Lie Strong

Well, Lance finally came clean that he wasn't so 'clean' after all while riding as a professional cyclist. While I haven't seen the interview with Oprah Winfrey I have read a number of articles on the web and some remark that while Armstrong admits to having used sport enhancing drugs by no means does he reveal everything. Of course his previous position on this matter was untenable. With so many former team mates going on record that they witnessed Lance sticking a needle in his arm kinda ruins the perception of a clean athlete.

I've been a fan of cycling practically all of my life. Learned to appreciate the sport in the early 80s from watching it on television and riding against nasty Dutch headwinds on my way to football practice. When Lance Armstrong started winning the Tour de France, like most people, I felt a great deal of sympathy for him because he was a cancer survivor. I thought it was phenomenal that a person could come back from such a terrible disease and after multiple operations to achieve the highest standard in sports. But I guess that sympathy was partly misplaced.

Could go on a tantrum how Lance is a fraud and so on but that also seems in vain. I do wonder if he's going to pay back (some of) the price money he earned while riding 'under the influence?' Read that Lance is estimated to have $125.000.000 in his bank account. In the past he tried to cut many deals, offering money for investigations to stop, so he's a good old Texas businessman. Likewise, I wonder if he received sums for the Oprah interview?

I'm not shocked or mad, this is what competition and the acquisition of money does to many people, with cycling being one of those more clear examples. It simply makes people corrupt.

Tour de Farce

I've been a fan of cycling since the seventies and ever since I was a kid around that time. Cycling is mostly a television sport if you ask me. I've stood alongside the road watching the professionals cruise by. It takes 20 to 30 seconds and then the show's over. On tv however you can watch a tactical battle unfold for hours sometimes, but that's not what I want to highlight with this blog. Expressing my concern is.

Yesterday I saw a horrific crash, again, in the Tour de France. It seems to be standard that in the first week of the Tour de France riders get into accidents. It's been happening for years now - and it's not funny anymore. I realize that in a competitive game like cycling accidents can happen but there should be a limit, plain and simple. Last year Wouter Weylandt died in the Giro D'Italia and he wasn't the first professional cyclist to have an untimely death.

The Tour de France was in stage 6 yesterday on generally flat terrain. One error by a rider and the compact peloton that rode slightly down hill collapsed in on itself, leaving some 40 riders on the ground, many seriously injured. Broken bones, broken ribs, ruptured kidneys and spleens. I must ask, how far do you have to go for your sport?

The joy of watching a fascinating sport simply disappears when I see so many people injured. So many accidents also takes away the competitiveness in this branch of athletics. Why? Because when you have so many crashes it becomes a lottery! You can train all year, eat healthy, get your gear just the way you like and perform at the utmost your body will allow but if a rider crashes in front of you or hits you from the side - it's game over. Surviving crashes becomes a matter of luck, not skill. And if you have to depend on luck then it can hardly be called a sport anymore.

Cycling needs to contemplate about its future..

Giant CS2

Couple of days ago I bought a new bicycle, got a Giant CS2. My old bicycle was pretty much worn out. I don't what it is but with new bicycles it almost seems they glide across the road, probably because everything is still so tuned. Giant is a first class brand and it shows. Lightweight but sturdy. I took it for a spin already and even did some climbing with it. The three gears are sufficient for that kind of work. Technology in bicycles has also progressed. Wow. No dynamo that runs against the wheel, it's installed in the axle of the front wheel. No multiple sprockets but again a gear system on the axle of the rear wheel. The lights on the bicycle can even be put on automatic for when it gets dark and they just go on. The only thing that I find a bit lacking is a suspension system. On a bumpy road with some speed you get shaken up a bit. The saddle is also a bit hard but I had operations in that area less then 18 months ago so that's probably just me. Already rode some 40 kilometers with it and I'm impressed.

Alberto Is Dope?

Read in the newspaper today that Alberto Contador, the winner of the last 3 Tour de France, probably used a blood transfusion (doping) on the resting day of the last edition. Test results showed that although it is still denied by Contador and his team. Professional cycling is seemingly infested with less then honest competitors. Examples of violators are plural and a few get caught practically every major competition. Bernard Kohl, a former cyclist, admitted that he used performance enhancing substances on many occasions and that out of a hundred drug tests he was caught only once while he could have been on everyone of them.
I enjoy watching cycling. Watched it as a kid and especially the Tour de France and the mountain stages is something I enjoy watching on television. Even watched races when it was nearby although I must admit that as a spectator along side the road there isn't much to see since the pack is in sight and out of sight within a minute if not sooner. Doping is of course a falsification, an act of fraud. You can actually loose count on how many riders were caught in the past. That makes me wonder why doping is so abundant in professional cycling. I mean, every professional knows it's forbidden and still some of them use it. Seeing that many winners of competitions or stages were caught days, weeks or months after their victories, I can only come to the conclusion that doping actually works and that's why they use it despite the risks. I guess there's also a culture among professional cyclists that if you want to perform on the upper levels of the sport, you have to start using since there's also a good chance someone else is using.
I think it transgressed to that - culture wise. Even an athlete like Contador probably isn't above it. There's much pressure to perform and get the results. I think that says something about not only sports, but our society in general.