# Another masters rider popped for doping



## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

I know you are all shocked to realize yet another masters racer has been popped.

Age-group cyclist fails doping test at LAMBRA championships - VeloNews.com

Doping in a field of 10 riders where the podium is the stairs to a front porch. Keep it classy masters riders.


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## woodys737 (Dec 31, 2005)

Seems sort of strange for a field of 10...random or tip? 

They should dq the guy wearing cargo shorts 5 sizes too big as well. Come on masters! Get it together.

I race a bit in socal and sort of interested to see if there will be any visible control for 2016 as I didn't see any this year for AG's.


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

At least he accepted the results and sanction instead of pulling a Meeker.

I figure they tested the podiums because it was the State Championships. 

What should be more concerning is that was the Masters 40+ field from two states, not just one.


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## vagabondcyclist (Apr 2, 2011)

I was at the LAMBRA Age Graded Championships and they were testing all the podiums/winners. 

LAMBRA is the Louisiana Mississippi Racing Association so all of our championship events are open to racers from Louisiana and Mississippi as is the overall championship series, but yeah the fields are a bit small, but the event was late--Sept. 6 if I remember correctly.


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## jnbrown (Dec 9, 2009)

This is truly pathetic that an old bald fart dopes to compete in a bike race.
I don't get the 4 year ban, should be life for something so blatant.
Anabolic steroids AND Ritalin?
One reason I don't bother racing or even compare myself to other cyclists.


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## TricrossRich (Mar 26, 2014)

Its pretty obvious he doped... look at their faces, 2 guys are smiling, happy to be there. The winner, isn't even smiling... deep down inside, he wasn't happy he had won because he knew he cheated. LOL


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

We forgot to mention his name in this thread so when he googles himself this pops up as a result. It's Todd Hickman.


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## harryman (Nov 14, 2014)

Geeze, that is beyond lame.


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## burgrat (Nov 18, 2005)

TricrossRich said:


> The winner, isn't even smiling... deep down inside, he wasn't happy he had won because he knew he cheated. LOL


That's the face of someone who realizes that despite the doping and the "win", he's standing on someone's sh!tty porch step as a podium. I mean at least let him sit in that rickety old rocking chair (à la Wiggins) and bask in all the glory of a Master's win 
Looks like they're on the set of Deliverance


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

I've ridden a bit on the Gulf Coast. Done more than a few group rides in those states, but never raced because nothing lined up that was even remotely interesting to me.

The guys I rode with were pretty strong diesels. They'd take huge pulls and I'd be dying in the draft, half blinded from all of the sweat. Then I'd drop them on I-10 overpass KOMs. :wink: They were all built like the top two guys on the podium.

Back to the point at hand, 10 guys in a Masters field for a (2) state championship is a bigger problem than a doping positive. Not that doping isn't an issue, but 10 riders in 40+? A lot of events rely on that very group to be their cash cow. The majority of group rides I was doing down there were larger than that. The LA needs to figure out why they aren't attracting bigger fields, because even without doping that jersey is meaningless. With those numbers, I'm surprised they could afford the porch podium they had. Out of a combined population of roughly 4.5 million, that's all they could get to show up? Sad.

Did Todd Hickman, of Byhalia, Mississippi dope specifically to win this event or other bicycle races? Don't know. It would be sad if he did. He accepted the sanction relatively quickly, so either he knew he was properly busted or he calculated the costs/odds of mounting a successful defense and decided the "highly coveted" LAMBRA title wasn't worth it. He's been reduced to a cautionary tale now. Even insignificant riders get tested once in a while.


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## mpre53 (Oct 25, 2011)

burgrat said:


> That's the face of someone who realizes that despite the doping and the "win", he's standing on someone's sh!tty porch step as a podium. I mean at least let him sit in that rickety old rocking chair (à la Wiggins) and bask in all the glory of a Master's win
> Looks like they're on the set of Deliverance
> 
> View attachment 310995


It's a rural parish of LA. They should be grateful that the step didn't collapse.


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## thumper8888 (Apr 7, 2009)

Alaska Mike said:


> I've ridden a bit on the Gulf Coast. Done more than a few group rides in those states, but never raced because nothing lined up that was even remotely interesting to me.
> 
> The guys I rode with were pretty strong diesels. They'd take huge pulls and I'd be dying in the draft, half blinded from all of the sweat. Then I'd drop them on I-10 overpass KOMs. :wink: They were all built like the top two guys on the podium.
> 
> ...



All good points... But its almost certainly true that bike racing numbers simply couldn't be high there.
Those two states are not places of great sporting (or in some senses, cultural) diversity, and high numbers for sports participation aren't likely outside of of football, baseball, basketball, and maybe soccer now in some areas. 
Not trying to pick on them, it's just simple fact.
Looks like maybe the local association got a grant for drug testing, and, not having a ton of events to spread it around, hit this one hard.
Good on 'em. Wish they could do all the local masters races in the country.
Geez, though... 10-person field for a two-state championship. On the plus side, maybe that honking giant purse he had his eye on paid 10 deep....


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

jnbrown said:


> One reason I don't bother racing or even compare myself to other cyclists.


Awww, come on. Doping shouldn't be that bad in most areas. Crashing OTOH, that's a real reason to be cautious.


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

thumper8888 said:


> All good points... But its almost certainly true that bike racing numbers simply couldn't be high there.


Actually, Rouge Roubaix (an USAC-sanctioned event) gets quite the turnout.

There are more riders than you'd expect, partially due to the triathletes in the area. I've done spirited weekly group rides larger the "LAMBRA championship" in Mississippi. Probably more competitive, too. I met a lot of very strong riders that were stuck as Cat 4s because of the travel involved in upgrading- they'd get in one or two races a season, but that was about it.


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## rlegeai (Dec 7, 2015)

burgrat said:


> That's the face of someone who realizes that despite the doping and the "win", he's standing on someone's sh!tty porch step as a podium. I mean at least let him sit in that rickety old rocking chair (à la Wiggins) and bask in all the glory of a Master's win
> Looks like they're on the set of Deliverance
> 
> View attachment 310995


The venue used for this race, and some others, is actually farm property owned by a rider from the area. The house is a little cabin that he lets the promoter use, along with providing practically unlimited parking. What you didn't see in the photo was the huge party tent and the cook making a huge pot of pasta jambalaya. Field sizes are typically small for this race because of the age categories, lack of cash prizes, and fact that the championship event is pretty low priority for most riders and gets stuck into the calendar on less desirable dates in order to work around the larger races and stage races. With only maybe 250 active road bike racers in Louisiana and Mississippi, there are a lot of challenges to putting on a race without losing money. Even so, Louisiana is home to the longest running stage race in North America.


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## rlegeai (Dec 7, 2015)

The race was tested because LAMBRA participates in the USAC/USADA RaceClean program where USAC pays for half of the cost and LAMBRA pays for the other half. It costs LAMBRA upwards of $1,200, plus the match from USAC, to test 3 riders at one race. In this case, the paperwork got submitted a little late in the spring, so they couldn't schedule testing for some of the larger races. USADA decides which race to test after receiving a calendar from the Local Association. At this race they decided to test the top three from the 40+ race. As I wrote in my blog after that race, _"In the 40+ race Kenny Bellau was in a long break that started with three and finished with just himself and Todd Hickman. Todd had been apparently pulling like a locomotive for much of the 60 miles they'd been away, and Kenny was confident that he'd be too wasted to mount much of a sprint, so he confidently took the lead over the last kilometer. He was, however, sadly mistaken. Todd launched early and blew past him 100 meters before the line like he was standing still. Todd lives way up in northern Mississippi, practically in a suburb of Memphis, so he does most of his racing up in Tennessee and was apparently a little bit of a mystery to some of the local guys."_


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## pedalbiker (Nov 23, 2014)

deviousalex said:


> Doping in a field of 10 riders where the podium is the stairs to a front porch. Keep it classy masters riders.


This is a rather silly assertion. I' m sure he was doping long before this for far more important races. It's not like he said, "ooh, better start doping to win the LAMBRA race." Typically not how these things work.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

rlegeai said:


> The race was tested because LAMBRA participates in the USAC/USADA RaceClean program where USAC pays for half of the cost and LAMBRA pays for the other half. It costs LAMBRA upwards of $1,200, plus the match from USAC, to test 3 riders at one race. In this case, the paperwork got submitted a little late in the spring, so they couldn't schedule testing for some of the larger races. USADA decides which race to test after receiving a calendar from the Local Association. At this race they decided to test the top three from the 40+ race. As I wrote in my blog after that race, _"In the 40+ race Kenny Bellau was in a long break that started with three and finished with just himself and Todd Hickman. Todd had been apparently pulling like a locomotive for much of the 60 miles they'd been away, and Kenny was confident that he'd be too wasted to mount much of a sprint, so he confidently took the lead over the last kilometer. He was, however, sadly mistaken. Todd launched early and blew past him 100 meters before the line like he was standing still. Todd lives way up in northern Mississippi, practically in a suburb of Memphis, so he does most of his racing up in Tennessee and was apparently a little bit of a mystery to some of the local guys."_


The NCNCA also participated in the RaceClean program yet conducted 0 tests (even with thier own budget set aside for it). Hell, they could have asked me who to test. It's very apparent around here who's on the T. I've heard them talking about it on group rides!


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## vagabondcyclist (Apr 2, 2011)

LAMBRA is relatively small when compared to other regional USAC organizations. The Age Graded race is always a bit smaller because of timing and no prize. 

The LAMBRA Crit Championships in Gulfport had 46 Cat 1/2/3 racers, 34 Cat 4 racers, 20 Masters (40 and 50+), as well as good turn out in Cat 5, Women, and Juniors. And that was the weekend after the Tour d Louisiana (the oldest stage race) had about 20 1/2/3 racers for the weekend, 35 Cat 4 racers, 40 Cat 5 racers, 30+ Masters, 11 Women, a some juniors. These two events are more typical of our field size than the Age Graded Championships. 

So yeah, not huge fields, but don't judge by one event. And yeah, LAMBRA is small, but size doesn't always equal quality.


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## thumper8888 (Apr 7, 2009)

Indeed he was. A MEDICAL mystery.
I looked at his past results, and they generally weren't much to look at. Generally.... maybe he got into the chemicals recently.


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## thumper8888 (Apr 7, 2009)

"Actually, Rouge Roubaix (an USAC-sanctioned event) gets quite the turnout.

There are more riders than you'd expect, partially due to the triathletes in the area. I've done spirited weekly group rides larger the "LAMBRA championship" in Mississippi. Probably more competitive, too. I met a lot of very strong riders that were stuck as Cat 4s because of the travel involved in upgrading- they'd get in one or two races a season, but that was about it."


Interesting... you learn something new ever day. are most of the entries local for that?
Still... if potential 2s and 3s are stuck in cat 4 because there aren't many races, that means there just aren't many racers around those parts, which was my point.
New Orleans, I can see having some, just from generally population size.
But Mississippi, uh, no. I spent some time in Waveland and it would not surprise me if there weren't 10 racers in that whole end of the state.


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

I met more than a few guys who structured their season around events like Rouge Roubaix. It involved travel and hotel stays and all of that- it was a big deal to them. 

I looked at the 2015 LAMBRA calendar, and it basically was a moderate amount of events spread out over a long season and a large area. In other words, without travel, you'd be lucky to hit more than a couple events a year. Try to upgrade on that model.

Like I said, some strong riders down there, but for whatever reason they aren't racing USAC-sanctioned events. Few racers = Few events. Few events = Few racers. It's a chicken/egg thing, and I'm not sure what the solution is.


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

A regular on another website said Todd Hickman was a nice guy who made a stupid mistake. That he didn't contest the test indicates he probably realizes it.

How I feel about this is still up in the air, because I don't know the guy myself. I'd probably ride with him, but race?


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

Alaska Mike said:


> A regular on another website said Todd Hickman was a nice guy who made a stupid mistake. That he didn't contest the test indicates he probably realizes it.
> 
> How I feel about this is still up in the air, because I don't know the guy myself. I'd probably ride with him, but race?


Dopers don't have to all be mean people. But cheating is cheating and he got caught.


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## vagabondcyclist (Apr 2, 2011)

Alaska Mike said:


> In other words, without travel, you'd be lucky to hit more than a couple events a year. Try to upgrade on that model.
> 
> Like I said, some strong riders down there, but for whatever reason they aren't racing USAC-sanctioned events. Few racers = Few events. Few events = Few racers. It's a chicken/egg thing, and I'm not sure what the solution is.


Pretty much sums it up. 
There are no weekly or even monthly crit or TT series. At the higher levels--1/2/3 and masters it's basically 2.5 teams competing against each other. Without more events it's hard to upgrade or get folks involved, but it's hard hold more events without more people...


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

deviousalex said:


> Dopers don't have to all be mean people. But cheating is cheating and he got caught.


That's the way I look at it. Again, I've never met the guy and will likely never ride/race with him. I will likely never be in a place to do it, during or after his suspension.

He's a cautionary tale now. I doubt he'll be the last one.


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## Fignon's Barber (Mar 2, 2004)

deviousalex said:


> Doping in a field of 10 riders where the podium is the stairs to a front porch. Keep it classy masters riders.



They could have at least plucked the weeds from between the stairs. This is most disturbing to me. 

And who gets the rocking chair? 80+ champ?


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## mpre53 (Oct 25, 2011)

Fignon's Barber said:


> They could have at least plucked the weeds from between the stairs. This is most disturbing to me.
> 
> And who gets the rocking chair? 80+ champ?


The extension cord running into the window is another touch of class. :thumbsup:


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## Aadub (May 30, 2015)

Good for him, fighting father time any way he can. 
LOL!


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Aadub said:


> Good for him, fighting father time any way he can.
> LOL!


I see a crap ton of commercials on TV for anti-aging clinics for men and women.


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## vagabondcyclist (Apr 2, 2011)

mpre53 said:


> The extension cord running into the window is another touch of class. :thumbsup:


You and Fignon's Barber have no idea how insulting your posts are. The guy who owns this *cabin in the woods* lends it and its very large grassy parking area to LAMBRA and the collegiate road racing organization 3-4 times a year. He lets folks camp out over night. It is a cabin in the woods. With weeds. In a very rural area. 

It's nice for the officials to have access to power so our results can be posted same day, so there's a fan under the tent where the folks doing registration can have access to a computer and fan, for folks who have crashed have access to running water, and for the race promoter to have access to a kitchen. Oh and yeah, it's air conditioned so leaving the door open isn't an option. And it's a *cabin* so probably doesn't have nor need outdoor outlets. Oh and he does it for FREE. So yeah weeds, OMFG!

He frequently opens his property up to collegiate teams in the area so they can do training camps, etc. So yeah there are a few weeds. 

I'd love to see where you guys race; must be pretty plush.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

vagabondcyclist said:


> I'd love to see where you guys race; must be pretty plush.


Over here we get sag cars that hand out bottles filled with Perrier.

I kid of course. Their comments are kinda mean and it's nice that this man supports cycling.


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## CabDoctor (Jun 11, 2005)

vagabondcyclist said:


> I'd love to see where you guys race; must be pretty plush.


Well since you asked


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## JohnStonebarger (Jan 22, 2004)

vagabondcyclist said:


> You and Fignon's Barber have no idea how insulting your posts are....I'd love to see where you guys race; must be pretty plush.


Pretty much my reaction, too. If cycling was reserved for entitled urbanites I'd have to look for another sport.


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

vagabondcyclist said:


> The guy who owns this *cabin in the woods* lends it and its very large grassy parking area to LAMBRA and the collegiate road racing organization 3-4 times a year. He lets folks camp out over night. It is a cabin in the woods. With weeds. In a very rural area.
> 
> It's nice for the officials to have access to power so our results can be posted same day, so there's a fan under the tent where the folks doing registration can have access to a computer and fan, for folks who have crashed have access to running water, and for the race promoter to have access to a kitchen. Oh and yeah, it's air conditioned so leaving the door open isn't an option. And it's a *cabin* so probably doesn't have nor need outdoor outlets. Oh and he does it for FREE.
> 
> He frequently opens his property up to collegiate teams in the area so they can do training camps, etc.


Honestly, that's pretty awesome. This sport couldn't survive without guys like that.


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## jspharmd (May 24, 2006)

CabDoctor said:


> Well since you asked
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Look at the weeds on the hill in the last picture. Didn't anyone mow before the race? Goodness, how did you stand it racing by that hill with all those weeds?


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## bigjohnla (Mar 29, 2010)

Folks who have never been to Louisiana assume a lot about us. We are not all hicks playing banjos on the front porch, feeding our pet alligators and hanging out waiting for an ATF agent to shoot at. Despite what most folks think we have a very active bike scene in Louisiana. Maybe not as much racing, but an awful lot of charity, MS 150, Tour de Cure type events. Heck we even have carbon fiber bikes and wheels down here. We also have a lot of very kind folks who allow us to use their property for events and the parties at the end are awesome. Give us a try.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

bigjohnla said:


> Folks who have never been to Louisiana assume a lot about us. We are not all hicks playing banjos on the front porch, feeding our pet alligators and hanging out waiting for an ATF agent to shoot at. Despite what most folks think we have a very active bike scene in Louisiana. Maybe not as much racing, but an awful lot of charity, MS 150, Tour de Cure type events. Heck we even have carbon fiber bikes and wheels down here. We also have a lot of very kind folks who allow us to use their property for events and the parties at the end are awesome. Give us a try.


Now I love that state and many of its people. One of my closest friends has a heap of family there with whom I have had a great time. You are very correct about the silly stereotypes people have.
As for a riding destination?
Hot.
Humid.
Flat.
Parties at the end.
You get 1 plus out of 4


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