[DirtyHippieUTE]

Have any of you been following his story. Does anybody think he's getting the shaft?

Broken down, here's the story from Tyler's point of view.

Cycling tests for elevated levels of red blood cells. If you come out with a "suspicious" level they warn you that you're going to be under the microscope. Tyler got one of those warnings. At the Athens olympics they tested his blood and said he had tested positive on a test that checks for other people's red blood cells in your system.

Adding someone else's red blood cells to your system would boost your ability to deliver oxygen to your muscles = better performance. It's just another kind of "doping."

They tried to confirm the positive with his 2nd (control) sample and apparently there was something wrong with it so they couldn't verify the positive. He was let off and kept the gold but was still on the watchlist.

Later at the Giro d' Italia (I think). He tests positive again. They suspend him for 2 years and pretty much his career is over.

According to Tyler... He has never had a transfusion or anything like unto it. So how did he test positive? Apparently, it doesn't matter. Because in cycling you're guilty until proven innocent. Tyler has appealed and at the US level he lost a split verdict. He has since appealed to CAS (court of arbitration for sport) and they are the final say.

Here are the details. The people who tested Tyler's blood a- Knew it was Tyler's blood they were testing, b- are the same guys who invented the test c- can't provide any information on the accuracy of the test.

In other words... A test that has no data to show how often it gives a false positive or how often it gives a false negative or what threshold constitutes a positive, administered incorrectly (not blind) by someone who has a vested interest in proving the test works (the inventor) is responsible for costing Tyler his livlihood.