The Spin Cycle

More Photos of DLV

I have posted more photos of the removal of the track surface in turns 3/4 at the DLV in my photo album. Enjoy!

Breaking it to fix it

More construction photos from the DLV. Today, they started on the demolition of the track surface in turns 3 & 4, which is necessary so that fill can be placed under the track to raise the surface back to it's proper level prior to re-pouring the track surface. While all that's going on, another crew will be working on the outside of the velodrome fixing the existing retaining wall, and building to new earthen retaining slopes to prevent this problem in the future. There are more photos in my EPVA photo album, and more will be added regularly.

The photo on the right shows the new officials stand, with the demolition in the background. To give you an idea of the scope of the project, the track surface will have to be removed all the way to just to the left of the back post on the officials stand - about 90 feet of track.  One pleasant surprise: the track surface is over 6" thick, which is good news - this means resurfacing will (hopefully) cost a lot less than anticipated. But that's the next fund-raising effort. So far everything is on schedule for an April opening. Keep you fingers crossed!

As always, please visit the EPVA website and make a donation (we need the money!), and check back here often for updates.

The Beginning of the End

After a long, long fund-raising effort, construction on the repairs to the turn 3/4 complex at the Dick Lane Velodrome have finally started. Many people worked many hours to raise money for this event, and now the beginning of the end has started. The DLV is expected to re-open in April (official date forthcoming, and dependent on the weather), and a lot of work besides the repairs to the track surface and its support structure still need to be completed. If you can volunteer, please go by the velodrome website for volunteer information and contacts. Of course, donations are still needed, as we the EPVA still has much to do to repair the facility after years of neglect.

It's the beginning of the end of a long road, and it's getting close!

Here's a link to the entire photo album. Check The Spin Cycle often, as I'll be adding photos as construction continues.

UPDATE: Welcome to visitors from Southeastern Cycling. Be sure not to miss my other DLV construction post, and please stay a while and read some of my other blog entries.

Gunn's Blazing

Long time cyclists from the Atlanta area will remember Georgia native Curtis Gunn. Curtis started riding in the late 80's, and I remember him  racing at the Dick Lane Velodrome as a junior. In fact, one of my last races at the DLV was against Curtis, when he was an aspiring match sprinter, and I was the (then) state and collegiate national champion. I still have some wicked scars from that ride and it's resulting high-speed slide into turn 3. That's all in the past, and now I'm quite happy to have him as a good friend.

As you can see from this recent photo, Curtis long ago gave up his match sprinting aspirations (my skin rejoices!), and turned to pursuiting. After quitting the sport for a while in the late 90's, he returned in 2002 to become one of the top pursuit riders in the country today. USA Cycling, however, hasn't favored Curtis with a ride at the track World Cup races, and so Curtis decided to take a shot at another dream of his - being a Pro. Curtis got his first Pro contract this year, at the age of 33. Riding for Team SeaSilver, he promptly went out an won his first race of his pro career, taking out the opening time trial and winning the overall at the Tour of Murietta in California last weekend.

He won the TT the hard way, too - note the bike he's riding. He spotted the rest of the field 19 gears, and still won by 25 seconds. Now he and the SeaSilver team are hoping for a berth in the TdG, and I'm hoping right along with them. Keep your fingers crossed for them, and for Curtis. I like to see my friends have their dreams come true.

Photo is Copyrighted and use is courtesy of Mitch Clinton Photography. Thanks, Mitch!

On Track Down Under

USA Cycling has announced the US squad for the Sydney World Track Cup meeting. The Sydney event is the last in the 2005 qualifying series, with qualifiers going on to compete in the 2005 Track World Championships in Los Angeles, at the ADT Event Center.

If You Build It...

Several intrepid volunters braved the wind and the cold last weekend to start the new officials stand at the Dick Lane Velodrome. Bill Thomsen of Thomsen Ltd, a high-end furniture and cabinet shop, designed the new official's stand, and pre-cut many of the pieces. The rest of us just got together and played tinker-toys.

The remainder of the photos can be viewed in this photo album. The EPVA will re-convene this Saturday (January 22nd) to finish the stand. If you can help, please contact Pete Antonvich.

Ryan Bayley Lies Down on the Job

Double Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Bayley hit the deck hard at the Rockhampton Cup wheelrace in Queensland, Australia.

Bayley broke two ribs, and injured his shoulder and hip, making it impossible for him to race the Sydney event in the UCI Track World Cup series, and also leaving him out of form for the World Championships and the Australian National Championships.

Bayley told Cyclingnews he expects it's unlikely he will be able to compete in the Sydney round of the UCI Track World Cup, and "I'll pretty much have nothing (condition) by the time of the World's". Bayley also expects it's unlikely he will be racing at the Australian track national championships. "Well, I've got two broken ribs, my shoulder's pretty stuffed and my hip's pretty sore," Bayley said before boarding a flight to Adelaide, where he is meant to start a training camp with other members of Australia's track squad at the Australian Institute of Sport. Now, he will go back to the AIS for a full assessment of his injuries.

Bayley tried to go under another crashed rider, who was sliding down the track, and didn't quite make it in time, reporting that it was either "hit him, or hot the fence." after hitting the downed rider, Bayley landed hard on the concrete track, with his bike landing on his back.

Australia loses it best sprinter, and the World Championships are now wide open. There should be some great sprinting in LA now that everyone's #1 pick is out. Sprinters from around the world will be looking to take advantage of the opportunity. If you're in LA, this is one race you won't want to miss.

UCI Track World Cup, Part III

I'll be posting links to information on this weekend's UCI Track World Cup. Manchester, England is hosting this round, and at the end of the meeting, they'll be having an invitation-only ~$90k keirin tourney. Pretty much every fast man in the world is going to be there.

Here's a CyclingNews news update with some info on the meeting.

Here's a BBC story on Jason Queally, 2000 Olympic 1k Time Trial champion, who will be racing.

VeloNews has a story on Bradley Wiggins, who will be racing his last (for a period of time) major track race as he turns his focus to road racing.

UPDATE: Both CyclingNews.com and VeloResults.com have full results from day 1 of racing.

UPDATE 2: CyclingNews.com has posted a report on the second day of racing. VeloResults has the times and placings as well.

UPDATE 3:  CyclingNews, VeloNews,and  USACycling (x2) all have wrap-ups from the third day, including reporting on the invitation-only Japanese Keirin held after the Track World Cup. Biggest news (to me) of the weekend? The Blade will retire from the Pro ranks after 2005.

Gone in 60 Seconds!

OK, so I've been gone a while...

Live with it. I'm back now.

The Dick Lane Velodrome has secured two of the three necessary permits to proceed with renovation of the facility. This allowed them to proceed with the prerequisite demolition of items that will be replaced, and in the case of this past weekend, that meant the boards and the officials stand had to go. Here are some pictures:

We had over forty people show up to help, and I got stuck with the hard part - cooking. It was a great day for a cookout, and the crowd consumed 40 burgers and dogs, as well as 8 bags of chips. Hungry crowd. We even got photographic evidence of certain velodrome regulars working, which was a plus - we didn't know they had it in them.

The finished product looks strange: just a hole in the ground with banked concrete walls - no boards anymore. Big changes are coming, though, and we're on schedule for a March '05 opening. I'll post more news as I have it.

Dopes

For those who have fallen off the planet this week - USA Cycling and the USADA announced today that Joey D'Antoni tested positive for EPO at the February World Cup Qualifier in Ft. Lauderdale, and the WADA announced that Tyler Hamilton had tested positive for blood doping at the Vuelta, while a non-negative test of his A-sample at the olympic Games was unable to be confirmed due to mishandling of the sample by the IOC's lab.

In his own defense, D'Antoni states:

...D'Antoni questioned the validity of Adham Sbeih's positive test for EPO last year, and described himself as "mildly shocked" at the conditions of the lab where he saw his B sample being tested. "It was was disorganized - I saw employees mistakenly throwing trash into a plastic bag containing samples. It became clear that like many scientific experiments, the procedure was lengthy, complicated, and with plenty of opportunity for error. We were unable to stay for the entire procedure because USADA and the lab do not release their procedures ahead of time, so I was left to trust that the lab technician did the test correctly."

In Tyler's defense, his wife Haven writes the latest "Tyler's Tunes":

Tyler is devastated to be accused of being dishonest. After all the years of hard work he has devoted to his racing career, he feels as though he is being stabbed in the back. He is angry. If we have to drain our bank accounts to get to the bottom of this we will. And when Tyler can speak freely about all of this, he will.

There are a number of questions that have to be answered regarding the situation Tyler now faces in light of the charges against him. We will do everything in our power to address them. Tyler's family, friends, supporters, team and sponsors deserve answers as much as he does. We'll get there. The peaks and valleys ahead will not derail us from clearing Tyler's name.

Now, I don't know how much credence to give this. I've heard stories about labs being unorganized, using ill-trained personnel, and we all know about the mistakes made by the IOC's lab at Athens for the freaking Olympics. Even the FBI's own lab was brought under sharp scruitiny several years ago, resulting in the release of convicted criminals due to the lab's sloppy handling procedures. As I've detailed in several extensive posts on the new Daily Peloton message board, the handling of the samples is at least as important as the performance of the test in providing both a good test result (good as in correct, not good as in negative), and in providing faith in the testing chain of evidence to the athlete being tested. In addition, I've also detailed that grave doubts exist about the accuracy and error rate of the new blood doping test being used by WADA and its goverened bodies. Given this, how can an athlete have any faith in the system or the organization administering the testing?

The message that all the world's governing bodies have to take to heart is this:

1) The test methodology must be scientifically verifiable, and before use in competition, proven at an acceptable error rate.
2) The chain of custody and control of samples must be totally secure and inviolable - and demonstrated by collection of empirical evidence to be so.
3) The procedures for both the testing and the sample control must be controlled by procedures that are published and open to scrutiny, with error rates both calculated and proven out by empirical data.
4) The processing of the samples, especially the B-sample in the event of a positive test, must be open to the athlete and/or her representatives.

There are some who object that knowledge of the testing procedures and parameters will enable athletes to cheat, to "game the system," and to a certain extent this is true. It will, however, cost large amounts of money and time, and there will still be the risk of being caught. However, as test methods become more technological, they will also become harder to beat. But in my mind, the current system is horrribly flawed, due to inconsistencies that I have discussed in other posts. These flaws, in my opinion, actually increase the likelihood of cheating, as athletes see no other way to compete and win than to resort to also "gaming the system." Any athletes that somehow slip through the cracks will be few and far between. The openness and trust in such a system will, however, allow cycling to become a cleaner sport.