Doping Scandals Have Soured My Spring Classic Excitement

Vino charging for the "win" at L-B-L (from cyclingnews.com)

Next month there are several classic spring racesin the world of pro cycling. The Paris-Nice, Milan-San Remo, and Gent-Wevelgen are few World Tour races among many more national and local races that will open the 2012 season. For serious cyclists, like the owner of this blog who is in the middle of a heavy week of training, it signals the beginning of his cycling season. Spring classics in Belgium and other locales, are tough, ugly races that separate the field between those who have been busting their asses all winter and those who have been surfing the couch.

Presumably, the winter training is honest – like our man in Rocky IV. Illegal blood transfusions, intravenous drips, and injections are despised. They inflate muscles with mass; lungs and egos with hot air. Nor is drug use in a very cinematic match to the ethos in bicycle racing. Jaded, I’ve previously buried my disdain for drug use in the sport, but Monday’s news of Contador’s guilt and Armstrong’s free pass made me more sour than ever.

David Roman’s report in the Wall Street Journal lead with, “Elite cyclist Alberto Contador has been stripped of his 2010 Tour de France victory after being found guilty of doping charges, an international sports arbitration court announced Monday.” Shortly thereafter, I saw a tweet on Lance Armstrong’s innocence from a story in the L.A. Times, and the irony was palpable. From the LAT report:

“This is what happens when you have a lot of money,” said Betsy Andreu, who along with her cyclist husband, Frankie, has testified in a separate civil case that she heard Armstrong acknowledge using performance-enhancing drugs. “It’s why Lance hired the attorneys he hired with political backgrounds. He got it quashed,” she said.

Contador, on the other hand, will have to sit cycling’s sides lines this season as his teammates, former and current, compete in races he’s trained for. Contador now joins an infamous list of Armstrong’s teammates who have been found guilty of drug-enhanced performance. This list includes, Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamiton and Alexandre Vinokourov among several others. The list of past Tour de France stage winners found guilty of doping is far longer. From the WSJ report:

“This is a sad day for our sport,” Pat McQuaid, the UCI president, said in the statement. “Some may think of it as a victory but that is not at all the case. There are no winners when it comes to the issue of doping: every case, irrespective of its characteristics, is always a case too many.”

Sadness, despair, disappointment are understandable emotions for passionate cyclists, aspiring pros and weekend racers alike. Sure, the tabloids have their fun touting the trials and tribulations of professional athletes off the field, but those stories are always on the fringe of the sport’s integrity. Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress come to mind, yet Vick has returned to the game with modest success and in part, the NFL thrives on it. Like the NFL’s dark CTE secret, professional cycling’s doping wounds seem too deep to repair.

But for the racer who enjoys Double the Speed of Wheels, I believe there is hope. A friend of mine was lamenting the hipster fixie fad the other day, and said that unlike the current trend, BMX is way too blue collar to fall victim to such fashion. I agreed. While we may become jaded by our heroes, guilty of doping and those rich enough to void it, the weekend racers will still remain under the radar.

From my own experience, I raced a lot of c(r)ash road crits before Lance started winning all his tours, and met a lot of people who still race after Lance’s notoriety encouraged guys to trade their Titleists in for new Treks. Even after the TDF champ has retired from the professional ranks, the amateur, the blue-collar racer is what bike racing is all about.

For the regular rider and racer, the bicycle is in itself – a process, a ride, the journey. The adage reminds us that the latter is more important than a destination, finish line or trophy. Self improvement and self knowledge are the true virtues of cycling. It is a vehicle for transport and a vehicle to become a better person both physically and mentally. The pomp and circumstance that requires riders to pump chemicals and subscribe to hormone treatment is just not worth the price admission in my book.