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flicker said:Agreed! He gets mega air time, but why. I guess Alexi has a large following?
We'll all cheer for Armstrong, too, when he's released from federal prison and makes at comeback at 50.
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flicker said:Agreed! He gets mega air time, but why. I guess Alexi has a large following?
DirtyWorks said:Glenn,
Winning a 'one and done' requires a team leader and supporting that leader. The exceedingly rare exception would be a LeMond racing at an regional level who is simply the class of the field and needs no team.
I'd argue Alexi did a masterful job getting the win. But it was done in the least honorable way, sucking wheel and screwing your teammates. It's good racing because it's a 'win.' There are/were widespread social/political consequences once the race is over. The guy has earned his reputation.
As a matter of fact, it was reported over the years that Alexi basically flew solo at the Olympics. That leads me to believe he wasn't a part of Eddie B's doping program. Was he doping anyway? Yup.
DirtyWorks said:That leads me to believe he wasn't a part of Eddie B's doping program. Was he doping anyway? Yup.
Glenn_Wilson said:It is a fact he was doping and I was not defending it.
Zweistein said:Much of this thread is pointless, off topic, and without real merit. Here is an old man who has admitted to popping speed during his career. Amphetimine usage was basically par for the course for a long time. Lemond has talked about how he could tell who was on speed becuase they would attack pointlessly over and over and would never talk during the race and I have yet hear him talk about how he couldn't compete with people on uppers. Christ, Merckx couldn't sit still because he was on amphetamines following his hour record. The guy admitted to it and makes no half *** admission about what he did and why. You people are such idiots for worshipping past cyclist who never admit to anything. Reality doesn't go away just because you refuse to beleive in it.
The guy is the closest thing you are going to get to straight talk in all of cycling and for that he is a little bit of a loose cannon. He knows how things are done and who does what. He he will call a spade a spade and has no reservations in mentioning that Lance was good talent but nothing great without the dopeshow. Cycling is the biggest pile of bull**** ever built. Listen to Liggett spout whatever about Lance, the media propagate the Lance story, cyclist giving half admissions following a positive, corrupt federations, federal investigations, uneven testing procedures, bribing, extra long suspensions for people who cooperate and name names and get blacklisted, little difficulty in doping without testing positive, computer hacking testing centers, getting a company to discontinue a product line due to the lines big name critizied a rider, riders still openly work with known doping doctors, the omerta stays in place bacause "it is good for cycling to not recieve so much bad publicity", clean riders getting pushed out of cycling for talking about doping, a complete lack of outrage in the peleton when someone gets beat by a doper who later test positive. Cycling couldn't be more full of sheet. And yet here is outrage for a guy who admitted to popping some speed a few times over 20 years ago. On the doping barometer the guy was barely above freezing. He was a strong cyclist who had some good Mt.Evens times and won a gold medal. You guys make it sound like he doped hardcore to win the tour a buttload of times. The guy is a very old man who is racing cat 1. Something which would be very difficult to impossible for most people here. The guy is training like a crazy man and all this board is posting about is how it is unfair to his kid or how he must be pushing an agenda or how it is damaging cycling. The guy has not tested positive. He doesn't have a federal investigation and a lot of smoke liek a recently unretired cyclist. He isn't part of the omerta or has any connections to known doping doctors. The guy is just riding his bike because he loves it and the competition. Either some of you are paid to spread propaganda or are complete hypocritical idiots. Maybe, he is jerk. Maybe, he is a lot of things. The guy is a dad who is seeing what he can do at 50 years of age. What agenda is there in seeing what you have in the tank?
Also on a side note, blood doping was not illegal during the 1984 olympics. The U.S team you can bet was not the only ones engaging in this practice. The practice of blood doping was over 20 years old at that point so anyone who wanted to would have had the means. The guy rode a hell of a race to win that medal and if he blood doped he only did as much as the rules allowed. Would this much vitrol be had for Davis Phinney had he won? Would that be completely different because Davis isn't so course with his opinions?
As, to why this comeback thread is in the clinic I don't understand. He isn't working with a doping doctor, he doesn't have even enough money to dope if he wanted to, he doesn't have a big sponsor who doesn't ask questions (Trek and Oakley) , and he has done nothing to show he wants to maintain the omerta.
ricara said:Citation, please?
fatandfast said:zweistien, may I suggest that you apply Moore's law to doping and the knowledge of it. Alexi doesn't know 90% of what is going on in the pro bunch. The money that was not available in his heyday is just the start.
The bicycles, the social networks ,sponsors and endorsement deals are only a few things that are baffling Alexi about bike racing in it's current form. He and some others may have bought into the late night infomercials about 50 is the 40 but it is BS.
And another note on the Old Man Network. Laurent Fignon's tragic passing went without lots of haters putting his words through the super scrutinizer but,
he claims that he and Lemond shared party drugs together as room mates. Eating speed while racing bikes predates Coppi not Lemond.
And as federations all over the world make a mess out off making and enforcing bike racing's rules, Alexi should not be a Cat.1 period. When Grewal got out of cycling there was no Cat 5 and Cat 1 was reserved for national team members and elite federation programs. Doing meth and losing your fame, house,family and mind are not elite.
before you apply any more proactiv you may want to google Jerry Rubin to round out your day.
side note . Some of the original blood doping techniques used planned sickness as part or the regiment. The blood was taken and bagged, the finite number of antibodies in the bag would continue doing their thing and killing the existing germs within the bag. The blood would be put back into the body, the short term benefits would be gained. The boatload of bacteria and other toxins would follow up by making you sick as sheet.
Oldman said:Zweit is partly right because some are making Alexi's comeback attempt way too personal. In the Twitter/Facebook age almost anyone can and will embarrass themselves with excessive information and introspection. Examining his training methods and potential for success are valid topics and his drug use is really old news.
You also have to admire Zweit's endurance in sentence extension.
BotanyBay said:My own return to racing was a rude awakening, I must admit. And that was in my early 30's after a 13 year layoff. A morning of hammering on group rides with the boys, or a fast, short racing event was almost always followed-up with my laying on the couch all afternoon, sound asleep, completely useless to anyone. I was able to achieve the speed, but it came with a price that I'd never previously had to pay when I was younger. I could train during the week just fine, but the hard sessions on the bike zapped all of my energy. It was a huge change.
Age matters. If you do not respect this fact, you are kidding yourself.
BotanyBay said:My own return to racing was a rude awakening, I must admit. And that was in my early 30's after a 13 year layoff. A morning of hammering on group rides with the boys, or a fast, short racing event was almost always followed-up with my laying on the couch all afternoon, sound asleep, completely useless to anyone. I was able to achieve the speed, but it came with a price that I'd never previously had to pay when I was younger. I could train during the week just fine, but the hard sessions on the bike zapped all of my energy. It was a huge change.
Age matters. If you do not respect this fact, you are kidding yourself.
gobuck said:I want to see and hear about his effort. It is all about the process! He isn't hurting anyone and he is helping himself.
Shouldn't be in the clinic.
Zweistein said:The guy is the closest thing you are going to get to straight talk in all of cycling and for that he is a little bit of a loose cannon.
Glenn_Wilson said:What? Seriously?
He has admitted to it. Why get all hung up on a cite? http://velonews.competitor.com/2008...1984-olympic-gold-medalist-alexi-grewal_74053
ricara said:Yes seriously.
There were two posts that strongly implied that Alexi was strongly doped for the Olympic Road Race in 1984.
There is absolutely no evidence for this that I have ever seen.
Yes, we all know that he admitted taking caffeine, and then ephedrine for "a few major" events. We all know that he was busted for ephedrine ten days before the Olympics. He claimed at the time that it was unintentionally ingested. Alexi was well known to use alternative medicines and saw a Chinese doctor decades before it became "fashionable". Many Chinese herbal remedies contain ephedrine, so this is plausible. Later admissions such as the one you linked make it plausible that he took the ephedrine deliberately. As I recall, he was racing in the Coors Classic at the time he tested positive.
But that is not what I am talking about. What I am talking about are two things:
a) By all accounts, ephedrine was the "hardest" drug he took. (Again, if you have evidence to the contrary, please give a citation.) Tell me how much you think the performance of an endurance athlete is boosted by ephedrine? Nothing? One percent? Two percent? Or do you think it is more like the twenty percent that EPO is widely acknowledged to confer?
b) Is there any evidence anywhere that Alexi was doing ANY kind of dope (other than caffeinated beverages) during the Olympics itself?
There have been dozens of posts in this thread claiming that his medal was "tainted" because he was a "doper". Or that he "stole" the medal from Bauer because he was a "doper".
Please cite ANY evidence that Alexi took ANY kind of dope (even that bad, nasty, incredibly effective ephedrine) for the Olympic Road Race.
Thanks.
ricara said:Tell me how much you think the performance of an endurance athlete is boosted by ephedrine? Nothing? One percent? Two percent? Or do you think it is more like the twenty percent that EPO is widely acknowledged to confer
Granville57 said:Well, how much faster was Grewal than Bauer?
One percent? Two percent?...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tWg_CR43rg
Btw, ephedrine was no joke. Long-lasting intensity? Aggressive, explosive efforts (like a final sprint)? Uh, yeah. That's your stuff.