The Gavia Files

Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano) won the second stage of the Ladies...

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:07:57 -0800

Kirsten Wild (Argos-Shimano) won the second stage of the Ladies Tour of Qatar ahead of Specialized-lululemon’s Ellen van Dijk and Trixi Worrack.

Ladies Tour of Qatar, Stage 1. Chloe Hosking of Hitec won it...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:03:50 -0800

Ladies Tour of Qatar, Stage 1. Chloe Hosking of Hitec won it from a four-up break. Hosking, who rode for Specialized-lululemon in 2012, is new to Hitec, and is also studying journalism.

Fun bit of video from the Cannondale Pro Team. Yes, the roads...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:01:32 -0800

Fun bit of video from the Cannondale Pro Team. Yes, the roads are nice around Westlake once you get out of the car-surburbia zone. The climb is the Rock Store climb on Mulholland.

Bonus! Proof at around 2:40 that I actually ride bikes. Because I know you were concerned about that!

Specialized-lululemon’s Gillian Carleton hit the track...

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:48:36 -0800

Specialized-lululemon’s Gillian Carleton hit the track last week for the World Cup in Mexico. She and her Canadian team mates won the team pursuit, Carleton won the individual pursuit leg of the omnium, and she finished fourth in the omnium. Sarah Hammer won the omnium.

Carleton will ride her first full season on the road this season, after winning a bronze medal in the team pursuit in London. From Victoria, BC, Carleton got her start playing bikes with alley cat races, that mad crazy game of racing single speeds through city streets.

Who is that masked man? Yes, it gets cold in California. Once in...

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 17:11:43 -0800

Who is that masked man?

Yes, it gets cold in California. Once in a while.

Ivan Basso, Cannondale Camp, January 2013.

The Armstrong Oprah Interview: Same as it ever was

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:16:00 -0800

In the dizzying run-in to Armstrong’s appearance on Oprah, speculation centered on whether he would tell the truth of his career at last. In the opening minutes, Armstrong shot off a series of yes answers.

Yes, I used doping to win the Tour de France. Yes, I used cortisone. Yes, I started doping sometime in the ’90s.

But that was where the truth ended. Despite those brief moments of truthfulness, the Oprah interview unfolded in typically manipulative Armstrong style. The Big Lie came around halfway through the interview, and with it came the rationale for Armstrong’s willingness to sit down with Oprah in the first place.

What was the big lie? Armstrong claimed that he stopped using in 2005. So while he said kissed those seven Tour victories goodbye, he made a desperate, hail mary play for a reduced sanction. The comeback years, the 2009 and 2010 Tour, he rode clean, claimed Armstrong.

Conveniently, 2005 was outside the eight-year statue of limitations. Even a back-dated sanction would free Armstrong to compete pretty much tomorrow.

There’s never been any doubt about Armstrong’s audacity or his hubris. He seems to think that he can still control the narrative, that we will still after all this time, believe his word.

Right man, you were totally clean in 2009. That’s why your biopassport numbers showed constant, rather than declining, numbers during the Tour. That’s why… Well, never mind.

The interview quickly veered into bizarro land, a land where Armstrong’s view of events still holds sway even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Contrary to the voluminous evidence of the USADA report, Armstrong never encouraged or pressured his teammates to dope. Nor, it seems did he pay off the UCI to bury the positive test at the Tour de Suisse. I donated to the UCI, because they asked me to.

I was a bully! But hey, it wasn’t that bad! Everyone has flaws! Also, it’s good to win. Wanting to win too much, that was my flaw!

In the oddest and most distasteful moment, Armstrong admitted that he called Betsy Andreu a bitch, but well, he didn’t call her fat. Because that totally makes it okay, Lance. As long as you didn’t call her fat. Totally.

Oprah did a good job pushing Armstrong. You think of Oprah as a touchy feely, come to my couch, read along with my book club figure. But in this case, she showed the steely backbone that helped her create her media empire. Oprah’s no wuss, that’s for sure.

You expect sometimes that over time, people will change and grow. But based on this interview, it seems clear that little has changed for Armstrong. He’ll admit to flaws if it will gain him sympathy. He’ll try to play the redemption card if it will restore his fame and fortune. He’ll lie to return to competition, if he can get away with it.

When it comes to Armstrong, it’s the same as it ever was. And all the crocodile tears and all the talking about flaws and apologies on Oprah won’t change that.

Now for something a little different from the Mid-Atlantic kids....

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 11:13:00 -0800

Now for something a little different from the Mid-Atlantic kids. Some bike racers - including Joe Dombrowski, Jeremiah Bishop, and Ben King - got together in a barn and made some music. Not only does Joe Dombrowski climb pretty fast, he apparently also plays a pretty mean fiddle. Thanks to Mark Blacknell for sending this one my way.

US Women's Cycling Changes

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:54:00 -0800

US Women's Cycling Changes:

USA Cycling announced on Tuesday that it has created a “pro team structure” for women’s cycling. It all sounded a bit confusing. So, let’s see if we can sort it out, shall we?

Without getting on the phone and calling a bunch of people (because this is tumblr after all) here are the key points of the changes and some analysis of their significance.

The easiest to understand change will shift the women’s national championship to the same weekend as the men’s pro championship. Also, the women will race for equal prize money.

This one has been a long time coming. For years, the women raced the “elite nationals” (in Europe known as elite-without-contract), which received considerably less media coverage than the men’s US Pro Championship.

Now, women who are on elite and UCI-registered teams and who carry a category 1-2 license will race the same weekend as the men. The same change applies to the US Pro Criterium championship. Also, I’m just going to go ahead and say, fuckyeah equal prize money!

Under the new rules, the U23 women will get a separate national championship race. In the past, the U23 women raced with the elite women, but were scored separately. Confusing, right? And not especially awesome for the younger women trying to make names for themselves by winning nationals. So now, the U23 women will race the same weekend as the U23 men’s race and have their own chance to shine. This is an important change for developing young riders for the future.

The “pro team structure” is less easy to understand, because in the immediate future, it does not appear to change much of anything. This change is aimed at the future and at building the women’s side of the sport into a more professional and logical structure.

Currently, there is no “pro license” for women. Women race as “elite” and the top license category in the U.S. is category 1 for women. Women’s teams are registered through the national federations in much the same way as men’s continental teams. There are technically no “pro teams,” though obviously, we tend to consider teams such as Specialized-lululemon, Marianne Vos’s not-Rabobank team, and Orica-AIS as professional.

The creation of a “professional team structure” opens the way to offering a “pro license” for women. This would also presumably in time create a more coherent structure for professional teams. As the sport grows, the women could have a separate national championship races for the elite and the professional riders in the same way the men do.

For now, the change sounds intangible and symbolic, but in the long run, it opens the way for the pro teams to become more professional, while the elite non-pro teams serve to develop riders and prepare them for the professional ranks. It also should create a distinction between elite and professional riders, a change that potentially makes the top level more competitve and more straightforward to sell to sponsors.

For now, this measure doesn’t change much. In the future - and it’s unclear what the time frame might be on this development - it almost certainly will.

Last, the USA Cycling announced the creation of a new race category 2.HC. The Exergy Tour will run under this designation. UCI-registered teams and national teams can both race in the 2.HC races.

(Updated! I removed some stuff here about race categories, because I still don’t quite understand the changes that are in place for next season.)

These downhill videos are like crack. Can’t. Stop....

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:54:32 -0800

These downhill videos are like crack. Can’t. Stop. Watching. Also, OMIGOD THAT STAIRCASE YOU GUYS!

I think I’m pretty much totally addicted to these urban...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:01:58 -0800

I think I’m pretty much totally addicted to these urban downhilling videos. Also, gap jumps are scary.

Meredith Miller Pretty in Pink Raffle

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:00:16 -0700

Buy raffle tickets. Support Hope Lives. Win Prizes. Simple.

Meredith Miller, cyclocross badass and former national road champ, is raising money this October to support Hope Lives. The Fort Collins charity offers services and support for women undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Miller chose Hope Lives, because fundraising for a local charity allows her to see the results of her efforts. The dollars she raises go directly to women in her Fort Collins community. Even small donations make a difference.

Want to help Miller reach her fundraising goal of $10,000 this year? All this week, you can buy raffle tickets to support Hope Lives and possibly win some pretty awesome prizes donated by the cycling industry.

This year’s grand prize is an S-Works Crux built up with SRAM Red and a Zipp 101 wheelset. There are also prizes from Thule, Kinetic, Light and Motion, Strava, Oakley, lululemon, Modify, and Boa Closure Systems.

Raffle tickets are $5 per ticket. Head to Bikereg to get yours. Tickets are on sale through 1 November, and Meredith will announce the winner on her website, mmcyclist.com.

Want more information? Go here.

Review: Pactimo Women's Designer Jersey and Shorts

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:02:00 -0700

Pactimo was born in a basement in 2003. The Colorado-based company has grown just a little since then, and they offer clothing for cycling, running, and triathlon. The company also does custom team orders.

The thing that stands out most about Pactimo clothing? The colors. Especially in the Women’s Designer line, Pactimo loves bold colors and intricate graphics. If black-and-white is not your thing, Pactimo has got you covered.

I had the chance to try out a jersey and shorts from the Designer line. I have long been a bibshort kind of girl, but if I were to have a conversion experience, these Pactimo shorts just might do it.

The colors look just as rich in person as online, the quality of the stitching and materials is high, and the fit is comfy.

Sizing

Pretty much the worse part of online ordering is guessing sizes. Is the little picture with the measurements correct? In the case of Pactimo, it is. I tested size medium in both shorts and jersey, and the measurements matched the size chart. No unwelcome surprises, there.

Women’s Designer Short

I switched to bibshorts early in my cycling life, due in part to an aversion to the binding feeling that shorts tend to have in the waist. It turns out the waistband on these shorts is the very best part. Okay, they look pretty nice, too.

But people! The waistband! Knowing that tight elastic on long bike rides is not a fun thing, Pactimo gave these shorts a smooth front like you might find on a nice pair of yoga pants. The elastic bits are in the back, and the shorts stay on, but they don’t bind.

I hear you, enough about the waistband. You get it, it’s comfortable. The Chamois! Tell us about the chamois!

The chamois is thickest where your body meets the saddle. The varying thickness ensures that the chamois does not feel like a giant diaper. For me, it stayed put on the bike, and did not chafe. It is not quite as breathable as some of the new chamois creations out there, but this is a minor quibble.

One nice detail: There is no seam on the inner legs of these shorts. Very often even expensive cycling shorts will have a seam that runs along the inner leg. That thing gets in the way like nobody’s business. Pactimo has thoughtfully placed the seams to limit the possibility of chafing.

The leg grippers do their job without being binding. Nobody wants sausage legs, and Pactimo is totally on your side. The length is long enough to wear legwarmers without the dread gap forming between your shorts and your warmers.

If you’re looking for super short shorts, these probably aren’t going to be your choice. The length is traditional cycling short style.

Women’s Designer Jersey

The material on Pactimo’s jersey is silky soft. The tags warn against washing the clothing with velcro, so be sure to close your gloves before throwing them in the wash with your nice, new jerseys. The material does snag, but it’s not especially fragile relative to other performance fabrics.

The jersey feels nice on the skin and breathes well. A lighter-weight fabric on the side panels adds to the breathability. The waist gripper keeps the jersey in place without binding, and the sleeves are cut close to the body, so there was no flapping.

I’m 5’10” and long-waisted, so the medium jersey ran short when paired with the shorts. On the bike, it fit fine, but off the bike, I had a gap between the jersey and shorts. For most women, the length should work well. For the long-waisted girls, there will always be bibshorts.

Pricing

Retail price for the designer jersey and shorts collection typically runs around $95 for each piece. Cycling clothing is always expensive, but these pieces felt competitively priced for their quality. To order, head to the Pactimo website.

Keep it classy, McQuaid

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:07:57 -0700

Keep it classy, McQuaid:

“Another thing that annoys me is that Landis and Hamilton are being made out to be heroes. They are as far from heroes as night and day. They are not heroes. They are scumbags. All they have done is damage to the sport.”

McQuaid sought to retract the word “scumbags” but his anger was barely concealed as he spoke at the end of a day in which he admitted the sport was facing its biggest crisis.

Oh hey, keep it classy, McQuaid. Because it’s much better to lie about doping, right?

Also, I guess the parts of the USADA report that highlighted the involvement of the UCI went straight over McQuaid’s head. WADA? You’re move, I believe.

Please I can go ride here someday. Beautiful video of riding the...

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:34:17 -0700

Please I can go ride here someday. Beautiful video of riding the Passo dello Stelvio. Well done @s2_art!

Armstrong and the USADA

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:27:54 -0700

Armstrong and the USADA:

My turn to write about the Armstrong fandango.

Neil Browne: "Knowing What You Stand For"

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 19:06:14 -0700

Neil Browne: "Knowing What You Stand For":

Having a high VO2 is something only a small percentage of the population has. Having the courage to do the right thing is in all of us. It doesn’t require human growth hormone or revitalized red blood cells. It requires knowing what you stand for.

Beautifully said.

G-Form makes protective gear for people and for phones and...

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:48:32 -0700

G-Form makes protective gear for people and for phones and laptops. They also threw down to ensure that the women’s fields at recent cross races in Providence received equal prize money.

As reported by Cycling News, “while the UCI points up for grabs for the elite men’s and women’s fields… are equal, the prize money originally slated for their respective podiums was not” (Source). Founded and run by athletes, G-Form felt strongly that the women deserved an equal reward for their equally intense competition and training.

There’s some cool footage of the women’s race in this video recap. It looks like a fun day out. And you know, if you’re a fan of women’s racing, it’s always good to keep the companies who step up to support the sport in mind. You can thank them, maybe. Or buy something from them, even.

The Bertagnolli Testimony: A Look into Ferrari's World

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:53:00 -0700

Reading the records of the USADA case against Lance Armstrong is like falling down a rabbit hole and ending up behind the curtain that divides what cycling fans see from the roadside from what happens on the way to the starting line.

Among the dark spaces lit up by the USADA spotlight is the world of the illusive Michele Ferrari, doping doctor to cycling’s stars. The USADA benefitted from cooperation from the Italian authorities.

The prosecutor in Padova has a long-running investigation into doping rings associated with Ferrari. The testimony of Leonardo Bertagnolli (Available in Italian, http://cyclinginvestigation.usada.org/) comes from that investigation, and offers a window into the world of Farrari. Bertagnolli is a small fish in Ferrari’s pond where Armstrong was the shark.

It’s a paranoid world of obsessively tracking blood levels, keeping up with the latest details of cycling’s testing programs, researching the latest doping techniques, and gossip. In the phone conversations with Bertagnolli, it’s clear that Ferrari enjoys a good gossip. He’s also manipulative, playing on the fears of riders that they will caught, and thoroughly ruthless.

Bertagnolli meets Ferrari while riding for Saeco, then the team of Gilberto Simoni, Danilo DiLuca, and Mirko Celestino. He turned professional in 2002, and testifies that he believes he first visted Ferrari during that year. There was no talk of doping in that first visit, though. Bertagnolli went to Ferrari for a single test. The following year, he begins taking EPO on the advice of Filippo Manelli, a doctor based in Brescia.

Bertagnolli does not again encounter Ferrari until the end of 2006 on the eve of his transfer to Liquigas for the 2007 season. Bertagnolli has a long-running thyroid problem, he says, and he goes to Ferrari to manage it. He makes clear in his testimony that he told the Liquigas team management, including Roberto Amadio, that he intended to work with Ferrari and they made no objection.

Bertagnolli pays his first visit to Ferrari’s camper in early 2007, takes a hematocrit test, gets weighed, and receives a training schedule. He also agrees to pay €12,000 to Ferrari. A virus puts Bertagnolli out of action for several months and he only ends up paying €3000 in the end. Bertagnolli is a small fish in Ferrari’s pond. Armstrong was paying six figures or more for Ferrari’s services.

In July 2007, Bertagnolli is back in action and pays Ferrari a visit in St. Moritz. There Ferrari teaches him to microdose EPO intravenously. This was not Bertagnolli’s first encounter with EPO, he tells the investigators, Ferrari simply taught him a better way to do it.

Now with microdosing, he can take EPO within two or three days of a race, rather than having to stop the week before the race starts as he did with traditional, subcutaneous EPO. He says he gains 4-5 points in his hematocrit. Later that summer, Bertagnolli won the Basque one-day race, Clasicá San Sebastián.

Bertagnolli also sees other riders when he visits Ferrari. During that July 2007 trip to St. Moritz, he encountered Alessandro Bertolini, “the nephew of Francesco Moser” [Unclear which Moser nephew this was, but likely Leonardo Moser, as Moreno was 17 at the time], Enrico Gasparotto, Franco Pellizotti, Francesco Chicchi, and “many others from other teams.” He sees Alexandre Vinokourov with Ferrari during a 2006 training ride in Livigno. Bertagnolli also says he saw Popovych, Bileka, and Kreuziger, and Possoni on “several occasions.”

Riders went one at a time into the camper to visit Ferrari, and the doctor talked to them “without the presence of other colleagues.”

The advent of the ADAMS whereabouts system leads to a shift in tactics for Bertagnolli. From this document, it’s clear that Ferrari obsessively follows the testing protocols and is determined to keep his riders from failing a control. With more out-of-competition testing, Ferrari shifts his clients to blood doping.

Bertagnolli testifies that he has never transfused before Ferrari teaches him how. He’s a blood doping virgin until 2008, when he tries it for the first time. By contrast, Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service team began the practice before the 2000 Tour. Plainly, Armstrong had a premier membership in the Ferrari club, and this particular playing field was no more level than a grand tour’s high mountains.

The following year, Bertagnolli says he transfuses during the Giro del Trentino, and wins a stage of the Giro d’Italia. He transfuses twice during 2009, and three times during 2010. At the end of 2010, Ferrari tells Bertagnolli to switch to polypropilene blood bags. The warning comes as a consequence of the Barcelona WADA lab’s detection of plastic residue in the 2010 Tour samples of Alberto Contador.

Ferrari, he likes to gossip. He follows the doping cases and advances in the testing obssesively. In a phone conversation with Bertagnolli, he speculates that a lab worker tampered with Contador’s samples to lead to the Clenbuterol positive. Bertagnolli wonders if it was Actovegin, a drug made from animal blood, that led to the Contador clen postive. No, says Ferrari, Actovegin is made with lamb’s blood, and is unlikely to be contaminated with clenbuterol.

The question between them isn’t whether Contador is likely using Actovegin - it is after all still not on the banned list - but rather, whether it could be the source of the Clen.

Ferrari and Bertagnolli talk a lot of dope. Who’s using what, and whether it’s working. By 2010, Ferrari considers EPO use to be suicidal. You’ll get caught, he says. It’s for suicidal crazies, he says. The two have a long conversation about RETACRIT and NESP, which are by then detectable.

Ferrari also counsels caution in a separate conversation when Bertagnolli brings up AICAR. People are using it, says Bertagnolli. The rider says the drug, which is considered genetic doping because it works on the cell nucleus, is available through Slovenia and names Lampre rider Grega Bole as one source. According to a footnote, it’s nicknamed “the pill,” among its users.

Ferrari is not enthusiastic. He explains how the testing works, how mass spectrometry will show substances that aren’t part of the body. He cites BALCO as a cautionary tale. The testers will find the new wonder drug, it’s just a matter of time, he says.

The manipulation from Ferrari is subtle, but powerful. If you try those other drugs, you will get caught. Stick with me, kid, I’ll keep you safe. Also, give me all your money.

Ferrari also chats about doping cases. Ah, that Scarponi, it’s going to end badly for him, just as it did for Petacchi, he says. In another conversation, Ferrari compares the Valjavec and Pellizotti passport cases. Valjavec successfully explains away his abnormal levels during the 2009 Vuelta with gastroenteritis. The Slovenian federation accepts it. For Pellizotti, it’s more difficult. And reading the transcript, it’s easy to imagine Ferrrari shaking his head. That high reading during the 2009 Tour, that’s going to be hard to explain away, says Ferrari. The Italian anti-doping authorities subsequently suspended Pellizotti.

As 2010 wears on, it’s clear that the Ferrari is becoming more paranoid. Bertagnolli calls from public telephones, and Ferrari warns him not to keep anything in his house. By now, the Padova investigation is running full-speed, with riders such as Popovych receiving visits from the narcotics police who search their houses and doctors such as Fanelli under investigation.

Ferrari encourages his client to try to avoid looking suspicious. In an August 2010 conversation, Bertagnolli and Ferrari talk about the Mapei Center. Aldo Sassi, considered by many to be an advocate of clean cycling, ran the Center. Bertagnolli plans to go to the Mapei Center. Ferrari calls this “a façade.” If you go there, you will be automatically on the list of the good, he says.

Nine months later, Bertagnolli is called before the procura in Padova to give testimony under threat of perjury. A year later, Bertagnolli retired from cycling in June 2012. Subsequently, news emerged that the UCI was in the process of opening a biopassport case against him.

Apparently, the Mapei Center façade at last wore off and that old Ferrari magic just wasn’t so magic any more.

Update: Liquigas-Cannondale has issued a press release “to express its opposition and strong desire for clarification” to the testimony of Bertagnolli. The team asserts a commitment to clean cycling. From the press release:

Following the case of the athlete Di Luca (who was not resigned) visiting doctor Santuccione and the report about banned doctors issued at the end of 2007 by the national anti-doping prosecutor Torri, Liquigas Sport has worked to get to the root of this problem and prevent it by putting a clause (the first team in the world to do so) in the team-athlete contracts that categorically prevents them from seeing trainers or doctors outside of the team (Paolo Slongo and doctor Roberto Corsetti), with the penalty of immediate dismissal with just cause. There has only been one exception since 2008 and this was granted to Ivan Basso, who is followed by Aldo Sassi and by the Mapei Center.

The team also restates its commitment to transparency and supporting anti-doping efforts in cycling, but does not explcitily deny the details of Bertagnolli’s statement.

Interesting tidbit: Velonews FOIA request

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:41:18 -0700

Interesting tidbit: Velonews FOIA request:

Buried well-down the page in this story is an interesting tidbit. VeloNews has submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Justice for information about the federal investigation of Lance Armstrong.

I was wondering if someone had or would go this route. The Freedom of Information Act requires government agencies to release documentary records upon request. Yes! That’s an overly simple explanation! The agencies can refuse. They can also release the records with lengthy sections removed.

And, some documents are not subject to FOIA. Personal records of government officials, for example, are not subject to FOIA. So, no kids, you can not go to the Library of Congress and go all crazy with the FOIA on the Henry Kissinger papers. It won’t work.

The evidence in the Grand Jury hearings is not in the normal way of things obtainable by FOIA request. That information is sealed. What a FOIA request could reveal is why Birotte chose suddenly to close the investigation to the surprise of the investigators, Novitzsky among them. It could, if in fact, Birotte wrote anything down or kept any records. It could also turn out to be a wild goose chase finishing on a deadend street.

A friend of mine once did a FOIA request to the FBI for documents from the McCarthy era. He received a stack of paper with all but a few sentences blacked out.

Equal Prize Money: Yay Cyclocross!

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:30:47 -0700

Thank you @gform for equaling up prize money for top 3 men and women at @providencecross this weekend. This is so important & awesome.
— Lea Davison (@leadavisonbikes) October 5, 2012

What she said. Equal prize money for men and women is important and awesome. The trend in cyclocross is running in this direction, at least at the top level races. Mountain bike racing has also traditionally supported women athletes well. Road racing, with its chronically underfunded teams and minimal prize money for women, could learn a thing or two from the dirt disciplines when it comes to gender equity. There is just so much to love about beer, barricades, and equal prize money. Keep it up, cyclocross!