Fit

"This is going to hurt."

That is the exact thought that went through my mind when the car, whose value was less than my wheels pulled out in front of me while I was descending a hill at 35 mph.  It was July 2011 and I was on my way to a family cook out on my wife's side.  In fact I'd just passed her aunt's house and was so looking forward to arriving at the party and getting in the pool.

Suffice to say our plans changed that day.

Madone 5.2 OCLV 2006, Shimano Dura-Ace gruppo, Bontrager Race XXX Lite components, this was a "real" Madone.  The year after this all Trek's were branded as Madone's.

There was nothing I could do except slam into the car.  I was wearing a cycling kit that day whose primary color was red.  The girl who hit me claimed that not only did she not see me, but that I did not attempt to brake.  Uh huh, that is what she said as written down in the police report.  I went into the driver side rear quarter panel, was thrown up and over the car and landed in the road.  Thankfully no one else hit me and a former ER nurse was one of the motorists who saw what happened and helped me.

I was lucky that day in many ways.  First and most important I lived.  Physics dictate that a cyclist will always lose against a car.  In my situation I lost but at the same time I won.  The end of my ring finger was broken and I quickly removed my wedding band so that it would not cause any issues.  I also got my HR strap off asap knowing they'd cut it off at the hospital.  And the only other injury was a nasty gash in my right knee that came within millimeters of the bursa layer.  Had that gash been deeper I'd have gone into surgery.  There was some minor road rash too.  Ultimately I walked out of the ER that day.  A win right there for me.

The second way I was lucky, was that the Concord, NH, Police Officers who arrived on scene understood the bicycle laws in NH and knew not only did I have the right of way, the right to take the lane based on my speed but that the motorist did not yield to me and just pulled out right in front of me - she was at fault.

Again all too often the police are ignorant of the law and side with motorists.  So much so that motorists can actually kill cyclists and get away with just a slap on the wrist.

The Madone 5.2 after the accident.  The steerer tube blew out the head tube.

The other way that I was lucky was that I took the wrecked frame to a Trek Store that actually knew about the product they sold.  The driver had a Progressive as an insurance carrier.  I'd had Progressive as my insurance carrier once and knew how cheap they were.  Something that was confirmed by an old friend of my mum who upon hearing about the accident warned me about them.  This person ran an auto body shop with her husband and had lots of first hand experience.

Let's put it this way, Progressive spends more on their commercials then they do on customer claims.

The Progressive rep first claimed she was a triathlete, a claim that seemed dubious when she scoffed at the total value/ cost of my Madone.  FYI, it was in excess of $10,000.  Now I did not buy it all built up like that, no, I upgraded parts over time to get it to what I wanted.  Then she went and used a NH bike shop, that has 3 locations - Concord, Nashua & ??? and it became apparent that the staff there did not know anything about the product they sold.  I wasn't surprised because the shop in question wasn't worth going too.  They've been around awhile, but that is all they have going for them.

So the Trek store had to argue that while yes Trek did make the 5.2, mine was closer to the 6.2 because it was made here in the states using the OCLV process and a bunch of other factors.  The rep stalled.  But then something happened.

The Adjuster Progressive sent to the Trek store saw the busted frame and said, out loud so everyone heard, "wow he's not in hospital."  That's right it wasn't a question, it was a statement of surprise.  After he left I got a call from the Trek store saying I should expect a check from Progressive soon.  I then got a call from the rep I was dealing with and she confirmed that.  Full value for the bike.

After that I dropped the ball when it came to the pain & suffering part of the compensation from them.  I ought to have fought for more, because they fought me on what I deserved and ultimately I took about the same amount I got for my bike.  I realize now I should have gotten double or triple that.  Not because it'd have been a pay day, but my life was worth more than my bike was.

So once that was all done and dusted and the check was in hand and cleared I got to have the most fun in bike shops ever.  I literally was able to get whatever I wanted and finally settled on a Cervelo S5.

Cervelo S5, base model frame, Zipp 404 wheels, SRAM Red grape, FSA K-Force Light Crank, 3T cockpit, Selle Italia saddle

When my wife & I got married we brought our bikes with us on the honeymoon.  On the way to Cape Cod we stopped off at Landry's Bicycles, Natick, Massachusetts, a bike shop I'd discovered the year before and had grown to love right away.  I'd recently bought a new saddle for the Madone and was having trouble with it.  The bike fit guy, Andy, helped me out and suggested I get a bike fit done, a real proper one.  So we scheduled one for the day we were coming home.  

At first, it felt weird riding in the new position that Andy put me in, but then something happened.  It became natural to me and I noticed a subtle change in my power output and performance.  Well when I got the S5 I knew that I'd also get a bike fit.  Andy had upped his game in the interim and had some new tools and toys with which to fit a rider to their bike.  

One of the items he now used was a pad that an individual sat on and mapped their sit bones.  It's how I choose the saddle in the picture above and as a result something marvelous happened.

By the time I got the S5 it had been nearly 2 months since I'd been off the bike.  My weight had gone up due to stress eating and because I had to let my body heal I'd not done any gym work.  I rode 75 miles that first day.  My wife played the roll of sag wagon that day.   I rode as far as I could and then had her come get me.  I hurt all over except one place - my ass.  That saddle fitting meant I got the right saddle for me and thus it supported me where I needed it, etc. etc.

Whenever I see cyclists on group rides that are shaking their hands out or shifting etc on the saddle I know they haven't gotten a bike fit.  They just set it up the way that someone thought it should be set up.  There's an old school mentality about slamming the stem so there is no space between it and the frame - like how most pros bikes are set up.  IT looks cool, but not everyone can ride in that extreme a position nor should they. 

The point of a bike fit is to maximize your position to get it dialed in as best as possible, while still maintaining your maximum power.  I've had Andy update my position a few times.  The first was when I put aero-bars on the S5.  April - October, the S5 is a commuter rig and I wanted to get to work as quick as possible, so having aero bars meant I could get into a Time Trial position and be more aero and faster.  Well I had to have Andy adjust my position to account for those bars and to make sure I was aero as I could be and still put out power.

Thanks to Andy I found out that one leg was shorter than the other.  That's another thing the bike fit helped with and explained why for the longest time I could not ride without holding the bars.  One result of the bike fit was I could now ride sans handlebars because I was completely balanced on the bike.

In the spring of 2015 I went and visited a chiropractor who got my legs to within millimeters of one another and I've done a lot of work since to close that gap.  So Andy adjusted my fit again and it got me lower.

Here I am at Landry's Natick, Andy is off to my right looking at the monitors I am looking at, he's got 2 cameras pointed at me.  My wife is taking the picture and took note of the gal behind me checking my back side out...

Cycling is expensive and I am always stunned by the folks who will spend thousands on wheels, frames, etc.  Yet, will still adhere to old school notions of how a bike should look.  Or they balk at spending a few hundred to get fit.  The bike fit was the best money I have ever spent.  And now as my wife is looking to get a bike this spring, her getting fit is not even a question.

If you have more than one bike and are fit to both, then it's amazing you don't even notice a difference when you ride them.

Since I started taking Pure Vitamin Club Magenesium my flexibility has increased A LOT.  No seriously it has.  Since I saw that Chiro, I've been doing the flexibility stuff she prescribed, but I was literally stuck at a certain point.  But now I can actually  get into child's pose.  So perhaps later this year I'll pay another visit to Andy and see if I can get lower.  It's all about next steps...

Call & Response

My lovely wife has of late become something of a blogger.  Her writing is fantastic.  No really it is, everyone that reads her work says that first thing after finishing her latest offering.  The most recent work delves into what it is like to be married to an avid cyclist.  Although not sure if she uses the word avid, but that's a key descriptor.

She had me hooked long before I found out the night we met that she wanted to do triathlon.  Right away I could see she was funny, smart & beautiful.  And that she had a horse was not a problem whatsoever, because horses are probably just as expensive as cycling can be.  So it made arguments for expensive wheels, all that much easier.

I loved what she wrote and told her as much and that I would do a point by point response to what she offered up.

And with that....

1. Your weekends are probably already planned.  Yep, they usually are.  During the cold months of winter that weekend planning also comes with a stalker like obsession with local weather forecasts.  What's the temperature going to be?  Will it snow on Friday?  Who can watch the kids if need be, etc.  Come spring through fall it's more about planning as it pertains to how many layers are needed and if a rain coat will be tucked into the jersey.

And yes, charity rides will often involve food of some variety at the end of the ride.  In fact you can often judge charity rides based on the food found at the end.  Moreover, I have not gone back to charity rides because of the food they did not offer but had promised.  Food matters to cyclists...

2.  Your pantry will get weird.  Yes you might have big ass jugs of electrolyte sports drink on your fridge for eternity.  But at the same time your pantry might start to resemble something that you wouldn't think it would.  The traditional view of edurance athletes like cyclists or runners needing carbs, carb, carbs, CARBS - is old, outdated information.  Fat is where it is at.

Look at Joe Friel the go to standard for triathlete training, he's paleo and co-authored The Paleo Diet for Athletes.  Or look to Vinnie Tortorich and his podcast, that is free and available via iTunes.  His cohost Anna Vocino has a wicked excellent no sugar no grain cookbook Eat Happy.  Robb  Wolf, Chris Kresser and Loren Cordain are all experts in the field of ancestral health/ functional medicine and talk of and write about how grains & sugars are not the right food for humans to fuel our daily lives.

Fat is what we should be doing to fuel our bodies.  When I was fat adapted I could do a hundred mile ride, eat a meal post ride (steak, veg) and be ready to rock another ride the next day as well as finish strong on the day of the event I'm doing.  Cliff Bars and Powerbars never did that for me - ever.

In 2012 not only did I discover paleo and dropped a crap ton of weight, which saw me tip the scales at a weight lower than that I was at when I got my driver's license in 1992, but my performance on the bike shot up.  So we'll have lots of stuff like sweet potato, bacon, avocado, hamburg, eggs, steak, nuts, etc.  And I'll skip the bread and pasta.

And before you say I can't get rid of bread or pasta!!!  I'm of Italian descent, holiday dinners at the massive rectangular table at my grandparents involved pasta.  I love pasta, but that doesn't mean I need it.

3. The bikes will mysteriously multiply. The formula n+1, where n represents the number of bikes one currently owns is accurate.  However, one thing my wife didn't get to really was that different bikes have different purposes.  For instance I did have a cyclo-cross bike for a bit due to the dirt roads we lived on being impassable in the winter on skinny 23mm road tires.  Last spring I got the bike I plan to use to do the Mt. Washington Auto Road Hillclimb next summer.  The road bike I had prior to this new bike was a bit too heavy even after the component upgrades.  Whereas if all goes well this new bike will be sub 14lbs once it is completely built up the way I want it.

4. They will get hurt.  Yes this is true.  Invest in a good helmet and replace it every two years.  Maybe that is a manufacturer's standard so that you're constantly buying something from them.  But I look at it like an investment in your safety.  Plus it's a Styrofoam liner and that will break down overtime after baking in the sun.

And don't pull the "well I didn't use one as a kid."  If you are even close to my age, you never used a cell phone, dvd player, bluetooth, blu-ray player or the internet as a kid.  I see guys (it is always guys) that are older than me, that probably use that logic but will gladly use other cycling gear improvements like clipless pedals for instance.

It's also true that we will inform our spouses, partners, etc what the status of our bike is before we say what our condition is.

Pro tip:  If you experience road rash, stand in the shower and wet down the bandages first to remove them more easily.

5.The gear is not cheap.  No it is not, but then you want to be comfortable and perform well.  However thanks to the internet you can often find wicked good deals.  The tires you prefer may cost $80/ tire, but you can find them for $35 - WIN!

And some of us are willing to spend hundreds to shave a few grams off the weight of a part of the entire bike.  Those folks are weight weenies.  It's mental, all mental because bigger performance gains can be garnered by dropping body weight.  That being said, you want the best you can get.  For instance the aforementioned new bike has a carbon fiber bar due to the natural vibration dampening effect that carbon fiber has, but the stem is aluminum because the weight difference was a few grams, but several hundred dollars in price.  Next month I'll have a new crankset put on that is expensive but very light and stiff, which is something you want as it means all that force & power you are putting out actually goes into propelling the bike.

Also, if you are gonna drop thousands on a bike, then spend a few hundred to get a professional bike fit.  And whatever you do, don't listen to the moron who says you gotta slam that stem.  Yes it looks cool, but you may or may not be as flexible as the pros and the best position for you isn't going to be the same as the moron who is more than likely ill fit to their bike.  Numb tingling body parts should not occur - it means your set up is not set up properly.

Pro tip: Get a saddle fit.  After the car hit me (as referenced in the blog) I was off the bike for 2 months.  First ride out I did 75 miles and the only thing that did not hurt was my backside because I had a bike fit done that mapped out my sit bones and a saddle was chosen based on that.

6. Tools, tools everywhere.  There are some repairs that are easier said than done.  But that being said, if I can save some dough by doing easy things then I will.   If you have a carbon frame then you'll want a torque wrench, a good one, that has a digital readout.  If you over tighten carbon it will crack and if like me you'll then go through several seat posts/ masts over the course of a few years...

7. Data overload.  Yup, I was the only senior in my high school geometry class full of freshman and sophomores.  As an undergrad I was able to handle statistics.  So there is something to the notion that if the subject is applicable you can do the math, so while I couldn't do it in high school I can somehow do it now.

8. Cars.  I grew up in the 1980s and during that time we didn't use helmets and I would ride my bike to work every day and pretty much every where all hours of the day without lights at night through a summer resort community full of terrible drivers from Quebec & Massachusetts.  Where traffic was so heavy it could take 45 minutes to move 1/2 mile in a car.  I have a healthy respect for cars and understand that physics dictate the car will win everytime.

That being said I am not opposed to confronting a shitty driver or calling the cops on one.  I play a game where I recite random license plates as a memory exercise.  Looking over my shoulder frequently is a habit I do as well so that I am not surprised by a car.  I use a blinking tail light and head lights in the spring when I ride in to work early.

A lot of cyclists now use GoPros mounted on their helmet or bikes to record their rides and errant behavior of motorists.  The reason we have to do this, is because sadly a lot of cops will side with the motorist even if it is apparent the motorist is at fault.  Thankfully in my case when I was hit, the cops who arrived on scene understood the law and my rights and faulted the driver.

Cyclists have the same rights as drivers do and with that comes the responsibility to ride responsibly.  Nothing irritates me more than some moronic ass hat running a red light or doing some other egregious behavior on a bike and irritating a motorist who doesn't differentiate between cyclists.  We are all the same to them.

9. The mess.  Yep, many a time I have come home soaking wet covered in grit or post ride wiped down my chain and cassette and come up with greasy hands.  You do an outside sport were there are no rain days you are gonna come home messy at times.  Bikes are not fine china, get out and ride if its above 40 and raining regardless of the weather.

10. You will be recruited.  And that recruitment can vary from following us to take some photos for an essay contest to win a bike or as a possible support vehicle for a ride of ridiculous length.

And finally here's one last point.

Cyclists are inherently lazy, sure we have no qualms riding 100 miles in a day, but will do whatever we can to remain stationary once on the couch.  Have our 6 yr old go grab a can of seltzer - sure.  The adage among the pros is why stand when you can sit and why sit when you can lay down....

Subtle Changes

The Biggest Loser, has come under scrutiny in recent years for the rapid weight loss during the competition and the subsequent gain of that weight back its contestants.  The spectacle and how many eyeballs Jillian Michaels & Co is really all the powers-that-be on that show truly care about.  Otherwise, the weight loss would be a slow burn, with subtle changes.

And that is where I am at right now, the subtle changes stage of weight loss.  I've lost, since Thanksgiving, 15 pounds total.  And am about to start week 6 of zone 2 training.  The weight has come off primarily to dialing my diet back in.  My body chemistry (and let's face it most others as well) does not do well with grains or sugar.  I have found that I can tolerate dairy, so I am eating full fat and grass fed whenever possible.  If I should only be eating what is correct, shouldn't my food as well?

Don't even get me started about what chickens are fed though...

So zone 2, what is it you may be asking?  Well it means that I took my age, subtracted it from 180 bpm and added a bit extra because I started out a bit fitter than most.  Thus when I am out riding it is all about keeping my heart rate to a max of 144.  When I ride inside, if forced too, it is very easy to keep my heart rate below a max of 144.  Mostly this is because I don't experience hills or rollers when I am inside - go figure.

I did one of those side by side comparison photos too after the second month and there were some changes that definitely were visible.  When I take the month 3 photo next weekend I'll be curious to see what that shows in comparison as well.  

Today I rode a filthy 40 miles.  Filthy because the roads were wet and covered with grit and sand towards the edges.  The back of my Quick Step-Innergetic winter jacket was speckled with stains from the road and my bike was filthy.  But it was a great ride, I reversed the loop I'd been doing because why not and to see if it was easier in this direction.  It was, mostly due to the bigger hills being at the start.

Now doing zone 2 means that on the flats and slight rises below 1% grade I am able to move at speeds near 20mph or above if the grade goes into the negative.  With those conditions, my heart rate might get up near 140, maybe 142 but rarely above that or if it gets closer I ease off and it drops like a  stone.  But when I hit steeper longer climbs I find myself at 144 or higher and the thing is, I don't realize it because it's getting easier.

Now climbing really is about power to weight ratio.  So given I've lost 15 lbs obviously going up hill is getting easier but combine that with the zone 2 training, it is getting really easy to the point where I am really having to back off and coast on uphill sections.

I've got another 8 weeks of zone 2 after this week and I am so looking forward to a few things once I am done with it.  In two months time it will late March heading into April, which means I'll probably put the Zipp 404 carbon wheels back on my s5.  April is when I start cyclo-commuting back to work. April is also when I get my cholesterol checked and annual physical.  Once I've finished the 14 weeks I was told to stick to zone 2, I can begin doing intervals again, which means going hard and then going easy and my commute is so ideal for that.  I'll also ride to my doctor visit that month and if all goes to plan absolutely stun them with my weight.  And it will be the first time this year I go up Mt. Agamenticus, which is several months later than I normally do.

So far so good and the post ride chicken with artichokes, spinach & tomato was fantastic and the addition of the Justin's Maple Almond Butter packet was the icing on the cake...

Motivation is nothing new

What motivates you?

For me the answer to that question has changed as I’ve gotten older and had more responsibilities added to my life.  The two biggest motivators for me are my wife & son.  When I got into cycling, neither was in my life and would not be for another 3 and 5 years done the road.  At the beginning cycling was about fun, it was a stress relief and a way to escape the shithole that was my life at that time.

Later and to this day, cycling became a way to manage my cholesterol.  To date I’ve never been put on any sort of medication, my doctor trusted that cycling would with changes to my diet, take care of things and it has.  How the determination of my high cholesterol came about is a tale for another time.  I will provide a tantalizing hint and that hint?  Hydraulics.

Since 9 July of this year, I’ve had another motivator constantly rattling around inside my head.  On that day we (as in the wife, son & I) were headed to a cookout.  I on my bike and they coming along a little while later in the car.  Whenever I get the chance, I always ride to family gatherings or events, so long as there is a place I can change and wifey can meet me there.

The day was beautiful and because the house we were visiting had a pool, I was looking forward to a refreshing swim after the ride.  I’d passed many small ponds on my way, which only served to make my potential swim that much more enticing.  However, the swim and cookout weren’t to be part of my agenda that afternoon.

I came upon an intersection in East Concord, NH, one that I’d ridden through on at least a half dozen occasions with a local cycling club.  That day I was alone, descending a hill at speed (30mph) and took to the center of the travel lane to make myself more visible to the cars entering and exiting the intersection.

NOTE: Because I was traveling at the posted speed limit, I was/ am able to take the lane by law.

As a cyclist you develop an almost uncanny ability to know which vehicles will try and sneak out in front of you and which will wait for you to pass by.  The car that pulled out in front of me was a case of the former.  Except for one small detail, the driver did not look or if she did it was such a fleeting glimpse that did not allow her to see the guy bedecked in red, white & blue with flashes of yellow on his helmet.  How pray tell do I know this and state this so matter of factly?  She never made eye contact with me.  Even wearing sunglasses I can stare down motorists and give them a shake of the head to indicate, nope bad idea, I am going much faster than you think I am.

Like many I am prone to profanity at times and as you’d imagine this was one of those times.  Except I only unleashed a brief torrent in the seconds I had available to brake.  You see, the motorist in question pulled out in front of me with less than a foot between us.  How exactly she did not see me is something only she could attest to, and possibly only under cross examination; but I digress.

Now physics was never one of my strong suits.  Coasting to pass does not begin to describe my high school physics experience.  But I do know that nothing nor no one but the Flash or Superman could have stopped so short, so suddenly.

The sprinter Mark Cavendish says he can remember every minute detail of his victories as though time slows for him.  That was the case with me, I remember yelling at her.  I remember her reaction and face when she saw me (all too late of course).  I remember thinking what would become of my wife & son.  I remember hitting the car.  I remember the sound of my bike impacting the rear of her car.  I remember thinking this is going to hurt.  I remember being thrown up and over the trunk.  I remember hitting the pavement.  I remember my head bouncing off the pavement.  I remember rolling and coming to rest on my hands and knees.  I remember seeing my bike, lying in the middle of the road, the front wheel not where it should be and knowing it was gone.

The only thing I can’t recall?  How my left knee was gashed open.  Most likely my knee struck the end of my drop bar, but at this point who knows.

The next 10 minutes or so were a blur, between people coming to check on me, EMTs, the police and having to call wifey.  I soon found myself packed into the back of an ambulance.  All the time I sat on the ground assessing my body for damage, the driver a young girl stood off to the side visibly upset – as she ought to have been.

I was lucky that I walked out of the ER that day.  I was lucky that the driver was cited for failing to yield. I was lucky that the officers who responded understood what had happened and that cyclists have rights too.  I was lucky that she has motor vehicle insurance as it is not mandatory in NH.  I was lucky that her insurance company came to its senses when they saw my wrecked bike and realized they got lucky that I was not still in hospital so they paid me the full value of my bike.  Later they would value my life at less than what my bike was worth.  Could I have fought them for more money?  Sure, but I wasn’t after a payday and just wanted it all behind me.  However it does amaze me that they’d value property more than life.

A few days after the accident we went & got the police report.  The officer at the scene had come to the ER to check on me and followed up with a call the day after.  From those conversations I knew that they were citing the driver and I was the victim.  She had failed to yield to an oncoming vehicle – me.  However the statements given by the driver and her boyfriend got me riled up.  As one would expect they lied, blatantly outright lied and tried to put the blame squarely on my shoulders.

 In fact the boyfriend had the gall to be upset that I did not talk to them while I sat there bleeding, my finger swelling and utterly dejected at the thought of losing my bike.  You see often in situations like this, just as with cars insurance companies won’t pay out the full value of bicycles.  And anyone that knows me well knows my bike had been built up overtime and was an expensive piece of gear. In fact I'd hazard a guess that the wheelset on that bike i.e. the front & rear wheel cost more than her car was worth.  That this ignoramus wondered why I did not speak to him or his gal pal is fuckin’ unbelievable.  

Their attitude is what motivates me now along with my walking out of that hospital that afternoon. I was lucky and feel an obligation to do something to educate the masses regarding the value of life.  A bicycle is not just a child’s toy.  A bicycle can be a high performance mode of transport from a to b.  A bicycle can be a form of therapy, a form of medication, a thrill ride.  A bicycle is about absolute joy and sheer pleasure. And above all else a bicycle is a celebration of life.

Yield to Life: Regarding the SUV and a 12 yr old Boy in Dover, NH

I read with disgust this morning how an SUV struck a bicyclist and not an adult cyclist mind you, but a child, in Dover, NH.  I’d ask what it is about cyclists that get the ire of motorists, but I know the answer to that question.  As an avid cyclist myself, I find myself shaking my head all too often at the ignorant and fool hardly behavior of other cyclists.  For instance since school has resumed, I’ve seen several kids riding in the dimly it, pre-sunrise mornings in Barrington, NH sans helmets, headphones on and no reflective clothing or lights.  Or there is that old chestnut, cyclists riding more than one abreast and not getting single file when a car comes up from behind.  Cyclists have a right to use the same roads as motorists.  The argument that we don’t pay usage fees such as excise or registration fees doesn’t wash for those who use it as an argument to get us off the roads.  Until this past year I didn’t have a child, yet I paid taxes that went to educational services; you didn’t see me complaining.

Now back to the 12 yr old, the boy who was struck down.  He was lucky, yes his arm was broken, but he lived, all too often we hear of vehicle cycling interactions that do not end on relatively happy notes.  This woman disregarded the rules of the road.  I looked on a map, she would have had to stop and cut over a lane.  The Boy had to turn right, thus he had the right of way, not her and it was her responsibility to stop and yield.  What was she doing that she did not see him?  Or for that matter how important was her eventual destination that she had to endanger the life of another person.  The fact that neither she nor the other motorist who scolded him stopped to actually check on him, speaks a great deal to their humanity, of that there can be no argument.

As we’ve seen with this scenario, the cyclist vs. motorist interaction always favors the motorist – always.  The physics of car/ cyclist interactions dictate no other outcome than damage or death to the cyclist.  So why is it so imperative for someone to put another person’s life in danger?  The next time you see a cyclist and have to turn into a lane they are in or pass them, remember to yield to life because that person is someone’s father, mother, daughter, son, brother or sister, not some random person who you don’t know.
In my next blog or the one thereafter, I'll discuss my own experience in the car/ cyclist arena.

Yield to Life.

Thoughts on Lance or Why I Don't Care If He Doped

Last May (2010) a firestorm erupted when Floyd Landis admitted to doping to win the 2006 Tour de France.  He’d tested positive, been to trial to clear his name and failed.  Most cycling fans believed him guilty and a few held out hope that perhaps he was the victim of poor science.  All that came to an abrupt conclusion when he admitted his guilt.

However, the story did not end there, since then he has made allegations concerning Lance Armstrong and several former members of the USPS cycling team.  Tyler Hamilton also has made allegations, but he too like Floyd is a disgraced former rider.  I applaud both of them for coming clean, but to me it seems a bit like sour grapes and or a publicity stunt.

Those that know me well enough to know that cycling is a big passion of mine have asked me over the course of the last year what I think of this story.  Specifically do I think Lance cheated?  As someone who discovered the sport of cycling through him, his exploits have always had a special place for me and his battle to return to a sport where no one wanted him inspired me in a situation I went through in grad school.

I discovered the sport of cycling through him; prior to 2004 I had heard of Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France and Greg LeMond but never took an interest. In fact, I had thought that because he rode for the US Postal Service Team, that he was a mailman who competed in the Tour like other people compete in the Olympics!  I didn’t realize cycling was a sport of professional athletes.  It had been close to ten years since I had regularly ridden a mountain bike. Then one July day I saw the finish of stage 17 where Lance came from several hundred meters back and beat Andreas Kloden (Team T-Mobile) to the line. From that moment I was hooked. I’d played little league (not very well) and followed the Red Sox, but I knew I could ride a bike, but I didn’t know they could be ridden like that. I got It’s Not About The Bike and became a fan and lucky for me an uncle owns a bike shop so I was able to get into the sport at a cost that was a bit less than it would have been for someone else.

So by now you might be asking yourself, okay so what is the point of this? Well I’ve noticed that there are two Lance camps divided between those who dislike and believe he doped and those who go beyond the fanboy mentality. I would fall into the grey area somewhere in between.  As someone who grew to love the sport beyond just one rider I’d categorize myself as being on the fence. Now I’ve seen all the pro Lance material and read the books. I’ve also read the Ashenden Interview and read what Betsy Andreu has stated. I’d like to think that I’ve been presented with as much evidence as is possible and because as an archaeologist I was trained to look at the facts and from there come to a conclusion that I would be able to. However I still can’t decide, maybe part of me doesn’t want to come to a decision.

And in reading the Ashenden interview on NYVelocity I got to wondering was there ever any background on why Damien Ressiot from L’Equipe was doing the article in 2005 and needed Lance’s dope control test results? I guess for me I’d like to know what came first the tests or the original article. What was the intent of the article as originally intended? And maybe this will never be known now. The point I’ve read both here and I believe in the Ashenden Interview being that the lab didn’t know whose urine they were testing, but if the reporter got the test results back first he could have passed that information along.

And of course there is the argument that if everyone else was doing it, was it cheating. This point I know has been brought up as well as the argument that EPO wasn't banned back then. This is similar to the arguments for & against both Barry Bonds & Mark McGwire in relation to the home run record and Major League Baseball's abysmal stance on doping and PEDs.

I basically reduce my feelings on the subject matter to this.  The Tour has to some extent always been dirty.  Regardless of what Henri Desgrange intended, in fact one could argue it was his puritanical and almost sadomasochistic rules that forced the riders to cheat.  Go back and look at early Tours, the riders were hard men that had to do whatever they could to survive.  Long before Floyd Landis was stripped of his crown Maurice Garin was stripped of his tour victory for cheating – he took rides on trains.  During the Golden Age of cycling, post WWII, Gino Bartali would send riders to inspect the hotel room of his great rival Fausto Coppi, to see what sort of medicinal aids were in the trash.  I believe it was Jacques Anquetil, first five time winner of the Tour that said, the Tour cannot be won on water.  Doping has always been a part of cycling and only in the last 13 years or so has it become something that is discussed in the open and treated harshly. 

Lance from an early age was a gifted athlete, of that there is no doubt, just research his triathlon career.  The cancer changed his body mass.  Look at early pictures of him from his Motorola days and compare those pictures to his USPS period and you’ll notice a heavier rider early on.  The guy had an engine and a massive chip on his shoulder, which allowed him to win.  Did he seek out other ways to ensure victory, maybe, but so did others and in the end he still beat them.

When I got into the sport of cycling in 2005, for me it was all about Lance.  I got a Trek because Lance rode Trek.  I got a Giro helmet because of how they supported him during his cancer treatment.  I got other gear all because Lance used it and then when he retired I looked for other cycling stars to follow and that is when I really fell in love with the sport.  At the same time and over subsequent years I found that it was his engine and determination more so than the gear that mattered.  In cycling, high end gear differences really come down to the riders engine.  Case in point, Fabian Cancellara, 4x World Time Trial Champion, Swiss TT Champion and Olympic TT Champion, has ridden several different brands of bicycles to his aforementioned victories.  And so I became less of a fanboy and a more balanced fan of cycling, I fell in love and delved into the history of the sport and the athletes that make it up – past & present.

So honestly, I don’t care one way or the other if he doped.  He was still the better athlete and put on a great show.  Lest we forget professional sports is entertainment, no matter what we’d like to think.  And part of me thinks this investigation is based on sour grapes.  With all the food recalls we hear about, shouldn’t the FDA be worried about that and not a guy that brought hope to millions of people and provided an entertaining spectacle?  During the seven year period that he ruled over the Tour, he only had one instance of bad luck (2003 on the climb to Luz Ardiden), which in itself is a record.  Thus even if he doped I don’t care, because he wasn’t the first and he wasn’t the last.  He put 110% into the Tour and winning it and did just that and in the process brought hope to millions of people, not just cancer patients/ survivors but to anyone that has ever been laid low by something and told you can’t. 

He said I can and he did.