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Zajicek

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Facts are scarce at the moment. Which is another way of saying; I have no idea. But, it doesn’t look good.

Cyclingnews has gathered information that the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) is in the process of appealing a case against American cyclist Phillip Zajicek. Cyclingnews also understands that the American was cleared of purchasing EPO from the Shandong Kexing Bioproducts company in a hearing that took place last Autumn.

“I can confirm that the Zajicek case is being appealed,” a source who is close to the case, told Cyclingnews. “They say they have a stronger case now. I provided USADA with information about him.”

Cyclingnews contacted Zajicek on Tuesday and were told, “I don’t have any comment. There’s no story.”
www.cyclingnews.com.

How does one bring in new evidence on an appeal? Oh yeah, private actor (USADA) means no due process rights (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_process#Applicability).

Z-boy, if you haven’t already, lawyer up.

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About big jonny

The man, the legend. The guy who started it all back in the Year of Our Lord Beer, 2000, with a couple of pages worth of idiotic ranting hardcoded on some random porn site that would host anything you uploaded, a book called HTML for Dummies (which was completely appropriate), a bad attitude (which hasn’t much changed), and a Dell desktop running Win95 with 64 mgs of ram and a six gig hard drive. Those were the days. Then he went to law school. Go figure. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

30 Replies to “Zajicek”

  1. Wonder who the source was? Papp gets his sentence delayed, again, right around the same time a source confirms that the USADA has appealed.
    What’s the bet that Phil Z gets boned and that little fucker Papp walks?

  3. …sure sounds from the rest of the article that joe papp-smear was the guy willing to confirm that “yep, he got it through my connections…”…

    …i’ve said it before but after having been busted, papp-smear seems to thrive on the notoriety of being the connection for so many others…he not only shows no shame but appears smilingly proud of the ‘celebrity’ status that comes with being a rat…

    …being a rat is one thing but thriving on the ‘fame’ of it ???…that’s sick & particularly fucking sad…

    …good thing this ain’t mexico, joe…

    …just sayin’…

  6. This is a serious bummer if it turns out to be true.
    I’ve spent all of last season looking up to this guy, because he’s a bike racer with Crohn’s, just like me.
    Thing is, how on earth could you possibly dope with an auto-immune disease and not pay some steep medical price later?

    I suppose doping in this particular case would be like an opera singer with strep throat getting an injection of cortisone a couple of hours before he goes on — and then he sings like a million bucks, but he can’t feel anything so he actually does a ton of damage to his vocal chords. (True story, has happened more than once, usually with ugly long-term results that are often career-ending; almost always involving tenors which may prove once and for all that they ARE stupider).

    I KNOW what Crohn’s is like, I live with it and ride with it every freaking day. Why on EARTH would Phil Z even consider the risk?
    If it’s true I’m just shaking my head here.

  7. …so, like, what’s ‘crohn’s’, miz h & how does it affect you as a cyclist ???…

    …inquiring minds wanna know, girl…

  11. …jeezus…beth h, i’m sorry to hear what you have to deal with, girl & fff, i’m sorry to hear about your brother…

    …seems like he gave you a wonderful gift when he gave you the opportunity to get into cycling, through his bikes…

    …amigo, i hope i’m not out a’ line when i say ‘ride with pride’…carry that legacy…

  12. In a nutshell: Crohn’s disease is an auto-immune, chronic condition that adversely affects the body’s ability to fully break down food and utilize all the nutritional components therein. As a result, people with Crohn’s are often malnourished, underweight (though not always), and experience fatigue more uickly and more often than other people when engaged in strenuous physical activity.

    Crohn’s can show up in anyone, but occurrence tends to run higher in the young, and in families of either Scandinavian or Ashkenazic (Easter Eruopean) Jewish descent (there is a strong hereditary component). Children with the disease often experience slower or stunted growth; I am, at 5′ 7″, a veritable “midget” in an extended family of otherwise much taller people.

    Today, after 15 years of struggle that included two surgeries and several changes in medication, I manage the disease with a combination of diet, correct medication and regular physical activity. I also pay close attention to stress management, as stress can make already-existing symptoms feel much worse. My Crohn’s is considered “mild-to-moderate” and most days I do fine; but there are people with much more serious cases who are so weak they cannot get out of bed.

    For more info you can check out the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America: http://www.ccfa.org

    Hope that about covers it. Still bummed at Phil Z’ s situaion and prospects.

  13. Phil Z got off because he and his lawyers claimed the EPO he bought off Joe’s site was for his girlfriend.

    That’s the word on the street.

  14. That’s exactly what Phil Z claimed, and the evidence presented wasn’t enough to sanction him, thus he was cleared. 4 months on, Papp-smear has his sentencing date pushed back, again, and Phil Z’s case is getting appealed by the USADA. 1+1 does, in fact, equal 2 here folks.

  17. So I swing by Drunk Cyclist expecting another: I Believe Phil (was doped to the Gills!) and instead find out we should be concerned about due process and how inspirational he is for riding with Crohn’s. What gives? Oh right, he’s your neighbor. What’s next the Phil Phairness Phund?
    This will be his 2nd violation right? Quinhai Lake being #1. But wait! The EPO was for his chick! And VDB’s was for his dog.
    And if Beth said, “I can’t believe Lance would dope, he had cancer!” instead of, “I can’t believe Phil would dope, he had Crohn’s!” you guys would be going ballistic.

  18. Dear Schmirnov: I didn’t say I can’t believe it,I said I wonder at the medical sense of it. I’ve never had cancer so I can’t speak experientially to Lance’s situation. Until you’ve lived with Crohn’s you don’t get to call me on my shit, figuratively OR literally. Because It’s. My. Shit.

  20. Beth, no disrespect intended. But there’s no “medical sense” for any person to stick a needle in their arm just to go faster in bike racing.
    So if you’d said, “there’s no medical sense for Lance to dope! He had cancer and I had cancer” the dc community response would be very different. Because. Phil’s. From. AZ.

  21. …non sequitur but ‘team leopard-trek’ are off to a great start…

    …first we have totally bland derivative kits…

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/team-leopard-trek-kit-revealed/153389

    …try distinguishing between sky/garmin/leopard as the peleton races by en masse on your tv screen during tour broadcasts…

    …& then we have the perv-y, sophomoric behavior of leopard-trek’s brice feillu & linus gerdemann…

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/a-first-look-at-team-leopard-trek/153275

    …sheesh, guys…i hope it’s true love but either way, if you’re gonna get your willy’s out, please sit together & leave your poor teammate klemme out of the middle…

  24. @Schmirnov, fair play. But, please remember the “I believe” meme follows a conviction. We like to kick ’em when they’re down, not when they still have any fight left in ’em. I look a man square in the back before I pull the trigger…

    Do I know Phil Z.? Yes. Do I think he’s a good guy? Yes. Do I have any idea if he has used drugs? No.

    The kid I mentioned above is a whole different deal. Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned him in this comment thread, he really deserves a whole post all to his own. Nice kid, Toby Farmer. I wish him nothing but the best.

    As for the due process comment I made, I understand your reading of it. What I was getting at is the oddity of new evidence being presented on an appeal – by the prosecution! None of that overly simplistic one-and-done double jeopardy around these parts. We’ll just keep running you through the ringer until something sticks to the wall. Doesn’t seem like good cricket, now does it?

    Anyway, I do hope Phil Z. prevails? Yes. Of course I do. But, I am not so naive to think it is impossible that he has done drugs.

    I may make fun of the process, but I believe in it. We’ll see where the chips fall.

  25. Jonny— it’s a bit of a ‘kangaroo court,’ innit? Which isn’t inappropriate, after all it’s just sport arbitration.

  27. @ bikesgonewild and his wild non-sequitur: That Lepoard kit looks like an incomplete Rapha design — you know, before it was sent down the food chain for the requisite pink trim that seems to show up on almost everything Rapha slaps its name on these days — or it’s the latest spring colorway from the design team at Performance Bike. Either way it’s a fashion ticket waiting to be handed out.

  28. I guess it depends on what you mean by “due process”. The USAC and USADA charters are not the US Constitution. They outline their own standards of evidence and prosecution, and anyone who voluntarily buys a racing license better be ready to bend over and take it. These guys are all getting exactly the process they signed up for, and they’ll keep getting it until enough people stand up to USA Cycling and take their money elsewhere.

  29. I’m seriously disappointed that the loyal readers of drunk cyclist can’t put two and two together. I’ve trained and raced with Phil just like a fair amount of the other posters, and I always thought he was a great guy as well. And I would say that he may have been the number one person that I looked up to in bike racing. But I know the difference between what I want to be true in my heart and what I know to be true in my head. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…

    As for this whole criticism of USADA’s lack of due process. If this was a criminal case he would have due process and wouldn’t be subject to this double jeopardy, but he would NOT have had the right to expedite his trial before USPro. USADA might be doing some things that wouldn’t be permitted in the judicial system, but PZ’s initial expedited trial wouldn’t have taken place in a normal judicial system. USADA needed time to build their case, PZ just needed a $20,000 lawyer and a bullshit story, which takes significantly less time. PZ got the benefit of the lousy USADA system in September and now it’s time to pay the piper.

    Focusing only on the “lack of due process” makes this look like a doper apologist blog. Next we’ll be seeing a “Tired of being tired” banner ad.