Gravity Check
We’ve hit peak silly season again, all the talk is focused around who is going to what team, for how much (or how little), who’s running what bike, which parts and all the rest. This is all normal for this time of year. What isn’t normal are the whispers that are getting louder and louder about suspected doping. This year the EWS organisers at round three asked the French Anti-Doping Agency to come in and test riders. The whispers were getting so loud that in an attempt to manage the situation it has been confirmed by Chris Ball, the managing director and founder of the Enduro World Series, that there is an on-going enquiry by the French Agency that also carries out testing for the Tour de France.
Part of the press release featured this excerpt “If the riders in question are found to be in violation of the rules, appropriate sanctions will be applied by the Enduro World Series alongside any measures taken by AFLD.” The key thing to note in this quote is “riders”. Yes, that is a plural, which means out of the very select group that had been tested, more than 1 rider is under inquiry by the French. This will no doubt be a highly sensitive topic in the months to come, and does beg the question, have they been competing this whole season while under investigation?
This is something to be genuinely aggrieved about if it turns out to be true. The confirmation of an inquiry certainly doesn’t look good, but until all is made public, and hopefully it is made public, it is only speculation. Every sport has had its trouble with doping, none more so than cycling so as we wait in what could draw out to be many months, the lack of information provided from the respective governing bodies will only create a void that will be filled with false accusations and rumours, only damaging the sport we all enjoy. If it is found that athletes have been using performance enhancing drugs, the EWS organisation is faced with only one choice. Life bans are the minimum sentence, anything less will devalue the sport and the respect the organisation has built up in its initial few years of existence, a zero-tolerance policy is the only way forward.
Less of a rumour and more of a trend these days, racers are finding out that it isn’t such a bad idea to cross over and enjoy different cycling disciplines. Downhillers are much more inclined to race enduro as some good cross training, even the odd XC race is being attended by an adventurous few. Enduro guys are heading across into DH and XC racers are spending the day at Enduro rounds. It’s fantastic to see and helps build the community and drops some of the anti-social behaviour that isn’t normally associated with mountain biking. It’s not only restricted to mountain bikes, a lot of the enduro lords that are regulars at races are getting into cirt racing weeknights on the road. If you haven’t ever been to a weeknight crit at your local, I suggest you do. Get a couple of mates together, find some old clunkers with skinny wheels and head on down. Sign up to C grade and be prepared to get your doors blown off by 12-year-old kids and near on grandpas with bikes older than the ones your scored off your mate’s brothers’ uncle.
If you can make it through a couple of nights you will soon get into the swing of things though, and it won’t be long before you will start to sit comfortable in the bunch with the lycra brigade, not in a fashion sense of course, because I don’t think we will ever feel that comfortable in the presence of mamils in lycra, but the benefits of the cardio work out will make everyday life that much easier. When the time comes to swing a leg over the mountain bike on the weekends, things that used to seem hard will be a walk in the park, besides what could be more silly than mountain bikers beating roadies at their own game?