In the Post Lance Era, Pro Cycling is Unmoored
Rushing to make sense of a sport that’s crumbling around them, the major sports publication stand shell shocked, grasping at rumors and gossip like a hurricane survivor waiting for FEMA to show up.
The post Lance era of cycling is unmoored when a joke about Greg Lemond at an anti-doping press conference gets bounced into headlines worldwide. I didn’t believe that Greg was really running for the president of the UCI and said he was a Crazy Mofo in response to the news. He’s not a politican, as Cycling Weekly blogs, or maybe just forgot to check with his wife Kathy first.
Fans and media want to believe in the sport so badly, they’ll embrace ridiculous news like this. Not surprising, when you understand how Lance got away with doping for so long.
Change in the sport will come from a focus on grassroots and the next generation of racers, not reconfiguring the old, guilt-ridden generation that f’d up the sport so badly.
Many like Greg have been marginalized for so long, they’re relishing in the spotlight. Good to see they got their dope-fighting mojo back, but there’s no confidence that their hand waving will do any good.
Runbike racers are huge in Japan
Chicken backflop into a mud bath at SCXWC
Runbikes, gravel grinders, and party racers are making a difference though. They’re a world away from the offices of the UCI or a Change Cycling Now press conference.
Runbike photo: Henry in A’dam
Chicken backflop into a mud bath photo: La Ratta