Fair dinkum.

It amazes me how many Lance followers on Strava still worship him.

The idea of encrypting power data that dcrainmaker talks about is pretty interesting. If zwift racing is going to get fully accepted, then something like that has to happen. The guy zwift caught was just sloppy at it. I guess it disconnected in the pen because the amplification is too obvious before you're pedaling.

They get off screwing other people out of legitimate effort.9

And Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire and others from different sports. The list goes on and on.

Let's not forget how many people still worship Tom Cheater Brady.

Likewise, I am always amazed by supporters of people who are megalomaniacs, liers, swindlers and frauds. Wonder how many supporters Floyd Landis has? There have been a number of movies about clever robbers (Ocean’s 11, etc) where people root for the crooks. Is it because they are just like them or want to be them?

Critically, the "root for the crooks" movies are typically special cases. Ocean's 11 are robbing a casino, and Terry Benedict isn't exactly sympathetic. Gone in 60 Seconds they're trying to save little brother's life.

Though I'm actually disturbed by the rooting for Cobra Kai...

In Ocean's 11, the pack of robbers stick together -- they have a code. Lance f-ed over his friends, threatened and abused them into silence, etc. He's a crook AND a bad person.

Oh, and don't forget the time he got drunk and crashed his car, then let his girlfriend take the rap. And they say that chivalry is dead.

​​​​​​That's not lying, it's ... um ... give me a minute here ... positive thinking! :lol:

​​​​​​People cheat at marathons when there's no prize for anyone. A friend of mine ran a marathon this year where somebody ran a few miles, got in a car and drove toward the finish line, and ran the last few miles. People lie to themselves about finishing a recreational race with nothing on the line.

Sometimes trying to understand just makes it worse for you.

Some years ago, I rode the Pittsburgh Dirty Dozen -- a big local climbing event. For the top-tier riders, it's a points race; for everyone else, it's about simply riding up the thirteen steepest hills in a city that is, by some measures, hillier than San Francisco. Max grade on Canton Avenue is 37%. If you make it up all of the hills without dabbing a foot, you get a ribbon.

The event is pretty grassroots, so much info is given and traded on a facebook page. A couple weeks before the ride, some guy posted a question: can I ride my e-assist bike, just to participate? Organizers said "No, this is a test of climbing ability. Acoustic bikes only." eBiker got pretty pissy about it. I never understood that. I mean, if you've got a motor on your bike, why would you even be interested in participating?

The real heroes of the sport (Dan Martin springs to mind) always seem a little overshadowed by the less scrupulous characters. Supporters seem largely oblivious to their heroes cheating and/or being general *******s. Lance took all those things to an all time high/low.

Honestly I'm ambivalent about all the drugged superheroes of cycling from the 90s and 00s. I don't expect people with the monomaniacal drive to beat everyone else at a sport to be nice people whom I should emulate, so the fact that a TdF winner is a jerk comes as no surprise. Pretty sure a lot of other riders found Eddy Merckx to be a dick, too. Whatever you say about Lance, it's not like he just took EPO and then sat on the couch and won without working hard.

I kind of figure that, if you can get through your career and retire without getting caught, when you retire they should destroy all your samples, unless we plan to dig up Jaques Anquetil and test his bones for amphetamines (which, no, is not a thing).

There are a few TDF winners who were not jerks. I'm pretty sure Indurain was a nice guy and Geraint Thomas comes across very well in his podcast. The latest crop of young superstars also appear to be pretty decent characters. It's not so much the doping that I hold against Lance, it's more his behaviour around the peloton and his own team mates. The more you read into it, the more of an ******* he looks. Yet he remains a hero to many fans of his generation.

Oh, I'm not saying winners can't be nice people. I'm saying I don't expect it. For decades we tried to make sports stars into models of behavior, but they are no better than anyone else, and maybe worse. We don't pay them to be nice people who serve as guides of morality. We pay them to win.

Many fans who probably didn’t bother to look behind the headlines or were so invested in hero worship that they were blinded.

A TdF winner, not a jerk IMHO was Greg LeMond. There were just plain jerks, and then dopey jerks. History tends to keep few secrets.

What's the consensus on sumo wrestlers getting silicone head implants to meet the minimum height requirement? :roflmao2:

Maybe the NFL should look into it to reduce TBIs! :D

Who's this Lance feller everybody keeps mentioning? :foo:

Not this guy, is it?
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...068455d341.jpg

HWMNBN plus a little extra to avoid the filter.

I actually the sports stars of today are generally a better balanced bunch than say 20 years ago. Their lives are pretty much open public fodder these days so acting like a dick is usually very obvious and their sponsors don't tend to tolerate much negativity. It would be pretty much impossible for a major sports star to repeat Lance's behaviour today.

I haven't read all that much about LeMond, but he seems like an interesting guy. I've read various anecdotal accounts of him having a very keen eye on tech and details, combined with massive enthusiasm and energy. Certainly haven't read anything negative about him as a personality. Bernard Hinault on the other hand comes across as a fairly unpleasant character.

The legendary knight by that name who sat at the Round Table must have been a decent person. It seems everyone liked Sir Lance a lot.