Thursday, October 7, 2010

Beating a dead horse to death

I'm about flippin' tired of all the Doping talk.  Every post, site, magazine and cyclists you talk to is all about doping.  I guilty, heck I'm doing it right now.  Bernard Kohl said that it is not possible to win the Tour without doping. Here is  a little something he had to say...
“I was tested 200 times during my career, and 100 times I had drugs in my body,” he said, according to the New York Times. “I was caught, but 99 other times, I wasn’t. Riders think they can get away with doping because most of the time they do. Even if there is a new test for blood doping, I’m not even sure it will scare riders into stopping. The problem is just that bad.”
It does not paint a pretty picture for our sport.  I wonder if I am getting too cynical in believing people like Kohl and Landis?  Surely there are Clean riders out there.  There are, Right?  Has the Clean rider become a thing like Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy?  I am being too negative, there is at least one cyclist in a Grand Tour that does not resort to breaking the rules just to race bikes...is there?

I'm sorry, I was going to write about how much we talk about this whole doping issue, and how it is in the forefront of all things cycling.  It is shameful to cycling, to anyone who saddles-up and goes for a ride.  I was talking with a coworker about cycling and someone overheard us and the proceeded to ask us "what we thought about doping?"  It is so "out there" that even non-cyclists are talking about it, or at least know about it.

I was not a fan when the Festina affair broke in 1998, so I have no reference point to what that did to cycling at the time.  I do feel like something big is about to bust open.  We have Landis and his claims, Contador and his positive, people like Kohl coming out of the woodwork.  Everything seems ripe for an explosion.  I hope that there will be some sort of resolution that cycling can come up with, but my faith in the system and the riders is at an all time low.

Once again I am being a negative Nelly, so don't get me wrong, I do love cycling and I am a huge fan.  I guess it is like any other sport out there, in that you can't turn on the TV and watch a game and think everyone out there is on a level playing field.  Well, that is, if they are all juiced then I guess it is level.

1 comment:

  1. Yup, it is getting rather old. The whole system is corrupt. You have the UCI withholding evidence for the entire Contador debacle for a month (I mean, what's up with that - que SNL skit). The UCI accepting "contributions" from Lance Armstrong - the only rider to ever contribute to the organization in place to police doping in cycling. And both Lance and the UCI have changed the figures as to exactly how much he gave them. And then there's the riders in general who continue to beat the image of cycling into a living death. It seems all the bad news is endless and any good news is simply overshadowed.

    As an amateur cyclist and as a fan I find it infuriating that those at the pinnacle of the sport are the ones doing the most damage... Every recent winner of the TdF is either a proven doper or the suspicions are extremely high.

    The worst part is, none of it seems fixable. Cycling probably won't die out in the professional world as people will watch only to gaze at the self-inflicting wounds it delivers to itself.

    I'm proud to be a cyclist, but my feelings are much the opposite of professional cycling.

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