ROME, April 26 (Reuters) - Italian cyclist Ivan Basso has complained about what he calls "time-bomb justice" after the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping office on Tuesday reopened an investigation into the 2006 Giro d'Italia winner.

"I'm not going to give up, I'm going to carry on. I'm strong-minded," he was quoted as saying in Thursday's edition of the Milan-based newspaper Il Giornale. "However, I feel really frustrated. If these latest events had emerged in December or January, everything would have been clarified and closed now, for good or bad. "Instead, new documents have suddenly arrived two weeks before the start of the race (the Giro d'Italia). First they let me train like a donkey and then say 'Sorry, please stop and explain'. That's a time-bomb form of justice."

Basso was suspended by his Discovery Channel team on Tuesday after the reopening of the investigation into his implication in Operacion Puerto, a Spanish police probe into blood doping by a group of doctors in Madrid.

Basso, who has been summoned to appear before investigators in Rome next month, also said he would accept a DNA test. "I'll be there on May 2 to understand what new things I'm facing. My DNA? I've already given my permission to everybody, my team and even to the anti-doping investigators," Basso told Il Giornale.
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Ivan is absolutely correct that these stories have an all to familiar pattern of popping just before a big Tour. Amen, brother. On the other hand, if he was so confident of your innocence, he could have ended this whole situation during the winter, or last fall or even just after this story broke last July. Instead, it was a constant list of explanations and excuses but never a willingness to give a DNA sample for comparison. You're putting up a good front right now but my hunch is that you have raced your last race.

I'm happy to see the Italians also going after Scarponi and possibly other Italians implicated in the case. Now, if only the Spanish would get off their burros and seriously investigate the Spanish riders implicated in Puerto some progress might actually be made. They started this whole mess. Let's see a little action on their part. And, while we are pointing fingers, let's see the high and mighty ASO equally apply their refusal to allow suspected riders from taking part in their rces. I like to watch Valverde race but if ASO is going to keep Basso from racing they better keep the suspected Valverde from racing as well.

A Grand Tour grows near and drug allegations surface, resurface or re-resurface. Who could have predicted this?

Basso is on the hot seat again because an Italian prosecutor is looking to reopen the Puerto case against him in Italy. As much as I hate hearing cyclist after cyclist being shown to be lying cheaters, especially ones that I generally like, I prefer it happen like this. The sooner this prosecutor gets the "Birillo" bags of blood, tests them and shows them to be Basso's the better it is in my view.

The accused athlete is probably better off accepting the penalty. Even if a rider proves himself innocent, he will only return to racing about 3-5 months earlier than if he fights the sanctions and, as a bonus, he doesn't go into the poor house trying to defend himself. None of this Landis nonsense that drags on for over a year.

I can understand Landis wanting to fight. His place in history is going down the drain. What difference does it make, though? He's just made to look sillier and sillier with each new test. They protest and protest, and I do admit some of their arguments have been compelling, but now his previous negative test are shown to have synthetic testosterone in them. Time for another round of excu... err... screams of protest, "Our expert wasn't there!"

Everything is a conspiracy. There's never any logical reason behind the conspiracy, of course, but when the heart overcomes the mind the only explanation can be a dark sinister puppet-master with an outrageous French accent in conjunction with the USADA that is controlling and keeping down the poor Mennonite boy on his bike. Whatever. Bye, Floyd. I like you. You seem like a genuinely nice guy and your stage win in the '06 Tour was one of the most memorable days of racing I know. Now, go away for a while and try to reclaim what's left of your disgraced name.

So, Ms Prosecutor, test those "Birillo" bags and end this Basso soap opera just like the Ullrich saga was mercifully put to bed a few weeks ago when his blood was found with Fuentes. Test all those blood bags and rid the sport as much as possible of the cheaters. So, Alejandro, Alberto and Jorg, when you face those microphones and pronounce your innocence you better be telling the truth. From experience, however, my gut says you studied the denial playbook really well when you rattle off your answers to questions and if there are any conspiracy puppet-masters in this soap opera it is the Directeur Sportif's like Bruyneel, Riis and Lefevre that talk the talk but likely are as dirty as anyone while using the cyclists as pawns in their game.

This morning there are more parts of my body that hurt than parts that feel good.  For several weeks my riding has been limited.  That was laziness on my part, plain and simple.  My fitness maintained a reasonable level but I realized that I needed to pick up the pace and familiarize my body with riding almost everyday or I will be a sobbing mass of goo in Italy. 
 
With that in mind, the five days of riding this week was good.  Tuesday's race was okay, at best, but I felt good about the Wed, Fri and Sat rides.  The body didn't recover well from Saturday's effort, though, and I paid for it.  I wasn't awful but when the road tilted up to more than about 5-6% the legs had very little power to give and I would drift off the back.  I drank much better on Sunday but still fought off some periodic cramping for almost half the ride.  The two consecutive days of cramping must be the source of my muscle soreness.  The sore lower back is just my typical weak lower back feeling the effort of the last few days.
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The heavy equipment has been moved in to remove snow on the Stelvio.  Heavy tractors and other smaller vehicles and cars were at the summit today.  Much of the top is cleared away and the road up from Bormio is clear.  That would explain the couple cars up there.  Duh!  The eastern slope still appears to be covered but I have to believe they will start clearing that soon enough.
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So, the first big construction of the I-64 rebuild started Friday night when they tore down the Tamm Ave. overpass.  Apparently, there are many people oblivious of what is going on around them and still tried to use that stretch of highway on Saturday and were then routed into a detour and a big traffic backup. 
 
A couple tips to those motorists.  First, turn off your Ipods and detach the cell phone from ears and you might actually learn what's going on around you.  You might even learn that the highway was going to be shut down so you could plan your route accordingly.  Second, you are not obligated to follow like lemmings the detour route set by MoDOT and get stuck in big traffic jams.  As one citizen noted on the Ch 2 news Saturday, "What these people don't realize is that if they would just go a couple blocks away they could avoid all this."  Stop using common sense, sir. 

Giuseppe and I went down to Prairie du Rocher Saturday. The day seemed calm when the ride started but the wind had picked while we were on the Bluffs down to Maeystown. The road to Prairie made for pretty hard riding just to go 19mph while it was easy to go 23 on the way back. I think the Bluffs were helping along that stretch of road because the crosswind started to become more noticeable as we got past Maeystown. The further north we the more the wind picked up. Then, along 255, went headlong into the wind. My mildly cramping legs did not appreciate the effort the rest of the way back to the Marketplace. My left hamstring locked up just a few hundred feet from the parking lot.
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I've given zero thought to Amstel Gold. Let me think who the obvious picks might be. Boogerd, Bettini, DiLuca, Schleck, Valverde.

The whole incident in Blacksburg a few days ago was terrible and senseless. The only bright spot being the guy off'd himself so we don't have to go through a trial and having him sit in jail forever. That having been said, let me preface my next statement by saying I'm not a heartless guy. I feel for the families who lost family members. Why, though, are so many other universities around the country (SLU and Wash U locally) having memorials? What purpose does that serve? There is no connection to Va Tech other than being another school and that is not a good reason in my view. I just don't understand.
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Just after leaving work today I turned onto the Rock Rd. I looked back to make sure no cars were coming and noticed at least two cop cars with flashing lights blocking half the road and the traffic backed up as a result. No one was behind me so I eased off the gas pedal to see what the story was, assuming it was an accident of some sort. Much to my surprise, as I turned around to look, a guy had his hands in the air and was dropping to his knees with a cop pointing a gun at him. Yikes! I stepped back on the gas pedal.
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The Stelvio continues to have a steady stream of temperatures in the 40's and the snow melt is going good. In recent days there have been footprints in the snow, tire tracks from some type of vehicle and even a tiny patch of the road became visible Wednesday. The BIG news though, came today. The road at the summit was plowed today. It didnt seem to extend down the mountain at all but a 200 ft or so stretch of the road was cleared of snow. Excellent.

Just over a month before we leave for Italy and about six weeks until we will be riding over this same road.

What they heck happened in GA today? You let a group of 8? win by 29 minutes? At some point the peloton probably realized their error and cruised to the finish but you don't often see them totally screw up a stage so badly that they have no hope of bringing it back.

A good number of teams were represented in the early break including the ProTour teams of Discover, CSC, Saunier and QuickStep as well as very good domestic teams like Navigators, Slipstream and HealthNet. What teams with the horsepower to bring back a big gap are left to chase? Strange, strange, strange...

Mark it: Brajkovic is going to win T of GA.

Mr. WhiteandblueCervelo wearing #142 in the "A" race last night, I didn't feel like chatting with you during the race and I didn't see you afterward.  No offense intended, but should you really have been in the "A" race?  If you are a Cat 1,2 or 3, please accept my apologies.  However, not often do 1/2/3's wear plain jerseys, have hairy legs (disregard my current stubble), take about 5 free laps and have absolutely no results on the road according to USA Cycling.

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Looks like Tyler needs a "natural break"
http://www.velonews.com/images/dom/12081.18247.f.jpg

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Tues Nite Worlds tonight. I went. I sucked. It wasn't total suckage but I just sat on the back the whole time in an utterly worthless display of riding.
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It was good to see that semi-local kid Nolan Froese was selected to ride the Junior Paris-Roubaix last weekend in France. He didn't finish but that's got to be an experience he will never forget.

Who is this Jackie Robinson guy?  Is he a hot new hip-hop artist?  I never heard of him before. 
 
Even if someone really had not heard of Robinson before, the media and MLB made sure you knew by the end of the weekend.  They pulled out their publicity mallet and beat you over the head for 72 hours with Robinson's story.  How long will it be before they want a national holiday for Robinson? 
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After watching Paris-Roubaix on Versus Sunday evening I am convinced they are unable to do one hour coverage of a bike race.  Especially a race like Paris-Roubaix that is splintered apart and ever-evolving.  Can good coverage be done in one hour?  Yes, but Versus don't seem to know how.  I sat on the couch, having avoided news reports of what took place, and was totally befuddled as to what was going on.  Here's a recap...
 
Race preview
Ralf Grabsch enters the Arenberg Forest
The pack enters the Arenberg.
Look, its a big crash
The pack leaves Arenberg
Here's Boonen's Specialized bike.
It has rubbery things in the fork (oops, he didn't really use that bike)
A chase group of unknown riders has formed
O'Grady attacks.
Phil and Paul have no idea where he came from (Think how we feel watching this)
Here is CSC's Cervelo bike for Roubaix.
It has squarish tubes.
O'Grady has 40 seconds on the chasers.
Boonen is shown flying past riders at what seems to be 40mph
Strangely enough, he's not catching the chase group or O'Grady.
O'Grady wins.
 
A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words.  When Versus does one-hour coverage of a race a picture is worth a thousand questions about what is taking place.
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Saturday I rode the trainer for a while.  Yes, I moaned about the race being cancelled because of the weather, and then I hide insde.  That's right.  I may race in the light rain that we had but I don't have much use for going out to train in that weather.  Normally, I will knock out an hour on the trainer with no problem but after twenty minutes I wanted to quit.   Not sure what was going on but I had nothing in the legs.  I rode for 1:15 but it was unpleasant.
 
Sunday morning it was time for Jeffco again.  Marco came out of semi-retirement and Ted made a an appearance along with Patrice's usual attendance. 
 
We mixed things up a little.  Among the differences were taking Lonedell all the way to Tomahawk, going down Binning and up Lion's Den, up E. Swaller, down Franks, up Byrnes Mill and the western slope of Jim Weber before going up Antire. 
 
Patrice brought his climbing legs and did quite well until he peeled off at High Ridge.  Ted seemed to struggle until High Ridge but seemed to find a rhythm on the Byrnes Mill, Jim Weber, Antire trifecta. 
 
As we were leaving the High Ridge Citgo, Ryan was pulling in and wanted us to join him down Franks, up Byrnes Mill etc.  Basically doing the loop we had just done.  Marco wasn't up for it and I needed to be back around noon.  Ted though took Ryan up on the offer,  so he must have been feeling better as time went on.  I sure hope he knew how to get back to the car after he and Ryan parted ways. 
 
The legs are a little sore today.

Blunt Honors Inaugural Bike Race; Proclaims Tour of Missouri Month
SportsGov. Matt Blunt presented Mike Weiss, Missouri president USA Cycling, with a proclamation declaring September Tour of Missouri Month in honor of Missouri's first ever statewide professional bicycle race. The first annual Tour of Missouri race is scheduled September 11-16.

Jefferson City, MO - infoZine - "The Tour of Missouri provides the opportunity to showcase Missouri's natural beauty and hospitality to the world," Gov. Blunt said. "The tour will span the state and bring tourists and visitors to communities across Missouri. This special event will not only be a lot of fun, it will generate economic growth and bolster our tourism industry. It has been a pleasure working with Lieutenant Governor to bring the tour to Missouri and I am pleased to issue this proclamation declaring September Tour of Missouri Month."

"I believe The Tour of Missouri Pro Cycling Race will soon find its way into the hearts of many Missourians. I thank Governor Blunt for his vision and support to help make this great race a reality. I am proud that the Governor has asked me to lead the team that has worked so hard to make the Tour of Missouri a success" Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder said.

The Tour of Missouri professional bicycle race will involve athletes that compete in the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España, the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de Georgia, and the Tour of California. The national and international coverage of the race will highlight the state's countryside and communities that include Kansas City, Clinton, Springfield, Branson, Lebanon, Columbia, Jefferson City, St. Charles and St. Louis among others. The tour routes will vary each year and will spread the tourism benefits throughout the entire state.

Put another notch in Mother Nature's belt for a cancelled/postponed race. Well, not really. Much like Froze Toes, my intuition and every forecast I read says there is no weather related reason to cancel. The conditions may not be pleasant Saturday but I seriously doubt it will be worthy of a cancellation. There is some talk of snow but with temperatures from the mid 30's to the low 40's it will be nothing but wet.

As I said at the time of Froze Toes, the promoter certainly has the right to cancel a race. There seems to be a trend, though, of being overly cautious and quick to cancel when forecasts point toward other conclusions. No big deal. This just gives more time to train.
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There will be no cancellation of Paris-Roubaix this Sunday. I might as well make my picks right now. In no particular order...
Cancellara - I do think he will win
Boonen - He seems a bit off his game but certainly good enough to contend
Gusev - He's been strong and proved last year that he is capable at Roubaix
Hoste - Steady, strong and praying for a solo victory so he doesn't get nipped in yet another sprint.
Ballan - I like him more on a course that isn't so flat but he showed his form last weekend and did well last year.

Wouldn't be surprised by... Flecha, O'Grady, Eisel, Hammond

Sentimental picks: Wesemann, Michaelsen, Backstedt, Van Petegem and Franzoi

Thoughts and comments on Flanders after reading live updates and watching on VS.
- Cancellara caught Devolderitis 50km from the finish and thought he could ride 10 people off his wheel. Nice try. I have to wonder if that wasn't a little practice for Roubaix.
- Devolder, seeing Cancellara trying to steal his thunder, immediately tried to bridge up to Fabian's pointless attack. Nice try Stijn.
- Freire absolutely dropped anchor at the foot of the Muur.
- At the Muur, Boonen looked like I usually feel on a hill and you could see the heart being ripped out of him. He looked so good to start. Then he looked back and saw everyone on his wheel. That was the beginning of the end. He dug deep for a few more seconds, looked back and they were still there. Soon enough, the pedal revs began to slow ever so slightly and the pace eased up. Ballan saw the opening and flew by, then Hoste, then Boogerd. It was a rare sign of weakness by Boonen not unlike last year in Roubaix. You expect him to have an answer to just about anything and when he doesn't respond you are almost surprised that he is human at times.
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Television doesn't always do justice to how fast the pros can be. This short (13 sec) video shows Ballan approaching the top of the Muur-Kapelmuur and shows the speed pretty well. This is steep, on cobbles, and they are flying.

My comments about NBC's coverage of the US Open shouldn't be put to bed without a comment on Frankie Andreu. NBC put him on one of the Moto's for in-race coverage. Perhaps they should have tested the microphone before the race rather than subject the viewers to heavy static and wind every time they asked Frankie questions. On a positive note, every time they asked Frankie a question we heard lots of static and wind and we didn't have to hear Frankie talk. He did say that the temperature was 18 at the start. That's interesting. The National Weather Service said it was 33. Can you say hyperbole?
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Did you hear about the Spanish cruise that hit some rocks a couple days ago and sank yesterday. Most everybody got off the ship safely but I can understand family members being happy that their loved ones are safe. But really, should a dad be trying to look down his daughter's top?

Three months ago we hardly would have blinked at temperatures in the low to mid 20's. Seventy degree temperatures, though, have a way of thinning the blood and changing perspectives. This morning was flat out raw feeling. Strong winds didn't help matters as the head-crosswind stung our faces and broke the spirit of more than one of us at the start of the ride.

Finally finding a tailwind helped our morale. Even tackling the Mulenberg was welcomed for it's body warming effects. After some unintended exploration we got back on track, past the cold-damaged Eckert crops and into Millstadt before heading back to Columbia.

Only a two hour ride today but that was enough as I continue to try and get back on track. In general, I felt good. The Mulenberg was sluggish but the legs got better as time passed. Plenty of room for improvement still but progress is being made.
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The inappropriately named first US Open Cycling Championships were live on NBC today. Turned into an interesting race with some rough weather and a rough circuit through Richmond that devastated the field. Good to see Mike Lange of Slipstream snag a few good seconds of close up face time. Good race by Tuft and I'm glad to see McCarty's effort in the breakaway stick, by a bike length, for second place. That was a squeaker.

NBC's coverage was not bad. Trautwig's bold pronouncement of a Jelly Belly rider trying to bridge up to a break was pretty funny when it was a Toyota United rider filling the screen. Those yellow Jelly Belly kits are easily confused with red and blue Toyota United kits, I guess. Cutting away from the race with about 2 miles to go and big chase going on was rather untimely. I'll chalk that up to cycling inexperience on NBC's part but its still inexcusable. Would they cut away from the final batter in a World Series? Same difference.
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Sunday is probably my favorite race of the year, the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. If I had to pick five riders... Boonen of course. Ballan seems to be on the rise at the right time. Cancellara even though I still have doubts about him on the bergs. Pozzatto even though he let me down at M-SR. And finally, Devolder (if he shows some patience) because Discovery hasn't really had a bad race all year.

Thursday evening I felt sufficiently normal enough to again get on the bike for an hour or so.  Despite feeling better I was not going to push the pace too much.  This ride was all about moderation and getting the body moving again.  Small ring the whole time, 39x16 and 17. 

The cool, windy conditions that blew in a couple days ago felt good and seemed proper with Flanders and Roubaix taking place the next two weekends.  I rode through the rolling subdivision roads down to Parque Suson.  The redbud's remained strongly bloomed while the dogwoods were in the twilight of their floral glory.  Ducks wandered near the lakes, while horses and cows lazily roamed the field, softly lit by the evening light.  Five times I ascended both sides of the hill that leads into the park.  Only on the 10th and final ascent did I lift the tempo slightly to test myself. 

Satisfied with the ride, it was back through the hills of the subdivision and home after seeing who was roaming around the shopping centers on Tesson.  There were no ill effects from the ride so I appear to be well on the road to recovery.

I'm still not feeling 100%. For the most part everything is fine but I still feel somewhat lightheaded with fatigue at times. I got home this afternoon and was SO tired but couldn't really fall asleep either. I don't know what the problem is but maybe I will go to bed a little earier tonight.

I swear this next item is true. While knocking around in Yahoo today I saw this photo taken March 25th at the Denver Broncos cheerleader tryouts. She's a lovely woman, I am sure, but did she really have serious expectations of making the squad? Yummy!

I hate Hillsboro-Roubaix. Perhaps I should clarify that statement. The race itself is quite good. The twisty, narrow farm roads make for a cool course. However, I always suck eggs at this race. Every year I seem to forget the previous year's disaster and go with some expectations of doing well. Every year I get my arse handed to me. This year was no exception. I haven't been riding a whole lot so I have no one to blame but myself. Still, it gets frustrating.

Sunday, Giuseppe and I headed into Jeffco. Before the ride, we both proclaimed that we were feeling lousy. I went ahead and proved just how bad I felt. Not helping matters was a god awful headwind for an hour and a half regardless of any twists and turns the road took.

We kind of freelanced the route as we went but we still ended up in Haute Arete. Giuseppe asked where I wanted to go from there. "Home", I replied. That didn't appeal to Giuseppe but he did show some mercy and suggested going down Franks instead of up from there he suggested Old Gravois, to Crique d'ours and the Vallee du Crique de Roche. I grudgingly agreed to let him drag me around. Once we made it to Old Gravois he clarified his desire to climb Old Gravois before dropping back down and doing the other two climbs. If I had had the energy he would have gotten a punch in the gut.

I survived with all the energy of a slug, then rode home and proceeded to cut the grass as long as I was still sweaty. Afterward, I sat down and relaxed. I hardly moved the rest of the day except to eat. More and more I began to think my body had caught a bug of some sort. For a few minutes my body was chilled. Then, a while later, I was hot and sweaty. Even today, I was somewhat nauseous at work. Things have improved a little this evening so, hopefully, everything is headed back to normal.