Bill Luecke

USADA Cycling doping sanctions each year: 2018-present. Sanctions decrease from 18 in 2018 to reach 0 in 2025. Source: https://www.usada.org/news/

Graphs!
For the first time since 2018, when I started tracking USADA cycling doping sanctions, no US bike racer has been sanctioned. Whether the decrease represents less doping, more effective doping, or less testing is not clear, unfortunately.

@jverheul.bsky.social obviously highly influential for at least two people on this thread!

Crud. I alwasy forget to remove tranparent PNG backgrounds. The blog entry has better images...

Graph of USACycling licensed racers from 1972 to 2025 annotated with significant events in cycling history. The curve has three peaks roughly centered on 1975, 1992, and 2011.

The year-end racing analysis is back! I wrote up an executive summary the 2025 analysis of US and mid-Atlantic bicycle racing trends that I started in 2001:
billluecke.blogspot.com/.../2025-yea....
Graphs! Tables! Giant R script. It has it all...
The blog post links to the full 75-page document.

I watched several laps because it was so cool. So jealous! At one point the course went down a two/story ramp inside one of the buildings. I think it was an abandoned steel mill. Maybe a bit like the Robotland CX in Belgium?

@jverheul.bsky.social you are not the last, since I heard it from you! I am astonished that Outside hasn’t ruined BikeReg yet.

“Careful man! There’s a beverage here!”

I hope it was to Comic Sans! Honestly I am surprised that they didn’t go back to Courier monospaced.

I had to read a list of 200 albums released in 1978 before I found one (which i only discovered in 1985) that still resonates with me: Mike Oldfield “Incantations.” (And Brian Eno Music for Films). Most of the rest of the list was awful.

That blog was irreverent, offensive, and generally hysterical. I still describe failed team tactics as “flailing “

@jverheul.bsky.social are you not racing CX anymore? Or just living on the edge racing tires you glued six years ago? I did a 60+ CX race in Sunday where I was the only guy on rim brakes! Reenactor mode engage!

A trip to the attic to look for some data encoded on a tee shirt also uncovered this gem.

This came up in a meeting i was in today with some Europeans—the guy from Britain had to remind me that i was on daylight savings time. I can never remember if we are saving or wasting daylight…

Also interesting that it only lasted 5k miles. I usually get 15k out of a road cassette.

I had a 36-28 on a road ride last week, and it was nowhere near low enough! Was super glad that i swapped out the 25 that was on the wheel!

Dropped chain can also be a sign that the chainring is worn.

So they have good _hardware_ engineers!

Graphic demonstration of the depths of the financial crisis that the DC Metro is in: Monday 8:15pm on a westbound Orange Line train at Ballston—Iam the only person in the car.

But impressive that the six-year-old battery still lasts more than a single ride!

So it is not just Garmin that hires terrible software engineers? Seriously, this problem was solved in every code library at least 20 years ago.

Utility Use Deep Dive 1. Introduction About five years ago, I noticed that our water bill seemed to be increasing beyond what I thought that the rate of inflation...

Deep dive into my thirty years of utility usage:
TL:DR. Electricity and gas are cheaper than they have ever been. Water is much more expensive. Few efficiencies exist to be wrung out further.
billluecke.blogspot.com/2025/07/util...

When Jamie and I wanted to clear out a party at 502 E State, we would cue up New Order “Movement.” If that didn’t work, it was time for “Closer.” I don’t know if we ever had to resort to “Unknown Pleasures.”

Gray cat sitting on the arm of a chair

Mittens is in charge!

I Built a Successful Bike Racing Series. It Was No Joyride. For 14 years Andrew Willis oversaw Austin’s Driveway Series, a weekly criterium race for amateur cyclists. The stress, financial pressure, and constant criticism upended his life.

I don't understand how he kept going after a competitor died.
I couldn't have done it.
I realized that I don't have the soul of a promoter--I never got comfortable with the level of risk and uncertainty. I spent most event days thinking I would throw up.
www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adve...

Oh no!

At the Sterling Hill Mining Museum, a decommissioned zinc mine turned into a museum. Lots of fluorescent minerals.

Half a career of records boxed up and ready to put in the car. They will someday be the problem of the person who buys my house from the estate of my shriveled corpse.

NIST Ceramics Division reunion lunch.

“Hard to believe that you _get_ to go uphill for 12 miles!”

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions | Challenge Tires | Challenge Tires We answer (almost) all of your frequently asked questions here. You can also find and download the catalogue, as well as the warranty & instructions files on this page.

Challenge says to do it with their tires in the winter! www.challengetires.com/faq FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions | Challenge Tires | Challenge Tires