yeah, I knew that.

once were warriors,
(glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug.)
now are champions.

We love bikes. You should see some of the AZT.
I was never a racer. I don’t know shit about doping.
You seem like an OK guy with some valid points.
Hope it all works out.

Collectively, we the DC crowd tend to go with the metality that where there is smoke there is fire. Not without good reason I think.

Pessimism – nobody touted Zirbel as a doper, until the positives, then it was the usual. I think the majority here believe there isa lot of doping in the pro peleton, and at the highest level, there is certainly a lot of evidence to support that. So maybe a combo of pessimism based on reality? What is the ratio of doping positives vs. not-guilty verdicts?

Now in defense of Tom, I would not be too quick to dismiss the idea of contamination. It sure makes a great bailout excuse but…

An FDA environment should be of the highest quality/oversite/regulation. If you have worked in one, then for sure you understand that contamination is no myth. If not, think of the recalls you have seen. e-coli etc. Contamination certainly can happen. Especially where multiple compounds are mixed and packaged. You would like to believe that after one batch of miracle cure is mixed on some equipment it is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized before the next round of wonder drug is processed. Under FDA regulations, it should be. as we all know, what SHOULD be and what ACTUALLY HAPPENS are not always harmonized. People get lazy. machine operators don’t give a shit. faster to do one rinse than three…etc. There are generally a lot of checks to try and minimize the risks, but shit still gets through.

Now take away the oversight of the FDA, as is the case with our multi-billion dollar supplement industry, add in raw materials which are sourced from sometimes questionable suppliers (like melamine in pet food from china), throw in the potential for good old fashioned profit motivated greed and you have a good potential for contamination.

As an athlete it would be impossible to completely eliminate the potential for contamination. We all deal with it with everything we eat, most of us just aren’t tested for it. Short of growing the shit yourself you can’t do much to completely eliminate the risk.

So, while being pessimistic, I’ll at least promise you this Tom Z. (and the others to follow), I’ll keep an open mind, try and collect the facts and base my (ultimately meaningless) personal decision on guilt once the facts have all been put down. I still believe in innocent until proven guilty, but I also have my predjudices. And I doubt that contamination will be proved, even if that is what truly happened. Too long ago and without the actual supplement, how do you know?

Now back to the Terrible ale. this is some good tasty dark ale.

If you have knowledge one of the supplements you consumed was adulterated, you’ve got an outstanding lawsuit against the manufacturer, marketer, and retailer that sold it to you for a host of claims, not the least of which battery. Heaven help the sellers if the chain of commerce traversed California.

It’s an all to convenient excuse to blame dietary supplements as a category. As in any other market niche, there are good players and there are bad players. Anyone who purchases a product from a marketer that also sells a pro-hormone product is asking for trouble. You won’t expose yourself to that kind of risk buying from any of the publicly traded supplement houses.

Well, ok, Tom didn’t say he was looking for balance, but extremes. Sadly, there is but one extreme he can expect here. Now, in Toms case, people like me who wish to afford the benefit of the doubt as well as follow jurisprudence/habeas corpus don’t really have much to go on. You failed the A and B sample. Essentially, even if you can prove ignorance, you’re fucked. Contrast that with Armstrong, whom it seems every contributor to this blog has convicted with nary a positive result.

In other words Tom, you don’t stand a chance here. Even if you do manage to prove surreptitious contamination, and even _if_ that info gets published here, the ‘brain trust’ at Drunk cyclist by and large will dismiss your pleas and evidence with yet another bleating ‘dopers suck’ chorus.

I wish you the best of luck, Tom. I don’t want to believe you intentionally doped, and I sincerely hope you can prove that. But, in the jaded h8ting world of DC, you are now and will always be sleazy low-life greedy doping piece of shit.

p.s. landshark, ‘pear’ reviewed?

i am the sassiest bitch in this piece.

lunch break is over. hope the sandwich my buddy gave me is really a sandwich…..