I’m one of those folks who, fed up with the constant doping allegations in cycling, decided I wasn’t going to follow cycling anymore or watch the Tour. It was so exciting last year to watch, but I ended up feeling like a putz. I didn’t think this would really be any grand gesture, though. I have only a passing interest in most sports and only rarely will sit and watch an event on TV. I’m not a bike geek like some of you guys, either. Truthfully, I don’t really like riding all that much (which is why I’m only running these days). So, it’s come as a real shock how much I miss tuning in to the Tour every day. I miss the finish line carnage; the sometimes hilarious commentary; the pictures of pain and exhiliration; the breakaway; the peleton enveloping the breakaway; the unimaginably steep and long climbs; marvelling at how fast these guys really are; the crowd only inches away from the riders. I resent the dopers – whoever they are – that have tainted the sport. The lure of the sport has not disappeared, but the desire to invest any emotion into it certainly has, at least for me.
Too bad for you. It’s been fabulous and that is only 4 days in. My friend and I emailed back and forth this morning on how much we miss being there and how we really, really need to get back and see it again live. Nothing quite like it.
clm
Professional cycling is presently the cleanest sport when it comes to doping. How many other sports ban participation when one is merely implicated/suspected to be involved in using PEDs?
Watching Barry Bonds last night in the baseball allstar game was a travesty and it pleased me to be able to switch to the exciting finish of Stage 3 of the Tour.
Wait, watching barry bonds is a travesty when as far as we know every single rider in the tour since 1990 has been blood doping since
there is no test for blood doping
I just don’t care, its fun to watch either way. The problem of doping is more of a problem for the athletes health than the fans entertainment… (at least, this fan!)
I would like to see the coverage also.
What station is the Tour on?
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The last Cat 4 Climb on stage one was within sight of my house - unfortunately I was stuck on the motorway at the time it went by coming back from a race. Still I have recorded it so it was great to the beat riders in the world cycling along the roads I train on - will make an interesting Turbo dvd knowing the route pretty well.
My swim coach to this video on the last climb.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nIo3pM-Qwzo
This pics were from another club member:
Cycling is taking meaningful (not perfect) steps to eliminate the problem, unlike the others. If Barry Bonds was a cyclist he wouldn’t be allowed near a bike, much less a bike race, with the circumstantial evidence against him. This maybe different if the riders had a professional union like baseball and football.
I’m thinking that there is probably less general interest in the TDF in the USA since the retirement of Lance than it has to do with doping?
I would like to see the coverage also.
What station is the Tour on?
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Versus (fka OLN)
clm
That may be true, but I know my lack of interest (or should I say refusal to be interested) has to do with doping.
And, I’ve never understood the appeal of the argument that other sports do it worse. So what. I could care less about Barry Bonds’ homerun record. But, what does that have to do with cycling? The fact is, allegations persist that folks in cycling are using drugs that give them an illegal advantage. Why should I cheer for Floyd, only to discover that he cheated his way to the top. Wait, wait – who knows if he really cheated? Was his life ruined for nothing? The testing organizations seem just as bad as the cheaters. Or do the cheaters just do a better job of discrediting the testing organizations? These questions swirl in my mind and irrevocably taint – at least for me – the Tour.
Other than a desire to see Dave Z. do well enough to force the European journalists to interview him, I don’t really care who does what this year.
And I’m discovering I’m having more fun watching when I don’t have a dog in the hunt. The scenery is still beautiful enough to constitute a three week long advertisment for French tourism, Phil and Paul are still highly entertaining, the crowds are fun to watch, and still fun to watch the cat and pigeon game between the breakaways and the peleton.
It’s an event that in most years is so much bigger than any individual rider, or even any given team, and it’s for that great spectacle of an event that I keep watching.
“… allegations persist that folks in are using drugs that give them an illegal advantage.”
Point is that this is prevalent across the board (even triathlon) yet some sports take better steps to eradicate the problem.
You may have to resort to watching Bass fishing (no guarantees here) to find a clean spectator sport (used term loosely).
I was fortunate enough to be in London this weekend. The energy at the finish line of the prologue was incredible. We were going to go to Canterbury for the finish of Stage 1, but we decided against so we watched them ride out of town and then went to Hyde Park to watch the race on the big screen. When McEwen popped up out of nowhere to take the win the crowd went crazy. Being at the Tour is a blast!!!
Wasn’t Tyler bust for blood doping?
I agree that the cycling governing body is being as hardcore as is reasonably possible about stopping drug use and doping
But there is no test for doping!
So there is no reason to believe that anything the governing body is doing is that useful, except preventing people from using steroids or amphetamines.
They can still all bump their hermatocrit to 50
You may have to resort to watching Bass fishing (no guarantees here) to find a clean spectator sport (used term loosely).
You’re too late, saw a news article the other day profiling cheating at tournaments. Contest directors have started using law enforcement and binoculars to keep anglers from adding previously caught fish to their totals. Cheaters are being banned by the specific directors.
if sports such as football and baseball were held to the same testing standards as cycling you’d never have to look forward to watching the Super Bowl or the World Series ever again.
Why should I cheer for Floyd, only to discover that he cheated his way to the top.
Well even if he was doping, Stage 17 was one hell of a performance
yes, because he screwed up and used someone elses blood.
When you use your own blood, there is not currently a test for that. They are working on it though.
The stage 3 win was one of the most exciting bits of cycling I’ve ever seen. Not doing the TV thing I basically read the blow-by-blow report on the BBC website, look at their photos (often excellent) and get a few video highlights off the web. My LBS almost continuously has a big HDTV screen with the Tour of a couple of years ago and LA pushing up a big hill - I don’t care what that guy is - or isn’t - on: it’s jaw-dropping, exemplary cycling.j
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