Lemond cannot let go

[creekster]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?...ng_interbike08

LA has a news conference at Interbike (Arch, did you go?) to announce his racing schedule and describe his testing regime and Lemond shows up, in the front row, and criticizes the regime as being irrelevant (specifically he says the T/E ratio is 'irrelevant'; really? try telling that to Landis who was busted for having his T/E ratio out of whack).

Now Lemond may have some good points, but I think once again he is letting his bitter beer face get the best of him here. Why piss on Lance's parade now? Wait and see, and then let him have it later, once the actual web postings take place.

LA also suggests that he is not racing to win, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. If I was Contador I would be unhappy for two reasons. First, the team and Johan will have a presumptive interest in working for the old war horse and not me (and all Contador has done is win all three grand tours in the last 2 years) and, two, it is going to be an absolute CIRCUS everywhere LA goes and this will distract even if Contador does well. Say LA is leading or near the top of the peloton and then contador busts out on Hautacam (or something like that) and puts a minute into him. Ask yourself if the press goes to Contador or to LA first? This will be hard for contador to swallow no matter what, but it would be particularly galling, I suspect, if it was your own teammate and your own DS that are involved. This will be interesting, at the very least.

[mattbikeboy]

It was a crazy press conference for sure. Greg surprised everyone in the press and in Lance's group as well. It got tense in there for a couple of minutes.

Greg places the same intense effort into his crusade against doping and he did into winning races. I don't know if it is sour grapes as much as frustration with a system he knows to be broken. I think Greg is right on the money in regards to doping in the peloton and the lack of real effort in cleaning up the sport. Lance's doctor promised to make Lance's training data available for people to look and study. I think Greg was wanting data from Lance's TDF winning days made public as well -- so that those physiological measurements that don't change with age or training (only doping) can be compared. I don't even think he is only attacking Lance, rather I think he is challenging everyone to come clean and offer this same data. Lance is just a very popular figure and Greg could get a lot of attention on the subject -- which he did today.

Here are a couple of shots from today's exchange:

Lance looking at Greg.


Greg looking a little skeptical.

Crazy morning for sure. Many of us came out of there wondering what just happened.

mbb

PS -- I don't think Contador is ever going to be happy with Lance on the team -- even if Lance can't get back to form. It would be too much attention drawn away from Alberto's own accomplishments.

[SteelBlue]

I'm going to admit that I'm still a Lemond fan. Did he go too far yesterday? Probably. But I think it would be hard to have been a champion and to believe that doping by others made you irrelevant quicker than you otherwise would have been. He feels like he was America's greatest cyclist because he rode clean, but he only got a decade of anyone agreeing with that sentiment.

[creekster]

Mattbb, thanks for the input. Sounds like you were there, which begs the question: why were you there? Are you an exhibitor, do you own a shop or, like Arch, are you just a wealthy warrior-rider who goes to be the first in your pace line with the latest gear? Seriously, it sounds like you are well-connected to th industry and even if you choose not to reveal how it is you are connected, I beseech you to keep us informed of the info you do get.

What is Greg's crusade against doping? Either he has one and the press ignores it but for his confrontations with LA (which may justify those confrontations), or he only has a jones for attacking LA. Lemond's crusade seems more about the subtext of getting people to concede that he was a great rider until there was doping and that LA does not deserve the adulation he receives (which might be true anyway, but it is not a zero sum game involving LA and Lemond).

I grew up on Lemond, as I have recounted in this forum before, and I think he was a great rider. And he has been through a lot, including the mess that was the Landis hearing. Even so, what Armstrong is doing is without question a step in the right direction. It just seems to me that he should have been quiet at the conference and waited until the exact contours of LA's drug testing program is revealed. Instead, it looks like he is just a bitter old poop.

Also, agree with you about Contador. If I were him I would be ticked.

[mattbikeboy]

Originally Posted by creekster

Mattbb, thanks for the input. Sounds like you were there, which begs the question: why were you there? Are you an exhibitor, do you own a shop or, like Arch, are you just a wealthy warrior-rider who goes to be the first in your pace line with the latest gear? Seriously, it sounds like you are well-connected to th industry and even if you choose not to reveal how it is you are connected, I beseech you to keep us informed of the info you do get.

What is Greg's crusade against doping? Either he has one and the press ignores it but for his confrontations with LA (which may justify those confrontations), or he only has a jones for attacking LA. Lemond's crusade seems more about the subtext of getting people to concede that he was a great rider until there was doping and that LA does not deserve the adulation he receives (which might be true anyway, but it is not a zero sum game involving LA and Lemond).

I grew up on Lemond, as I have recounted in this forum before, and I think he was a great rider. And he has been through a lot, including the mess that was the Landis hearing. Even so, what Armstrong is doing is without question a step in the right direction. It just seems to me that he should have been quiet at the conference and waited until the exact contours of LA's drug testing program is revealed. Instead, it looks like he is just a bitter old poop.

Also, agree with you about Contador. If I were him I would be ticked.

I'm just one of the working poor (okay, sports photographer). I've been covering all the racing events this past week for various bike and sport magazines like Luv2Bike (a new local cycling mag), Triathlete Mag, MTO Bikes, and Mountain Bike Action (if they go for it --my Cactus Cup shots).

Anyway, I think Greg feels his career was cut short by the dopers. There was that Greg LeMond special a year or two ago where you could see his frustration when he mentioned that guys who were off the back one year were suddenly much, much faster the next year. At the same time Greg felt he was in better condition than the year before and he was struggling to keep up. Not long after that season the Festina doping scandal broke and some of his suspicions were confirmed.

Zoom forward a few years and you see this rider win all these TDFs and people attribute it to training and dedication (no question). At the same, just about all the top riders in the peloton behind had been caught or named in doping investigations. If I remember correctly it is something like 8 of the top 10 in the 2005 TDF have been caught or investigated.

I think that Greg feels that there has been very little meaningful change in the doping regulation and enforcement and also a real lack of desire for Pro Tour / UCI / ASO to really change anything -- you know the bite the hand that feeds you type of thing.

I believe Greg when he says he loves the sport and wants to fix it. I talked to him and he really is sincere in this desire. He loves to ride and talk about cycling and can still kick some behind when he rides. I think it is ironic that people are so fast to jump to Lance's defense when it is most likely that he too has benefited from a rigorous pharmacological program before and after cancer treatment. But he is a national hero and anyone questioning him will be vilified.

Yesterday Greg was asking for data from Lance's earlier career that can be compared to current tests. There should be no doubt that Lance will be riding clean this time around. I still root for Lance when he races --maybe not as much as I used to though. Just like I did for Jan, Tyler, Michael, Alex and Floyd.

mbb

[MikeWaters]

Mbb, sometime, if you have the desire, I would love to hear tips on cycling photography.

I've photographed a crit, and a velodrome. But the velodrome was before I had a telephoto lens.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Mbb, sometime, if you have the desire, I would love to hear tips on cycling photography.

I've photographed a crit, and a velodrome. But the velodrome was before I had a telephoto lens.

Nice photo but it is a little blurry.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by creekster

Nice photo but it is a little blurry.

It's a panning shot. You have to adjust the exposure time, depending on what you want. Too much time, too blurry. Too little, then you don't get that blurred background effect.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

It's a panning shot. You have to adjust the exposure time, depending on what you want. Too much time, too blurry. Too little, then you don't get that blurred background effect.

I know. I was just joking. It is a nice shot. I used ot support my spending money habit in HS by taking photos of the HS teams and selling them to the parents. I did all the darkroom work myself. I was not a very good photographer but I learned that film was cheap (back then, and if youbought bulk and loaded it yourself) and that if you took hundreds of shots, a few would tunr out good enough to sell. I also found that parents will buy even crappy shots of their kids.

In any event, I like your shot.

[mattbikeboy]

I live south of the airport by Silverado HS and ride mostly in Green Valley and Henderson or mountain biking with the Desperados (a dozen of us in the stake).

I shoot for Luv2Bike but haven't raced with them -yet! I'm thinking about going to ride the 24 hours of Moab with them though. The cover shoot in the new issue is mine and I've had stuff in the last three issues and had stuff published in VeloNews and on the Bicycling magazine and Triathlete magazine websites. Mostly I've been doing this as a side gig for fun and extra cash for gear. I was the Creative Director at a sign company until a month ago when they laid me off -- so now I'm shooting a little more earnestly. It's sad but I make considerably more doing kids sports pictures than I do selling anything to magazines.

Anyway, Greg's timing was interesting. His timing could have been very good if he would have set up a his own press conference and presented a plan for fixing cycling -- and been more articulate! He had most everyone in the cycling world media nearby and could have easily persuaded them to come to another press conference.

As it is, he came off a crazy old man who doesn't like Lance. :shock: And most of the media ignored him in their articles about the press conference. It seems Greg is having a hard time finding a sympathetic ear when it comes to reforming the anti-doping system. When you hear Greg talk about it he is extremely knowledgeable about doping, physiology and training. I think he gets so fired up he looses it a bit.

mbb
http://www.lvactionimages.com