Re: Re:
gooner said:
Benotti69 said:
I find Gaimon's reaction very disappointing
"Optum Pro Cycling’s Phil Gaimon, who recently wrote an article for Cyclingnews about what it means to be a clean rider, was one of the riders who didn’t want to comment about Danielson, whom he considers a friend. An obviously shaken Gaimon simply told Cyclingnews before the stage that his worldview had been shattered."
Gaimon's "worldview has been shattered", what? Was he born yesterday? What an idiot! Did he not watch il Giro then or the TdF, does he not know all the former dopers are now running teams, working for teams, working for race organisers, coaching etc.........
Gaimon aint ***, is he? When i hear that crap i think, yep that is another doper talking.........
He's speaking in terms of his friendship with Danielson, not the whole sport in general.
That's how I understood it as well. More that his world view of trusting friends was shattered, not his world view of pro cycling.
...
And regarding his supplement use from the article, all that indicates to me is that he is just another gullible athlete in terms of believing what interventions will help or not. To me, there is nothing to imply doping, but that attitude of "My testosterone is low, I better take a supplement. Oh and by the way, I'm racing and training really hard right now. No way the two can be related though, a supplement should do the trick." puts him in the same group that thinks going vegan will help their athletic performance.
...
I wrote on some other threads in the past about athletes', especially young athletes' responsibility to know the culture. It's irresponsible for Talansky to be defending Lance: even if he was a childhood hero, Talansky should learn the sport before sticking is opinion out there. Same with TJVG getting motor paced: he should be learned enough of the sport to know that it is not a good idea. Naiveté is no excuse anymore.
But it's a very difficult talent development process in which to learn that. In the US, there is no scholastic leagues in High School (no school based teams like basketball or track), and the collegiate system is a club system. Collegiate teams only pick up athletes who weren't good enough for other sports, or wanted to make be a part of community. Only a few riders really represent a bike rider developed from a young age.
As such the process for learning the culture is really low-key, amateur, and informal. Reading Gaimon's book, his exposure/learning process to the culture of doping was being beaten by Mancebo, accidentally being diagnosed with asthma before a teammate made him wise, and then by change training with and thus getting to know what appeared to be a big, bad Postal doper of Danielson,only to realize he is a normal person.
Then, becoming the spokesman for his own cleanliness, he thought he knew enough, having been on the "inside", and build his personal brand and cult following under his idea of what the doping culture was. He gave/gives the impression that he really thought there was a clean generation.
To wrap it all up, my own "worldview" is that most people are idiots, not malicious. Gaimon, I believe, isn't being disingenuous when he says what he thinks, just that what he thinks is not 100% accurate. I meet soooo many athletes who are just wrong about things. Wrong ideas about training. Wrong ideas about nutrition. Wrong ideas about how to communicate with race directors or sponsors or coaches. I find that fan's assume that athletes have their *** together, when very few do. Think about your own coworkers, in whatever field: banking, waitressing, retail, software development, and how incompetent most of them are. They aren't bad people, just, they're not as good as outsiders would believe. Having the title of "x" gives an impression that they are an expert, but you really know them, and know that they're just regular people that make regular mistakes.
Athletes are the same people. So when I see Gaimon trying to clean up his own mess, it strikes me as just another regular dude who made a dumb decision. Same way I see dopers in the sport, regular dudes who did their job badly (i.e., getting caught).
Anyway. Off my soapbox now.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram