[Closed] Lance Armstrong and that charity ride - should he do it?

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Greg Lemond (possibly clean of EPO) had better margins.

Ftfy

The guy was superhuman at what he did.

Agreed. Nobody in cycling has made such a superhuman effort to publicise their character flaws. I salute him for that if nothing else.

Crazy egomaniac should take a backseat.

It's a charity ride, not a competitive event running under UCI rules, so he's free to ride it if he wants.

Geoff Thomas is obviously using LA's notoriety to get free publicity, which is working well, but I'm not sure the end justifies the means in this case, and I think it might backfire on him in the long run. LA is clearly just being provocative by going anywhere near the TdF,but he's a psychopath, so he probably just can't help himself.

It would be really interesting to know what LA's fee or "expenses" are for this. He's got big bills to pay, so I bet he's not getting out of bed for free.

Surely the French authorities might want a word with the man who was a the centre of the largest sporting fraud in the history of their beloved tour. I can't see him being dumb enough to go to France any time soon, though if he does I look forward to L'Equipe hounding him.

What the hell has LA doing this ride to do with ANYONE here? What effect will it have on YOUR lives? It wasn't a war, nobody was killed and he isn't a mass murderer - it's a fxxxxxg sport! Get over it, stop posting questions over it and get a life! Mass murderers get better press.

Was that like when firefighters use explosives to stop oil fires and you thought you could defeat hyperbole with supermegahyperbole?

It just looked daft to me

Its a cycling forum where the folk care about cycling and will debate anything

Of course what LA does does not matter but it does not matter to me where you ride, what bike you have , what tyres you fit whether your kid got pudding etc

Spxxky who took the jam out of your donut?

I sort of agree with spxxy, this same old over the top Lance hatred over and over and over again !! Can't you just join another mob and hate someone new. We all know his crimes and how he treated people, but he's banned from competitive cycling for life, as it stands at the moment. How he reconciles himself with those he harmed is between themselves. No one on here has been harmed by him I'm sure. Many might have benefited from cycling's massively increased popularity, at least partly fuelled by his high profile. If he can rehabilitate himself through charity work on or off a bike I say it's a good thing. At the very least, stand back a bit, see how things go. People can change maybe he will, maybe he won't but EVERYONE should be given the opportunity to try.

Yes

You think this is an attempt to rehabilitate himself rather than publicise himself 😯
he has had many chances to atone and do the right thing but he chooses to publicise LA in the main.

Your still doing it junkyard. Stand back give the man some room, see where things go. He can't hurt you his days if being the big bad wolf are over.

He won as many Tours as I have. **** all 😆 so we're tied.

his days if being the big bad wolf are over.

I mentioned it a good while back. There was some sort of survey of cyclist cancer recovering folk asking if they thought it was a good thing for him to take part.

It's been a long time in the planning.

I'm guessing they gave the thumbs up.

[quote=spxxky ]What the hell has LA doing this ride to do with ANYONE here? What effect will it have on YOUR lives? It wasn't a war, nobody was killed and he isn't a mass murderer - it's a fxxxxxg sport! Get over it, stop posting questions over it and get a life! Mass murderers get better press.

Remind me again why you're reading and posting on this thread?

Quite a few people have died as a result of drug taking in cycling. So yes, it matters when somebody who is in part responsible for the continuation of that culture has an ongoing involvement in the sport.

His days of apologising for it and atoning have not even started.

This is the crux of it for me - until then no thanks to Armstrong period. The guy made a lot of peoples lives hell & he is yet to show any remorse for doing so.

In fact, he's going after the Andreus again, although a touch sneakily: [url= http://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/01/andreu-armstrongs-lawyers-have-subpoenaed-frankie-his-apologies-mean-nothing/ ]Link[/url]

I know it's harsh but until LA starts showing genuine remorse the only time I'd want to see him in pubic is so I could throw some rotting fruit at the guy...

Sorry, but Armstrong is still giving the impression that the only person he cares about is Armstrong.

The guy was superhuman at what he did.

You mean the guy was a psychotic cheat surely?

Surely the French authorities might want a word with the man who was a the centre of the largest sporting fraud in the history of their beloved tour

The criminal statue of limitations in France (IIRC) is 10 years. However, if new evidence comes to light it can be 10 years from that point. I'm sure a gendarme can argue that his confession is new evidence and pinch him when he turns up at Charles de Gaulle.

Armstrong is still giving the impression that the only person he cares about is Armstrong.

I think he should be free to do it if he wants to. Whatever you might think of him, I'm not that keen on the idea that there should be some sort of Armstrong moral authority police vetting everything he does for the next 20 years or whatever. (Outside of properly competing in things, obviously).

[quote=atlaz ]The criminal statue of limitations in France (IIRC) is 10 years. However, if new evidence comes to light it can be 10 years from that point. I'm sure a gendarme can argue that his confession is new evidence and pinch him when he turns up at Charles de Gaulle.

No need for that argument - how long ago was the last time he cheated in France (that he's admitted to)?

Good point. Let him. I doubt he'll risk going to France though. I imagine he'll appear in Britain but would he show in France? That'd I'd love to see.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/geoff-thomas-why-i-invited-lance-armstrong-back-to-the-tour-162489

this is the illuminating bit for me - Geoff Thomas still idolises LA so Geoff has invited LA, but it's clear from the subtext that LA is only tolerating this because it suits him but would rather it was all under the LA charity/brand

Lance is a sociopath, but it's a bit dismal that Geoff can't see it and thinks he can do no wrong

Give only an idiot didn't think he was a juiced up as everyone else when he won his 7 tours, I really fail to see what the outrage is....

I mean really, is anyone here going to admit that they were stupid enough to think Lance was ever clean

anyone???

I mean really, is anyone here going to admit that they were stupid enough to think Lance was ever clean

anyone???

*Paging Hora, Hora to the forum please*

Loads of people thought he was clean not least because of the effort that LA went to maintain this façade ; its about the bike, no failed tests etc

Of course no one admits that anymore

Oh yes. This has spiralled into another we hate Lance thread.
Are there any new arguments here from all the 5000 threads started in the last six months?
Same people repeatedly spouting the same thing.
Yawn.

No, not imo.
He's not sorry for anything other than getting caught! I'm so tired of the everybody else was at it bit, yeah but what about those who tried and tried and got nowhere or binned early in their careers because they wouldn't dope. He's a sociopath imo and not to be trusted

I hope Geoff gets what he wants\needs out of it but think he should tread carefully

As a potential benefactor of Geoff's efforts I applaud him and hope it doesn't backfire but it's clear a lot of people will be turned off by Lances involvement. He could do more damage than good. bad publicity does exist! Yes far more people will hear about Geoff's ride but how many will donate or refuse to donate because of Lances involvement?

Lance could help raise money for charities in so many ways, this just feels like he's sticking two fingers up an everyone

In what other ways could Lance raise money for charities?

He is only really known for riding a bike while using drugs. Using his notoriety to get publicity for a charity seems to be the only option that his punishments and the internet pitch fork carriers have left him with.

I mean really, is anyone here going to admit that they were stupid enough to think Lance was ever clean
anyone???

Yup. That was me. Bought all his books, was bought his pictorial return to the Tour, put money into his charity. The lot.

Then it all came out.... Lying through his teeth, dragging plenty of people through the court who dare challenge or question him. Trying to ruin people, buying peoples silence, driving people out of their careers either directly or indirectly, bullying people 'in the work place', lying under oath/in court, receiving money by deception etc.

He was someone that you'd look upto and think 'wow, it really is possible to comeback and do well in this world'. All bollocks.

Those sprouting the 'murder etc analogy'. Get over it. Do you go through life sprouting that to stop people who disagree with you?

[quote=tpbiker ]I mean really, is anyone here going to admit that they were stupid enough to think Lance was ever clean
anyone???

I'm also happy to admit I once thought he was clean - like the majority of people. Congratulations on being so cynical that you never thought that despite a complete lack of evidence to suggest he was juiced (that or you've managed to convince yourself that you had foresight at the time - I suspect a lot of people fall into that category). Why do you think people are so upset by him - it's not because they always knew. The only reason hora gets brought up in such instances isn't because he was the only one who believed, but because he was so taken in that he refused to let go of the dream even when the evidence was overwhelming - which I'd suggest is actually admirable rather than something to have a go at him about.

I thought Geoff's (non) answer to this question was quite illuminating:

[quote=CW]Has there been any noticeable effect on donations since the story became public?

[i]In what other ways could Lance raise money for charities?

He is only really known for riding a bike while using drugs.
[/i]
Stocks?

[quote=iolo opined]Oh yes. This has spiralled into another we hate Lance thread.
Are there any new arguments here from all the 5000 threads started in the last six months?
Same people repeatedly spouting the same thing.
Yawn.
]]you say that on every thread about him...have you considered not opening these threads 💡

He was someone that you'd look upto and think 'wow, it really is possible to comeback and do well in this world'. All bollocks.

Thing is, that still rings true. He came back from being riddled with Cancer and still did something mere mortals couldn't do, juiced out of their heads or not.

Given everyone he beat was juiced up (or at least all his close competitors) I find it hard to beleive that anyone thought he was beating them clean. Isn't this the entire reason people were suspisious with no evidence? Recovering from Cancer and winning the tour is one thing, doing it by beating people who were found cheating is a step to far for me.

Congratulations on being so cynical that you never thought that despite a complete lack of evidence to suggest he was juiced (that or you've managed to convince yourself that you had foresight at the time

indeed foresight is a wonderful thing, but I don't think it takes a genius (for the aforementioned reasons) to work out well before he got caught or indeed retired that he was also cheating. I think that his results were all the evidence most folks needed. I can honestly say that without the benefit of hindsight.

That said, knowing he was also juiced didn't bother me in the slightest, I kind of took it as a given when watching road cycling that they were all up to their eyeballs. Its not something I ever gave much thought to. You had to cheer for someone and it didn't spoil my enjoyment in the slightest. For me his only 'crime' is being a total asshat, which I admit I didn't know when he was winning all those tours.

As for Hora, wasn't having a go at him...given his rabid hatred of the man nowadays I'm struggling to see how I was to know he use to be his number one fan.

Morecashthandash, well Geoff was a professional footballer who's raising money riding a bike....
Are you telling me that Lance can't raise money for charity in any other way than riding ahead of the very event he cheated for so long? Of course he could! find something else, somewhere else, Somewhen else! He's sticking two fingers up and rubbing salt in because that's the antagonistic, unrepentant, God complex type of man he is.

I think that his results were all the evidence most folks needed. I can honestly say that without the benefit of hindsight.

And yet that was not what most said at the time
i am not sure when I knew tbh but he had certainly won some tours before i realised. We all thought he was clean as we did not know the scale of the problem.

Few at the time were saying it like we now know it is not least because LA never failed a test, sued and won against the book published in 2004 saying he cheated etc. said it was about the bike. We all slowly learnt over time but no one was screaming cheat in 1999 and those who claim they always knew must be very late to following cycling

To all you Lance apologists I'll leave you with what Olympian Nicole Cooke said: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/jan/14/nicole-cooke-drugs-retires

Good night.

i am not sure when I knew tbh but he had certainly won some tours before i realised. We all thought he was clean as we did not know the scale of the problem

yeah i agree, like you i didn't realise straight away, but i think most folk were suspicious after he'd won 2 or 3 times.

As for Hora's link...if thats the 'i made less money than all the cheats' (can't open link)comment, then I fully sympathise with her...point is its equally applicable to many others, yet only seems to ever get wheeled out when the bogey man's name is mentioned.

Interesting observation by Vaughters on the Armstrong effect on his return in 2009...

http://twitter.com/Vaughters/status/578636026094039041?s=09

Tpbiker the link is openable and abit more than just money.

don't see an issue with this, the UCI should keep their noses out of things that don't concern them.