Someone asked in a recent comment about my take on the current European doping controversy. I've been thinking a lot about it, and I think my initial response is pretty well in line with most fans of the sport: disappointment. It's sad to see the biggest event in the sport that I love tarnished so completely. But beyond that surface reaction, I have a much deeper sense of satisfaction in seeing cheaters caught. Doping by any method is cheating, and cheating is a form of theft. And since I'm an individual who is trying to make a living at cycling in an honest fashion, the cheaters are stealing directly from me. They're stealing race results from me, they're stealing positions in the top teams from me, and most importantly, they're squandering the trust of fans and sponsors. That makes me angry.

Unfortunately though, I can't make any statements about the breadth of the problem. It's a complicated question since so much of the success of a cyclist, or any other endurance athlete for that matter, depends on the individual's level of natural talent. And that, unluckily for most of us, is genetically determined. Personally, I know I'm an average athlete and I'm simply trying to make the best of the talent I have. Not everyone who is better than me is a cheater, and I wouldn't necessarily be better than every doper if they ceased doping. It's the uncertainty that bothers me.

But what does that say about doping in Europe and America? It's not too clear, but here's my take. Keep in mind that this is all conjecture. Europe is the big leagues, where there's lots of money and fame to be had. Those are both strong incentives to cheat, and doubtlessly a lot of people do. But, it's also entirely conceivable that athletes who are complete statistical outliers - freaks on the far edge of the scale - can compete clean. And I'm sure many are doing so. Figuring out the difference is the trick, and I don't think we'll ever be able to make any determinations with complete certainty.

As for America, we simply don't have the economic incentives to cheat, and I don't think many people are doing so. The best cyclists in America don't get rich and they don't get famous, they simply go to Europe. And if a rider has to dope to be competitive here, their chances there are non-existent, regardless of whether or not everyone there is doing it. I've had a couple of the top riders here comment to me that the main reason they race in the US is that they can do it clean. Now, whether that's because everyone in Europe is doping or because the riders in question simply aren't good enough to compete over there without doping is up for debate, but I think it says a lot regardless. However, as was shown with Adam Bergman a couple years ago, there are cheaters in the US. And they don't go around talking about it to the very people that they're stealing from, so they're hard to spot. Adam was my teammate at the time and regardless of how obvious it was in retrospect, I don't think any of us on the team had any idea at the time. The point, though, is that here in the US at least, dopers are rare. Rare and sad. If someone feels the need to cheat in order to gain slightly more fame and no more money than a checker at Wal-Mart, all while wearing an uglier uniform, then I think the main emotion that should be collectively invoked for them is sympathy.

But enough of that. I'm in the process of getting ready for the Cascade Classic in Bend, which starts in just over a week. I'm finally starting to feel good again and I'm looking forward to racing over there. It's always been one of my favorite races. Over the last couple of days I've managed some really great training. Yesterday I got whalloped by Aaron Olsen at the Mt. Tabor Circuit race. He made everyone else look kind of silly, but it was a good hard day of trying to chase him down nonetheless. Today, Evan Elken and I did a great ride up the side of Mt. Hood to the top of Lolo pass. We rode the MAX out to Gresham to make it a little shorter, but it still ended up being 105 miles and close to 6 hours on the bike. It was well worth it, though. Some pictures are below.