A while ago I did a blog about the first Tour de France winner and mentioned in passing that he was a cheat and was disqualified after winning his second tour. You might remember that I was not that down on the guy and the reason was that cheating is a human thing, a very sad human thing. So being human we should understand things that affect humans and show a bit of understanding for our cheating fellows. I also mentioned a couple of my heroes in the Tour and I will continue to have heroes in the Tour even if they are found to be cheating. The Tour is hard and you need drugs, full stop, end of story, about time you lot out there in La La Land understand. Lance Armstrong is not one of my heroes not because he may be proved to be a cheat but because he is a hypocrite. I prefer people who tell the truth, it easier for me to understand stuff when I have the facts, that way I don’t waist time trying to beat people who are ‘on full gas’!
In my own little sporting journey I have seen many people on drugs, some friends some enemies, and it’s much better when you know the truth. Competing against people on drugs is a waste of time and just leads to disappointment. Climbing has lots of drugs in it, they are mainly recreational, but they are still very effective because certain aspects of our sport are mental and not physical. Himalayan climbing is full of drugs! The sooner people accept drugs the sooner the playing field will be levelled. I don’t take drugs, not because I’m a saint, but more because I am romantic, and believe in the strength of Spirit. Records and high performance have nothing to do with spirit, just the way Quadruplets have a lot to do with fertility drugs. We live in a society where recreational drugs are taken by perhaps over 70% of the populace, we live in a world where some people who aren’t really that sick are on multiple medications, and even if you are like me and don’t want drugs you probably ingest them thru contaminated food. Wake up, enjoy the Tour for what it is, and climbers please don’t throw stones, cos your all on drugs anyway.
