Book Reviews: Racing Through the Dark, The Secret Race
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.
I think this is a great day for the future of professional cycling. I also applaud the prosecutors who had the balls to take on the entire sport to help clean it up for future riders. I have a daughter who has some interest and ability in cycling and Ironmans. It would have disgusted me (and her) to have her ever be faced with doping. I’m not so naive as to think everything will be just peachy from now on, but these confessions are a huge step in the right direction. At this point I don’t know how Lance can live with himself. He could use a good 12-step group. His lawyers have become comical. When you don’t have the facts or the law on your side, the last resort is to attack the prosecutor. Bravo to the confessing riders (even though they didn’t confess until cornered) and the prosecutors who took this on!
@smithers Yeah, he has earned his moniker. Pathological tyrant, that works too.
I agree, I found all the riders statements fascinating and encouraging. We have to air all out to understand it. Did you read about Zabriski’s song on team bus? To Hendrix’s Purple Haze.
“EPO all in my veins/Lately thing just don’t seem the same/Acting funny, but I don’t know why/Excuse me, while I pass this guy.”
DZ is the Man.
@Gianni I liked that Zabriskie asked whether the drugs would give him big ears.
I am just numb. To be honest. I echo the sentiments of many here to applaud the guys who came forward. But I just feel so damn stupid. I didn’t want to believe it, and I didn’t want to see the consequences of it. However as @dancollins puts it, I would have been disgusted if my children had been exposed in any way to it (they’re 7 and 8 so I won’t presume they will be talented enough to pursue a sporting career) as a part of their potential career.
At the end of the day while I can’t endorse in one single way what these guys did, I can understand to a degree (I’ve read Millar’s book), and at the end of the day, these guys (Hincapie, Zabriskie, even Armstrong) and people like them got me into riding and I think I am a better person because of that, and life is better.
But the Livestrong t-shirt, well that will now be used for cleaning the car or bike, I guess. Certainly can’t get any dirtier than it feels at the moment.
@Marcus
I get the feeling that the earlier federal investigation that was wound up before the USADA kicked off their investigation did most of the leg work gathering evidence that they handed over once they decided not to proceed – not sure about USADA but lying to the federal investigators would have been instant perjury and jail time? That investigation had a bigger stick to wave in terms of punishment and clearly had a different focus. Not saying that USADA wouldn’t have got to this point by themselves, but I was pretty disappointed when that investigation wrapped up without the information being released.
@minion
It being “wrapped up” is a charitable way of putting it. Stopped on a Friday afternoon with an announcement and no explanation to the investigators strikes me as fucked. I hope more light is shone on that too. The Hamilton book hints it was influenced by Armstrong et al.. That would be really scary and very plausible.
The moment I knew COTHO was a fraud;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiCIJ2JewPE
Cheers, Brett. Despite everything, that’s still an amazing ride to watch.
@Oli
Incredible, eh.
Just finished Hamilton’s book and as others have noted the doping seems so common place. Eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and EPO. The honesty was refreshing.
@Gianni Yeah subsequent events (senators speaking out against USADA) put that into context, although his brand is now completely fucked. What he’s got now is all he’s going to get, people are going to be lining up to avoid him like a polished turd, and his sphere of influence will shrink overnight. I think that’s why he’s retreating behind the cancer crusader shield, although that to me looks like an epic case of self delusion.
I would also love to be able to read French, to be able to read what the French speaking press will be making of this.
@brett
Fuck. No-one’s ever going to watch videos of Lance’s great moments the same again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Armstrong
calls Armstrong a professional cheat and road race cyclist.
Huh in Google it calls him a cheat…
http://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=lance+armstrong&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=YqR2UPyGFK2RiQeFjYDIBw
I watched highlights of the 03 tour this morning by chance. What a parade of dopers at the peak of their powers – atracks everywhere. I still loved watching it.
@Marcus
Yeah, I have about 40 WCP DVD’s with Auntie Phil and Paul orgasmically commenting on the COTHO at every turn. Damn, pretty tough to listen to now. Guess I will just need my CD player and and the TV on without sound on the rollers this winter.
@girl
amazing, isn’t it? I read it in two nights, really hard time putting it down. And it seemed so easy and common place. Then I started Millar’s book and Brailsford’s opening intro just struck me as soooooooo full of shit after reading Hamilton’s book. Does anyone really think that Brailsford had no clue that anyone was doping? Man, Millar deserved a better intro writer than that. Must have been politics asking him to write the intro.
Timely article on Brailsford. He’s “stunned, stunned I saw” to find out about the doping. Really? He has been involved in cycling’s highest levels since the mid-90’s and he is stunned?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/brailsford-stunned-by-usada-disclosures
@Buck Rogers I think it has more to do with the level in which they doped rather than the doping itself.
@Buck Rogers he’s so stunned that he hasn’t got round to changing Michael Barry’s page on the Sky webs site.
Article on a true great – Charly Mottet – coming soon. All this shit makes me love Fignon, Mottet et al even more.
I wonder if Rapha will issue a Special Edition jersey in light of all this??
I’ll go first; The Circle of Dope Jersey, with a special hidden pocket for needles and long sleeves to hide the injection marks
(I actually like and wear Rapha gear by the way)
@Ali McKee
It would be appropriate if it was completely transparent.. Might not look too good though . . .
@minion
I doubt that’s the case; I still enjoy the Pantani, Ullrich, etc Tours. It was still great bike racing. Well, the Pharmy ones were up until after 2001 where one started getting the distinct sense of deja vu every time he’d take yellow on the first mountain stage and hold it through the end. (Notable exception being the 2003 Tour.)
Its just all about context. It was a different era. The races were still exciting to watch.
@Buck Rogers
Not to open this particular can of worms, but Brailsford being this ignorant can only mean one of two things:
He’s either a complete moron and has his blinders on or its a smokescreen to deflect the suspicions from this summer regarding his team’s Armstrong-style domination of the Tour.
And I don’t think he’s a moron.
Brailsford: liar.
Rogers: piece of shit liar. Always thought so of him, he never spoke out against Millar when he stole his World TT glory, and does he really expect us to believe he only got ‘training plans’ from Ferrari? Give us a break! He hides behind the typical Aussie ‘we are an honest sporting nation’ bullshit.
As for Wiggins and Leinders and Yates… Sky is UK Postal/Royal Mail.
@brett
HA!
@brett
Unfortunately they, the UCI, and all the rest are full of shit. This is far from over, and I bet we see a few more “retirements” before the end of 2012.
Fortunately, this website has great articles from @Marko, @Frank, et al to remind us why we really love cycling. And I can still ride with good mates who I’m fairly sure are not juicing (which just me “slow, not “clean”).
However, I’m still really disappointed about Houanard…
@frank
As you know we Brits assume that shifty Continentals and Colonials never play with a straight bat and that any plucky Brit taking the game to them is as clean as the driven snow sustained only by cremated meat and overcooked root vegetables.
That said I’d be genuinely surprised if Sky were systematically juicing although unless you were on the team bus with them, accompanied them to the toilet and slept with Wiggo you could never be 100% sure of anything.
FWIW – I suspect that the UK does have a sports doping problem/scandal ready to break but its in football and rugby.
@brett
I wouldn’t put Rogers on any lesser footing than any other suspect pro – which is to say just about any rider who has had a modicum of success in the last 20 years – although Leipheimer’s affidavit removed any doubt I had over Rogers. While he has been the beneficiary of a World title and an Olympic bronze medal (Bobby Julich has to hand it over after Ekimov gives him the silver which he wont hand over until the IOC gives him Tyler’s gold… and by the by, take a look at the results list of that TT – a quality list of dopers) courtesy of riders getting caught, you can’t expect him to say, “No, I cant take this, I did it too.”
No other active pro I can think of has ever voluntarily fessed up – Rogers is just another Omerta-man. No more, no less.
But Sky’s comments during this year’s tour that Rogers was apparently telling his team, “Let him go, he is doing 420 watts, he cant do it for more than 20 minutes” – shows a man with a little too much knowledge of what is possible…
The broadly held view across the broader Australian populace that Aussie sportspeople don’t dope – well it’s laughable. But remember when we all “believed Tyler” because he was so nice?
@the Engine What about track and field and Mo Farah? Apparently him and his US training partner Galen Rupp like to “get away from it all” on their training camps…
If China did what the GB aths team did at the Olympics, imagine the drugs slurs that would have been thrown around…
And Bodyline was as good as cheating.
@Marcus if not cheating itself, it was definitely one of the earliest instances of the Piti Principle in use.
Thank what ever god you’re into these days for the Velominati… it’s refreshing to read comments and opinions based on sound judgment and common fucking sense!
I wonder how many assets COTHO has been secretly shifting overseas these past few weeks. Can’t wait to see the toxic waters get whipped up into a frothy mess around him and his worldly interests. Nike still plans to honor him and his body of accomplishments at a football game in the near future… nice move, Phil.
Interesting interview with Phil Anderson talking about Armstrong. He was clearly a believer – and now isnt…
Contrast that inteview with Wiggins’ – to my mind he was very unconvincing – seemed to go with the dopers’ language (as defined by the Kimmage doctrine) of “moving forward” and “passing dope tests” etc.. And the silence from the likes of Cadel Evans, is also a little disturbing. Will be interesting to hear his take on things when he surfaces.
If you are a “leader” within pro cycling, I would think your advisers would be telling you to get out there and make a positive statement to distance yourself from the mess. That is of course presuming you weren’t a doper. If you were a doper, then you would be keeping schtum. Which means making a positive statement as to your innocence even more important…
And unfortunately, silence seems to be practice of the day. Good to see Jens (after his pissy response to Hamilton’s book) come out with the following tweet,
“You ask if i doped?? Ok here is the answer. No i did not dope in the past, i dont do it now and not planing it in the future.”
And where does Chris Horner fit into all of this – joined Radioshack late – but he (and that dirty fuck Livingston) seem to be the only US Lance teammates who havent said a word…
@Marcus
Horner is staying schtum. One can infer from that what you have already posited.
I cannot say I am suprised, but I can say I’m disappointed. I thought some of the riders were better than that, but clearly I am wrong.
@Marcus And you are exactly right. If you are/were a doper, you are keeping quiet. However, other than the young dudes in the peleton, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of reaction from riders. I guess that tells us what we really need to know.
@niksch
Guys; Chill the fuck out.
It’s just happened a day ago.
These guys still are employed as cyclists. There is currently no mechanism for them to be able to come forward and confess without losing their careers and their livlihood. I’m finding all of the speculation a bit distasteful. Yep, there’s a pretty good chance that most of the people we’re talking about here were involved in doping at some level. The extreme reactions that are being bandied about here certainly don’t suggest that they would be any better off coming clean. I can imagine the scenario; ”
Wow, I told the truth. Those chaps on Velominati love me now. Ah whoops. Where’s my job?”
We can infer that doping was pervasive throughout the entire peleton, facilitated by team infrastructure. It’s pointless picking out individuals, I think. It perpetuates the situation where those who are found out are summarily sacrificed. Hardly an environment conducive to moving forward.
There will no doubt be a total shitstorm in the coming months for people like Riis and others like perhaps LL Sanchez where evidence has been uncovered regarding associations with questionable individuals. And the UCI for that matter. That’s where any possible reform might take place.
@mouse can you please point out “the extreme reactions that are being bandied about here”?
@mouse Don’t fucking tell me to chill the fuck out. I stated my opinion and it happened that I agreed with Marcus. The fact that this only occurred in the press 24-36 hours ago is immaterial. The press quotes of Leipheimer in the WSJ, Hincapie on his web site, and others in the various media outlets are clear to me that this was a coordinated effort between the USADA and all of the riders. I cannot have been something else.
If it’s taken me 24 hours to react and have an opinion, it shouldn’t take all the honest riders very long to state their stance. Have you read the latest Velo Mag? It’s completely anti-doping and they have essays from all the up and coming riders. Granted, they are American riders, but Velo is a Boulder, CO mag.
So, in that vein, maybe there is a mechanism.
@niksch
Right. Hit a nerve there.
I was reacting to your words. That’s a pretty far reaching statement you made in the quote above.
@Marcus
I was reacting to your speculations about Horner.
What I’m suggesting is that this kind of speculation is poisonous. You could easily apply it to pretty much anyone in the peleton who was riding during that period. FWIW, you might be entirely right, and I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t voice your opinions, but…
@frank Sorry but I have to disagree. Knowing that he’s juicing makes it largely meaningless and there’s nothing thrilling about those rides (Pantani left me cold) It’s also naive to think the last few days won’t change the way MOST people think about and view cycling. The attitude that the racing was more interesting/exciting is part of the willingness to kid yourself, and it’s part of what lets riders get away with it.
@mouse
Additionally, I think the legal situation isn’t near resolved and Armstrong might still have to appear in court. Some current riders might want to keep quiet and not needlessly irritate the situation. Wiggins, I agree is using very similar language about moving forward and refusing to deal in specifics.
@mouse Horner was one that i was genuinely asking a question about why we hadnt heard from him as a US rider who rode in Tours with Lance. Like i said, Livingston (who works for Lance now) and him are the only ones we havent heard from. Most likely answer to that is that he wasnt involved in the systematic doping.
I actually believe him to be one of the clean riders – his palmares do not show anything suspicious and indeed show someone who has performed better in his late age – as the really suspect rides seem to have decreased (notwithstanding that he fucked his career by staying in the US too long). But as you suggest, opinions arent worth much.
So if asking a question is an extreme reaction, then I am guilty.
@minion
Watching exciting races from the dirty era can be kind of like when you spent that quality time with a ladyboy whilst on holiday in Asia. You knew it was the wrong thing to do, and that sort of thing shouldn’t be encouraged – but you still enjoyed yourself
@Marcus
Fair nuff
It’s all getting a bit like The Cauldron now, isn’t it. A true witch-hunt at last, where everyone is guilty, suspicion and paranoia rule, where silence is as good as a confession, and a denial is proof of guilt. All we need now is to chuck people in the pond to see if they float.
Given the propensity for words to be taken out of context and to be used against you later, I’m not surprised about the stone silence. Only a fool would be opening his yap at this point.
@minion nerve? Yes. Much beer, likely. In your subsequent post you make a good point about (I assume current) riders and legal considerations. My not particulalry clear point was that I would think that riders who were clean would be very vocal about that, and those who weren’t would be silent. Those vocal would be so in the cycling press. Thus the shared comment about Horner. I did not consider legal ramifications as reasons for silence. However, as the USADA investigation has shown, the ‘code of silence’ of the peleton has some tremendous impact.
I still think that the near simultaneous statement release of Leipheimer on WSJ and Hincapie on his web site (and other statements) were clearly coordinated. There had to be collusion among riders about this. I originally thought this simultaneous release of information would mean that the peleton would know about this decision, but after further consideration, I concur that no word from other cyclists probably means that there are probably several riders consulting their attorneys as how to respond, if at all. We will probably never really know what Boonen, Voigt, and other teammates of these riders are really thinking and what they would really like to say about this situation.
@niksch Jens has come out with this via twitter: You ask if i doped?? Ok here is the answer. No i did not dope in the past, i dont do it now and not planing it in the future.
Pretty sure that’s as black & white as you’ll get.
@niksch
True that.
I love you man…
@Marcus
I know that athletics in the UK had a problem but I don’t follow it closely enough now to say if it still does.
Given the record of totalitarian regimes (East Germany) in the past, you wouldn’t bet against systematic Chinese doping.
In the UK we’re discovering the hard way that big things are easily hidden (Hillsborough, Saville, Phone Hacking) in a supposedly open society. One of my harder teenage discoveries from personal experience was that journalists sometimes lie about big things.
So – who can you trust? Should we all wear tin foil hats? Or should we just hope that our favourite sport’s doping controls are equal to the task and their governing bodies robust and open enough that those on the juice are named, shamed and kicked out?
And anyway Don Bradman was far too good…