If you consider yourself a cyclist, chances are you've had some time recently to be bombarded with the fact that the sports 2nd greatest grand tour rider, has been implicated in a massive doping scandal. For those of you who don't know who Lance Armstrong is, he is a cyclist from Austin, Texas, who won the Tour de France from 1999-2005, not only breaking the record for most consecutive Tour wins, but the most Tour wins ever. For me, and many other young men and women my age, Lance was a large, if not the primary, inspiration for swinging a leg over a saddle. His numerous commercials through Nike, Livestrong, Trek, and his multiple books became a sort of holy testament to cycling greatness. Phrases like, "Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a
year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its
place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." became little mantras I picked up to prove to myself that this would be worth it. The alienation of riding a bike, the solitude of being the skinny guy with shaved legs, who doesn't party, that rides his bike everywhere, that goes to sleep at 8 o'clock, was eased by thoughts like that. The attitude that despite the greatest obstacles, even the imposing shadow of death, could be overcome, was something that, for me, not only made life a little more bearable, but also helped me to lift my head and look forward and strive for something outside of myself and my limitations. Then it collapsed.
Sure, there have been a few chinks in the armor, after all the first tour I watched from departe to arrivee was in 2006. Lance Armstrong was my hero, but I strove to emulate Jan Ullrich, and when Operation Puerto struck him down, it only hardened my resolve, that Lance was an even truer champion. If Lance could beat out the frauds, then I could do it too. I could balance out the disparities in life with hard work and guts, like his. It turns out though, that everything that truly inspired me to enter into this game is built on lies. The lesson is drugs win Tours; hard-work won't even get you on the team.
Not even big corporations have the wherewithal to stand behind cycling, as Nike and Trek abandon Armstrong, and Rabobank ends it's 17 year relationship with cycling, it seems the sport has become toxic. How did this happen? Where did we go wrong? It comes down to one thing, the men and women involved. Companies, teams, and fans put their faith into weak, selfish individuals, and then perpetuated this weakness. Money contaminated a sport that is cleansing and pure in it's simplest form, and made it into a profession and a business. This is sport not business, and while business may attach their names to it, there needs to be a point where riders accept that they're not businessmen, they are sportsmen. They are role-models and heroes for people from all walks of life. they need not be super human, only extra-human. The pain is what makes the glory; the prize purses and bonus checks don't make the heroes. We revel in the agony of our heroes, not in their pay checks. We strive to be like them in our attitude towards wind and rain, to be hard and calloused through hours of laboring in the saddle. We do not dream of contracts, we dream of glory, and the elation of crossing a finish line with arms held high.
So how do we remedy these differences? If the trend continues on, sponsor after sponsor will leave the sport, and teams will collapse as the truth finally catches up. If the leaders in the UCI aren't held accountable for their failures, if doping controls can't be stringent enough to stop the cheating, then the sport will spiral further down into darkness and eventually its destruction. I can't truly provide an anser for what will fix the sport, but I have a feeling about what may be the cure.
The passion that an amateur feels is the only thing that propels them forward. For many the choice between a race and rent is not even a choice. The race is all that matters, riding is all that matters. Amateur sport is not impervious to doping, we've seen that. However, when there is no money, and only the intangible feeling of victory at stake, will it really be worth the money of doping? If the Tour were raced by 18 teams of amateurs, competing for jerseys that will fade in time, for miniscule prizes that might buy dinner for the crew, would there be drugs? I hope not. Perhaps there needs to be a movement towards amateurism, where sponsors provide only the bare-minimum to their riders. Bikes, kits, and enough to scrape by for training between events. I crave the ability to compete in races, and I have given away my prize money as thanks to those who make it happen, and have done it without sponsors. Why could the greatest events not work in the same way? Why can the money not be removed from the sport? Why is the greed of promoters, managers and riders still a factor? I understand that every person involved in running an international team, in running an event, needs to be salaried, and it's only fair they be allowed to do their jobs and be paid, and the same goes for riders, but why do they have to make hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars to do that? I am so passionate for a sport that I sacrifice basic necessities for it, why are the people at the highest level not the same? If a rider or director has the passion that propels them to the highest level, then why are they so concerned with making more and more money? In America alone you could find an massive number of support staff and riders willing to commit themselves to such a dream, I know I am one of them and have ridden with people who would sacrifice well paying jobs, and comfortable lives to be a part of something which we view as magic. Why are our professional heroes not of the same caliber in their commitment to sport?
Sure, there have been a few chinks in the armor, after all the first tour I watched from departe to arrivee was in 2006. Lance Armstrong was my hero, but I strove to emulate Jan Ullrich, and when Operation Puerto struck him down, it only hardened my resolve, that Lance was an even truer champion. If Lance could beat out the frauds, then I could do it too. I could balance out the disparities in life with hard work and guts, like his. It turns out though, that everything that truly inspired me to enter into this game is built on lies. The lesson is drugs win Tours; hard-work won't even get you on the team.
Not even big corporations have the wherewithal to stand behind cycling, as Nike and Trek abandon Armstrong, and Rabobank ends it's 17 year relationship with cycling, it seems the sport has become toxic. How did this happen? Where did we go wrong? It comes down to one thing, the men and women involved. Companies, teams, and fans put their faith into weak, selfish individuals, and then perpetuated this weakness. Money contaminated a sport that is cleansing and pure in it's simplest form, and made it into a profession and a business. This is sport not business, and while business may attach their names to it, there needs to be a point where riders accept that they're not businessmen, they are sportsmen. They are role-models and heroes for people from all walks of life. they need not be super human, only extra-human. The pain is what makes the glory; the prize purses and bonus checks don't make the heroes. We revel in the agony of our heroes, not in their pay checks. We strive to be like them in our attitude towards wind and rain, to be hard and calloused through hours of laboring in the saddle. We do not dream of contracts, we dream of glory, and the elation of crossing a finish line with arms held high.
So how do we remedy these differences? If the trend continues on, sponsor after sponsor will leave the sport, and teams will collapse as the truth finally catches up. If the leaders in the UCI aren't held accountable for their failures, if doping controls can't be stringent enough to stop the cheating, then the sport will spiral further down into darkness and eventually its destruction. I can't truly provide an anser for what will fix the sport, but I have a feeling about what may be the cure.
The passion that an amateur feels is the only thing that propels them forward. For many the choice between a race and rent is not even a choice. The race is all that matters, riding is all that matters. Amateur sport is not impervious to doping, we've seen that. However, when there is no money, and only the intangible feeling of victory at stake, will it really be worth the money of doping? If the Tour were raced by 18 teams of amateurs, competing for jerseys that will fade in time, for miniscule prizes that might buy dinner for the crew, would there be drugs? I hope not. Perhaps there needs to be a movement towards amateurism, where sponsors provide only the bare-minimum to their riders. Bikes, kits, and enough to scrape by for training between events. I crave the ability to compete in races, and I have given away my prize money as thanks to those who make it happen, and have done it without sponsors. Why could the greatest events not work in the same way? Why can the money not be removed from the sport? Why is the greed of promoters, managers and riders still a factor? I understand that every person involved in running an international team, in running an event, needs to be salaried, and it's only fair they be allowed to do their jobs and be paid, and the same goes for riders, but why do they have to make hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars to do that? I am so passionate for a sport that I sacrifice basic necessities for it, why are the people at the highest level not the same? If a rider or director has the passion that propels them to the highest level, then why are they so concerned with making more and more money? In America alone you could find an massive number of support staff and riders willing to commit themselves to such a dream, I know I am one of them and have ridden with people who would sacrifice well paying jobs, and comfortable lives to be a part of something which we view as magic. Why are our professional heroes not of the same caliber in their commitment to sport?
I really appreciate your thoughts and heart. You have the right motive to do your best as an athlete, but not at the expense of a guilty conscious- this is true athleticism.
ReplyDelete- Bobbi