I'm in a small town in OR and a guy at the bar turns to the guy next to him and says ''what do you think about Alberto?&quot

Oregon Lady wrote:

Florence would be the last place on the coast I would go. But I would stick around the coast this weekend if you want to avoid the 90 degree weather. Newport and Cannon Beach area are the best places on the Oregon Coast. It's Goonies weekend in Astoria.

Otherwise you should be in Bend. I think the Old McKenzie Pass is open this week too (where... in response to your bike comment it was only open to bikers the last couple weeks).

The scenery on that drive is unreal. One of the best drives in the state.

Except Florence is where PRE and the boys used to hammer out sand dune runs. Better get one of those in while you are there. I recommend waiting for dusk, a bit more magical.

nikeman wrote:

Come up to Beaverton this weekend and let's go for a run.

And we can take you to a bar and ask what you think of Alberto.

Portland Track Festival is next weekend too, but you probably knew that.

Rupped Up wrote:

Coaching genius! Seriously, what's the big deal? All the top runners dope. All I took from that BBC show was how easy it would be for anyone to take PEDs.

Yes and how important they are for everyone, increasing sales for Big Pharma.

daf wrote:

did a priest and a rabbi walk in?

No, but two pretzels walked in.

One was a salted.

My wife is a huge nerd even though she ran in college. I briefly mentioned it the night before last and she know's who Rupp is, she kinda blew me off but I was like oh wel. The next day she comes home talking abut it all. she had heard the whole report on NPR and was now really interested in it.

It is blowing up big time.

Why are you not in Bend? Aside from it being maybe the best outdoors city in the country, it is home to the Deschutes Brewery, which makes possibly the best beer in the country.

If you are intent on staying west, head up to Cannon Beach or Seaside or Newport. But if you are down in Florence, it might be worth it to you to check out Bandon Dunes, if only to look around. Not sure how much you like golf.

"More recently, everyone was reminded of him with the story of his heart attack and death in 2007."

I didn't realize he died in 2007. I apologize for dragging his name through the mud. RIP Alberto.

Johnny Walker Red wrote:

Wejo, you might spend a little time, while in Florence, brushing up on your journalism ethics. They are sorely lacking at this point.

BTW, who is doing the censoring while you are down there? I've been noticing that all the pro-NOP, pro-Salazar posts and threads last a short time before they disappear.

Now the conspiracy theories are really coming out. Which thread are you talking about? I can definitely say I have not removed a single pro NOP post.

We want to encourage discussion on these forums. There are just serious allegations as of now.

But we've come full circle, an earlier poster said we had covered up for the NOP .

asu guy wrote:

My wife is a huge nerd even though she ran in college. I briefly mentioned it the night before last and she know's who Rupp is, she kinda blew me off but I was like oh wel. The next day she comes home talking abut it all. she had heard the whole report on NPR and was now really interested in it.

It is blowing up big time.

NPR is not mainstream, just like the NY Times isn't. They are both excellent news sources - in spite of what you might hear elsewhere on these boards, but they are not mainstream.

This story might "blow up", but only if somebody loses a medal, and maybe not then. Lance Armstrong was very well known by the average person on the street. Alberto is not.

And by the way, you're first sentence doesn't make sense.

Koppenberg wrote:

To be fair, tall bikes and adult dodgeball leagues are also mainstream in Oregon.

Don't you dare talk bad about adult dogdgeball boy.

Let's not forget, though, that NOP is not the only cheating organization (UNC) getting the hammer this week:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-newswire-20150605-story.html

This. It's how I spent memorial weekend.

Go Goonies! wrote:

Drive up the coast to Manzanita(San Dune Pub) and Cannon Beach and then onto Astoria. Cross the bridge into Washington and check out Ilwaco and maybe Long Beach.

The Dalles is the essence of small town Oregon. I once stayed at one of their flea-bag motels in the downtown area and it didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would.

I almost walked into the next door bar, but it smelled of Heidleberg and Camels so I turned around and left.

True story.

So Alberto and Galen walk into a bar and the bartender growls: "That better be piss in those bottles".

And Alberto says: "It is".

And that is what I asked...who is removing them while you are away? You ask me "Which thread(s)?" That's the problem, they are now gone. Yesterday, there were several that started (in defense of AS), and quickly they were removed. No profanity or other indiscretions....they were just pro NOP/AS. I suppose with the LR mindset, that is a profane topic...to by pro NOP or AS, so it is only right to censure it.

1) If you make it up to Yahats, there's a bakery there that's supposed to have sourdough bread to die for.

2) I know everyone's saying head north, but there's some nice stuff south of you. And likely to be fewer people. You could even sneak down into CA and see some real trees.

3) As long as we are ruining your vacation by complaining to you about work stuff, what about the Jenny Simpson threads? I saw at least two. The second one seemed civil, at least what I saw of it. It had the sort of discussion I assume every serious track fan has had, at least in his/her own head about whether Simpson is too good to be true.

I thought that thread was important because it raised, at least indirectly, the larger question in all of this: Who can/should/do we trust? And why?

That those threads got nuked while the Mary Cain thread lives on makes it seem that on LRC, some athletes are more equal than others.

I'd say more, but I'm sure we've both got better things to do.

I see you restored the Simpson thread as I was writing my screed.

It figures: As usual, I was a day late, and a dollar short.

Well done.

Enjoy your vacation.

And by bar, she means Hacienda Courts.

Update: I got to eat last night at a different place and I sit down at the bar and caddy corner next to me is one of the 2 guys from the night before who talked about Alberto the night before.

Unbelievable.

This time he was with his wife or girlfriend. I asked him what they thought of it, were they surprised etc. He said, "I remember seeing Alberto and Mary Decker/Tabb/Slaney whatever name she was going by that week running all over Eugene." He then insinuated they had to be clean so he wanted to believe the best with Galen.

I told him Mary flunked a drug test in 1996 and there were a lot of rumors of doping in Athletics West, even tied to her. He said nothing would surprise him and we talked about how tough Alberto was and whether it was insecurities that might make him cross the line if he did.

We then shifted and talked whether Alberto was just pushing it up unto the line. He said maybe taking testosterone up unto the limit. I told him you can't take testosterone at all but I'm sure that's what a lot of people do and don't get caught and rationalize it in their head.

We even talked about how it is amazing how far Galen and Alberto have come even if they are doping. The fact he could pluck this kid out of a local high school and get him #2 in the world is amazing. He said, "Galen's #2 in the world?"

The woman with him was aware of everything as well. I'm impressed how informed people are. I can't run into the guy tonight because he's heading back to Eugene.

The bar tender was more boisterous along the lines of "I don't belive it" and "show me more evidence"