Role model: who is yours?

Use this board for general non-cycling-related chat, or to introduce yourself to the forum.
User avatar
Cowsham
Posts: 4963
Joined: 4 Nov 2019, 1:33pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Cowsham »

Maillot Rouge wrote: 9 Apr 2021, 11:38pm
Cyril Haearn wrote: 8 Apr 2021, 8:19am An almost forgotten American cyclist who did not win the tour de France seven times springs to mind, may his sins be forgiven?
I don’t think he’s almost forgotten at all.He’s in the cycling press as much now as he was when racing!
As for forgetting his sins well it’s debatable as to whether he committed any or not.
I read his book " it's not about the bike " it is a very good book and would still highly recommend it.

He did mention his body shape changed after the cancer treatment -- now we know why. But the question must be, "who in that sport was not on the Smarties?" To compete with those boys you'd need a lot of help.
I am here. Where are you?
Mike Sales
Posts: 7883
Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Mike Sales »

Cowsham wrote: 10 Apr 2021, 2:35pm But the question must be, "who in that sport was not on the Smarties?" To compete with those boys you'd need a lot of help.
Christophe Bassons.
Jean-Luc Gatellier said in L'Équipe:

It's true he's not one of them and he hasn't come out of the same mould. It's true that he refused to 'load the cannon' (the pretty expression used by those who take EPO) these past years, it's true that Christophe Bassons doesn't belong to the family of cheats and the corrupted.
As he later told Bicycling, "The 1999 Tour was supposed to be the "Tour of Renewal," but I was certain that doping had not disappeared."
" . . . and then Lance Armstrong reached me. He grabbed my by the shoulder, because he knew that everyone would be watching, and he knew that at that moment, he could show everyone that he was the boss. He stopped me, and he said what I was saying wasn't true, what I was saying was bad for cycling, that I musn't say it, that I had no right to be a professional cyclist, that I should quit cycling, that I should quit the tour, and finished by saying [*beep*] you. . . . I was depressed for 6 months. I was crying all of the time. I was in a really bad way." - Bassons, from BBC Radio 5, 2012 10 15
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Bassons
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
User avatar
Cowsham
Posts: 4963
Joined: 4 Nov 2019, 1:33pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Cowsham »

Same in weight lifting hence I only competed in junior competition but once I turned 20 that was it for me.

About a year after that, the unmentionables were in the junior competition too cos one chap told me he was taking them primarily to make sure he won a competition before he turned senior.

He shocked me by his candor and the desperation but I had already told him I was leaving the competition side of things because of the drugs in senior amateur.
I am here. Where are you?
Mike Sales
Posts: 7883
Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Mike Sales »

I would not take as a role model a man who treated Bassons like that for speaking out, and dealt with Fillipo Simeoni similarly., for speaking out about the notorious Dr. Ferrari.
More famous is Simeoni's argument with Lance Armstrong. Simeoni was treated by doctor Michele Ferrari, who was also Armstrong's doctor. Simeoni testified in court that he began doping in 1993, that Dr. Ferrari had prescribed him doping products such as EPO and Human Growth Hormone in 1996 and 1997, and that Ferrari also gave him instructions on how to use these products and that he used them.[4] In 2001 and 2002 Simeoni was suspended for several months for doping use. Armstrong reportedly called Simeoni a "liar" in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde in July 2003. Simeoni lodged a charge of defamation against Armstrong and demanded €100,000. Simeoni announced that he would give any money awarded to him to charity. In 2006 Simeoni dropped the lawsuit.

On the 18th stage of the 2004 edition of the Tour de France, Simeoni gapped up to a breakaway of six riders that posed no threat to Armstrong's leading position. By then, Armstrong was leading the race by seven minutes, and was well on his way to his sixth consecutive Tour victory.[5] Nevertheless, Armstrong broke from the peloton and chased Simeoni down, prompting Armstrong's rival T-Mobile Team to try to catch the breakaway. This would not only catch Simeoni, but end any realistic chance of the six riders in the original breakaway had of winning the stage. The six riders implored Armstrong to drop back to the peloton, but Armstrong would not go unless Simeoni went with him.[6] Armstrong's longtime top domestique, George Hincapie, later recalled being surprised at Armstrong's move, given his all-but-insurmountable lead.[5]

In full view of the television cameras, Armstrong put his hand on Simeoni's back and spoke to him.[7] Simeoni subsequently told the United States Anti-Doping Agency that Armstrong told him in Italian:

You made a mistake when you testified against Ferrari, and you made a mistake when you sued me. I have a lot of time and a lot of money, and I can destroy you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Simeoni
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
User avatar
Cowsham
Posts: 4963
Joined: 4 Nov 2019, 1:33pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Cowsham »

Neither would I but the book is a good read -- especially about his fight with ball cancer.
I am here. Where are you?
Mike Sales
Posts: 7883
Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Mike Sales »

His book is on my shelves, next to Sean Yates's It's All About The Bike and Robert Penn's of the same title!
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
mattheus
Posts: 5044
Joined: 29 Dec 2008, 12:57pm
Location: Western Europe

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by mattheus »

Mike Sales wrote: 10 Apr 2021, 4:04pm His book is on my shelves, next to Sean Yates's It's All About The Bike and Robert Penn's of the same title!
You have an unconventional approach to sequencing. No harm in that.
Mike Sales
Posts: 7883
Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Mike Sales »

mattheus wrote: 12 Apr 2021, 2:38pm
Mike Sales wrote: 10 Apr 2021, 4:04pm His book is on my shelves, next to Sean Yates's It's All About The Bike and Robert Penn's of the same title!
You have an unconventional approach to sequencing. No harm in that.
These rub covers with Willy Voet's Breaking The Chain and Paul Kimmage's Rough Ride.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
Cyril Haearn
Posts: 15215
Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 11:26am

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

I have two books entitled The Flying Scotsman, one is about a locomotive engine, the other is about a brilliant unconventional cyclist, Graeme Obree. I have 'My 19th Tour de France' by Jock Wadley. Anyone seen numbers one through eighteen? :wink:
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
User avatar
NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
Location: English Riviera

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
peetee wrote: 8 Apr 2021, 10:50am I’ve always considered myself a maverick and I’ve never had a role model. I deal with life and it’s situations my own way by just muddling along learning (usually but not always) by my own little successes and bigger mistakes.
Learning by your mistakes (hopefully) vs Copying others (sometimes a vain idea to get better).
Deep respect maybe but no role models, Already said in the beginning of these posts (well I hope that's the way I remember it?)
Made many mistakes and try to learn by them, falling asleep on a motorbike is something I don't want to repeat, certainly don't want to end up on the wrong side of the road in the dark 20 yards from a single decker bus again!

I brought a book many years ago on Dave Scott, early 80s "Dave Scotts triathlon training"
I perhaps should have another look at it as it's got quite good detail on swimming cycling and running.
IIRC, something up on one of the disciplines I'm sure he said something like if you've tried everything and you still can't keep up try copying the person in front.
I have actually done that once, in a swimming pool trying to keep up with a ultra long distance swimmer who had a really unusual style, It worked!

Wiggo Frustrated in not being able to beat Tony Martin, so he lowered and copied his cadence, then he beat him.
There is much to be said for low cadence especially when you're not in a time trial or sprinting In my experience, and I have always had a very low cadence, if I'm not wishing to put out 350 W for an hour then it won't be 95 rpm.
Wiggo was of course in a TT at the time.
There you go..........
No surprise then that high cadence is something that is sometimes completely unnecessary, it's been proved to be somewhat wasteful.
Two years ago it was 350 W now I struggle on 250. Bloody medication!
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
User avatar
Cowsham
Posts: 4963
Joined: 4 Nov 2019, 1:33pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Cowsham »

Mike Sales wrote: 13 Apr 2021, 10:35am
These rub covers with Willy Voet's Breaking The Chain and Paul Kimmage's Rough Ride.

They sound like they could sandwich " The Joy of Sex " :lol:
I am here. Where are you?
thirdcrank
Posts: 36776
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by thirdcrank »

Audax67 wrote: 25 Dec 2019, 5:29pm Robert Marchand; at least, that's the name I fling at the quack when he tells me I'm not as young as I used to be.
I see that Robert Marchand has died at 109 years old. From his obituary in the Daily Telegraph:-
... When he turned 106 doctors advised him to stop his hunt for world records.

He reluctantly obliged, but refused to quit racing entirely, and in 2018 finished a 4,000-metre race at the Vélodrome National. He celebrated his 107th birthday with a 20-kilometre ride in the Ardèche, but gave up cycling outdoors a year later because of hearing loss. ...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/ ... rds-100th/
User avatar
Cowsham
Posts: 4963
Joined: 4 Nov 2019, 1:33pm

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by Cowsham »

Some pup that Robert Marchand.
I am here. Where are you?
User avatar
NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
Location: English Riviera

Re: Role model: who is yours?

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
The trouble with role models is you are bordering into making some idols.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
Post Reply