Hi there, Mrs. 1500 today. Allow me to take a diversion from the world of finances, and rant for a moment about professional sports. Actually, one professional sport, cycling.
The news out of the cycling world this week is all about the Tour de France. It is their 100th year, and it is the pinnacle race of professional cycling. Even if you are not a cycling fan, you have surely heard of this race. Especially if you live in America, where until this year, we were home to the only 7-time champion of the race, Lance Armstrong. (I have always thought his name a bit funny, since professional cyclists have rather weak arms and extremely strong legs.)
I say until this year, because Lance finally admitted what anyone with a brain knew already, that he was taking massive amounts of performance-enhancing drugs to make this amazing feat possible.
I knew he was doping a few years into his reign, because many of his fellow TdF riders were being tossed from the tour for doping. How is it that Lance can beat these people if he is not doping? Some of these other riders were putting up fairly impressive times, and he was doing better, all by himself? I don’t think so.
Lance Armstrong news has been pretty consistent since January, when he confessed to Oprah that he was a doper. He is now being sued by every single person or entity who ever accused him of doping in the past, and were subsequently sued by him and had to pay him, in some cases, millions of dollars in libel settlements. Now those people want their money back, to the tune of $135 Million!
But this week, there is different news. Lance Armstrong Announces First Race Since Doping Confession reads the headline on Yahoo. I clicked, because I am a fan of cycling, and wanted to know if he would be participating in the upcoming Colorado race. No, he is riding on RAGBRAI, an annual bike ride across Iowa that Mr. 1500 and I happen to ride every year.
He has participated in this event before, in 2006. He created such a circus, with so many people wanting to ride next to him that it was actually a little dangerous to have them pass you. (Of course they passed me, I was 3 months pregnant with the first little 1500 at the time and taking my sweet time on the bike.)
He says now that “To be honest it’s not a statement, it’s not an experiment. It’s just me wanting to go ride my bike with what in the past has been a friendly group of people that share the same interests.”
I don’t believe this at all. I don’t believe it is just him wanting to ride his bike. I am not sure what he is intending, but if he really “just wanted to ride his bike,” he could do it quietly. He could be the guy who “looks an awful lot like Lance Armstrong.” Instead, he is drawing attention to himself being there by announcing that he will be there. RAGBRAI is 10,000 riders, plus various support crew, bringing up the total of this traveling circus to at least 20,000 people. Very easy to get lost in 20,000 people if you try. Easy to become invisible in 20,000 even if you don’t try.
The oldest little 1500 will be riding with us for a half day this year for the first time. We have a Weehoo tag-along bike and she enjoys riding with us. Plus I have promised her a piece of pie (which is very big on RAGBRAI – those Iowa church ladies can bake!) I hope he is no longer participating on the ride the day she rides. That enormous group of people desperately trying to keep up with Lance or even ride close to him is dangerous. Or better yet, Stay home, Lance. You are done with this sport, you have (almost) single handedly brought it into the mainstream in the US (Greg LeMond came before you) and then (again, almost) single-handedly destroyed it. You have been banned for life. Go find something else to do. I don’t care for NASCAR, so maybe you could go do that. Leave cycling alone! Or at the very least, leave RAGBRAI alone.
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That’s just nuts! We have a number of friends that do the RAGBRAI each year and they’re serious bikers. It’s a shame that such a circus has to surround something like this. Oh well, enjoy and hope the oldest little 1500 does as well. 🙂
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Thanks, John. RAGBRAI is always a lot of fun, and will only be near me for a split second.
I hope you guys are still able to go and have a good ride. The sad fact is that some sports bodies are calculating the money they get by increasing registrants who want to compete with Lance and comparing that with denying USATF ( or other) cerifications for the results of many others who have never doped.
I don’t like the accommodations that honest athletes seem to have to make in cases like these.
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I wholeheartedly agree. Some races have forgone certification so they can have some of these sanctioned athletes come and compete. Brings more applicants who want to try to keep up with the big boys, but as a society, we need to just say no to these cheaters.
That’s a bummer. Sorry to hear your experience might be made worse by Armstrong’s entry.
I’m one of the naive that didn’t think he was doping, really like “It’s not About the Bike”, and all that. Oh well, live and learn.
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His appearance will not be the entire ride, which is good. He has only committed to 3 or 4 days, but the last time he rode, he left early because he was going to see the end of the TdF. As he is persona non grata there, perhaps he might stay a little longer. Sigh. The bigger problem is all the people trying to ride with him. People who are not used to going that fast, taking turns too sharply to keep up, cutting people off a little too closely, etc. But again, they are only near me for a moment. I am not winning any land speed records on my trusty Trek.
This is a pretty good theory, but RAGBRAI sells out every year. They cap it off at 10,000 riders, and had some pretty good publicity in Men’s Health this year as a bucket list item. (At least I think it was Men’s Health.) I think the Des Moines Register is happy to have the publicity for the ride, but I think it would do just as well without him. Coddling this former super-star is akin to supporting his behavior, in my opinion.
You are right, the sport is riddled with drugs, and this makes me supremely sad. The Tour de France declared that there will just be no winners from 1999 – 2005 because more than one third of the top finishers since 1998 have either admitted to doping or tested positive. How sad. What makes me really sad is the guy who refuses to use PEDs, rides the entire grueling race, and finishes in 135th place. How much further up the ranks would he have placed if everyone was clean?
That is a great point, Mrs. 1500. What place would #135 actually be with no drugs? We will never know.
I can’t believe Lance has the nerve to do it really.
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Oh Lance….he likes publicity, doesn’t he?
I think this is a fair assumption, SFL!
Cycling has a long way to go before it heals. The current leader of the TdF is Chris Froome, who guaranteed his win won’t ever have to be erased. I hope that is true.
I am slightly curious to see where he goes with it. RAGBRAI is a ride, not a race. There are no prizes on RAGBRAI, so the only thing here is publicity. If he didn’t want publicity, he could have just signed up and ridden by himself.
I like to bike, but I’m by no means a cyclist. That being said I still completely agree with you that it’s ridiculous they’re even letting him ride. Maybe they couldn’t say no, I don’t know, but this just feels like he’s up to no good (again) if you ask me. Like you said, if he just wanted to ride he could do that anywhere, why advertise?
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Awwww cripes!!! He’s gonna go pollute RAGBRAI!? Oh, if only the Hoombies could be there to drink IPAs and hurl invectives at Lance as he slithered by.
Yeah, let him at the less than dignified NASCAR.
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I saw Lance “win” the Tour de France…I forget which time. Anyway, he may just want to ride..but, he is totally aware of what his presence brings to an event. Maybe he will change his mind?
Lance who? (dirtbag, that he is!)
What a fraudulent, petulant little man he turned out to be.
Go hide in a cave, you have embarrassed yourself enough.
Go Liestrong somewhere else.
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