Darryl Gunson

When's the next time we can pick up kit Kenny?

I know that we've been meeting at the clubrooms for reliability runs but aren't we going to resume normal service and meet at the BIH. I've been told not and I note that there is no reference to BIH on our web page. Is there a problem?

Darryl

Derek

if you are short of volunteers, then I will be happy to take part. I actually work at the Uni so it would not be a problem for me. E-mail me here, or at work ([email protected]) or, if you prefer, call me at work on 848 3776 (secretary 3766 if I'm not in)

good luck with the project

Darryl Gunson

Boom boom

Just bumped into Christian. He's in town until Sunday morning should any of you wish to contact him.

cheers

Darryl

Thanks Scott

 

that's certainly made me think twice about the test. I had my last antibiotic yesterday. And although I've been riding the bike, I've tried not to over exert my self. Testing to exhaustion though...I don't know.

 

Does anyone else have a view on this: will it be ok to do this test if you've just gotten over a sinus/chest infection?

 

Actually, put like that it sounds obvious that I shouldn't bother this time

Maybe I should just dip out...

 

cheers

 

Darryl

 

I've had a word with Andy Young and he advises against it. So, there is a spare slot if anyone needs it.

 

cheers

 

Darryl

Did I say Andy Young???

I did, of course, mean Mark.

hope you all get the data you're hoping for

cheers

Darryl

Thanks Scott

 

that's certainly made me think twice about the test. I had my last antibiotic yesterday. And although I've been riding the bike, I've tried not to over exert my self. Testing to exhaustion though...I don't know.

 

Does anyone else have a view on this: will it be ok to do this test if you've just gotten over a sinus/chest infection?

 

Actually, put like that it sounds obvious that I shouldn't bother this time

Maybe I should just dip out...

 

cheers

 

Darryl

I've had a word with Andy Young and he advises against it. So, there is a spare slot if anyone needs it.

cheers

Darryl

Thanks Scott

that's certainly made me think twice about the test. I had my last antibiotic yesterday. And although I've been riding the bike, I've tried not to over exert my self. Testing to exhaustion though...I don't know.

Does anyone else have a view on this: will it be ok to do this test if you've just gotten over a sinus/chest infection?

Actually, put like that it sounds obvious that I shouldn't bother this time

Maybe I should just dip out...

cheers

Darryl

Could one of you post a brief description of what this test involves please. If you're paying good money and the test is hard, it might be a waste of money to red-line it on Thursday night (Glengarnock or in the hoos on the Turbo )

thanks

Darryl

The Sunday Times - Sport

February 15, 2004

Cycling: Dead at 34

DAVID WALSH

Marco Pantani was first kicked out of cycling in 1999, but he had pushed the self-destruct button long before being banned

The news agencies reported that the 1998 Tour de France winner Marco Pantani was found dead at his apartment in Rimini last evening, and an Italian friend said he was in a hotel and was discovered dead by the manager. What is certain is the sadness at Pantani’s premature death and the suspicion that it was utterly avoidable. Modern sport, in all its hypocrisy, has claimed another victim.

Italian police said the cause was as yet unknown, but that he had not died a violent death. A police team was conducting inquiries at the scene and medical tests were due to be carried out.

In Italy last night they showed clips of Pantani soaring away from his rivals in the Alps and Dolomites. They presented him as he desperately wished to be seen. And although they dared not say it, those victories came at a terrible price as Pantani paid for each one with a part of his life. He had been an unwell man for much of the last 10 years and while we await the official cause of his death, we already know where and when it started to go seriously wrong for Pantani.

He was a very talented bike rider, maybe the purest mountain climber since Lucian Van Impe or, before him, Charly Gaul. It was his bad luck to arrive on the professional cycling scene at around the same time as the dangerous blood-boosting drug, erythropoieitin. No matter how gifted, no rider could compete with those on EPO unless he, too, used the drug. When Pantani began, it wasn’t even banned.

But from the earliest days of his career, it was clear that he had a problem. He crashed during the 1995 Milan to Turin race and when taken to hospital, it was discovered he had an haematrocrit level of 60. The average level of male athletes is around 42 or 43 but Pantani’s blood was so rich in red cells, and consequently so thick, that the medical people treating him knew that something was amiss.

After a few days in hospital, his haematocrit level dropped to 16, an even more alarming situation than the abnormally high 60. But then a couple of doctors came from another town to visit Pantani and his haematrocrit level rose to 38. What was obvious back then was that the rider’s body was not always capable of producing its own red cells and that Pantani needed to be protected from himself.

But he had miles to ride and a Tour de France to win. What a travesty of a sporting event that 1998 Tour de France was. The police found drugs pretty much wherever they looked, five Spanish teams pulled out because they didn’t like the police presence and cycling’s No 1 team, Festina, was kicked out of the race because it was found with the biggest drugs cargo of all. And that was the race Marco Pantani won. He climbed the mountains at a speed that had never before been seen in the race and he took his place among the Tour’s champions.

Only recently a woman who worked with one of the teams in that race remarked that even in the midst of an overwhelming police presence, the cars bringing the drugs were still arriving at Pantani’s hotel. But what did anybody care as long as the man we called “The Pirate†continued to climb like an angel? The following year he was again dominant in the Tour of Italy but with two days to go his haematocrit level was 53 and he was banished from the race.

Cycling’s authorities say that an haematocrit level of 53 doesn’t prove a rider has used EPO but they knew about Pantani. Everybody did. Even that day, he showed up 15 minutes late for the drug test and they knew he had been using a saline drip to thin his blood and get his haematocrit down below the 50 threshold.

But everybody stayed quiet and waited for Pantani to come and animate the next mountain race. He was a fiercely aggressive rider in the mountains and loved by the tifosi. In cheering all the way to the summit, we hastened his descent.

There are a few good men and one of them, Professor Sandro Donati, tried to make the authorities see sense. Donati works for the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) but has rarely had that body’s support and when Donati said Pantani should not be allowed to compete in Sydney he was overruled.

Donati had asked his medical commission to test all Italian athletes going to the Olympics; they found that Pantani’s body was not producing red cells at that time and that what the rider needed was medical help, not more competition. Pantani went to Sydney and the madness continued. His health further deteriorated but he clung onto the belief that he could again be the great climber.

Maybe it was the realisation that his health just wasn’t getting better that brought on depression last year, when he spent two months in a psychiatric hospital. Speaking from Rome last night, Sandro Donati expressed his sorrow at Pantani’s death and his disgust at those who contributed to it.

“This night,†he said, “there are some doctors in Italy who should not sleep easily. Journalists, too, played their part. They knew what he was doing and they urged him to go faster and faster. When he won, they said he was a legend, when he was very unhealthy. Marco Pantani could have been a legend by telling young people what he had done and how it had affected his life.â€

It would be easy to recall the majesty of Pantani in full flight, but it would another piece of hypocrisy. Better to remember that Pantani was destroyed by his ambition and by a sport with no will to police itself properly.

It is also worth remembering another great climber of this era, Jose Maria Jimenez. He was a Spaniard and they called him “Chabaâ€, an affectionate nickname for a man who thrilled the fans with his daring in the mountains.

Every other year, he would win the mountains jersey in the Tour of Spain and in 1998, the same year Pantani won the Tour de France, Chaba achieved his best placing by finishing third in the Vuelta.

Chaba Jimenez died two months ago, found dead in a psychiatric hospital. There was talk of cocaine but cycling people knew what it truly was. Another grim reminder of the carnage caused by a sport that has long been out of control.

I propose the following:

 

 

1 Sean 19:00

2 Darryl 19:30

3 Paul mcd 20:00

4 Scott D 20:30

5 Stu D 21:00

6 Stevie B 21:30

 

I am working late on friday so i reckon its best if i go last to save any problems.

 

Any that would like an earlier time please change the order.

 

 

Cheers

 

Stevie .B.

Any chance I can have the 8 or 8.30 slot so I have a chance to get the kids off to bed?

Age: 3weeks; Sex: boy; Weight: 10lb8oz

McG: Age 41, Sex: given it up; Weight 10stone (63/64kg)

All the best Paul

i'll see you in the week then when I pick up my bike

Darryl

Friday 20th for me

I'd definitely be interested Kenny. It'd be good to know whether or not I just need a new set of plugs or a major overhaul

Superb report Christian.

Darryl

Thank you to all members who donated prizes for the raffle at the presentation.

£126 was raised from the raffle and £66 from the Scott Sunderland jersey,

Good to see so many members in attendance at the event to applaud our worthy champions. Thanks to all willing helpers who carried out tasks to ensure the event went smoothly ( you know who you are

Special thanks to Burn Stewart distillers for donation of liquid prizes, I'm sure that a few sore heads were in evidence this morning

 

 

thanks for dropping the prizes off Ken and a big thanks to our sponsors for the fire water too

cheers

McG

Hello everyone

sorry I couldn't join you all at the doo but I was detained at the RAH while Claire gave birth to our son, Robert Michael. Mother and child are both doing well.

Cheers

Darryl

Looking forward to it, but I think I'll be on my own.

You needn't be a wall-flower - I'll give you a dance, if you like...

would love to try the Tango Iain but it looks as though I'll have to forgo that pleasure. Probably won't be able to make it to the doo afterall but I'm sure there'll be plenty of other wallflowers for you

cheers

Darryl

Looking forward to it, but I think I'll be on my own.

Hello Iain

Happy New Year to you. Glad you're back posting and overseeeing the web site thingy. The card looks great to me - in fact I don't think i've got one to compare it to anyway so...

The other week I was reading Cycling Plus and they had an article about Addiscombe Wheelers, a club that was nearly extinct until a couple of years ago. Now they have hundreds of members and they put his ressurection down to their website and the way they handle prospective members. Now I think that our web site is excellent and I also think that we are very friendly and accomodating to newcomers. However, one thing that I read was that Addiscombe purposely designed their site so that there was an element that could not be viewed unless you were a member. The thinking here was that a lot of race results and so on might deter newcomers. I wonder if we might have something like this ourselves.

What do you think - or anyone else that reads this message for that matter?

Would it be easy to do Iain?

Cheers

Darryl

Hi Paul

can you be persuaded to set off a wee bit later - 10am BIH? Mark, me, Stu, Stevie and possibly others are also intending to do the coast, may as well do it together. What do you say?

Darryl

Excellent night out in Johnstonia which will be repeated soon. Watch this page for details of the next JWCC curry night oot!

cheers

McGunson

A few of us are heading for downtown Johnstone tomorrow (Friday)for a few beers at Cone's Bar and a curry at Shimla Pinks. I know it is short notice, but since it is nearly the end of the holidays, it would be great if we could get a bunch out!

Interested parties post a message or ring me and I'll reserve the table. I think eating for 8 o'lock sounds about right8)

cheers

Darryl

Happy New Year everyone. Mark, myself and any others who fancy it will be easing our way back into the saddle after the festivities. Meet BIH tomorrow (Friday) at 10.30am for 2/2.5 hrs of steady riding with a coffee stop at the end.

cheers

Darryl