I must admit to not having read most of the cycling memoirs in the Works. I may eventually but the local public library doesn’t carry any of them and never will so I’ll have to buy them or ask Frank to tote everything he has to Hawaii. I did get off my wallet and buy these two and it was money well spent. David Millar and Tyler Hamilton have produced two excellent cycling books, parallel stories in very general terms and times. The contrast of how two people in similar straits handle the truth and the divergent roads it puts them on is compelling.
Doping in professional cycling is still secretive enough that it is best told from someone all the way on the inside. Journalists will be lied to by cyclists. Federal grand juries do better at getting the truth but we usually don’t hear it. Cyclists who lived the lie and need to unburden themselves make a good conduit. I can’t begin to explain it as well as Tyler or David did; their inner world of professional cycling is nothing we hear much about. In the 1990s it was the wild west where the law was absent. Spanish “doctors”, syringes and mini-centrifuges ruled the day. It’s such a huge subject, too interwoven with passion and pressure, so much grey area. For a person like me who likes to talk about doping in black and white, I’ve learned how institutionalized and insidious it was (past tense, I hope). It’s not so simple. It’s tragic. To feed the young ambitious athlete into a system where there is no choice but to accept the drug system is criminal. When money is at stake and the UCI is complicit, as is team management, those are some criminals.
Racing Through the Dark-by David Millar. I’ll also admit to being a long time admirer of David Millar. He has always been well- spoken and not afraid to confront, two qualities I admire and personally lack, but they make a good writer. Millar is a military brat who found his cycling talent in the 10 mile British time trial club races. He ended up living his dream, riding on the Cofidis team, France’s well- funded but dysfunctional squad. He spent his first few years with Cofidis riding clean, yet watching how others “prepared”.
“In my youthful exuberance, I was telling anybody who would listen that I’d won in De Panne and broken the course record with a hematocrit of only 40 percent. I went to see Casagrande and his roommate, whom I refer to as L’Équipier (the teammate), so that I could show Casagrande the test results.
I stood there, a big grin on my face, expecting Casagrande to congratulate me and say something morale boosting. But he didn’t. After a pause, he handed the results back to me and then turned to speak to his roommate in Italian.
“Perché non é a cinquate?” Casagrande asked L’Équipier, puzzled, Why isn’t he at fifty?
No one talked about doping and no one talked about not doping. Eventually, after VDB self-destructed and Casagrande was busted, Millar became a team leader. And with that mantle came the responsibility to produce results, be a professional. And eventually he was implicated by a teammate, evidence was found, he was out of cycling, deeply in debt, and drinking his way to the bottom.
For some interesting video here is a recent Spanish documentary from the inner ring.
The Secret Race-by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle. Tyler Hamilton and I grew up in the same end of Massachusetts, he went to the same prep school @rob and I dropped out of, so I always felt slightly connected to him. So I was a fan boy and stood by his fantastic excuses for too long.
The whole wretched story of doping in cycling is right here. Tyler Hamilton cheated and lied for so long, it took until 2011 before he could tell his parents the truth. And despite his decade of lying, this book rings true. His reward was getting out from under the lie. I think he would have written the book for free just for the unburdening. He states many times the lightness of being after testimony and though he knows it’s very unlikely, hopes Lance can feel the same lightness that comes from telling the truth. This book is Tyler Hamilton’s story but it is closely linked to part of the Armstrong saga.
Like Millar, Hamilton was unaware of systemic drug use until he had joined the professional ranks. US Postal drugs were at first team- provided and paid for. Once you proved yourself as one of the best riders on the team, as someone who could help Lance win the Tour, you earned the right to use EPO. It is fascinating reading, it’s horrifying, it’s depressing. Most unsettling is Lance Armstrong’s behavior. There are many revelations regarding Armstrong’s psychotic need to win. I’ll share just this one.
Tyler was eased out of US Postal because he was too strong a rider and perceived as a threat to Armstrong. So Tyler left and signed with Phonak in 2004. There was a time trial up Mont Ventoux in the 2004 Dauphiné Libéré weeks before the Tour de France. Tyler beat Lance in the TT. Later during the Tour, Floyd Landis, who was still riding for US Postal rode along side Tyler.
“You need to know something”
I pulled in closer. Floyd’s Mennonite conscience was bothering him.
“Lance called the UCI on you,” he said. “He called Hien, after Ventoux. Said you guys and Mayo were on some new shit, told Hien to get on you. He knew they’d call call you in. He’s been talking shit nonstop. And I think it’s right that you know.”
This little story is amazing for many different reasons and the only good one is Floyd Landis telling it to Tyler. I’m guilty of saying some negative things about Floyd, mostly because he was such an idiot liar. But at a point, when he has nothing to gain and he has lost everything else and he starts telling the truth, he gains back my respect, just like Tyler Hamilton has.
I ended up reading these books one right after the other. As I said before, I recommend them both. David Millar is a better writer. He actually has more demons to battle than Hamilton so his story of redemption is inspiring. Tyler Hamilton’s story is more depraved (in a doping sense) but both books are important. A lot of people in cycling are now admitting to past deeds in very unspecific terms. These two authors are both shining lights into some dark corners and making the inevitability of drug use in cycling more human and understandable. Also, in reading these books back to back, it highlights the contrast in how these two people dealt with their fates.
Both had the bad luck to be nearly singled out as dopers when a large percent of the riders were dopers. Millar realized it was the doping that killed his passion for even riding a bike. He took no joy in his EPO-assisted victories, only a temporary satisfaction that the task at hand was completed. He decided to come clean and to become an advocate for clean racing and changing the corrupt system.
Hamilton could not admit to anyone but his wife (who already knew) that he had been a cheat. His lie was so crushing he couldn’t even see a way out. He then spent all his money and energy protecting the lie for years, for nothing, obviously. It was the threat of perjury in that finally broke open the dam. It’s a cruel lesson to learn; the truth will set you free, even if it takes forever.
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View Comments
@G'phant
No worries at all G'Phant.. I didn't think you meant any offense and none was taken. That's actually one of the things I love most about this site... we can all disagree on even something as volatile as the Lance situation but still keep it reasonable and informed without resorting to the typical internet insult match.
I'm not at all surprised that so many have turned on him. He was a tyrant, a dictator... that's what happens.
You rule for years by fear and intimidation combined with people's natural unwillingness to stand away from the crowd, until one day they work out that they've all had enough, and the next thing you're hanging upside down from a lamp post.
@Leroy
Leroy - I really respect your contrarian position on all this - its good for the debate.
You are clutching at straws here, either just for the sake of it - or the alternative, which is that you are insane. Which of course you are not.
We are agreed this has zero to do with doping ( who did what to whom and when and what and zzzzz ) and everything to do with brazen, gutless and morally void behaviour - the guy is a criminal. He'll be tried as such, found guilty beyond reasonable doubt and will go to jail.
Will you defend him then?
@Leroy Your point seems to be that because other people behave reprehensibly we shouldn't be angry about the shape that pro cycling is in because of all this? I don't know why you keep making out like I'm only hating on Lance and USPS, because I don't have any agenda in that direction - until a week ago quite the opposite! I've explained my thoughts on this several times now so I should probably stop before I get my dander up...
@G'phant
What? While I was in new Zealand I picked fights with some Aussie Wanker who claimed to be a lawyer (He may have a deep understanding of the law without being a lawyer...) but now I've traded my soul for shit beer and sunshine, you f**king kiwis are really starting to get on me tits (especially Bretto. Bald git.) Admittedly you're no Marcus, since there's no frothing diatribe based on sports no one in the civilized world gives a shit about, but you are impeccably mannered, you are a lawyer and you are over there. So if Minion and Marcus' internet feud is really over, you're on my list for potential targets.
Actually fuck all that. Marcus is still wrong about everything ever so there's no way this is over.
It did make me smile in last weeks Cycling Weekly on the page that sells all the DVDs for £19.99....the two featuring COTHO were priced at £2.99! Not sure if it was a misprint but a wry smile crossed my lips...it was not even advertised as a special price..someone somewhere has stock issues!
@smithers
I'll put up $100 right now that says Lance never does so much as a day of community service over this case. He stands to lose some cash in civil suits but he definitely won't be doing jail time over any of this. The burden of proof is considerably higher in a court of law than anything the USADA has to deal with and, in a court of law, high powered attorneys change the game in a big way... just ask OJ.
@Oli
First of all, I'm not defending Lance's actions as being RIGHT. I'm not saying I would want to raise my kids or see anyone else raise their kids instilling that type of behaviour in them. Let's clear that up straight off.. I DO NOT AGREE WITH LANCE'S ACTIONS.
Second, I'm not saying that you're "hating" strictly on Lance and USPS Oli... But you seem to be laying a big part of the blame for the "shape pro cycling is in" at Lance's feet. That's the part of the opinion that I don't agree with and am debating. Yes he was a willing participant but, if you're going to be outraged... be outraged by cycling in that era, not by Lance being the driven manipulative douchebag that he is. Really, if pro cycling is in bad shape today because of these revelations, we have Tygart and the testimonial of confessed dopers to blame more than Lance... he'd have done anything to take these secrets to his grave and keep his (and by association cycling's) name out of the mud.
That being said, I do not see his actions as at all surprising or as being the cause of any larger issue in cycling beyond his doping and his team's doping. It would honestly be more surprising for a man in power to willingly admit their errors and lose their power than it would be to learn that they did everything within their power to preserve their position. Whether it's a Rockefeller monopoly or Vanerbuilt collusion practices or Armstrong's Strongarm intimidation tactics... that's simply what men in power have always done. I'm not using that as a justification for Lance or freeing him from any culpibility for his actions... just pointing out that it's very much to be expected with so much on the line for a megalomaniacal competitor like Lance. Lance was just another piece of the larger problem of doping in cycling and not the source of the problem that so many are making him out to be. No more than we can blame Barry Bonds for "causing" steroid use in baseball can we blame Lance for causing doping. If there were half as many dopers in the peloton or if Lance was alone on a doped up island, then voices would've rung out in unison supporting Simeoni or any number of other riders. Where was Dirty George all the years that people were blasting Hamilton & Landis? The peloton chose to support Lance's actions through their silence which means they share the guilt. Had these guys spoke up five or ten years ago, it would've been a game changer... today, the only people really benefitting from it are the media outlets who just got months worth of sensationalistic garbage to report on that, at least in my opinion, will ultimately do more harm to cycling's image than good.
So really, my point basically comes down to three things..
1. If we're going to condemn doping, condemn ALL doping not just those who did it best or most or most effectively or efficiently. All the riders who cry about sleepless nights and broken dreams now were all too happy to go along to get along until, in the twilight of their careers, they were faced with "turning states" or taking a bullet themselves. And we're supposed to laud their "honesty"... It doesn't take courage to go turncoat when you've got little left to lose. I have considerably more respect for Landis and Hamilton than I did a year ago... I have the same level of respect for Armstrong (which is to say very little) today compared to a year ago... and I have considerably less respect than I did a year ago for all the riders who testified.
2. If we accept that Lance was a highly sophisticated doper, which you pretty much have to in light of the evidence, then we have to accept that everything about the sophistication of his doping was geared around hiding that doping and any steps taken to that end shouldn't be a suprise... what's more surprising is that it was so well known but everyone continued to ALLOW Armstrong to intimidate and coerce others into silence. If these 11 guys would've stood up a decade ago, THAT would've been good for cycling. Today, it's just an easy out for them as they're wrapping up their careers. If Armstrong intimidates Simeoni and then Hincapie and Vande Velde (or even a few other riders from random teams) step up and back Simeoni, THAT would've been a game changer... but that's not how it happened.
3. This has done nothing to "help" cycling in my mind. The sport had already moved on IMO. I do not believe for one second that there is a rider in the peloton who was doped last year that will not be doping this year because of these revelations... Nor do I believe that young riders like Vangarderen, Phinney, or Dombrowski are currently doping or would have resorted to doping in the absence of these revelations.
That's really the clearest I can make it... I'm not playing at being contrarian, I'm not trying to get your "dander up", and I'm definitely not supporting Armstrong, I'm condemning the whole reality of that era equally and completely along with condemning the usefullness of this whole USADA investigation which seeks to "clean up cycling" by dragging its name through the mud while selectively chosing which riders to persecute... and while ignoring their testing responsibilities at the major American races TODAY, right now. Personally, I care far more about whether Horner and Levi were doped in dominating the AToC in 2011 than I do about Lance being doped in 2005 (or how he avoided getting caught) because its simply more applicable to cycling today. The USADA failed us in that regard, and they failed us because they made a choice to hunt down Lance instead of hunting down doping.
@Leroy
" Personally, I care far more about whether Horner and Levi were doped in dominating the AToC in 2011 than I do about Lance being doped in 2005 (or how he avoided getting caught) because its simply more applicable to cycling today. The USADA failed us in that regard, and they failed us because they made a choice to hunt down Lance instead of hunting down doping."
I could respond to each of your misnomers in that post en masse, but really these last sentences are just too hilarious and I shall now go to sleep with a smile!
@brett
Would you care to elaborate on that a bit rather than just being needlessly condescending? Are you suggesting you don't care if riders are racing clean right now??
...and you should probably look up "misnomer" because you're using it wrong.
@minion
Hallefuckinglujah! The weeks of doubt have passed. God is in His Heaven and all is right with the world.