I saw a few days ago that Lance and some of his old Postal Service team mates are racing the 24 Hour Old Pueblo MTB Race in Tucson in a few weeks. The article said that Lance, George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde and Dylan Casey have put together a team.
I think the whole thing stinks. I didn’t much like it when Tyler Hamilton went and won Mt. Washington Hillclimb when he was serving a two year timeout and I don’t like it anytime that Lance races bikes when he is currently suspended. As soon as his suspension is over, he can have at it.
I know that Lance’s “ban” from sports was partially lifted a few months ago. I’ll find the article. But I know that the ban was lifted in sports other than cycling. Plus a lot of other stuff. Cycling is still off-limits. And I know that it says in sanctioned events. Here is a link to an article.
I did the Old Pueblo race a couple years ago. It was a blast. Lots of life memories. Those guys already have their life memories. False memories, but memories, none-the-less.
Old Pueblo isn’t sanctioned. But there are tons of races, that are races, that aren’t sanctioned. Most Grand Fondos, most MTB races, etc. I really don’t want Lance, and his admitted doping buddies, showing up just to have fun.
In the article I read, George says – “Just bunch of old dudes trying to have fun time in the desert.” If that is really the case, then they should go get a RV and a few cases of beer and have their fun in the desert.
Their fun is overlapping with a bunch of riders that are there to have fun too. But also race. And these guys, the non-doping public, won’t get a thing out of the ex-Postal Service team doing laps with them.
I’m way more interested with Floyd and Dave (Landis @ Zabriskie) doing the Tour of Battenkill this year. Neither of those guys have a lifetime ban from racing bikes, so they are free to enter races to “have fun”.
Whatever. They should just throw the lifetime ban out on Lance and let the dude do whatever he wants on a bicycle. He sort of is already. Might as well make it “legal”.
Think this was the last time Floyd raced battenkill. Maybe 2010? I had to ride on a “Pro”like team to race the race the 2nd weekend.
A bit ironic to see your team jersey has a “Livestrong” sponsor. I’m with you on your “Whatever … ” comment.
Jay – Like I said, I only was a guest rider for those guys for the race. Offical race rules.
I know… just digging at ya. LOL
Did you see the posts about LA and Craddock out on a training ride in Austin?
Dylan Casey still maintains radio silence on his past history with PEDs. See his utterly ridiculous “tech talk” at Google here:
https://youtu.be/zVcKzzB-eF0
Plus they’ll get rock star status at the front. Maybe they’ll hammer the road section in formation & drill everyone off & hit the trail first? Just having fun of course.
We could ignore LA, or continue to give him the attention he wants with blogs, etc.
No one would care if this wasn’t covered
It’s almost , like all those guys have a “DWI” for life. (almost DWI is more serious,I think). They should serve their time and pay about $10k for a new license. I am not a Lance fan but if you do the math 10k x 7 years of doping TDF wins, that’s a $70K new license. Cycling can’t always stop the cheaters but it has to catch them and let those riders know they are giving up a great sport for awhile.
Maybe they should just go participate in the events and not have a press release about it. Promoters shouldn’t be trying to get a crowd with these guys.
It all boils down to one thing; the majority of top pros are douchebags. They started out as douchebags, rose to the top of the pro ranks as douchebags, and remain douchebags after they retire. The douchebaggery sticks out the most as they reach the end of their careers and after they retire because they don’t go away. They keep seeking glory, however they can get it. If that means trying to beat up on some Cat 1s, Elites, and Continental Pros, so be it. I have a friend of a friend who house-sat for Levi Leipheimer when he was out competing. Major douche-he treated this gal like crap. The same Leipheimer who set a course record at Leadville no doubt fully juiced which was just one year after Lance dusted local hero Wiens no doubt fully juiced and the douchebaggery goes on and on and on.
He’s signed up for a Gravel Grinder in North Texas next weekend as well.
What sucks most is that these Freds are probably getting a free entry fee to the event. Every other schmuck will be paying their own way.
Lance and all of the others can have all of their titles, prize monies, racing privileges, give them everything back. I would happily agree with all of this if the shit-show in Washington would stop before I stab myself in the eyes with a couple of No 2 pencils. I’m watching the Obamas and Bidens take off in the helicopter and it’s hard to watch! 🙁
just listen to how much he enjoys hearing “power” roll o ff his tounge. Seriously, go replay it. Power fist!
Constitutional crisis! What an idiot!
All we can do is cancel our registration, demand a refund and let the promoter know that if they allow dopers into the event that we won’t be there. Some things are worth taking a stand on.
Steve, Call him out in it. Don’t complain here on ur blog. U have lances #.
Dopers, line up at the back please.
What difference does it make ?
The guy that just passed you is either doping, blood doping, motor doping, strava doping, airplane glue doping or rope-a-doping.
The only worse kind of dopes than the “I won a Cat 3 bike race once” are the dopes that DNF and 3rd from last year after year because they won’t dope.
Or possibly the retarded girl in Florida setting a record for what must be the most mind numbing repetitive scenery ever. The only thing she’ll gain is to be qualified to work on a mid 1970’s Soviet assembly line.
Lance screwed up the US Postal Service. When he started for them practically no one used email now everyone does.
Next he took down one of America’s finest technology companies… Radio Shack.
Where’s an old man going to get his free battery of the month now ? Answer me that smartass.
Wow Comrade, Did you really just write that?
There is no excuse, you are worthless.
Here’s the move: at the start of the race, just let Lance and Co go off by themselves. Give them a few minute start. Basically eliminate them from the actual competition. Of course, I guess it’s too long of race for that to really work.
The hecklers will take care of them…
Love this line: “If that is really the case, then they should go get a RV and a few cases of beer and have their fun in the desert.”
Comrade Pootin, You are so right about this.
P.S. you made me pee my pants
I really don’t care what events Armstrong signs up for. Non sanctioned events are just that.
Can you imagine if Armstrong ever got a pass, and got a license back…….He’d have to start off as a Cat 5.
This race sells out within hours (solo cat within minutes) of reg opening so these guys are actually getting special treatment just to get in the race at this late date (let alone getting free entry if that is the case).
Steve,
With all due respect, you need to get over your hatred and loathing for Lance and Co. This is an unsanctioned event. Like it or not, he is breaking no rules. He is banned for LIFE from sanctioned cycling events. Beyond that, what more do you want?
Rod
Not even I have to start over as a cat5, and I’ve not held a license in 12 years.
Yeah.. no.. Life requirements kept me from racing between 1992 and 2001.. and they gave me my Cat 2 license back when I asked nicely in writing. Is it really different now? I thought most former pros just get Cat 1 licenses, no?
We want him out of cycling! Pretty simple really..and he can take Hincapie, Christian and Casey with him. If Dylan is any indication, they are all massive a**holes
They should all have to do The Solo Event and then walk home!
Rod – Since he admitted taking the drugs, for virtually his whole career, and understands the sanction, I want him to not take advantage of the way the sport has evolved and not race bicycles. You don’t have to have a license to race a full season nowadays. That wasn’t the case back 15 years ago. Now with all the MTB racing, gravel grinders, and such, you could have a full season of bike racing without ever racing a sanctioned event. It doesn’t seem right.
Like I wrote in the post. I have no problem with him racing his bike when his ban is over. Until then, I wish he’d just do all the other sports his “reduction” allows and stay away from cycling.
“Like I wrote in the post. I have no problem with him racing his bike when his ban is over.”
His lifetime ban should be over when he passes away. Pretty harsh, don’t you think?
Bicycle racing has lost all credibility anyway, so this is really meaningless. Somebody racing a bike is the same as somebody riding a bike, not many people put much stock in results or placing.
You want him to go away. That will not happen since he will get attention when he enters any event, just the way it is. He is infamous now. Just move on he is just a dishonest man. At this point I could care less about him
No! We are not asking for a guillotine. A lifetime ban from competition is reasonable for what they did. They can do charity rides or something. But they should be persona non grata at a competitive event.
You can’t have it both ways. Dopers are Dopers, supporting Floyd is two faced. They all should be banned for life.
Maybe $7 million? They could then distribute this to all those screwed over (lost prize money, business, employment, reputation, etc.) by BigTex. Only when this bastard is reduced back to the white-trash punk he started out as will justice be truly served. Otherwise the message is “Lie and cheat like hell, denounce anyone who tries to point out the truth and laugh all the way to the bank.” Heck, it’s working for Donald Trump, no?
If nobody would line up to “race” with these cheats, the problem would quickly be solved.
If I doping would have made me a better middle school teacher, my profession, I’d have done it. However I wouldn’t have forced or intimidated others into doping.
I can understand Steve’s total dislike of LA and the doping scene in general. He got robbed of many podium finishes by dopers.
I’ve watched Steve race many times , but until I started reading his blog , I never appreciated him. But unfortunately, I think the powers in cycling are against what he believes. Steve , keep up the fight .
But the rest of us need to look into a mirror.
The vast majority of cyclists knew that LA and other podium finishers in the TDF were doping. If you didn’t know 100% by the time LA scored his second yellow jersey , then you didn’t follow cycling very close.
During LA’s 7 TDF victories how many of you couldn’t wait to see the television coverage every day ? You knew he was doping , and yet you loved his victories .
And now everyone is piling on ….
Cycling in the USA was damaged by the LA confession , but cycling was never appreciated by the public anyway until LA came on.
It’s time to move on.
Hero worship will continue .
I’m sorry but you have no idea what you are talking about in regards to former pros. I’ve only met one douche out of 25-30 and that Cipo.
They are doing the team competition. Only one rider on the course at a time.
It’s a team competition. Only one rider’s lap time counts for each lap. So, they could all do the LeMans start (about a 1/2 mile run) and then all hammer the road to the singletrack, but only one person’s lap will be counted. Personally, I hope they do that. But, I doubt they will.
I’m *no* fan of Lance, but there are a lot of good people who do good things for Livestrong as a foundation, and I don’t see how supporting the foundation and its work has to be confused or conflated with support of Lance as a person and as a cyclist.