rAssmussen?!!

Photo-Bettini

I can't help but blog a bit on Rasmussen. Up until a few days ago, I was a big Rass fan. I had never read an interview, never talked to anyone who knew him, never dug too deep into his character. I was just incredibly impressed with his stage wins over the last two TdF's and was equally impressed with his stage 8 win. I identify with Rass because I am better at climbing than the other cycling disiplines, and am very thin like him. I get the same jokes that he gets about being so skinny. (Friends, I like being thin, and if you've made jokes of me in the past, like I fall like a feather, now see the hand motion...I think they are funny, sometimes really funny, so keep them coming.) Michael and I even share some of the same prowess in bike handling. More jokes! This time they're not funny! Just kidding, I deserve those too...sniff..sniff...cry...someday I'll learn how to ride my bike around corners!

Wow, sorry for such a long intro, but I am just really upset about getting to know Rasmussen over the last couple of days that he has been vaulted into the public eye. It is true that statements can be taken out of context, people can be poor at conveying their true feeling, and the press loves to bring people down from the highest places, but it is also true that you can't hide yourself completely and bits of the true you come out whether you like it or not. Michaels first moment in the highlight quoted him with saying "you can trust me" in response to a drugs in cycling question. I took it as a nice straight, honest answer and was glad to hear him say it. Then I had a conversation with someone who knows a guy that rode with Rass back in the day, and there were negative comments about character. Then the comment about Menchov not being able to get his ass over the Galibier, and it was certain who the leader of Rabobank was now. Then, as a photographer, I noticed that just about every photo published of Rass lately has been unflattering. If you are an editor, or a photographer to the pro peloton you get to know the people you deal with on a daily basis, and you tend to portray your subjects in the manner that you see them. This is out of truth to your vision and an effort to portray things journalistically correct. Photos say much more than "this is a guy on a bike", or "this is a guy on the podium". Emotion, angle, lighting, and moment all define the way the viewer is going to perceive the image. Photographers and editors have spoken load and clear that Rass is a bad apple without saying a tangible word about it. Then the Danish national team dumped Rass over not being available for drug testing. Now, today a friend from Michael's past comes out with the surprise, it's blood, not Sidi's trick that Rass pulled on him in 2002. There are a lot of people out there selling interviews and books, and this smelled like one of those on the surface, but I read the whole article and it really seems legit. We will never know, because people lie so much about these things it's impossible to know in the end, but this guy's explanation just resonates rational and truthful.

As I try to make sense of this battle between dopers and testers, I'm stuck with the bottom line that most of us are really uncomfortible with: there is too much motivation for people to cheat at sports, it is impossible to have a clean race, but of course we have obligations to fight the good fight because it is just simply wrong not to.

Some more soul searching brings this: we were not meant to be a global society, really we as human beings work better in small groups. Extreme fame and fortune bring motivation to be dishonest, which is always hurtful in the end. What it comes down to is we are supposed to sing, dance and compete ourselves, not watch and fund through commerce the best ones in the world. We are meant to sing our own songs, with our own voices and race with our own legs on Tuesdays and Thursday nights with our friends then drink a few beers after. This is the meaning of life folks, please, no thanks or pats on the back, just make your checks payable to:.....

On another note: the picture above is a glamour shot of Rass on a TT bike! Now if that isn't funny, I don't know what it is!

-Adam