Monday, December 20, 2010

So what are you saying?

Just read an article in The New Yorker about how these scientists are dumbfounded by these medications that back in the nineties had double the effectiveness than they do now. It goes on to say that this phenomenon isn't just happening in medicine but in psychology to ecology. It appears that all the research these great doctors and scientists did was somehow skewed to the favor of the researcher.It talks about how often subjects are proven but then the researcher is unable to attain the same result. To me that should mean that the one outcome was just a fluke and should not be taken as fact. At least that was what I was taught as a child in elementary school. Until something can be proven more often than not isn't it just a hypothesis?

I think that this is not human nature though. For instance take the long standing feud between the Lance lovers (Me) and the Lance haters. No matter how many times the man is shown to be clean people still believe that he is guilty. It has been shown time and time again with test after test that Mr. Armstrong is clean but as it appears people will subconsciously as well as consciously change facts and results to support their hypothesis.
Here is the article, they are pros at writing and research so they can explain it better than I can.
The New Yorker

I just finished reading Joe Parkin's latest book Come & Gone and I would have to say it is much better than his first book Dog in a Hat. This book is a continuation of his career after he comes back from Europe to live in the states again. In the first book it showed how tough his life was as a domestique bike racer living in Belgium. His first book was really just the same story over and over again about how he was never quite fast enough. Was smart enough to stay out of the doping stuff except for one or two instances, and lost all the time. This time around Joe gets involved in the young mountain biking scene in the USA. I would think that as an old European pro Joe would have been able to clean up more in the States than he did. A few times he made mistakes that Cat 5 racers make, like forgetting to eat or drink during a race. It was still a tough life for Joe back in the States though. He never really was able to put together a string of wins that would have attracted a larger team or sponsor. He always seamed to have a big win followed by a few terrible races.

It is interesting reading this book as well as other older pro's blogs like Steve Tilford's blog, and talking to some older (than me) guys who raced as young guys back at that point in time. They all seam to have the same point of view and speak the same way. They are true wanderers of the world; as long as they have their bike they feel at home. It is really quite cool to be that free, to be able to go where the road takes you so to say. I will never be that way, and I am sure that there are those who live that life that may look at how I live with envy as well.

I am riding with a new team member in the morning, his name is Micheal Kittler. He is a Cat 4 racer and knows Kurt. We are going to do an easy 30 or so miles and just get to know each other. I will have to do the ride on my TT bike because my ride is still at Mesa. Probably another 2 weeks before I get that thing back. Can't believe that Sram doesn't have more shifters laying around. I miss my pino.

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