Depressing news, it put me off my lentils

[Guinevere]

Much like the coffee thread - eat or don't eat what you want, and who cares what anyone else thinks.

Oh, another athlete who eats principally vegan (but does still eat some meat, no dairy):

TB12

eat like a GOAT

I've ordered his meal boxes, trying to up my veggie game, while staying gluten free. The meals are quite good (but also expensive), high quality, generously portioned. But I eat meat and fish on other days, and I just can't quit cheese (nor do I want to).

[BoSoxGal]

Why there is no such thing as superfoods...

Nevertheless, the term exists and is widely used among nutritionists. Furthermore, there is no question that certain fruits, veggies and nuts give more bang for the caloric buck than others - all foods are not equal. If it takes a catchy word to encourage SAD consumers to eat more blueberries, leafy greens, black beans and walnuts that's all good IMHO. Too many people are suffering and dying young from eating the corporate pushers' poison diet.

[Bicycle Bill]

... When I first got really serious about cycling I was the same way; I walked, talked, ate, drank, and slept all things bicycle.  It took about five years before I was able to tone down the obnoxiousness to a tolerable level...

Am I allowed to speak negatively about that lying, liar who lies, Lance Armstrong yet, or does that still cross your redline?

This might interest you, Ray —

After Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, no winner for the years 1999 through 2005 has been named (normally the man on the second-place step of the final podium would assume the mantle of TdF Champion) — and it is likely that no one ever will be.  Six of the seven overall runners-up to Armstrong have also either admitted to or been found guilty of doping.  The lone exception is Joseba Beloki, in 2002.

So if you want to rant on and on about a lying liar who lies to the point that when he does get caught telling the truth he tries to lie his way out of it, maybe you should save your vitriol, hate, and passion for the POTUS.  Compared to him and the "best and the brightest" with whom he has surrounded himself, confirmed and penalized dopers like Armstrong, Floyd Landis, Marco Pantani, Jan Ullrich, and all the others, even going back to the days of Tom Simpson and the Great One himself (Eddy Merckx), still retain their amateur status as liars and cheats.

-"BB"-

[RayThom]

More on Lance Armstrong -- the lying, liar who lies.

But only Armstrong went on to create a supposedly nonprofit organization empire, The Liestrong Foundation, that was built upon a foundation of bullshit and self-promotion. His ruse that the foundation was providing support for people affected by cancer was overshadowed by his creation of a vehicle for self-enrichment from endorsements, sponsorship, and donations from major corporations and an unsuspecting public who believed in his saint-like wholesomeness. P.T. Barnum and Donald Trump rolled into one amorphous blob of deceit.

[Burning Petard]

Me, I like to put 'superfoods' in that special class of marketing smoke-and-mirrors vocabulary. I once thought 'certified used car' was a desirable thing, until I realized there was no point to such certification, unless one was trying to fraudulently sell a new car as if were actually used.

High Fructose Corn syrup is a 'superfood' -- an amazing concentration of pleasant-tasting calories in a very small package. Humans will die if they are deficient in calories.

I have high levels of skepticism for that Christian sage and traditional author of most of the New Testament--St. Paul. But I go along with his general guideline of 'moderation in all things.'

snailgate

[Bicycle Bill]

But only Armstrong went on to create a supposedly nonprofit organization empire, The Liestrong Foundation,

Ray, your almost psychopathic hatred of all things Armstrong has completely obscured whatever small smidgin of objectiveness you might have ever had.

Livestrong was founded in 1977 after he had recovered from his own bout with testicular cancer that had metastasized through his body requiring a radical inguinal orchiectomy, rounds of chemotherapy, and yes, even brain surgery.  He had not yet resumed his cycling career; at that time it was still touch-and-go whether he would even survive, let alone be able regain sufficient form to be able to even line up with the peloton in UCI-sanctioned competition.

You are partially correct, though; when the foundation was originally set up it did bear the name "Lance Armstrong Foundation".  Self-promotion?  Possibly; but remember when the foundation first came into being.  He had had, up to that point, a moderately successful career with four Tour de France appearances (finishing 36th with an individual stage win in 1995) and having twice won what was then America's preeminent cycling race, the Tour du Pont, but he was for all intents and purposes a former cyclist whose potential had been cut short by the big 'C' and was hardly a household name that was capable of attracting big bucks from the 'unsuspecting public'.

And even if he *WAS* doing it as self-promotion, using foundations, bequests, and philanthropy in such a manner is nothing new.  Andrew Carnegie's name can still be found on countless libraries built with Carnegie Foundation money over the years; the museum sometimes referred to as 'America's Attic' bears the name it does because of a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge”; and more recently, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Gates founded — wait for it — "The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" to 'expand educational opportunities and access to information technology' (and get a whopping huge tax break) ... and don't think for a minute that the foundation is shipping iPads or MacBooks as part of this 'access to info tech'.

-"BB"-

[rubato]

"Superfoods" like "Nutrient Dense" are bullshit advertising terms. Being "nutrient dense" is only a good thing if you have a tiny tiny digestive system and can't get enough nutrition in the volume of food you can eat.

And when you pass "enough" nutrients of one sort or another you move into "too much" which is often harmful not into "even better".


yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

Lance was a notorious self-involved egotistical asshole when he switched from triathlon to cycling and he was the same self-involved egotistical asshole after he had cancer. Everyone , including me, wanted to believe the story that he had passed through the fire and been transformed; he wasn't.

He is unable to do anything without turning it ultimately to his own glorification and enrichment.



yrs,
rubato

[Burning Petard]

To become and maintain as a world-class professional athlete REQUIRES concentration on the sport to the point that almost anywhere else it would be considered crazy. Sure, buy the shoes, the jersey for your hero, but those individuals are role models like Marvel Comix superheroes. Not much objective connection to the actual life requirements of typical human beings.

snailgate.

(later edit--My bicycling heroes are Major Taylor, Lon Haldeman, and Greg LeMond. How many have finished the TdF with buckshot in their body after being shot by their brother-in-law?)

[RayThom]

... Ray, your almost psychopathic hatred of all things Armstrong has completely obscured whatever small smidgen of objectiveness you might have ever had...

BB, I hate no one -- not the lying liar who lies, nor even your nemesis, Lord Dampnut. I have found hate requires too much energy and I have done quite well channeling this energy toward improving my life, especially since I sobered up so many decades ago.

As far as Lance goes, I wish him no harm but hope he fades, alone, into the ethereal darkness as quickly as possible. He deserves nothing better.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2 ... /98307324/

[Bicycle Bill]

To become and maintain as a world-class professional athlete REQUIRES concentration on the sport to the point that almost anywhere else it would be considered crazy. Sure, buy the shoes, the jersey for your hero, but those individuals are role models like Marvel Comix superheroes. Not much objective connection to the actual life requirements of typical human beings.

snailgate.

(later edit--My bicycling heroes are Major Taylor, Lon Haldeman, and Greg LeMond. How many have finished the TdF with buckshot in their body after being shot by their brother-in-law?)

Not trying to toot my own horn, but I've ridden with two of the three, and have ridden on the velodrome named for the third.

-"BB"-

[Long Run]

In Defense of Lance Armstrong and His Freedom of Speech
USADA tried to place a gag order on Armstrong when he partnered with the Colorado Classic to broadcast his podcast. No matter your thoughts about the bike racer's character, that's just wrong—and it's really bad for the sport.
No matter your opinion on his personal character, Lance Armstrong is the baddest-ass bike racer of all time. There are maybe five other people alive today who know the ins and outs of road-bike stage racing better than he does. Which is why there were so many fans of Lance’s independent podcast, called Stages, in which he weighed in as an insider-turned-permanent-outcast on the strategy, grit, idiocy, mayhem, beauty, drama, and athleticism that is the Tour de France.

At least five million fans downloaded the Stages podcasts that Lance dictated from home. That’s a massive audience for U.S. cycling in the post-Lance-racing world. Like it or not, Lance was once again singlehandedly making cycling cool again in America.

Intrigued, the organizers of the Colorado Classic, America’s newest stage race, which kicked off August 10, partnered with Lance to issue podcasts from a custom Airstream at the races. The organizers—former ski shop guys from Colorado with a huge love of cycling—told the Denver Post that they were “blown away” at the potential audience they could reach with Lance’s help. Naturally, Lance would get paid for his work.

That’s when, after fielding calls and emails from Lance’s many detractors, the United States Anti-Doping Agency informed race officials that, “Under the World Anti-Doping Agency Code, an ineligible individual [Lance] may not have an official role in relation to a sanctioned event such as the Colorado Classic.” In other words, if Lance so much as worked at a bake sale at the event, they'd shut it down faster than you can say “erythropoietin brownies.” Without UCI, WADA, and USADA backing, there is no high-level professional bike race. Understandably, the race organizers quickly broke their ties with Lance. (Lance has decided to still cover the Colorado race via Stages—he's just not getting any money for it. The first dispatch went live Thursday.)

USADA, in its attempt to place a gag order on Lance Armstrong, trampled on the spirit of the First Amendment. And in the process, it did everything in its power to quash cycling in the U.S., a sport that needs every bit of help it can get.

That last bit is the bigger issue: Why would the UCI engage in such flagrant self-immolation at a time when bikes sales are down worldwide, independent bike shops in America are struggling, and interest in bike racing in the U.S. is as thin as a Team Sky muscle calendar? Baseball has loads of stars, so even if it’s morally wrong to banish Pete Rose, it can afford to do so, economically. As much as many of us would like to deny it—myself included—cycling in the U.S. only has Lance. He’s the sport’s only household name. He brought the cycling boom in the late 1990s and sustained it through the aughts. And now he might just be able to staunch the bloodletting. Let him.

Maybe Lance Armstrong upsets your sensibilities and you don’t want to hear him commenting on the rebirth of clean cycling. It’s understandable. He did wicked things to good people and the black mark he left on the sport is indelible. But, as an American, he has a right to both earn a living and speak his mind. He’s also charismatic, and if given a chance, just might win over his detractors and help make cycling relevant to a wider audience than weekend racers.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2233441/l ... -amendment

[RayThom]

Maybe Lance Armstrong upsets your sensibilities and you don’t want to hear him commenting on the rebirth of clean cycling. It’s understandable. He did wicked things to good people and the black mark he left on the sport is indelible. But, as an American, he has a right to both earn a living and speak his mind. He’s also charismatic, and if given a chance, just might win over his detractors and help make cycling relevant to a wider audience than weekend racers."

Yes, I can go along with almost all of this. However, I wish he'd just go quietly into this goodnight. And, no, he'll never win over this detractor... unless a cure for cancer is personally attributed to him and LiveStrong. Hey, I'm not heartless, just a realist.