Cyclops
An eye for lies and a tooth for truth
Cyclops USA
is an irregular journal of bicycle racing and governance. It attempts to
advance the sport of cycling by analyzing the forces that shape it and the inevitable
corruption that creeps into the governance process. It originated during the editor’s tenure on
the board of directors of the United States Cycling Federation (USCF) and its
committees (1977-1999) and has continued since his successful lawsuits against
its successor, USA Cycling, which unfortunately remains rather corrupt.
Cyclops
USA is an aperiodical -- publication dates are determined on the same basis as our office cleaning: we do it
whenever enough dirt accumulates. This web
site is under construction and, over time, will include both new articles and
additional older ones. Early articles
were originally published in printed form, facilitated by the editor’s
invention of the spelling checker in 1961 and by his1981 introduction, while
founding CEO of IMAGEN Corporation, of desktop publishing systems using laser
printers.
Editor: Les
Earnest (les at cs.stanford.edu)
Liability Press,
February 2013
Les Earnest, American bicycle racing from the
beginning, (an article
under development, not yet posted). Americans
embraced bicycle racing from its inception. Participation peaked in the 1890s,
when Americans dominated the world and top cyclists were more popular in the
Les Earnest,
Project ROSA (Reform the Olympic Sports
Act), (article under development, not
yet posted). Corruption in the
governance of
January 2013
Les Earnest,
Doping is just
part of the problem. The fact that Lance Armstrong and his colleagues were
able to engage in blood doping for years without getting caught is a symptom of
a more fundamental problem, namely corruption at the highest levels of our
national sports organizations.
December 2012
Maciek Romanowicz,
Lance Armstrong:
A Greedy Doper or an Innocent Victim? 2012 December. Those who have admired Lance Armstrong for his accomplishments in
overcoming medical adversity to achieve international fame as a cyclist are
dismayed by recent revelations.
Matt Smith,
Tour de
Farce, SFWeekly, 2005 Sept. 7. Lance Armstrong’s doping and his strong ties to
January 2010
Joe Papp,
The Toll of Doping - was it worth it?
Doping can ruin your life – and that’s the message I
have for young athletes who might face similar choices.
March 2009
An Introduction to
Slide shows on racing
objectives, rules, tactics, hazards, physics, sociology and organizations: Parts 1 2 3 4
History and Lore: Classic Races, Women led the Way ,
Contemporary
Challenges
February 2009
Nevada City Classic
by
Charles Howe
Fans of this great race have
been treated to many spectacular and thrilling exploits since 1961. The history
of the Classic reads like a movie script sprung from some
August 2004
Why was cycling
not included in the ancient Olympics? by Les Earnest
The first proto-bicycle
appeared at the beginning of the 19th Century but should have been
invented thousands of years earlier. Had
that happened, world history would have been considerably different.
July 2004
Le Tour Trilogy by Charles Howe
Three articles review events
that led to the inaugural Tour de France and the pivotal races of 1964 and
1975.
“The Great Moral Crusade
of Cycle-Sport”
The inaugural Tour de France
was a byproduct of a feud between two French newspapers that started with a
political scandal.
With
apologies to Mr. LeMond, this one was even better
than '89
Merckx stood as tall in defeat
as he ever did in victory
September 1989
The Brain Bucket Bash by Les Earnest
On
Tradition usually takes precedence
over common sense
There
are many reasons for not wearing a safe helmet
The
adoption of a strong helmet rule was aided by timely misfortune
Numbers count by Bigg Byrd
The lessons of
January 1989
Advocates
investigation of EPO as an alternative to other blood boosting schemes.
BOOK REVIEW: Dave Prouty’s In spite of
us
Cycling's
old guard takes a licking but keeps on ticking.
October 1988
The United States
Cycling Federation has a longer history of voting fraud than most
August 1988
The number of cyclists is cyclic. The reasons are enigmatic.
Who will control cycling
in 2001?
USCF has held power for 47
years. Will there be a successor soon?
Protecting the roads against
cyclists is a tough job, but Rupp does it.
Alexi Grewal won a gold medal in
cycling at the Los Angeles Olympic Games shortly after admitting that he took
ephedrine during an international stage race. This was facilitated by U.S.
Olympic Committee and cycling officials who had a conflict of interest that
would not be fixed for another 16 years. A number of other political
machinations were also involved.
Blood dopes of the
1984 Olympic Games
Blood transfusions that were
unethically administered to
April 1985
Rolling Stone magazine and
others publicly denounced blood doping that occurred during the 1984 Olympics.
However, the Stone’s claims were mostly fabricated in spite of the fact that
they had accurate inside information.
U.S. cycling coach defends
blood doping.
January 1985
How Cyclops USA began as an
aperiodical muckraking journal.
How the threat of terrorism
was used to justify illicit blood testing during the 1984 Olympic Games.
How blood boosting became
established in the United States Tiddlywinks Federation.
January 1979
Chris Springer was a four
time national champion as a Junior when he came to the starting line at the
1978 National Road Race Championships in Milwaukee to defend his title. He was
a contemporary of Greg Lemond and used to beat him
often with his superior sprint. However he was barred from racing by the chief
official for unstated reasons. This led to turning points for both Chris and
the author.