Ray Cipollini writes, over at the Daily Peloton – Pro Cycling News, about the Anti-Doping Agencies and the presumption of guilt existing in the cycling world. Here’s some of what he has to say:

Why do we have UNCONDITIONAL faith in the ADA, even when there is no way to verify their usually inflammatory and inaccurate statements?

Why is it that I have never seen an ADA or NGB or the media retract an accusation when the athlete was subsequently exonerated?

The ADAs define their own rules, interpret their own rules, create their own science, hide behind closed doors, use “independent experts” that are appointed by and paid for by the ADA, hold the athletes to different standards than they themselves are willing to accept, and have to answer to no one. They would like the general public to believe that they are infallible, and that the athlete has specific rights to mount a defense to a positive test. The fact is that the athlete has virtually no rights, and instead is forced to fight using technicalities in the process, and the ADA (and the ADA approved labs) has an agenda (and the resources) that an individual athlete cannot reasonably defend against. The athlete cannot argue against the positive test result, only the procedures surrounding the test….the ADA has already met their burden of proof, and guess what, you are already guilty.

I believe that the current anti-doping process is completely ass-backwards and tramples on the basic rights of the athletes, for the common good.

I must say that I agree with this argument and I’ve been thinking this way for some time. I still believe Tyler, despite it all… 🙂 There are many questionable findings from these labs, but the ADA are unwilling to discuss the possiblility of false positives. The fact that these labs and scientists are unwilling to accept questioning of their results brings doubt immediately to the forefront of my thinking.

Go read Ray’s letter and make up your own mind.

Here’s some pictures I took today at the Garda bike shed at the back of Kevin St. Garda Station in Dublin. These bikes will be auctioned off tomorrow morning at 11am. There’s about 150 bikes being auctioned tomorrow morning.

I was pretty disappointed with the general level of bikes – 95% cheap MTBs, several hybrids, 1 Raleigh 3 speed and a Trek 1000 missing a rear wheel. Note to cyclists: do NOT lock your bike to the bike rack only by the wheel, especially if it’s a quick-release. I bet the person who owned this 1000 felt bloody stupid and rightly so.

The main lot of bikes are inside the shed – about 150-160 bikes. The two big piles of bikes outside are trash lots – these can only be purchased as one lot each, and must be removed from the station within 3 days.

Here’s the low down since I can’t be bothered going myself.

Most of them need tyres pumped, a drop of oil (ok, a pint of oil) and they’ll be good to go. Seized chains might need replacing.

Lot #1 is a decent looking Claude Butler hybrid that with about 20 euros work could be in great shape. Also I’m thinking first one might go cheap due to nervous bidders.

Lot #21 is a Trek 1000, ‘04 or an ‘05 I think. Put a back wheel on it and it should be a great road bike – about 500 quid worth, say 120 for a replacement rear wheel, so 150-200 wouldn’t be crazy. Even the Shimano SPD pedals are worth a couple quid themselves etc. I’d possibly consider bidding 220 for it, depending how impulsive I felt.

Lots #143-145 have great potential – cheap steel MTBs worth about 150 each. They’re so far down the list that most people will have their bike already and you won’t get much competition. I’d hope to pick one of them up for 40-50 quid. The Raleigh #144 has a nice colour scheme 🙂

Besides all that, there’s some great hybrids in there, look for the Treks 7xxx and Specialized Crossroads in the pics, not bad bikes again needing some work, if thing didn’t work out on the Trek 1000 for me I might consider bidding up to 100 quid on those depending on the condition.

Update 28/10/2006:

I was having a look back through the boards Cycling forum archives and found this thread about the Garda Auction in October 2004.

The auction was just okay this time. The one last october was much better.

The bikes were basly organised but then again there was hardly any space so you can’t really see all the bikes. There were over 200 bikes stored in a shed 40ft by 20ft so it was quite cramped. Best advice is to go the day before and have a look its a bit quieter. To be honest the qaulity was pretty poor this time. In my opinion there were really only about 10 or 12 good quality bikes, quality in my opinion but then again i dont know as much as everyone in here.

3 trek 7100sx (yeah 3 exactly same bikes all looked almost brand new, must be some bad target). 1 went for €390, another for €370 and the last went for €320, this one was a smaller frame.

2 carbon frame full suspension raleighs. Didnt wait around for the second one but the first one went for 310 if I remember correctly.

1 custom built (I presume because there were no markings on it) with fairly top specification Shimano components Azure I think and disc brakes front and back.

2 specialized – one was a rock hopper I think. The other one I dont know. I didnt wait around for those either.

1 Trek 810 – I think it was an 810. This went for jsut over 200. It was in good nick though and worth it.

2 -3 giants dont remember model numbers or how much they went for but they were in great condition and looked almost brand new.

And then my bad boy Al Cartor or whatever.

the remainder of bikes were various brands from Raleigh to god only knows what else and most were fairly bog standard and went for from 60 to 180 euro depending on how shiny it looked (hahahaha).

The weirdest thing though they do at the auction is they sell off 2 massove lots of bikes at the end 100+ bikes in each pile. Now these are mostly bangers with parts missing but there would easily be 20 – 30 savagable bikes. I saw 2 real good conditions trek 4100 and 4300 on the top of the pile that were worth 200 in my opinion. I didnt wait around for these this time bu the last time they both went for around 200 each. What a bargain!!!

From this report, and my own experience at this years viewing I’d have mixed feelings about whether it’s worthwhile to go to these auctions or not. If you’re looking for something entry-level but good the odds of that’s in good condition, and getting it for a bargain price are low. If there’s something really good (you’re not going to find a Litespeed Ghisela!) then you might get it for a good price because the majority of punters aren’t going to bid up to it’s true value. If you can head along to the preview the day before, do so – otherwise check the 2nd hand listings and don’t worry too much about missing the auction.

I’m pricing a self-built Surly Cross Check with Shimano 105 components at about € 1,600 (USD $2000). That does include tools to the value of €380 that I can reuse, but it’s a hell of a hit to take upfront even so.

Despite the good deal on the frame I’d get online the cost of the “finishing kit”, saddle, bars, stem, as well as the expensive Park Tools needed, make this impossible to justify. I could probably get this with complete Ultegra built up from the shop for the cost of the full self-build with 105. Here’s the numbers:

Self building

• Surly CC frame, 105 groupset, all components including wheelset components, plus tools to build it all up: €1,614.63 (2,063.10 USD)

Self building budget option

• Surly CC frame, Tiagra groupset, pre-built wheels, all other components plus Park Tools Work Stand: €1,281.60 (1,636.80 USD)

Off the shelf shop build

• Surly CC frame, Tiagra groupset, pre-built wheels (estimate), all other components but no tools: €1,050.00 (1,341.64 USD)

Planet X Kaffenback

• Planet X Kaffenback, 105 groupset, pre-built complete, no tools not including delivery: €1,038.67 (1,327.78 USD)

The value of the reusable tools from the first and 2nd self build options is €379.34 and €148.69 respectively. Prices are mainly from Chain Reaction Cycles, except the frame from a bikecomponents.de. Prices include delivery to Dublin, Ireland. The only estimate I included is €200 for a complete wheelset (hubs, rim, spokes) from my bike shop.

Check out a detailed breakdown in the spreadsheet here (html format).

Update: added further options from bikecomponents.de to spreadsheet.

I love cycling. I’m thinking about buying a new bike right now. I think I’m following the typical geek pattern of “learn as much as possible before making a decision”… right now I think I’m hovering around the “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing…” stage.

You can learn an amazing amount from the internet. I tend to scare the younger guys working in the local bike shop with detailed questions they don’t understand, whereas the old hands see right through it and realise I’ve only been actually cycling for 2 years, and that’s a 4 mile a day commute and a tour or 2. Theoretical knowledge is one thing.

Anyways, I’ve decided what kind of bike I’m looking for – I’d call it a hybrid but that term is already in use in the bike world. I’m looking for an all-rounder bike that I can tinker with and customise to my hearts content. What a surprise, eh? And steel, because, well it’s possible to tinker with that too… I’d love to have S and S Machine BTC retrofitted when I can afford that kind of thing in a couple years.

After some discussion on possible choices, I decided I was probably going to get a (heavy?) Surly Cross Check, either frame only, or as a complete bike. The Surly looks sweet.

I’m also tempted by the idea of a custom frame because I think 215 lbs 5′7″ rugby players don’t fit the standard rider profile for mass production frames. That said, once a bike is close to the right fit, it’s possible to fine tune the fit. Check out my current discussion thread about sizing a Cross Check on Bikeforums.net. You can see where my thinking is right now on that last thread.

And I see that we have a custom frame builder blogging too – hi Lee! Welcome to our world. Hey, would you like a complete website with webmail, contact form, database back end to list your frames, 3 year hosting package? I can do you a really good deal… say a 700c tourer style, something like 50-52cm with horizontal dropouts. You bet I’m serious. Leave a comment 🙂