today's forcast; a firestorm.

look at all of us talkity-talk talking about rock racing.
the gossip is out of control.

can you imagine the emails, texts, and myspace messages flying around!

omg, tyler got signed. brb!

fyi, my bff cipo is racing fr rr!

i <3 landis!

i h8 landis!

idk about landis.

they said ball. lol.

rr is kewl.

rr sux.

blah, blah, blah.

so, here's the deal. so, rock f'ing racing is the hot topic in the cycling world right now.

the european countries held their national championships for cx last weekend.
i haven't heard a peep about it on velonews.
all the news that's fit to print is apparently about rock racing.

sure, rock racing has made some news-worthy power moves, and signed some big riders.
big, tainted riders.

riders like, "doped up jerk a", and "doped up jerk b".

and no one likes them.

ok. sure. i don't really think dopers should get a second chance, at all.
but, i don't make the rules. there are tons of busted dopers racing today.
like, doped up jerks c, d, e, and f. but they are either small fish names, or likeable guys. so it's ok.

i would understand if the outrage was against doping... but it seems like it is about rock racing and those particular dopers.
it is disappointing to me. pretty much every pro team you can think of has at least one doped up jerk on it.

so what's new? why the uproar? why the lop-sided hate?

need examples? here's some sound bytes;

from the velonews mailbag:

At a time when pro cycling is amidst the darkest days of doping, it seems like nothing more than a cheap publicity stunt on the part of Ball to hire riders with such checkered pasts. The only good it serves is to add contrast to the great things being done by Vaughters and his Slipstream crew to keep cycling headed towards a clean future

ok. but, doesn't slipstream employ david millar? he did a 2 year ban for doping with epo at the world championship time trial. got stripped of his titles. and he did his time, and is now racing.
other than the fact that he denied any wrongdoing for part of the time before fessing up, what's the difference? tyler never fessed up. so what.
he's guilty, and so is millar. we all know that.

let's do another from velonews;

Frankie Andreu should be seen as a great barometer of the situation in cycling.

He is a great rider, who has paid his dues in all the major and minor races. He has finished nine Tours de France, an impressive record.

He has seen it all in cycling. For him to leave a team, you gotta know something is not right.

I am not saying any of the Rock Racing guys (currently) dope, but the mentality that might find them using new improved methods is not inconceivable in the future, if the win-or-be-fired mentality sticks.
And to not consult the guy behind the wheel, who has seen it all, before hiring riders (some of which he has ridden with or against!) is insane.

I hope Frankie finds a solid team. Let's hope it's a team that is about winning with cycling talent, management, and commitment.
And if fashion is factor, throw Frankie in that argyle, which a lot of us who pay attention are starting to really embrace. He would fit in well.

uh. wtf?

let us not forget that frankie admitted to doping along with several other riders to help lance win the tour de france. again, i must be missing the point. he "would fit in well" with slipstream why? he was a doper.

just like tyler. just like oscar sevilla. just like david millar.

why no doping uproar when frankie joined rock racing a year ago? or when he was running toyota-united?

because right now it's the popular thing to villify rock racing? that's dumb.

i really fail to see the difference between them and say, discovery.
disco had half their team in the puerto documents... and the other half had moved on and gotten busted on other teams, (landis, hamilton, haras, etc.).

i guess disco won the tour 8 times in a row. but, hey. that's all mr. ball wants to do. what's the diff?

so, what is rock racing doing to the cycling scene? what's their effect? let's examine.

• hiring ex/current dopers.
• getting a shit-ton of press.
• funding the las vegas crits.
• funding the tour of california.

seems like they do pretty much the the same (hiring dopers), or more (funding events) than most teams.

now, let me re-itterate; i don't like dopers.

i don't think you should get a second chance, because if you didn't dope you weren't good enough to deserve a first chance. if you needed to risk it and were busted, well, thanks for playing. good luck with your next endeavor.
but, as i said, i don't get to make the rules, and doped up jerks are hired all the time.

it's just sad the amount of backlash, that's my point.
i'm not trying to tear down these guys i've mentioned above, i'm just saying, why is everyone so concerned about leogrande's tests? does his kit make him any more guilty than any of these other guys?

over at timmercentral you can read the praise hed is getting for pulling sponsorship of rock racing.
that's all fine and good, i guess. it's steve's business not mine.

again, i don't want to rip on hed, or their products, because they are certainly not the only ones distancing themselves from rr, but i just think the anti-rock bandwagon is lame.
people need to just accept the fact that in pro sports there are gonna be cheaters, or pull all your sponsorships.
in 2007, hed supported disco, colavita, and kelly benefits. there are rumors of doping everywhere.

i wanna know what makes rock racing so special.

michael ball gets his share of flack too. and he might deserve it, but read a few of his quotes;

on the alleged 'win-or-get-fired' comment - "You can come up with anything you want, but I never said win or you're fired. Everyone is still on the team. Not everybody wins, but I want wins, without a doubt. I want my guys to go out there, every single race, to win. Not to train, but to win."

on his management style - "Some people don't like my style. Here is what I have to say about that: Be as successful as me, and then tell me you don't like my style. Everyone that is as successful or more successful than myself appreciates what I'm doing here. This is not just about bicycling, or racing, this is about building something and bringing it to cycling."

on frankie andreau leaving rock racing - "This is new to me," Ball said. "He's been living (cycling) his whole life. We didn't mesh in the sense that I don't know what a director sportif's traditional role is. I know what I need to do in order to push my team and promote my brand. If there was miscommunication and the ball was dropped in terms of what his role was in the team, I'm sorry for that, frankly. But at end of day he's a good guy, and I have nothing negative to say about Frankie."

on the controversial hirings - "I'm into giving people a shot. It's sort of my philosophy in life, give people a chance. Where I come from, I didn't get a whole lot of chances. I had to fight, tooth and nail. I can relate."

i don't know if rock racing is good for cycling.

but, i will tell you this; they are not bad for cycling. i bet you dimes to dollars every guy that rock racing signed would still have a job somewhere in the pro peloton for 2008 if rock had not signed them. that's a fact. (except maybe cipo).

ttfn.