Lance Armstrong... greatest doper there was or ever will be

Depends on which law you're talking about.

see here, lots of people are fast, France is inhabited by lycra clad carbon junkies
BUT you can beat'em easy if you are prepared to blatantly break the traffic laws
you know like riding across junctions against the traffic and that kinda thing

although I am trying to stop doing that kind of thing
it's OK to let someone go past

I make a special point of chasing people down if I stop and they don't (I don't always stop but if I do they better!). Otherwise it's just not cricket!
Then again there's calculated risk and there's stupidity. I might mix 'em up but tend to err on the side of caution.

the-smiling-buddha although I am trying to stop doing that kind of thing

That's good.

it's OK to let someone go past

That's bad.

:)

I am too old to race people outright but I have been racing 'in traffic' for twenty five years or so thats what I mean about being wiley rather than being flat out fast today I rode back into Paris after being out in the countryside & I kinda scared myself after I got off the bike because I kinda got too into it I don't really stop and I hardly ever hit the brake and I am moving faster than anyone else on a bike and I keep telling myself this is no way to behave but when I am on the bike and in traffic I am like a man possessed I just get such a buzz off it I can't stop I just have to keep going faster and faster I mean you are like a bicycle racer you are going to be fast in the sprint and over distance and you are going to beat 99.9 but you bottle it just once in the traffic - then I win the race

hippy All fscking week i've been doing that.. I'm frickin trashed!

Anyone know who rides a blue Merlin with yellow rims? He punctured in front of me today..
And what's with 17:10? Is this the hour of the courier? Every bastard and his radio was out while I drunkrode home..

yeah i know him....but i cant think of his name,hops is mates with him

hippy [quote]wayne_f14 did he achieve amazing feats- undoubtedly
but do i aspire to be an egomaniacal bully, nah.
so for me cycling legend yes, hero no.

Do you honestly think you can get to the top of such a hard sport without having a somewhat enlarged sense of self? Did you listen to Cancellara's intro comments to this year's Tour?
Most people at the top of their chosen 'game' are self-centred. They have to be, otherwise they are not putting their all into the task at hand. Ego? Maybe, but it's perhaps necessary.

Have you read It's Not About the Bike? You'll find quite a few people think he's a hero.
On bike forums you'll find people either love him or hate him.[/quote]

read the books and seen the dvd's but my personal heros have qualities far removed from respecting one mans ability to pedal quicker than someone else -

I recognize that he has an amazing ability to pedal faster for longer thatn most people but he's not who I pretend to be when i'm doing a stupid fast descent or hauling my ample carcass up a hill

im on the fence about this because i dont know enough about the bloke.......but its not about him pedling faster for longer,its about human indurance,its about being completly focused on your goal......i think in this case armstrong should be admired if nothing else

one of my all time favourite comedians, absolute comedy legend, self confessed alcoholic and wife beater -

makes it rather dificult to see him as a hero...

aidan [quote]hippy All fscking week i've been doing that.. I'm frickin trashed!

Anyone know who rides a blue Merlin with yellow rims? He punctured in front of me today..
And what's with 17:10? Is this the hour of the courier? Every bastard and his radio was out while I drunkrode home..

yeah i know him....but i cant think of his name,hops is mates with him[/quote]

Lil' John
loveliest guy really.

Armstrong scraps drugs testing plan

• Tour winner blames high costs for ditching scheme
• Programme will now be carried out by team

• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 February 2009 03.44 GMT
  
• Article history
  Lance Armstrong has set his sights on winning an eigth Tour de France title after launch his comeback. Photograph: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images
  
  

The seven-times Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has abandoned his proposal for an independent drug-testing programme because of logistical problems and high costs.
The American rider, who competed for the first time in three-and-a-half years at last month's Tour Down Under in Australia, had initially intended to hire the anti-doping expert Don Catlin to supervise a transparent biological monitoring.
However, Armstrong said today through his lawyer he would instead use Ramsus Damsgaard, who runs the Astana team's internal testing programme.
"After a thorough review... the decision has been made to transfer the comprehensive programme we had planned to do with Don Catlin to Ramsus Damsgaard," Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's long-time agent and lawyer, said in a statement.
"Lance is the most-tested athlete in sports history and he is certainly the most-tested cyclist in the world since his return to the sport last year, evidenced by no fewer than 16 unannounced out-of-competition tests since August all over the world.
"We will continue to do everything we can do to ensure transparency and honesty in his testing results. We have the utmost respect for Don and all he is doing in the fight against doping in sport but we faced a myriad of problems relating to administration, coordination and cost."
Armstrong, a survivor of testicular cancer who retired after winning the 2005 Tour de France, has set his sights on attempting to add to his record with an eighth Tour this year.
He announced he was making a comeback aged 37 in September, saying he would be joining Team Astana in an effort to promote a cancer awareness campaign.
He has since reunited with Johan Bruyneel, who was the Texan's team director for all of his Tour de France victories with the US Postal and Discovery teams from 1999-2005.
In September, Armstrong said the Astana team would hire Catlin to supervise a biological monitoring of him that would be made available online throughout his training and racing.
The American has been dogged by doping suspicions over the years, although he has vehemently denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs.
"Beyond today I'm not going to tell you how clean I am," he said while announcing his comeback plans. "I will ride by bike around the world and Don Catlin will tell you how clean I am."
Armstrong will be riding for Team Astana in the 750mile (1,207km), nine-day Tour of California which starts in Sacramento on Saturday.

i don't quite like the cut of his jib.

does anyone trust Astana to do thheir own drug testing!!

A leopard cannot change it's spots.

Would be interesting to hear what Catlin has got to say about it

lance armstrong is selling his new fixed wheel on all craigslist.com throughout the united states, and on ebay.

He's not ditched the testing program he's just using someone else. He's supposed to be renowed anti doping blah blah.. but if he's on Astana's payroll.. hmm..
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/feb09/feb12news2

He's talking bollock again.
(not you hippy)

Would be interesting to hear what Catlin has got to say about it

Would also be interesting to hear what Lemond has got to say about it. He's always good for an anti-Armstrong rant.

He's talking bollock again.
(you hippy)

Fixed

Lance: that boil.

"We will continue to do everything we can do to ensure transparency and honesty in his testing results. We have the utmost respect for Don and all he is doing in the fight against doping in sport but we faced a myriad of problems relating to administration, coordination and cost."

So, basically, testing an athlete so as to be sure that s/he is clean costs too much. Ergo, loopholes in testing régimes will continue to exist, and athletes will continue to exploit them. Nothing new here, move on.

Indeed shickster....indeed.

Indeed shickster....indeed.

Haha, I know how you feel about Lance haha.