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[Insert here — Michael Kraehe’s humorous posting about this weekend’s JCRC race on Miyakejima. Let’s hope he takes a camera and gets some photos of the volcano.]

… for those (like me) who could not make it to Miyakejima, I was thinking of a ride on Saturday morning … back by 2PM or so with enough energy left to interact with family.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 10, 2008:

Former world champion and Tom Boonen has tested positive for cocaine, Belgian judicial authorities confirmed on Tuesday. The Paris-Roubaix winner returned the positive in an out-of-competition control carried out by the ministry of the Flemish Community, on May 26, three days before the start of the Tour of Belgium.

„A suspension is foreseen when controls took place during competition, but it’s not the case in this affair,“ said Sonck.

And the International Cycling Union (UCI) confirmed that Boonen would not be facing any sanctions under their rules.

„The UCI will not be requesting that a disciplinary procedure be opened,“ a UCI spokesman told AFP. „We have not been informed of this result but if the information is confirmed as it is an out-of-competition control UCI rules like those of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) do not have any sanctions for cocaine.“

According to reports, Boonen, a contender for the top sprinter’s green jersey in the 2008 Tour de France, is currently in the process of negotiating a transfer to French team Bouygues Telecom.

bicycling

„out-of-competition control“ so it doesn’t count.. that’s ok then.

TOM’s comment: ….I’m very sad and extremely disappointed in my national hero. Removed the official website from my favorite cycling links…..

another viewpoint from trust but verify..

„If Boonen’s OOC test were being done under UCI and WADA prototols, and the finding is not of a type that can produce any disciplinary action, why have we heard about it at all? Who blew the confidentiality of this non-actionable result, before any B sample test could have been requested or performed?

Another car in the train wreck.“

And the ride home:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Ftrail.motionbased.com%2Ftrail%2Fkml%2Fepisode.kml%3FepisodePkValues%3D5838321&ie=UTF8&t=p&ll=35.517444,139.1586&spn=0.288884,0.93712&output=embed&s=AARTsJqLtanIVAVVpP6VaUsTGe0rvZ3XIA
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A Classic Tradition, Since 2006

It is difficult to remember, it seems so long ago, but there was once a time when Positivo Espresso had no team jerseys. Ever resourceful, they would improvise — this photo shows three domestiques of „the Express“ of the classic era forming the German flag from their collective colors, just before lining up at the start of a TTT on their 2006 Asia tour, at Saiko in the Nakano Koji Memorial Japan Cup Series. The team leader warms his hands in the background.

Many questions remain:
Why is it called the „Nakano Koji Memorial“ race when Mr. Nakano is still alive and gives out the trophies every year?
Is that little girl in the background looking at the flag-shaped phalanx of giant riders, or at the team ace relaxing as he visualizes his acceleration toward an explosive finish?
Why does Assos still use models in their „luxury body“ ads when they could use real riders in real situations like this?

Before

During

After

Thanks to all for a great event yesterday, Saturday May 17. We started in the last group, at 6:30 AM (teams starting between 4AM and 6:30AM). Tom said goodbye about 1/3 of the way up the first hill (Otarumi) and was waiting for us in Itoigawa, having finished in just under 10 hours. The rest of us rode as a group and made it in a more relaxed 12 hrs and 25 minutes. The hill North of Lake Suwa was painful, as was the ride up a gradual slope and into the steady headwind North of Matsumoto. Our 4-cyclist long train pulled many smaller, weaker riders in its wake! The last 52 km, descending from Hakuba to Itoigawa through numerous tunnels, took just over an hour, as we averaged better than 40 kph., and overtook many, many cyclists who had started earlier than us. Nice to pass people going a good 10-15 kph faster than they are … no chance they will try to hop on the rear and catch a ride.

Riders — please add to this post!

TOM: Thanks everyone for joining this most memorable ride! The travelogue of mine was posted yesterday…take a look when you have time. Looking forward to reading Michael’s version!

GPS map … until the battery died just after leaving the Hakuba stop:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Ftrail.motionbased.com%2Ftrail%2Fkml%2Fepisode.kml%3FepisodePkValues%3D5692135&ie=UTF8&ll=36.146703,138.590942&spn=1.102099,1.505523&output=embed&s=AARTsJr8cjfspvoQT2b-b4krdofWreuWCA
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Fuji Hill Climb June 1st.
My company took 18 entries this year and as always people are beginning to drop out. I have 11 confirmed participants including Michael, David J. and Julianne. I have 7 spare places in 3 different male age groups. I believe Tom procured himself an entry already. Anyone else fancy trying the 24km „fun ride“? I can assure you it is a great event and I will be thoroughly enjoying proving Newton’s 19th Law again – Fat blokes can’t ride up hills quickly. Let me know.

Tom — Thank you for a memorable ride on Sunday.
Tom and I rode up the Tamagawa, over to Itsukaichi and up Kazahari; stopped at Tomin no Mori briefly then over the top and down the rear side to Okutama-ko. (no TT effort today … but my climb still beat last month’s TT by 15 seconds). We ate soba at Juliane’s favorite Okutamako cafeteria, then climbed the back side of Tsuru and Tawa Toge, and came home via Uenohara/Takao. (The back side of Tsuru is ridiculously steep — lots of 13-15% grade, even though it is only 350 meters elevation gain from Okutama-ko to the top). All in, the ride involved well over 2000 meters of climbing and 183 km (115 miles) for me. Weather was perfect, except for cold (8 degrees celsius), foggy and with some wind on the top of Kazahari. We decided not to try the „kazahari rindo“ because the road would have been wet, making it almost impossible to climb the steep grades with road tires.

Ride on Tuesday anyone? Next weekend?

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Ftrail.motionbased.com%2Ftrail%2Fkml%2Fepisode.kml%3FepisodePkValues%3D5505715&ie=UTF8&ll=35.693761,139.300248&spn=0.165321,0.676146&t=p&output=embed&s=AARTsJoII_s3DXfPaP47D5wvasx4rCK5Bw

Thank you for joining yesterday’s ride David…my legs felt rather heavy on the first half of the Kazahari and I was happy you did all the pulling for me. Yes, at the pace you were going, you’ll be in perfect shape by May 17th!

Next time let’s all go for the URAKAZAHARI!

Tom

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