T Mobile grabbed the Tour

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Lance is basically one-parent white-trash, who made the most of his situation, but due to his life, carries a lot of baggage.

That is a bit harsh.

LA is not a nice guy, and probably is not much fun to live with. He is intense and driven and I suspect he is a jerk. He certainbly comes across as one in his own books, especially when you factor into your perception that he is giving the best possible light on the stories in those books.

But, after all, so what? I certainly didn't enjoy his perfromances becaseu I was under the illusion that he was a nice guy. Look, most fo the people in this world that manage to reach a transcendatn level of accomplishment in thier chosen fileds of work or study or play are intenese and driven and not very nice a lot of the time. So what?

[Archaea]

As I understand it, none of these riders who win are nice guys.

Eddy Merckx was a complete jerk.

Greg Lemond still acts like a jerk most of the time.

Something about needing to be single-minded enough requires you be a jerk I guess.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by Archaea

As I understand it, none of these riders who win are nice guys.

Eddy Merckx was a complete jerk.

Greg Lemond still acts like a jerk most of the time.

Something about needing to be single-minded enough requires you be a jerk I guess.

True about Merckx. His sobriquet was The Cannibal for a variety of reasons including how he devoured his competition.

This phenomenon goes farther than bike riding, I think. Gaugin, whose art we celebrate, abandoned his family in france and fled to tahiti, never looking back. Not a nice guy. Look at Hillary CLinton . . .wait, that's another thread. The point being that most super high achiever's are so singleminded about what thye do that they are not nice.