His ratio of testosterone/epitestosterone was high; they test for this because if you are testosterone doping (i.e., through patches etc.) it will mess up your ratio, which for most folks is normally around 1:1 but can be higher for endurance athletes. This year the UCI has changed the trigger ratio from 6:1 to 4:1.So, my next question is WTF is up with Phonak throwing him under the tour bus? Anyway, read the whole thing.
Problem is, it's a ratio (and you economists out there know the problem of drawing inferences about X and Y separately by looking at the ratio X/Y). According to the reports I've read this afternoon, Landis' ratio was high not because of high testosterone; his testosterone was at normal levels, but his epitestosterone levels were extremely low. Epitestosterone cannot be turned into testosterone in the body. So it's possible that the result is from too low a Y and not a too high X.
How can this be? Two of the things that can affect epitestosterone are alcohol and cortisone. We know that Landis had a beer the night before the stage because he was so upset at his bonking on that stage. We also know that Landis is legally taking cortisone shots for his half-dead hip.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Your Floyd Landis Update
Via Deadspin, it would appear that Landis' "positive" test means rather less than the sensationalists would have you believe:
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Why? Because of the witchhunt atmosphere created by that asshole Dick Pound and WAGA and fostered by that "never met a lynching he didn't like" asshole Greg Lemond.
Greg Lemond has really come across as an ass and an ifiot the last few years. Was he always this way and I just didn't know about it because I didn't care about cycling, or is this something new?
LOL, that would be idiot, not ifiot, or even isiot.
TO the best of my knowledge he is not, nor has he ever been an Inuit either.
Actually Greg Lemond came across as an asshole and an idiot while he was winning the Tour De France, but then he was a winning asshole and an idiot, which is forgivable, an aging former athlete who continues to be an asshole and idiot, that's unpardonable.
(and heh, heh, he said dick pound, heh, heh)
Yeah, Lemond's always been a whiner, but he was mostly whining about the French and Hinault, one of the all-time great assholes in sports. But he really brought the A-game when Armstrong started winning the TdFs and eclipsed him as the major American rider.
The only thing that would make the name Dick Pound better would be if his middle name was Gaylord.
As I said in my short little blog post, "Say It Ain't So Floyd"!!!!!
And you're spot on about the ratio thing. That is huge. Ratio's can totally suck - completely mask the true values.
Another one for the "Ratios Suck" files....
You stupid stupid people. The test B came back, and showed that it had synthetic testosterone in his blood. There is no explanation for that, you assholes. Face it, hes a liar and cheater.
If two or three seperate international entities were allowed to each get handed a sample in the testing tent and then test that sample in different labs around the world, I would believe the results. Testing two samples, in a french lab (even if it is certified as clean by the UCI), without any record of how they were handled on the way to that lab is shady. Besides the fact that testosterone only fosters muscle growth over extended periods. Only a fool would take testosterone during the Tour. It makes no sense, and I wish the press would stop treating this issue like a bunch of bible-belt-catering sensationalists.
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