Tyler Hamilton’s win in La Doyenne in 2003 was one of the highlights in what was generally a fantastic season. A great Spring campaign, a great Giro, a great Tour, a great Fall; unpredictable races, and closely-fought battles littered the events. But, with the luxury of 20-20 hindsight and a quick cross-reference of results listings to doping scandals, it’s safe to assume that season landed smack in the middle of an era of jet-fueled racing that rivals the 1990’s in their indulgence.
It’s a tough time to be a cyclist. Death, doping scandals, corruption in the organizing bodies of the sport. We test our athletes more than any other sport, but the tests are flawed and incomplete, and rumors persist that teams and riders pay off not just the labs to surpress positive tests, but also the UCI. Hamilton’s confession on 60 Minutes this week is the latest in an unsettling chain of events that keep peeling back more layers of the onion. I was a big fan of Tyler’s and part of me even believed in his innocence. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy – much too nice a guy to get involved in cheating. But there he was on television, talking openly about the magnitude of drugs-taking within the USPS team.
On the other hand, I’ve never been a fan of Armstrong’s. I find him to be arrogent, controlling, manipulative. His Tour wins were too formulaic; in sharp contrast to his fight with cancer, his racing showed no element of humanism. I have taken it for granted that his wins came with considerable assistance from a carefully planned and executed doping regimen. But these beliefs were woven together by a thread of doubt, and the possibility always existed that his were clean wins.
Hearing Hamilton talk of the seemingly nonchalant attitude towards doping at USPS and, in particular, by Armstrong, is surprising not in the content of the message, but in how hard the message hit. I expected the words. I had read them. I have even written many of them myself. But there was always a tangible element of speculation about them. For me, that element is now gone, and it feels strange to say the least.
Even as someone who generally accepts that doping is commonplace in the peloton, it hurts me every time another allegation of doping comes out. It takes me days to recover from it. But even if the worst happens, if Professional Cycling as we know it today falls apart, cycling will continue. Because cycling is more than watching others race bikes. It’s about racing or riding the bike yourself. It’s about overcoming your own limitations. It’s about the rider and the machine working together. It’s about cleaning, caring for, thinking about your bike. It’s about taking photos of it so you can look at it when you’re away.
Cycling rides through a storm today, but we will always have the bike. We will always have la Vie Velominatus.
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Back to the doping.....just stumbled on this little gem at The Science of Sport.
These are the highest recorded VAMs ever in the TDF. Thought it was pretty interesting knowing what we know now about who has been doping. If you want know how you stack up against these guys on your favorite climb, take the altitude gain (in meters of course) multiply by 60 and divide by the number of minutes it takes to complete the climb (altitude gain X 60/time = VAM).
G'phant :
Interestingly, my in-law's, who are all from a beautiful little Japanese village in Northern Japan, use "Oiii" the same way we do here in Oz/NZ/UK etc. Just a little more of a prolonged "ii" sound at the end but still used to get someone's attention. Don't think it has any ye olde English background over that way?
@pakrat
Mate, that reads like a who's who of this very topic!
@G'phant
@minion
On a completely unrelated topic, any of you blokes responsible for the WellyWood idea?
Welly wouldn't but Auck could.
It all makes sense now G'phant. A Kiwi with an English father - who could blame you for having a chip on your shoulder about Australians. You still pissed off with the old man for not paying the full fare to get to Oz?
It's FUSH bro, duffrunt kuttle uf fush. Just like I'm gunna take my zupp 404s to the shop to buy some mulk!
And we've got much nicer animals to have sex with that Australians. Women, for instance. Not saying there aren't any in Oz, but there are a lot of blokes in the FNQ
@minion
It's kinda weird but other than your indigenous people (respect to Jake the Muss) there isn't an equivalent stereotypical NZ bloke to the Aussie above. I guess it must be that people don't give a fuck about you.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
And oh, if you get caught in the dragnet, don't try telling white lies to the US Attorney's office and/or FBI. They hate that shit. Especially when they don't have anything else to prosecute.
@mcsqueak
Very well played.
@Marcus
I googled stereotypical New Zealander and, well, I give you the handsomest man in world cricket, and almost any room with an absence of light, Scott Styris.