Le Tour

I don’t know much about cycling or Lance. I think it’s unfair however that one of my daughters besties fathers accomplishments are questioned now because he was on the US National team and Tour de France with Lance.

This guy is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. I find it hard to believe that he doped. The football players that I know that doped all have serious mood swings.
 
MacDre said:
I don’t know much about cycling or Lance. I think it’s unfair however that one of my daughters besties fathers accomplishments are questioned now because he was on the US National team and Tour de France with Lance.

This guy is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. I find it hard to believe that he doped. The football players that I know that doped all have serious mood swings.
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The cyclists who doped had to keep the levels of contamination down where hey could just barely not be detected, unlike professional football and baseball players who did it as a part of their daily diet. Lance was the master of the just-not-detectable doping.
 
So, how did Lance get caught? I don’t think my daughters friends dad Fast Freddie Rodríguez was ever caught. I think he’s just guilty by association.
 
MacDre said:
So, how did Lance get caught? I don’t think my daughters friends dad Fast Freddie Rodríguez was ever caught. I think he’s just guilty by association.
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As I recall it, former teammates told stories, and then other evidence that had been originally judged to be inconclusive were found to support the stories. I was a full-on Lance supporter at least until his comeback appearance in the Amgen Tour of California (2009, I think) when my daughter and I went to watch the finish in Escondido. The setting was not friendly to the casual viewer - the last few blocks were bracketed by VIP and high-value party zones - it's a much better TV show. Because of that day, we came away with a little souvenir hand fan marked "Lance fan", which I found the last time I sorted out my box of old junk.
 
MacDre said:
I think he’s just guilty by association.
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This is the problem with cycling, doping was so rampant and so many people were getting caught it was as if everyone was doing it. A lot of Lances's teammates testified against him and others to get themselves out of trouble, he was the big fish they wanted. A lot of these guys on the teams also felt pressured to get on the "program" also because they needed results, they needed to keep there spots on the teams and doping gave them that advantage. Cycling at the World tour level those guys are probably the most tested athletes in any sport and they can do spot tests at any time. It's funny I raced for a long time in the amateur ranks, every once in a while USA cycling would show up and randomly test people. People would get popped for something, and this is the Amateur ranks. Keep in mind all we were racing for is maybe some gift cards or bragging rights, if it was for money it was barely enough to cover race fees. But, guys would still dope to just win so its given the sport a stigma.
 
azsnowrider said:
This is the problem with cycling, doping was so rampant and so many people were getting caught it was as if everyone was doing it. A lot of Lances's teammates testified against him and others to get themselves out of trouble, he was the big fish they wanted. A lot of these guys on the teams also felt pressured to get on the "program" also because they needed results, they needed to keep there spots on the teams and doping gave them that advantage. Cycling at the World tour level those guys are probably the most tested athletes in any sport and they can do spot tests at any time. It's funny I raced for a long time in the amateur ranks, every once in a while USA cycling would show up and randomly test people. People would get popped for something, and this is the Amateur ranks. Keep in mind all we were racing for is maybe some gift cards or bragging rights, if it was for money it was barely enough to cover race fees. But, guys would still dope to just win so its given the sport a stigma.
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In the amateur ranks, people hope to show they have the ability (either racing or doping - whichever ability is important) to make it to the pros.

One of our kids' friends, who was the shortest player one year on one of their teams, was taken by his parents to a doctor who administered regular doses of human growth hormone. That is completely acceptable from a legal, medical, or ethical standpoint, but it might cause an issue in organized sports with strict doping rules and the means to enforce them. He grew "up" to be a linebacker on his high school football team. The last time I saw him (and he had to introduce himself because I didn't recognize him) he was running laps on a high school track trying to get in shape for a walk-on tryout at the small college he was attending. He was happy to be bigger and he was complaining that his hips were giving him problems that his doctor had told him were probably a side-effect of the treatments.
 
azsnowrider said:
This is the problem with cycling, doping was so rampant and so many people were getting caught it was as if everyone was doing it. A lot of Lances's teammates testified against him and others to get themselves out of trouble, he was the big fish they wanted. A lot of these guys on the teams also felt pressured to get on the "program" also because they needed results, they needed to keep there spots on the teams and doping gave them that advantage. Cycling at the World tour level those guys are probably the most tested athletes in any sport and they can do spot tests at any time. It's funny I raced for a long time in the amateur ranks, every once in a while USA cycling would show up and randomly test people. People would get popped for something, and this is the Amateur ranks. Keep in mind all we were racing for is maybe some gift cards or bragging rights, if it was for money it was barely enough to cover race fees. But, guys would still dope to just win so its given the sport a stigma.
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Yeah and I can see how the more money that’s at stake the more people are gonna dope. Freddie made a lot of money and I’m sure Lance made more. I had no idea cycling paid so well at any level.
 
MacDre said:
Yeah and I can see how the more money that’s at stake the more people are gonna dope. Freddie made a lot of money and I’m sure Lance made more. I had no idea cycling paid so well at any level.
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Only at the top of top. Trying to work your way up through the junior ranks and then the pro ranks is not very profitable.
 
azsnowrider said:
This is the problem with cycling, doping was so rampant and so many people were getting caught it was as if everyone was doing it. A lot of Lances's teammates testified against him and others to get themselves out of trouble, he was the big fish they wanted. A lot of these guys on the teams also felt pressured to get on the "program" also because they needed results, they needed to keep there spots on the teams and doping gave them that advantage. Cycling at the World tour level those guys are probably the most tested athletes in any sport and they can do spot tests at any time. It's funny I raced for a long time in the amateur ranks, every once in a while USA cycling would show up and randomly test people. People would get popped for something, and this is the Amateur ranks. Keep in mind all we were racing for is maybe some gift cards or bragging rights, if it was for money it was barely enough to cover race fees. But, guys would still dope to just win so its given the sport a stigma.
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I've seen guys want to throw down in the middle of a race. The guy who was at the center of it was taking a Testosterone booster...

Some racers are fortunate enough to land a bike sponsor and get a 7k bike handed to them, some get race fees paid others might get more but you're not gonna pay the bills...
 
Today's race TV show included many ads for Hyland's Leg Cramps. Since we have a family history of dealing with leg cramps, I looked it up.

It's homeopathic.

Never mind.
 
I’m sure it’s been mentioned here before and most have probably seen it but since cycling is being discussed, i highly recommend watching the documentary Icarus on Netflix.
Original scope is doping in cycling but it goes sideways about a third of the way through. Seriously sideways
 
I had so many tabs open this morning that it crashed my computer. By the time it restarted, today's race was over.
 
Multi Sport said:
I think E must have been napping and missed stage 19... well at least the part they completed.
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Why would you think that?

My TV flipped over to Channel 41 ar 4:30 AM as programmed. In a way, I was hoping they would try to ride through the hail, until I saw them trying to drain the flooding from the road. That was too much.
 
espola said:
Why would you think that?

My TV flipped over to Channel 41 ar 4:30 AM as programmed. In a way, I was hoping they would try to ride through the hail, until I saw them trying to drain the flooding from the road. That was too much.
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Because if you had seen it live you would have jumped on the forum to post about first thing in the morning ...
 
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