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The fountain of knowledge known as KWK posted a very interesting interview with Greg Lemond from August of last year. Lemond gives a very interesting <a href=”http://www.competitorradio.com/details.php?show=21″ target=”_blank”>interview</a> and explains his positions and reasoning very clearly in this long form interview. Usually he gets the sound bite treatment, and comes off bitter or vindictive, but given a chance to explain things, he makes a lot of sense. Plus, the story about his DS fighting it out with the team cars with Fignon’s DS is priceless. Listen to the interview and tell us what you think. Homework! We’re just like Oprah’s book club now – but would Oprah mention her butt? I don’t think so.
So what are you saying? Your not gay…
pacelining on aero bars in CP
…yet anothet reason to hate Lemond
IMO no one should not be pacelining on aero bars in the AM in CP. Its too damn dangerous. This goes for road racers also.
However people are also too damn stupid to realize that they are a hazard to themselves and those in the immediate vicinity when they are blasting around an enclosed loop on aero bars with limited access to brakes and questionable handling skills.
Shaw, I think you should change your name to something more eccentric. Chris van hoodyshawriisncz or something. Way more cycling friendly. Just a thought.
Best known for his cleat wedges and training spin bike.
i never liked lemond cause i always liked the european riders, cause they seemed weird when i was a kid. like van hoodynck, theunise and jelle nijdam. though i went on one of those tours to the TDF in 89 when i was in HS and lemond sat down and talked to our group right after losing yellow jersey at Superbagn
Lemond could have won his first two tours,if he was on a different team, perhaps a well funded american team like postal was to lance. he absolutly would have won in 87 and 88 if he was not shot. Delgato and Roche could not even hold his wheel.
I have always thought Lemond was a more complete rider than lance because he did it with so much less
the tri people in CP are funny. not as much of that in prospect, thankfully.
Lemond was the man. Just look at the facts-
-First American to win the Tour de France, heck he won it 3 times with a total of 5 podium places- ’84, ’85, ’86, ’89, 90
-First American to win Junior Worlds in ’79
-First American to win Worlds in ’83 and again ’89
-First Pro to use Sport Management Representation to negotiate 7 figure income
-First Pro in Europe to successfully use aero bars to his advantage (thanks Boone Lennon)
-He holds the record for fastest TT in the Tour over 20k in length- ’89, 24.5 km at 54.545 kph (that’s 15.22 miles at 33.892 mph)
For a more complete list of his palmares check out this wiki- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Lemond
My final 2 cents, most Lemond haters I’ve talked to are usually new to the sport, drawn in during the Armstrong era. That’s all fine, but to not have been there in the 80’s when people in this country didn’t know bike racing from their elbow shows how much of a pioneer Lemond really was for the sport.
I don’t know if he was a tri guy, but a guy riding with a bunch of people with aero bars squeezed by me in a stupidly narrow space today, saying “On your right.” I guess “on your right” sorta means “move over” because if I hadn’t we’d have been six inches apart. Which I don’t like to do with strangers when I’m chilling in the park.
Those who cant hang with the real runners and are not good enough on the bike to race road.
One yelled “on your left” today. When he was behind me. On my right. A second later he apologized. Then he said, on your right. Then came a little riser. I think all the talking really tuckered him out, because he never actually passed me.
they are taking over Central Park. There must have been 30 Tri-lifer’s pace lining this morning as well as several other teams. Scary because they just blast by you and don’t even say anything like ‘passing’ on the left.
In the interview Lemond is hopeful about Floyd and thinks he might be innocent. His power numbers are down from the Armstrong years in which Lemond is convinced that doping was responsible for what he says were inhuman performances. Lemond’s discussion of changes in performance in Tour and his explicit knowledge of doping is in interview. He doesn’t mention Lance by name but it is clear that he thinks that everyone from Indurain,who he mentions, thru Armstrong was doping. Lemond had already talked with Floyd before the interview. What happened in the interim to turn Lemond against Landis?
Tri-Guy doesn’t need to listen. When you’re as intense as I am you already know what he’s going to say. I’m not going to waste my expensive training time listening to a webcast. I could do a 15 minute brick in that time. Excuse me, I need to go shave my armpits.
-TGOG
Lots of other stuff
http://www.competitorradio.com
Lemond lives like he raced… audacious
Very interesting interview. Beyond the doping discussion, the comments on training are really interesting.
If you’re not rounding then you are mis-calibrated, which may be a bigger sin.
Us Tri-guys don’t “round numbers” (unless it’s a hedgefund I run)
Swim 2.4 miles in shark infested high surf
Bike 112 miles over steaming magma feilds spitting liquid sulfer.
Run 26.2 chaffing mankini miles on the Queen’s Highway.
Kona, or Cry 2007
I’ve got you clocked at 18.6 mph…Don’t be rounding up, real OG’s don’t round up.
thanks Greg
I just started listening and this is great stuff
I’m not sure why everyone’s always bashing GL? Could it be that fake tri-guy Lance’s PR team? Lemond obviously went through some heavy duty stuff as a kid (in hindsight) and still carted his ass to France at 19 after winning every important race in the US. He learned the language, lifestyle, race style when there was barely any Western influence and won races. He probably didn’t dope because the Europeans were suspicious of him to begin with and didn’t want to let him in on it..and he won. If he won, who cares? He got static when he couldn’t ride with Roche (in 85 TDF) from the DS and probably could have taken the lead. If your boss tells you to shut the F up and do your job, what do most of us do if you want that job? He didn’t have the luxury of the Lance infrastructure to be defiant or a “bad ass” at the time. He also made tri-bars cool, as Lance did for the mankini.
The guy’s telling the truth.
I’ll see you all in Central Park busting it out at 19mph on my platnium plated Cervelo P3
-TG
is the team going to change its name to CRCA-Velocitynation?
So cool to hear that some of you like this interview. He comments on some really cool stuff other than the drug problem in cycling. the Fingon stories are gold,
it is hard to argue with the fact that he was in better shape the year after a tour win and then could barely hang on in the flat stages. 31 mph average with 3 stops for trains (ouch)
Lemond wins the 1989 Worlds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJSgzHTRg38
kick ass.
They don’t bother me much cause they’re too fast for me being try-geeks and all. There’s that and the fact that I don’t really ride in the park in the mornings. It was interesting how many runners there were yesterday in the rain. It does seem like they enjoy the rain.
As for Greg Lemond – To me he was one of the first real heroes in cycling, other than our local riders that were not allowed to compete internationally. It was also right at the time I went to college that Greg won his first TdF. I like the guy and hopes that all these efforts manages to clean up cycling. I don’t think we are going to get confessions from the superstars.
I now also understand why I’m no longer such a manly man. It’s got nothing to do with my age, it’s the diminishing levels of testosterone due to my hard training. I certainly could have used some testosterone and EPO when I popped like a balloon in the Balloon festival race.
He is a ham and egger!
go beat your PR somewhere else, you mankini dorkfaces. you get in the way
I respect the man for his accomplishments, his sportsmanship, and his positive influence on the sport during his whole career. I see him as a defender of the true sport, and respect that he is willing to be villified for standing up for the truth about doping. In time his legacy will be nothing but positive, and his actions recently will support that, not hurt it.
Worth a listen- not only enlightening, but some funny stories about his racing days too. I find his arguments to be very strong and also find him to be highly credible. I believe Lemond.
don’t dismiss people because they appear “whiny”. that’s stupid. just listen to what the dude says and make up your mind like an intelligent adult should.
He seems whiny to me makes me want to hate him, and I do.
He tells it out like he saw it. He backs up his assertations with his own numbers and observations – hard to argue with him.
Yeah, he came off real well in that interview, real reasonable with lots of knowledge about training. Obviously a smart guy.
I don’t think we gets the respect he deserves, as a pioneer an innovator and an around great cyclist, why is it so fashionable to sh@t on him so much these days?