Stage 7 - Something Fishy
Although I’m dead tired almost all day long I do put in special efforts to eat and drink. Past Tour Challenges have taught me that slacking in the calorie department can have serious repercussions on the road. I might be taking on a few too many calories since I weigh 3 pounds more than when this stared, although it’s down 2 pounds from the peak at Stage 4.
With legs still heavy from the last two days (134 miles) and no cycling buddies available to ride with I was not looking forward to today’s Stage. More rain this morning mixed with the hot July sun in the afternoon was turning this part of the world into a sauna. If the winds are out of the east it can be significantly cooler near Lake Michigan, so with that thought in mind I headed east with plans to ride south along the lake into Milwaukee for some urban cycling. The temperature dropped about one degree per mile and by the time I hit Lake Shore Drive it was a pleasant 63 degrees. The coolness of the wind offered much needed relief to my legs and lungs. The more I rode the better I felt. The only downside was the heavy smell that was coming onshore with the cool breeze: dead fish. Really dead. Really unpleasant.
Be glad that you
can’t smell it
With traffic lights every
few miles and pretty girls running along the adjacent
path it was a nice ride into the city. It was also
nice heading back north with a slight tailwind. Just
as I cruised out of the city limits I passed a group
of 3 cyclists. We exchanged pleasantries and then I
overheard one of them say, “He can be our
carrot today”. I knew what he meant - they
would let me get some distance ahead and then chase
me down. As I rolled along this began to bother me, I
hate being passed when riding a bike. After a few
minutes I looked back to see them about a quarter
mile behind and closing fast. Why there is an
inherent competitive gene in every cyclist I
don’t know. My legs were fried, I was tired and
I still have more than two weeks left in the Tour
Challenge. Did that suppress the competitive gene? No
way! I knew I shouldn’t but I put my head down,
clicked up to the big ring and began to increase my
speed until I got into a groove at 25 mph. As
difficult as it was it felt kind of good to be moving
fast. On every hill and on the headwind sections I
put in a little extra effort knowing that I was
causing pain in the group behind. After five miles of
this they were losing ground. At ten miles there were
gone. And I was completely toasted. Not only for the
remaining ten miles home - but for the rest of the
night. And for what? They didn’t catch me. It
was worth all of the pain.
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I suppose you’ve heard about the latest doping
scandal at the Tour de France? Read about it HERE. It sounds like there
might be a few more cyclists getting busted soon
since a number of them have
“suspicious” readings as a result of
blood tests. Does this surprise anyone? It
shouldn’t. Elvis has maintained for years
now that almost every athlete near the top of
almost every sport is probably doping in some
fashion or another. The free gains to be had by
taking a little bit of this and a little bit of
that are truly remarkable. And even if a certain
athlete would prefer to remain clean he
understands that his competitors are probably
taking dope and that he will need to just to stay
even. Even athletes in the paralympics succumb to
the siren song of dope (read HERE).
What Elvis finds interesting about the latest cyclist
caught doping is the relationship to Lance Armstrong.
Yes, the guy so many people idolize for any number of
reasons. Elvis does not like Lance because Elvis
thinks that Lance only cares about Lance. Name one
thing that Lance has done for the sport of cycling
since he retired from racing? You can’t. Elvis
believes that Lance owes much to cycling because he
gained so much from the sport. He needs to give back.
Take Bernard Hinault as an example. The man known as
The Badger appreciates what the Tour meant to his
life and what it means to others. He is on the podium
every day helping the Stage winner don the yellow
jersey. Could you see Lance lowering himself by
standing behind another rider and buttoning up the
back of that riders jersey? No way. Or how about
this; just the other day some protester jumped onto
the podium to complain about some socialist thing or
another and what did The Badger do? He kicked the
sorry arse of the protester off of the podium.
Literally. Take a look at this picture of The Badger
kicking arse;
The Badger - doing what
he does best; kicking arse
Could any of us ever
imagine Lance doing such a thing? Not a chance. Lance
would have had his “people” whisk him off
of the podium because Lance would have assumed that
the protester was there because of Lance. In
Lance’s head the whole world revolves around
him. Every thing happens as a result of Lance. Read
HERE how he states that the
entire Astana cycling team was excluded from this
year’s Tour for one simple reason; Lance.
Not because of Astana’s history of fielding
whole stables of dopers. Not because Astana has
embarrassed the sport in general and the Tour in
particular. Not because Astana has a history of
standing behind it’s dopers. Not because
Astana is backed and funded by the Kazakhstan
government which has repeatedly turned a blind eye
to doping in sport. No, the Tour excluded the team
because it’s new manager once worked with
Lance. Right.
Back to the latest doper and Lance. Manuel Beltran
worked for Lance in 2003, 2004 and 2005 by pulling
Lance up many of the toughest climbs in the Tour.
Just had other riders like Floyd Landis, Tyler
Hamilton and Roberto Heras. And what do those guys
have in common with Beltran? Well, in addition to
being Lance’s teammates they’ve all been
busted as dopers and cheaters. Which leaves us with
this to think about; almost every key cyclist that
Lance has ridden with or against has been busted as a
doper and a cheater. Is it reasonable to think that
Lance was the only clean guy in the peloton? Is it
reasonable to think that a clean Lance was still able
to crush all of those other world class athletes who
were aided by dope? I’m just sayin’.
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Today’s Mileage Goal: 50. Miles ridden: 60.
Elvis now has 25 miles in the bank.