Better halves and non-riding friends often just don\u2019t understand why you\u2019d want to do this as a \u2018hobby\u2019.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Make one mistake and you\u2019re on the ground scraping skin on tarmac and dirt, left with bleeding, seething sores that will make you wince for days, unable to sleep properly.<\/p>\n
They burn when you wash and sting when you move. On top of that, it costs a small fortune just to get started. Never mind the upgrades and the breakages that can cost thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
Following the pros is painful too. You\u2019re left wondering if they all dope, because that many get busted. Time and time again the veil is lifted, a car gets stopped full of drugs, or a favourite rider gets popped by the anti-doping authorities.<\/p>\n
Those you believed in often prove to be a sham, nothing more. They offer up denials and all the rest, and you want to believe but, deep down, all you know, even if you still admire them, is that you\u2019ll never really know.<\/p>\n
The Tour de France is the pinnacle of the professional tier of the sport, and yet on the record books there are three glaring sections that list no winners \u2013 from 1915-1918, 1940-1946, and 1999-2005.<\/p>\n
The first two gaps were caused by world wars. The third was caused by Lance Armstrong. The man who stood on that podium in Paris and railed at those who \u201cdon\u2019t believe\u201d, he who told us he was clean. Well, we know how that turned out.<\/p>\n
But it wasn’t just Lance. Look at the list of winners and there\u2019s a lot of uncertainty there.<\/p>\n
Henri Pelissier, the winner in 1923, spoke about how hard the Tour was and what it took just to compete. In short, guts, courage, and dope:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have no idea what the Tour de France is,\u201d Pelissier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a calvary. And what\u2019s more, the way to the cross only had 14 stations \u2013 we\u2019ve got 15. We suffer on the road. But do you want to see how we keep going? Wait\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
From his bag he took a phial.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat, that\u2019s cocaine for our eyes and chloroform for our gums,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere,\u201d said Maurice Ville (another rider) as he tipped out the contents of his bag.<\/p>\n
\u201cHorse liniment to keep my knees warm. And pills? You want to see the pills?\u201d<\/p>\n
They got out three boxes apiece.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn short,\u201d said Francis Pelissier (Maurice\u2019s brother), \u201cwe run on dynamite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henri takes up the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou ever seen the baths at the finish?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s worth buying a ticket. You go in plastered with mud and you come out as white as a sheet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re drained all the time by diarrhoea. Have a look at the water. We can\u2019t sleep at night. We\u2019re twitching as if we\u2019ve got St Vitus\u2019 dance.\u201d<\/p>\n Among early riders strychnine and alcohol, along with ether, were the drugs of choice. But riders took whatever they could to dull the pain. The French author Pierre Chany, speaking of doping at the Tour, said, \u201cIt existed, it has always existed.\u201d<\/p>\n So accepted was the use of drugs throughout the Tour\u2019s early years that in 1930, race organiser Henri Desgrange actually sent out a letter to the invited teams informing them that drugs would not be supplied by the organising committee.<\/p>\n Looking further up the line of winners of the great race who were known to have doped, we have Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Laurent Fignon, Bjarne Riis, Jan Ulrich, Marco Pantani, and Alberto Contador.<\/p>\n If that is not enough to provide evidence that the sport has its troubles, and has had from day one in regards to cheating, look at the top ten during the Armstrong era in every Tour and it\u2019s obvious that this goes deep.<\/p>\n It\u2019s 2014 and the Giro is about to begin. Last year we had two positives in the race. Testers say that they often suspect a riders\u2019 sample suggests a doping offence but there is little they can do.<\/p>\n Things however are getting better, but if anyone thinks we are over \u2018the hump\u2019, well they must have \u2018McQuaid\u2019 for a surname.<\/p>\n And yet, we still flock to the roadsides in our hundreds of thousands, in our millions, year-in and year-out.<\/p>\n We sit up at all hours enduring Sean Kelly on one channel and the Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin comedy duo on another to catch a glimpse of the multi-coloured lycra brigade traversing mountains in far-flung lands.<\/p>\n Why? Why do we do it?<\/p>\n Madness? Yes, for sure.<\/p>\n Ignorance? In a sizeable minority, yes.<\/p>\n But the real reason we do it, the real reason we come back year after year, frothing at the gills for the Classics, amped up for the Giro, enthralled by the Tour, is because this is still the world\u2019s greatest sport.<\/p>\n Ridiculous to say that I know, and yet it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n I wrote this three years ago about why I love this sport despite it all, and re-reading it today proved the inspiration for this article:<\/p>\n We chose the most beautiful sport. The most epic. The daftest. The most furious, the most poetic, romantic, brutal, life-affirming and soul-destroying sport of all, the sport that drives its flawed geniuses to destruction and its devotees to distraction. It\u02bcs the simple love affair of man with machine, human-powered machine, and it\u02bcs the one toy from childhood we get to keep, that grown men and women still get to play with, all over the world, no matter how old, no matter what culture, race, creed or ideology.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u02bcs the thing that gave you the freedom to leave your neighborhood and to explore the world around and when we race, it\u02bcs the same barnstorming thrill you had when you sped down your block, racing home from school against Pete Barnes or whatever his name was to see who could get to the edge of the cul-de-sac first. It\u2019s that same rush, that same freedom, the same Breath of Sheer and Unadultered Life. The sport of Kings, kid. Beat that.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The bicycle and the men who rode them over the mountains and the cobbled lanes of Europe in those early years were so admired for two reasons.<\/p>\n The first was that they were using a form of transport that was the common mode of getting around for a majority of Europeans. The fact that these men could achieve these amazing feats on a humble bicycle resonated with the common people in a way that was only rivalled by football.<\/p>\n The other factor is entwined with the first, and it\u2019s this: the bike made these men noble.<\/p>\n With the majority of early riders coming from poor farming and mining backgrounds, they had a connection with their communities \u2013 in short, though they were often seen as superhuman, they were also of the people.<\/p>\n Yet their achievements raised them up.<\/p>\n The bike freed them of their backgrounds, unchained them from circumstance and environment, and could even lift them from poverty. They became princes, and that transformation sparked the imagination of millions who fell in love with the sport in the same way we did.<\/p>\n Remember the first bike race you saw? Or maybe it was a magazine article you read on Coppi, Merckx or Stephen Roche. Or maybe it was a bike ride. Whatever the impetus, once you\u2019re hooked, you stay hooked.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a love that can be kicked and beaten, and it surely has, if you believe that the notion of fair play truly means something. They know it too, the dopers and the cheats, otherwise they\u2019d all come out and say, \u201cHey, you know what, I cheat, lots of us do, so tough.\u201d<\/p>\n But so very few have the courage, whatever courage that would take, to do that.<\/p>\n Despite all the tribulations and the heartache, we love this sport, even though the feats of the rider who first got you intrigued were later shown to be drug assisted. It messes with your head, and yet\u2026 you\u2019re still here, still watching.<\/p>\n In a very real sense though, we are the sport.<\/p>\n We make it what it is, us idiots who cheer ourselves hoarse in front of the box or on the hillside, us fools who drag our arses out of bed at 6am to ride ourselves to near-oblivion on a perfectly decent Sunday.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a \u2018hobby\u2019, pal. This is my life. And that is why we watch, still, in spite of it all.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a flawed love for sure, but heck, it\u2019s our love.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seriously, why bother? We love a sport that hurts. It hurts if you participate and it hurts if you\u2019re a fan of the professional side of it too. As a rider you spend a great deal of time suffering, head bent over stem, muscles screaming, tendons taut, sweat pouring out of every pore and a string of saliva hanging from your gob. Better halves and non-riding friends often just don\u2019t understand why you\u2019d want to do this as a \u2018hobby\u2019.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":40955418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"why bother with cycling?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119818829,159546164],"tags":[767233535,1507985,3785],"class_list":["post-4166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dopepunk","category-punkopinion","tag-cycling","tag-henri-pelissier","tag-love"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2OfoS-15c","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4694,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2014\/10\/23\/hincapies-gran-fraudo-wanders-ever-further-into-the-absurd\/","url_meta":{"origin":4166,"position":0},"title":"Hincapie’s Gran FRAUDO wanders ever further into The Absurd","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"10\u6708 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"alternate realities? string theory, perhaps, where near-identical universes thrum alongside each other, where other variations of you live out their existence doing the same stuff but with different outcomes? or the confirmation that the world has truly gone bat-shit crazy? . whatever it is, George Hincapie and his cheery band\u2026","rel":"","context":"dopepunk","block_context":{"text":"dopepunk","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/dopepunk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/screen-shot-2014-10-23-at-13-39-35.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/screen-shot-2014-10-23-at-13-39-35.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/screen-shot-2014-10-23-at-13-39-35.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/screen-shot-2014-10-23-at-13-39-35.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7667,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2020\/12\/28\/tour-of-east-taiwan-2020-from-the-inside-a-little-from-the-outside\/","url_meta":{"origin":4166,"position":1},"title":"Tour of East Taiwan 2020 \/ From The Inside & (a little) From The Outside","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"12\u6708 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"[October 27th 2020: Astar Hotel, Hualien, Registration Center for the Tour of East Taiwan. 2:35pm] Hi Rocky. Hi Lee! Grey and cold here huh\u2026 Yeah, I think tomorrow will be raining When did you get here? Last night, we had to set up the tables for the meeting and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"crankpunk racing","block_context":{"text":"crankpunk racing","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/crankpunk-racing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/screenshot-2020-12-28-at-15.36.43.png?fit=927%2C639&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/screenshot-2020-12-28-at-15.36.43.png?fit=927%2C639&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/screenshot-2020-12-28-at-15.36.43.png?fit=927%2C639&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/screenshot-2020-12-28-at-15.36.43.png?fit=927%2C639&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5643,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2015\/02\/04\/lees-lowdown-5-transcendence-through-sufferation\/","url_meta":{"origin":4166,"position":2},"title":"Lee’s Lowdown #4: Transcendence Through Sufferation","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"2\u6708 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This article originally appeared on PEZ ___________________________ I\u2019ve been sat here mulling over potential topics for this week\u2019s Lowdown with my bike in the back yard looking at me like a jilted lover. She\u2019s practically bleating at me like an orphaned lamb. Those hang dog eyes. She must have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"other publications","block_context":{"text":"other publications","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/other-publications\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/ian_curtis_in_yellow_by_filthelove.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/ian_curtis_in_yellow_by_filthelove.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/ian_curtis_in_yellow_by_filthelove.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":639,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2012\/11\/08\/adam-semple-guest-writer\/","url_meta":{"origin":4166,"position":3},"title":"Adam Semple: guest writer","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"11\u6708 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Adam Semple has been kind enough to agree to take a quick break from being a pro cyclist on the UCI Continental (and rather successful) Drapac Cycling Team. born in '89 and still a sometime student, Adam had perhaps his best season in terms of results in 2011, when he\u2026","rel":"","context":"dopepunk","block_context":{"text":"dopepunk","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/dopepunk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/387489_2654585286472_1956602248_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/387489_2654585286472_1956602248_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/387489_2654585286472_1956602248_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/387489_2654585286472_1956602248_n.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2012\/10\/15\/its-all-about-the-why\/","url_meta":{"origin":4166,"position":4},"title":"it’s all about the why","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"10\u6708 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"what do you do? i race bikes why? i'm not sure what do you mean? not sure? cos when i'm actually racing\u00a0 i am usually on the rivet and it's not exactly pleasant what's a rivet it's like a bolt. you know, like a rivet in a pair of jeans.\u2026","rel":"","context":"cycling","block_context":{"text":"cycling","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/tag\/cycling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12927,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2022\/05\/08\/giro-ditalia-2022-stage-3-race-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":4166,"position":5},"title":"GIRO d\u2019ITALIA 2022: STAGE 3 RACE REPORT\ufffc","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"5\u6708 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"One thing we learnt from today's stage the third of this year\u2019s Giro d\u2019Italia is that Hungary is quite gorgeous. I\u2019ve never been but the images of the beautiful yellow flower-filled fields, the lush rolling hills, smooth roads and stunning architecture has definitely got me yearning for the opportunity to\u2026","rel":"","context":"biriam girmay","block_context":{"text":"biriam girmay","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/tag\/biriam-girmay\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/543c0-screenshot-2022-05-08-at-23.44.22-1.png?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/543c0-screenshot-2022-05-08-at-23.44.22-1.png?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/543c0-screenshot-2022-05-08-at-23.44.22-1.png?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/543c0-screenshot-2022-05-08-at-23.44.22-1.png?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/543c0-screenshot-2022-05-08-at-23.44.22-1.png?fit=1200%2C669&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Lee Rodgers","author_link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/author\/crankpunk\/"},"rttpg_comment":6,"rttpg_category":"dopepunk<\/a> punkopinion<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Seriously, why bother? We love a sport that hurts. It hurts if you participate and it hurts if you\u2019re a fan of the professional side of it too. As a rider you spend a great deal of time suffering, head bent over stem, muscles screaming, tendons taut, sweat pouring out of every pore and a…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40955418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4166"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17174,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4166\/revisions\/17174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Henri](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/henri_pelissier.jpg?resize=600%2C381&ssl=1\")