Velonews reports more on Contador's "doping violation" (Former French doping chief says there have been rumors about Contador since July, quoting Pierre Bordry (former head of the French anti-doping agency AFLD) as saying rumours had been flying since July.  Interestingly, he says of the small concentration detected (40 times less than a lab is required to be able to detetc - not 400 times, as widely reported) that

“It doesn’t matter how small the quantity is. Clenbuterol is on the banned list,” Bordry told RTL radio. “Contador can do what he wants to make a defense, if it had entered his system one way or another, but he cannot avoid that it is a banned substance.”

That's all fine and dandy, but raises the possibility that an athlete's guilt or innocence might depend on which testing lab his/her samples go to and how far below the reuired sensitivity thay are able to take the detection.Hardly seems fair to me.In the meantime, accusations have been flying that Contador had taken an autologous blood transfusion on the rest day: Contador has flatly rejected those accusations (Alberto Contador denies receiving blood transfusions).

It's been a while since I noted any news about Phorm, the outfit that hawked a system for illicit DPI snooping in internet traffic.  The Register today reports that the EU is to sue the UK over its failure to take action (EU sues UK.gov over Phorm trials).Not before time.

William Fotheringham reports in The Guardian today that Alberto Contador has been provisionally suspended after positive test taken during the second rest day of the 2010 Tour de France (Alberto Contador provisionally suspended after positive test).Apparently traces of the banned drug Clenbuterol were found in a urine sample: Clenbuterol is a bronchodilator used by asthmatics (clinically) and illicitly by athletes to improve breathing and enhance weight loss (presumably the latter's not an issue in a Grand Tour).  So Contador has been 'provisionally suspended', whatever that means.  Interestingly Fotheringham goes on to write:

Contador was notified of the finding on 24 August, his spokesman said yesterday. A statement from cycling's governing body, the International Cycling Union, issued this morning said that the concentration of clenbuterol found in Contador's urine was 50 picograms*, 400 times less than the threshold required by a World Anti-Doping Agency accredited laboratory, and that investigations were in progress.[*50 picograms = 0.05 nanograms = 0.00005 micrograms = 0.00000005 milligrams = 0.00000000005 grams]

Leaving aside the observation that 50pg is not actually a concentration but an amount, why is there a case to answer here if the amount detected is 400 fold less than required by a WADA accredited laboratory (presumably to call a positive).  What, one wonders, is the UCI's doping limit for clenbuteral?  And furthermore, presumably Contador had tests on other days of the Tour - if he was doping, wouldn't clenbuterol have shown up in those?  A WADA representative is quoted as saying

The issue is the lab has detected this. They have the responsibility for pursuing. There is no such thing as a limit where you don't have to prosecute cases. This is not a substance that has a threshold.

Which kind of contradicts the earlier statement in the article. This really comes across as a mysterious case.  I await a UCI statement about the matter.  From my science-based viewpoint, there have to be limits below which sanction will not be taken: as analytical methods improve in sensitivity, one might expect to see all sorts of false positives, ranging from contamination to just confused results.What should happen if an athlete recorded 0.5pg?  Or less - maybe 0.5 femtograms (which is 0.0000000000000005 grams - I think - all those zeros get confusing! 50 pg is usually written as 50 x 10e-12,  0.5 fg would be 0.5 x 10e-15)I guess this one's going to run for a bit.I read an article in the journal Science around the time of the Landis positive, which made for interesting reading concerning the possibility of a false positive occurring during multiple tests of an individual during a three week event: this concerned the EPO test, which by it's nature has an arbitrary cut-off for a positive to be called.Other relevant posts in this blog

Once again we visited Normandy for the Duo Normand time trial, and to do a little cycling on the tandem.  This time we were there for a little over a week, based in a cottage between Cerisy-la-Salle and Notre Dame de Cenilly just south of the race's base in Marigny.An overview of the cycling, with route maps and photo galleries can be found via the Cycle Tours option in the CYCLING menu on the left side of the website, or by following this link: 2010 Normandy.  Bear in mind this is something of a work in progress!

We woke at 7am, had a quick breakfast and packed the car.  Then we drove over to Marigny in convoy with Gerry - this didn't take long.  In Marigny, we parked in our usual spot, not far from the start area.  We wandered down to see the first unlicenced rider start, at 8.35.  We were pretty glad we were in the Corpo category, as with clear skies and no wind, it was really very cold.

This is merely a test post - I have upgraded this site from corePHP's Wordpress for Joomla! version 2.9.1 to version 3.0.1.  There may be a few technical niggles related mostly to the site template - please to tell me if there are any major problems.

Here's a rather good webcomic from the ever-reliable xkcd.com:Actually, it's a very pressing concern - how does one keep track (securely) of the passwords that protect our many accounts round the web?  Not quite so sure about Google, though!

After this morning's rather lacklustre time trial (see previous post), it was off to Woburn for the annual Oyster Festival, in which the town that's possibly furthest from the sea transforms itself into Woburn-by-the-sea for a weekend.  The centre of the town is filled with stalls offering oysters (and other sea food), beers (including the headline Oyster Stout), and a wide variety of mostly meat-focussed foods.First up for consumption was half a dozen rather large oysters, eaten freshly opened with a squeeze of lemon juice and accompanied by a pint of oyster stout.  This was from Marston's, from who's website the image to the right is linked.  It's a wonderful stout that makes an excellent partner for the oysters (though to doesn't itself contain oysters!).After I'd washed down the oysters, I still felt a little peckish, which is where the kangaroo comes in - it was off to the kangaroo, ostrich and crocodile stall.  Unfortunately the grilled crocodile had proven popular and there was none left (otherwise that's what I'd have had) - we had a roll filled with grilled kangaroo  (me) and ostrich (Carol).  Frankly, the kangaroo was a little undistinguished - I thought it could have been any grilled meat.[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Giant puffball"][/caption]While walking over to Woburn, I happened to spot a few giant puffballs (Langermannia gigantea) in the verge, and nabbed a couple of relatively small ones.

This was, to all appearances, a glorious morning for a time trial - clear with light winds.  It was a little cold, but I guess that's just to be expected at this time of year.  I was a little apprehensive, as I hadn't been feeling particularly well the day before.  Over by the start line, I soon settled in, with a nice chat with the timekeeper and pusher-off.  Hovering just to the north of the start was a splendid sight - about 25 hot air balloons, resplendent in bright colours and at various altitudes.  Indeed, one of them seemed to be coming down just across the A1 from Tempsford.  Putting that distraction to the back of my mind, I rolled up to the start line just a few minuted before my start at 7.25am.For what was probably the first time in riding on the F1, I got briefly stalled at the Tempsford flyover roundabout, as a car got held behind someone warming up.  This wasn't too bad, as the road surface on the roundabout is still in a dreadful state due to last winter's extended cold snap, and I invariably have to pick my way carefully round the potholes.  Once out on the A1, I was quickly up to speed, but not a particularly brisk speed.  Never mind, I thought, it'll be easier on the return leg.  I found it difficult to push out much effort - whether this was due to being ill the day before, I wasn't sure.  Over the Sandy roundabout and on to the turn at Warden Lane.  Now, I thought, it must get a bit easier...except it didn't.However, I kept the effort going well enough to cross the line in 22:56.  Not my best time of the season (by a long chalk) but not out of the frame set by other riders.  Most of the riders I spoke to felt it was a heavy morning, and difficult to get the speed up.  So, not bad.This was my last domestic open time trial of 2010 (my only remaining event being next week's Duo Normand) - and I have to say that it's  bit of a relief to have a break from riding up and down this particular section of the A1.  This season I've ridden events at 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles on the F1 courses, all of which focus on the A1.  In particular, the current version of the F1/100 is on the A1 for the first 86 miles.  I think I've become rather jaded from seeing that particular section of tarmac.  On the other hand, it has been a good season with by times at 10, 25 and 50 miles being my best for around 5 or 6 years.