August 4, 2009 · Filed under Beene, Doggs, Entertainment, Photo Album, Smackimus
Michelle, Pat, the doggs, and I all headed up to Whidbey Island on Sunday to check up on the property there and make sure everything is A-OK. (The lot was perfect.) After an unusually long wait for the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton, we passed through Langley on the way up through Freeland and to the lot. After a quick checkup on the site, we drove the mile north to South Whidbey Island State Park to have a picnic and a walk on the beach. Naturally, we ended up taking more photos of the doggs than of people or scenery, but that’s what we do. Enjoy.
July 17, 2009 · Filed under Beene, Entertainment
This really belongs on the Velominati since technically it’s from an ad in a cycling magazine, but it’s relevance hits a much broader field than “just cycling”.
For anyone who has ever met The Beenebag, this image will have immense meaning to you.
June 29, 2009 · Filed under Cycling, DM Products
I have started a new cycling blog called Velominati – keepers of the cog! The goal of the blog is as-yet not clearly defined, but it will be cycling-specific and I 
will do most of my cycling posts over on Velominati from now on, so make sure to add it to your news aggregator. (For now, all I”ve done is copy all my cycling-related posts to velominati.com, but new stuff will be posted soon.)
The reason I started the blog is partly because I love writing about cycling, but I am also hoping to find other people who enjoy it and want to contribute as well. Topics could cover local racing, pro racing, Pacific Northwest cycling routes, technique, bicycle maintenance, gear reviews, or something cool I haven’t thought of. So, I am inviting anyone who enjoys cycling and writing to become a contributor and help make the voice of this new blog. Contact contribute@velominati.com add tell us why you would like to contribute!
June 19, 2009 · Filed under Cycling, Doping
Tom Boonen, one of my favorite riders, tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition drug test (for the second – or maybe his third – time). 
Both WADA and the UCI don’t consider this a positive dope test because cocaine is an amphetamine whose effect lasts for only a short while and thus is only banned during competition, and even then it’s only considered positive if the drug is found to have a concentration of more than 0.5 ng/mg. That means that any control that comes back positive for cocaine during an out-of-competition drug test should be considered negative.
Boonen tested positive for cocaine during his recuperation time between Paris-Roubaix (which he won) and the next goal of his season, which is to win the Green jersey at the Tour. Tom says he doesn’t remember taking the drug, but acknowledges that he suffered a blackout from drinking too much the night before the test and, given the apparent availability of cocaine in nightclubs in Belgium, does not rule out that he may have taken some. However, it has since been revealed that his “positive” test was for a concentration of 0.09 ng/mg, which falls well below the threshold for a positive control and should therefor actually be considered a negative test.
This has not stopped the most autocratic organization in cycling – the ASO (who organizes the Tour de France and is thus the most powerful organization in cycling) – to declare that Boonen is “unwelcome” at the Tour due to his positive test. Meanwhile an independent panel has asserted that in order for the concentration to be so low, Boonen must of had only indirect contact with the drug and in any case does not use regularly. Basically, he didn’t inhale.
It is absolutely necessary to have out-of-competition drug tests. The most effective drugs in cycling like, for example, EPO, have lasting effects for up to 30 days and can only be detected for a small number of days after taking the substance. Obvsiuosly, any rider with even half a brain will not take the drug immediatly before or during a competition while the substance can be detected but will instead take it some time ahead of the race. Therefor, the UCI has to be allowed to test for the drug arbitrarily during the season. Cyclists are required to account for their whereabouts for each and every day during the year and guarantee their availability for a drug test for a 4-hour window each day.
Obviously, this is a huge sacrifice of personal freedom and many consider it an invasion of privacy. The argument that it is required in order to gaurentee fairness in the sport and an invasion of privacy both have merrit, but I strongly believe that out-of-competition tests should test – or at the very least report – only drugs that are on the out-of-competition prohibited substance list. The fact that Boonen had cocaine in his system is irrelevant to the sporting world and a private issue between him and legal authorities in Belgium. I find the fact that it was made public disgusting. If I take a drug and test positive during an interview process, I expect that to be a matter between me, my prospective employer, and any authorities they would be obligated to report the test results to. It should be no different for a professional cyclist, especailly given that they may be tested any day of the year.
ASO, please reconsider and let Boonen race.
May 3, 2009 · Filed under Entertainment
I am happy to see that Influenza H1N1 (or as Michelle – who is an Epidemiologist – likes to call it, “Oink-Oink-Cough-Cough”), has taken a decline recently. Throughout the epidemic, some people have reacted rationally, others less rationally, but one thing is clear: it’s fantastic not to read about the impending economic implosion of the word and get back to some good old fashioned Biblical plagues.
The news has been going nuts about this thing, and the fact is, this flu has been around the block before and the U.S. even experienced a Swine Flu outbreak in The Most Awesome Year Ever, 1976. But, if you think this has been a poorly handled matter, I would like to call your attention to the Typhus Fever outbreak in El Paso, Texas, in 1917. Similarly to our recent Influenza H1N1 epidemic, Mexico was blamed for the outbreak. As Typhus is flea-born, the Public Health Strategy was to bathe all Mexican workers in kerosene before crossing the border from Mexico to Texas. What could go wrong? Well, for an “outbreak” totaling three cases, there was the unfortunate incident of one of the kerosene baths being ignited and killing or injuring between 50 and 60 people.
I, for one, am glad we’re not turning everyone with Swine Flu into a Molotov Cocktail, but I definately hope this kid gets what’s coming to him. Thanks to Lee for bringing this to our attention.
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