Stage 7 - Something Fishy

Elvis finally got a bit of sleep last night - about 4 hours. Still, it’s better than the past few nights and we can hope it’s a sign of better things to come.

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.