Brett’s recent post about Jensie brings up the dilemma of professional cycling for me. I admire many of cycling’s famous riders yet I don’t admire cheaters. Luckily for me I can fervently embrace opposable ideas within my consciousness and sleep well at night. Which also means I would have been one of those cheaters. I also see the tangled, messy, complicated history of professional cycling and embrace it but not too tightly.
Edwig Van Hooydonk and Inga Thompson were two hugely talented racers who retired in their prime rather than dope. I wish I had the moral fortitude of either of them. Inga was the best American female road cyclist in her time and until recently, an important part of her story went untold.
Warning: If you are American this is guaranteed to piss you off. The upper level of the United States Cycling Federation was as compromised and immoral as the UCI of Hein Verbruggen’s day. The point of this rambling rant is to introduce people to this interview, so ignore the rest of this post, if you must and read it.
When the experienced adults and coaches in the room are pushing youth toward doping, what chance does a young ambitious racer have? Inga rode for 7-Eleven seemingly as a one woman team. I remember watching the women’s races before the 7-Eleven dominated men’s races and there she was, beautiful, powerful, a long braid safely pinned to her jersey. Inga slayed all. She did have this to say about her experience with the men’s squad.
“My friend [name withdrawn], who was on those 7-Eleven men’s teams when I was on their women’s program -he has tons of doping stories from that time. I’m still surprised that no one has written a book specifically about the doping on that team – way before the whole U.S. Postal mess.”
Yes please, I would read the hell out of that book.
Let us not forget, every war that has ever been waged has been fought on the backs of eighteen year old young men. They will do anything. Doing up some crank to make sure your team wins that day’s criterium, that is not a problem.
I have to always remind myself, the real cycling is each of us, riding for our own reasons: joy rides, deposits at the pain bank, Cogals, Keepers Tours or the occasional amateur race. I never had to make that ethical doping decision, thankfully.
Recent musing from the V-bunker were about a little espresso as good quality legal doping. In 2014 the pros are still enjoying a little legal pot belge of crushed up pain killers and caffeine to get them to the finish. This is legal?
It is a common practice to use a mix of water, caffeine and pain killers. This can make you quite crazy, which is why I have never used it. I don’t want to, and it seems quite dangerous. -Mini Phinney.
Do I want to draw a line between these two stories? There are a few actually, the obvious one is between Davis Phinney, a long standing member of the 7-Eleven cycling team and his son Taylor Phinney, now racing for BMC. I’m fans of both of them and maybe I do need drugs to sleep well. Taylor is outspoken on his ambition to make cycling a cleaner sport. The second is Jim Ochowicz, the original 7-Eleven team manager and presently manager at BMC. Who is mixing up those bidons of caffeine and pain killers, Jim?
A forthright book about 7-Eleven’s powerhouse days would shed some light on a lot of things. Bob Roll, get busy.
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Well put. I for example really (really) enjoy watching videos of the fellas in the late 90s/early 2000s fly up hills, even though I know in hindsight that they were as juiced as they come. Doesn't mean I necessarily approve of doping. In fact, I tend to think that people caught cheating ought to be given a shot at reformation, then if they cheat again toss them out. Re: dirty managers remaining in the sport, it seems like the same principle should apply. Get popped for providing dopage to your riders? You don't get to come back and manage another team.
Did I miss the point at which Mini Phinney got upgraded from Minnie Phinney? Was that when he won the TT and subsequently got some cool scars? Has the hippie cut his hair yet?
From the interview...
When next I go into a dark place... I think I will remember this.
@DeKerr
I'm thrilled to know that people like Jeannie Longo have been cheaters for decades and Inga was still able to put the hurt on them when they were in their prime. With the right coaching and team she arguably would have been the women's version of Greg LeMond.
@Owen
+1
How about we stop the public writing in the pain of forced confessions and tell all expose's?
The damage is done and yet we keep flogging the past violators in our sport. And in so doing we continue to hold the sport hostage.
No one can return those who were violated to their times of youth. Their victory is in their integrity. That needs to be enough. Sport is not the only venue where the ethical are disadvantaged. Those of us who survive the indignities of perceived failure at the hands of cheaters have our stories, but also our true dignities intact. That should be enough. It must be enough. The continued wailing of the cheated invites the questions of whether their ethical behavior, and persistence to principle, was enough. For me, and hopefully for the rest, the answer is that knowing we did things the right way is my solace. That must be enough. I never expected an arbiter of right and wrong to tilt the scales of justice toward me because of 'fairness'. Those of us who did the right things did them because they were the right things, not because we ever thought we could whine in a tell all or seek retribution down the road.
We we almost marginalize the integrity of those who do things properly with these please for sympathy.
If you did things the right way, that needs to be enough. If you want more, perhaps you need to ask yourself why.
To have lived your value system in ite of the consequences is the litmus test of character. Rest comfortably with that knowledge and move on....
@Dino If you haven't read Inga's full interview linked in this article, it's worth doing. It was not a forced confession and not quite a tell-all. Discretion was taken where needed, as noted by the editor. What I took from it was a real description of a win-at-all-cost culture that permeates much more than competitive cycling.
She does not seem bitter, but does not pull any punches either. You said rightly, "To have lived your value system in spite of the consequences is the litmus test of character. Rest comfortably with that knowledge and move on..." She did, and moved on for nearly 2 decades. That changed when her son was old enough to potentially compete. She could not and would not subject him to a system which has continued unabated since here involvement.
This is the kind of story that needs to be told.
Well that's depressing.
Props to Inga for her integrity.
@Dino
She is not asking for sympathy, she is just telling her truth. And as @optimiste says, it is not forced, it's not a tell all expose.
I've held a USCF license and I've been following this sport since 1975. And I was shocked to hear how Inga was treated as an athlete by the USCF, and I'm a jaded bastard. I don't think these stories ultimately hurt cycling. Is cycling better off knowing Lance was a hoax? Absolutely.
@Optimiste +1, well said.
@Gianni
I agree. I do tire of reading the comments after every race report on CN being about how "they're all doping". Give it a rest already. That said, I followed Inga for most of her career, and always admired her pluck and honesty.
Then there's this (from the article): "I out-sprinted Longo for the win, and right there in the middle of the street, the soigneurs and race volunteers stripped me down out of my wet clothes and wrapped me in blankets to warm me up. I was too cold to care, and hey, it's France, I don't think anyone noticed! But I remember Longo screaming at the organizers, "It's not fair, it's too cold to race!" I think that's what made the win so much better, because I didn't have any warm clothes or the support and still toughed it out." That's fucking V to the nth right there.
@Dino
The Why? is fairly clear I think.
Competitive athletes have to have some level of external motivation - otherwise they would just go and do their thing quietly on their own and not tell anyone.
To them the recognition, reward and ability to do better than someone else is an important part of what gets them up for training and gets them to the line in a race.
I'm not saying it's the only thing - the best ones also have a balance with internal motivations and success criteria - but it is significant.
So if those things are taken away from you by people who are perceived to have done so unfairly it isn't surprising that some of the 'victims' would seek to correct the external record or at least the perception.