I was going to write an article on the UCI and their attitude to doping in the past 20 years, but after two minutes of research – I thought, this is too much. I can’t take any more. It is too depressing; it’s worse than politics.
Right now, I’m glad I’m an amateur, racing for nothing more than half a tank full of petrol to get back home and the occasional imitation gold medal from Impsport. I’m glad to be an amateur, but I’m still full of admiration for those riders who are riding clean, and especially admiring of people who are willing to became black sheep of the peleton for speaking the whole truth.
I loved the recent descriptions of the final climb at the Vuelta Espagne on the ridiculously steep Cuitu Nigru climb, with gradients of 24% or more. Riders were using compact gears and fearing they may have to get off and walk. That sensation of going up a climb, which is so steep you might fall over backwards (a la Hardknott pass). I can understand (if not condone) why spectators and riders want to forget all about doping and concentrate on these aspects of cycling. Away from dodgy doctors, and the whole doping problems, it is a great sport.
The doping culture has been so deep rooted in cycling, I begin to understand why the code of Omerta (silence) is so strong, and why riders were so reluctant to even pass a comment on the recent Lance Armstrong case.
If I was a pro cyclist, I’m not sure whether I would learn to keep my mouth shut or speak out on certain issues cycling. I don’t know. Perhaps there is a huge difference between joining the sport as an impressionable young 16 year old, and joining with other life experiences at an older age. Perhaps I’ll never know, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. There’s a £20 prize money for next Saturdays’ West London Cycling Associations 10 mile time trial and I’m off to go out and train.
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