When I’m forced to ride my bike indoors (which is more often than not this time of year) I listen to music on my little iPod nano to keep motivated and to keep the pace up. For people of a certain age, music by The Who resonates quite well. Who Are You? has long been one of my favorites by a band that are arguably the fathers (or grandfathers) of punk rock.
That question was on my mind even before I read Peloton Jim’s post today, vis-a-vis the Anonymous Fortune Teller, whose comments occasionally surface at Trust But Verify. I’m not sure who this guy is, or whether he has an axe to grind, but I take anonymous sources on stories with a grain of salt. Especially when those anonymous sources are relying on anonymous sources.
What, exactly, is AFT’s motivation in speaking out? Is he just trying to open people’s eyes to real problems he sees in the structure of organized cycling? Does he have real knowledge of the Landis case? Is he an ex-pro who’s extrapolating from things he’s heard other riders say? Or, is he just someone well enough connected that he knows what insiders are saying?
None of us knows the answers to any of these questions. As a journalist, I certainly would like answers to these questions, and I’d like to hear more of what AFT has to say. AFT has gotten my attention because his comments sound like they comes from direct knowledge of the behind-the-scenes world of pro cycling.
Perhaps he knows riders who have done just what he says and haven’t been caught for blood doping, but have been busted for other offenses. Perhaps he’s even done so, himself. But what does he know directly about Floyd Landis and how he trains and races?
Whatever else you say about him, he certainly spins a compelling story.
The venerable anonymous source “Deep Throat” once told Woodward and Bernstein during their Watergate investigation to follow the money. And AFT has written up an interesting series of connections, including financial ones, to bolster his contention that certain people control USA Cycling. He makes the argument that they wield their power against those who run afoul of them. Does the story hold water? Hard to say. Nothing in life is simple. Just look at the mess with the current accusations against Floyd Landis.
Looking at what AFT does say, I will concede that some of those people do, in fact, have a certain amount of influence with the federation. How much influence, I don’t know. Right now, I tend to agree with Peloton Jim’s assessment that it’s bigger powers and bigger players who exercise much greater control over the sport. And those interests are fighting each other for the money and power that comes with control. But to give AFT his due, what he says about the state of American cycling may, in fact, be true.
And what AFT has to say about blood doping sounds plausible in a general sort of way. At least, the part about taking blood out, saving it and tranfusing it back in at a later date. Blood doping has been around for a long time. Does anyone remember the 1984 Olympic Road Race? The story goes that the American team did just that. Only back then, it wasn’t specifically illegal.
But AFT makes specific claims about Floyd Landis without offering any real proof. I can say whatever I want about a subject, but if I make charges and offer no proof, I wouldn’t be too terribly surprised if most people didn’t believe me.
AFT sounds like he knows what he is talking about. At least, that’s how it appears. But here’s the thing: Put me in a room full of theoretical physicists and I can talk physics well enough to sound like I know a lot on the subject. Having grown up around a physicist and having heard about physics from a young age, I learned to talk the talk — at least when it’s spoken on a conceptual level. But once the conversation goes off into the math of it all, then I’d be unmasked as not being a real physicist.
Perhaps AFT has been close enough to professional cycling to talk about it as well as I can talk physics. Perhaps he’s an ex-pro (I have a couple of hunches who, but I’ll leave that for another time). Perhaps he’s even a current pro. That would certainly explain why he wishes to be an anonymous fortune teller.
The thing is: Most people don’t take so-called “real” fortune tellers seriously. Perhaps it’s all just a story, or perhaps he’s got some real info that we should take seriously. But for me, an anonymous source who quotes other anonymous sources makes me wonder what the big secret is and why they’re all afraid of speaking out in public. And it makes me want to dig a little deeper to find out what of his story is true.
So, Mr. AFT, even if you can’t name your sources, if you want me to take you seriously, tell me: Who are you?
To lighten the discussions Mr. Faux physicist. Here is my favorite line from a physics professor. Unfortunately this occurred on the first day of my third class my freshman year. Therefore, you could say it was downhill from there. But that is another story. It has to do with Organic Chemistry sending me to the school of business.
You are given access to the most powerful telescope in history. You start scanning the heavens and find a solar system of interest. This solar system is approximately 100 light-years away. You dial up the power to find a star much like our sun. You dial up the power a little more to find a planet orbiting the sun that is about the size of our Earth. You dial up the power (yes this is a powerful telescope) to see what looks like civilization. When you zoom in to find a human-like person cooking outside on a grill, he looks up at the heavens, directly into your view and flips you off.
Should you be offended?
Here’s a problem with AFT. He alleges that USA Cycling has enough money and clout to rig the outcome of Landis’ case. Whatever clout they have pales to Nike. Nike had millions tied up with Justin Gatlin alone (not to mention Marion Jones). If USA Cycling can rig a USADA outcome, then Nike could have them roll-over, play dead and fetch the newspaper. Gatlin would still be competing and no one would have ever know about Jones’ a-sample if plain old USA Cycling could rig the most important doping case since Ben Johnson.
Rant, If I’ve read you correctly, you’re a journalist and you live in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. (as do I) So does John Bucksbaum (See the Tribune Magazine story about is new mansion written a few weeks ago). He one of the cycling illumanti AFT mentions. He also owns Water Tower, South Street Sea Port in NYC and many other malls (CEO of General Properties). Why don’t you ask him directly about it and see what he says.
Jim,
That sounds like a lot like a story from Richard Feynman’s “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman.”
Of course, my answer to the question is “It’s all relative.” Is he flipping you off as a person, or is he just tired of seeing a giant eye in the sky tracking his every move? 😉
TBV Anonymous:
Actually, I live in a suburb of Milwaukee. Not too far from Lincoln Park, I suppose, but not exactly close either. My sister-in-law lives in Zion, which is closer. Those walks along Lake Michigan over my lunch hour usually take me by the Milwaukee Art Museum and up Prospect or Lincoln Memorial Parkway, if you know the area. Your point about Nike is well taken. If/when I do manage to contact Mr. Bucksbaum and get a response, I’ll publish it here.
– Rant
Rant, Jim, and TBVAnonymous,
This maybe has nothing to do with what you are talking about, but Rant’s mention of Deep Throat reminded me of something I was “thinking on” a while back regarding Landis: the FBI Whistleblower. Now, I don’t know all the details regarding her case, but what I do remember is that she was an honest person trying to follow the system’s rules. The trouble was that the system didn’t follow them. She was fighting the very people (the government) who were supposedly in place to help prevent the terrorist attacks, and protect her right to report problems. And that seems to me to be the very position Landis is in. He wasn’t “whistleblowing” at first, just trying to win the race and explain the test anomaly. The cycling system is now forcing him to be a whistleblower of sorts, exposing all the violations of the rules (the lab, USA Cycling, etc) just to defend himself. And now we have AFT as Deep Throat, telling us to follow the money and the power. I don’t know what his motivations are (at this point, they don’t appear altruistic to me), but in one small sense I can almost sympathize…when you see what happens to people who try to expose the system for what it is (see TBV’s link today for the guy fired from USA Cycling), you can justify keeping your identity a secret, if not keeping your mouth shut entirely. You can talk yourself into letting someone else deal with “the problem.” So my question to AFT is: what have you got to lose by identifying yourself — your job? your reputation? your friends? If you earnestly want a change, work more constructively with others to bring about that change. If you’re just messing with us and trying to discredit Landis because of your own axe to grind, then you need a new hobby.
OK, you got me to respond. That’s worth something. I guess I said last post at TBV, because he was starting to get sick of me….
I’m sorry, I know it’s unfair. But my sources have sworn me to keep them anonymous. And so shall I. But I understand you want to know more about my general position in order to gauge how serious to take all my talk. So here goes the riddle.
I almost made it to the Olympics (with a few 1,000 others…)
I rode with Lance (like a few 1,000 others…)
I was “in” the Tour (as a rider you ask?)
I race (what license, you scream!)
I have contacts who tell me inside scoop.
I rode with Jan (to hell?)
Riders have told me about their doping in ways not to endanger themselves(some of it rather amateurish)
I have never doped (unless you count caffeine)
Don’t worry, you won’t figure it out. But all the above is true. No reason to lie.
Someone here wrote that Nike has more money that USA Cycling. Probably true, but why do you assume that they are opposed to each other? Follow the money (I posted the sfweekly article, didn’t I?) and you’ll get a pyramid. And look, they’re all nice guys. Och, Lance, Dan. But they like to be in control (and I guess it worked). I’m not saying they’re out to destroy Landis. I don’t think they are.
I guess my point in all this was to let everyone know what the “word’ is in the pro cycling community here in the States. THE pro cycling community (not your local Cat1s). Unfortunately a lot of what happens in public and in “court” (remember, these are not criminal proceedings) is a farce.
The “word” was right on Basso. I personally have my doubts on Ullrich (that he will be banned for life) but we will see. And Landis screwed up, so they say. My personal guess is that is what happened. But proof I have not.
-AFT
(by the way that name was given to me by TBV. Not my choice… I would have gone with… water carrier…)
AFT:
You’re telling us that the peleton believes Landis blood doped. That’s understandable as this theory has been on the blog’s since day one. You also note that some of them are ameteurish in the way they dope.
I can understand why the peleton thinks he blood doped, lots of people outside the peleton think the same thing. But, as we noted in the TBV thread, while an nice theory, the science makes it fall apart. I have no doubt the peleton is as ignorant about the science of blood doping as the blogs. You have to be …. if you knew you’d never stick that needle in your arm.
Rant,
As an MU 84 graduate, I can personally attest to the fact that Milwuakee is one of the best kept secrets in this country. Truly a fanastic city. I also got my start in riding from MU to Mequon in the early 1980s. I also rode the Bastille day races (back of the pack cat 4) when Heiden,, Tommy Schueler and Ron Knifle were tearing it up for 7/11. Great memories!
AFT, if I’m following you correctly, you are:
A cyclist who currently races
Who at one time was good enough to almost make the Olympics, which means at that time you were either a Pro, Cat 1 or a Cat 2 that the feds looked favorably upon
Who has at one time ridden as a pro (and perhaps still does)
Who was “in” the Tour, which I take to mean you raced the Tour
Who has ridden in races that Lance and/or Jan Ullrich also competed in, and if your aside on Ullrich isn’t a rhetorical question (“to hell?”) you drop a hint that you rode in Paris-Roubaix at the same time Ullrich did
Who has never doped, unless you count caffeine consumption as doping
Who has contacts inside the pro ranks, and those contacts have told you stories of how they doped
Who’s preferred choice of moniker might indicate that he was once a domestique, rather than a franchise player like Lance
It’s certainly an interesting riddle as to who you are.
I’ll say this much, I had a suspicion that you were either Frankie Andreu or Tyler Hamilton. These clues make me doubt that you’re either of those two. Well, regardless of your identity, you certainly seem to know whereof you speak. Your comments and insights are always welcome at RYHO.- Rant
For the record, AFT, I wasn’t and am not tired of you. I was trying to capture the spirit of the other commentators who were. As I said in my comment on that thread there, I have no idea of your veracity, and look on your stories with interest – and the same scepticism I bring to all the other stories.
It’ll be a “ha-ha” on many folks for many reasons if what you say is true.
What is interesting to me is that I can believe that many of the elite may believe it, even if the science appears wrong. That either means the science is barking up the wrong trees, or that people are very willing to believe the worst about someone else, possibly reflecting the guilt rant alludes to in his followup post.
Don’t go away if you don’t want to. I [like] complications in a mystery plot.
TBV
AFT-
First you say it was blood doping gone afoul. But the science SERIOUSLY does not work like that and even many of the “home-schooled” scientists have figued that one out. Fiction.
Then you say Floyd’s situation is retribution. But the truth is that there was NEVER an offer made to FL to rebuke; no courting transpired. Now you say, here, you are not “saying they are out to destroy FL”, when over at TBV you imply that this is the case. Huh? Fiction again.
The trick with spinning a good yarn is keping your fictional facts straight.
BTW – your riddle is cute but the US Pros don’t have a clue.
“(by the way that name was given to me by TBV. Not my choice”¦ I would have gone with”¦ water carrier”¦)”
FWIW Renaming in vacuo does seem up for grabs. However,
Peter was given his name by Jesus and it was acceptable from
his beloved Master. Otherwise only despots having great
force at there beck-n-call did renaming of people under there
control.
I think common courtesy would best be extended to ATF to
be called “water carrier aka ATF” with the aka attached for
hysterical continuity.