Mark Cavendish sprints to victory in a rain filled Stage 8 of the 2008 Tour De France
Having raced road bikes for a few years as my summer entertainment I always dreaded riding and especially racing in the rain. Not much in life is scarier than riding at 25mph on skinny tires with no tread, while bumping elbows and knees with another 50 testosterone filled men that rarely ride with anyone other than a couple of their buddies. Ah, citizen class amateur racing. Guaranteed to break a shoulder or wrist at some point. Those potential broken bones are why I quit racing. I rode for years without health insurance and managed to get by without a serious wreck. I've bumped wheels, pedals, knees, and elbows, I've seen guys next to me suddenly just disappear in a tangle of frames, wheels, and limbs but somehow I've managed to stay upright and rolling forward. I think the years I spent commuting on my bike in the city helped. Bicycle commuting is pretty much like racing except that you're bumping knees and elbows with cars. The risk is a little greater but it's great training for racing. I remember broad-siding a car, flipping and landing on my head in front of a moving bus during morning rush hour, and in the winter I was guaranteed to go down at least once a week on the snow and ice.
All this reminiscing about the good ole' days of biking is due to the fact that it's July.
July is the season of Le Tour. The Tour De France. I have really mixed feelings about the Tour and pro cycling in general. I love the idea of these athletes pushing themselves to their limits for so many days in a row. I like the team aspect as much as I like the rider that decides to go off the front on a solo break, hoping to be the rare rider that can stay away all the way to the finish. Unfortunately, along with the potential greatness comes the doping. I am absolutely disgusted by the near constant doping scandals in pro cycling. A few years ago there was a pro mountain biker that tested positive for some banned substance. After serving his suspension he returned to pro racing. In one of his early races after his return he made it to the podium having crossed the finish in third place. The rider that won the race stood on the top of the podium and unzipped his jacket to reveal a black shirt with large white letters that proclaimed DOPERS SUCK.
In the years that have followed, rider after rider has tested positive. These positive tests are of course riddled with controversy. The riders proclaiming their innocence, the officials swearing they followed protocol. The reputation of pro cycling, the individual riders, their sponsors, and the races themselves are forever tainted. Many believe that doping is synonymous with pro cycling. I'm pretty much convinced of it.
I long for the days of riders like Greg LeMond. Clean athletes. Back in Greg's day I'm sure doping still existed but not to the extent it does today. I'm also sure there are riders out there today that make the decision to stay clean and race with pure skill, ability, and the heart of a warrior.
That is racing!
7 comments:
"Bicycle commuting is pretty much like racing except that you're bumping knees and elbows with cars."
HAHAHAHA!!! That's why I love this blog!
I liked the book "Lance Armstrong's War" by Daniel Coyle. It all but outright says he wasn't a clean racer as well as provides some pretty incriminating history of the sport. Cycling has been dirty as long as there have been bicycles and performance enhancing drugs, starting out with tobacco and amphetamines in the first bike races. It won't change as long as there are millions of dollars of sponsorship (individual and team) at stake.
Of course, just about every other sport where the athletes compete at a certain level you find dopers...I'd like to say there ought to be a consistent set of rules to test and discipline dirty athletes, but it seems like the more there is at stake, the more evasion techniques are available to the athletes...BUT I don't think the governing body should be capitol hill.
Good post.
There's people cheating in every sport and there's a few ultrarunners I'd like to see tested. I've stopped caring, as it doesn't really affect me personally. I compete the best I can and if someone trounces me by cheating, well, I still did the best I could.
Steve,
I agree...It certainly doesn't affect me in a competitive sense. It would take doping for me to even approach competing at that level. It bothers me because it creates a false reality as to what is possible for young athletes, which leads to more doping.
Besides, there's also the personal disappointment in a athlete that I might have been impressed with at some point.
Why don't we let everyone dope and that would level the playing field in another way. If these riders want to do it to their bodies and minds and spirits, so be it.
Yup, the TdF was a joke last year. I've been a die-hard fan of bike racing, having done a few races myself back in my college days and this year I haven't watched a minute of the race. I'm sure I'll break down to watch the mountain stages. Righ now it's gotten to the poin that you can't believe anyone with success in bike racing isn't doping. It also makes you wonder what other TdF greats had been doping as well but never got caught - Indurain, Delgado, Fignon, Hinault, Roche, etc? Hopefully trail running will avoid this nonsense.
Chicks is on to something. It could be like the bodybuilding world where they have a "natural" category. Although, I think it's said that we even have to consider something like that.
I'm not a fan of it. On a personal level, I have the satisfaction of knowing that whatever happens on the course is because of my training, my nutrition, my guts....doing it any other way is a short cut and cheats ME.
Well said every one.
All of this was just reinforced yesterday as Ricco Riccardo is evicted from the TdF for a positive drug test. It reminded me of Floyd's comeback stage win last year.
My feeling is there should be lifetime bans for drug use in pro sports. I think it would at least slow the use.
Post a Comment