Why I should care about Lance Armstrong

[Spurffelbow833]

Originally Posted by corpgator

I've been saying for years that doping brought on his cancer. You just don't get that cancer that young and have it spread like it did naturally.

Plus, stories of his lifestyle before cancer were insane. He'd stay up all night partying then go out the next morning and win iron man competitions.

Testicular cancer predominantly strikes young men. I would think other sports would be thick with victims (and denial) as well if there were a strong link.

[mocgator]

Originally Posted by oaklandroadie

I knew I loved you for more than the fact you look like Michael Waltrip, errrr, Brad Pitt. I'm a Cat 2 in Nor Cal.

It is a big deal because the Tour de France is like the 2nd largest sporting event in the world. And Lance used that event to get millions donated to his cancer "awareness" organization.

A CAT 2! Good for you! I'm a CAT 3. I rode for Team Podium last year and this year for MetLife Elite Cycling.

[mocgator]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

I cared because, for awhile there, "Lance Armstrong" was the quickest and most effective way to put a French person in their place.

"Being French is wrong" - Al Bundy

[T3goalie]

A Tour rider who cheats is not exactly news.

[gatorman_07732]

Originally Posted by T3goalie

A Tour rider who cheats is not exactly news.

This particular story really goes just beyone doping

[corpgator]

http://cavalierfc.tumblr.com/post/30...about-the-bike

But there’s a subscript to his cancer that hasn’t really been explored: Armstrong by his own claim is the most tested athlete on the planet, and given he enjoyed considerable success in 1996 and beforehand, would certainly have been subject to numerous doping controls. Some cancers - including the type Lance Armstrong had - cause enormously elevated levels of human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG), a naturally occuring hormone in the body, but at low levels in males. Now, there are rules for the amount of hCG permitted in an athlete, because it offers a competitive advantage - not enough to overcome the deficiencies cancers cause, but a good advantage in a healthy human being, because it produces testosterone. An athlete is often considered to have failed a drug test if the urinary T/E (Testosterone:Epitestosterone) ratio is greater than 6. So the UCI would have been testing for it, and Armstrong’s cancer would have resulted in an enormously elevated T/E ratio.

But Armstrong never produced a positive sample. Compare that with Jake Gibb whose life, it could be argued, was saved by USADA’s testing, when it detected those hugely elevated levels in an anti-doping test, and advised him to see a doctor. That ultimately led to the discovery of testicular cancer, and Gibb recovered. Lance Armstrong wasn’t so lucky - so we can assume one of two things. Either the UCI’s anti-doping measures were woefully below standard, and didn’t detect Armstrong’s elevated levels of hCG, allowing his cancer to worsen while competing, or the UCI’s anti-doping discovered Armstrong’s elevated levels and didn’t report them. Either way, it’s a massive condemnation in the UCI’s ability to validate itself as a serious entity in drug testing. At best it’s woefully ineffective, at worst it’s simply corrupt.

Ultimately, modern medicine saved Armstrong. That fact has been distorted as years have gone by with Armstrong’s claim to be riding to ‘fight’ the disease - when the only time it’s been beaten is with the help of medicine and drugs. The ironic thing here is that steroid usage has been proven to cause cancer, and was suggested by a former WADA spokesman to have possible been complicit in Armstrong contracting the disease.

[jsc28]

Originally Posted by oaklandroadie

I knew I loved you for more than the fact you look like Michael Waltrip, errrr, Brad Pitt. I'm a Cat 2 in Nor Cal.

It is a big deal because the Tour de France is like the 2nd largest sporting event in the world. And Lance used that event to get millions donated to his cancer "awareness" organization.

That would make it larger than either the Olympics or the World Cup. That doesn't sound right.

[gatorman_07732]

Originally Posted by corpgator

http://cavalierfc.tumblr.com/post/30...about-the-bike

You know hown he was getting around the tests right?