I knew that Freire considering not riding the Giro due to allergies would earn a thread. Riders are real people. Some do have allergies, and asthma, and they've let it be known for years. They have to plan their lives around it like "normal people". And they're more limited in what they can take to deal with it, because things that help are on a banned list.
When Contador suffered for three kilometers due to an allergy, the OP called it a convenient excuse. Alberto didn't defend his Giro title due to the allergies, which he's discussed for years in Spanish media. Now Freire is obviously not looking for an excuse for a possibly poor performance because he might skip the event completely. And people here suspect ulterior motives for that? Oh yeah, he's Spanish!
I had one of the regular posters here tell me off, and try to intimidate me, for posting interviews from years past where Alberto talked about planning his race schedule around allergies. I had another person who had to be from here because it's where the whole Wheel Gate conversation existed, set up a twitter account named "CadelFan", with no followers or followees, threaten to contact an unemployment office if I didn't quit my "obsession" with the Wheel Gate story. By the way, a writer friend from Velonation was the only one to print that story in English.
So yeah, riders who are outside riding a hundred miles a day in all kinds of conditions can have problems worth allergies and asthma, just like marathon runners and other outdoor athletes. Has anyone here bothered to Google Freire and see if he's mentioned allergies in the past? Contador mentioned them after he WON the Giro after breaking his elbow in a crash a couple of days before the ITT. He obviously didn't need an excuse for winning a grand our. Was he just planting the seed a couple of years in advance in case he lost a minute in Criterium International some day?
If you don't like what I just wrote, add me to your ignore list (chances are you're already on mine) and don't try to threaten or intimidate me, or anyone else. And I don't have personal messages activated, but for any of you who have sent personal messages trying to intimidate newer members and protect the old boys network, shame on you.
It's like when Dimspace quit, and clearly stated his reasons for doing it, and someone here proclaimed he had quit because he was weak, and couldn't take it. Folks, this is an Internet forum, not the Navy Seals. You don't wash out of the forum because you can't take it, you leave, as I have before, because the negatives outweigh the positives, and who would go somewhere they don't have to knowing their day will be worse because of it?
I come here occasionally because I like to share info with other cycling fans. I used to do it posting articles and things on twitter as BloggingLance, and followers and I would chat about the stories. If I find a live race feed, I post it here. The same goes for articles, although these days I mostly limit those to Contador ones, which I post for other Contador fans. I appreciate when they do the same. But there are people here who have nothing positive to say about anyone, and they like to crap on the thread, or insult me (even though I never see it after the first occasion) or others.
It's a shame that there's so much negativity against new posters here. The place could use some fresh opinions to get rid of the group think. But Cycling News encouraged people to join the forum by posting a story about the Roubaix contest, and one person's first post consisted of podium picks, just three rider names, and someone hit them with a photo of a fail or a headslap. So, you end up with the same people outlasting hundreds of others, and they protect their turf with a pack mentality.
Have a great day
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