In the exotic extremes that so many now go to in sport of any kind, doping is just one extreme among many. A big reason why there’s any shock with sports like cycling in the US is that the pro level SEEMS to connect to the everyday public fun citizen level of racing.
Yes, it’s bike racing time again!
We just watched XC ski racing at the Olympics, where the Russians jetted away at the end of the 50k like it was a 1k sprint. Gosh, they were strong…
Maybe it’s all a big hit that Tweed Rides are where it’s at! 🙂
And extremes aren’t only in the pro’s, sport is casual for many at the citizen level but even there we have a sizable number of folks for whom it is a lifestyle of high personal value and high expense (that they are happy to pay for) and which they’re already extreme about, and for them drugs are just another toy, I mean tool.
In Europe there’s more segregation. You don’t have a day of racing where first it’s kids then citizens then later in the day the pro’s finally race. It’s not a participant culture. Athletes aren’t “us” — they’re paid gladiators and doping is largely accepted — tsk’ed but known as “the way things are.” The extremes are acknowledged.
Athletes are already working out, in dangerous conditions, for 30 hours a week, regularly getting weeded out by injuries that will impair them for life. They’re being pampered and “adjusted” daily by a masseuse, weird diets and dozens of legal supplements. Their bodies are hooked up to monitors a lot of the time. They mess with the AIR THEY BREATHE. They measure, meter, and plan everything. They ride around in big mirrored busses, flying hither’n’yon. Their stress is managed. Their clothing has rules. Their equipment is like nothing we’ll know. Fresh bikes for every race. If they’re a skier, their tech is hauling around dozens of skis.
Yet even in the pro’s in Europe, lip service is occasionally paid to anti-doping. (Tho not at the 2nd tier.) How often are clean athletes at the top, anyway? Seems like the top 10 have all been busted. We see with the L.A. story that it’s a system set up BY the organizers. L.A. was tough’n’mean but he’s a scapegoat — of laser-intense proportions. Has there been a bigger scapegoat? Lately? He was the figurehead for the culture (built up in every respect by business) and now he’s been taken down. So, has the culture changed?
Heck, even the crystal pure racers, the vegans, are living in an extreme bubble of bio-harshness and collusion at events.
In the U.S. there are layers of segregation, too, and for sure, a different world at the top. (And segregation within the everyday ranks for those who take it “over the top.”) As you work your way up you learn at stops along the way “how things are.”
And once you make the hop to the pro ranks you’re suddenly in the deep end of a brand new pool. Not many people there. No relation to “regular” people. The rules are different. Performances are designed, scripted, to move product. You’re an employee now. In the biz called showbiz. Yet what biz isn’t showbiz? We all have to do things that don’t seem right because it’s the way things are. This is why Europeans are only ever just a little surprised at behind-the-scenes shenanigans. They’re more understanding of the “way things are.”
