As referenced in the 2012 V-Moment of the year article and ensuing discussion, it was a most Vawesome year for cycling. It’s been hypothesized here and on cycling sites with more integrity that the fantastic racing of 2012 may be, at least in part, attributed to a cleaner peloton. Unless you watched the Tour de France you’d think the days of foregone conclusions and three week coronations are quickly becoming a thing of the past. It is in this vein we bring to you the Anti-V Moment of 2012: Lance Armstrong’s ceasing to fight the charges against him.
Now usually, we try our best not to delve into the seedy side of cycling. There is just way too much cool about our sport to focus our collective energy and attention on asshats. Besides, we’ve got bikes to ride. But the COTHO’s public announcement that he would no longer fight, er, defend himself against allegations of systematic doping, money laundering, blackmail, intimidation, and international douchebaggery has to be the biggest Anti-V moment of the year, if not in the history of pro cycling.
The COTHO could have feasibly taken one of three tacks as the winds of pressure, evidence, and public opinion continued to blow against his house of cards. Tack one would have been to continue lying, bribing, and digging an ever deepening hole as he steadfastly proclaimed his innocence. This obviously hadn’t been working for the past 10-odd years but at least it allowed him to maintain his base of supporters. Even as it became more difficult for him to maintain the façade he still had a sizable group of survivors, apologists, journalists, and mis-guided cycling fans who believed.
Tack two would have been to come clean (pardon the pun) and admit to the whole sordid mess he created but he didn’t have the ball to do this either. Who knows what his reasons are for not being honest? Best guesses are he’s rationalizing a set of excuses ranging from mitigating his financial liability, evading criminal implications, and blaming the corruptness of the sport. Maybe he’s trying to save face in some twisted way. But for as cliché as Tyler Hamilton even admitted in his tell-all; the truth will set you free. The COTHO could have stood in front of those microphones and cameras and said “Hey, you know what, I doped. I made some poor choices and lied to everybody and for that I’m deeply sorry.” Had he done so his detractors would probably still be his detractors and he would have given his supporters a legitimate reason to continue supporting him but at least everybody could say he fessed up and there is some integrity in doing that.
Alas, he took the Anti-V tack. He stopped defending himself, er, lying without admitting to anything and seems to be hoping to just fade into the background. In essence, he’s taking his toys and going home. What’s striking about this is that it is contrary to what we’ve come to understand about the guy. If anything, we’ve come to know him as a fighter, both in life and on the road. But this latest, and hopefully last maneuver was just plain weak. (Notice I’ve added the categories of “Evanescent Riders” and “In Memoriam” to this article in addition to “Awards”. The first two are much more fitting.)
Perhaps it belies the true nature of the man. A nature that involves intimidation, serial emotional and physical aggression and even violence. A nature that includes socially isolating his victims, arguing them into submission, and propagating rumors, gossip, and lies about them to sway public opinion in his favor. A nature that involves amplifying the mistakes of others in order to strengthen his own self-image. A nature whereby there are many innocent bystanders who are too fearful of repercussions to come forward themselves. The nature of a man who may be trying to compensate for his own insecurities and feed his own narcissism and megalomania. The nature of a simple bully who ultimately shows himself to be a big pussy.
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I know our dear leader is keen on a bit of historical revisionism* so just to clarify some facts here...
1. I didn't ride the whole Arenberg at the side. I only rode the first part, about a third, because our ride guide said to and I have a terrible habit of listening to people who know what they're talking about. I thought it was just going to be like the narrow gutter at the side of the other sectors. The only reason I even did that much on it was that they had put up the barriers for the sportive so I couldn't get back in the middle until there was a gap.
2. The reason we didn't complete the 1.5 laps was that there was a fucking barrier across the track. I believe it is not traditional for the P-R winner to have to unclip and waddle through a jersey barrier before completing the final half lap. We crossed the line and stopped at the barrier as you guys entered the velodrome. Frankly given your sense of direction it was probably in the interests of safety that we remained well behind some solid objects while you worked it out.
3. Your breakaway was doomed anyway. We were catching you as you turned off, and we didn't even break any traffic rules.
4. The first rule of racing is Never Do Anything You Don't Have To. Some of us are just naturally a bit more pro I guess...
Never mind, you'll get another chance in 2013, and I won't be there to defend. Maybe then you'll all get over it.
Happy New Year ;-)
*WTF is Historical Revisionism ? I know what the words mean but when I was setting up parental controls on one of our kids' laptops the other day it had a long list of things you could block or unblock, like Profanity, Dating, Adult sites and Historical Revisionism . Presumably it has a specific context not just people debating whether the British Empire was a positive influence or the Causes of the Civil War.
@ChrisO
Batshite crazy white supremacists, holocaust deniers and conspiracy theorists of all stripes. Most of these "groups" really only exist on-line these days and are rarely spotted outside of cyberspace until one of them blows up a federal building or something.
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming:
While I'm in full agreement with everything Marko has written above, the COTHO's misdeeds have spanned more than a decade now and clearly deserve their own special category of recognition. My nomination for anti-V moment of 2012 goes to the still-unknown arsehole, or arseholes, who threw carpet tacks on the road during Stage 14. Those who can, do. Those who can't often seek to ruin everyone else's good time.
@frank Ahh, comforting to know that I am in good company!
Nothing like being completely lost in a country that you have no hope of speaking the language having not only hit the wall around an hour prior but mostly buried under it, just willing the day to end so that the large taint blister that you've had for the last two hours can get some fresh air and a shower (un-fuckin'-beliavably painful by the way) and then realizing that you are completely fucking lost in Hem! Not my favorite memory of the day for sure!
@ChrisO
You know ChrisO, the length of the excuse is usually inversely proportional to it's validity. Just saying.
@Spun Up Exactly. Facts are facts. Take Little Bighorn for example. It's indisputable that a bunch of people died. Read a history book and get one perspective, talk to the Lakota and get another.
Taking one's self too seriously on the other hand when we're just having a bit of fun talking about one of the best rides of the year...
Good point about the tack incident as well.
@Marko
J'Accuse! J'Accuse! Le petite frommage...
@Marko
wee bitty embarrasisng, non ?
but not as bad as my spelling...
@ChrisO
There is the online group of wingnuts that goes out and purposely suffers on bikes then posts how fun it was.