California - Day Three - heartrates, parts bling, doping

Today was nothing special - a two hour ride which ended up about 2:15. My legs were a bit fatigued - not noticeable until 10 or 20 seconds into any efforts (I only made a couple). Good things were that I have no saddle issues, no sore or tender tendons, and no muscle problems (cramps or extreme soreness). My stomach though, still touchy. I guess this happens when I ride a lot.

I spent a bit of time in the small ring today. The contrast in efforts is apparent if I lay out some stats:
1. In Florida, my average heart rate was usually 135 bpm. On the longest ride I did a lot of work - the average was 141 or so.
2. My average yesterday, for the first three hours, was 151. For the whole ride, 147. A killer ride for me.
3. Today I went 120.

After the ride, and during dinner, my friend and I chatted about bikes, frames, etc. We talked about the new Ultra Torque Campy cranks - and how I couldn't justify the $550 or $600 to get them. We discussed the new super light frames - sub 900 grams, which makes them about a pound lighter than my reasonably light carbon frame. But they cost something like $3000. My perceived value of a bike is about $2500 so that frame is just way out of my league.

One of the big news items in the cycling world is that Floyd has denied permission for his B samples to be tested for exogenous testosterone. That just doesn't seem right - if he was clean, he'd allow the samples to be tested (it was the US anti doping association that asked to test, not the French one, so they'd probably have the samples tested in a more secure lab).

I've always thought they should skip the test:epi ratio test since it's vulnerable to a number of masking strategies. But (and I'm guessing here) it's probably more expensive. It seems more involved from what I've read. So basically the Feds (federations) let racers get away with exogenous testosterone as long as they can control the test:epi ratio. It's sort of like marking where your speed traps are situated - if you're dumb enough to speed there, you'll get caught. But you can go as fast as you want between them.

In other news, I got an email from from the website from which I downloaded the "LA Confidential" translation pdf (which, incidentally, I still don't know if it's really the translation). They have EPO on sale - 300,000 IU for $1600, delivered to your door, next day, guaranteed delivery, in easy to use styrettes (sp?). They even explain how to use said needle devices. I'm not sure how long 300,000 IU's lasts but I think it's a while - like 150 days at 2000 IU microdoses.

Interesting, isn't it? It costs less than a nice frame for a year of stronger riding.

No wonder there's so much doping going on.

Anyway, tomorrow is a group ride, if the weather is reasonable.