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Cycling Lance Armstrong Documentary

Posted on 4/19/24 at 9:09 pm
Posted by POTUS2024
Member since Nov 2022
11152 posts
Posted on 4/19/24 at 9:09 pm
For those interested, just found this on youtube the other day. 100 mins long. Very good. Lot of things I had not seen before about that era. Definitely is intended to make Lance look bad, but still interesting. Some good content with Greg LeMond and others. He and some others tape recorded some phone calls and those are played.

Lot of content on friendships, sort of the evolution of how Lance began doping, what was being done at US Postal, conversations (intimidation) to get people to stay quiet, and the gradual exposure of everything.

It does not do a good job at portraying how prevalent doping was or how the UCI (cycling governing body) was aware but was turning a blind eye to things within cycling overall. And it has some screen time for twats at USADA, who have proven to be morons.

Quite a bit of time for Frankie Andreu and his wife. Frankie and Lance were roommates early in their careers, while on Motorola, and after Lance's comeback from cancer, and getting on US Postal, Andreu was there but eventually was let go from the team. Andreu and his wife paid a toll during that saga. She's not a fan of Lance.

When Lance came back to cycling after his first retirement a journalist (former pro rider) referred to him as a cancer, which was incredibly inappropriate - I remember this vividly and it was behavior like that which caused me to see the media in a poor light and feel like it was a witch hunt, while ignoring all of the other people that were doping. This exchange is in the video.

A tragedy in that saga was that the good things Lance did were all forgotten. He helped raise about $1B for cancer issues. People tried to call him a fraud but his recovery was not a fraud. Recovery and doping are two completely different eras in his life.

Anyway, it's a good watch if you have the time. Took me about 3 days to get it completed.

Posted by crazyLSUstudent
391 miles away from Tiger Stadium
Member since Mar 2012
5517 posts
Posted on 4/19/24 at 9:17 pm to
I’m watching the 2000 Tour right now because I was too young to watch it back in the day. They had a 250 KM mountain stage deep into the 2nd week of the tour. That is so freaking savage, no wonder these boys were doped to the gills.
Posted by TexasTiger08
Member since Oct 2006
25527 posts
Posted on 4/19/24 at 9:50 pm to
I’m starting to have the same feelings toward Lance that I do guys like Barry Bonds. So many people did it that the playing field wasn’t that out of balance.
Posted by Lonnie Utah
Utah!
Member since Jul 2012
23970 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 7:29 am to
quote:

I’m starting to have the same feelings toward Lance that I do guys like Barry Bonds. So many people did it that the playing field wasn’t that out of balance.


I was a massive cycling fan way back when and used to ride 1000s of miles per year. Over the years, soured on Lance because of how he treated people. That being said, EVERY competitor that shared a podium with Armstrong during that era was busted for doping at sometime during their career.
Posted by POTUS2024
Member since Nov 2022
11152 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 7:32 am to
quote:

I’m watching the 2000 Tour right now because I was too young to watch it back in the day. They had a 250 KM mountain stage deep into the 2nd week of the tour. That is so freaking savage, no wonder these boys were doped to the gills.


I've been watching some old TDF as well. I loved watching Pantani, Ulrich, and others. It's odd watching those things and seeing Lance or someone glide up a mountain and appear to be pretty comfortable doing it. After Lance started winning, the grand conspiracy was that the TDF organizers were orchestrating the route to sabotage him, because the French didn't really like to see Americans doing well at their race.

2003 Luz Ardiden after Lance gets flipped over is one of the greatest stretches in cycling history, to me. He went on a rampage to win that stage but others waited for him as is the custom. It was just a great display of some of the things I appreciate about the sport.

I remember at that time, after his first TDF win, people postulated why he went from great cyclist (he'd won a world title before cancer) to dominant champion - some people thought the cancer had caused so much weight loss that when he recovered, he managed to not put back on any mass in the upper body, making him lighter, making his cycling improve. He had been a triathlete prior and people thought that the period with cancer got rid of his residual upper body mass etc etc etc. I'm sure that did happen, but obviously, the drugs played a role as well.

That era is a fascinating time in cycling. In my college at UF, one of the professors was a triathlete and loved cycling. He'd seen me out training so he'd say hello. He stopped me once and asked if I'd read Lance's book. He said he read it non-stop over a weekend. I immediately went out and got a copy and read it. There was so much energy back then as Lance kept winning. Bike shops had a renaissance. When LeMond was winning it wasn't the same - internet wasn't a thing. Very interesting time.
Posted by crazyLSUstudent
391 miles away from Tiger Stadium
Member since Mar 2012
5517 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 12:22 pm to
quote:

I've been watching some old TDF as we


Yeah it’s been fun to learn about guys who were the dudes of their day like Moreau, Zulle, Olano, escartin, Heras, & mancebo. And the bikes look so old. Crazy how much frame design has changed in just 20 years. Their bikes look more similar to the frame Anqetil was riding compared to what Jonas is riding these days.
Posted by Diseasefreeforall
Member since Oct 2012
5528 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 12:53 pm to


I got one of these aluminum bad boys in grey back in 1992 and it felt like I was riding a rocket. I still love aluminum. Later I put carbon forks on it because with those metal ones you really felt every bump in the road.

And can't forget Virenque when mentioning those other dudes. The French housewives' heartthrob.
Posted by GEAUXT
Member since Nov 2007
29247 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 3:23 pm to
Lance's personality is a turn off. Other than that, I couldn't care less that he doped. Everyone else was doing it. He still had an incredible gift and worked his arse off.

If every single rider, including Lance, was 100% clean the outcomes could very well have been the same.

Posted by Alabama Slim
2009,2011 BCS National Champions
Member since Jul 2007
9936 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 3:39 pm to
The TDF's the last 10-15 years makes me wish for the day when the cycling community just agreed to look the other way. The racing was much more exciting.
Posted by mizzoubuckeyeiowa
Member since Nov 2015
35516 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 3:57 pm to
quote:

I’m starting to have the same feelings toward Lance that I do guys like Barry Bonds. So many people did it that the playing field wasn’t that out of balance.


Many commentators have said, Barry felt he was getting left behind after the Mac/Sosa year. With cycling, you were left behind 20 years prior. I don't know if it started with the Spanish doping system of which Nadal was a beneficiary...but before there was Lance, there was Miguel Induráin.
Posted by crazyLSUstudent
391 miles away from Tiger Stadium
Member since Mar 2012
5517 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 4:02 pm to
quote:

The TDF's the last 10-15 years makes me wish for the day when the cycling community just agreed to look the other way.


Froome era sure but these days they attack each other up the mountains pretty consistently
Posted by BradBallard
Wilmington, Delaware
Member since Jun 2020
354 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 4:49 pm to
quote:

I got one of these aluminum bad boys in grey back in 1992 and it felt like I was riding a rocket. I still love aluminum. Later I put carbon forks on it because with those metal ones you really felt every bump in the road.


1992 Cannondale R400 with Shimano 7sp RX100 group. That was my first road bike too! Loved it!

Speaking of aluminum, I just bought a 2016 aluminum trek Emonda with 105 for use as a travel bike for $600. Thing is badass. If I was still doing crits, I’d race the crap out of it.

Posted by billjamin
Houston
Member since Jun 2019
12505 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 5:22 pm to
quote:

Speaking of aluminum, I just bought a 2016 aluminum trek Emonda with 105 for use as a travel bike for $600. Thing is badass. If I was still doing crits, I’d race the crap out of it.

I recently had to part ways with my late 90s ZR2000. Loved that bike.
Posted by bamaphan13
Member since Jan 2011
992 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 7:11 pm to
The mental make up of a person to become the “greatest” like a MJ, LA, Tiger or Kobe does not create positive personality traits.

I think I read that the closest competitor in all his TDF wins that was never suspended or suspected of doping finished like 17th.


Posted by YungBuck
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2017
1759 posts
Posted on 4/20/24 at 7:15 pm to
Had a Viner from the 1980s old steel frame with the shifter on the tube as my first bike and grew into it, by the time I finally switched to a carbon fiber bike at 19 I wasn't used to it lol
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