After getting beat up in Tour, why push it?

A Lance spokesperson cites “lingering effects” of hip injuries suffered in this year’s Tour de France. But if we had mounting legal problems from a widening federal doping investigation, if every time we appeared in public we would have to answer doping allegations, and if the media were hounding us for comment on doping charges … well, our hip would hurt too!

Key indicator: No tweets from Lance. Usually he’s pretty up front about something as big as withdrawing from Leadville, yet the Lance Twitter has gone dark.

Much of his public interfacing these days is being done through spokespersons, a sign of lawyerly caution.

Normally we’d give the nod to Mr. Clean, Dave Wiens, in this year’s race, since he won it six straight times before Lance’s victory last year.

But Wiens said last fall he wasn’t going to follow intense training for this year’s race. And Lance’s Tour de France teammate, Levi Leipheimer, is looking fit and ready (although doping allegations are descending on him as well).

Should be a good race. You can follow it real time here.

The allegations against Armstrong have received wide publicity, but only recently have similar charges against Leipheimer gotten similar notoriety.

Wiens will be back in the mix this year, and Lance’s lackluster showing at the Tour may provide Dave some glimmer of hope. The only problem will be Levi’s coming off a strong Tour performance.

Should be a good show, this Saturday in Colorado.

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, Landis has for the first time fully acknowledged using performance-enhancing substances, i.e. blood doping, and says he is naming names re others’ use. The biggest on the list of course would be the King himself, Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong has been implicated repeatedly over the years, in documents, books, court testimony and by association with physicians linked to doping. But he has managed to raise enough doubts to deflect suspicion. And for the record, he has never actually been caught — or at least if he was, it was never made public.

The list of names already disclosed in Landis’ accusations, which comprise a series of emails to cycling officials, is depressing, sad and unsettling: George Hincapie, another rider considered straight and narrow. Levi Leipheimer, currently favored to win the Amgen Tour of California (where Lance is riding in his support). Johan Bruyneel, Lance’s longtime team manager and confidante, currently head of Team Radio Shack in the Tour of California. David Zabriskie, the current leader of the Tour of California. All American riders, considered all-American riders as well.

If true, Landis’ accusations mark the potential passing of an era similar to what baseball went through a couple of years ago with congressional hearings and all-star confessions regarding use of steroids. No one knows if usage has really been stopped. But the aura of sportsmanship for the “roids era” of baseball has been forever tarnished.

If there’s been a pattern to doping in any sport, it’s that athletes need assistance to pull it off. And typically the cover gets blown when someone steps forward. In Lance’s case, his inner circle has been consistently tight over the years. We always guessed his former wife would be the one to finally state the case. But Landis beat her to it. [See Joe Papp's post on this point.]

Lance has been subdued in the Tour of California and uncharacteristically muted about his racing form and ambitions so far this season. If he had any inkling of Landis’ action, it might explain his low profile. Now the cycling world will be in an uproar — the equivalent of the BP Gulf oil spill — while news media continue to probe and investigate Landis’ allegations. It will hardly be a copacetic environment for pursuing racing glory this season.

Our stance on Lance has always been that his charisma, commercial drawing power and huge international following put doping authorities in an impossible bind. Even if they did manage to test him positive, what would it mean for them to disqualify him from an event like the Tour de France? It would cost the event and the sport millions in lost sponsorships, American disenchantment, TV and media coverage, advertising and general tainting of the grand and glorious sport of cycling.

Our theory has always been that mum was the word. Now, as details emerge from the Landis confessions, we may see if our suspicions were correct.

Our hope is that Lance will make a clean breast of it and move on, so that his foundation and his worthy work all over the globe for fighting cancer and bringing fans and attention to cycling can continue without a morbid cloud hanging over it. It takes a true champion to own up to his or her faults. People like to forgive and forget, and if Lance comports himself moving forward as well as he has in the past, he can put all this behind him with an “everybody did it” defense. In that sense he can rise above Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds “syndrome” — stars who were jerks before they were accused and remained jerks afterward.

One last thing: We can only hope that Lance was clean last August when he rode away from the field in the Leadville 100 to deprive local hero Dave Wiens of a 7th straight championship. To think that Wiens, a true sportsman and humanitarian, was deprived of a legitimate win on the basis of drug cheating would be one of the more depressing circumstances we’ve encountered in our lifetime of cycling obsession.

The ugly ripple effect when a major retailer closes its doors.

Bicycle insurance: Idea whose time has come? With more folks, especially Gen/pick your letter/ers, relying on bikes only for transportation, maybe so. If it does happen it will tell us something about a major demographic shift. Insurance always runs the numbers first.

From a cop: Bicycles have a right to the whole friggin’ lane.

DirtBowl.net: Dave Wiens is coming to the Marin DirtBowl! Not many cyclists have gone head to head with Lance Armstrong and emerged the winner. Dave Wiens, the standout Leadville 100 retired pro, can make such a claim. Although it’s certainly a distinction in his long and glorious career, it’s far from his signature accomplishment, and Wiens is a generous, modest and exemplary representative for the cycling community. Be sure to join Wiens, the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League for a big fundraiser ride starting 10:30 a.m. Feb. 7 at the golf course in San Geronimo. Don’t worry, you won’t miss the typically boring, overhyped football game where the commercials outshine the onfield “entertainment” — unless, like me, you want to. Cyclelicio.us has more.

The Perfect Crime: If you’re out to kill someone but don’t want to serve any jail time, all you have to do is make sure they’re riding a bicycle at the time. What could be easier!

Bicycle Retailer: Crankworx attendance was up despite crappy weather. Really? It didn’t feel that way. It felt more like numbers were a bit down, and in any case I’d be curious to see the data. If you read the release carefully it says attendance was up the “final weekend,” which was fairly sunny. If so, it was not by much. The rest of the time was noticeably slack. You could just look at the lift lines.

No knock on the ‘worx, it’s a great event. Which is all the more reason it has no need to exaggerate.

BikeRumor: Camelbak’s new electronically monitored flow meter showing how much liquid you’ve sucked up on a ride. Christmas stocking stuffer, but otherwise file under Things You Could Probably Survive Without.

SF Bike Expo is set for November 21st in the Cow Palace!

Martha Hucker interviews Melissa Buhl. Next, how about Jill Kintner?

Buhly: “Women’s racing in the US has dropped off a bit. Not from lack of talent by any means, just the depth in entries at the events. I think a lot of it is because it is so costly for them and there is lack of support. Some of the race promoters don’t give enough incentive for pro racers to make the trip. We are racing for free or next to nothing at a lot of the events, and that’s unacceptable for any pro. There are so many talented riders here, but you’ll find them doing other events and other types of riding and racing they enjoy more. I hope we can get a consistent series going that offers that kind of enjoyment in racing again and bring them back.”

One last look back at this year’s Leadville 100. Yes Lance was King, but the ever-humble, gentlemanly and gracious Dave Wiens made a lot of fans too.

Mark the calendar: Seattle Bike-In is this Sunday at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill.

Cycle Killer, qu’est-ce que ce? On September 28, David Byrne will be at Town Hall with his new book, Bicycle Diaries. A $30 ticket gets you a copy of the book too…

Great video of Lance and Wiens at Saturday’s Leadville 100.

MTBR has roundup and Top 10 results.

A look back at the Top 10 reasons Wiens was sure to beat Lance.

Humble pie: Yeah I was wrong, Wiens couldn’t hang with Lance after all. Not a surprise, really, but wished it could’ve been a closer race. Sounds like Dave is hanging it up, so next year’s race (assuming Lance defends as he says he will and Levi can keep from breaking something) will be between Lance and Leipheimer. I’m going with Double L! Stay tuned!

Cyclelicious: Empire Grade Road closed due to fire. Richard is a roadie but notes the smoke covers huge mtb sections of the UC-Santa Cruz campus, Wilder Ranch and back down to Henry Cowell State Park. Let’s hope the disruption was only temporary. There’s not much else for mountain biking in that section of the Santa Cruz range.

Crankworx wrap: PinkBike has video of Greg Watts’ winning slopestyle run.

Mountain Bike Action has photos.

Sam Hill and Emmeline Ragot took top honors in the Canadian Open Downhill…with Seattle-based Evil’s Steve Smith taking a bronze. Smith has been putting in some standout results this season after signing with Evil, which was at Crankworx showing off some cool hardware. More later…

We close with a tantalizing thought. Jill Kintner creamed Emmeline Ragot in the “mini-Downhill” Grand Slalom at Crankworx. If Jill had run the Canadian Open Downhill and presumably won, it would’ve given her 3 golds (as well as a silver) for Crankworx 2009! We continue to suspect Jill (maybe nudged by BF Bryn Atkinson) will enter downhill comps some day soon…

Some quick links, then I gotta go RIDE!

PinkBike has the rundown on the big Slopestyle course tomorrow. It may be tamer than last year, but that’s probably good. Too many crashes last year. Looking it over, and having seen every Crankworx Slopestyle at Whistler, my view is that this one has more diversity (read opportunity) than any previous. And it’s really set up for viewing.

Let’s hope the crowds come. Whistler is soaked, bros! There are puddles in the parking lot and the trails are not just damp but sloppy in some spots. Plus it’s cold at night.

That said, the sun is out today (Friday) and skies definitely appear to be clearing! So hopefully everyone will come on up tonight and tomorrow for the world’s signature Slopestyle event, Kokanee Crankworx.

As for tomorrow’s Leadville 100, now the “signature” enduro MTB event because of Lance’s omnipresence:

BikeRumor has pics and descrip of Lance’s proto Trek Fuel 9.9 XX whatever. Why doesn’t Trek just call it the Lance Armstrong? If I was at Leadville and Lance whizzed by I’d have a hard time choosing between looking at him or his bike! It should be a great race.

There’re some other familiar names in the lineup, including Travis Brown riding his own customized Trek, caught by Mountain Bike Action. Early on Floyd Landis was supposed to have registered, but he’s not on the official roster. Neither is once-rumored Tinker Juarez. Nor is Chris Eatough, history’s greatest 24-hour racer, who’s apparently racing the FoolsGold 100 instead.

But Dave Wiens, despite modestly downplaying his own chances at a 7th straight title, is still in the mix. BikeRumor has great Wiens interview on the whole enchilada.

Check out the UltraRob blog for inside coverage.

AP setup story in Seattle Times on the race.

BIkePortland is tracking a disturbing cycling-auto encounter.

If you’re in Seattle Sunday and want to pay respects to Jose Hernando and the other fallen of our sport, Michael Snyder at SeattleLikesBikes has a suggestion.

Lance is looking real strong, dusting the field at the Colorado state mountain bike championships in Snowmass. Wiens did not compete.

There’s some simmering resentment that Lance, who has a house in Aspen but is from Austin of course, was allowed to compete. But the rules said yes, and why not? He brings a lot of attention and commercial weight to anything he does, and both are what cycling really needs.

Our 3-to-2 odds for Wiens are looking shakier all the time. No matter who wins, it should be a great race.

BikeWorldNews has results.

For his epic rematch of last year’s stirring mano-a-mano Leadville 100, Lance Armstrong appears loaded for bear. A full season of racing under his belt, including the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France (a twofer he’s never done before). Pretty much full recovery from his broken collarbone. A year of incentivization, having admitted defeat to Wiens personally at last year’s race.

And this time, the eyes of the nation if not the world upon him. Come Aug. 15, we can expect unprecedented coverage of the Leadville 100, which always has an avid following among endurance sports cognoscenti but has never made it to the national consciousness.

So yeah, you’d think all the ducks lined up for Lance, right? Despite Dave Wiens having won the Leadville 100 six consecutive times, Wiens is the underdog, right?

Not so fast.

As the only observer to call Lance’s chances correctly in both the Giro and the Tour — to wit, null, void, zip, nada — at a time when major media were saying “Lance can win!” and “Why you can never count Lance out!” Bike Intelligencer feels a certainly burden of prophecy looking to the Leadville 100. Can we maintain our contrarian stance v. Lance? Or is it time to face reality and acknowledge he’s just too primed for Wiens this time around?

First, we have to admit something: Whereas we were 100 percent sure with the Giro and Tour, we’re on shakier ground for Leadville. We feel a bit like Lance going into the Tour, where he noted he lacked the confidence of a win compared to previous Tours. (We kind of chuckled at that one, believing that even a stage win was beyond Lance’s reach, another prediction that came true, albeit barely.)

Few competitors have a sense of moment like Lance, and even fewer can dig down deep the way he does when the cards are down. Whereas last year he was in good shape, this time around he’s in world-class shape. And while his opponent, a former World Cup racer himself and Mountain Bike Hall of Famer, is not to be underestimated, he’s also not named Alberto Contador.

That said, we see a lot to like for Wiens. For one thing, while Lance was ripping up Ventoux, Dave was not exactly sitting at home with his legs propped up, watching it on TV. Wiens too was in the Alps, riding the TransAlp Challenge, the world’s toughest mountain bike race and a multi-stage epic in its own right (Wiens’ team finished 7th overall). It’s not like he needed the training — Wiens knows how to prepare for Leadville better than anyone — but for those paying attention, he was sending a message.

Then there’s the whole mtb thing. Riding a mountain bike is so unlike a road rig that they’re almost two different sports. (Credentials: For two decades I was a roadie, doing double centuries, triathlons and other endurance events; then in 1991 I switched to mountain.) Here’s just a few things to consider:

Road riding is based on extended rhythm, or cadence. You get into a zone and build from there. Whether in a time trial, on the flats or a climb, you’re doing the same thing for a long time. The only time you really sprint is at the finish or (if you care) for points. It doesn’t happen that much.

Mountain biking is far less static. It involves constant shifts in tempo, body position, aerobics and strength output. The surface is hardly ever smooth. Cadence doesn’t enter the picture. You pedal downhill. You bust your gut on riser after riser, switchbacks here, rock gardens there.

Your riding position is completely different; in fact, with mountain biking, riding position is always changing depending on terrain. You’re much more upright than the tucked road position. Your musculature is stressed accordingly.

There’s no drafting in mountain biking.

Upper-body strength, and strength-to-weight ratio, matter much more in mountain biking. You have to pull on the bars on climbs, guide the bike carefully on technical sections. You’re always leaning and weighting different parts of the bike. That takes shoulder, arm, chest and back strength, not just leg action.

Mountain biking is bursty. You go anaerobic far more often as you negotiate tricky terrain. A climb on a mountain bike is 100 times harder than on a road bike because your whole body is involved, the grade usually is steeper (you get 15 to 20 percent risers all the time), and you have far less traction. It can be just as fast to get off the bike and push — how often can you say that about road riding?

The point here is, Lance’s season so far has been great for conditioning and endurance, as long as he’s riding a road bike. For a mountain bike, not so much. There’s a reason why cycling success translates from mountain biking to road racing — Cadel Evans, Floyd Landis, Michael Rasmussen, Ryder Hesjedal — far more prevalently than the opposite direction.

Other variables to keep in mind:

Lance knows how to set up a road bike, whether it be TT, flats or climbs, perfectly for himself. A mountain bike? Hmmm. He hasn’t had enough experience riding mtb, especially recently, to have command of the technology and personal variables. Someone else can set it up for him, and he can consult with lots of experts. But at the end of the day, only he can make certain calls, and he just doesn’t have the data.

Wiens on the other hand rides mountain every day. He’s got it completely dialed. If there’s such a thing as equipment edge, Wiens will have it.

The other thing: Wiens is a local (Gunnison, but close enough). In mountain biking, that counts for far more than road racing. You see locals win or excel at downhill and slalom and even cross-country (albeit to a lesser extent) races in their own back yard where they’re also-rans everywhere else. Home court is an advantage. So is being the underdog.

Wiens also has an experience edge on Lance when it comes to the Leadville race itself. He knows the race’s profile and his own body’s rhythms.

Finally, whereas we know Lance tapped out last year, we do not know Wiens’ real potential at Leadville. We don’t know if Lance ever really pushed Wiens, or whether Wiens was just marking Lance till he needed to go into overdrive.

All of the above, even giving Lance points for a phenomenal comeback season, says Wiens is going to win this thing again. There are always x-factors in mountain biking, particularly equipment failure and crashes, but all things being equal we give the edge to the local.

To repeat, though, unlike the Giro and Tour, we’re not so sure. The race looks to be close for much of the duration. But when it comes time to dig deep, the moment of truth that Lance has made a career out of taking, Wiens will have more in the tank.

If we were taking it to Vegas, we’d go with 3-to-2 odds in favor of Wiens.

And if we panned out, we’d make money. Because to the casual observer, this thing looks like the biggest blowout since Ali v. Buster Mathis. Let’s hope they’re wrong and that Leadville 2009 becomes a memorable duel for the ages.

Update: Chris Carmichael on why I might be wrong.

BC Bike Race, Day 3: Morons are removing course flags to screw up the race. The racers are overcoming the morons.

The only bad thing about having 25-year-old Tyler Farrar, Washington State’s first Tour de France cyclist, in the upcoming Tour will be having to listen to the announcers try to pronounce his home town of “Wenatchee.”

BikeJuju: Naked cyclists are a blogger’s best friend.

The Adventure Life recalls the recent bike recalls. Worth a look-over to make sure your steed ain’t on a list.

Dave Wiens will speak at REI Boulder on July 7. Hope someone blogs it. Hope someone asks how Dave plans to kick Lance’s ass again in the Leadville 100 this year, what with Lance having the Giro & Tour (by then) under his belt.

Seattle’s Cascade Bicycle Club is auctioning off bib No. 10,000 for this year’s Seattle to Portland classic. Current bid is $120 but c’mon all you bikin’ ex-Microsofties, we can do better than that…