Book review: Lance Armstrong Tour de Force



Ullefan

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Jul 14, 2004
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So is anyone reading 'Lance Armstrong Tour de Force' by Dan Coyle?
I had read some excerpts and thought this could be interesting, an insider to Lance writes a book about him. I've only read the first chapter but already drooling over it.

There are many things that I've found out already about Lance I wouldn't have known, like how he had a cold during a training camp but it never got reported to the world. It also suggests Dr Ferrari who is refered to as 'dr evil' was always closer to Lance than you would think, he practically lived in the same building in Girona would you believe.

There must be tons more.....can't keep my hands off this book now.
Lance-fans, Lance-haters....buy it.
 
On the subject of books, I would like to read cycling books that are non-training and (sorry) non-Lance. Other than The Race & The Yellow Jersey, I can't seem to find any worth reading.

If you know of any, especially if you can find them in North America, can you please post here.

Thanks.

P.S. I will get the book you mentioned at some point, but I've some Lance books and would like to read about other riders, cycling fiction, or historic and interesting books.
 
noonievut said:
On the subject of books, I would like to read cycling books that are non-training and (sorry) non-Lance. Other than The Race & The Yellow Jersey, I can't seem to find any worth reading.

If you know of any, especially if you can find them in North America, can you please post here.

Thanks.

P.S. I will get the book you mentioned at some point, but I've some Lance books and would like to read about other riders, cycling fiction, or historic and interesting books.

"Sweat of the Gods" by Benjo Maso

http://www.mousehold-press.co.uk/detail_sweatOfGods.html

Newly translated into English from the original Dutch and an English publisher so it's still hard to find in USA... I've only read excerpts. A mostly historical view of Euro pro bike racing with some great stories from an obvious tifoso.
 
Two of the best non-Lance 'I'm a really nice guy who happens to be a awesome cyclist in my own words' books are below..... if you can read German make sure read Jan's autobiograhphy 'Ganz oder gar nicht'................... great read without the Lance 'pumps his own tyres' parts.... he is honest and open.......


If you want to vomit make sure you read Linda Armstrong's book on rasing Lance ! What a farking crock of **** ! http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/076791855X/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_5/026-5488111-4540451 - Take a look at her hair she even died it blonde for the photo !

____________

Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling - The True Story - ***** Voet

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0224061178/qid=1123103261/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-5488111-4540451

- Is a great book, although all about drugs in the sport we love its an interesting read in the different concoctions they made for the Festina team... ***** was the masseur for the team then became full time drug administer... the are some fully sequences of ***** going out to do 'deals' with dodgy doctors..... the poor guy took a massive fall for the team of riders who claimed there innocence.... he's exchanges with Richie V are fantastic.....

Man on the Run: The Life and Death of Marco Pantani
Manuela Ronchi, Gianfranco Josti h
ttp://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861059205/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_2/026-5488111-4540451

- Another good read especially the exchanges between Armstrong and Patani…. also the differences in lifestyle between the two ! Marco was a rock-star who would go on mad training binges and then live the high life for a month and then go training again…… great rider, weird guy ! Read it !


noonievut said:
On the subject of books, I would like to read cycling books that are non-training and (sorry) non-Lance. Other than The Race & The Yellow Jersey, I can't seem to find any worth reading.

If you know of any, especially if you can find them in North America, can you please post here.

Thanks.

P.S. I will get the book you mentioned at some point, but I've some Lance books and would like to read about other riders, cycling fiction, or historic and interesting books.
 
noonievut said:
On the subject of books, I would like to read cycling books that are non-training and (sorry) non-Lance. Other than The Race & The Yellow Jersey, I can't seem to find any worth reading.

If you know of any, especially if you can find them in North America, can you please post here.

Thanks.

P.S. I will get the book you mentioned at some point, but I've some Lance books and would like to read about other riders, cycling fiction, or historic and interesting books.
Actually it's not completely about Lance, it's mostly about top cyclists and their lives (background and present), interesting stories you never read on a cycling website. It's also very unbiased, he's not one of Lance's cronies. He talks about the man behind the shades, the men he saw (when they met) and not the **** you read in the books by Sally Jenkins.
 
whiteboytrash said:
Two of the best non-Lance 'I'm a really nice guy who happens to be a awesome cyclist in my own words' books are below..... if you can read German make sure read Jan's autobiograhphy 'Ganz oder gar nicht'................... great read without the Lance 'pumps his own tyres' parts.... he is honest and open.......


If you want to vomit make sure you read Linda Armstrong's book on rasing Lance ! What a farking crock of **** ! http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/076791855X/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_5/026-5488111-4540451 - Take a look at her hair she even died it blonde for the photo !

____________

Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling - The True Story - ***** Voet

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0224061178/qid=1123103261/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-5488111-4540451

- Is a great book, although all about drugs in the sport we love its an interesting read in the different concoctions they made for the Festina team... ***** was the masseur for the team then became full time drug administer... the are some fully sequences of ***** going out to do 'deals' with dodgy doctors..... the poor guy took a massive fall for the team of riders who claimed there innocence.... he's exchanges with Richie V are fantastic.....

Man on the Run: The Life and Death of Marco Pantani
Manuela Ronchi, Gianfranco Josti h
ttp://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861059205/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_2/026-5488111-4540451

- Another good read especially the exchanges between Armstrong and Patani…. also the differences in lifestyle between the two ! Marco was a rock-star who would go on mad training binges and then live the high life for a month and then go training again…… great rider, weird guy ! Read it !
After reading both of Lance's books I did not come away with a happy feeling about Lance nor do I feel that's what he promoted. The guy was a cocky, bull headed sob until he had Cancer and SOME aspects of his personality changed for the better. Namely he grew up. As far as good books go they were both excellent. The guy has an amazing will to live and to win. Is he a jerk, probably to most, but he is one hell of an athlete and that's why I like him.
 
Perhaps you should read Linda's book then ? Looks like a great read ;-)

I wasn’t disputing Lance's book's but there are some other great ones out there as well which are not about ONE man......

azdroptop said:
After reading both of Lance's books I did not come away with a happy feeling about Lance nor do I feel that's what he promoted. The guy was a cocky, bull headed sob until he had Cancer and SOME aspects of his personality changed for the better. Namely he grew up. As far as good books go they were both excellent. The guy has an amazing will to live and to win. Is he a jerk, probably to most, but he is one hell of an athlete and that's why I like him.
 
I just read that Lance's cronies played undercover 'pro triathlete' to gain access to Jan's TT bike from the 2003 tour. Can you believe that...what is this a government operation all of a sudden? IMO that's fraud! I just lost some respect for Lance's win in 2004.
 
Whats this ? Tell us more......

Ullefan said:
I just read that Lance's cronies played undercover 'pro triathlete' to gain access to Jan's TT bike from the 2003 tour. Can you believe that...what is this a government operation all of a sudden? IMO that's fraud! I just lost some respect for Lance's win in 2004.
 
whiteboytrash said:
Whats this ? Tell us more......
Basically, Lance's cronies wanted to build the fastest TT bike in the world for the 2004 tour. They had seen Ullrich's success in the 2003 tour. So they went about obtaining a copy of his bike. The bike was made by Andy Walser in Suisse who only made a few frames a year for pros. They knew he'd refuse to sell a frame to trek, so they sent a european salesperson to his shop posed as a 'triathlete'. They got a bike, and by the time Walser discovered his true identity, the bike was already on its way to treks headquaters.

This may seem perfectly legal, but in my eyes that's not right. No-one other than Lance's cronies would go to that extent just to win the tour. Is that what Indurain would do? Is that what Merckx would do? To me that's not the act of a 'hero'.
 
where did you read this? interesting stuff. 'hero'...

Ullefan said:
Basically, Lance's cronies wanted to build the fastest TT bike in the world for the 2004 tour. They had seen Ullrich's success in the 2003 tour. So they went about obtaining a copy of his bike. The bike was made by Andy Walser in Suisse who only made a few frames a year for pros. They knew he'd refuse to sell a frame to trek, so they sent a european salesperson to his shop posed as a 'triathlete'. They got a bike, and by the time Walser discovered his true identity, the bike was already on its way to treks headquaters.

This may seem perfectly legal, but in my eyes that's not right. No-one other than Lance's cronies would go to that extent just to win the tour. Is that what Indurain would do? Is that what Merckx would do? To me that's not the act of a 'hero'.
 
Ullefan said:
Is that what Indurain would do? Is that what Merckx would do? To me that's not the act of a 'hero'.
Maybe not, although I don't think Armstrong is a "hero" in a cycling sense. He's a winner, and by all accounts will do anything within the rules (phrase added for Flyer's benefit) to accomplish the goal of any race participant, which is to win.

In the meantime, if Ullrich's bike-maker truly wanted to keep the technology for Jan's benefit, he wouldn't go around selling it to any triathlete who showed up at the door. If the techology was meant to be kept secret, it should have been guarded by keeping the sold frames within control of Jan and his team, or by requiring persons who purchased the frame to sign agreements that they would not provide access to the frames to third-parties.

If this story is true, it's just another reason why Armstrong reached his prime at the perfect moment in time -- the one man who seemed to have the talent to beat him bungled every advantage.
 
rejobako said:
Maybe not, although I don't think Armstrong is a "hero" in a cycling sense. He's a winner, and by all accounts will do anything within the rules (phrase added for Flyer's benefit) to accomplish the goal of any race participant, which is to win.

In the meantime, if Ullrich's bike-maker truly wanted to keep the technology for Jan's benefit, he wouldn't go around selling it to any triathlete who showed up at the door. If the techology was meant to be kept secret, it should have been guarded by keeping the sold frames within control of Jan and his team, or by requiring persons who purchased the frame to sign agreements that they would not provide access to the frames to third-parties.

If this story is true, it's just another reason why Armstrong reached his prime at the perfect moment in time -- the one man who seemed to have the talent to beat him bungled every advantage.
Cheer-leaders will find a way through everything to save their reality of Lance being this hero. I have a moral objection with his methods here. Humans can make mistakes, humans can be nice and be believers, though you would probably call it 'naivevity.' What they did was almost criminal and evil IMO. He won yes, but at what cost? His champion image has become tainted IMO.
 
whiteboytrash said:
...Take a look at her hair she even died it blonde for the photo !...

There you go! Let's show our hatred for Lance by not only ripping on him. We'll go after his mother's hair too! I bet her hair became that color from some PED she took while she was pregnant with Lance to enhance his performace before he was ever even born!
 
Come on, even the most ardent Lance fan has to admit this book is just a cash in... come on, have a laugh ? It is funny... even the cheesy photo on the cover is overacting at its best ! What were the PR boys thinking when they dreamed up this one ?


meehs said:
There you go! Let's show our hatred for Lance by not only ripping on him. We'll go after his mother's hair too! I bet her hair became that color from some PED she took while she was pregnant with Lance to enhance his performace before he was ever even born!
 
Ullefan said:
Cheer-leaders will find a way through everything to save their reality of Lance being this hero. I have a moral objection with his methods here. Humans can make mistakes, humans can be nice and be believers, though you would probably call it 'naivevity.' What they did was almost criminal and evil IMO.
"Evil"? LOL.

As for being a "cheerleader" for a "hero", I prefaced my last post by stating that I don't believe Armstrong is any sort of hero -- merely a winner. In the meantime, I do spend a lot of time on this forum defending him from the bitter revisionist "Ullefans" and other disgruntled types who like to believe a story like this "taints his legend". I'm sure there will be seven asterisks placed next to his name in the record books with an annotation reading "Yes, but a team employee stole Jan's frame." :rolleyes:

I criticize Armstrong when I believe it is warranted, as I did yesterday during the discussion about his chasing Simeoni down. As for this earth-shaking cataclysmic revelation that Discovery, like all the other teams, practices gamesmanship in trying to gain each other's technologies, I have only this to say . . . .

>>>>yawn<<<<
 
rejobako said:
"Evil"? LOL.

As for being a "cheerleader" for a "hero", I prefaced my last post by stating that I don't believe Armstrong is any sort of hero -- merely a winner. In the meantime, I do spend a lot of time on this forum defending him from the bitter revisionist "Ullefans" and other disgruntled types who like to believe a story like this "taints his legend". I'm sure there will be seven asterisks placed next to his name in the record books with an annotation reading "Yes, but a team employee stole Jan's frame." :rolleyes:

I criticize Armstrong when I believe it is warranted, as I did yesterday during the discussion about his chasing Simeoni down. As for this earth-shaking cataclysmic revelation that Discovery, like all the other teams, practices gamesmanship in trying to gain each other's technologies, I have only this to say . . . .

>>>>yawn<<<<
Have you read the book? I didn't think so. I'am not ''bitter'', I've just lost respect for his win. Like I said, I have a moral objection with this method, and I haven't heard about Jan using espionage either, or any other of our heros of the past for that matter. If Jan did use espionage, I'd loose respect for him too or any other rider, I'am not playing favourites, just stating my opinion on what i've read in a book.
 
Ullefan said:
I just read that Lance's cronies played undercover 'pro triathlete' to gain access to Jan's TT bike from the 2003 tour. Can you believe that...what is this a government operation all of a sudden? IMO that's fraud! I just lost some respect for Lance's win in 2004.

No, if you are committed to finding the fastest bike, you go to the guy with that bike and find it, buy it or convince him. BTW, how stupid was this guy to sell it to some triathletes who were no-namers. If someone showed up at Waterloo Michigan wanting the fastest TT bike and would pay anything (read, bribe) dont you think Trek would do a little research, like Google their names to see their Ironman times. Why would you sell a world class bike to a no-name? It would be bad business sense.

If you are good enough to build a bike that fast, you should be smart enough to know to sell your TT bike only to Jan Ullrich and be under contract to build only for him. Otherwise if you are gonna sell it, sell it to a potential winner of Ironman Hawaii, or the World Championships or something.


More stupidity on the Ullrich side if you ask me.
Or maybe not, maybe this is more Lance B.S. sold to Dan Coyle.
Or maybe the Trek guys paid A LOT for the bike.

Just Review the times for the ITT. Jan had neven beaten Lance ever in a TT. No wonder they wanted to know what he was riding. The gaps were Indurain like:



1 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi 58.32.92
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor 1.36
3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 2.06
4 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.40
5 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC 2.43
7 David Millar (GBr) Cofidis, Credit Par Telephone 3.55
10 Santiago Botero (Col) Team Telekom 5.00
12 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5.03
17 José Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski 5.32
20 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 6.00
 
Well, Jan did beat him in sydney but I guess only the tdf counts right? ;)
The gaps from Armstrong to vino and zubeldia suggests that the big gaps was not all on jan's part, but that armstrong was not at his best form IMHO.


hombredesubaru said:
Just Review the times for the ITT. Jan had neven beaten Lance ever in a TT. No wonder they wanted to know what he was riding. The gaps were Indurain like:



1 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi 58.32.92
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor 1.36
3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 2.06
4 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.40
5 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC 2.43
7 David Millar (GBr) Cofidis, Credit Par Telephone 3.55
10 Santiago Botero (Col) Team Telekom 5.00
12 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5.03
17 José Azevedo (Por) ONCE-Eroski 5.32
20 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 6.00
 
Bjørn P.Dal said:
Well, Jan did beat him in sydney but I guess only the tdf counts right? ;)
The gaps from Armstrong to vino and zubeldia suggests that the big gaps was not all on jan's part, but that armstrong was not at his best form IMHO.
Yes, you are right about Sydney. I forgot and was quoting Jan who said in an interview words to that effect after beating Lance , maybe he meant he had never WON an ITT.

Yes the gaps show Armstrong was not at his best but still I think Lance's people must have been scratching their heads at that result.

And wanting the bike to compare.
 

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