Rui Costa Temporarily Rehabilitated

I just saw that Bike Pure "reinstated" Caisse d'Epargne's Rui Costa, so to speak, providing an explanation of their rational for doing so on the same website from which they axed the accused-doper.

Now I fully realize that the doping-centric internet forums like Cyclingnews.com's Clinic are staffed by a jaded and cynical group, but I personally find it refreshing that Bike Pure - a well-intentioned and honorably-led organization - sees value in re-evaluating its initial reaction to erase Costa from its membership rolls.

As Bike Pure works to establish and maintain both legitimacy and relevancy while shaping public opinion related to anti-doping and cycling, this kind of humility and perspicacity is worthy of note.

bike-pure: fighting for a cultural shift in cycling

I'm a romantic realist, and I can accept that doping will never be completely eliminated from sport - just like cheating is a regrettable facet of life for some people. However, thanks to Bike-Pure, fans of cycling can now unify their voices and deliver loud-and-clear the message that we do not accept the fallacy that to be successful in cyclesport you have to dope. We want clean champions and those sponsors that fund ethical squads are the ones that will enjoy our patronage.If you haven't already, join the bike-pure movement, and tell 'em I sent ya.

My Only Cycling-related Prediction for 2010

My only cycling-related prediction for 2010 that I think is worth noticing by the pundits and punters alike is that young pro/elite riders will realize the value of making their own independently articulated anti-doping stances, and @bikepure (BikePure/bikepure.org) will be the vehicle of choice by which they release these statements and give meaning to them through ongoing action and commitment. They will eschew traditional cycling media and hired-gun PR flaks, and will use "established" blogs and outlets as secondary or tertiary distribution vehicles. Likewise, non-elite riders will make the same kinds of declarations through @BikePure because there is finally a critical mass or fans who are frustrated enough with the rot that has festered inside cycling for so long - a cancer with which I, too, was infected and that I even - to my most profound shame - helped to spread for a time - until the insanity stopped.

While I support @BikePure, the prediction I refer to in this post is based on my own analysis and soundings taken at various points throughout our sport. I'm not paid to promote Bike Pure, or otherwise lobby on their behalf. I'd do that anyway - for free!

But if you believe in clean cycling, and you are bored with endless forum discussions about the doping problem and feel powerless to effect change - rejoice! In Bike Pure, you may have a means to turn individual frustration into collective, game-changing action. I know that I'm wearing MY blue wristband and have a blue headset space on the bike I can't ride! I don't agree with every aspect of the proposals BP would like to put forward to fight doping in sport - but, in the sign of a truly "open" and inclusive organization, Andy and Myles don't require orthodoxy from their supporters. Dialogue leading to action rids cycling of dope. Bike Pure has a role to play in that process, and I'll let the organization speak for itself below:

BIKE PURE MISSION STATEMENT:

Bike Pure is an independent, global organization for fans, riders and the cycle trade to join together in a united stance for a new era of positive cycling.

Bike Pure will spearhead constructive, structured reform, to restore the integrity of cycle sport and create a nurturing environment for future champions to succeed.

CYCLISTS WORKING FOR CYCLING:

Bike Pure is committed to redirecting trust to Professional cycle sport. Bike Pure is an umbrella group for all concerned parties in cyclesport. A medium to let the fans, riders, teams and cycle trade join together in a united stance for an new era of clean cycling

For decades cycling has had a problem with endemic drug use. The cheats have destroyed the public image of cycling. Although the sport is cleaning up, there were over 60 riders caught cheating in 2009 using artificial, performance enhancing methods. Cycling fans worldwide deserve heroes they can believe in: Clean up or clear out. We desire a truly clean sport, with real riders that the fans, sponsors and media can have faith in.

HOW:

With the aid of our global, talented membership we are proposing structural reform to the system that is failing the next generation of champions. Each member has a forum to let his voice be heard through Bike Pure.

Bike Pure encourage the athletes and teams to sign an 'Honour Code’, declaring that they race clean, without performance enhancing drugs and with a pledge that will encourage our sport to flourish. If any rider should be deemed positive, Bike Pure are lobbying for stiffer penalties for offenders - 4 year ban minimum and life bans for repeat offenders [Editor's Note: Here is an instance where Joe Papp does not blindly follow Bike Pure - he does not support a four-year minimum ban for a first-time offender.]. It is through the actions and support of our members that we can apply pressure on authorities for these measures to be implicated.

Riders responsible for their own behaviour, their sponsors can have faith that their investment is safe, and the public can have confidence in the results if they are clean.

We are not naive to think this is a complete solution, but it is an important first element getting the clean riders to joining forces with the supporters and laying a foundation to protect the mental and physical health of future champions and the integrity of our wonderful sport."

Doping Consequences: A case study with Joe Papp

It is said that a cat burglar designs the best security system and for this reason Bike Pure sought the reformed doper Joe Papp to help us define solutions for the problem our wonderful sport has with drugs. by Myles McCorrym

On May 7, 2006, at the UCI Tour of Turkey, Papp was found positive for metabolites of testosterone at the post stage test for which he won – his fourth of the event. While he awaited definitive proof from his B sample, Papp's continued racing into July. Competing in Tuscany's 100-mile Granfondo Michele Bartoli, where he crashed with less than a half-mile to go. Papp initially thought he'd only endured a few scrapes. But by the time he lay down in his hotel room, his left buttock had swelled grotesquely. Papp cajoled his team soigneur into driving him to the closest hospital, in nearby Pescia. For he knew the injury was not innocuous. Surgeons operated on Papp several days later, removing a mass of EPO-damaged sludge that amounted to roughly a fourth of his blood volume.

Back in the U.S., doctors would later tell him that after the lethal cocktail of EPO and blood thinners that his team had provided , Papp was lucky to be alive. Joe Papp is now an outspoken, no holds barred opponent of the use of illegal performance enhancing methods and substances in sport. He has lived, he has witnesses, first-hand – the damage that can be done to a rider’s reputation, their marriage and their career in the wake of a conviction or admission of doping. While Papp is not unique in that he is one of dozens of professional cyclists sanctioned for doping during the past several years (over 60 in 2009 alone), his is a story worth telling, if only to deter one young athlete from taking the tempting first step down the dark path that ends for too many only in expulsion, arrest, or death - a career of cheating..." Read the Full Interview at Bike Pure.

Bike Pure aims to promote clean riders, moving the spotlight away from the dopers by working towards life bans for the cheats. Have your say by joining BikePure and wearing a wristband or headset spacer, visit their website www.bikepure.org for more information. Bike Pure is an independent, non profit organization, committed to redirecting trust to professional cycle sport. Bike Pure is an umbrella group for all concerned parties in cyclesport. A medium to let the fans, riders, teams and cycle trade join together in a united stance for an new era of clean cycling.

The piece was also covered on at least tow other sites:
1) Bicycle.net - California, USA
2) New Zealand Road Cycling – New Zealand

I Love my Bike Pure Socks

Seriously, they're great. I like the jersey too, and the headset spacer is nice, and next I'm ordering a T-shirt. The socks, though, are great b/c they are functional and properly fitted, but also convey a pseudo-political or ethical message (I am now opposed to doping in cycling) without doing so in an over-the-top manner.

 Made with 75% Ultra-wicking Micro Denier Acrylic, 15% Nylon, and 10% Spandex, Bike-Pure socks are produced by The Sock Guy, and I'm wearing Size L/XL. They're also available in S/M.

Bike Pure has an online-store, here, but you can get stuff like the socks from your local IBD, if they'll stock it. I know that I get mine from BikeTek in Pittsburgh.

Now get out there and ride!