Bi•opic - Flagstaff Biking

Volume #1, Issue #5 Bi•opic : A semi-regular publication of Flagstaff Biking Organization Page 9
Under the Banner of Doping
Our church, the church of cycling is obviously flawed as
are many churches of religion which have concealed,
promoted and perpetrated far more grotesque and
obscene activities compared to doping. Just like the
loyal patrons of these religions marred by transgressions
still find connection to their god, we must keep our
connection to the sport of cycling through what we know
in its beauty and fundamental glory found with each and
every stroke of the pedals.
The architects of a cycling fan’s heart: Fausto Coppi
(who freely admitted to using drugs), Jacques Anquetil
(who also never hid the fact that he took drugs), and
Eddy Merckx (who tested positive more than once in his
career) et. al. were dopers......it has always been crazy
that way. So, if these are the founders of modern cycling,
what do you expect? Look at the roots of sport and its
gladiators. Paul Kimmage wrote about the culture of
doping in cycling with true grit in his book: “A Rough
Ride” and then Willy Voet in: “Breaking the Chain”. But
the fact is the public has always wanted to see people lay
it on the line and make the ultimate sacrifice. We all know
cycling is dangerous, just ask Joseba Beloki, but evidently
that’s not enough. Not even Paris Roubaix will satiate our
appetites. After you make the typical sacrifices: time,
career, sometimes family, what’s left to give; a piece of
your soul (and maybe your life as with Tommy Simpson),
and that’s doping.
Billy Corgan’s line from the Smashing Pumpkins sums it
up well: “with every chemical you trade a piece of your
soul”. We all have the choice to make that trade at some
point in our lives... it is inevitable. It may be plagiarizing a
term paper or putting a little too much octane in your tank
at the lawn mower derby. It is all on different levels and
different playing fields, but it is the same moral issue. To
knowingly cheat... and then to file that information away
in the recesses of your brain like a piece of lead shrapnel
that slowly contaminates your blood, and ironically, if
the toxicity is sufficient, effects your conscious memory
with maladies such as Alzheimer’s. We poison ourselves
to the point of forgetting the black market trades we’ve
made. How much we poison ourselves is up to us.
Ultimately I believe we poison ourselves to feed the ego.
So do all clean riders have control of their ego? No, but
hopefully they can avoid Alzheimer’s. If my theory is true
Barry Bonds won’t be able to remember his home run
record.
Cycling is not immune to this dilemma nor is the stock
market. From Marco Pantanni to Martha Stewart we all
have to make THE DECISION. Do we knowingly cheat?
Being a father I aspire to instill the love and confidence in
my boy that will provide the basis for security and stability;
the nemesis to the soul trade. If our younger generations
can see that it is ok to be who we are, do our best and be
happy with ourselves... wouldn’t that be great? This may
run counter to the megaton media blitz our children (and
ourselves) are exposed to that conveys the ideal man and
woman as people who use the Ab-blaster and Dexitrim
like we used the jungle gym and raisins growing up.
Who We Are and Why We Matter:
The Cycling Counterculture
About three weeks ago, I found myself in a sort
of precarious position. A friend of mine had read
something I’d written—always a bad start—and had a
few contentions to my ideas. The piece I’d written was
in regards to cycling as a counterculture in American
society and how it acts as a sort of catalyst for those
ideals that can be directly or indirectly tied to the
concept of a counterculture. Not surprisingly, she
disagreed rather vehemently with my contention, and
thus the battle ensued: is cycling a counterculture, or
is it simply a collection of obsessed hobbyists? And
more importantly, does it really matter?
For the sake of clarification, let’s define a
counterculture as a group that holds to certain ideals
or a certain lifestyle that is in some way oppositional
to that of established norms in society. As verbose
as that sounds, it boils down quite nicely: folks who
live their lives differently from the majority. In that
regard, cycling, in and of itself, has not proven itself
to be anything more than a hobby. But, consider
the Flagstaff cycling scene and everything it
encompasses. It has its own factions—Team Hobo,
the Mutants, the Racers, the Fixies, the Townies,
the Commuters, and so on—and each faction has its
own personality, its own distinct style. These are the
beginnings of counterculture, but only the very tip of
the iceberg. What else is necessary?
The very idea of counterculture hinges on one idea:
choice. A member of a counterculture must make
a choice to live in opposition of cultural norms—i.e.
The pressure in our time is so great. It starts early. From
the AYSO soccer father who yells to “suck it up” when
his boy has had the wind knocked out of him to the eight
year old beauty contestant’s mother who is counting
calories and considering the U.S. Pork Farmers sponsored
Atkin’s diet for her girl. There is so much pressure in the
world beyond our homes. Perhaps our homes can be a
sanctuary for decompression?
So what does all this have to do with riding a bike? Here
is where sport becomes beautiful again because sport is a
metaphor for our lives. Through it we feel moved to cheer,
cry and change our own lives in ways we never imagined
possible. If you are an avid cyclist do you remember doing
your first 10 mile ride or 20 or 40? I remember my first 40
mile ride and it seemed like a Louis and Clark expedition
in that it was an exploration not of America but of my
own boundaries. This journey certainly doesn’t require
doping. It is vivid, real and clean. That is the romance of
this sport, the essence. This is the unadulterated memory
we must hold on to as we progress through our sport or
career where soul trading may be prevalent. We must
remember what we love about our sport and careers and
what they means to us… so we do not let the memory
haze over with self induced fog.
Contact: velo@aspect1.net
Doug Loveday
resides in Flagstaff with his
wife Tanja and son Tristan. He is
pursuing his Masters degree in
Exercise Science at NAU while
running his coaching business:
www.cyclingperformance.net.
Dan “D2” Cavallari
is a freelance writer, mechanic
at AZ Bikes, and purveyor of all
things two-wheeled.
riding a bike to work instead of driving, going for
a long ride instead of playing a video game, et
cetera—and sadly enough, many of the most crucial
aspects of cycling lie in direct opposition to how most
Americans live their lives these days. I say sadly not
because cycling in and of itself has proven to be a
devious or disgusting thing; quite the contrary, in fact.
It’s the American way of life that seems to be sinking
into a degenerated hole.
In what context is the idea of cycling as a
counterculture important? Certainly it doesn’t affect
the vast majority of folks interested in throwing their
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