Old is new again.
I have to admit, that I am a little bit surprised by the fact that I'm a little bit surprised by all the doping that still going on in the Tour De France this year. I should not have been surprised by this. I should have fully expected it. But yet, as I read about all the riders and the team that are getting nabbed and pulling out, I am somewhat surprised.
As you all know, I love biking. I will never get tired of watching the Tour (though I haven't been able to catch any of this year, I have been reading daily updates). But I have to admit a slow (sometimes not-so-slow) growth of contempt for the big riders each year as we wait on pins and needles for the first 10-15 or so stages to be finished to figure out which leading riders are going to get chucked from the Tour for failing EPO or other drug tests. This year it was Riccardo Ricco, an italian and he 3rd rider now (and 1 team) to be pulled. He went from being 4th to 6th place in every stage, until they hit the mountains... No one pulls away like he did in the mountains when they're on they're not "stuffed with dope" as the editor of Bicycling magazine puts it. His bust shouldn't have been a surprise based on how he won.
But the thing is, the Tour is so damn tough and so damn exciting (sometimes), that I still get sucked in, every year. Even though the excitement of an American winning again 2006 resulted in depression as Floyd is stripped his title... followed by a bunch of nimby pimby crap as he contested it and basically made himself and all the cycling world seem like a bunch of chuckleheads.
Despite this and the resentment that comes along with it. I get sucked in every year, but now have a new "stage" of watching the tour... what I've come to call the "waiting" phase... I'm waiting for the drug busts to finish so that I can watch and enjoy the final few stages of the tour. The one thing that all these busts have done is leave me in complete disbelieve of anyone who pulls away from the peleton to make a push for victory at the end of a stage. That's where the resentment and contempt comes in. It's ruined some of the enjoyment I used to get watching someone push their damnedest for a hammering victory.
I wish that some of the more grueling and epic mtn bike races or trithalons got the media attention that the tour gets. But then again, if it did, there'd be dope pouring in those events too (heck, it's likely already there). I'd rather not think about that, frankly. My head is firmly planted in the sand on that.
As you all know, I love biking. I will never get tired of watching the Tour (though I haven't been able to catch any of this year, I have been reading daily updates). But I have to admit a slow (sometimes not-so-slow) growth of contempt for the big riders each year as we wait on pins and needles for the first 10-15 or so stages to be finished to figure out which leading riders are going to get chucked from the Tour for failing EPO or other drug tests. This year it was Riccardo Ricco, an italian and he 3rd rider now (and 1 team) to be pulled. He went from being 4th to 6th place in every stage, until they hit the mountains... No one pulls away like he did in the mountains when they're on they're not "stuffed with dope" as the editor of Bicycling magazine puts it. His bust shouldn't have been a surprise based on how he won.
But the thing is, the Tour is so damn tough and so damn exciting (sometimes), that I still get sucked in, every year. Even though the excitement of an American winning again 2006 resulted in depression as Floyd is stripped his title... followed by a bunch of nimby pimby crap as he contested it and basically made himself and all the cycling world seem like a bunch of chuckleheads.
Despite this and the resentment that comes along with it. I get sucked in every year, but now have a new "stage" of watching the tour... what I've come to call the "waiting" phase... I'm waiting for the drug busts to finish so that I can watch and enjoy the final few stages of the tour. The one thing that all these busts have done is leave me in complete disbelieve of anyone who pulls away from the peleton to make a push for victory at the end of a stage. That's where the resentment and contempt comes in. It's ruined some of the enjoyment I used to get watching someone push their damnedest for a hammering victory.
I wish that some of the more grueling and epic mtn bike races or trithalons got the media attention that the tour gets. But then again, if it did, there'd be dope pouring in those events too (heck, it's likely already there). I'd rather not think about that, frankly. My head is firmly planted in the sand on that.