Let me address what was one of the major
media stories before RAGBRAI. Yes, Lance Armstrong was on RAGBRAI for a
few days. No, I never saw him.
I heard accounts from several people that said they saw a blur of motion. That blur of motion was supposedly Armstrong. He was riding with two of his "bodyguards" at a very high rate of speed. The reason I likely never saw him was that he never went through the pass-through towns. Apparently he had mapped out ahead of time the roads he needed to take in order to avoid the towns. RAGBRAI was just all about the rides for him. He made no public appearances anywhere.
It is understandable why he made no public appearances. He doesn't have a good public image right now, and he likely will never regain that.
I have never been a huge follower of pro cycling. It is also hard get coverage on TV here in the U.S. unless you have a satellite subscription. I don't even have my TV hooked up to get the basic over the air stations, so there is not a chance I'll watch. Rampant drug use has tainted the sport considerably. It is hard to identify the competitors who race with integrity. It is just easier to assume that they are all doping and the ones who haven't been caught yet just have better biochemists.
Sorry for the pessimistic view, but I think the entire cycling world gets a bad rap because of the small portion of the sport that are pros.
It was interesting to see what happened to the Livestrong Foundation on RAGBRAI this year. On the previous three RAGBRAIs I've done, there has always been a large contingent of people who would wear Livestrong cycling jerseys of various types. There were also a large number of Livestrong members that would camp together as a team. They had two converted school buses painted nicely in the black and yellow foundation colors.
The Livestrong team members seemed like fine participants in RAGBRAI with the exception that they often rode in large packs that were difficult to get around since they took up the entire width of the road. It seemed like the vast majority of the members were first time RAGBRAI riders each year. It gave me the impression that the team was more unified by how cancer had affected their families than the desire to go biking. That's perfectly acceptable, I don't have a problem with it. It is good that through the foundation and family tragedies, they were inspired to be making positive steps to improve their health through athletic activity.
This year, things were much different. Armstrong was kicked off the foundation board after he admitted to Oprah about his doping. This had the effect of decimating the Livestrong presence on RAGBRAI. I only saw a small fraction of the Livestrong cycling jerseys that I did in previous years. I think those jerseys were all older editions. I don't recall seeing a new version this year. I think the travelling team might have been disbanded as well.
I heard accounts from several people that said they saw a blur of motion. That blur of motion was supposedly Armstrong. He was riding with two of his "bodyguards" at a very high rate of speed. The reason I likely never saw him was that he never went through the pass-through towns. Apparently he had mapped out ahead of time the roads he needed to take in order to avoid the towns. RAGBRAI was just all about the rides for him. He made no public appearances anywhere.
It is understandable why he made no public appearances. He doesn't have a good public image right now, and he likely will never regain that.
I have never been a huge follower of pro cycling. It is also hard get coverage on TV here in the U.S. unless you have a satellite subscription. I don't even have my TV hooked up to get the basic over the air stations, so there is not a chance I'll watch. Rampant drug use has tainted the sport considerably. It is hard to identify the competitors who race with integrity. It is just easier to assume that they are all doping and the ones who haven't been caught yet just have better biochemists.
Sorry for the pessimistic view, but I think the entire cycling world gets a bad rap because of the small portion of the sport that are pros.
It was interesting to see what happened to the Livestrong Foundation on RAGBRAI this year. On the previous three RAGBRAIs I've done, there has always been a large contingent of people who would wear Livestrong cycling jerseys of various types. There were also a large number of Livestrong members that would camp together as a team. They had two converted school buses painted nicely in the black and yellow foundation colors.
The Livestrong team members seemed like fine participants in RAGBRAI with the exception that they often rode in large packs that were difficult to get around since they took up the entire width of the road. It seemed like the vast majority of the members were first time RAGBRAI riders each year. It gave me the impression that the team was more unified by how cancer had affected their families than the desire to go biking. That's perfectly acceptable, I don't have a problem with it. It is good that through the foundation and family tragedies, they were inspired to be making positive steps to improve their health through athletic activity.
This year, things were much different. Armstrong was kicked off the foundation board after he admitted to Oprah about his doping. This had the effect of decimating the Livestrong presence on RAGBRAI. I only saw a small fraction of the Livestrong cycling jerseys that I did in previous years. I think those jerseys were all older editions. I don't recall seeing a new version this year. I think the travelling team might have been disbanded as well.
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