Worn out by it all?

[marinoni]

Originally Posted by BroDeal View Post
I think that just goes to show how far the sport has fallen. It has little credibility now. None of the results can be trusted. If you turn your brain off, the racing can be enjoyable; but as soon as you start thinking again, you have to admit that what you watched was not real and it has little connection with your own cycling experience.

I read this post on another thread and it does a pretty good job stating how I feel these days. I've been following pro racing for almost 30yrs and I can't believe I'm saying this but this might be my last. I am absolutely sick to death of the mess this beautiful sport is in. This spring should have been an amazing time for me because thanks to Cycling.tv I was seeing my favorite races live for the first time. Instead all I will remember is questioning and doubts ruining the races. Whether it was Boonen pulling away from Pozzato at PR or Schleck blowing everybody away at LBL, all I could think of was " is this real? Is he doped or am I actually seeing an amazing performance?" Who the hell knows?!
I just don't know if I see a point to following this sport any longer. If anyone else feels the same way or can offer me some glimmer of hope, let me know.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

If you've been an avid fan for as long as you say, why wouldn't you hold out and see what happens with the future? Every sport has it's problems and controversies, but none are as beautiful as cycling. That's all there is to it.

 

[BikeCentric]

The sport is in bad shape yes, but cycling is still cycling. I continue to follow it because I love cycling and hold out hope that at some point it will be better cleaned up. Unfortunately the sport needs a huge top-down overhaul that still does not seem to be forthcoming.

 

[marinoni]

If you've been an avid fan for as long as you say, why wouldn't you hold out and see what happens with the future? Every sport has it's problems and controversies, but none are as beautiful as cycling. That's all there is to it.

This is pretty much what I've been saying to myself for year after year after year and it never gets better! In fact I would say things have gotten quite a bit worse. It's not just doping either. There is also the increasingly dull, programmed racing. When I think of the Tour this year and the 21 days of watching Astana worker drones on the front hour after hour I just want to lie down and take a nap.
Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to get on my beautiful custom Marinoni and take a long ride. McQuade, Armstrong and all the rest of the ****heads in this sport cant take that away from me.

 

[quadsRme]

Hang in there

This is pretty much what I've been saying to myself for year after year after year and it never gets better! In fact I would say things have gotten quite a bit worse. It's not just doping either. There is also the increasingly dull, programmed racing. When I think of the Tour this year and the 21 days of watching Astana worker drones on the front hour after hour I just want to lie down and take a nap.
Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to get on my beautiful custom Marinoni and take a long ride. McQuade, Armstrong and all the rest of the ****heads in this sport cant take that away from me.

I hear you, and am basically in the same boat with you. I used to wait for Velonews every month back in the early seventies to just see the results and the few articles about the races. BUT just because life changes doesn't mean you give up on it. This will turn around, maybe not today or this year or next year but it will turn around. I still have confidence that the sport will become clean again. We need more positive thinking and less negativity. That should be the UCI motto. {;-)

 

[e-fred]

I enjoy the races at face value... and the Soap opera for entertainmant only

 

[pmcg76]

I think most cycling fans have been through the grinder since the Festina affair. Many times I have wondered about all the money I have spent on cycling magazines, books, videos etc and asked myself, has it been a complete waste.

Last year I went to the Giro and Tour, I saw 3 stages at the Giro, 2 of which were won by Sella and at the Tour I seen the stages won by Ricco & Piepoli. How do you think I felt when they all tested positive. All that effort to get there, waiting in the rain for hours on the Marmolada etc for what.....

I like other sports as well but I ask myself what sports can I believe in, football is just as warped by money as cycling is by drugs but nobody cares, athletics, just as bad as cycling with doping. American sports, who am I kidding, worse than cycling. Tennis, Rugby are also sports I like but how clean are they either. I dont have a big enough interest in any other sports to care.

Maybe the solution would be to concentrate on ourselves and forget professional sport in general, just ride and compete for fun, I have tried this but cycling is such a beautiful sport despite the problems, the scenery, the drama of pro cycling is what attracted me to the sport in the first place and it continues to inspire me despite the problems.

 

[quadsRme]

I think most cycling fans have been through the grinder since the Festina affair. Many times I have wondered about all the money I have spent on cycling magazines, books, videos etc and asked myself, has it been a complete waste.

Last year I went to the Giro and Tour, I saw 3 stages at the Giro, 2 of which were won by Sella and at the Tour I seen the stages won by Ricco & Piepoli. How do you think I felt when they all tested positive. All that effort to get there, waiting in the rain for hours on the Marmolada etc for what.....

I like other sports as well but I ask myself what sports can I believe in, football is just as warped by money as cycling is by drugs but nobody cares, athletics, just as bad as cycling with doping. American sports, who am I kidding, worse than cycling. Tennis, Rugby are also sports I like but how clean are they either. I dont have a big enough interest in any other sports to care.

Maybe the solution would be to concentrate on ourselves and forget professional sport in general, just ride and compete for fun, I have tried this but cycling is such a beautiful sport despite the problems, the scenery, the drama of pro cycling is what attracted me to the sport in the first place and it continues to inspire me despite the problems.

The sport is what it is. I don't go around punching holes in the wall because I don't like what is happening to the sport, or if the winner of the stage or race has tested positive. This is entertainment, to drown out the parts of life that we want to forget about, for a short period of time, an escape if you will. When I watch a stage or race I am into it and don't think about what my boss told me 4 hours ago.
Unfortunately all sports(pro) are tainted now no matter where they are playing them.
I for one don't want to forget pro sports, I want to remember where it came from and where it has evolved to. Personally I don't like where it is going but hopefully it will once again rise up and be what we all want it to be, CLEAN!!

 

[ElChingon]

As a true cycling fan no bad news will taper my enthusiasm. Only the true believers continue those who are not fall by the way side, that happens everyday of every year. New fans are picked up every year and everyday, only the true fans stay through thick or thin.

Those that lose interest for any particular reason would of fallen off eventually anyway, its a matter of time, they are not real cycling fans. They are only on for what ever the current bandwagon is.

Those who are the true cycling fans will live on as fans way past any current issue and will be part of the solution not the complainers/whinners and naggers who will exit stage left when their interest falters. Being a fan means sticking with it no matter what the obstacle is/was.

I've been reading Bill's Cycling News from day one! (lets see who gets that!)

 

[quadsRme]

As a true cycling fan no bad news will taper my enthusiasm. Only the true believers continue those who are not fall by the way side, that happens everyday of every year. New fans are picked up every year and everyday, only the true fans stay through thick or thin.

Those that lose interest for any particular reason would of fallen off eventually anyway, its a matter of time, they are not real cycling fans. They are only on for what ever the current bandwagon is.

Those who are the true cycling fans will live on as fans way past any current issue and will be part of the solution not the complainers/whinners and naggers who will exit stage left when their interest falters. Being a fan means sticking with it no matter what the obstacle is/was.

I've been reading Bill's Cycling News from day one! (lets see who gets that!)

Bill's Cycle Racing Results and News Service, yes that is what cyclingnews transformed from.

 

[Jacques Tati]

Hey Elchingon...is your nickname 'Osterich' seems like you stick your head in the sand a lot.

 

[bikepure]

DONT GIVE UP?
seriously . we got to concentrate on the future.

Yes the 1990's were dirty.
But a new era is starting. The peloton knows the technology is catching up on the testers and public opinion has turned on the cheaters.

http://www.bikepure.org

 

[Escarabajo]

I am starting to watch more Golf. Although I have heard that some of those guys are juiced too. I am sure less than in Cycling.

I am very positive about the future. And I can tell if my eyes don't lie that the speeds in the previous Tour started to come down. Now a Dopes "Stands Out in The Crowd" more than before (I think that was one of the clues to catch Rico and Piepoli).

Now we are more educated in doping. We can make our own conclusions. Like for Example David Rebellin having such good results at his age. That's a clue that can warn us of something going on. The authorities can now target those people.

The real problem that I see is the UCI. Once we get honest people working in there it will be a lot cleaner. Never 100% clean because that's impossible according to probabilities.

I think the only price that the sport has to pay is that it will not be as popular as it is now or during the Armstrong Era. I hate to say this but there is something inside human nature that sparks the craving for blood regardless of the consequences. Like in the old Roman Coliseum. In fact the polls that I have seen in Eurosports and other websites approve of doping. So if our sport becomes a clean one, the media will go to report on other sports and believe it or not the average people will not watch.

This is just my opinion so don’t take it personal.
Thanks.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

There are a few things to know, and a few things you can do.

First, the good news:

• More cheaters are being caught than perhaps ever before. This is a good sign.

• While the omerta hasn't been fully cracked, there are more riders speaking out against doping than maybe ever, and some have even blown the whistle.

• The speeds on the climbs are a little bit slower than in recent years. This according to Christian VV, and that wattage chart MellowVelo had. This gives hope that when we see Andy Schleck ride away, he, and everyone else, are riding slower than riders in 2004 were, and we could be seeing a lot less doped riders, and those that dope, less doped.

What you can do:

• Be like Howard Beal and stay angry at the dopers and put pressure on governing organizations to work with whistleblowers and punish those that don't cooperate. I wrote to Pat McQuaid and other members of the UCI in recent years, and a few sponsors as well. Try it. There's a very good chance you'll get a response.

• Write letters to editors of magazines and places like CN, and keep posting on message boards across the world that the culture of doping needs to be stopped.

• Spread the word that better and more thorough longitudinal testing (passport) needs to be incorporated, such as testing for hemoglobin, wattage output, and testesterone, and these numbers need to be profiled over time.

• Support teams and riders that are anti-doping and have anti-doping stances. Jonathan Vaughters would be a good start. Greg Lemond another. Greg gets bashed across the internet by the Lance worshippers, but everything he says has a solid ring of truth. Spread the word.

• Stay focused on the future and what can be done to help the sport clean up. We all get too mired down in the guessing game of who doped how much in the past.

 

[Animal]

You say it's just entertainment, but it's actually LOST that.

When you don't know what you are seeing, and everything is suspect, then there's just no excitement to it. It just IS NOT ENTERTAINING any more.

As the poster said, you see an attack, you start to think "yeah, go for it!", and then you just think, "well, I wonder who his pharmacist is". Because all too often, that's who the win was down to.

It's spoiled spoiled spoiled.

 

[ingsve]

I guess watching cycling these days can be compared to watching professional wrestling...

 

[Bala Verde]

What is real?

Reality shows or series that are manipulated by TV producers to increase the entertainment value? Hollywood movies and blockbusters with blatantly unrealistic characters, but even (independent) movies that are supposed to be a reflection of 'real' situations? Are the books written by really great authors, from Stendhal to Dickens, and Dostoyevsky to Tolstoy, real?

None of it is real, and, depending on your taste, the stories they tell/show range from cheap entertainment to pure poetry, an tickle the imagination.

I am drawing this connection between storytelling and cycling since, romantic as it might sound, races were stories told in newspapers, and which grabbed the imagination of common people in Europe. The first race reports were embellished, aggrandized, heroized, call it artistic creativity, by early day reporters, who tried to boost the sales of newspapers. During the heyday of radio, reporters on the backseat of the motards, livened up the race, enthusiastically bursting into a scream about imminent attacks, altering the reality of the somewhat boring pace of the pack.

Cycling has therefore never been 'real', although it has always been presented as such, perhaps in a similar way as Tolstoy's War & Peace was received when it appeared. What both authors, the reporters and riders alike as well as Tolstoy, have tried to do, is to tell a story that grabs your imagination and pulls you into that unreal, but so dramatic and compelling reflection of the real life, an interplay between 'real' people who suffer, smile, laugh, cry, win, loose and cheat.

Who would want to miss any of that?

 

[PuncturedTyre]

go out on your bike for 4hrs and just ride.

then everything else, will fall into place.

 

[marinoni]

There are a few things to know, and a few things you can do.

First, the good news:

• More cheaters are being caught than perhaps ever before. This is a good sign.

• While the omerta hasn't been fully cracked, there are more riders speaking out against doping than maybe ever, and some have even blown the whistle.

• The speeds on the climbs are a little bit slower than in recent years. This according to Christian VV, and that wattage chart MellowVelo had. This gives hope that when we see Andy Schleck ride away, he, and everyone else, are riding slower than riders in 2004 were, and we could be seeing a lot less doped riders, and those that dope, less doped.

What you can do:

• Be like Howard Beal and stay angry at the dopers and put pressure on governing organizations to work with whistleblowers and punish those that don't cooperate. I wrote to Pat McQuaid and other members of the UCI in recent years, and a few sponsors as well. Try it. There's a very good chance you'll get a response.

• Write letters to editors of magazines and places like CN, and keep posting on message boards across the world that the culture of doping needs to be stopped.

• Spread the word that better and more thorough longitudinal testing (passport) needs to be incorporated, such as testing for hemoglobin, wattage output, and testesterone, and these numbers need to be profiled over time.

• Support teams and riders that are anti-doping and have anti-doping stances. Jonathan Vaughters would be a good start. Greg Lemond another. Greg gets bashed across the internet by the Lance worshippers, but everything he says has a solid ring of truth. Spread the word.

• Stay focused on the future and what can be done to help the sport clean up. We all get too mired down in the guessing game of who doped how much in the past.

Ok, back from my ride. Call me crazy but I LOVE riding in the rain. And yes, at my age I still pretend I just broke away on the kapelmuur and am heading for victory in the Ronde! The amazing therapeutic quality of bike riding has done it again and I'm feeling slightly less pesimistic so thanks for the post Alpe. One thing I was thinking about on the ride was a friend's recent struggle to quit smoking. He told me years ago that he didnt even enjoy it anymore, he was smoking strictly out of habit. I suspect I will be the same for a while at least with race-watching. I just can't imagine how I would not watch bike racing. Oh, and note to El Chingon- Bandwagon? Really, a 30 yr long bandwagon? LOL

 

[ElChingon]

Hey Elchingon...is your nickname 'Osterich' seems like you stick your head in the sand a lot.

Obviously you don't read well (my previous post), you seem to stick your head in the dirty mud instead.

 

[180mmCrank]

Give it time...cycling is an amazing sport...it's bigger than all this noise