Great Landis Blog by Adam Myerson (Mountain Khakis)

[Ninety5rpm]

when doping was still de rigueur, but unlike Floyd and Tyler, just said no and came home. And now, in a cleaner era, ...

Disagree. Doping is still de rigueur. It's not a cleaner era. It's just different, evolving.

Why should Lance get to be an international star and hero to the world, when he's guilty of all the same crimes as Landis? Landis clearly loves bike racing and just wants to race his bike. If he can't play, then who can blame him for calling bull**** on the whole thing?

B.I.N.G.O.

So burn down Babylon. Burn pro cycling down. There will still be racing, there will still be races. Burn it down, so we can build it up again new.

I see no reason to believe it will be cleaner in the future. It's a historic systemic problem -- doping is inherent in the system -- that cannot be fixed by removing a few, or a lot, or even all of the, bad apples.

There will always be the choice between clean and mediocre at best, or dope and be much more likely to win. Some if not most will always choose the latter, no matter what the chances are of getting caught, as long as they are not clearly 100%. That's why it's an inherent systemic problem.

 

[Oldman]

This is an excellent Blog entry. Anyone notice the lack of panting LA supporters? How could they respond to this?

 

[adammyerson]

Thanks for reading, everyone. I wanted to respond to just one thing:

This kids blog is well worth the read.

To clarify, I'm 38! I've been racing since I was 15. As one of the oldest pros out there, I hope I can escape being a kid in anything other than spirit at this point.

Again, thanks for reading, and for the diversity of opinions and responses. I appreciate it.

Adam

 

[BikeCentric]

Thanks for reading, everyone. I wanted to respond to just one thing:



To clarify, I'm 38! I've been racing since I was 15. As one of the oldest pros out there, I hope I can escape being a kid in anything other than spirit at this point.

Again, thanks for reading, and for the diversity of opinions and responses. I appreciate it.

Adam

Keep racing clean and coaching clean riders Adam - nicely written blog.

As long as we have grassroots racers who enjoy the sport for fun, fitness, and healthy competition the corruption at the top can never percolate downwards.

 

[BroDeal]

Great article.

After reading it the thought occurs to me that a good form of corroboration for FLandis would be stories of young U.S. pros who went to European teams, saw what was going on, and decided they were not willing to dope. There have to lots of these stories. Collect a bunch of them and give them to a major newspaper.

 

[Oldman]

Great article.

After reading it the thought occurs to me that a good form of corroboration for FLandis would be stories of young U.S. pros who went to European teams, saw what was going on, and decided they were not willing to dope. There have to lots of these stories. Collect a bunch of them and give them to a major newspaper.

Start with Chris Horner...oh, too late.
Oh, I know! How about Johnathan V...dayum!

Most of the ones I know quit as amateurs after the USACycling coaches let them know what their Euro counterparts did to succeed. Note I didn't say they were discouraged from pursuing a "professional" approach. A good start would be looking at former National team members around the era of Lance, Tyler, Levi, George; that didn't turn pro in Europe.
I'll bet Roy Knickman has some serious stories.

 

[Winterfold]

Again, thanks for reading, and for the diversity of opinions and responses. I appreciate it.

Adam

Excellent article Adam. Thank you.

 

[Aerodynamic]

I think the post makes some good points about the nature of doping in pro cycling at the time, but it cops out at the end by supporting "burning down" pro cycling. Cycling is already cleaning up it's act and moving on. Burning it down is a vengeful act that is not in anybody's interests - it's totally unnecessary.

It also doesn't address the fact Armstrong and others that Landis has named were caught up in the same game as he was. It is hypocritical to try to understand Landis approach to doping, just because he is now spilling the beans Armstrong, but not extending the same logic to Armstrong himself.

A little less moralizing about frauds and cheats is needed all around.

 

[CPAvelo]

Great blog. "Burn it down" reminds me of the movie Shooter. The corrupt Senator offered Bob Lee Swagger (played by Mark Wahlberg) a place at the table of the haves ("there are only haves and have nots") and he refused. Analogies tend to break down, but it seems maybe Floyd expected a place among cycling's elete, paid his dues, but never got the promised reward. Timing was horrible for Landis with the beginning of his apparent success following so closely after Armstrong's rein.

Adam's insights shed light on Armstrong's media responses this week. He's suprised but not surprised. I can see LA thinking WTF, Landis knew what he was getting himself into, he knew the risks, and therefore he shouldn't be bitter because he was left without a place. In this sense, Landis is'nt playing by the rules of the game. The cynic in me wonders if the doping culture has really changed at all if LA is back. If it hasn't changed, then maybe Landis can be what Canseco was for baseball.

 

[Aerodynamic]

Apart from the conclusion, it's actually an article that both sides of this polarised issue seem to agree on. Reading it I was surprised that it had good reviews from Armstrong's biggest critics until I read the final bit.

It's not a question of cheating, it's just whether you wanted to take part or not.

 

[Winterfold]

A little less moralizing about frauds and cheats is needed all around.

+1 I agree, rereading that last line, its not quite where I am at - but its still a great blog. Anyone with half a brain who's ever ridden a bike even vaguely competitively up an alpine pass knows the score. Some took the red pill, some the blue etc

Time for an amnesty. No more witch-hunting, and future 'medical assistance' kept sensible by a hardball attitude to the bio-passport.

Some people will have to move on, or out of the limelight for this to happen, but it must happen, or we are going to look like the WWF. Even in the worst of times, it was never like that.

(I hope).

 

[blaxland]

Excellent post.....And coming from Europe to Australia and then back again to race in the nineties,I too now of a few riders not willing to dope thus returning home to Australia.....None of these guys even race there bikes anymore,which is a shame......Its never to late to clean up our sport.....

 

[The Mayor of BBQ]

I think the post makes some good points about the nature of doping in pro cycling at the time, but it cops out at the end by supporting "burning down" pro cycling. Cycling is already cleaning up it's act and moving on. Burning it down is a vengeful act that is not in anybody's interests - it's totally unnecessary.

It also doesn't address the fact Armstrong and others that Landis has named were caught up in the same game as he was. It is hypocritical to try to understand Landis approach to doping, just because he is now spilling the beans Armstrong, but not extending the same logic to Armstrong himself.

A little less moralizing about frauds and cheats is needed all around.

this is what I wanted to post with the entry, but i was far less eloquent

but the blog is great.. you should fllow Adam on Facebook and Twitter, he is always posting good ****

 

[santacruz]

personally am sick of hearing about doping

I wish they could just race with no tests, no suspicion

Because 95% of them are doping

I just don't care

I wanna watch a fast, hard bike race

it seems that now a days, there is more coverage of doping than of racing

there have always been dopers winning races and not getting caught

there will always bee dopers winning races and not getting caught

so let's just enjoy the sport for what it is... a drug-fueled cockfight on two wheels
Reply With Quote

People with opinions like yours make me SICK!!!

Doping can be beaten, change is possible!!!

 

[santacruz]

I see no reason to believe it will be cleaner in the future. It's a historic systemic problem -- doping is inherent in the system -- that cannot be fixed by removing a few, or a lot, or even all of the, bad apples.

how do people form these idiotic opinions?? dope testing will get better and better if we push for it. Why must the past dictate how the future will be?? You don't believe we can ever clean up cycling?? that is sad, and stupid.

 

[stephens]

Who is this "we," you are speaking of? If it's just the fans, or the bookies, or the sponsors, but fails to include the riders themselves, then you are doomed to never clean it up. What's it say in my signature quote below?

 

[The Mayor of BBQ]

how do people form these idiotic opinions?? dope testing will get better and better if we push for it. Why must the past dictate how the future will be?? You don't believe we can ever clean up cycling?? that is sad, and stupid.

a NASCAR car is more or less built from one of just 2-3 templates.. almst every measurement is dictated but the governing body

they are all required to run the same tires, the same fuel

NASCAR officials and a team of techs will disassemble winning cars after races and inspect every surface, visually, chemically, mechanically

yet there are still cheaters

at what point will every rider walk around with a probe stuck up their ***? will they pee in a cup during races? I mean how much more scrutiny can they be under?

that's the next step... microchip implanted and radio transponder up the ***

yet riders are still cheating, just as they have ever since ever... ever since you could make money from winning a bike race, they have done it

meanwhile, WITHOUT USING GOOGLE, name 5 riders that have died from doping? that's a tall order

now name 5 TDF winners.. cause you just named 5 guys that doped and didn't get caught

I don't think it's cool that people dope.. I don't encourage it... I just know it is, was, and will be a part of all athletic competition in the modern era and I'm sick of more coverage on doping than of cycling itself

 

[Oldman]

a NASCAR car is more or less built from one of just 2-3 templates.. almst every measurement is dictated but the governing body

they are all required to run the same tires, the same fuel

NASCAR officials and a team of techs will disassemble winning cars after races and inspect every surface, visually, chemically, mechanically

yet there are still cheaters

at what point will every rider walk around with a probe stuck up their ***? will they pee in a cup during races? I mean how much more scrutiny can they be under?

that's the next step... microchip implanted and radio transponder up the ***

yet riders are still cheating, just as they have ever since ever... ever since you could make money from winning a bike race, they have done it

meanwhile, WITHOUT USING GOOGLE, name 5 riders that have died from doping? that's a tall order

now name 5 TDF winners.. cause you just named 5 guys that doped and didn't get caught

I don't think it's cool that people dope.. I don't encourage it... I just know it is, was, and will be a part of all athletic competition in the modern era and I'm sick of more coverage on doping than of cycling itself

Something along the lines of Nascar penalties are in order. First: Teams must post a bond equal to the riders pay. Half of any fines come from that fund. Second: The sponsors post a bond equal to the total of potential fines and they pay 100% for any confirmed positive-direct to the doping agency without any portion going to the UCI. Third: the riders pay half of their fines into a retirement fund for riders holding a UCI license on the Pro Tour level. Those riders become eligible for a portion after X years of clean riding.
Let the fun begin!