Posted on 06/30/2017 5:24:21 PM PDT by Baynative
On Saturday, 198 of the world's best cyclists will start the Tour de France. Only four have a realistic shot at winning.
That's according to the highest-ranked American bike racer at the Tour, Andrew Talansky, in a recent interview with Business Insider.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I am an avid cyclist, Baynative, but to your video clips I just say “DAMN!”
Sorry, Guys. It was ETL’s video clip wrecks that are so horrid to watch, not yours Baynative.
BTW, thanks for leading this thread Baynative. The Tour should be interesting again. It’s just my opinion, but I think the racing is cleaner than it ever has been, and better for it. (I know, I know . . . the occasional positive tests and banishments show that there is still some doping going on in the peloton.)
I ride a lot too. But not with a racing or road bike, but rather a vintage 1966 Schwinn Sting-Ray I picked up about 2 months ago. I’ve since added a chrome Springer suspension fork to it, as well as a new, thicker, better cushioned banana seat. The bike now looks very much like the Schwinn Grey Ghost of the “Krate” series of Schwinn chopper bikes.
The Krates, such as Orange Krate, Lemon Peeler, Apple Krate, Pea Picker, Grey Ghost, etc, today, go for $3,000-5,000, if in mint condition.
And now dont forget the guy who put the lithium batteries in their bike tube frames to power a hidden motor in the crank.
Like i said, if its a legal supplement anyone can buy at a grocery store or health store, they should be able to use them, whichever ones they want. Same with the blood doping, if they want to do that. Some may not want todo blood doping but will be open to supplements that others may not prefer to use.
I wouldn't write off Porte or Qunitana, or Greipl or Kittel or ...
That's what makes the Tour so fun!
And this just in ...
I ride my first Individual Time Trial next week.
I'll be with the Tour guys in spirit ...
"It’s been going on for a lot longer than that:
Les Forçats de la Route (The Convicts of the Road)
Was an article on Tour doping written in 1924.
For decades, it literally was NOT illegal and EXPECTED that doping should take place."
The fact is the sport today is as dirty as it every was. The proof of that was the 2013 Vuelta a España when a domestique who had never once been in contention for GC in a Grand Tour suddenly, at the age of 41, finds his inner racehorse and wins the Vuelta.
Pharmstrong had a term for performances like that. He called them, “Not normal.”
The most bizarre part is that Horner’s miracle win hardly raised an eyebrow, despite the fact that it came AFTER Pharmstrong’s “Come to Oprah” performance, when everyone’s rose-colored glasses SHOULD HAVE BEEN off. Yet no one (publicly) connected his performance with his past association with Pharmstrong, whose lieutenant and confidant he had been for the two seasons of Pharmstrong’s “un-retirement.”
The truth is, not not just cycling, ALL professsional sports are awash in PEDs, and most amateur sports as well. Doping, particularly in professional sports, is a classic positive feedback loop. You spend money to dope. If you do it right, you win more prizemoney than before, so you have better funding for your future doping efforts.
1. Buy dope. 2. Win more money. 3. Repeat.
Anti-doping, OTOH, is a zero sum game. WADA has “X” amount of cash to spend on anti-doping. And it matters not one whit how many dopers they catch, the next season they still only get “X” dollars for combating the PEDs scourge. There is no rewards system, no positive reinforcement. Past successes contribute nothing to future efforts.
Plus, anti-doping has to play by the rules, and the dopers know exactly what those rules are. The dopers (obviously) DON”T have to play by the rules. They can do whatever they want (so long as they don’t get caught). They’re constantly testing, tweaking and amending, changing substances, administration strategies, masking agents and adulterants, because that’ the only way to #1) stay ahead of the competition and #2) stay ahead of anti-doping.
So WADA/USADA are shooting at a moving target. By the time they’ve figured out what it is the dopers are doing, the dopers are on to something else.
Ergo the axiom, “You can’t fail the drug test unless you first fail the I.Q. test.” Meaning as long as you follow the established regimen, as long as you don’t break the protocol, you won’t get caught. So they dope with impunity.
Which is why anti-doping will NEVER catch up unless there’s an internal change in the sport and the athletes themselves decide to give it up. Because right now, as a risk/reward proposition, ...doping is looking pretty damn good.
It’s here! My first of 2 TdF t-shirts arrived just in time today. Yes, I’m a dork. Thanks for the ping Baynative!
I can see your logic, and I have pondered the point myself, but as a practical matter, if they allowed it they would all have to do it, and it would turn into a freak show of sorts. Anyway, they don't want it that way.
Mark, Alberto not Marc, Roberto for the record.
Truth forever on the scaffold, death forever on the throne!
Well, NBCSN is starting the TV Marathon although with today’s Time Trial in Dusseldorf, nothing is real before 9:15am EDT as the first rider goes off at 1515 CEST (Central European SUMMER Time) [6 hour differential]. The final rider, Chris Froome (2016 TdF winner), goes at 1832 CEST which is our 12:32pm EDT.
My enthusiasm is enhanced by the fact that, for the 1st time in my life, I have actually ridden my bike for more annual miles, 3,400, than the Tour will OFFICIALLY do in the next 21 days! I do say OFFICIALLY because there are so many scouting miles done by these pros that I can see them doing those same miles. The idea of doing what has taken me 6 months in 23 days makes me know how hard this is, in all weather and in the Peloton, WOW!
Ah the memories of the good old days. I still have my classic TT bike. I just can't seem to dump it. I even had it on my office wall for a while...
My apologies for rushing to get the thread up while finishing my work for the week. I’ve often suggested an edit function for FR, but I can understand why they don’t offer it.
1/2 hour into the prologue and it's starting to rain. - NOT GOOD
Since this thread started with semi strong interest, I'm thinking of staying with it for the LIVE TdF thread ...maybe I'll ask the mods to change the title. Any comments?
Nice! The only bike I have now is a Cannondale touring frame that I rebuilt into a sorta cross bike. Used spin my own wrenches. Should get my old fart butt back in the saddle. Lost a bunch of weight over the last 9 months, and I’m feeling a lot better.
Bike ungggh.
Of course that’s not the interesting part of the story. The interesting part is how many years will they have the title before one of their stored samples comes up dirty and the title is stripped.
Heh. I left pieces of my hidenon the pavement all over Northern California back in the day
Fortunately for them they’re Europeans and untouchable and can’t be hunted down by the USADA.......
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