sTEVE said:Is this roid rage?
From the Morning Call - that last quote from Neal Rogers undoubtedly
hurt David's feelings....
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/all-b1-5clingerjul14,0,7492153.story?coll=all-newslocalallentown-hed
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Bicyclist charged in Berks bar fight
Tattooed athlete, who raced in Lehigh Valley, allegedly was disorderly.
By Tina Peng Of The Morning Call
Former professional bicycle racer David Clinger, known for the tribal
tattoos across his face and scalp, was arrested early Monday after a
Berks County bar fight and remained in the county prison Thursday,
police said.
Clinger, 28, of Woodland Hills, Calif., was charged with harassment,
disorderly conduct, defiant trespass and resisting arrest at the Toad
Creek Bar in Topton. He went to prison under $5,000 bail.
Clinger, who recently competed at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome, rode
with Lance Armstrong on the professional U.S. Postal Service cycling
team in 2002 and attracted media attention in 2004 for the facial
tattoos.
According to the arrest affidavit, he had harassed bar patrons, refused
to leave the bar and grabbed a woman by the waist, dragging her to the
floor. When police arrived about 1 a.m. Clinger was struggling with
patrons and screaming loudly; he fought with officers until he was
taken into custody, the affidavit says.
A witness described Clinger as ''covered in tattoos,'' the affidavit
said.
Clinger has been racing at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown,
said Velodrome CEO Erin Hartwell. He and a partner placed fifth in June
30's Madison Cup for tag-team racing, and Clinger was scheduled to
compete in Tandemonium July 22 at the Velodrome, Hartwell said.
Clinger showed early promise as a strong uphill sprinter but hasn't
really followed up on that in recent years, said Neal Rogers, a senior
writer at competitive cycling magazine VeloNews.
Clinger won a stage of the Tour de Georgia in 2003 to place eighth
overall. In 2000, he competed in the Vuelta a Espana, or the Tour of
Spain, one of Europe's three Grand Tours along with the Tour de France
and the Giro d'Italia.
''To ride in one of the Grand Tours, you're definitely in the top of
the sport, even to be on the start list,'' Rogers said.
But Clinger has yet to win any ''huge'' races and this year competed as
part of an amateur and not a professional team, Rogers said. Most
recent reports focused on Clinger's prominent tattoo. Modeled after the
war markings of New Zealand's Maori warriors, it angered managers of
Webcor, his team at the time. They ordered him to remove part of the
tattoo for fear that it would upset sponsors.
In compliance, Clinger began removing the tattoos on the lower half of
his face. His notoriety for those decorations may outshine any of his
accomplishments on two wheels, Rogers said.
''He's not somebody that will go down in the annals of American cycling
history, except for maybe that tattoo,'' Rogers said.
