masking_agent said:flicker - where is this video ? I did a search and didn't find it ?
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=10747
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masking_agent said:flicker - where is this video ? I did a search and didn't find it ?
"Some friendly advice for the greatest cyclist in the history of the world".
flicker said:Micheal Hall and the haters on this forum are quite clueless about pro-cycling.
He is right and wrong in the article. The bottom line is life and procycling are not fair. Hard to say and hard to accept but true irregardless.
To me the firemen who dashed into the flaming world trade center to rescue the victims of 911 are heroes. Pro cyclists and pro athletes are comic book heroes doped to the gills or clean and sober.
Time for the fan-boys and drug crusaders to get a job and a life. Mike Hall is a crybaby. Real heroes are doctors, firemen and cops and soldiers those who save lives. + school teachers who inspire children to greater heigths
"Next, remind everyone of something we all know: Nobody trained harder than you. On a playing field leveled by so much doping, you were still the hardest-working cyclist in the peloton, training six, seven hours a day, even in the off-season, when so many others were sleeping in. “I wanted to be the best I could be,” you could say. “So I did what I had to do.” Doping was just one part, an inevitable part, of your intense drive to be the best."
Cycle Chic said:the 'level playing field' is debatable also - surely it is the riders who can afford to pay for the best doping programs who succeed. i.e. Armstrong.
sniper said:Yep.
However, that argument isn't applicable to his first victories, unless he entered pro-cycling already being richer than other cyclists.
On the other hand, it might explain at least part of his 7-year reign.
Velodude said:I will have to correct one myth perpetrated by Armstrong that Michael Hall supports in this article:
Read Dan Coyle's "Lance Armstrong's War". Two observations can be drawn from that book:
1. Armstrong arrived at the USPS training camp in Girona in 2004 significant pounds overweight.
2. Many times while the team was training in earnest in Girona LA was travelling around Europe with Ferrari. They only knew where he was when he popped up on a television interview.
If Armstrong was training 6-7 hours a day he would have no weight problems. His problem would be taking in enough calories.
TdF riders with comparable daily stage lengths have to quadruple their calorie intake but still lose significant body fat over the three weeks.
Alan Peiper (Former TdF rider and now team DS) said that at the end of a TdF he had lost so much body fat that the veins on his abdomen were visible.
mewmewmew13 said:Glad you posted this as I just read the article and this point gagged me.
He may be more meticulous and 'anal' about training than most but this is a disgusting myth that he has 'trained more' than anyone else!
Lance/David said:This is his third hour on the bike today, and the Tour de France isn't for seven months. This is not natural. No other racer in the world is doing this. The other day, in fact, Armstrong was riding along when the cellphone rang. It was the young British bike star David Millar, two-time Tour de France stage winner, calling from London, "drunk on his ***," Armstrong reports.
ARMSTRONG: Hello?
MILLAR: Please tell me you're not on your bike.
ARMSTRONG: I'm on my bike.
MILLAR: Nooooo! You mother! It's December bloody first! How long have you been on it?
ARMSTRONG: Three and a half hours.
MILLAR: Nooooo!
Armstrong can't help it. "I gotta suffer a little every day or I'm not happy," he says. So he stays on his racing bike for as many as six hours some days. Or he takes his mountain bike through the gnarliest trails that Texas has to offer, swearing at himself because he's not going harder: "You *****, Lance!" Apparently some people are unclear about the meaning of the term off-season.
sniper said:Yep.
However, that argument isn't applicable to his first victories, unless he entered pro-cycling already being richer than other cyclists.
On the other hand, it might explain at least part of his 7-year reign.
Polish said:"Lance trains harder" is TRUE and very well documented.
Don't you remember those days?
Lance was a train-a-holic.
Surely you remember this David Millar whine:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1115512/1/index.htm
I am mystified how bright & intelligent folks can live in such denial.
Especially those who actually watched it happen.
Maybe it is a type of PTSS or something?
“This is my body, and I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it. Study it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my a-s-s six hours a day. What are you on?”
.Finally, the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics: I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. But this is one hell of a race. This is a great sporting event and you should stand around and believe it. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets — this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it. So Vive le Tour forever!
Velodude said:I will have to correct one myth perpetrated by Armstrong that Michael Hall supports in this article:
Read Dan Coyle's "Lance Armstrong's War". Two observations can be drawn from that book:
1. Armstrong arrived at the USPS training camp in Girona in 2004 significant pounds overweight.
2. Many times while the team was training in earnest in Girona LA was travelling around Europe with Ferrari. They only knew where he was when he popped up on a television interview.
If Armstrong was training 6-7 hours a day he would have no weight problems. His problem would be taking in enough calories.
TdF riders with comparable daily stage lengths have to quadruple their calorie intake but still lose significant body fat over the three weeks.
Alan Peiper (Former TdF rider and now team DS) said that at the end of a TdF he had lost so much body fat that the veins on his abdomen were visible.
Polish said:"Lance trains harder" is TRUE and very well documented.
Don't you remember those days?
Lance was a train-a-holic.
Surely you remember this David Millar whine:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1115512/1/index.htm
I am mystified how bright & intelligent folks can live in such denial.
Especially those who actually watched it happen.
Maybe it is a type of PTSS or something?
thehog said:I once posted about his 2005 prep. The year he was being photographed with Sheryl, hanging out at the Grammy's & dropping out of Paris Nice. 2005 he passed Ullrich on day 1 19km time trial! When he'd spent the entire year barely getting in a 4 day week on the bike. It was another press room groan moment as we used to call them. We'd all look at each other and say "how we going to write this one?"
Most of us just went with the story. It was so much easier.
thehog said:I once posted about his 2005 prep. The year he was being photographed with Sheryl, hanging out at the Grammy's & dropping out of Paris Nice. 2005 he passed Ullrich on day 1 19km time trial! When he'd spent the entire year barely getting in a 4 day week on the bike. It was another press room groan moment as we used to call them. We'd all look at each other and say "how we going to write this one?"
Most of us just went with the story. It was so much easier.