Pizza. At an Italian restaurant in a strip mall just outside an idyllic town in the Blue Ridge Mountains, seven teenage mountain-bike racers and two coaches crowd around a table. It was a busy Saturday in May 2022 at Virginia鈥檚 interscholastic mountain-biking series, known as VAHS.

The team, the Richmond Cycling Corps (RCC), consists of sixth-to-twelfth-graders who attend a variety of schools, but all have lived in or near public housing in the same part of Richmond, Virginia. I鈥檓 seated near the far end of the table. To my right, two eighth-grade boys talk excitedly: Chip, with his closely shorn hair and dimples, and Knowledge, a big, curious kid who鈥檚 somewhat new to mountain biking. Chip鈥檚 trying to persuade Knowledge to participate in a highly competitive racing series that鈥檚 part of the National Interscholastic
Cycling Association, or NICA.

Chip is serious about the idea. 鈥淏ro,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ICA?鈥�

Knowledge enjoys mountain biking and loves being part of the team, but he鈥檚 on the fence about racing. 鈥湴粘蟊鸢疴�檚 college recruiters at NICA races. And I鈥檓 not going to college,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to do four years of high school, then another four years of college?鈥�

Chip鈥檚 giggling, twisting his soda straw. 鈥淏ro?鈥�

Knowledge: 鈥淚鈥檓. Not. Racing NICA!鈥�

Chip: 鈥淏ro. Bro. Bro. Bro. Bro.鈥�

They both crack up.

Kamari, also in eighth grade and Knowledge鈥檚 longtime bestie, looks up from her pizza crust with light hazel eyes and whispers to me, 鈥淲here all have you been?鈥� She鈥檚 shy鈥攈er sibling, Tawante, an RCC alum, told me, 鈥淪he鈥檚 even shy with me, and I鈥檓 her brother!鈥濃�攂ut she鈥檚 eager to explore the world beyond her home. Kamari described a favorite trip she鈥檇 been on with the RCC. 鈥淲e went up to Bryce鈥濃�攁 skiing and mountain-biking resort about two and a half hours northwest of Richmond鈥斺�渁nd we made a campfire. We played this game centipede. It鈥檚 kind of like hide and seek. The next day, we rode the bike park.鈥� They did downhill runs with big jumps and took the ski lift back to the top.

The older boys are squeezed in together on the opposite side of the table. One of the team鈥檚 three coaches, 36-year-old Brad Kaplan, is across from me. He used to be a scout for the Oakland Raiders, but after 12 years he left pro football and decided to raise a family. In 2020, he and his wife and their new baby moved from the Bay Area to Richmond, closer to his wife鈥檚 family, where their money would go further. Brad took graduate classes in nonprofit studies. Before working for the RCC, he knew nothing about mountain biking. But he鈥檚 comfortable working with young athletes.

Between greasy bites, Brad turns to Wop, a slender freshman with tightly twisted locks that fall just below his ears. 鈥淚 heard you lost someone this week,鈥� Brad says.

鈥淵eah,鈥� Wop replies. It was his older brother鈥檚 friend, Keshon.

鈥淗ow old was he?鈥�

鈥淭wenty. He鈥檇 just gotten out of jail.鈥� Keshon was shot in Creighton Court, the projects where Wop used to live, near a convenience store where a lot of kids get shot or shot at.

Wop doesn鈥檛 know if he鈥檒l go to the funeral. It鈥檚 May, and he鈥檚 already been to four this year.

The post The Kids from Cool Lane Just Want to Ride Bikes appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The nine-day trial of Kaitlin Armstrong culminated on Thursday in Austin, Texas, with a guilty verdict for charge of first-degree murder in the shooting death of professional cyclist Moriah Wilson. Prosecutors argued that Armstrong, 35, gunned down Wilson, 25, at an apartment in east Austin on May 11, 2022. Armstrong was subsequently sentenced to 90 years in prison by a 12-member jury on November 17.

• Read about the Moriah Wilson Foundation

As judge Brenda Kennedy read the verdict, emotions inside the courtroom ranged widely. I sat near the back,听alongside a group of local cyclists听with personal connections to the tragedy, and watched people react. Wilson鈥檚 family and friends hugged and thanked prosecutors, while Armstrong鈥檚 younger sister, Christine, left the courtroom in tears.

I鈥檓 an active participant in the Austin cycling scene鈥攖he same community where Armstrong, and her ex-boyfriend Colin Strickland, 36, were members. I鈥檝e also since the first days of the murder. I was compelled to watch the trial in person, to see how prosecutors presented their evidence and how the defense tried to poke holes in the case. I was also there to support the friends of mine who had been impacted by the ordeal.

In a trial overshadowed by grief, moments of intense drama, and even levity, I felt that the mountain of evidence against Armstrong simply proved overwhelming. These were the factors that, in my opinion, ultimately led to her conviction.

Damning Testimony from Friends

Two of Armstrong鈥檚 friends proved to be the strongest witnesses for the prosecution.

Before taking the stand on November 8, the trial鈥檚 fifth day, cyclist Jacqueline Chasteen told me she felt nervous and at times queasy. She hadn鈥檛 wanted to become involved in this murder case but acquiesced when called by the case鈥檚 lead detective, Richard Spitler. She said she was doing the right thing.

On the stand, Chasteen described a post-race party in Bentonville, Arkansas, in January 2022, where she and Armstrong shared a drink. At the party, Armstrong told Chasteen that she鈥檇 found out Strickland had pursued an intimate relationship with Wilson a few months prior鈥攁nd that Armstrong and Strickland had been broken up when it occurred.

Chasteen also told the court that Armstrong said she鈥檇 wanted to 鈥渇ucking kill鈥� Wilson. That testimony prompted an immediate interjection from Armstrong鈥檚 defense attorney. There was a brief debate over whether Armstrong used the expletive or not. Chasteen maintained Armstrong had used the word. Judge Kennedy was visibly fighting back laughter.

Armstrong鈥檚 best friend, Nicole Mertz, provided similarly incriminating information on the stand. She testified that in the fall of 2021, as she was sharing a drink with Armstrong at the Meteor Caf茅 in South Austin, where they often hung out with other cycling friends, Armstrong confided in Mertz that she and Strickland had recently separated. And Armstrong relayed she knew he鈥檇 been hanging out with Wilson. Mertz replayed the conversation she and Armstrong had to the jury:

鈥淲hat would you do if Colin started dating someone else?鈥� Mertz asked.

鈥淚 would kill her,鈥� Armstrong said.

More testimony came from Strickland himself, who took the stand on three separate days at the request of the prosecution and defense. He appeared anguished, mumbled his answers into the microphone, and鈥攐utside of the courtroom鈥攚ore a mask and sunglasses to obscure his face from the cameras. His testimony sometimes sounded begrudging.

Strickland provided eight hours of testimony on the trial鈥� fourth and fifth days. He closed his eyes as he answered, and told the court that his relationship with Armstrong was at times tumultuous. When asked to clarify by the defense, he described a personal turmoil鈥攈is inability to commit to Armstrong. Strickland said he began to hide his correspondence with Wilson, because he knew Armstrong felt disrespected and upset. But he felt he had a right to maintain a professional relationship with a female colleague at the top of their shared sport.

Prosecutors asked Strickland about specific incidents that exemplified Armstrong鈥檚 jealousy of Wilson. His testimony also connected Armstrong to the vehicle seen in surveillance footage at the crime scene. The State presented a slow-motion video message sent from Armstrong to Strickland that shows her practicing at a local range with the gun he bought her. To which Armstrong added via text: 鈥淭he recoil is too intense.鈥�

Under oath, Strickland said that at the time of Wilson鈥檚 murder, he loved Armstrong.

鈥淎nd she loved you, too?鈥� prosecutor Guillermo Gonzalez asked.

鈥淚 believed so,鈥� Strickland responded.

After his full day of testimony, Strickland appeared to become angry with the news media. At one point, he went out of his way to nudge a cameraman, and in another instance stepped on the man鈥檚 foot.

GPS Data That Proved Crucial

Ultimately, the State鈥檚 GPS data and DNA evidence irrefutably proved that Armstrong was at the murder scene. On the trial鈥檚 sixth day, Austin Police Department detective Daniel Portnoy presented an animation of tracking data from the Uconnect navigation system in Armstrong鈥檚 vehicle; the video showed her SUV circling the East Austin apartment where Wilson was staying for over an hour, then parking nearby moments before Wilson returned from a dinner outing with Strickland.

A surveillance camera later captured audio of Wilson screaming, then two gunshots, and then a third, seconds later. Two minutes after Wilson was killed, the animation of Armstrong鈥檚 vehicle showed the SUV driving back to Strickland鈥檚 home.

Armstrong鈥檚 defense, meanwhile, never provided an explanation of her whereabouts at the time of Wilson鈥檚 murder.

On the trial鈥檚 eighth day, two different experts testified that Armstrong鈥檚 DNA was found on the handlebars and seat of Wilson鈥檚 bicycle, which was discovered in the bushes outside of the apartment where the murder took place. Strickland鈥檚 DNA, meanwhile, was not present on Wilson鈥檚 bike, making the possibility of Armstrong鈥檚 DNA transfer via Strickland highly unlikely.

Emotional Moments

Throughout the trial, as well as during the closing statements and verdict, the jury witnessed multiple moments of intense emotion. One of the heaviest scenes happened on day one: Caitlin Cash, one of Moriah Wilson鈥檚 closest friends who Wilson was staying with in Austin, recounted how she鈥檇 come home on the evening of May 11 to find Wilson prone on the bathroom floor of her apartment. At first, Cash explained, she thought Wilson was just stretching on the tile floor because it was so hot.听But as she drew closer, she saw all the blood.

As the prosecution played her call to 911, Cash began to cry.

鈥淥ne, two, three鈥︹�� Cash counted over the phone as the operator coached her through chest compressions. Cash interjected, 鈥淗er brains are leaking.鈥� But the operator urged her to keep going until the medics arrived.

In a second testimony, during the sentencing portion of the trial, Cash said she鈥檇 moved back into the apartment. When asked why, Cash said she wanted to face the darkness. She didn鈥檛 want the violence that occurred there to have control over her.

I鈥檇 never met Cash, but we share a friend in the bike racing community: Rheannon Cunningham, who is also a police detective. On the trial鈥檚 opening day I saw Cunningham at the court鈥攕he looked shaken as she waited in the courtroom鈥檚 lobby for the proceedings to begin. Throughout the trial, Armstrong鈥檚 defense, led by attorney Rick Cofer, challenged the investigative work of her colleagues.

Facing a record-high homicide rate in the capital and diminished staff, the Austin Police Department and lead detective Rick Spitler admitted to having made mistakes during the initial investigation of Armstrong. Notably, after being brought in on a valid misdemeanor warrant, Armstrong was allowed to leave the police station due to confusion over her correct birth date.

Moriah Wilson鈥檚 father, Eric, says integrity & honesty is so important in personal relationships. This comes after the woman convicted of killing his daughter, Kaitlin Armstrong, was sentenced to 90 years in prison.

— Mills Hayes (@MillsHayesTV)

On the stand, Spitler staunchly defended his work, which ultimately led to a warrant for Armstrong and her capture in Costa Rica, where Armstrong fled following Wilson鈥檚 murder. Spitler watched from the back of the courtroom as Armstrong was found guilty.

During the victim-impact portion of the sentencing, Wilson鈥檚 brother, Matt Wilson, detailed their tight sibling bond. 鈥淢y sister had her life taken from her for no reason at all,鈥� he said. After Armstrong was sentenced, Moriah鈥檚 father, Matt Wilson, read a to the reporters gathered outside the courthouse.

Armstrong鈥檚 younger sister, Christie, was the last witness to testify. She took the stand in an effort to humanize her sister to the jury ahead of their sentencing deliberation. She spoke directly to Kaitlin, who helped raise Christie in their single-parent home, and said, 鈥淚鈥檝e always looked up to you.鈥�

On cross-examination, prosecutor Rickey Jones asked Christie if she saw Matt Wilson鈥檚 best friend, Moriah Wilson, in the courtroom. Christie replied no. To which Jones said, 鈥淗is best friend is not here because your sister killed her.鈥�

The post The Evidence and Emotions That Led to Kaitlin Armstrong鈥檚 Murder Conviction appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The trial for Kaitlin Armstrong, who stands accused of murdering professional gravel racer , began on Wednesday, November 1, at the Travis County courthouse in Austin, Texas.

国产吃瓜黑料 the court building, two movie crews jockeyed for camera position. Inside, friends and family of both the victim and the accused sat in the rows closest to the judge鈥檚 bench. National and local news outlets, true crime podcasters and a handful of curious members of the public occupied the benches toward the back of the room, seated shoulder-to-shoulder. Armstrong, 35, who faces a first-degree murder charge, was in attendance alongside her lawyer, Rick Cofer.

The jury of eight women and six men, which was selected on Monday, October 30, also sat in the room.

Wilson had arrived in Austin on May 11, 2022, in the days preceding Gravel Locos, a 155-mile off-road bike race, and was staying with a close friend. That night, Wilson had gone swimming and eaten dinner with fellow professional gravel bike racer, Colin Strickland, 36. The pair had been romantically linked in the fall of 2021.

At the time of Wilson鈥檚 death, Armstrong, a real estate agent and former yoga instructor, and Strickland were in a relationship, and they lived together in south Austin. The two also managed a business together鈥攁 firm that restored antique motorhomes called Wheelhouse Mobile. Strickland had lied to Armstrong about where he was and who he was with that evening. Shortly after Strickland drove Wilson back to the east Austin garage apartment where she was staying with a friend, authorities allege that Armstrong arrived and shot Wilson.

After Wilson鈥檚 death, Armstrong fled to Costa Rica where police claim she underwent plastic surgery to change her appearance. She was finally arrested on June 29, 2022, after spending 43 days on the run. In the weeks preceding her trial, Armstrong made another escape attempt during a medical transfer in Austin. She has entered a plea of not guilty to the murder charge.

On Wednesday, both the prosecution and defense presented their opening statements for the trial. The Travis County District Attorney鈥檚 office outlined the evidence the prosecution intends on presenting during trial, including evidence not yet made public. Prosecutor Ricky Jones told jurors that they would hear audio of Wilson鈥檚 last moments, which were picked up by a nearby surveillance camera, followed by two immediate gunshots and finally a third.

Armstrong鈥檚 defense, led by Cofer, outlined a plan to debunk the State鈥檚 DNA and ballistics evidence, and claimed the State鈥檚 case consisted entirely of circumstantial evidence. According to the defense, no eye witness or video footage can place Armstrong at the scene of the crime. In reminding the jury of the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecution elicited multiple objections for straying beyond the evidentiary outline of an opening statement.

If convicted, Armstrong could serve life in prison. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks, and here鈥檚 what the jury is expected to see.

Direct Evidence Against Armstrong

• During the initial investigation, Austin Police detectives obtained home security video of a vehicle closely resembling Armstrong鈥檚 Jeep Grand Cherokee at the scene of the crime, near the time Wilson was killed. The vehicle in the video evidence is a dark paint color, has chrome trim, and a hitch-mounted bicycle rack鈥攋ust like the one owned by Armstrong.听But the license plate of the vehicle is not visible, nor is the driver. These factors may prevent prosecutors from proving the vehicle belonged to Armstrong, and she was the driver.
• Prior to Wilson鈥檚 death, Armstrong and Strickland purchased handguns from an Austin gun store. The bullets from the crime scene matched ammunition found at Armstrong鈥檚 home. A ballistics report issued by the Austin Police Department 鈥減ositively identified鈥� the handgun belonging to Armstrong as having shot the bullets that killed Wilson. While ballistics analysis鈥攎ethods used to link bullet casings from a crime scene to the weapon that ostensibly fired them鈥攊s routinely used in court, the practice has . Critics contend the process lacks peer review and repeatable results. Armstrong鈥檚 attorney, Cofer, has called the methodology a 鈥減seudo-science.鈥�
• DNA evidence likely won鈥檛 play a role in the case. Because Armstrong and Strickland lived together, DNA belonging to Armstrong would have been present on Strickland when he was with Wilson. The presence of Armstrong鈥檚 DNA in the apartment where Wilson was staying is not evidence of her having entered the apartment. This is known as .

Circumstantial Evidence and a 鈥淐onscience of Guilt鈥�

Prosecutors will attempt to show that Armstrong鈥檚 actions leading up to and following Wilson鈥檚 death further establish her as the individual responsible for the murder. In a pre-trial document introducing 鈥渆vidence of extraneous conduct,鈥� the Travis County District Attorney outlined ten incidents prosecutors believe support their case against Armstrong:

• Less than a day after Austin Police issued an arrest warrant for Armstrong, she allegedly boarded a flight using her sister Christine鈥檚 passport. A Federal felony, prosecutors may still charge Armstrong for fraudulent use of a passport. Prosecutors also allege, in her 鈥渁ttempt to avoid arrest and prosecution for murder,鈥� that Armstrong assumed a false identity while living in Costa Rica and received cosmetic surgery under the alias Alison Paige. Since her capture in the Pacific-coast surf and yoga community of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, Armstrong has been held in a jail outside of Austin. On October 11, Armstrong ran from guards in what authorities are calling a planned escape attempt. An affidavit for escape causing bodily injury, a second-degree felony, states that Armstrong worked out vigorously in the weeks leading up to a medical transfer to a south Austin orthopedic center. Because Armstrong claimed she鈥檇 sustained an ankle injury, she was not put in customary leg restraints, and allegedly ran about a mile as she tried to evade capture, including an effort to scale a roughly six foot high wall. Two guards suffered injuries to their arms and knees after falling during their pursuit of Armstrong. While jurors are reminded that a variety of reasons may lead a defendant to flee prosecution, such acts can be admissible at trial. The Travis County DA will aim to convince the jury that Armstrong suffered from a 鈥渃onscious of guilt鈥� after killing Wilson.
• It appears prosecutors will also introduce testimony from two cyclists who were friends with Armstrong prior to Wilson鈥檚 death. Armstrong allegedly told graphic designer and bike racer Nicole Mertz that if Strickland engaged in a serious romantic relationship with another woman, Armstrong would 鈥渒ill鈥� that person. Armstrong also allegedly told another cyclist, Jacqueline Chasteen, that she had a desire to kill Moriah Wilson. Armstrong had no history of violent conduct, and her friends were not initially compelled to report the statements. However, following Wilson鈥檚 death both Chasteen and Mertz contacted the police. Whether such statements constitute premeditation will be up to the jury to decide.

Potential Defense Strategies

A Travis County judge issued a gag ordered shortly after Armstrong retained Cofer as her legal counsel, and the defense has issued only a handful of witness subpoenas ahead of the trial.

However, in two pre-trial motions Armstrong鈥檚 defense challenged every facet of the affidavit to throw out the case, and argued an Austin Police detective鈥檚 questioning of Armstrong should be excluded as evidence, since Armstrong asked authorities if she needed an attorney present. While the presiding judge denied both motions, the efforts exemplified the aggressiveness with which Cofer and his team are pursuing a defense.

Strickland hasn鈥檛 been charged with any crimes in connection with the case, and is not considered a suspect by law enforcement. Additionally, Cofer has not indicated he will pursue an alternative narrative in the death of Wilson. His primary strategy is to create reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors.

The post The Kaitlin Armstrong Murder Trial Has Started in Austin appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

On July 30, 2021, the fastest female sprinters in the world bounced out their nerves and adjusted their blocks in preparation for the semifinals of the 100 meters at the Tokyo Olympics. Amid the prerace tension, in the center of the track, lane five sat conspicuously empty. Just hours before the event, Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare had received a provisional suspension from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), the anti-doping organization that oversees international track and field.

Leading into the Games, the then 32-year-old Okagbare had run the 100 faster than ever, clocking multiple sub-11-second times and equaling the world record at the Nigerian national championships. (The times were unofficial, as judges deemed them wind-assisted.) Without the last-minute sanction, says , CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), 鈥渟he was going to be in the final. 罢丑别谤别鈥檚 no doubt about that, if you look at her times and the drugs she was using to win.鈥�

The investigation had begun months before, after a fellow athlete discovered performance-enhancing drugs鈥攐r PEDs鈥攁ddressed to Okagbare and sent a tip to the USADA. While Okagbare was competing in Slovakia and Nigeria, USADA and the AIU administered two targeted drug tests鈥攐ne came back positive for growth hormone, and the other showed traces of the banned blood booster EPO. Under the old rules governing American anti-doping, the investigation would likely have concluded with Okagbare鈥檚 suspension. But because of a federal law enacted in December 2020, the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA), the FBI and prosecutors from the Department of Justice began an investigation to see whether Okagbare could lead them to a bigger offender.

When Okagbare returned home from Tokyo, federal agents were waiting at the airport. As she stepped onto U.S. soil, an operative with the FBI asked to see her phone. Incriminating messages on Okagbare鈥檚 WhatsApp eventually led to doping sanctions for three additional Olympic-level track athletes and a jail sentence for the man who supplied them with PEDs鈥攁 Texan named Eric Lira.

In May 2023, Lira, a self-described kinesiologist and naturopath from El Paso, became the first person convicted under the Rodchenkov Act. He faces a maximum ten-year prison sentence and a fine of up to one million dollars.

International Politics and Anti-Doping

Using testimony from Rodchenkov, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) issued a damning report on Russia鈥檚 flagrant cheating and recommended excluding the country鈥檚 track and field team from the 2016 Rio Olympics. But the International Olympic Committee, an organization riddled with conflicts of interest and frequently beset with corruption scandals, allowed Russian athletes to compete at subsequent Olympic Games鈥攋ust not under Russia鈥檚 flag.

That lack of accountability on the international stage deeply concerned policy advisers in the U.S. who study the rise of authoritarian governments. Russia鈥檚 state-run doping has been viewed by Congress as a national-security issue. If a country can essentially steal Olympic medals, what else might it try to get away with?

鈥淚nternational sport is a lot more important for the rest of the world than it is for us,鈥� says Paul Massaro, a senior policy adviser at the U.S. Helsinki Commission, which monitors human rights around the world and helped draft the Rodchenkov Act. 鈥淔or Russia and China in particular, they鈥檙e massive. 罢丑别谤别鈥檚 a reason these autocratic countries keep hosting the Games. They view them as a way to say, 鈥楬ey, look at all the medals we鈥檙e winning, look how big and powerful we are. Don鈥檛 fuck with us.鈥欌��

Don鈥檛 fuck with us indeed. Following the release of WADA鈥檚 Russia report, two top officials at the Russian anti-doping laboratory mysteriously died. When Rodchenkov, who lives in the U.S. under witness protection, testified in favor of the law bearing his name, he wore a ski mask to conceal his current appearance.

The Rodchenkov Act applies to any event attended by at least one U.S. athlete and three or more international athletes, and broadcast or sponsored by a U.S. business or organization. It specifically targets doping networks: doctors, trainers, and drug suppliers who work with multiple athletes. The law also offers certain protections鈥攆or example, an athlete who acted alone can鈥檛 be prosecuted under RADA. Nor can one who unintentionally ingested a banned substance.

For two-time U.S. Olympic runner Molly Huddle, the protections helped garner her support for the law. 鈥淢uch of the criticism I heard was, 鈥榃e don鈥檛 need to be throwing more people in jail,鈥欌�� said Huddle. 鈥淚nstead, the law focuses on the outer rings of doping conspiracies.鈥�

Additionally, RADA has extraterritorial jurisdiction, meaning that citizens of other countries involved in doping networks can be arrested in the U.S. or charged under the law and then extradited back to their home country. This power could be applied to cases like that of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who tested positive at the Beijing Olympics in 2022 when she was 15.

鈥淚f evidence is collected on Russian individuals who were involved in doping that athlete and defrauding those Olympics, and then those individuals come to the U.S., they can be arrested at the airport,鈥� says Massaro. 鈥淲e have the World Cup and the Olympics coming to the United States within the next five years. 罢丑别谤别鈥檚 an expectation that these should be the cleanest Games ever.鈥�

A Method for Exposing Drug Rings

Other messages showed that Okagbare sought Lira鈥檚 guidance as the authorities closed in on her. Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, on June 13, 2021, a USADA agent arrived at Okagbare鈥檚 home to collect a sample for an unscheduled test. Anti-doping authorities suspected Okagbare was using EPO, among other substances. She didn鈥檛 answer the door.

Instead, she messaged Lira: 鈥淪o I took 2000ui of the E yesterday, is it safe to take a test this morning?鈥� Lira replied: 鈥淕ood day, 2000 ui is a low dosage.鈥�

鈥淩emember I took it Wednesday and then yesterday again,鈥� Okagbare wrote. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure so I didn鈥檛 take a test. I just let them go so it will be a missed test.鈥�

The close call didn鈥檛 faze Okagbare. Nine days later, she ran 10.63 seconds to match the wind-assisted world record in the 100. Okagbare messaged Lira: 鈥淗ola amigo. Eric my body feel so good. I am sooooo happy Ericccccccc. Whatever you did, is working so well.鈥� Lira would later reply, 鈥淲hat you did is going to help you for the upcoming events. You are doing your part and you will be ready to dominate.鈥�

Eventually Okagbare鈥檚 luck ran out, and one of the tests came back positive for human growth hormone. On the day of her provisional suspension ahead of the Olympic semifinals, on July 30, 2021, she sent Lira a copy of her positive HGH test result and wrote, 鈥淐all me urgently. I don鈥檛 understand.鈥� Lira advised Okagbare to claim she鈥檇 consumed contaminated meat, a known cause of inadvertent positive tests.

Later, faced with potential jail time, Lira became less supportive. In May 2023, in a Manhattan courtroom, he pleaded guilty to the Rodchenkov Act charges. He also provided USADA with information that led to the sanctioning of Okagbare鈥檚 Nigerian teammate Divine Oduduru; triple jumper Sabina Allen, who competes for Jamaica; and Jamaican-born sprinter Alex Wilson, who competes for Switzerland. More sanctions may be forthcoming from Lira鈥檚 case.

In the past, similar criminal investigations that treated doping as fraud proved effective in exposing athletes. Using search warrants and subpoenas in the notorious BALCO scandal, which unveiled a doping ring operating out of a California laboratory, federal investigators discovered rampant PED use among baseball stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and Olympic sprinter Marion Jones. In 2012, after federal agents forced teammates of seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to testify under oath, they uncovered an extensive, deeply entrenched doping program.

But without an apparatus like the Rodchenkov Act in place, the case against Armstrong eventually stalled. Federal prosecutors lacked a strong legal framework to take it to trial, and the investigation didn鈥檛 yield meaningful potential criminal penalties. A fraud case involving Armstrong and those complicit in his team鈥檚 doping program was ultimately dropped by the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 office. USADA did eventually use the information obtained by federal agents to issue a lifetime ban on Armstrong.

Hopes For a Cleaner Future

I raced on the U.S. national cycling team and at the elite level during the Armstrong era, and later wrote about the sport鈥檚 culture of doping both at home and abroad. I saw how team doctors, owners, and racing officials fostered cheating yet often escaped accountability when busts occurred. Athletes who tested positive were punished, and the investigations stopped there. I knew that few cheaters acted alone; doping flourished in cycling because enablers existed at every level. After watching case after case fail to excise drug use from the sport, the message seemed to be that doping did in fact pay.

With the Rodchenkov Act, authorities now have the power to ascend the PED chain from athlete to coach to supplier and beyond. By sharing information with law enforcement and threatening criminal prosecution, anti-doping agencies can stymie entire doping conspiracies, not just individual athletes.

鈥淪port affects culture. And if sport tips toward the disempowering, ugly side of competition, then a lot of things are going to tip that way,鈥� says Huddle. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like letting a part of your body be sick and being like, 鈥榃hatever, it鈥檚 not going to affect the rest of me.鈥� But it will eventually.鈥�

Not everybody likes the Rodchenkov Act as much as I do. The World Anti Doping Agency actually lobbied against it. In a statement, WADA president Witold Banka expressed concern over the law鈥檚 extraterritorial jurisdiction and noted the exclusion of U.S. professional and collegiate leagues like the NFL and NCAA. 鈥淭hese leagues were originally included in the act but were subsequently removed without explanation,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f it is not good enough for American sports, why is it being imposed on the rest of the world?鈥�

When I asked Tygart what safeguards existed to prevent overreach, he pointed to the due-process protections already built into the U.S. criminal justice system. In the case against Lira, the Rodchenkov Act survived its first legal challenge. A pretrial motion filed by Lira鈥檚 lawyer claimed that the law violated the Constitution, in that Lira鈥檚 right to free speech protected his messages with Okagbare. A judge ultimately denied the motion, stating that 鈥渟peech integral to criminal conduct鈥� isn鈥檛 protected.

The Rodchenkov Act will face further challenges and additional scrutiny. If it鈥檚 used as intended, those who鈥檝e accrued wealth and power by corrupting sport鈥攊n the U.S. and around the world鈥攚ill be held to account. If successful, the law will bring about more ethical competition, and perhaps a more just society.

The post This Could Be a Game Changer in the Fight Against Doping appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

One: Weapons Handling

Colin Strickland believed that every woman should own a gun. It was a feminist conviction of a sort. He would argue that, as a dude鈥攁 tall, tan, strapping dude鈥攈e enjoyed a freedom that many women don鈥檛. He could go most places and do most things without feeling threatened. He rode his bike on desolate gravel roads, then parked his truck wherever he liked and slept inside a Spartan trailer he hauled behind him. As a professional bike racer, he lived a remarkably carefree life, close to the best he could have imagined for himself. But he was aware of his male privilege, too.

Strickland鈥檚 girlfriend, Kaitlin Armstrong, called him one night in the summer of 2020, sobbing and panicked. A belligerent man鈥攎aybe intoxicated, maybe suffering some kind of mental breakdown, maybe both鈥攌ept banging on the door of her Austin, Texas, apartment. The guy eventually went away, but the incident terrified her. Another time, she was accosted by an angry man in a grocery store parking lot. Now and then, creeps followed her while she rode on bike paths and made her feel unsafe. Strickland could only imagine how these incidents felt to Armstrong, a lithe yoga instructor with auburn hair that fell across her shoulders. He knew that men commit nearly 80 percent of violent crime in the U.S., and he wondered: Why should a woman spend her life living in fear? Maybe a gun would make Kaitlin feel empowered, more independent, free to live the way she chose.

It鈥檚 easy to buy a weapon in Texas. So one day around the beginning of 2022, Strickland and Armstrong rode their bikes to McBride鈥檚, a family-owned gun shop near the University of Texas. Armstrong picked out a 9mm SIG Sauer P365 pistol and held it up to get a feel for its weight. Strickland picked out a handgun, too. As a kid, he鈥檇 lived in the rural Hill Country west of Austin, an area with a lot of firearms. But his family didn鈥檛 own guns, and he鈥檇 fired a shotgun maybe once in his life. The motivation to buy one now came from his fascination with machines; he was drawn to the engineering and construction.

In their relationship, Armstrong, who鈥檇 once worked in finance, managed the money, while Strickland often paid for things. After providing the background information required by federal law for licensed gun dealers, he asked the salesperson if they needed to have Armstrong鈥檚 information, too. 鈥淣o,鈥� he was told. 鈥淚n the state of Texas, you can gift someone a gun.鈥�

Strickland paid for the pistols and gave one to Armstrong. They had also acquired two boxes of ammunition, one for practice and another marked 鈥�9mm JAG,鈥� a bullet designed to break apart on impact and cause additional harm inside the body鈥攊ncreasing the chances that it would kill its intended target.

The post The Murder of Moriah Wilson appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Attorneys for Kaitlin Armstrong suffered a setback on Wednesday as a Texas judge struck down their motion to toss evidence gathered by the Austin Police Department from the upcoming murder trial for cyclist Moriah Wilson.

Armstrong, 34, is accused of shooting and killing Wilson on May 11, 2022 at a rental home in Austin. Her trial is set to begin in June, 2023.

The motions filed by Armstrong鈥檚 attorney鈥檚 sought to omit an interview she gave to detective Katy Conner on May 12 because police had not read her Miranda rights. A second motion, a 鈥淔ranks Challenge,鈥� sought to omit the arrest affidavit for first-degree murder written by detective Richard Spitler. The motion claimed the document contained falsehoods and intentional omissions of facts from the case.听

The motions put into jeopardy much of the evidence needed by the Travis County District Attorney to effectively prosecute the case against Armstrong. But ultimately, Travis County Judge Brenda Kennedy ruled that both pieces of evidence can be included in the trial.听

鈥淭here was no evidence of any intentional disregard for the truth,鈥� Kennedy said in court.

The ruling is the latest wrinkle in Armstrong鈥檚 battle against prosecutors. Police believe she shot Wilson shortly after Wilson went swimming and had dinner with Armstrong鈥檚 boyfriend, former professional cyclist Colin Strickland. Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Armstrong on May 20 kicking off a weeks-long search for her. Authorities apprehended her in Costa Rica 43 days later.

Appearing in court in jail-issue black and white striped pants and a maroon shirt, Armstrong appeared stoic during the pretrial hearings. The pre-trial hearing lasted nearly nine hours, and Armstrong鈥檚 attorneys Rick Cofer and Mark Pryor grilled detectives Conner and Spitler on the witness stand.听

Police initially arrested Armstrong the day after Wilson鈥檚 murder, bringing her in for questioning on a misdemeanor warrant dating back to 2018. Prior to questioning Armstrong, detective Conner was wrongly informed that the misdemeanor warrant wasn鈥檛 valid, and thus she did not read Miranda rights to Armstrong. Instead, she told Armstrong that she was not under arrest and free to leave if she chose. Conner then proceeded to question Armstrong about Wilson鈥檚 death.

During the roughly ten-minute interview, Armstrong asked if she needed an attorney three times and requested permission to leave five times.听

In her ruling, Judge Kennedy said that, prior to conducting a voluntary interview, law enforcement is under no obligation to read Miranda rights to a suspect who鈥檚 not officially in custody. Further, the Judge stated that Armstrong鈥檚 repeated questions, regarding the need for an attorney, did not amount to a definitive request for counsel.

Questioning Conner, Pryor said, 鈥淭he only way she鈥檚 leaving that interview room is if you facilitate it.鈥� Conner stated that had Armstrong walked toward the door, she would have let Armstrong leave. Since police had driven Armstrong to the interview, Pryor wondered how she would have gotten home had Conner not arranged a ride. 鈥淪he could Uber,鈥� Conner said.

An investigative expert provided by the defense, Douglas Deaton, said during the hearing that a suspect doesn鈥檛 need to state a 鈥渕agical formula鈥� of words in order to invoke a right to counsel.听

As Cofer questioned Spitler, he walked back and forth across the courtroom, claiming the affidavit written by Spitler made Armstrong appear to be a 鈥渃razy, jealous person.鈥� Waving toward reporters in the courtroom, Cofer said, 鈥淎ll these people in the media believe there was a love triangle, it鈥檚 all made up.鈥澨�

Cofer said recent text exchanges between Strickland and Wilson were not those of romantic partners, but rather pertained to mundane topics like what tire size was most applicable for a specific terrain. Cofer did not appear to sway Judge Kennedy, who ultimately reminded him to conduct his questioning from the defense counsel鈥檚 table.

Prosecutors asked detective Spitler if he believed the information in the arrest affidavit to be accurate at the time it was produced. They argued that even if the document contained some inaccuracies, those errors would not invalidate it.听

In siding with the Travis County DA, Judge Kennedy stated the defense鈥檚 Franks Challenge did not meet the standard set by case precedent. In spite of any possible errors, Judge Kennedy said, the affidavit鈥檚 remaining content was sufficient to establish probable cause.听

Judge Kennedy鈥檚 ruling allowed for the state鈥檚 case against Kaitlin Armstrong to move forward to trial. The trial had previously been set to start on October 24.

The post Kaitlin Armstrong鈥檚 Legal Defense Suffers Setback in Moriah Wilson Murder Case appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The not-so-small acts of kindness stuck out to Luke Konson and Daniel Balserak. Local anglers shared priceless intel about how to catch their state鈥檚 official fish and, Konson says, 鈥淕ot us onto spots we had no business being.鈥�

In Hawaii, a family let the two borrow their minivan to get around the island, and a sailor offered the teenage boys a place to stay. Trying to catch channel catfish in Iowa, they pulled into a Raising Cane鈥檚 restaurant for directions and met a man who recognized them from a story in a local paper. He鈥檇 read about their mission to catch the state fish in every U.S. state. He wished them luck, then handed them $200.

A fishing guide in Alaska donated time and resources. A governor honored them at the state capitol. Once, they were stuck on a snowy pass in New Mexico, without cell service and 20 miles from the nearest town, when a guy in a four-wheel-drive Jeep reversed back up the mountain and towed them to safety. And during one of their lowest moments, stranded at an auto repair shop in North Carolina with a wrecked van, a stranger booked them a hotel room. All this because they鈥檇 set out to catch some fish.

Luke Konson grew up fishing with his dad, Mickey, at a neighborhood pond in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. As a teenager, he began migrating to more unique and adventurous fishing locations.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit during the spring of Luke鈥檚 senior year in high school. He was heading to Clemson University in the fall of 2020, but the college delayed the semester five weeks and then moved classes online. So Luke and his dad got to thinking: what else might he do? To their knowledge, no one had ever tried to catch the state fish in every U.S. state鈥攕ort of like birding鈥檚 Big Year challenge but for fish.

Nearly every state government has officially named at least one state fish鈥攕ave Iowa and Ohio, where the state fish designation remains unofficial. Many coastal states claim two state fish, one for saltwater and one for freshwater. In conceptualizing his quest, Konson decided he would try to catch either the saltwater or freshwater fish within every state鈥檚 borders.

He dubbed the quest Fish All Fifty and ran the idea by his buddy Daniel Balserak, who鈥檇 also enrolled at Clemson. Balserak, who had similarly been taught to fish by his father at age four, managed to convince his own parents to let him go. In August 2020, the two 18-year-olds loaded up the Konson family minivan and prepared to set out.

They divided the project into four different trips. The first leg covered the Northeast鈥攁 circular route up to Maine, over to western Pennsylvania, down to West Virginia, and then back home. On their second outing, they fished 20 states in the Midwest and Southeast, venturing up to Minnesota, down to Texas, and over to Florida. But they caught the wrong fish in Alabama鈥攖he Alabama bass, not the largemouth鈥攕o in January 2021 they headed back through the South and toward the Rockies. Historic winter lows made the fishing harder, so they retreated before making it to the Southwest. In April, they set out again, starting in New Mexico and the Four Corners, making their way to California, up the West Coast, and back over to the Dakotas.

Each outing taught them something new. In their first state, Maryland, Konson and Balserak spent three days fishing for striped bass before finally catching two thumb-sized specimens. 鈥淲ow, this is going to be really tough if every state takes this long,鈥� Konson recalls saying. Seven different states along the East Coast have recognized the striped bass as the official saltwater fish.

Turns out, Konson says, 鈥淓very state took way longer.鈥�

Early in the project, Konson and Balserak discovered that each state鈥檚 fish also told a story about its people, past and present. Following their struggles in Maryland, they headed to Rhode Island, where a tackle shop employee clued them in on the trick to catching stripers: fish the high tide at night from a bridge. They set their alarms for 3 A.M. When they climbed out of the van, where they usually slept in the front seats, the duo found the spot packed with anglers. 鈥淪eeing what each fish meant to the people in that state, it made each one a little bit special,鈥� Konson says.

In the West, especially, the naming of the state fish often serves a conservation purpose. 鈥淭hose states were learning processes for us,鈥� Balserak says. In New Mexico, they hiked more than 80 miles, desperately searching for the Rio Grande cutthroat. Finally, a kindly fly shop in Taos mapped out a can鈥檛-miss spot. 鈥淲hen you put in the work and catch a fish that colorful, there鈥檚 no better feeling,鈥� Konson says. Fishing in the West, they came to understand how generations of Indigenous peoples had subsisted predominantly on fish like trout and salmon. And how our modern meddling鈥攖hrough the stocking of non-native species, land development, and climate change鈥攈as hurt native fish populations. According to Trout Unlimited, of the 28 native trout species and subspecies in the United States, three are extinct and six are listed as threatened or endangered. Ninety two percent of all native trout face some level of risk.

Less revered fish face challenges, too. In Arkansas, Konson and Balserak spent more than three weeks trying to catch an alligator gar in the Arkansas River. They even fished with Mark Spitzer, the expert angler and author who helped River Monsters TV series host Jeremy Wade catch one鈥攂ut no luck. Spitzer eventually told them, 鈥淗onestly, your chances of catching two alligator gar in Arkansas are very low.鈥� The prehistoric fish, which can weigh up to 300 pounds, has been decimated by bowfishing (and other causes) in its recognized state of Arkansas.

Finally, Konson and Balserak conceded and headed to the Trinity River in Texas, where they each caught an alligator gar. 鈥淭here was something that felt almost wrong about taking those out of the water,鈥� Balserak says. With its hardened scales and protruding teeth, Konson says, the fish 鈥渄on鈥檛 even look like animals.鈥� But鈥id they fudge that fish? Technically, Konson says, the alligator gar is Arkansas鈥檚 primitive state fish, not the official state fish. 鈥淚t was a bit of loophole,鈥� he admits.

Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson still honored their efforts. He invited the two to the capitol and gave them a signed document acknowledging them as official state travelers. Hutchinson had previously bestowed a similar honor on a ten-year-old boy named Henry Foster. In 2018, Foster wrote the Arkansas state legislature and started a Change.org petition requesting lawmakers help protect alligator gar with recognition from the state government. In 2019, Hutchinson signed the designation into law, with Foster in attendance.

Bearing witness to the negative human impact on fish species across the United States鈥攁nd our ability to right some of those wrongs鈥攁ffected both Konson and Balserak. When Konson enrolled at Clemson in the fall of 2021, he chose wildlife and fisheries biology as his major.

Of course, state governments vote on more than feel-good bills about state fish. Around the time the two visited with Governor Hutchinson, in the spring of 2021, the Arkansas legislature was drafting bills that limited transgender participation in youth sports and access to gender-affirming care. (Hutchinson signed the anti-trans youth sports bill but vetoed the gender-affirming care bill, calling it 鈥渢oo extreme.鈥� The Arkansas legislature overrode his veto.)

The legislation, which became a national flashpoint on transgender rights, was just one of many politically and culturally fraught issues Konson and Balserak found themselves physically passing through as they traveled around the country trying to catch fish. In August 2020, in a New York City quieted by COVID-19 restrictions, they donned cloth masks and posed with their fishing rods in an eerily empty Times Square. 鈥淭hat was sobering,鈥� Balserak says. Sure, they were on an adventure, but much of the country was just trying to survive.

Driving across the United States, subsisting on Slim Jims and bulk bags of cereal, the teenagers became accustomed to encounters with law enforcement. On the nights when they couldn鈥檛 find a Walmart parking lot to sleep in, they often got 鈥渢he knock鈥� well-known to #vanlifers鈥攚aking up to a cop peering through the window at their mess of tackle and telling them to move along. Once, at 3 A.M., two officers asked Konson and Balserak (who are both white) to get out of the van and spoke to them separately. Balserak says, 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have anything to hide. I was just scared Luke was going to say something that wasn鈥檛 compatible.鈥�

鈥淲e had like eight fishing rods inside our van,鈥� Konson says. 鈥淚t was pretty clear we were telling the truth or just had a very elaborate cover-up.鈥�

A couple officers ended up following them on social media @fishallfifty.

Everywhere they went, people seemed to connect with their story and often helped the duo get to their next state to catch their next fish. 鈥淪eeing all this conflict, but through all of it, there were so many people willing to help and do what they can,鈥� Konson says.

Three states remained as Fish All Fifty came to its conclusion in late 2021. The app FishBrain (like Strava but for fishing) helped fund their travel to Hawaii. One of their online followers pointed them to a marina in downtown Honolulu, where they caught the reef triggerfish鈥攊n Hawaiian, the humuhumunukunukuapuaa. Then, with support from another app, Alaska FishTopia, Konson and Balserak flew from Hawaii to Anchorage. Their dads met them there. The fathers and sons traveled to the Kenai River, one of the country鈥檚 most revered fisheries. Using barbless hooks, they cast for the heavily protected king salmon, leaving the fish safely in the water while photographing their catch.

They saved their home state of Virginia for last. In the fall of 2021, days before heading off to school for their freshman semester at Clemson, Konson and Balserak drove up into the Shenandoah Mountains. There, they caught their final fish: two small but colorful brook trout. They put the young fish back into the churning water and let them swim away.

The post These Teens Spent Their Gap Year Hooking State Fish All Over America appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

When I moved back in with my parents after college, my dad鈥檚 hearing was waning. My folks, Don and Lynn, lived in Alexandria, Virginia, south of Washington, D.C., on the Potomac River. It was 2003, and I鈥檇 relocated to the area to race bikes for a local elite team and compete in the summerlong calendar of national-level events held up and down the East Coast.

At the time, it was hard to tell whether my dad was in denial about his hearing loss鈥攈e was only 60鈥攐r just figured it was your problem, not his. You鈥檇 say something in a completely normal tone of voice, and seemingly frustrated, he鈥檇 snap back with a variety of responses: 鈥淲hat?鈥� 鈥淪peak up!鈥� 鈥淪top mumbling!鈥� or 鈥淓nunciate,鈥� emphasizing nun, in case you didn鈥檛 get it.

鈥淒ad!鈥� I鈥檇 yell at him. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e literally a caricature of an old man losing his hearing.鈥�

He seemed more proud of that fact than embarrassed by it, and besides, in the basement he鈥檇 devised a solution: a cutting-edge home-theater system, complete with a projector TV and a closet full of warm, humming electronics. He鈥檇 come back from a long day in D.C., where he worked as an assistant to the inspector general in the Department of Health and Human Services, take off his suit, enjoy dinner and a couple glasses of wine, then unwind on the sectional couch and crank whatever he was watching to eleven.

Be damned his twentysomething bike-bum son who was in the room down the hall, trying to get to bed so he could wake up and ride five hours before working a shift at the bike shop. I鈥檇 try to ignore the wall-vibrating bass, put on a pair of headphones, or squish a pillow over my head. But inevitably, the best option was just to go out and join him. In the summer, when the Tour de France was on, I was happy to.

This was near the height of Armstrong hysteria, after all. A small cable channel called Outdoor Life Network had bought the rights to broadcast the Tour in the U.S., and for the first time we could watch the race in its entirety, all 21 stages. Prior to that, my family, along with every other American bike-racing fan, had consumed video coverage of the Tour via a Sunday afternoon special or a daily 30-minute highlight reel on ESPN.

That year, Lance was chasing his fifth Tour win. Each stage went live with the sunrise every morning and was then repackaged into a two-hour prime-time show. My dad appreciated the commentary and analysis from 翱尝狈鈥檚 polished British announcers, Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett. But he would laugh out loud at the hijinks of Bob 鈥�Bobke鈥� Roll, the quirky former pro with thinning hair and imperfect teeth who brought a distinctly American flair to the Tour coverage, in particular, an inability to correctly pronounce the event. His version: 鈥淭our day 贵谤补苍肠别.鈥�

For three generations, cycling had swirled around my family. My dad inherited a passion for the sport from his uncle, then passed it down to my brother and me. My parents fell in love on a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. My brother competed in his first mountain-bike race in the eighth grade, and I followed not long after. We were exposed to classic road races like and via weather-beaten magazines and grainy VHS tapes. In college, when I became obsessed with road racing myself, I read rider diaries from the Tour on burgeoning cycling websites like . It seemed somewhat surreal to my dad and me that we could now watch the Tour live from thousands of miles away.

Bike racing is unlike any other sport I know of. It鈥檚 an endurance sport on vehicles. A vehicle sport on open roads. A team sport with an individual winner. Life鈥檚 metaphors, its various struggles and successes, seem to play out in a more dramatic fashion in a bike race. At least they did for me and my dad. Riders conquer mountains and succumb to crashes on the way back down. They surge ahead of the group with a violent effort called an attack, form temporary allegiances to share the draft and break the wind, and then try to dispatch each other in the closing kilometers. A rider will lead the race alone for a hundred-some-odd kilometers and then get gobbled up by the charging peloton just meters from the finish.

For my dad and me, watching the Tour became akin to an annual fishing trip or a multi-day hike. Growing up, I spent countless hours pedaling behind him on a shiny aluminum tandem, exploring rural North Texas roads, where we lived in the nineties, and tackling the rocky singletrack overlooking Lake Grapevine. When my dad moved to D.C. in the 2000s, he lost his tight-knit group of bike-club friends, and also his impetus to ride. I was too strong, or too cool, to get out with him then. We didn鈥檛 bond on our bikes anymore, but watching the Tour, we came to know each other as adults.

My dad gave me his hearty laugh and his boyish eyes, but he could also be stoic, gruff, and comically reserved with his emotions. He鈥檇 ask how my car was running, and I understood that he loved me. Watching the Tour together, I cherished that,听though my dad had never competed, he understood the sport, and through it, he seemed to understand me. Despite its impracticality, he supported my decision to pursue bike racing professionally. He was good at asking questions, and he didn鈥檛 fully fall for Lance鈥檚 fairy tale. Over the years, we watched heroic performances with a healthy amount of skepticism but also shared an appreciation for underdogs. An unlikely hero would emerge, and we鈥檇 root for him to beat the odds.

The post My Dad鈥檚 Last Tour de France appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

罢丑别谤别鈥檚 the Internet of a balance-bike race in Japan. A long row of pre-school-aged kids, aboard low-slung bikes with no brakes or pedals, takes off from a start ramp like a pack of greyhounds. The kids kick their bikes up to speeds that would make most adults uncomfortable, and carve through the course鈥檚 maze of sharp corners with tenacity and grace.

A few kids don鈥檛 make it. They splay out across the track in a pile of elbow and kneepads and full-face helmets. And then, there鈥檚 one kid, coming from behind, who executes a perfect pass on his recently potty-trained competitors and crosses the line first, his chest forward in an elated victory celebration.听

When I first learned of the , and considered taking my own three-year-old son, August, to the event, this was the gulp-inducing scene I envisioned. A national series of four races, the Strider Cup is organized by the and culminates in September with the . Strider bills its race series as an all-inclusive event, a festival that听exposes your child to the positive aspects of competition at an early age. Yet, the thought of my own son lining up against Strider prodigies from Japan (who swept Worlds in 2016) made my palms sweat.

I鈥檝e been an avid bike racer for more than 20 years, but August has yet to inherit any of my competitive instinct or passion for unadulterated speed. It鈥檚 not that he doesn鈥檛 like lining up. At a Thursday-night criterium race where we live in Austin, August eagerly awaits the kids' race, then hurries to the start line ahead of everyone else. But when the announcer shouts, 鈥淕o!鈥� he鈥檚 quickly left behind, more intent on stopping to push over all the orange cones than on beating his competitors. His record is impeccable: out of a half dozen or so kids races started, he has听finished last in every one.

Still, the siren song of such a high-caliber event was too good to pass up. 鈥淎 World Cup!鈥� I kept telling my wife. I recruited my parents as support staff, August鈥檚 Grandpa (photography) and his Nana (team snack dispenser), and on a sunny weekend in early May, we headed up to the big race.

I knew I鈥檇 need to shelve my desire to win听so that August could develop his own. But there were other elements that I worried about, too: that I was pushing August into something that was my thing, not his; that he might become overwhelmed by the immensity of the event, and permanently scarred by bike racing; that he might fail.

As we traveled to Fort Worth, I鈥檇 never been more nervous.

Modern balance bikes for kids, as we know them, were invented by a man named Ryan McFarland, the founder of Strider. The origin story goes like this: McFarland, who hales from , was an avid mountain biker who wanted to share his passion for riding with his then two-year-old son, Bode. But he found that cumbersome tricycles and training wheels limited the things he loved about riding鈥攇oing off-road, adventuring, sending sweet jumps.听

So, as a long time tinkerer with a couple of patents to his name already, McFarland hacked up a standard kids' bike and blow torched it back together without pedals or a chain. 鈥淓verything that was adding weight or complexity, I pulled off the bike,鈥� McFarland says.听

He got so many inquiries about the unique bike from people who saw Bode ripping around on it, that in 2007 he started Strider. The company boomed, and now its听name is synonymous with balance bikes. To date, Strider has sold more than 1.6 million bikes, which are distributed in over 75 countries. (McFarland credits his Strider distributor in Japan for the popularity of balance bike racing in that country.)

Today, anyone who's serious about teaching a kid to ride at an early age will likely eschew听training wheels in favor of a balance bike. Dozens of different companies now sell them, including every major bike brand. This transformation in kids' bike technology has led to an entire generation of toddlers who rip on two wheels.

Among my group of dad friends in Austin鈥攔oadies and mountain bikers who might pull up their Strava feed over a pint of beer鈥攖he kids who start out on balance bikes often master cycling at a mind-bogglingly early age. One buddy鈥檚 kid switched to a pedal bike at just two years old, and was churning out 20-mile rides by three. Another friend鈥檚 preschool-aged son started out riding his balance bike at , and only a year or so later, could drop in on a quarter pipe.

On the day of the race, we arrived at to a scene worthy of听the title 鈥淐up.鈥� The roughly 600-foot-long course had been laid out across an expansive brick-lined square, encircled by downtown skyscrapers. The course featured a faux tunnel and small ramps (on which kids who gained enough speed could catch air), as well as a water obstacle鈥攂uilt-in fountains that would intermittently bubble up from the bricks, causing some kids to splash in glee and others to swerve widely off-course.听

August approached the venue with hesitation. Adding to my race-day anxiety, the 1 p.m. start-time for the three-year-old class coincided with his naptime. But after a series of practice laps during the noontime lunch break, he gradually warmed up.

鈥淲hen you see someone in front of you, go faster and try to pass them,鈥� I heard one dad explain to his son, a kid adorned with a full-face helmet and GoPro. Though we were all here to race (a relative term), among the 200-plus competitors, plus their parents and grandparents and friends, a communal spirit prevailed over a competitive rivalry. A grandmother wearing a Fox Racing shirt let me borrow some wet wipes.听

The three-year-old race began with a parade lap for all the participants, a heart-melting horde of gleeful kids making, 鈥淰room, vroom鈥� noises and pin balling off one another. Then, lane assignments for the opening heats appeared on a large monitor. August was in the sixth heat, next to a red-faced little boy named Lane. Lane鈥檚 dad, decked out in NASCAR gear, told me Lane had gotten his first ever trophy in a soccer game earlier that morning, 鈥淢aybe he鈥檒l get another this afternoon?鈥� He also conceded a complete meltdown was an equally likely possibility.

The Strider Cup staffers amazingly managed the chaos and got the kids lined up on the wooden start ramp. August rolled past a longhaired little boy fighting back tears, and took his place near a girl in a pink polka-dot skirt at the start gate. 鈥淲hen they say 鈥楪o!鈥� You go,鈥� I reminded him. A kid with dinosaur spikes adorning his helmet began clacking his bike鈥檚 front wheel against the foot-high starting gate, and all the other kids followed suit, 鈥淐LACK, CLACK, CLACK, CLACK.鈥�

I spotted the founder of Strider bikes, McFarland, leaning over the course railing amid the proud parents, holding his camera phone aloft in eager anticipation. The start gate dropped, and the kids took off at a pace just slightly above walking speed. This was not Japan.听

August trotted around the course with a look of amused intent, over the ramps, across the gurgling fountain, and through the tunnel. An exuberant announcer gave a play-by-play and read off nearly every child鈥檚 name, booming, 鈥淗ere come鈥檚 August鈥ill!鈥澨齛s my son crossed the line. A monitor displayed his placing not long after the finish, eighth out of eleven in his heat鈥攆inally breaking his streak of last places.听

Between heats, our team coalesced, August鈥檚 Nana doted over him, saying, 鈥淗ere, boo,鈥� as she helped him guzzle a few yogurt smoothie samples. 鈥淪ugar doping,鈥� we joked.听His Grandpa contorted his body and his DSLR to capture August in action. As August lined up for his second and final race of the day (slated in the slowest group of the championship heats), I asked him, 鈥淎re you going to go fast?鈥澨�

This time, he answered, 鈥淵es! I鈥檓 going to go soooo fast!鈥澨�

In the final championship race,听a three-year-old from Topeka, Kansas, named Brayson Yingling took off like a bowling ball from the start ramp, establishing an early lead and ultimately defending a Strider Cup title he鈥檇 previously won as a two-year-old.听

Pasha Ali, the son of a professional racecar driver who鈥檇 been promoted as a top contender preceding the race, recovered from a poor start, passed a boy who overcooked the final turn and finished on the podium. On the podium as the cameras flashed, Pasha听took his sippy cup, shook it up, and sprayed water everywhere, just like he鈥檇 seen racecar drivers do with champagne bottles.听

August, exuberant and exhausted, chased a roly poly across Sundance Square听while听I chatted with McFarland. I told him I鈥檇 seen him recording the races, and asked if all these years later, this scene still excites him. He said he remained mesmerized by, 鈥渁ll the tiny dramas playing out across the racecourse. The little defeats, and victories.鈥� He divulged the purpose in the exaggerated importance of the event鈥攖o give little kids a chance to do something big. Here, the only failure was not trying, he said.听

As I stood there, watching August try to make shapes out of lines on the paper of a notebook he鈥檇 pilfered from me, I decided to stop worrying whether or not he would share my love of riding, or if the experiences I was exposing him to were the right ones. I decided that when it comes to be being a dad, I鈥檇 approach it the same as I do any bike race.听

I鈥檇 line up and do the best I could.

The post Inside the Cut-Throat World of Toddler Bike Racing appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

On Monday, Tour de France champion Chris Froome toed the start line at Colorado鈥檚 USA Pro Cycling Challenge for a weeklong bike race through the Rockies. It's his first World Tour stage race since thrashing a field of international stars on the steep slopes of the Alps and Pyrenees.

听

It's also Froome鈥檚 return to a pressroom full of hounding journalists, and an audience filled with passionate but cynical cycling fans. For as fast as Froome rides, he can鈥檛 seem to out pedal the persistent doping questions.

This was evident at a news conference on the first rest day of the Tour de France. The morning after Froome decimated the field on Mount Ventoux, reporter after reporter asked the eventual Yellow Jersey winner, How do we know for sure you鈥檙e clean? We鈥檝e been burned before. Prove it to us.

Finally, exasperated with the inquisition, Froome鈥檚 director on Sky Pro Cycling, Dave Brailsford, the microphone.

Look, Brailsford said, 鈥淲e鈥檝e wracked our brains thinking about ways we can satisfy people and make these questions go away.鈥�

Then, Brailsford waved his hand at the audience鈥攁t all of us, really.

鈥淲hy don鈥檛 you collectively get organized,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd you tell me what we could do, so you wouldn鈥檛 have to ask the question?鈥�

Not longer after Brailsford posed his challenge, 国产吃瓜黑料 accepted. In the weeks between the end of the Tour de France and the start of the Pro Cycling Challenge, I spoke with pro cyclists, anti-doping advocates, sports scientists, and psychologists. I asked these experts, if there was a verifiable way for Chris Froome to prove to all of us he鈥檚 clean? Then, I asked myself, why should he have to?

Before we explore the outer reaches of the anti-doping universe, lets first examine the current state of the grassroots effort to clean up pro cycling: The once vaunted summit resulted in little more than holding a panel in which a three time Tour de France winner sat next to a Twitter persona. sells a fair amount of rubber bracelets but doesn鈥檛 seem to do much else. The physiologists and sports doctors who hold up pVAM (a formula that predicts climbing speeds) and estimated wattage as a golden barometer of doping suspicion have been by the people who initially developed the use of power data in cycling, like Dr. Andy Coggan. The Kimmage Fund, set up to help fight corruption within cycling鈥檚 governing body, the UCI, ended up itself.

Even David Walsh, the Sunday Times reporter who crusaded against Armstrong, has been on social-media for claiming Froome is clean. Noting the infighting consuming the anti-doping movement without Armstrong as a focal point, Bicycling magazine editor-at-large, Bill Strickland, tweeted, 鈥淚 guess when the gladiators slay the lion they end up fighting each other for sport.鈥�

Into this fray, I introduce an Australian lawyer and bike racing fanatic named Teague Czislowski, who claims he can prove an athlete is clean beyond any doubt. (Who the heck is Teague Czislowski, you ask? Who cares, I answer. This anti-doping movement is anyone鈥檚 game. It鈥檚 the Wild West.)

Czislowski鈥檚 initiative is called the , and it contains nine steps for official authentication as a clean athlete. The first five steps focus on full transparency. An athlete must sign an anti-doping contract, divulge their associations with doctors, trainers, and coaches, and offer up anything else that might help prove they鈥檙e clean鈥攂lood data, training schedules, injury history, power files, etc.

The sixth and seventh steps of Clean Protocol certification introduce novel, but not unfounded, means of assessing an athlete鈥檚 integrity. In the sixth step, the athlete undergoes a psychological test called the Performance Enhancement Attitudes Scale (PEAS). The PEAS was developed by Andrea Petroczi as part of his doctoral dissertation in 2002 and published with a colleague in 2009, and utilizes a series of open-ended questions to assess an athlete鈥檚 moral stance toward performance enhancing drug use and cheating. For example, athletes who use supplements are more likely to resort to doping.

A by the World Anti-Doping Agency on athletes who took the PEAS stated that, 鈥淧articipants with higher levels of moral functioning had more negative attitudes towards PEDs.鈥�

The next and final Clean Protocol step is deception testing. But Czislowski doesn鈥檛 rely on polygraph machines. They鈥檙e proven inaccurate. Instead, the Protocol outlines five different, cutting edge methods of catching someone in a lie, from ferretting out subconscious associations, to eye ball tracking (think, shifty eyes).

If an athlete fails the deception testing, they can still get Clean Protocol certified by signing a legally binding statement鈥攊n the U.S., that means under oath, and threat of perjury鈥攐r they can take a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging test, which measures blood flow to the part of our brain that manages lying. The Protocol claims the FMRI test is 97 percent accurate, but can be prohibitively expensive.

Dr. Michael Puchowicz, who has gained an online following for his mathematically based anti-doping blog, , worked with Czislowski on the Clean Protocol as a scientific advisor. 鈥淎t worst, it鈥檚听a new way of looking at the question,鈥� Puchowicz told me. 鈥淎t best, it may actually work.鈥�

Still, it seemed that psychological and deception testing was a lot to ask of Froome, who鈥檇 done nothing to incite suspicion other than winning the world鈥檚 biggest bike races. Then, I read that Marcel Kittel, the break-out German sprinter who won four stages at this year鈥檚 Tour de France, a lie detector test to assert his dope-free purity at the request of SportBild magazine. I recalled, as well, that NFL draft prospects take the Wonderlic, a psychometric cognitive ability test.

After realizing athletes are already subjecting themselves to lie detector and psychological tests to win over fans and potential employers, I reached out to Phil Gaimon, a 27-year-old domestic pro who recently signed with one of the world鈥檚 best teams, American outfit Garmin-Sharp. Gaimon is vocal about his disdain for cheaters. His right arm is with a green bar of soap and the word: CLEAN.

鈥淲ould you take a lie detector or psychological test to prove you鈥檙e not a doper?鈥� I asked Gaimon. 鈥淥r does it put too much onus on the athlete?鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot to ask,鈥� Gaimon said. 鈥淏ut yeah, if I was someone like Kittel, and it was a voluntary test, that鈥檚 exactly what I what I would do.鈥�

鈥淏ut this is a terrible time to be one of the world鈥檚 best cyclists,鈥� he added. 鈥淏ecause the better you perform as a racer, the more suspicion you draw.鈥�

Next, I called Kristen Deiffenbach, a sports psychologist and professor at West Virginia University who works with USA Cycling. I asked her, 鈥淐an psychological and deception testing accurately gauge an athlete鈥檚 proclivity for PED use?鈥�

鈥淣ot really,鈥� she told me.

鈥淚t鈥檚 less about the individual athlete, and more about the cultural perception surrounding them,鈥� Deiffenbach explained. Even if an athlete posted glowing scores on a battery of psychological examinations and deception tests, Deiffenbach said, it doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean they would gain any credibility in the eyes of the public.

Furthermore, Deiffenbach said, 鈥淎 number of studies have shown the best values and beliefs don鈥檛 always transfer to behavior. Economic research in the business world shows people will compromise their morals when put in specific situations.鈥� (See: U.S. Postal team, .)

The problem then, I concluded, may actually be with us, the cycling fans and journalists, not the current crop of pros, who鈥檝e done little to earn our scorn.

Maybe we should stop asking Chris Froome to prove he鈥檚 clean, and start asking ourselves why we can鈥檛 trust him? In our effort to weed every last cheater out of the sport, we鈥檝e started crucifying our ostensibly clean champions. In our vigilance to protect the sport we love from doping, we鈥檙e actually hurting it.

鈥淲e鈥檙e like broken hearted lovers. Our sport cheated on us, and we鈥檙e afraid to get hurt again,鈥� I told Deiffenbach. 鈥淗ow do we get over that pain?鈥� I asked.

鈥淚t takes time,鈥� she told me. 鈥淩emember, for many modern cycling fans, Lance was their first hero. We need to vent. We need to cry.鈥� We鈥檒l be a bit guarded about heralding our next champion, Deiffenbach said, but we will learn to love again.

Deiffenbach hung up, and I felt a lot better about myself, and the sport. I decided that if cyclists want to voluntarily submit themselves to the Clean Protocol, that鈥檚 great. But I won鈥檛 hold them to that standard. I鈥檒l rely on the increasingly stringent anti-doping measures already in place, and my own ever-shaky faith.

I鈥檒l retain my professional skepticism. I鈥檒l enjoy the gossipy quality of doping innuendo for exactly what it is鈥攇ossip. But I鈥檒l resist rolling my eyes when a racer shreds the peloton on a vaunted climb. When Froome takes off up Colorado鈥檚 iconic Vail Pass during Friday鈥檚 time trial, it may be one of the most compelling feats of cycling ever seen on U.S. soil. And I plan on enjoying every thrilling minute.

The post The Future of Anti-Doping appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.