what a day to be slammed at work
a-sphincter-says-What?
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blah-blah-blah, pro cyclists dope ...
blah-blah-blah, anyone who is faster than me dopes ...
blah-blah-blah, someone you admire fell from the sky so i feel better about myself ...
blah-blah-blabitty-blah-blah
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I do apologize for being off-line for a bit and missing out on all the trash-stash-don'tstealmycowbloodhash-talk.
but, there are a couple points i'd like to explore further ...
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DocNitro reminds us of this thing called "addiction." And, let's be honest here ~ obsessive behavior is ... rather necessary when it comes to achieving great things in sport/art/politics, etc...
And ~ can we not place ourselves in such a darkened light? Can we not see ourselves being offered an elixir that floods with power ... power to achieve all those goals and adulations and riches we secretly covet?
I do have pity for those who must make that decision ~ but I do believe that dreaming of becoming a professional cyclist, or cellist, or painter, or singer, or mathematician is worthwhile and should be supported.
I believe that perfecting a thing, any thing is a journey worthy of a life. And, i don't believe it's EVER too late to start.
... or work harder at.
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so, i'm gonna work harder.
peace-out, ya'll.
31 comments:
well said.
I'm going to ride that little bit harder during my afterwork ride.
thanks for the pick me up M.
Well its nice to think, after all that crap, that we can be good by just training hard.
I don't pity for anyone caught, I pity their natural talent going to waste. I wish I had just 1% of it to make me a better rider.
Dr N and I had a good chin-wag last week on this subject - he's right - the Pro system is broken. I'm not sure it's any better at a local level though - just a little rarer.
I propose we have a peer-to-peer pledge:
I pledge to be a crap Cat 2 for the rest of my racing career, or until I decide I need to become a Cat 3 or maybe 4 again so I can taste the sweetness of success.
Date: 7/24/07
Signed: Robert Winder.
What say you?
I pledge to chase my potential without doping, even if that means paying a good coach to help me get there.
On velonews.com about a month ago was an article by Dawn Richardson that interviewed some pro riders and related people about the topic of addictive personalities and how that relates to doping for bike racing, and how frequently the bike race doping is not the only use of drugs for non-medical purposes.
Any other day OV, I'm with you. Improvement through diligence. That's how it should be.
But I'm in such a bad place right now that I gotta vent.
Hypothetical --
So you want to be a pro bike racer. That's great, but you gotta take the needle. Yeah, it's cheating, but don't worry you probably won't get caught. Well, no thanks. I'll try something else.
So you want to be a research scientist. That's great, but the university just accepted $500 million from an oil company that doesn't agree with your research, so you'll need to find another subject. Well, no thanks. I'll try something else.
So you want to be a journalist. That's great, but you can't cover city hall. The mayor is humping the anchor from the other station so it gets all the access. Well, no thanks, I'll try something else.
So you want to be a greedy pig with casual ethics who's highest goal is to fill your own trough. That's great you can be CEO of the fucking world.
(I'll probably wish I didn't write that later.)
The World is as it is. Mostly all of man kind is operating unconsciously and from egoic motivation.
The system, all systems, are broken.
"Do you want the puppet on the left or the puppet on the right?"
The goal perhaps is find a way to let your lack of a voice be heard.
The need to win, the need to have someone lose...all ego driven motivations. How do any of these accomplishments help in the grand scheme of things. Do they even really matter? Even at the professional level? The answer is no. Someday we will all return to that which we came from...dirt. And will the dirt we blend back into care that we won some bicycle race?
Will the coffin? No!
Did anyone notice that Alberto almost put his hands in the air when he finished in front of Rasmussen on stage 15? Then he realized he didn't win the stage. Ego almost got him.
its about time you started working harder you lazy shit. ;)
"UCI targets 6 or 7 Men In Black." Called that because they've been training in out of the way places and dressing incognito to avoid out of competition tests. Some suspected of being associated with questionable doctors too.
Vino might have been one.
Rasmussen might be one for going off to Mexico and training in unmarked jerseys there.
Remember seeing Levi at Copper? I thought how full of hiself he must be to pull a hood nearly across his entire face in the reg line. Like the fans and papparazi are really going to mob him in nowheresville, CA. And then he literally raced in a black unmarked kit.
Maybe it wasn't the fans he was trying to avoid.
I not saying... I'm just saying...
Food for the doubtful.
Enjoy the show.
who in their right mind would want to play the cello?
Levi is very easy for the dope testers to find since he spends nearly all of his training time around his home in Santa Rosa during the last two seasons-the better part of months at a time.
If he wanted to hide out why would he go to a local race at all (where he also raced last year) that could barely offer him some hard training he couldn't get on his own?
Avoiding the distractions (for everyone) if lots of people recognize him before the race is okay, yes?
And Levi's coach the last 2 years has always had a philosophy about doping that is the exact opposite of guys like Ferrari.
Just saying.
Robert, the first part of the solution is having a professional anti-doping organization that follows the rules. When they don't they provide loopholes and excuses. A single organization, instead of the quilt work they have now is another start. This will deal with the problem that Banks stated, that cyclists think they won't get caught. Then they think that it is justified. Then they believe their own lies.
I don't believe that you have to be a cheater to make it to the pro peleton, I just think that for years that you had to cheat once you got there. And the culture supported it.
Not to remove blame from the individuals that dope, but I understand why they do. It's easily rationalized when they often have truly nothing to lose. The problem is, that they were allowed for so long to get to that point. Fixing that problem will help to change the culture.
I rode with a Disco kid today, Danish no less, and the topic came up. He was astounded by the news. Of course, I wondered if he was astounded that Vino got caught for doping, or that Vino doped. I hope that it is the later. He did feel that the Chicken was guilty, and that he should be sanctioned, so that gave me hope. He felt that it was odd that admitted dopers, such as Millar, are the voice of new anti-doping programs, but admitted a strange credibility that they had, and that gave me hope. If I did not hope, I would be a hypocrite for subjecting kids to this abuse by supporting the sport.
And yes, the world sucks quite often. But my response is, don't let the assholes win. Fight the good fight.
OK, pabcid, I admit it: I played the cello. I was young and foolish, but now I've grown older and wiser and see the error of my ways. I hope you'll be able to forgive me as I move on to a life free of cello.
BTW, the cello is for sale back in Canadia...ah, the errors of one generation are passed on to the next...
i played the cello too.
Olaf plays the cello too.
i played the bassoon and snare drum...
After Astana took the top 3 places in the first individual TT the tour directors took notice. Then there were reports of midnight visits to the Astana team hotel from nurses and then after they had a positive test the conducted searches of the buses and hotels of Astana. I am in France now, and it has been reported that inside info led to this bust, and they have been following this situation for a long time. This is stuff that ordinary folks do not have a clue about. Besides the drama and illegal activity, France has been great so far. The next stage will decide the Tour, either Contador and Levi put time into Rassmusen, or the Dane will make it to Paris in yellow. I will be back in 2 weeks to report more.
it did seem that there was something going on (behind the scenes investigation) per Anon above. I would suspect that Chicken will be watched closely by French CSi folks as well.
Pro-Ho
or can't they test the top 20 overall after a stage to see who is clean and get the results prior to the next stage? top 20 plus stage winner?
I thought they did stage winner plus jersey leaders/winners...
I have heard they do micro dosing and have doctors who know exactly the amount that is over the limit and could be found in a test. As far as blood transfusions, they have masking agents.
Vino looked a little bloated to me from the start, you could see he was carrying something extra. Seems like charma caught up with him when he ate shit and lost time, and things just went from bad to worse, even if he won a few stages, he was not doing it legally.
I bet Dr. Ferrari told him that all the tour champions for years and years have done something off the charts to win the race. He was going for it as the others have for years and years, probably before Indurain. Franky Andreau knows whats up, and so does Floyds coack Robbie Ventura. Yet they cant say anything about it or they are done themselves in cycling.
The riders know pretty well who is clean and who isn't. or they have at least strong suspicions.
You race and train with a guy month after month, and then suddenly he's got 10% more power and instead of waiting for him at the top of every climb or leaving him behind he comes in 3 weeks later and now he's towing you to the top. And similar for the other guys you know who work with that same "coach". Must some fantastic peaking training program.
Some people have mentioned "hope". I think some is seen here...
www.velonews.com/diaries/rider/articles/12887.0.html
Willy Voigt explained all of this before...
Why do tour teams have more than 3-4 Docs? So they can micro dose to the limit.
Its like me having a drink on a Friday night, then getting in my car and saying that I'm still legal to drive because I'm not over the limit.
Thank goodness most appear to have stopped sticking their heads in the sand.
It'll soon be acceptable to come out as having taken drugs and then previous tour winners from the US will be back on our TV screens again.
yep workin' generally pays dividends
Now off the subject of doping - I wonder how many have noticed that little page view counter - it's moved substantially this week. I'me sure some have already mentioned it.....OV you could probably pay for some new gear by adding a few ads on the site. Not sure your thoughts on commercializing it, but with a premium cycling audience you could probably get a decent cpm or trade for free gear. I'm sure most would still continue to read.
Olaf is already on the take anyways. He is as commercialized as you can be, and even wears a flower in his cap to prove it. He loves the attention. And shows this off again and again.
Millar wearing Vino's shades today.
You hear it first Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez for the W today, the dopers will be scared to show they’re faces
this guy is the shidizzle
A blatant attempt to show off the flower to the crowd and the gathered media...
http://garrettlau.smugmug.com/gallery
/3206451#176831028
Ah well, it's his most photogenic pose anyway.
Ditto on the "thanks for the pick me up" front.
Hard to try to swallow watching something you love and have looked foward to for months reduced to a comic disaster.
If I do get back on my bike tomorrow, you'll be part of the reason.
PAB ~
You know the difference between a cello and a viola?
The cello burns longer
Michael always has the best graphics!
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (w/ Audrey Tautou) is a fun movie. A good alternative to all this TdF drama.
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