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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@girl
Um, yeah. I'm going to protest this word as well because it is highly offensive. I don't give a flying fuck if you all characterize yourselves as assholes (I am one!), or dumbasses, etc. And as much as I live/understand our community's irreverence. This characterization has extrreme and I abhor it.
@unversio
My favorite chain = the KMC X10SL DLC chain
I haven't ridden Campy but the KMC is head and shoulders better in shifting performance than any Shimano or SRAM chain I've used. Highly recommend.
@niksch *is extreme and I abhor it. To many Colorado Native Lagers affecting the typist skill set.
@girl
@niksch
1000% agree
@Leroy
I brought up the subject of the genuine Campagnolo C10 chain tool (expensive) at the bike shop. The recommendation came back with replacing the Ultra-Narrow (5.9mm) Chorus or Record chain with KMC and use a good reliable chain tool (when simply changing not cleaning). KMC is around 65.00 and Campagnolo Record around 55.00. But the Campa tool is at least 150.00. Which comes first, the chain or the tool?
Back to the original topic, I've just finished Tyler Hamilton's book, from start to finish in 24 hours. A great read, at times with excruciating honesty but as he says in the book, 'the truth will set you free' .
Millar's is also a great book and well written, though mainly focused on himself, dealing with his guilt and inner torment, and he mostly seeks to avoid dragging others into it by naming anyone, (which is understandable given the context, as Frank says above..).
But what I enjoyed about Hamiltons was the broader sweep of perspective and context it provides about professional cycling during the EPO era as well as telling his personal story together with plenty of specifics about the methods, doctors, other riders including of course Lance. As Frank and others say, he does come across as a decent guy. Of course it's written from his perspective, but it reads true and whilst he explains the context, he doesn't seek to blame anyone else for the choices he made, even Lance. I take my hat off to him for taking personal responsibility. Redemption is earned.
If you haven't read them do so (especially Hamilton's)!
@unversio
I find my Campagnolo Record 10 works and shifts much better using original Campagnolo chains.I usually use Centaur chains but Record chain worked perfect as well.If you don't want to buy Campagnolo UT-CN 200 chain tool you can still use Campagnolo 10 speed chains and connect them using KMC Campagnolo 10 speed specific power links.Plus any good 10 speed chain tool can be used.For 11 speed it's different though.
I find KMC chains to wear out much faster and do not recommend mixing chains eg.Shimano chains on Sram group.Plus you'd lose your guarantee if you used different brand chain on a given groupset.
I know the place in Europe that at the moment have this chain tool for around 100$.The very same place have Simplex DT shifters I believe you wanted way back so if you want to pay one shipping for these two items it's a good chance.Both items are brand new and I bought lots of shit from this store so you're good to go.Plus they have lots of old Campagnolo NOS parts that if you see them you are going to want to buy them.Shipping should be around 20$.If you are interested let me know how to contact you or get my email from the Keepers.Cheers.
@unversio
The KMC's use a tool-less "missing link" so you don't have to worry about using any tool at all. You can find the regular KMC X10SL chains on ebay for like $40 all day long, a few $$ more if you want the gold colored TiNi version... The DLC versions for about twice that. If you're in good with your shop guys or can otherwise get things at or near cost, it's like $38, $45, & $65 for the SL, SL TiNi, and SL DLC respectively.
As much as I'd like to, I haven't ridden Campy anything so I can't give an honest review between their chains and KMC but I run the X10SL in one variety or another on all my bikes; bike #1 is Red, bike #2 is 105 levers & Ultegra D's, and then I run a SRAM X0 1x9 with a dura ace cassette on my DH bike, 2x9 SRAM X0 on the park bike, and 2x10 SRAM X0 on the 29'er... works perfectly with all of those so I'd be willing to bet on it working well with Campy also. I'd spend the money on the chain over the tool if it was me... Although there is certainly something to be said for the way a nice Campy chaintool classes up a toolbox ;)
Lezyne make an affordable Campa 11-speed chain tool...
@TommyTubolare
Okay. I am gonna trust my feelings* and let go* -- and keep running Chorus and Record chains. My feeling is that 2010 Centaur became a Chorus chain with Athena going 11 speed. So Centaur is the right choice these days. I will find a Campa tool eventually or Pedros makes a good tool that is adjustable to 9 - 10 - 11. I may follow you up on the store. Thanx