Putting Out Fires

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This Nicholas Brandt-Sorensen thing from the past couple days has got me thinking about ways to handle “delicate” situations.  I don’t think that they did a very good job of trying to control the outcry of Nick’s behavior and punishment.

When you’re trying to decrease publicity, it isn’t the best thing to be doing to create more publicity.  And that is exactly what their “tactics” did.

Normally, the weekend traffic on my website is about 2/3’rds of what a normal weekday is.  This past weekend, the traffic was more than double that of a good weekend day.  So about 6X as many people saw the posts about Nicolas than would have if they wouldn’t have sent a cease and desist demand email.

And, of course, Seth at Cycling in the South Bay, was going to get a little more worked up when he got his demand notice.  His post from today is here.  So everyone that races bikes in the LA area is obviously knowledgeable about Brandt-Sorensen and his problems.   This didn’t work out that well for them.

From watching the history of this doping thing and the accusations and admissions, I think the best way to handle it is to admit, then disappear.  Americans are very forgiving to their fallen heroes, not that Nick is a fallen heroes.

I still can’t get over how he is professing to be the  “Top most randomly no-notice bio sampled cyclist in USA”.  I still don’t even understand what that means.  

Is he the best no-notice bio sampled cyclist?  Or he gets tested the most?  I’m not even sure what bio sampled means.  And the weird part is that the only reason he can write this down is because he was positive for a doping violation, so he was on someone’s radar screen.  That is a weird sort of bragging.  

Social media, in general, is a great source of information.  I use it all the time for tons of stuff. Results from races, how to fix things, etc.  But trying to defend yourself seems to be a losing proposition.

There was a link on my website a couple days ago to a Cyclingnews forum and there was a thread about me.  I don’t usually go to these things, but didn’t know what I was clicking on.  The just is below –

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This thread talks about the first post I did about Nick and then goes off about me doping and that I cut the course in races to cheat.  Then it implies that I got “medicines” from Greg Lemond’s father-in-law.  Somewhere earlier it says that Greg was the first rider that brought EPO to the cycling community in Europe.

How ridiculous is all this stuff?  It is so weird because it is sort of close to being correct, but just off a notch enough to make it absolutely wrong.  I guess that is the way rumors start.

I didn’t even consider going into the forum and trying to defend myself, or Greg.  It is a losing proposition.  When I initially responded to the cease and desist email, I had a line about it would just be better if “they” just dropped the whole thing and let it die quietly.  But then thought it wasn’t my business telling someone how to deal with their situation.

Okay, enough of all this.  I’m going to go out for a nice long ride and think about more productive things.  It is spring now, so everything is going to be a little brighter and fresher soon.

Tucker is getting big.

Tucker is getting big.

 

 

16 thoughts on “Putting Out Fires”

  1. Bill K

    Some people take their forum posting very serious. Arguing on the internet makes their day.

     
  5. Mike Rodose

    Just read The link to Seth’s post. Wow – he said it all very clearly. I enjoy reading about hypocrisy and calling out dopers. And doping dope-dealers with a false sense of hurt and indignation.

    Matt DeCanio made a fine point recently, basically suggesting we move on and let Dick Doper wallow without piling on any more. That assumes Dopie doesn’t continue to pursue cease/desist or screw with Tilford.

    But if so, we could move on to other topics. Demare towed, Tucker, only 10 women at Tampa USA Crit #1 and much more to banter about.

     
  6. james

    Well said… “defending yourself on social media seems to be a losing proposition”
    That’s a good line, one I’ll remember to keep in mind. It’s true.

     
  7. Fsonicsmith

    If a scientist from the future could take some DNA from Seth and Steve and merge them we could get an Elite who also has a command for the English language and a tongue as sharp as a doper’s syringe. Or alternatively, we could get a pack-fodder aging Cat 3 who can’t spell but means well.

     
  8. Krakatoa East of Java

    And let us assume (just due to timing alone) that NBS was probably “laying some ground work” for his victory at Masters Natz. We can probably look at his sole USAC “victory” with a grain of salt too…

    08/21/2011 – Summer End GP 15th Annual #6 | CRIT
    1 / 53 – Nicholas Brandt-Sorenson 223572 Sho-air/Rock ‘n Road

     
  9. Krakatoa East of Java

    Man, just think what we all could accomplish, if we were able to somehow harness the collective outrage from of all of us blog and forum commenters, and direct it towards something useful or meaningful in this world. I, myself, am certainly guilty of participating in this worthless debate. I just stepped out of the Steve Tilford blog bubble and read some of the recent global news… Sorry everyone. I’ll try to bite my tongue a bit more in future posts.

     
  11. CAM

    Steve–I’m a huge LeMond fan, and would love to get your take on his palmares. Three Tours and two Worlds are heady stuff–only Eddy won multiple TDF’s and multiple world road titles. But, I’ve always wondered how Greg could have missed out on a classic. I know he came close, but, if he’s the most talented rider of his generation (based on VO2 max, your opinion, etc), why didn’t he win more? Why didn’t he win more stages in Grand Tours, why didn’t he win a classic, why didn’t he win more small stage races, semi-classic, etc? The shooting accident certainly cut into his win total, but from ’81-’86 his list of wins is rather small compared to his peers at that time. I’d love it if you wrote about that topic. Thanks.

     
  13. Krakatoa East of Java

    Lemond: More of a “power : weight” guy than a pure “wattage” guy. To win classics, you needed wattage.

    But if you think about it, he DID win worlds x2. He came in 2nd in Lombardy once. He was also a “summer peaking” guy, not an “early European spring” guy. To win classics, you don’t get it both ways.

     
  15. paul

    That second Lemond WC in ’89 on a brutal course in the pissing rain was epic and kind’ve encapsulated what he was all about as a competitor. The image of him beating Kelly and the Russian on the line in the Stars and Stripes is about as badass as it gets.

     

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