Landis Back In Yellow
 

Landis cranked out another strong ride and has reclaimed the Yellow Jersey, and likely claimed the Tour itself.

Major props to Floyd and his crew!:notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

He is the first celebrity that I recall, whose accent sounds like mine. Wonderful ride!

It turns out the guy is from a Mennonite family in Lancaster County and left because he felt it was too conservative and backasswards.

They say his folks have warmed up to his lifestyle and are now supportive of him.

Whoops.

What kind of doping would raise testosterone?

Steroids

The sports world is focused on steroid use amongst athletes these days, so tell me...why do they continue using them and getting caught? These people know they're going to be tested. How do they think they will get away with it? Is it just the promise of the wealth that awaits the highest level success stories that makes them take the risk?

What's up with that?

I'm going to reserve judgement until the results are double checked with the second sample, but steroid use hurts all the athletes. Will future generations look back at the last decade or two and question all the records set in all sports during this time frame? Or will they all be genetically enhanced and breaking those records anyway?

This is such a bummer. His actual testosterone level was low but his ratio was off, so let's wait and see. I'm not going to go the SanFranFan Barry denial route though.

Tests performed on the cyclist Floyd Landis’s initial urine sample showed that some of the testosterone in his body had come from an external source and was not produced by his system, according to a person at the International Cycling Union with knowledge of the results.

It is not looking good, if it really is synthetic Landis is sol no matter how it got in his system.

Or will they look back and say, what the hell were those people thinking? They didn't even want athletes to use steroids, no less use stem cells to repair injuries.

Remember when Olympic athletes were shamed and stripped of their medals for playing pro sports? :D

I'm working night and day on a conspiracy theory folks, be patient. You'll be the first to know how this *really* happened.

;)

Conspire
 

Jeez. This is getting nuttier and nuttier. So foot, you think he was slipped the testosterone? Will we ever really know? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

I'm willing to render my verdict now.

He's a lousy CHEATER.

I think the French tainted his water bottle.

It was the French milk.

The crazy thing is this makes it seem like doping really works. He went from crash-and-burn to superstar with a little injection. What does this mean for the future of "clean" sport?

Maybe he didn't... Landis claims he 'bonked' on that bad day (it happened to Armstrong second year he won). 2nd test results Saturday - so jury's out until then (or it should be...).

Here's the rough draft of my conspiracy theory, get out your big canvases class, we'll be using the BIG brushes today.

So let's see, how many years have the 'Mericans 'ad the Tour de France?

Many, you say. there was armstrong and then that guy Lemond (actually an American, he was just messing with the collective franco noggin.)

So the Froglets have had just about enough of this American international bullying and they are going to get their silver plated water bottle or whatever chalice it is that the winner gets, back.

A few krugerrands in the right hands and anything can happen, heck. If someone wanted, they could take a DNA sample and prove that Landis is the father of Michael Jackson.

(Please read Terry Southern's "The Magic Christian" for examples of this type of scheme in action. For the lysdexics among us you can also see the film of the same title starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr)

Cliff notes:
Frogs want the race back in any hands but ours.
Someone in the long chain of events slips Landis a mickey.
Doubts are cast upon L's integrity, and he is put on the defensive.
Subsequent test results can also be manipulated as needed.

Finally, do you hear us pissing and moaning about not having won the America's Cup in so long that we sold the mantle it used to sit upon for architectural salvage?

It would be really easy for seakdivers to weld some kind of special keel on the winner's boat and we could claim cheating...

But no. We're not sore losers.

/crazy talk

Mickey
 

Post-bonk high performance on the next day is a phenomenon known to most competitive cyclists, even this formerly competitive cyclist. In that regard I was not surprised to see Landis cruise past the leaders to win that stage
(17?). The truth may never be know to anyone other than Landis (or the person/s who slipped him a Mickey). :neutral:

I guess now it's official.

What a shame. I'm disappointed in him.

... and for him, I hope. Perhaps another Lynford Christie conundrum. Landis seems pretty sure of his position and ready for a legal battle. However, the media and sporting fans are more likely to draw a line here and call it a closed decision - as they did with Christie and his infamous drug test following an event that logic says he would never have bothered trying to improve for.

Landis' situation makes no sense considering the support he received from previous team-mate Armstrong. Still, a second positive result is just that and he will have to work damned hard to prove otherwise. The accompanying two-year ban isn't going to help him either....

How could anyone think they'd be able to get away with this? Could they be in that much denial?

Maybe that's a reason to question that the test result came from an external source and/or that it was deliberately taken by Landis....

The timing of the introduction of excess testosterone doesn't help him much, though, if one follows the coincidence theory - all too convenient that it followed a bad day and then startling results followed. He did however do just as well in subsequent days, but no positive tests resulted.

Does a single dose of testosterone give increased performance for a long period? Conversely, why didn't his body produce excess testosterone at other times?

Mysteries to be unravelled.....

I was under the impression that testosterone doesn't do anything at all for you in the short run.

I was under the impression that it wasn't excess testosterone, but synthetic testosterone that got the official knickers in a twist.

So they say - but I was thinking more about Landis' argument that his body produces excess testosterone, and questioning why, if it did so, it only happened the once (or rather was picked up the once) throughout the Tour...

I can't say for landis, but my body always produces excess testosterone when I take steroids...
snicker