Sleds 'N Freds!

In case you're wondering (or even if you're not, because I really don't care), my WorkCycles FR8 has slotted quite nicely into my artisanally-curated bespoke urban lifestyle:

The bike lives outside, heavily chained and pummeled by the elements, yet always at the ready for child-portaging or late night booze-and-baby-supply runs.

Funny how those two things go together.

Yes, the FR8 is a loyal and faithful companion, much like the canine:


Traditionally people refer to dogs as "man's best friend," but it would appear that increasingly they're becoming Fred's best friend as well:

Sure, you've seen baggy-shorted bros mountain biking with their panting dogs, but the latest iteration of dog-assisted racing gives new meaning to the term "Fred sled:"

"I was actually kind of surprised as a filmmaker, looking around trying to see 'OK, what kind of media is out there that covers this story,' and there's really nothing that is at the caliber of the film we're making here..."

Surprising, really?  You know, sometimes when the media isn't covering something there's a reason for it, and it's probably because enduro-mushing or whatever is simply one sport to many.  Really, unless the sled is laden with presents and driven by a jovial fellow in a red suit and white beard, you're going to be hard-pressed to find too many people who give a fuck:

Though I did appreciate this echo of the height of the fixed-gear craze of the mid-aughts:

"I can tell you from racing dogs that there is no more profound feeling than the connection of knowing that you are allowing their genetic perfection to be manifested in going straight ahead as fast as they can pulling down the trail."

Yep, it's a zen thing.  It's like you're totally one with the dog:

And in case you're wondering, the answer is "Yes, why of course the dogs are doping:"

The 5 controls on the athletes revealed no use of forbidden substances.

4 controls on dogs were also negative but, unfortunately, one dog urine sample was analyzed to contain caffeine, paraxanthine and theophylline. These substances are listed in § 2A of the list of forbidden substances as stimulants for the first two and bronchodilator for the last one.

The positive control was done on one dog of Igor Tracz (Poland) racing in the DR5-8 class.

Yes, it's always a tense moment when a dog is taken to doping control:

As for the humans, it's pretty easy to tell when they're doping, though you can only properly test them during a full moon:

(Lycanthrofred!)

It's a problem in other sports too:

Anyway, in this case they disqualified the human, which seems unfair because it's entirely possible the dog was doping without his knowledge:

Igor Tracz has been disqualified from the race where his dog was controlled positive and is banned from racing any race for a 6 months period starting on February 25 (date of the hearing panel decision) by the Polish hearing panel. Igor Tracz has been requested to give back the Silver medal he was awarded with.

As for the dog, he held a press conference during which he explained it's a false positive from eating yellow snow around the doping control hydrant:

Sounds plausible to me.

Speaking of corruption and sport, the cycling world is still reeling at the revelation that the 1993 Thrift Drug Triple Crown was fixed, and by "reeling" I mean "yawning:"

As cycling fans, we are accustomed to ethical conundrums.

Do we cheer for a popular rider who secretly admitted he used PEDs but never bothered to tell us?

Do we support a team whose owner tweets out racist garbage?

Should we hate on riders who doped in an era of rampant doping?

There are no correct or wrong answers to these questions, of course. Deciding where you stand is simply part of being a fan.

Wait, what?  There are no correct answers to those questions, really?  I don't know, they all seem pretty straightforward to me, especially that middle one.  Seriously, fuck him and his team, the whole ass-grabbing lot of 'em.

Between Tinkoff's racism and Merckx's disregard for human rights it makes you want to defect for a sport with more integrity, like jai alai.

Yet incredibly, fans are still willing to rationalize:

By all accounts, Armstrong’s winning move was a motorcycle-like attack up the Manayunk wall. If he indeed fixed the race, he still had to get into the winning breakaway and attack like a rocket up the climb. If he proposed some cash agreement to his breakaway companions before the move, then he was just increasing his already strong chances at victory. In that scenario, I’m more inclined to shrug the episode off the usual mid-race agreement, only with a major incentive.

Though I suppose that's understandable, since the only way to remove the cheating is to also remove the high stakes, and competitive cycling without the stakes looks like this:

I mean sure, they're all on drugs too, just not the performance-enhancing kind.

Lastly, via VeloNews, here's a new threaded bottom bracket standard to replace the shitty press-fit one that replaced the threaded bottom brackets that worked great in the first place:


Argonaut / Chris King Precision Components / T47 Standard from Argonaut Cycles on Vimeo.

So wait, if threaded bottom brackets worked to well to begin with, then why did they...

Oh never mind.