Paul Kimmage on Lance Armstrong

[Smokin Joe]

Armstrong has spent the past decade deflecting and avoiding the real question, however it was asked. He might find it a bit more difficult when it is Federal Agents doing the asking, however.

 

[iAmiAdam]

I didn't find the cancer analogy offensive, but many will think he meant it in this way.

But I feel that if he didn't use it, his argument would be even stronger than it is now.

 

[oldroadman]

Kimmage is a fair journalist. But he is bitter. Maybe not just the LA thing, but with the sport. Probably he should not have turned pro, bacause looking back, he didn't quite have it, and was almost always "fat" in sport terms. All his cycling related work, the continuous battering about Armstrong, are pat of his attack on the sport. It's very sad that he feels this way and is able to get the vitriol publicly exposed. Maybe is he turned his focus on substance abuse in ALL sport, it would have more validity. There's plenty goes on in some very big money sports, and very few positives - which makes you wonder why, because there is too much to lose?
Then of course he admits (in "A Rough Ride") that he used amphets., and we get the whole conscience thing. Sorry I find that hard to accept.
I do wish he would turn his attention to being a bit more constructive, but whilst he makes a living from running the LA/doping theme, he's hardly going to turn off the money tap, is he? And inthe meantime do his one man best to destroy a sport which gives a lot of people a living (not just the riders). Well done, PK. Not.

 

[MacB]

Yes, Kimmage is bitter and yes the 'cancer' jibe was ill conceived but it's hardly surprising, it may even be sinking in for him that, even if LA himself said he doped, there'd still be people that believed he raced clean.

The stats in the link Aperitif provided makes very interesting reading. They've gone to the trouble of calculating power outputs required for given performances. The differences between now and the known 'doping' period is huge and there can be only two possible conclusions:-

1. LA doped
2. LA is a freak of nature and was able to out perform all other pros even with their substance advantages

I think I now better understand why there always used to be reference to Indurains 'amazing' lung capacity.

 

[dellzeqq]

I do wish he would turn his attention to being a bit more constructive, but whilst he makes a living from running the LA/doping theme, he's hardly going to turn off the money tap, is he? And inthe meantime do his one man best to destroy a sport which gives a lot of people a living (not just the riders). Well done, PK. Not.

I accept a lot of the criticism of Kimmage, but this is a bit unfair. If the sport is destroyed (and, by sport I suppose you mean professional cycling) then it will be because sponsors walk away from it because cycling tarnishes their image rather than brightening it. And that, surely, will be down to the UCI not seeing beyond next month's cheque, and teams like Astana behaving badly.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Kimmage was a very talented amateur, a better rider than Martin Early who went on to have a long and distinguished career as a domestique. It wasn't a case of not him having the talent to survive as a pro, but rather becoming disillusioned at what he saw going on in the pro ranks that lead to him losing his enthusiasm.

He took amphets a few times, but that was in order to survive the gruelling criterium circuit that was obligatory back then in order to earn a living. His realisation that it would not be possible to do that without stimulants made him give up (Rik Van Looy once rode 48 races in 42 days immediately after the Tour de France, with all night drive in between to get to the next venue). He focus's on cycling because that is the sport he understands, but he has not been afraid to write about the use of dope in other sports either.

Whatever you feel about him, it is only because of the efforts of a very few people that we are now in a position where something is being done to combat the abuse. Most were quite happy to bury their heads in the sand, even during the early nineties when riders were dying in their sleep because their blood was like treacle.

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

I do wish he would turn his attention to being a bit more constructive, but whilst he makes a living from running the LA/doping theme, he's hardly going to turn off the money tap, is he? And inthe meantime do his one man best to destroy a sport which gives a lot of people a living (not just the riders). Well done, PK. Not.

If Kimmage was that concerned about "making money" from LA, you would have thought he would have put a book out.

He hasn't.

Not really buying that as his motivation here.