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“My friend [name withdrawn], who was on those 7-Eleven men’s teams when I was on their women’s program -he has tons of doping stories from that time.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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@Mikael Liddy
Thats a whole other barrel of monkeys eh !
@ChrisO
I agree, that's why winning the big tours and classics count for more in their eyes than what are regarded as minor races.
A Clean Break by Christophe Bassons is well worth a read if heroic non-doping is your thing. It's not exactly an exhilarating read, because he wins absolutely *nothing*, but his stubbornness is rather inspiring.
While we're discussing the era/the Phinneys, Rapha have just put this out.
http://pages.rapha.cc/stories/davis-and-connie-a-film-by-ben-ingham
@wiscot
Spot on. I've never understood why Doping in cycling is such a big deal and receives so much discussion. In the NFL Wes Welker violates the leagues policies on some grounds and only gets suspended 1/4 of the season. There are numerous examples like this. I think I saw recently that Tiger Woods was accused of taking something not on the approved list. But, there is never an outcry or demand for justice from the fans of those sports. Baseball doesn't really care if their record books are stacked with steroid injecting sluggers as long as the TV deals keep coming in and the seats stay full.
As I write this I think much of the fault can be placed on the Fans- Us. We demand exciting, faster, and more aggressive racing. We demand winners. Then we demand absolute adherence to Clean cycling and aggressively demonize anyone who violates that policy (save one glorified Pirate). If Baseball or NFL fans (or if ESPN) started demanding (ie not attending or watching the events) clean players then something may change. @wiscot you are right the governing bodies are scared about what they will find. I can only imagine the kind of crazy concoctions NFL players take to keep themselves so fast, so strong, and so able to "play through the pain." But, until the fans stop shrugging their shoulders and wondering how the latest quarter season suspension will affect their fantasy team nothing will happen.
So again, I ask myself, why do I, as a fan, care so much more about doping in cycling.
@Al__S
The final 6 seconds... just looking at the wall... and the angle.
@Gianni I sure hope to see Taylor putting the hammer down again soon ! He is one cool cat.
If everyone is cheating then they are all playing on an even field. I don't endorse it, but I don't think it can be stopped as long as drugs remain untraceable, million dollar contracts are at stake and races demand superhuman efforts.
I also don't understand the double standard frequently mentioned here, where Lance is a douche because he cheated , but others are revered (Prophet) when doping was also part of their history. Again, I don't endorse it and I'm not defending Lance, but if your going to "keep the cog," then stop being so comfortable with "embracing opposable ideas."
@TheFish
Nonsense, on multiple levels, as has been covered elsewhere several times.
Lance isn't a douche because he doped. He is a Cunt of the Highest Order based on the way he bullied and abused those around him, to the point of destroying careers and reputations. Even in his recent interviews, he has said he would be happier if the truth had never come out. So there has been no easing of the conscience, no lifting of a burden of guilt, no relief in being able to restore relationships and look old friends in the eye again. Just sociopathic selfishness.
@TheFish how many fucking times does it have to be said?
2 people taking EPO with a hematocrit limit of 50 will see massive differences because of their natural make up. If you have a HC of 41 & can keep up in the peloton with a guy who is naturally at 47, you're obviously going to benefit much more by lifting your HC up to 50 compared to him because you can increase the ratio of RBCs in your system by 3 times as much.
In what world is that a level field? Let alone discussing the different levels of advantage available to those teams with massive budgets (e.g. US Postal) compared to the financial minnows.
and when it comes to COTHO? What @andrew said.