First off, cycling needs a different term for what it would like to convene. To equate cycling’s past with South Africa’s and Liberia’s dark histories is just wrong. Maybe the “I was a lying dick” tribunal. When I hear riders I admire say the past is the past, let’s look forward, I now assume they cheated. Cipo, Bugno, Faboo. Do I care? That has become harder to answer over time but yes, I still do care. Should I be surprised? No, I should be surprised if they were clean, like Jens, from East Germany. That actually does surprise me. If I was a “clean” rider, like Jens or Stuart O’Grady, I’d be rather pissed off about the missed opportunities. I would be damn angry rather than mildly surprised. They wouldn’t be lying to me too, would they?
Gianni Bugno seemed to take little pleasure in some of his greatest victories. When he beat Museeuw in the 1994 Ronde van Vlaanderen he looked a little guilty to me. If there ever was call for some Italian chest thumping and end-zone dancing I would think that might have been the day. Yet he seemed to want some privacy and there was no blinding smile a top the podium. Even back in 1994 the thought flickered in my head that my man, Gianni Bugno, didn’t just beat Museeuw on cunning alone.
Professional cycling is a brutally hard sport. It’s hard enough that drugs have been associated with it since men have been racing each other over unholy distances. I’d rather have cycling known for that than have cycling known as The Liars Club. As cycling fans we have been lied to by most everyone involved with the sport. I’m sick of being lied to much more than I’m sick to know Cipo was doped to the gills during the best season of his career. Let’s get this over with. Let us get to the Truth. It might even be fun reading. You did what how many times? Are you that stupid? Wow, that really resets the perfect amount of dumb meter doesn’t it?
If cycling does completely air its dirty past it will be a first. I don’t see American football or baseball ever addressing their doping issues. If it wasn’t such a hard damn sport doping wouldn’t be such a temptation: bike racing, horse racing and syringes. If it was just money that corrupted sports every golfer would be doing something besides drinking alcohol at the 19th hole. And fat bastards named Fuzzy or Daly wouldn’t be stubbing out their cigarettes on their caddie’s hat before teeing off. Will it ever happen? Not if the present UCI has anything to say about it. A lot of people who are involved in cycling above the level of the riders don’t want the dirty laundry snapping in the breeze.
Reconciliation…let’s call it freedom from legal prosecution. The reconciliation is going to happen between riders and fans in the cafés not in court. I don’t believe it will be a big deal, we still love cycling, I still love Bugno and Cipo. Nothing will have changed except everyone will know the truth. What will the record books look like after the smoke clears? Maybe nothing different, maybe that’s part of all this. Yes, Cipo finally won Milan-San Remo sprinting against other racers who were not clean either. He was the best of them that day.
Cipo, you worry too much. The tifosi won’t turn on you. Has the pope been roughed up yet? No? You are good then.
All right, enough talk, let’s look at some Spring Classic action, 1994, the Ronde van Vlaanderen
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@Ron
More than a few guys died in their sleep during the early EPO years. Their blood was so thick, their hearts couldn't pump it.
@Steampunk
hmmmm, nice. That is a cool design with the curved seat stays in steel. Is that a silca pump I see? With a mount on top instead of underneath?
@Marcus
Yeah, "Classics" is not the right place to draw the line. The list of winners in the Ardennes over the last 20 years doesn't inspire a ton of confidence. There are some of them I hope didn't dope, but the list of doping reprobates is much longer. The cobbled races, maybe.
@roger
I got thrown out of school twice. It wasn't that bad.
Just ordered this. I was going to order the "Soft Touch," but I saw people pissing and moaning about how hard it is to keep clean. So I went "Tacky," which I guess suits my déclassé social status.
If we're gonna discuss bar tape, I want some more feedback. I've ridden the Microtex. I've also ridden the Microtex high gloss. I wanna know about the Soft Touch. I also wanna know about the fizik logo tape. Is it just the Soft Touch but with logos?
And, if we're on it, in the mid-to-late 90s some dudes, such as Der Kaiser had logo tape. What was it and who made it.
Furthermore, does logo tape have any place on classy bikes, like Steel Steeds, or only on modern Carbones?
Nate - I like fun substances, such as the ones you'd utilize before nighttime college rides. Ones that make me giggle a bit more, not ones that might kill me. I've steered far clear of anything I thought might seriously mess me up.
I wonder what it was like to think about and/or take/do something you knew might kill you. To win a stage or just get a contract. Maybe I'm just an outsider but I think I would have said fuck it far before that.
@brett
I'm with you on the skepticism but all the evidence suggests that it's *possible* to win on a day-to-day basis against a doped rider. EPO etc all have an impact on the short term, but their real magic is in the grand tours. Stuey, Jens, Millar, Boonen, Faboo - its all *possible* that they've won clean, at least from one time to another.
Of course, there's a big delta between it being possible and it happening, but I do like to think there are some clean ones winning against the dopers, like it was back in the 60's, 70's, 80's and (early) 90's.
When I was a bad fan to Ryder (I'll tell the story some time, it wasn't pretty), the overwhelming thought I had walking away from it was that I'd just shook hands with a guy who know definitively whether or not he won the Giro clean. That's an akward thought to have - he's the only one in the world who knows for sure if he won the Giro clean.
I bought the latest copy of Cylesport, and there's an interview with him in it. I bought it after meeting him. I haven't read it yet, but I scanned the pages. I was amazed that one of the quotes that's pulled out of it is him saying something to the effect that its great to know he won a Grand Tour clean.
I'm not sure what @Steampunk is on about and he might not be wrong, but in the context of what my reflection was and his quote in the mag, I think that's a strong argument for the possibility.
And Bretto, I don't have rocks in my head. But I am an hopeless romantic. Potato pozato.
@Sauterelle
Yeah, if Pharmy wasn't such a twatwaffle, we'd all have let this go. No one is chasing down Ulli or digging up Pantani's grave to do a post-mortem.
Armstrong played the game, maybe brought it to a new level and made a science out of what most people consider an art, but he was a massive fucking dick about it. People hate dicks. End of.
@Tobin
No, but I think what Wiscot is on to is that a rider, classy or not, typically looks proud of their accomplishment. There's a difference between cool and guilt - and we can all recognize it.
The optimist in me is very glad for that; I like to think that pride is still rooted in the notion that you've earned what you accomplished.
Anyone who can still feel guilt for cheating is not beyond redemption. It is people like Armstrong who felt righteousness in proving they could be successful through cheating who are lost.
I still have faith for those who feel shame.
@unversio
See. Look at that work of art. At $125? Awesome! I don't have any Campa anymore (save a nice front hub, and a DT lever with a little adjusting wheel in it that Frank would like to have), but I'd probably get that cogset just to look at it. Got my eye on a set of Delta brakes on ebay going for a price in my budget. Just to have 'em.