by 
More bad new on the doping tip.
From: BGW
Subject: …even the babes……gianni…
…”The International Cycling Union says Olympic medallist Margarita Fullana of Spain has been provisionally suspended after testing positive to the banned blood-booster EPO.”…
sports.yahoo.com.
or
www.velonation.com.…even the babes are doin’ it…
…she fully admits it after a bad season of injuries…
…damn…
From the Velonation article:
[T]he 38 year old then admitted that she had taken the substance following what has been a difficult period in her life.
“I made the stupidest mistake of my life,” she said. “I had a very bad year both physically and mentally. I started the year with enthusiasm, but could not find my rhythm in any race,” Fullana explained.
She said personal problems and a lack of results were what led her down the desperate and dark path of doping. Fullana maintains that she had never used illegal drugs prior to this year.
. . .
Fullana claims she didn’t take enough EPO to improve her performance, citing her continued poor results as proof of that. She intends to take her punishment without a fight, and apologized to her sponsors and fans for her lapse in good judgment.
Hell of a way to end a career.
by 
at least she admits it. she didn’t come off with an excuse.
Well Duh! It ain’t like you can show a false positve for EPO from eating tainted meat. Meaty taint, I’m not so sure about.
…a women friend, who’ll remain nameless here out of respect has raced as a professional at the highest level of the sport in mtb’s & cx for years…her lifestyle is exemplarily clean, her training methods the most advanced without resorting to drugs, her diet intelligently planned & she doesn’t scrimp when it comes to applying herself in training or racing…
…she has been the american women’s elite mtb champion several times…in other words, she’s paid to train & race her bike & she’s as good as we’ve got…
…the point of referencing her credentials is that as good as she is, she’s had to call into question the “purity” of the top euro-women…her frustration is based on knowing herself & her program & yet being constantly bested by women who seem to be on a different level…
…could be there’s a drug related reason…
yeah bgw good distinction made there, it is surely only the euros who are into the hot sauce these days.
…you do understand, barry that i made note of my friend having beaten america’s other top women on three occasions @ nats as a clean cyclist & it was she who defined the distinction between the euros & the norte americanos, right ???…
…& yes, there have been some questionable results, so there’s a case to be made for plenty of riders on this side of the pond using illicit enhancement, so why not contribute something towards that end & make this a discussion, amigo ???…
bgw my contribution is based on logic, not “just saying” kind of bs. your point is that your friend beats up on the local competition, but can’t repeat the results when racing against the best in the world. therefore she questions the methods of the people she can not beat.
then a 38 year old euro racer at the end of her career gets popped and you say this lends weight to the belief that the pros your friend can not beat might just be on the gas as well.
this is a logical fallacy, just because one euro lady racer gets popped doesn’t mean they are all to be assumed to be on the juice. even if only euro females racers got caught on the PEDS there is still a huge difference between the statements “euro ladies do drugs to go faster” and “ladies who get popped for PEDS are from Europe.” one does not equal the other.
finally if your statement is truly worth discussing, which i think it is not, then one would assume that the american XC guys who can’t get a wiff of world class podiums, JHK, Todd Wells, adam craig, etc. must also question the folks from Switzerland, france and spain that are the true creme de la creme. or could it just be that in just because your friend beats up on americans doesn’t really mean so much (on the world stage) since the level of competition in the US domestic circuit is not on the level of continual european racing.
long rant short. to assume your friend is world class just because she is a top domestic racer is a big assumption. and a racer at the end of her career on another continent trying to hang on with some juice has nothing to do with it.
…pal…your logic & my “just sayin'” are one & the same…
…thank you, though, for taking so much time to ‘not’ discuss my statement…
…you really honestly believe that our domestic standards over the last 20 years, as hard as guys like jeremy hk, todd wells & adam craig, etc apply themselves, just aren’t up to that of the euros, huh ???…interesting that your “logic” ascribes it to only that…
…i’d also suggest you don’t mistake my casual style of “just sayin'” as being something “less” than what you think you have to offer…but only so that you don’t miss the logic in it…