Discuss cycling in here.

Yes, good call. I doubt many will try to use this for discussion of professional cycling, but does anyone ride on their own? I've gotten into road biking pretty heavily in the past few months, especially after living in Boulder over the summer. I got myself a 3 year old Allez Sport off of craigslist in July and have probably logged close to 1500 miles since!

Yes! I love cycling, it's one of my favourite sports to partake in. It's great because, like running, you can do it on your own at any time and well, it's just amazing escapism. Can only really do it in the summer here, mind, gets too cold in the winter. I used to be a memeber of a local cycling club a few years back too, but lost interest somewhere along the way, maybe should rejoin.

man i love watching the tour but the sport is an absolute disgrace, just legalize drugs already. whats happening with contador now?

I was wondering the same thing. Does anyone know?

I follow the professional cycling a little bit. Particularly the 3 grand tours and occasionally some of the other big races. Last I heard (from people in the know) was that he'll probably get the standard 2 year ban...now that it's public there's probably no other option. But that was a couple of weeks ago so I don't know if anything has changed.

The UCI (the world cycling body) initially tried to sweep it under the carpet and give Contador an unofficial 3 month ban (which would have been explained away by an 'injury')...however they found out it was going to get leaked so Contador came out about it first claiming this dodgy meat story. Which is complete crap obviously.

Yeah pretty unfortunate about Contador. It seemed kind of like most of the doping issues were fading out of the forefront of cycling, but with a 3-time winner now caught, the sport is in utter disarray again. And if any of Lance's charges are confirmed... then fuck.

Mid-missouri weather has actually been serving me very well for once! Since the heat and humidity has died down, it's been a pretty consistent 65-75 for the past three weeks, which has meant that I can still go on plenty of rides without having to bundle up too much.

Ando, have no doubt about it, Lance was certainly doping. His 1999 tour samples were found to have traces of EPO, he just got off on a technicality. The era he dominated was riddled with doping. All his major competitors have been caught and banned. It's just physically impossible for a clean athlete to dominate guys on EPO and the other stuff they take. The advantage gained from the drugs is enormous.

Oh I have no doubts that Lance was doping, I'm just saying when evidence comes out it will be that much more damaging to the sport because of his comeback story and the fact that he's been the only mainstream rider in eons.

RIP Wouter Weylandt, man. So sad.

Yeah just read about that. RIP.

What did happen with the classic prologue in Le Tour? Did they get tired of Cancellara wearing yellow?

Ugh, I wish people were interested in cycling, or at least watched Le Tour, it's a fantastic competition and this year has been as sick as always. At this point, anything could happen. Yeah, it's a two guys race right now (Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck) but it's a really tough thing. I wouldn't bet on anyone 'cause tomorrow thing will go wild. I can't wait, this is so exciting.

Best tour I've ever seen that's for sure...I think I started watching in 2000.

The last two alpine stages have been absolutely epic viewing. You get the feeling the riders are cleaner than they've ever been. No one's flying up the mountains looking like they're on a sunday ride anymore, they've been burying themselves and suffering because of it. Voeckler, Andy Schleck, Evans, Contador etc have been heroes. The fact they climbed Alpe d'Huez 5 minutes slower (and on a shorter stage) than Pantani's '97 record is an indication it's cleaner. The day's of Armstrong's train lasting half way up the mountain are gone.

I'm really hoping Cadel Evans can do it, but he's been in this position before and failed to gain enough time back in the ITT. He does seem stronger this year though, and is a better TT'er than Andy Schleck...but with these time trials at the end of a grand tour it often comes down to who's got the fresher legs than anything else, and last year Andy Schleck put in quite a good time trial. He only lost out to Contador by about 30 seconds and Contador is just as good if not better than Evans in the time trial. Evans will probably just about have to win the stage...maybe top 5 on the stage would be enough. 57 seconds is one of these 'could go either way' time differences going into it.

There were some Phil Liggett classics in the last stage.

"He's reaching deep into his suitcase of courage"

"Cadel Evans' deisel engine"

"He's in a Schleck sandwich at the moment"