind the scandals, it’s the sport’s reputation itself that stands to lose the most. (Which is another discussion in and of itself…)

The fighting and bickering is only natural though, like I said. Think about this - if a Frenchman were to come here and win the [fictional] Tour de Tex, with Lance coming in second, you can bet there’d be trouble! As they say, “Don’t mess with Texas!”

But here’s the coincidence I alluded to in the title. Right before the Prologue, Spain’s “Operation Puerto” kicked the two top GC picks, Ullrich and Basso, right out of the Tour. Then with Vino’s team problems, the top spot looked to be up for grabs! Every team thought they had a chance, and they would stop at nothing to get there.

Pre-tour status: Three down, one to go…

Then somehow a Spaniard (who at one point was down by like 30 minutes) places second overall in GC. I’m sure Spain was pumped about that, but they surely wanted that yellow jersey. If only they could start up a ruckus about Floyd taking extra testosterone… bam! Pereiro becomes the champion. Coincidence???

And did you ever think about this - Floyd made up about 11 minutes after bonking, but Pereiro was able to make up an almost 30 minute deficit earlier in the race! Hmm…

I really wonder if we are dealing with actual doping or a much bigger problem - sore losers and corrupt officials. So until they can prove that all these drug tests are unbiased and unflawed, I’m sticking with Floyd!

I just read one of Graeme Street’s e-mails, where he mentions the doctor that likes Cyclo-Core and is recommending it to his patients. In the audio, the doc says he is expecting big improvements in his cycling this season.

Well so am I, nothing special there! (If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ll remember that I only did a couple rides in January but I felt better than I did during the peak of last season, before I had tried Cyclo-Core.)

But it gave me a great idea - I can continue my training regimen of Core and Zen workouts without bothering to ride. Why? Well, aside from the fact that I am sort of burnt out on riding, this will be a great test:

How good will I be in my races next year if I don’t do much riding beforehand?

I’m sure I’ll do some riding, but in general, my riding time will be very limited compared to last season. Especially since I have to concentrate on graduating from college!

I just found out about 24 Solo, a new documentary on Chris Eatough and his quest for another 24 hour solo championship. It’s from the producers of Off-Road to Athens, so it should be good. I’ve been a fan of Chris for a while since he races in my area (Mid-Atlantic) and is simply amazing to watch.

The video isn’t done, but here’s the blog: http://www.24-solo.com/blog/

I recommend checking it out, it has some really good stories!

It’s funny seeing this though, because I had an idea like this a couple years ago! But alas, someone with more production experience beat me to it!

Everything is good though because now I’m working with the VisitPA MTB team which is really cool. If you want to see a short, low-budget intro to the VisitPA team, take a look at this video. Look for something longer coming in 07 or 08!

That is something I have not been doing! It’s really weird if you compare it to last year, when it was weird if I wasn’t riding or thinking about riding all the time.

I’ve been so busy with a couple new projects that I have only been on my bike a few times in the past month! After my races I’ve been taking time off…

Looks like the rest of the year will be dedicated to resting up for a big 2007 season!

Although I’m looking at an article that came out during the season of feasting galore, I think it would also go well at this point of the season - the point where you’re sick of eating the same energy bar over and over again! (Although that could be a year-round thing… ;))

The article is from PezCycling News and it has a nice recipe for home-made energy bars. I say nice because it sounds like they would be good. I haven’t put forth the effort yet to make them for myself… But I trust the good people at PezCycling, so it should be good. And at about $5 for 30 bars, how can you go wrong?

There’s also a fig-based energy bar recipe from a reader, so check that out too.

The recipes are right here.