6,372 indivudual visitors yesterday, with 8,994 page views, 7,084 of those on the Levi Gran Fondo post alone.

seems like people do give a hoot, though montanagirl was particularly irked with herself for reading an article that eschews CAPITAL letters, so much so that she wrote to tell me just that:

“If you’re going to criticize someone so harshly in such a public forum, you should be able to capitalize your sentences. I’m actually bummed I clicked on this and gave you the trafffic [sic].”

apparently if i ‘judged’ less harshly, it’d be ok to use lower case all the time. good to know. i’ll tone it down for you montanagirl – by the way, way to not use capitals in your name, ‘atta girl!

someone else asked why was i picking on Levi, and not the other ‘bad boys’ of the peloton? well, first off, imagine the length of the article if i had to write about every doper every time i wrote abut doping? you know how exhausting this sh*t is already? i’d LOVE to be writing stuff like this every day, or like this, but unfortunately i can’t, because there are far more pressing concerns right now in this sport i love so much.

so for those of you new to crankpunk & company who seem to be sulking at home because i’m ‘only’ picking on Levi, here’s a few links to get your ire a-rising again…

My Beef With Ex-Dopers Part 1

My Beef With Ex-Dopers Part 2

The Lovely JV

Willett, O’Grady, The Romans, Us and Saul Bellow

Doping In Cycling – Speak Now Or Forever Shut The F*ck Up

Amgen

there are loads more, if you can be bothered.

to those who say ‘well it was every thus’ – yes, you are right in that, but wrong to be wearied as a result.

i wrote this a long time ago but as i read it now, i still believe it:

“…so, what’s the point of all this? the point is that, unless we find a way to ‘unlearn’ thousands upon thousands of years of human behaviour, or to eliminate the ‘rogue’ genes that allow for cheating and doping from our sportsmen, we will always have people ready to do it. this doesn’t mean the riders have no responsibility – they bear a great deal. but essentially what we need is a system that curtails ingrained behaviour and encourages athletes to perform clean. we need penalties that are sufficient to discourage cheating, and, most critically, an apparatus, an institutional framework of credible managers and coaches and dedicated officials who are free of corruption, to govern the sport.

then perhaps we can consider talk of  a ‘Golden Era’ – and instead of it being dead and in the past, it could, if we do it right, be ahead of us. let’s honor those young men who so tragically  passed away [in the early 90s from heart attacks in their sleep as a result of abusing EPO] by not f***ing this up anymore. they, you, we, deserve that.”

from ‘It Was Ever Thus: A Brief History of Tripping to Victory‘

finally, this from Terry:

“I’m sure none of my fellow commentors would never watch or buy from a sponsor of ANY sport that is full of dopers, like the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, Pro Golf, Pro Tennis, Soccer, Boxing, Swimming, Track and Field. Lets not forget the sex DRUGS and rock n roll, so no music. For that matter, would any of you even deal with someone who drove 1 mph over the speed limit or “fudged” a tax return? Not me, I’m not that perfect. I love riding with Levi, George, watching NFL…..”

and a reply from MythBuster:

“Nice straw man Terry. You even added a hat with that tax return touch…”

keep ’em coming folks, keep ’em coming…!