Colorado,
USA:
Thanks to all of you who continue to check in and send messages of support. I
apologize for not writing an update sooner. The last month or so has been kind
of a blur.
After
the verdict in the USADA case, Haven and I took a little break and headed south
to Florida.
After seven months of stress we needed a breather. We spent a few days on the
Gulf at a friend’s vacation home. Although we were there to try and take a break
from my case, it was really never far from our minds. It’s the kind of ordeal
that just lives with you no matter where you are.
But
we returned home ready to gear up for round #2. The outpouring of support we’ve
received has really been tremendous. The number of physicians and researchers
who have contacted me since this madness all started, and especially since the
ruling in April, has been overwhelming. This support has meant a lot to us. Not
only because it has helped shed light on the issues with the HBT test and my
results, but because it has also confirmed that we are not grasping at straws
questioning the things we have so far.
This
has been the first spring I’ve spent in the
US
in about ten years. It’s also the longest stretch I’ve gone in about 15 years
without some major traveling. The adjustment has been kind of challenging at
times but there have been some advantages to being in CO in the springtime. I’ve
been able to do a couple of rides I’ve never done before.
Last
week a couple of my buddies and I rode from Boulder
to Mt.Evans
and back. It was about 150 miles round trip with about 22,000 feet of climbing.
The top of Mt.Evans
is at 14,100 feet. It was an epic day but good fun as well.
Prior
to that I was able to ride Trail
Ridge Road
through EstesPark.
It summits at around 12,000 feet. I rode up there a couple of days after the
road opened. They cleared the way by carving through about 12 feet of snow. I
felt like I was riding through a tunnel at the top.
I’ve
been riding my mountain bike a lot as well, and have been working off some of my
frustration cutting trails around my home. The nicest part of living where we do
is that I can pick and choose rides depending on weather or whatever I’m in the
mood for. The variety keeps things interesting. It’s hard to train every day out
on the road without a specific goal in mind.
I’m
heading over to Europe
soon to do a little training and meet with Cecco to see where my fitness level
is at the moment. He’s been helping me keep my focus throughout this whole
ordeal but we haven’t been doing a lot of specific work lately. I had been
training pretty hard up to the middle of April, so I would be prepared to head
back to Europe
after the verdict in my USADA case. But when that didn’t go as planned, we
pulled back a bit and just focused on keeping a decent fitness base (long rides
but without much intensity). Now it’s time to regroup and step it up a bit. For
those of you who are interested, our golden retrievers are doing well. Tanker
and Anchor have been growing super fast and are really no longer puppies. Not
too long ago, I was picking them both up at once. Now it is a chore just to lift
one of them. We had a large fenced in yard built recently so they can no longer
chase the local deer and squirrels. I can’t tell you how many times they had me
riding after them on my mountain bike.
The
fall out since the verdict in my USADA case has been an interesting read. If
we’ve accomplished nothing else in this case, we will have put spotlight on the
vanishing twin phenomenon. If you search “vanishing twin” on the internet you’ll
discover thousands of websites, and personal experiences about it. But in the
mainstream world, I guess it’s still relatively unknown.
With
regard to my case, the concept has been called “a sign of the apocalypse” and
listed under the “News of the Weird”. The second story was later retracted after
it was discovered it wasn’t so weird after all. I’ll be the first to admit that
sounds kind of Sci-Fi. But, it’s real and it’s just one of the reasons we
presented regarding how a healthy person could have a mixed blood population.
One of our goals in the USADA hearing was to point out that the HBT test as it
exists, is fatally flawed. The central problem with this test is that it makes
the leap that a mixed blood population (detected through the method called flow
cytometry), is there only because of a mismatched homologous blood transfusion.
The defect in that theory is that flow cytometry, can indicate a mixed
population when implemented correctly, but it doesn’t tell you why the mixed
population is there.
In
speaking with a number of experts from leading universities, hospitals, blood
banks and laboratories around the world, we have been told that there are a
number of reasons a person can have mixed blood populations. But this was never
taken into consideration while the HBT test was being developed. In fact, there
was never any sort of validation study conducted to support this test. We think
this sets a very dangerous precedent. A new test would never be accepted by the
medical community without rigorous scrutiny. It’s my contention that the
standard should not be any different within the anti-doping community.
If
this sounds like a diversion on my part, take this into account – I did not
transfuse blood from another person, yet I’ve been told I have a mixed blood
population. So the question is – how did my samples garner these results? WADA,
the IOC, UCI and USADA all say it is up to me to explain this and that I am
guilty until I prove myself innocent with my own resources and my own research.
Yet they have refused to share the standard operating procedure for the test
that would help me try and duplicate their alleged results and/or explain them.
It’s
even been suggested I do complex testing on my family members and myself. This
raises the question of how a test that requires an athlete to go to such an
extreme ever got approved. What if their parents are deceased? What if they were
adopted? Are they guilty simply because they can’t conduct their own research?
If I proceed with this research does it set a standard for all athletes who test
positive? This is an extraordinary and unrealistic burden to place on an
athlete.
USADA
has recently gone on record stating that they offered to test me for chimerism.
I would like to put that offer in context.
I
was told on September
16, 2004
that my tests indicated a mixed blood population. Immediately, I requested three
things; a retest, a DNA test and that another sample be drawn and tested
independently. All of those requests were refused.
At
no time prior to my hearing that started February
27, 2005,
did anyone ever ask me if I knew why my samples could indicate a “mixed blood
population”. Instead my case took on a life of it’s own within 4 days, through a
leak to the media on September
20, 2004.
There was a rush to sensationalize my case, even before the B Samples could be
tested. At no time did I ever feel as though anyone but me was interested in how
I could have allegedly tested positive.
Then,
just days before my hearing was set to begin, USADA contacted my lawyer and
asked him if I was going to defend myself by stating I’m chimeric. We thought
the timing and context of this question was odd, and asked if they were prepared
to prove I wasn’t chimeric. USADA replied in writing that they knew there is “no
test to prove chimerism”.
In
the five and a half months from when I was told I had allegedly tested positive
and my hearing, no one offered to help me get to the bottom of those results.
Until USADA offered to test me for something they contended there is no test
for. It’s a scenario that makes no sense even today. Yet it gives them the
opportunity to say publicly, that they offered to test me for chimerism.
In
light of my own experience, I was unsettled by recent news reports featuring a
confidential WADA memo about Nandrolone testing. This confidential memo was sent
to labs around the world conducting the test. In it, WADA apparently admits,
they may have accused innocent athletes of testing positive, when they never did
anything wrong.
This
is sensitive issue for me, because the single peer review ever written to
support the HBT test states that mixed populations under 5% should not be called
positive because below this level, other factors could be influencing the
result.
One
of USADA’s witnesses, who testified against me, went on record that he didn’t
agree with the peer review. Which is astonishing, because on the one hand WADA
and the research team have accepted the peer review to green light the test, but
on the other, have decided to dismiss it while applying the test. (My alleged
mixed populations from the Vuelta were around 1%.)
I
don’t want to read a year from now, that WADA is circulating a memo
acknowledging there are a number of reasons for mixed red cell populations in
healthy adults, and the 5% threshold for the HBT test should now be applied.
What’s
more concerning, is the Nandrolone and HBT tests are not isolated issues.
In
the current issue of Outside Magazine, Don Catlin, director of the UCLA Olympic
Analytical Laboratory, widely considered the gold standard of the anti-doping
community, was interviewed about the shortcomings of the current anti-doping
system.
The
article touches on a number of issues hampering the development of useful and
“bulletproof” tests, one being “dime store research budgets”.
German
cell biologist Hans Heid is quoted declaring the first EPO test “error prone”
and suggested to WADA; “the development of a new urinary EPO test should be
encouraged and funded.” In addition, “Heid says WADA authorities told him they
knew the test was flawed but were happy to have a test at all.” The article goes
on to say; “Catlin believes the EPO test was introduced prematurely.” And
finishes with; “WADA clearly saw the need for refinements, too; Last year, four
years after the test was first used, WADA issued a refined protocol for
performing it.”
The
Human Growth Hormone test reportedly introduced in 2004 was also discussed.
“After a decade of research, experts don’t even agree on whether or not a
validated, usable HGH test exists. WADA says it does. Catlin and other sources
say it doesn’t.” Dr. Catlin went on to say; “there’s a big gap between having a
test and having a bulletproof test.”
If
I accomplish nothing else with my fight, and my appeal, I hope I’m able to shed
light on the fact that the anti doping community needs to be held to the same
standard the athletes are. If mistakes are made, they should be acknowledged. If
research is incomplete, there should be people and processes in place demanding
better for the athletes. If the application of a test varies from the initial
supporting research, the test should be halted until the variance is defended
through additional research.
I
have said all along, that I am on a greater mission than just clearing my name.
Someone has to stand up for athletes who compete in non-unionized sports, who
don’t have a line of defense in place to require better on their behalf. These
are the very athletes who most likely lack the resources and support needed to
get to the truth. I can’t tell you how many of them have encouraged me to keep
fighting. Many have noted that if they found themselves in my position it would
mean the end of their career. Not because they were guilty, but primarily
because they would not be able to afford to defend themselves.
So
on we go. My appeal was filed with CAS on May 27. Per UCI rules, USADA would
have had 20 days after that to review our brief and file their response.
However, USADA asked CAS for an extension until July 11, which was granted. So
the process will take a little longer than we originally expected. At this
point, we are hoping for a hearing date by late July. I will keep you posted as
we learn more.
