Archive for July, 2008

Premier Showcase of America’s Up and Coming Cycling Talent…

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

Hello Friends,

The 2008 USA Cycling U.S. Elite, U-23, and Junior National Championships of Road Cycling will host over 1500 participants in the disciplines of the Time Trial, Road Cycling and the Criterium, August 5 – 10, 2008hr. This event will bring together the top cycling talent from coast to coast, as well as the nation’s best future prospects. Additionally, we are proud to showcase Orange County for our event, and invite you to be a part of this exciting cycling adventure that will attract more than 10,000 spectators and participants.

The city of Anaheim will serve as the backdrop for this championship, with Irvine, Tustin, and Orange playing host to our race venues. In Anaheim, Disney World Wide of Sports® is helping with the Criterium event at Angel Stadium of Anaheim as well as with the awards ceremony in Downtown Disney®, while Irvine, Tustin and Orange will help in hosting the Time Trial and Road Racing events. Orange County is one of the most bicycle friendly cities in the nation, and boasts the highest count of registered cyclists with USA Cycling; hence we are very proud that our hometowns will play host to such a high-profile, national event.

Additionally, proceeds for this event will help the US Women’s Cycling Development Program. The US Women’s Cycling Development Program is a Non-Profit Organization, dedicated to finding the best females for our sport, providing comprehensive coaching, training and support, mentoring, fundraising and financial assistance, career management, sponsor development, and event team services. To learn more visit them at http://www.uswcdp.com
Registration is at https://www.sportsbaseonline.com


If you are looking for help with travel accommodations, have no fear! We are working with Disney and GET Travel (Disney Travel) for all your accommodations needs, and requests. With our partnership with Disney, we are asking for everyone to help in making sure we use their travel arrangements, and also, we require each participant to purchase a two day park hopper pass. When you purchase the park hopper pass as a participant, you automatically qualify to ride your bike, in your kit, in the new California Adventure Parade. That’s right, you get to be in the parade at Disney, on your bike, in your kit!
In addition to the parade, all awards ceremonies will be held at Downtown Disney, adjacent to Disneyland and California Adventure. The awards will be held next to the ESPN zone, and will be a festival type atmosphere.
Need any equipment at a discounted price? Let us know. Rock-n-Road Cyclery is your one stop shop for purchasing equipment prior to, during, and after our event. Not only that, but there will be mechanics available to put your bike together when you arrive. Please visit
http://www.rocknroadcyclery.net to view locations, and or contact us for help

Are you curious about Sponsorship for the National Championships? Email us at jet@jetcycling.com and ask how you can market your products to a national audience. We have a variety of levels for you to chose from. For those of you looking for EXPO Space, we are having our EXPO during our Crit Event at Angels Stadium, Thursday August 7th from 8 am to 5 pm. Call us to reserve your spot! Be part of the group that wants to give back to the sport that we love. Participate as a sponsor, and give back to cycling.
Thanks to all the support we’re getting from the U.S. Women’s Cycling Development Program http://www.uswdp.org, USA Cycling “http://www.usacycling.org, Rock-n-Road Cyclery, Disney/GET Travel and many more.
Here’s a schedule of all the Races and Events-
Tuesday August 5th Participants in the Disney’s California Adventure at 4pm
Registration and riders meetings
Wednesday August 6th Time Trial through Santiago Canyon
Thursday August 7th Criterium at Angels Stadium
Friday August 8th Junior 10-16 Road Races in Irvine
Saturday August 9th Women 17-18, U23, and Elite Road Races, Mens 17-18, U23
Sunday August 10th Men 17-18, U23, and Elite Road Race in Irvine

Awards at Downtown Disney 4pm to 6pm Wednesday to Sunday.


Cycling in California has been growing rapidly and not just with recreational cyclists and local races, but with high-profile events such as the Tour de California that are attended by a worldwide audience. Additionally, this area has hosted many national and international track races. Hence, we welcome the opportunity to put on this National Event in 2008 and 2009! We want to encourage all Elites, U23, and junior riders to come out, have fun, and enjoy the warm weather and beautiful environment in Southern California.

We are now looking toward the cycling community and beyond for support for our event. We need sponsorship dollars to help pay for the costs of these championships, and with your help we can make cycling a better sport, while at the same time promoting and raising the profile of your company or organization. Additionally, the profits of this event will be presented to both the US Women’s Cycling Development Program, and to our local junior development programs.

Southern California is a beautiful place, full of opportunities and dreams. Visit our blog for more information at http://www.jetcycling.wordpress.com

Thank you

JET Tanner
JET Cycling and USA Cycling Certified Coach
Point of Contact for Road Nationals
714.801.0962

Bizarro Justice

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

The CaliRado Cyclist

When I was younger, I used to think that I wanted to win the Tour de France. Now that I’m older, I am somewhat grateful I never did. After all, it seems lately that life is not all yellow jerseys and champagne for those who find success in the Tour.


Perhaps more troubling than any doping concern is the fact that the recent Landis and Rasmussen verdicts (conveniently delivered the week before the Tour starts) are just the latest in a growing list of bike-related litigation which further indicates the lowly status of the athletes within the hierarchy of the sport. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – This would NEVER happen to a baseball or football player who had the support of a legitimate workers union.

Whether F-Landis or The Chicken cheated is virtually irrelevant at this point as far as I’m concerned. What is exceedingly relevant however, is the solemn understanding that the “accused cyclist” is immediately presumed guilty and is no longer judged by a standard legal system. To make matters worse for the athlete, it is now apparently possible to be penalized financially for defending yourself too vigorously.

In fact, the whole doping adjudication process is almost like some weird Bizarro Justice System where the accused must assume the burden of proof and the accuser is virtually immune to any potential evidence of wrong-doing or error. Does this seem problematic to anyone else? Even a Bizarro World Lawyer would probably say “Me not understand this legal system because it are opposite of what me have been taught in Law School.”

Here is the comment from the CAS that sums this up nicely:

“The [facility] is a WADA-accredited laboratory that benefits from the presumption that it [is] in accordance with international standards.”

Okay then, case closed. The lab is WADA accredited so they must have done everything exactly right and couldn’t have possibly made any errors. Now I get it.

One question though – What are the international standards regarding leaking private information to large French newspapers on a fairly regular basis? I guess the Lab Rats are only capable of compromising their ethics verbally.

As far as I can tell, the following statements are factual:

- The chain of custody of Floyd Landis’ samples was broken by the lab on at least one occasion and there were multiple errors in the documentation of the samples.

- Rabobank knew of Michael Rasmussen’s whereabouts prior to the 2007 Tour and team management was aware that he was not conforming to his stated UCI location.

I understand that Rasmussen having his racing license suspended does not directly relate to Rabobank - but it seems clear that they knew what was going on prior to the Tour and only canned The Chicken after things got public during the race. Ultimately, Rabobank has a certain culpability in this mess and their willingness to throw Rasmussen under the big orange and blue bus was kind of foul. Or fowl?

I don’t agree with what Rasmussen did but his employer took advantage of him and I have issues with the terms of his termination.

Now, unlike Star Jones, I am not a lawyer. Jackie Chiles and Bob Loblaw are close personal friends of mine, but I do not have any formal legal training. Having said that, I find it hard to understand how Landis could be PROVEN guilty after his sample was mishandled and Rasmussen could be fired for LYING about his location when his employer knew where he was the whole time.

Perhaps Cirroc, the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer could explain it to me because I’m pretty sure F-Landis and The Chicken can’t.

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