I am a dumbass! Right after I was going on about how cycling might be cleaning up it's act and how Rasmussen was my hero, he gets booted from the tour right after he won today's stage.
I feel like a sucker. Yeah, just call me gullible.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Hard men of the road
Yesterday I saw one of the greatest epic stages in a long time. If any one reading this hasn't seen it, I won't spoil it for you. What I will say is, you have to watch it. It is one of those stages that will keep you biting your nails till the finish. Epic, absolutely epic!
I have been watching the tour for over 20 years and there aren't very many stages that keep your heart on the verge of busting out of your chest. I think that there will be more this year and I eagerly anticipate them.
As far as the outcome of today and yesterday, all I have to say is I finally have cycling heroes again. Rassumsen, Vino and Contador are my heroes.
I have been watching the tour for over 20 years and there aren't very many stages that keep your heart on the verge of busting out of your chest. I think that there will be more this year and I eagerly anticipate them.
As far as the outcome of today and yesterday, all I have to say is I finally have cycling heroes again. Rassumsen, Vino and Contador are my heroes.
A shift in the winds....
Over the last few years, even during Lance's iron rule over the tour, I have been just plain old disappointed at the whole doping thing. I am not under any delusions that the guys getting busted for doping are just a few bad apples, they are just the ones that get caught. I assume that most people in the pro-peleton are doing it. You can't not. The guys that are busting their ass just to finish these races are probably not riding for a team with good enough doctors and savvy enough team leadership to get the good stuff and or have it administered properly.
The guys who come out of no where and have absolutely epic days and win some crazy mountain stage with 7 hor category climbs and finish with energy to spare are for sure doing it. No one goes from the back to the front with out some help.
To certain extent what has happened it that the status quo has been shifted since pretty everybody is doing it. You HAVE to dope in order to just be on par. The guys who are just killing it have found some magic combination of drugs, training and medical supervision and they just get it all right.
However, the powers that be are really making an effort to get rid of it and I have a feeling that riders, once the get over the loss of having that kind of magic fitness, would probably rather not deal with it. They worry about getting caught, the long term medical effects, whether their doctors really know what they are doing or just hacks, blah, blah, blah. I bet a lot of them would rather just train and maybe sleep in a altitude tent.
Whether or not the holy altruistic grail of a clean sport is happening or even CAN happen, I would surmise that the sport is cleaner. Notice I said CLEANER not CLEAN.
But what I have noticed this year is (and even last year) is that the tour hard men are not as fast as they were a couple of years ago. People are a little more vulnerable.
I can only hope that the cycling will get cleaner. The pessimistic side says it might be just a temporary regrouping and nothing will change, but the optimistic side hopes that we are witnessing a real shift in cycling. I can only hope...
The guys who come out of no where and have absolutely epic days and win some crazy mountain stage with 7 hor category climbs and finish with energy to spare are for sure doing it. No one goes from the back to the front with out some help.
To certain extent what has happened it that the status quo has been shifted since pretty everybody is doing it. You HAVE to dope in order to just be on par. The guys who are just killing it have found some magic combination of drugs, training and medical supervision and they just get it all right.
However, the powers that be are really making an effort to get rid of it and I have a feeling that riders, once the get over the loss of having that kind of magic fitness, would probably rather not deal with it. They worry about getting caught, the long term medical effects, whether their doctors really know what they are doing or just hacks, blah, blah, blah. I bet a lot of them would rather just train and maybe sleep in a altitude tent.
Whether or not the holy altruistic grail of a clean sport is happening or even CAN happen, I would surmise that the sport is cleaner. Notice I said CLEANER not CLEAN.
But what I have noticed this year is (and even last year) is that the tour hard men are not as fast as they were a couple of years ago. People are a little more vulnerable.
I can only hope that the cycling will get cleaner. The pessimistic side says it might be just a temporary regrouping and nothing will change, but the optimistic side hopes that we are witnessing a real shift in cycling. I can only hope...
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Clarity
On Feburary 29, 2004 I met a woman named Suzanne Peterson, pHD at a party in PB held by some friends. She was introduced to me by a mutual friend, Rebbecca Cho as her long time friend who just got done with her doctoral work at USC. We pretty much instantly hit it off and that night didn't end for me till sometime early Monday morning.
This evening ushered in one of the tumultuous periods of my life, both good and bad. Suzanne and I spend many, many days together and many apart. We broke up (or rather I broke up) and we got back together repeatedly. We were one of those couples whose "together" status changed more often than the weather and people would routinely roll their eyes when I would give them the currently vague state of our relationship.
I have had many dark periods in my life over the last 7 years. My parents passing away and my aunt's instigated a prolonged battle with clinical depression that I have only recently really emerged from.
During this dark period I did Suzy a real injustice. I really beat her up emotionally. Any woman in her right might wouldn't just not ever talk to me but would probably hire a bunch of bouncers to beat the crap outta me. Suzy would be totally justified in doing that, because I deserved it.
But Suzy didn't do that: She tried to help me to see that I was broken, she guided me to treatment and to a better life and then she just patiently waited for me to emerge.
Somehow she saw qualities in me that I didn't even see and knew that they needed to be coaxed out. She loved/loves me for my faults as well as my qualities and at long last I can see her for all the good and bad and appreciate the sum of the parts that are so much greater than the whole.
After three years of trying to help me, she was beginning to think that she was wasting her time and began to let go and move on.
So, now 3-4 months later I finally see what a wonderful woman this was sitting right next to me and despite an 11th hour effort, I almost lost her. That will never happen again. Never will I let her forget how she saved me and how much I appreciate that.
It's time for her to reap the rewards for her selfless devotion and patience.
This evening ushered in one of the tumultuous periods of my life, both good and bad. Suzanne and I spend many, many days together and many apart. We broke up (or rather I broke up) and we got back together repeatedly. We were one of those couples whose "together" status changed more often than the weather and people would routinely roll their eyes when I would give them the currently vague state of our relationship.
I have had many dark periods in my life over the last 7 years. My parents passing away and my aunt's instigated a prolonged battle with clinical depression that I have only recently really emerged from.
During this dark period I did Suzy a real injustice. I really beat her up emotionally. Any woman in her right might wouldn't just not ever talk to me but would probably hire a bunch of bouncers to beat the crap outta me. Suzy would be totally justified in doing that, because I deserved it.
But Suzy didn't do that: She tried to help me to see that I was broken, she guided me to treatment and to a better life and then she just patiently waited for me to emerge.
Somehow she saw qualities in me that I didn't even see and knew that they needed to be coaxed out. She loved/loves me for my faults as well as my qualities and at long last I can see her for all the good and bad and appreciate the sum of the parts that are so much greater than the whole.
After three years of trying to help me, she was beginning to think that she was wasting her time and began to let go and move on.
So, now 3-4 months later I finally see what a wonderful woman this was sitting right next to me and despite an 11th hour effort, I almost lost her. That will never happen again. Never will I let her forget how she saved me and how much I appreciate that.
It's time for her to reap the rewards for her selfless devotion and patience.
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