Tour de Farce*

* with thanks to NPR's All Things Considered for the title

I got sucked in to cycling when I moved to Tucson when I finished grad school to wait for then-only-boyfriend IronMan to finish his graduate adventures. He was doing a lot of road riding at the time, and if ever any place was made for cycling, it’s Tucson, so after a half-hearted attempt to go my own way, I succumbed. I joined a team, I did a bit of racing, and then got in to triathlon, but still kept road riding. One of the highlights of every summer was following the Tour de France as it unfolded. This was in the heart of the Lance Armstrong years, and besides being a fantastic story about overcoming cancer, watching him basically win at will was almost incomprehensible, even though we were watching as it happened.

And now I don’t think I want to follow pro cycling ever again. It started off this spring when several of the major contenders for the overall classification were linked with a doping scandal, and were not allowed to race. A former Tour winner admitted to doping to win the race. One of the sports best sprinters tested positive in the Giro d'Italia (but was later cleared). Then the race started, and riders started dropping like flies. A member of the T-Mobile team was found to have had an elevated testosterone level in a previous test and was not allowed to start. A rider who many expected to be on the podium was kicked off his national team for failing to keep the national doping agency informed of his whereabouts last month. A well known, well respected rider won a time trial one day, lost major time the next day, and then won a mountain stage on the third day, only to be found to have blood doped – he and his team left the race. Then yesterday, another rider and team withdrew after a high testosterone test. Even worse then that, late yesterday the current overall leader Michael Rasmussen (rider previously kicked off his national team), after winning the toughest stage of the race and virtually locking up victory for his team, was suddenly fired and kicked out of the race. I am just amazed.

I’m torn between being glad that the authorities in pro cycling are (maybe) finally getting tough on doping, and being concerned that this is a witch hunt that is tarnishing the names and reputations of innocent people. All of these expulsions have come before confirmation of the test results using B samples – if those samples come back negative, then the original conclusion of doping has to be thrown out since it can’t be replicated. And there are always questions about chain of custody and what lab is doing the tests and who they’re linked to that might influence events. As a scientist, I’d like to believe that there isn’t any issue with the actual tests being run or the way experiments are done, but that hasn’t always been the case in the past. I'd also like to believe that the riders are smart enough to know that these tests are out there, the authorities are out to hunt down the dopers, and it makes no sense to blood dope (for example) when you will get caught. Particularly if you win a stage! Maybe I’m just being stupid to think that all these protestations of innocence from the riders aren’t lies, and maybe they are all doped to the gills, and the ones that don’t get caught just have better doctors. It’s a sad state of affairs that the strategies for doping in cycling (and triathlon for that matter) are far ahead of most of the available tests to detect doping.

I don’t know what the answer to this problem is, but I do know that I’m very, very, very disappointed. And not very interested in participating as a spectator any more.

ETA: Oh, this just keeps getting better!

Waiting...

Thanks to this and this, I now know that I will be able to get in on the party that is Ravelry on July 30, 2007.

Not like I don't already have enough ways to waste time...

Fiber Friday, er...Sunday

So blogging took a back seat to paper writing last week. With said paper now in the virtual hands of my co-authors, I can get back to the more important things in life, namely: obsessive spinning with every single spare moment I have, and the realization that I have no idea what I'm doing.

Case in point - I took this dyed Corriedale roving to spin, thinking I would do a two-ply and get a nice barberpole effect.

Instead, what I ended up with showed a striking resemblance to cat barf:

Somehow the coppery sections ended up more of a salmon pink. Although I split the roving in half lengthwise, with the intention of having the colors more or less line up in the finished yarn, more often then not the salmon pink lined up with some really really bright green. Ugh.

I had a little bit left on one bobbin, so I chain plied that to see if it looked better. Only slightly...

Here's a close up of the little skein - it definitely works better then the two ply, and they both look better in the daylight then under internal lighting but...sigh. Better luck next time I suppose. The chain plied hank is also really really overplied.

One last shot of the cat barf:

It's definitely going to take a bit for me to really figure out what I'm doing here. I did order a bunch of spinning and dyeing books from the Interweave Knits dinged book sale which should arrive, oh sometime by the end of the year, so I'm hoping those will provide some insight. In any event, I'm certainly having a good time.

ETA: Clearly I need to take all my pictures outside - natural light works so much better!

How did it get to be Wednesday already?

Or for that matter, how did it get to be the middle of July? Time flies when you're having fun, I guess (or something like that).

I was all prepared to have a big photo shoot in my office today so I could show you some knitting, but I managed to not bring my camera with me. You'll have to be content with written description until I've remembered where I've left my brain and actually get organized again.

The Peapod cardi is done (knitting-wise) and sewn together, with ends woven in even. Now it just needs some buttons, and it will be good to go. Thankfully, it's intended recipient is still in utero, but now that his sweater is (mostly) done, he will probably make his appearance immediately(because we all know babies don't arrive until their knitting is done).

Coachella is proceeding - I've been working on it during my commute for the last little while. It's nice to knit something with 4.5 stitches/inch and size 8 needles when you've been doing socks for a long time. It just goes so quickly! Anyway, I'm finished with the top portion to the point at which I need to put the thing on waste yarn and try it on to see if I like how it drapes. Which is kind of hard to do on the bus. Although it might entertain my fellow commuters, who I suspect already think I'm a bit odd (since very often I sit there knitting away, reading a book, with ear buds firmly in place listening to the radio).

The new wheel is loads of fun, but seems to be slightly warped, as Iron Man noticed on Friday evening. I'm in the process of getting in touch with the vendors to see if this will be a major issue down the road, since it certainly isn't affecting the wheel's ability to produce yarn. The only thing affecting yarn production right now is operator incompetance (and two year olds who have decided that bedtime is really only a suggestion). I have already discovered however, that a 2-ply is definitely the wrong choice for some dyeing combinations, and will result in a very nice skein of cat barf - much better to go with my first inclination and chain ply the stupid stuff instead. There's always next time.

Fiber Friday - Yippee!

What's in the box Mama?

Is it for me?

Oooooooo! Hooray!

Thank goodness they included directions...

Pretty...

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! (The clouds open and radient beams of sunlight stream down into my kitchen, even though it is 8:30 pm)

Two weeks ago, Iron Man basically sat me down and told me he was sick of hearing me pine for a wheel and I should just go and buy one already. So, being the obedient wifey that I am, I did (from here, which seems to be where I buy all of my fiber stuff). I then spent the next ten days in complete agony, peering out the front windows looking in vain for the UPS man. On Tuesday, when this beauty arrived, I had decided that if it wasn't on the doorstep when I got home, I was going to be calling to find out where it was. Thankfully, it was waiting when we got home.

Along with the wheel I got 2 lbs of Targhee top (my choice of giftee for the order), and they included a lb of some other top (the breed completely escapes me at the moment), some wax and some oil for the wheel. I immediately started spinning and filled up about half a bobbin, but I have not yet mastered the photographic skills (or the camera - must swipe IM's SLR next time) necessary to share that mess with you. Maybe next week.