Yet you may find it slightly strange that what aggravates me more about the whole situation is not the dopers, not even the Doctors behind the dopers, but the ignorant comments made by some sections of the media and on bike riding forums, from people that have obviously never been there, slammed in the gutter at 55kmph for hours on end, or had to peel their soaked wet shivering bodies off a mud plastered bike, to be told they have to do it all over again the next day, never stood on a start line so tired that you actually contemplate the prospect of sliding along the tarmac over and above the pain required to finish the race, or have sat there looking at the 23mm of rubber in front of them wondering who the hell is riding so hard, I could go on, I won’t as it will probably crack you.
Even more amusing/annoying, is the unfounded belief that cycling is becoming cleaner, it isn’t, just the people that say this are becoming more ignorant, people who have no right to comment on a sport that is so unbelievably hard, so unbelievably demanding that unless you have been there you wouldn’t know. Maybe it is the British mentality of fair play that refuses to believe that riders charge up, or maybe it is because the sport in the UK is so small that racers are in a huge minority that produces this belief, but I certainly find it very amusing and aggravating in equal doses.
At this point some of you may be wondering why I have such empathy for the dopers who, I should point out, don’t even have to test positive these days to warrant a suspension. Well the answer to this question is very simple, because I am just the same as them, with one fundamental difference I have a choice, I have another life option, many don’t, they have no other path to walk. As Greg LeMond famously said:
‘it never gets any easier, you just go faster’
While I am no means Pro material on the bike I still know how it feels to put yourself in a box, to be so tired you struggle to walk up the stairs, to sleep for 14hrs a day through shear exhaustion, but more importantly have the pressure whilst in this state of semi consciousness of doing a job for the team. Fortunately for myself I am well supported, have few responsibilities and have a decent set of qualifications which will be with me forever, as a bike rider you are only as good as your last season or race and I have a golden ticket out of this life as soon as I want to use it, a trump card if you will, others are not so fortunate.
For many bike riding has always been their life and often riders will have finished school at 16 to pursue their dream, the training load for a pro cyclist or future pro is such that riding full time is a necessity, so with no qualifications and a life in a factory or the fields to look forward to, through a lack of qualifications, a 2 year suspension for doping is no barrier when the rewards are so great, the pressure to succeed so high and the shelf life of a rider so short, in Europe unlike the UK, the sport is still very much working class.
Do not for an instance think I am condoning doping, I am merely offering another perspective from someone who has raced both inside and outside of the UK where a bike race has more riding on it than enough prize money to pay for your entry fee or the McDonalds on the way home, for many riders it is still a ticket out of a boring, ordinary life. Don’t forget it is only the idiots that get caught!
Right enough of the negativity and non bike racing information, which I am sure some of you actually want to read about. In other news we had a visit last Friday lunchtime from the DS, where I was told I was racing a stage race over the weekend, talk about last minute! I went like the proverbial on the Saturday and ended up riding the last 25km on my own, although I was expecting this, as before Friday I was planning to have a weekend off as I was shattered.
The Sunday went much better in terms of my performance, although worryingly during the TTT on the Sunday morning, in which we were 9th of 30 teams, not bad considering we only lost 42 seconds to the winners who were all on low pros with discs, where as we had one set of tri bars between the 5 of us, the DS in the car behind came to the conclusion that I have no power in my right leg as I am slightly crucked on the bike. This links up with the pains I have been having off an on in my right hip over recent weeks, so he is on the case to the osteopath and hopefully I can get that sorted out soon.
In the afternoon stage we managed to move Mikael up to 2nd overall in the sprints classification and after keeping myself well placed found myself in the break of the day. All was looking well but we were caught by a large counter attack group on the finishing circuits which had the sum total of zero teammates in. With at least 4 other teams having more than 3 riders in the front group, I proceeded to get a kicking and missed the move of 7 that stayed away for the win. Still a pleasing performance considering the bad sensations I had all weekend and the team maintained good moral throughout. I am now taking a very easy week, after sleeping most of Monday and Tuesday.
Oh and finally more news/rumours just in, apparently there was a positive at the
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