Wannabe Bike Girl

Nothing much, just a lovely picture.

Philippe Gilbert by Diskfac @ Flickr

No, not doping, just an article I found on cyclingnews. Everyone knows I’m not a fan of Cadel Evans and I am a fan of Philippe Gilbert, but damn. It’s never fun to see a team possibly imploding (well, sometimes it is — train wreck and all), but this is just odd. From CN (link posted above):

“Before the race he told us he was not doing well, but during the race he said he was fine,” Gilbert said to sporza.be.

In the finale the team rode for Evans, “but we knew that he was not good enough to win. It is not easy for us to have a leader who does not know what he wants.”

I am like … what. Who says that kind of stuff? Granted, I can totally see how a) that happened and b) how Gilbert, et al, would react. But holy cow. Is that the kind of thing you say in public? Sometimes I think yeah, definitely, because sometimes things won’t change unless you say something public. But at the same time, isn’t this something to bring up with the director and the person in question? It’s a hard call, to be sure. And I don’t mind watching people air their dirty laundry, as it were. But still.

For some reason I completely forgot that La Flèche Wallonne was going on today. When I eventually figured it out, I realized that I just didn’t care about it. I mean, when I saw the top ten, the only person I even remoted was interested in was Thomas Lövkvist. He came in 6th. Sometimes, for whatever reason, it’s hard get worked up about certain races. Maybe because none of my big favorites were racing or did well (Philippe Gilbert came in 32nd, Haussler, Chavanel, and Ciolek weren’t even there). But at the same time, I feel like I should care. I just don’t/didn’t/whatever. Maybe that makes me a bad fan, but I cannot be bothered to care that much about it either.

Obviously I care a little, or I wouldn’t be writing up a post. But mostly I am surprised by my levels of apathy. I used to be excited about everything. All races were something awesome and to be celebrated. I really believe this is directly related to the whole fact that I was so damn naïve about everything relating to cycling. I don’t blame doping for my apathy, I blame the fact that I’ve gotten really attached to my favorite cyclists. I care more about their results than races in general. I think, though, that this is pretty natural for me. It works in the other individual sports I follow (tennis and golf) and to some extent with the team sports I’m a fan of.

It’s just the way it goes and I think I’m pretty much okay with that. Anyway, here’s some Thomas Lövkvist and George Hincapie for you.

A tired George Hincapie and Thomas Lövkvist cool down and refuel after the Stage 5 finish in Paso Robles, CA. Amgen Tour of California, 2009. (Arley L. @ Flickr)

I was just looking at stats for this blog and clicked on one of the links someone had visited and ended up on a post from 2006. And can I just say that I was really, really naïve? I mean, thinking that Ullrich didn’t dope and that Basso was hopefully clean? What the hell! Of course, 2006 me probably liked Tom Boonen and was still slightly depressed that Christian Werner quit cycling. And, of course, I was stoked that Armstrong had quit.

Little did I know what would happen, though. I’d like to think that I’m not that naïve now, but I know better. Ahh, well. Such is the life of a fan, right?

What you want to watch is at about 3:40. Keep your eyes on the bottom of the video, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Then read this at cyclingfans. And then tell me that the UCI are idiots for doing nothing. Like my sister said, sports are stupid. As if we needed any more proof. Daryl Impey deserved better — hell, cycling deserves better. Hopefully the UCI will realize they are wrong, but I doubt it. No wonder the doping problem doesn’t go away. It’s not like the UCI governs or anything.

In case anyone is curious why commenting is moderated here? It’s because I get an unholy amount of spam (10+ comments a day). I cannot figure out how to stop it, so I just moderate all comments. Once you’ve been accept, though. You should be able to comment without problem — if you want to comment. It doesn’t bother me one way or the other (except that I get tired of spam).

This morning, I’m just sitting around waiting for Amstel Gold coverage to start up. I can’t find a stream that works and has cycling coverage all at once, I’m currently “watching” 24 Hours of … something. Le Mans, I think. At least that’s when it is and I know it’s a 24 hours thing. Soon I’ll have Amstel Gold and all will be well.

What are my thoughts on the whole Tyler Hamilton thing? Good riddance.

Look, maybe I’m supposed to care, but I can’t — not the way people expected, I guess. I care in that hopefully this means a number of things 1) he will retire and stay retired, 2) they will ban him for life, 3) his being caught and subsequent confession will draw attention to other who should, but haven’t, confessed. And so on. I am not stupid enough to believe that any of these are true. And, I’ll be honest, I never felt betrayed by him in the first place, because the circumstances of my liking him had already moved on by the time he tested positive. What his first positive test did was piss me off because he would never admit he was doping and I never believed his bullshit excuses (even though I have no problems with the whole chimera idea (listen to this excellent piece by Radio Lab for more). But it was far, far too much of an easy out for Hamilton.

That being said, I do feel sorry for him because depression is never easy to deal with and the added pressure of sport and others doping probably made it twice as hard for him. I don’t know if he’s using it an excuse or what, and nor does it make up for the fact that he cheated — but it does explain a lot about how he could so easily cheat. Obviously, this isn’t the reason that other cyclists dope — and I’m sure there are plenty of cyclists who are depressed and don’t dope, or develop depression after being cause (David Millar, for example). Everyone has extenuating circumstances, but that doesn’t make it okay to cheat.

I hope that Hamilton goes away. I hope others learn from this. I am not stupid enough to believe that they will learn, but I can hope. Because I have to, otherwise what’s the point? I suppose we can say at least he admitted it. But he had to be caught twice — what about the people who haven’t ever been caught, or those that have served their ban without ever confessing? Or those who retired without confessing? If cycling’s every going to be clean, people need to be honest. Forget the blood passport, because if people can’t be honest, then what’s the point?

I’ll continue to watch because I love the sport and until (if ever) my favorites test positive, I’ll believe they don’t dope. Maybe I’m sticking my head in the sand, but I don’t see it that way. And if my favorites do dope? I hope they are punished properly. I do believe that confession, banning and then a second chance is the way to go. But if you don’t confess? Or if you’re got caught again? You’re fucked.

Maybe we shouldn’t believe the best in people, but if we didn’t? How could I like Erik Zabel or David Millar or whatever? I have to believe that people make mistakes and can be honest. It’s just too bad that not everyone feels that way — cyclists and fans alike.