This past Sunday I rode from Castro Valley, out through Redwood Rd and into the Oakland Hills. Redwood Rd is a ride I've done a ton of times. (I would guess at least 50 probably even more) It's one of the first real climbs I did after getting my road bike several years ago and has been sort of a benchmark for me ever since.
It's a two and a half mile climb from the golf course to the entrance to the campground. It's not brutally steep but it is a very good measuring stick by which to gauge my fitness level. In the beginning, this was a 2 stop ride to the top meaning I couldn't do it without stopping twice to recover. I've never had to stop on the way up since the first couple of times, but there have been varying levels of enjoyment/suffering throughout the years.
I've never been fast, but there have been times when I could do this in under 15 minutes and feel pretty good. There have been other times when it's taken me more than 20 minutes and I've arrived at the top spent and wishing I had rested part way up.
This past Sunday was one of the less enjoyable days...thankfully my GPS was home charging so I don't know how long it actually took me, but I do know when I got to the top, I was hurting and it was almost tomorrow....
The rest of the ride was pretty much more of the same. Uphills that killed me and downhills that weren't quite long enough to recover. I spent the day getting passed by everyone and the only person I actually passed was walking his dog up the street.
The bad news is that the ride was painful and I ended up actually cramping up towards the end. The good news is that like a decrepit crack fiend, I have no-where to go from here but up....
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Mental Health Day....
Yesterday I did something I haven't done in a while. I skipped church and went for a bike ride instead.
And I have to admit, I didn't even feel guilty about it. The past few weeks have been crazy busy and my time in the saddle has not been at all what I hoped it would be when I made my resolution to ride more this year.
So, yesterday, instead of getting up early and going to church, I got up early, loaded up my ipod with a bunch of worship music and headed out into the hills to spend some time enjoying God's creation. And it was awesome!
My fitness level is nowhere near where it should be so every climb was painful and every descent a chance to recover. Unfortunately on the route I had chosen, the easy flat spinning portions were few and far between.
A long painful climb is a perfect opportunity to spend time inside my head thinking about life and how blessed I am. Although I live in the city, I have, within a 10 minute drive, a myriad of opportunities to get out into the surrounding hills and enjoy His creation. The roads that connect the cities of Hayward and Oakland are unlike either place. Where at both ends I have traffic, stoplights, gangs and end to end strip malls that look identical to every other one, the roads in between are populated by hills, narrow roads, redwood trees, eucalyptus groves, and an opportunity to avoid people and imagine I live somewhere idyllic.
Anyone that watches the news has an idea and an opinion of what Oakland is like. And, unfortunately, a lot of those opinions are true for portions of the town. What most people don't know is that the hills above Oakland are some of the more expensive and exclusive neighborhoods in the bay area. The views alone guarantee that.
The weather on Sunday was absolutely perfect. Clear and cool, but not as cold as it has been of late. While the views from the top of Skyline are always good, there was a bit of wind on Saturday which ensured that come Sunday morning you could literally see for miles....Another great reason to live where I do...
After taking a few pictures, I put my earbud back in and enjoyed the rewards of the morning climbs. Nice, long, fast downhills with absolutely no traffic....
Eventually, I made it back to the truck and feeling completely spent and blissfully happy enjoyed a Peet's coffee on the ride home while thinking again, how blessed I am to be able to miss church yet still have a morning enjoying God's goodness....
And I have to admit, I didn't even feel guilty about it. The past few weeks have been crazy busy and my time in the saddle has not been at all what I hoped it would be when I made my resolution to ride more this year.
So, yesterday, instead of getting up early and going to church, I got up early, loaded up my ipod with a bunch of worship music and headed out into the hills to spend some time enjoying God's creation. And it was awesome!
My fitness level is nowhere near where it should be so every climb was painful and every descent a chance to recover. Unfortunately on the route I had chosen, the easy flat spinning portions were few and far between.
A long painful climb is a perfect opportunity to spend time inside my head thinking about life and how blessed I am. Although I live in the city, I have, within a 10 minute drive, a myriad of opportunities to get out into the surrounding hills and enjoy His creation. The roads that connect the cities of Hayward and Oakland are unlike either place. Where at both ends I have traffic, stoplights, gangs and end to end strip malls that look identical to every other one, the roads in between are populated by hills, narrow roads, redwood trees, eucalyptus groves, and an opportunity to avoid people and imagine I live somewhere idyllic.
Anyone that watches the news has an idea and an opinion of what Oakland is like. And, unfortunately, a lot of those opinions are true for portions of the town. What most people don't know is that the hills above Oakland are some of the more expensive and exclusive neighborhoods in the bay area. The views alone guarantee that.
The weather on Sunday was absolutely perfect. Clear and cool, but not as cold as it has been of late. While the views from the top of Skyline are always good, there was a bit of wind on Saturday which ensured that come Sunday morning you could literally see for miles....Another great reason to live where I do...After taking a few pictures, I put my earbud back in and enjoyed the rewards of the morning climbs. Nice, long, fast downhills with absolutely no traffic....
Eventually, I made it back to the truck and feeling completely spent and blissfully happy enjoyed a Peet's coffee on the ride home while thinking again, how blessed I am to be able to miss church yet still have a morning enjoying God's goodness....
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
The New Year, A Time of for Reflection and Resolutions....
New Year's Day...a time of resolutions...new beginnings...a chance to look forward to see what the coming year holds for our lives. It's also a time to reflect on the previous year....Today, several of my friends and I took a bike ride over the Golden Gate bridge and up into the Marin Headlands. Once you cross the bridge, Conzelman Rd to the top is nice steady climb with amazing views. It was also a great chance to spend some time inside my head reviewing the previous year. Yes, there have been some challenges, but our lives have also been tremendously blessed.
Both of our daughters have grown into smart, beautiful, strong, independent women of faith. Both my wife and I have good jobs, we live in a nice home and have food on our table. Our health, while there have been some challenges, is good and we want for nothing.
One of my favorite things about cycling, in addition to the fitness benefits, the places it takes me and the friends that I've made through it, is the ability to just check out during a nice long climb. It seems that in a world where we're busy from the time we wake up until we go to bed at night, the ability to just zone out aand contemplate the world's problems is a rare thing.
Eventually, the climb ended and with it the introspection. As I stopped looking inward and took note of my surroundings, I was once again driven to realize just how blessed I am. It's the first day of January and I'm at the top of a hill, admiring an amazing view and hanging out with good friends. Life is definitely good!The result of this is that not only has my weight gone up and my fitness level down, my "balance" has been upset. I've found that my normal positive disposition has soured slightly, my ability to see the silver lining has dimmed, and my ability to shrug off the small stuff has been diminished.
This year, I plan on getting that balance back. I "resolve" to ride or get some sort of exercise regularly and I resolve to reclaim my life from the evil forces of work and responsibility and spend more times in places like those in the photos from yesterday's ride.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Multi-Tasking is not a strength
This past Saturday I had plans to smoke a bunch of cheese to send out as part of Christmas gift baskets. Smoking cheese, as you can probably imagine, is kind of tricky. You have to get the smoker warm enough to get the woodchips smoldering, but not so warm that the cheese melts.
It's a process that requires constant monitoring of the smoker, opening and closing the door to maintain temps, turning the heating unit on and off and generally just paying close attention…..Anyone who knows me can already see where this is going right?
I had gone to the local costco, picked up several large bricks of various types of cheese, sliced them, lined them up in the smoker and prepared to begin. I soaked the wood chips to generate smoke without burning and was all set. I turned on the smoker, set to 100 degrees, figuring as soon as it hit that, I'd shut it down.
Not long after I turned it on, I called Dell support to help me with what I thought was going to be a quick video driver issue I was having with my external monitor. I figured I could knock this little project out while waiting for the smoker to come up to temp…(in case you weren't paying attention, this is in direct conflict to the statement above about needing to pay close attention)
Well….Dell, being Dell, wasn't quite as quick at solving my issue as I hoped, and an hour and ten minutes later, having completely forgotten about the smoker (ok, so multi-tasking may not be one of my skills) the laptop was still not fixed and Dell told me to call Acer, the external monitor maker.
Hanging up frustrated I looked out back and noticed my smoker was going strong and producing a nice head of smoke……oh crap!
I wish I had taken pictures…..4 lbs of cheddar, pepper jack and monterey jack had turned into a 4lb blob of hot, gooey, yellow and white stuff oozing out the bottom of the smoker…..The upside is that cheese, being mostly fat and oil, cleans up relatively easily….and at least now my smoker s nice and clean which is something else I had hoped to do at the end of the day.
The other good news is that last night's round went off without a hitch and everything is bagged up and in the fridge to age for a week before serving….
It's a process that requires constant monitoring of the smoker, opening and closing the door to maintain temps, turning the heating unit on and off and generally just paying close attention…..Anyone who knows me can already see where this is going right?
I had gone to the local costco, picked up several large bricks of various types of cheese, sliced them, lined them up in the smoker and prepared to begin. I soaked the wood chips to generate smoke without burning and was all set. I turned on the smoker, set to 100 degrees, figuring as soon as it hit that, I'd shut it down.
Not long after I turned it on, I called Dell support to help me with what I thought was going to be a quick video driver issue I was having with my external monitor. I figured I could knock this little project out while waiting for the smoker to come up to temp…(in case you weren't paying attention, this is in direct conflict to the statement above about needing to pay close attention)
Well….Dell, being Dell, wasn't quite as quick at solving my issue as I hoped, and an hour and ten minutes later, having completely forgotten about the smoker (ok, so multi-tasking may not be one of my skills) the laptop was still not fixed and Dell told me to call Acer, the external monitor maker.
Hanging up frustrated I looked out back and noticed my smoker was going strong and producing a nice head of smoke……oh crap!
I wish I had taken pictures…..4 lbs of cheddar, pepper jack and monterey jack had turned into a 4lb blob of hot, gooey, yellow and white stuff oozing out the bottom of the smoker…..The upside is that cheese, being mostly fat and oil, cleans up relatively easily….and at least now my smoker s nice and clean which is something else I had hoped to do at the end of the day.
The other good news is that last night's round went off without a hitch and everything is bagged up and in the fridge to age for a week before serving….
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
It's All Starting To Come Together....
Which, of course is much better than it all coming apart...
Back in 2010, I and a group of my friends got involved with the non-profit group TurningWheels for Kids. Our involvement was that on a Saturday, at the beginning of December, we put together a team, head down to San Jose and helped them assemble bikes which they in turn gave to charities for kids at Christmas. It's their Annual Big Bike Build....and it's an awesome event where over 900 volunteers got together for a day to assemble over 2000 bikes!
It was a really rewarding and an incredible experience combining my passion for bikes and my desire to give something back. I'm a firm believer in the bible verse that states, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded". And, while I know that times are tough and we're all working harder and harder to make ends meet, I still hold to the fact that I live in the greatest nation in the world, have been blessed abundantly and am far better off than many in my community and am richer than most of the world's population.
With this in mind, I began a dialogue with Sue, the founder of TurningWheels for Kids about how to expand upon their one day Bike Build and what I could do to get involved a little deeper. But, as is usually the case, life got busy, the holiday's passed by and the conversation died. Then, after the 2011 Bike Build, and additional conversations with Sue, she sent me an email in January telling me there were others in my area that wanted to go deeper....and would we like to get together to meet.
And so it began....We launched the TurningWheels for Kids Tri-Valley Chapter at the end of January and here we are, 11 months and many hours later getting ready to host the First Annual TurningWheels for Kids Tri-Valley Bike Build. Over the past months we've put together an amazing group of volunteers who, in turn have; raised almost $40,000.00, purchased 493 bicycles, helmets and locks, found a build location, arranged raffle prizes, set up breakfast and lunch, arranged for pickup and delivery of all 493 bikes, sought out, vetted and established relationships with 9 different charities, and found and organized almost 150 volunteers to help pull it all together. (pretty sure there are at least a thousand other tasks I've forgotten)
The really amazing thing, is that they've done all this with a smile on their face and I have to admit, it's really been a joy. Sure it's stressful at times and I do wake up in the middle of the night thinking of things that need to be done, but for the most part, this has been one of the most fulfilling projects I've ever been involved in.
So, for the next few days I'll continue to stress and worry about a bazillion little details, because that's just what I do, but come Saturday I'm sure everything will work out just fine and I along with 150 of my new friends will assmble and donate 493 bicycles to be given to kids at Christmas.....and we all know, there's pretty much nothing better than a new bike at Christmas. (too bad my wife doesn't read my blog)
Back in 2010, I and a group of my friends got involved with the non-profit group TurningWheels for Kids. Our involvement was that on a Saturday, at the beginning of December, we put together a team, head down to San Jose and helped them assemble bikes which they in turn gave to charities for kids at Christmas. It's their Annual Big Bike Build....and it's an awesome event where over 900 volunteers got together for a day to assemble over 2000 bikes!
It was a really rewarding and an incredible experience combining my passion for bikes and my desire to give something back. I'm a firm believer in the bible verse that states, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded". And, while I know that times are tough and we're all working harder and harder to make ends meet, I still hold to the fact that I live in the greatest nation in the world, have been blessed abundantly and am far better off than many in my community and am richer than most of the world's population.
With this in mind, I began a dialogue with Sue, the founder of TurningWheels for Kids about how to expand upon their one day Bike Build and what I could do to get involved a little deeper. But, as is usually the case, life got busy, the holiday's passed by and the conversation died. Then, after the 2011 Bike Build, and additional conversations with Sue, she sent me an email in January telling me there were others in my area that wanted to go deeper....and would we like to get together to meet.
And so it began....We launched the TurningWheels for Kids Tri-Valley Chapter at the end of January and here we are, 11 months and many hours later getting ready to host the First Annual TurningWheels for Kids Tri-Valley Bike Build. Over the past months we've put together an amazing group of volunteers who, in turn have; raised almost $40,000.00, purchased 493 bicycles, helmets and locks, found a build location, arranged raffle prizes, set up breakfast and lunch, arranged for pickup and delivery of all 493 bikes, sought out, vetted and established relationships with 9 different charities, and found and organized almost 150 volunteers to help pull it all together. (pretty sure there are at least a thousand other tasks I've forgotten)
The really amazing thing, is that they've done all this with a smile on their face and I have to admit, it's really been a joy. Sure it's stressful at times and I do wake up in the middle of the night thinking of things that need to be done, but for the most part, this has been one of the most fulfilling projects I've ever been involved in.
So, for the next few days I'll continue to stress and worry about a bazillion little details, because that's just what I do, but come Saturday I'm sure everything will work out just fine and I along with 150 of my new friends will assmble and donate 493 bicycles to be given to kids at Christmas.....and we all know, there's pretty much nothing better than a new bike at Christmas. (too bad my wife doesn't read my blog)
Sunday, November 4, 2012
The Ability to Suffer....
Last night was the last Thursday ride for the season that will start in the daylight. This weekend will be the end of daylight savings time (or is it the beginning? I can never remember) so starting next Thursday, we'll need lights from the very start of the ride.
(yes - I know I haven't yet posted Day 2 of the Tahoe trip, but I'm still trying to get pictures and video edited)
We had a little bit of rain on Wednesday night/Thursday morning so the trails at Lake Chabot were perfect. Hero-Dirt as I believe it's referred, for the traction it provides and last night was no exception. After a summer of dry, powdered sugar over hardpack conditions, where we ended every ride looking like pig-pen, last night was a treat.
The trails were damp and tacky, but not muddy. Traction was incredible and the weather was cool, but not cold....a perfect evening for a ride. I, having had kind of a crazy week, decided I needed to work through some issues and brought the single speed. The single speed forces me to give 100% of my concentration thereby preventing me from thinking of work, or life or all of the myriad of projects I still need to finish.
As I'm sure I've mentioned in other posts, this has not been a great year for me fitness-wise. I've ridden just enough to maintain a base level of fitness but am way off my normal mileage for the end of the season. As a result, bringing the single speed out tonight meant that Brandon, the first long climb of tonight's ride, was going to hurt.....and it did...
One thing though that I think is common, no actually make that required, among cyclists is the ability and the willingness to suffer. People ask me when I mention a nice long ride, but don't your legs hurt, or your butt? Or why I ride a single speed or why I prefer rides with lots of climbing, but doesn't that just make it harder? Why yes, yes it does.
I've found among most of my riding friends that the same mentality exists. The desire to go just a little further. The willingness to push the limits of what their bodies are used to. I mean sure, I have friends that prefer nice social rides to the coffee shop and there's definitely a place for that.....but most of the serious cyclists I know actually prefer pushing their boundaries a bit just to see if they can.
It strikes me as I type this that cycling is actually like a lot of things in life. The ability to continue to move forward when things get tough is a characteristic that can be found in marriage, in our jobs, in our friendships, pretty much in everything we do.
These thoughts were bouncing around in my head as I continued to stand and make circles with the pedals, willing my heart rate to mellow and trying my hardest not to have my lungs explode out of my chest. Then, another thought dawned on me....one which I shared with Jack as we finally got to the top of the climb.....it's the end of the season....we're supposed to actually be in shape by now....
From here, we could have done the regular loop, but in a desire to suffer just a bit more, we decided to add in Redtail and Soaring Hawk. The suffering continues....things actually went ok. As long as I kept my pace mellow, my heartrate stayed under control. My legs though, were a different story. By the time we got to the Soaring Hawk, Cottontail intersection, both Jack and I agreed we had had enough....we dropped down Cottontail to the regular loop and finished the ride on that route.
Still, the last climb up to the parking lot on the road had my legs asking for a break and when we finally got to the truck after just under 2 hours, I was ready for a beer and a rest.
The weather ended up being perfect, the trail conditions were ideal, the bike performed flawlessly....now if I could just get the motor tuned up and running better, I'd be all set.
(yes - I know I haven't yet posted Day 2 of the Tahoe trip, but I'm still trying to get pictures and video edited)
We had a little bit of rain on Wednesday night/Thursday morning so the trails at Lake Chabot were perfect. Hero-Dirt as I believe it's referred, for the traction it provides and last night was no exception. After a summer of dry, powdered sugar over hardpack conditions, where we ended every ride looking like pig-pen, last night was a treat.
The trails were damp and tacky, but not muddy. Traction was incredible and the weather was cool, but not cold....a perfect evening for a ride. I, having had kind of a crazy week, decided I needed to work through some issues and brought the single speed. The single speed forces me to give 100% of my concentration thereby preventing me from thinking of work, or life or all of the myriad of projects I still need to finish.
As I'm sure I've mentioned in other posts, this has not been a great year for me fitness-wise. I've ridden just enough to maintain a base level of fitness but am way off my normal mileage for the end of the season. As a result, bringing the single speed out tonight meant that Brandon, the first long climb of tonight's ride, was going to hurt.....and it did...
One thing though that I think is common, no actually make that required, among cyclists is the ability and the willingness to suffer. People ask me when I mention a nice long ride, but don't your legs hurt, or your butt? Or why I ride a single speed or why I prefer rides with lots of climbing, but doesn't that just make it harder? Why yes, yes it does.
I've found among most of my riding friends that the same mentality exists. The desire to go just a little further. The willingness to push the limits of what their bodies are used to. I mean sure, I have friends that prefer nice social rides to the coffee shop and there's definitely a place for that.....but most of the serious cyclists I know actually prefer pushing their boundaries a bit just to see if they can.
It strikes me as I type this that cycling is actually like a lot of things in life. The ability to continue to move forward when things get tough is a characteristic that can be found in marriage, in our jobs, in our friendships, pretty much in everything we do.
These thoughts were bouncing around in my head as I continued to stand and make circles with the pedals, willing my heart rate to mellow and trying my hardest not to have my lungs explode out of my chest. Then, another thought dawned on me....one which I shared with Jack as we finally got to the top of the climb.....it's the end of the season....we're supposed to actually be in shape by now....
From here, we could have done the regular loop, but in a desire to suffer just a bit more, we decided to add in Redtail and Soaring Hawk. The suffering continues....things actually went ok. As long as I kept my pace mellow, my heartrate stayed under control. My legs though, were a different story. By the time we got to the Soaring Hawk, Cottontail intersection, both Jack and I agreed we had had enough....we dropped down Cottontail to the regular loop and finished the ride on that route.
Still, the last climb up to the parking lot on the road had my legs asking for a break and when we finally got to the truck after just under 2 hours, I was ready for a beer and a rest.
The weather ended up being perfect, the trail conditions were ideal, the bike performed flawlessly....now if I could just get the motor tuned up and running better, I'd be all set.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Feet of Clay....
If you say someone you admire has "Feet of Clay" you're usually referring to the fact that that person has hidden faults or a character flaw. The analogy actually goes back to the bible where Daniel interprets a dream had by the then current king of Babylon, Nebechadnezzar in which he saw a great statue who's feet were made of half iron and half clay. The premise being there was a large, heavy object with a brittle, unstable base.
Last night, as I watched the premier of The Levi Effect, knowing that he and a whole slew of professional riders had recently confessed to doping led to some very conflicting thoughts as I sat there in the theater.
There have been events and decisions in my life that I would not be proud of and while feeling fully justified at the time of their making, have regretted them later. I would love to say that in every instance when facing a decision, I've chosen the moral and ethical path, but that's not the case. I have always made those choices though, knowing that were they to come to light I would own up to them, but in my heart of hearts I always hoped they would just pass by without ever coming due.
I think its interesting that there has been such an outcry and villianization of the pro cyclists that were caught. And yes, the majority of them were "caught". Very few have actually confessed and came clean and most would probably have tried to hide their dirty little secret forever had not the anti-doping agencies, the government, the cycling bodies, whatever pursued them to the point that they had to confess.
I was struck last night as I thought about the whole doping issue that yes, all of the riders had a choice to make and need to be responsible for their own decisions. BUT, it's really not as black and white as many of us would like to think. For us, who ride recreationally, it's easy to say we wouldn't have done it. If it was our livelyhood though, and you had bills, a mortgage, a family to feed, whatever......would it be that easy to say no?
Take this same scenario to other sports where people have dedicated their lives to acheiving their position. Many, to the exclusion of school, learning a trade or developing a market-able skillset and put them in a position where in order to keep their jobs, feed their families or put a roof over their head and ask them what they would do?
It's easy for us to judge and condemn these people. We've put them up on a pedestal and made heroes of them. People we don't even know. People that are above all, human, frail, prone to err and when they do come crashing down for any variety of reasons we feel cheated and angry and want to make examples of them for their transgressions.
Did the cyclists use illegal and banned substances, yep.
Should they pay the penalty, yep
Did they damage the sport in some way, probably
Will a witch hunt and public flogging of them fix the sport? Not at all
Many say punishment is a deterrent to crime and I actually agree that if you think you'll get caught, you are less likely to commit a crime - after all, most criminal never think they'll get caught. But, I think that the doping issue is much bigger than just the users. I think that a society that rewards victory at all costs and an industry that promotes, condones and even makes excuses for illicit behavior like professional sports has done for years carries a large part of the responsibility for curing itself.
I imagine, had some of the cyclists attempted to take the high road, the same teams that so quickly dropped them and denied any knowledge would have replaced them with riders more willing to "do what it takes to win"
Like I said at the beginning of this post, the movie generated some conflicting thoughts and I haven't come up with any hard and fast answers, but something has to change.
I've also come to a few conclusions:
- These are basically good, decent people that made bad choices in the pursuit of their dream
- Many of these supposed "villians" have leveraged their fame and noteriety to do tremendously good things
- It's not like taking a performance enhancing drug made their lives easier - they still worked their asses off and rode their bikes for hours and hours in all kinds of weather
Last night, as I watched the premier of The Levi Effect, knowing that he and a whole slew of professional riders had recently confessed to doping led to some very conflicting thoughts as I sat there in the theater.
There have been events and decisions in my life that I would not be proud of and while feeling fully justified at the time of their making, have regretted them later. I would love to say that in every instance when facing a decision, I've chosen the moral and ethical path, but that's not the case. I have always made those choices though, knowing that were they to come to light I would own up to them, but in my heart of hearts I always hoped they would just pass by without ever coming due.
I think its interesting that there has been such an outcry and villianization of the pro cyclists that were caught. And yes, the majority of them were "caught". Very few have actually confessed and came clean and most would probably have tried to hide their dirty little secret forever had not the anti-doping agencies, the government, the cycling bodies, whatever pursued them to the point that they had to confess.
I was struck last night as I thought about the whole doping issue that yes, all of the riders had a choice to make and need to be responsible for their own decisions. BUT, it's really not as black and white as many of us would like to think. For us, who ride recreationally, it's easy to say we wouldn't have done it. If it was our livelyhood though, and you had bills, a mortgage, a family to feed, whatever......would it be that easy to say no?
Take this same scenario to other sports where people have dedicated their lives to acheiving their position. Many, to the exclusion of school, learning a trade or developing a market-able skillset and put them in a position where in order to keep their jobs, feed their families or put a roof over their head and ask them what they would do?
It's easy for us to judge and condemn these people. We've put them up on a pedestal and made heroes of them. People we don't even know. People that are above all, human, frail, prone to err and when they do come crashing down for any variety of reasons we feel cheated and angry and want to make examples of them for their transgressions.
Did the cyclists use illegal and banned substances, yep.
Should they pay the penalty, yep
Did they damage the sport in some way, probably
Will a witch hunt and public flogging of them fix the sport? Not at all
Many say punishment is a deterrent to crime and I actually agree that if you think you'll get caught, you are less likely to commit a crime - after all, most criminal never think they'll get caught. But, I think that the doping issue is much bigger than just the users. I think that a society that rewards victory at all costs and an industry that promotes, condones and even makes excuses for illicit behavior like professional sports has done for years carries a large part of the responsibility for curing itself.
I imagine, had some of the cyclists attempted to take the high road, the same teams that so quickly dropped them and denied any knowledge would have replaced them with riders more willing to "do what it takes to win"
Like I said at the beginning of this post, the movie generated some conflicting thoughts and I haven't come up with any hard and fast answers, but something has to change.
I've also come to a few conclusions:
- These are basically good, decent people that made bad choices in the pursuit of their dream
- Many of these supposed "villians" have leveraged their fame and noteriety to do tremendously good things
- It's not like taking a performance enhancing drug made their lives easier - they still worked their asses off and rode their bikes for hours and hours in all kinds of weather
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)