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Michael Barry

Jun 26, 2009
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Well, ages since I've posted anything, but been wondering about homeboy Mike Barry Jr. (as I know him). Sure, he's been laid up with injuries, surgeries, nuts and bolts etc, but what does he know, and where does he fit into the whole Wonderboy Matrix [Vortex]? He might be the key: never on a Postal Tour team (didn't taste the hot sauce: not in the inner circle) or, did he? His dad would be devestated: Mike Jr. going to Upper Canada College and all (Eton; Groton equivalent...) Wonder if USDA have had some long and interesting talks with him? Enquiring minds etc.... D-Queued? Long time, bud - haven't talked since DP Forums days....
 
Roadent said:
Well, ages since I've posted anything, but been wondering about homeboy Mike Barry Jr. (as I know him). Sure, he's been laid up with injuries, surgeries, nuts and bolts etc, but what does he know, and where does he fit into the whole Wonderboy Matrix [Vortex]? He might be the key: never on a Postal Tour team (didn't taste the hot sauce: not in the inner circle) or, did he? His dad would be devestated: Mike Jr. going to Upper Canada College and all (Eton; Groton equivalent...) Wonder if USDA have had some long and interesting talks with him? Enquiring minds etc.... D-Queued? Long time, bud - haven't talked since DP Forums days....

Good to hear from you!

No, I don't have anything new to add.

But, I agree. This was the guy writing about the Postal Bus. Was he in a cocoon?

Dave.
 
Sounds like a very smart guy - in a good way he likely can handle his own in business dealings with shady characters.

Anyone know if he has had U.S. race days or training camps in the last few years? One would think that if he crossed the border the competent authorities would like to have had a chat with him about what he might/might not know.
 
I always figured that Mike Jr was not in the devine circle and therefore never got the chance to support 'what's his name' during one of his many TDF vict....err.....rides.

To me this also meant he wasn't hooked up to an IV with the rest of the members of that circle.

But after Floyd's admission I'm a little unsure.
 
Jun 26, 2009
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Random Direction said:
Sounds like a very smart guy - in a good way he likely can handle his own in business dealings with shady characters.

Anyone know if he has had U.S. race days or training camps in the last few years? One would think that if he crossed the border the competent authorities would like to have had a chat with him about what he might/might not know.

Yeah, that's what I'm interested in: he was on the local ride a couple of years ago at the end of the season, just as he was confirming signing to Sky and apparently was talking a lot about how disgusted he was with Basso at the time and how he couldn't be clean etc... so makes me wonder what he knows: thing that bugs me was after the Landis fingering, Barry did not say "I don't dope" but did the dance that everybody else does; blaming the messenger; 'tested N+ times' etc. - that's what made me suspicious.
 
Apr 20, 2012
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Looking at the carreer of mr Barry it seems to be jolly handy to be have been a domestique at LA's team. Doors at topteams suddenly roll open. Insider knowledge pays dividend?
 
Roadent said:
Yeah, that's what I'm interested in: he was on the local ride a couple of years ago at the end of the season, just as he was confirming signing to Sky and apparently was talking a lot about how disgusted he was with Basso at the time and how he couldn't be clean etc... so makes me wonder what he knows: thing that bugs me was after the Landis fingering, Barry did not say "I don't dope" but did the dance that everybody else does; blaming the messenger; 'tested N+ times' etc. - that's what made me suspicious.

Don't or didn't?
 
Alpe d'Huez said:
But does anyone know if the Feds or USADA applied any heat to him?

He's Canadian. There's not much heat they can apply, or at least would be very low on the list of ex-USPS non-American riders that would be likely to be a subject of interest for USADA. Going after American riders from the USPS era is a much more productive exercise for them. That being said, USADA did go after the non-American Bruyneel and 3x doctors, so they aren't completely shy when it comes to crossing international lines, but if they were interested in this route one would think interest would be focused on Popo (who definitely received some attention!), Eki, or any number of other internationals who rode on the TdF squads.

I'm not saying Barry did or didn't, but he doesn't seem like a cornerstone to me.
 
Duh, I just realized the answers to all of the questions would be found in Barry's book "Inside The Postal Bus".

So I went to http://michaelbarry.ca/ and clicked on the link for the book and got -

postalbus.jpg
 
Aug 13, 2009
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Alpe d'Huez said:
But does anyone know if the Feds or USADA applied any heat to him? His omerta comments were before the investigation started to grow legs, were they not?

Expect it to be public that a certain drunk Irishman put pressure on some riders to not cooperate with the Federal investigation
 
May 11, 2009
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the delgados said:
Barry went into full denial mode after being implicated by Landis.
He also said Armstrong was clean.
I wouldn't expect too much in terms of revelations.

I am somewhat biased on this topic so I'll refrain from making comments but to the above poster, didn't Mike say something very specific, something like: "It wasn't me, you must have me confused with someone else".

It was peculiar because he didn't say,"there is no doping on the team", or, "I don't know about doping at USPS", or "floyd is liar" ... he just said "you must have me confused with someone else" or "you must have seen someone else and thought it was me".
 
May 11, 2009
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Weapons of @ss Destruction said:
He's Canadian. There's not much heat they can apply, or at least would be very low on the list of ex-USPS non-American riders that would be likely to be a subject of interest for USADA. Going after American riders from the USPS era is a much more productive exercise for them. That being said, USADA did go after the non-American Bruyneel and 3x doctors, so they aren't completely shy when it comes to crossing international lines, but if they were interested in this route one would think interest would be focused on Popo (who definitely received some attention!), Eki, or any number of other internationals who rode on the TdF squads.

I'm not saying Barry did or didn't, but he doesn't seem like a cornerstone to me.


Doesn't Mike still live in Boulder? I know he wanted to move back to Toronto but did that actually happen?
 
Jul 23, 2009
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compete_clean said:
I am somewhat biased on this topic so I'll refrain from making comments but to the above poster, didn't Mike say something very specific, something like: "It wasn't me, you must have me confused with someone else".

It was peculiar because he didn't say,"there is no doping on the team", or, "I don't know about doping at USPS", or "floyd is liar" ... he just said "you must have me confused with someone else" or "you must have seen someone else and thought it was me".
I recall him saying flat out that Landis' comments were "false allegations", and something to the effect of "this is not true." But yeah, I don't remember him making anything close to a statement that USPS was clean, just that the story of he, Landis, and White sharing and discussing drug products was false.

In retrospect, the title of his first book is pretty hilarious.
 
compete_clean said:
Doesn't Mike still live in Boulder? I know he wanted to move back to Toronto but did that actually happen?

His license is through the CCA not USAC, and it's extremely rare (see Valverde) for a national ADA to go after a rider who isn't licensed under their own country's federation, even if they spend significant amounts of time living in that other country. USADA would likely have all sorts of lower hanging fruit or bigger fish to go after before they'd worry about riders licensed under another fed. Let's face it, Barry's been a solid dom for a long time but he's never been bringing home the hardware on the world scene.

If USADA came into possession of decent evidence implicating Barry, I expect they'd turn it over to the CCES to handle.
 
compete_clean said:
I am somewhat biased on this topic so I'll refrain from making comments but to the above poster, didn't Mike say something very specific, something like: "It wasn't me, you must have me confused with someone else".

It was peculiar because he didn't say,"there is no doping on the team", or, "I don't know about doping at USPS", or "floyd is liar" ... he just said "you must have me confused with someone else" or "you must have seen someone else and thought it was me".

The late Paul Grossman of the Toronto Star wrote a piece on Barry within a day of the Landis confessions. In it, he proclaimed Barry clean as a whistle, and he quoted Barry saying Landis was lying.
Grossman also interviewed Barry's parents, both of whom swear he would never dope, so it has to be true.
Whatever its worth (which, granted, isn't a hell of a lot), I'm certain that Barry has stated that Armstrong was clean, but I don't remember the source.
 
Jan 27, 2010
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Weapons of @ss Destruction said:
He's Canadian. There's not much heat they can apply.

It is hard to imagine why Landis would accuse Barry of doping if he didn't. For what gain? A personal vendetta, unlikely as Landis had easier low lying fruit to pick in that scenario.

I'm Canadian and suspect he 'knew' what was going on. Barry has a conscience and may be avoiding direct questions, playing along with omerta until he retires in the next few years. He 'has' a future after cycling. Again, why would Landis lie?

As for Canadian's antidoping powerflexing (if that is what's being inferred) ... look no further than what we Canadians did to Ben Johnson for at least 2 decades. Our own CBC couldn't stop killing him on the media outlets; Special thanks to Brian Williams. Oh, and Ben's ultradoped elixir could only get him to 9.79 in the 100m (1988). A 'clean' Usain Bolt just ran at 9.63, and 3 racers were all under 9.79 last week, humm.
 
the delgados said:
Whatever its worth (which, granted, isn't a hell of a lot), I'm certain that Barry has stated that Armstrong was clean, but I don't remember the source.

That says it all right there. He is either the dumbest rider in the peloton or someone who is willing to lie for Armstrong, and it is hard to believe that anyone is that dumb.

He probably gets along famously with Mick Rogers over there at Sky.
 
Jul 23, 2009
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BroDeal said:
He is either the dumbest rider in the peloton or someone who is willing to lie for Armstrong, and it is hard to believe that anyone is that dumb.
That's the problem. It would be nice if he was Forrest Gump in lycra. But, you listen to the guy talk and it's pretty obvious that there is a brain in there that's firing on all cylinders. He's probably one of those guys who sees PED's as an unfortunate but necessary part of the profession, and something that isn't spoken about outside the peloton.
 

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