Nicole Cooke

[BumbleBeeDave]

Read the whole statement.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/nicole-cooke-retires-from-cycling

"When Lance "cries" on Oprah later this week and she passes him a tissue, spare a thought for all of those genuine people who walked away with no reward – just shattered dreams. Each one of them is worth a thousand Lances."

Class. Pure class.

BBD

[Hawker]

Hard to argue with that.

[earlfoss]

Mentioned in another thread but I had a hard time believing that Nicole was clean her entire career. We shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking that women's cycling was somehow immune to doping or that there were fewer on the juice in their peloton.

[BumbleBeeDave]

I just disagree with it.

BBD

[jpw]

Mentioned in another thread but I had a hard time believing that Nicole was clean her entire career. We shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking that women's cycling was somehow immune to doping or that there were fewer on the juice in their peloton.

cow pat. she also said in the interview that her career achievements were limited by women who did take drugs. She didn't name them, but i can think of one or two big names who were just so good at 'peaking'.

[oldpotatoe]

Mentioned in another thread but I had a hard time believing that Nicole was clean her entire career. We shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking that women's cycling was somehow immune to doping or that there were fewer on the juice in their peloton.

Balderdash..and has been mentioned, many pro women cyclists would make more money managing a McDonalds. There is not the incentive to cheat like the entire men's pro peloton did in the last decade. The $ just isn't there.

[FlashUNC]

cow pat. she also said in the interview that her career achievements were limited by women who did take drugs. She didn't name them, but i can think of one or two big names who were just so good at 'peaking'.

Exhibit A:

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.280814.1314350656!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_200/amd-tammy-thomas-jpg.jpg

[LegendRider]

Tammy Thomas now. The difference is remarkable...

[TAW]

Tammy Thomas now. The difference is remarkable...

See what happens when you quit eating oreos?

[rwsaunders]

Tammy Thomas now. The difference is remarkable...

That was her brother, Thomas Tammy....

[zap]

Balderdash..and has been mentioned, many pro women cyclists would make more money managing a McDonalds. There is not the incentive to cheat like the entire men's pro peloton did in the last decade. The $ just isn't there.

Winning is a very powerful incentive.

In my experience, women like to win (sports or business) just as much as men.

[fiamme red]

Tammy Thomas now. The difference is remarkable...http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/10/sports/olympics-seeking-her-way-out-of-infamy.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Speaking generally, Thomas gave her explanation of how honest athletes turn bad. First, coaches, or ''hook-ups,'' give athletes what the coaches call vitamins, she said. Then those coaches slowly start changing the routine, giving their athletes pills of different colors and dosages. By the time the athletes figure out they are taking performance-enhancing drugs, Thomas said, it is almost too late to turn back.

''At some point, the athlete has a choice to stop or keep going,'' she said. ''But you start to think that if you don't take something, you're going to lose. And who's going to cheer for someone who finishes last in a heat?'' She added: ''Athletes don't really care about their bodies. They care more about winning.''

[mcteague]

Balderdash..and has been mentioned, many pro women cyclists would make more money managing a McDonalds. There is not the incentive to cheat like the entire men's pro peloton did in the last decade. The $ just isn't there.

Oh really? Just ask Inga Thompson.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/12/analysis/opinion-thompson-says-cleaning-house-is-the-only-way-forward_267849

Tim

[LegendRider]

Oh really? Just ask Inga Thompson.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/12/analysis/opinion-thompson-says-cleaning-house-is-the-only-way-forward_267849

Tim

This is a good interview with her:
http://competitorradio.competitor.com/2012/12/inga-thompson/

[shovelhd]

There is a difference between wanting to win and being willing to cheat to win.

[earlfoss]

Remember Geneviève Jeanson?

Michael Barry's wife Dede was a known doper and was mentioned in the testimony of some of the now banned riders.

That's just two.

[fiamme red]

Michael Barry's wife Dede was a known doper and was mentioned in the testimony of some of the now banned riders.Do you have a source for the former statement? I don't believe she ever tested positive or was linked to doping in any way.

Yes, I know that Dave Zabriskie testified that she and her husband Michael defended the use of EPO in a conversation with him.

[earlfoss]

Sorry, she was a suspected doper.

Through her time at Saturn one can connect the dots. That team was known for it's "unusual depth and organization." Trent Klasna hasn't served a ban or tested positive either but Google around a bit and see what his reputation was. Dede was in that same batch of peeps.

It's been slowly coming out over the years that Saturn was a dirty team.

[tuxbailey]

Oh really? Just ask Inga Thompson.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/12/analysis/opinion-thompson-says-cleaning-house-is-the-only-way-forward_267849

Tim

Very good read. Maybe Sally Jenkins can write a book with her.

[savine]

Pretty sure that Nicole never doped, shame that shes going now but she has been around for donkeys. My rider Gunn Rita Dahle rode with her at Safri for a bit and said she was a good rider but often lost her temper if she lost or things never went her way.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . tars and feathers everybody in the peloton, both cheats and honest. If I was a rider of Nicole's talent and achievements and the atmoshpere got to a place where every time I won a race--honestly--people speculated that I doped just because I won, then I would definitely be tempted to say, Aw' eff it." and go have a real life.

BBD

[zap]

If I was a rider of Nicole's talent and achievements and the atmoshpere got to a place where every time I won a race--honestly--people speculated that I doped just because I won, then I would definitely be tempted to say, Aw' eff it." and go have a real life.

BBD

If you started competing at a higher level when you started high school (middle school in the USA), good chance you would have been tempted to "enhance".

You don't get to the top ranks and not be exposed to all this.

Note, this is certainly not a cycling specific issue.........

[malcolm]

Didn't read the whole thing but hell women still are not treated as equals in the day to day world much less sport.

[GuyGadois]

Isn't it hard to believe any pro athletes these days? Are there any that are "clean" or are they just getting around testing or untested? I know, I'm totally cynical but I was gullible and a believer before.

GG

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

Wasn't there some poll of elite athletes, where they were asked if they'd take a drug that would kill them in 5-10 years, but would guarantee a win, something like 80% would take it? Truly, win at all costs.

[malcolm]

Wasn't there some poll of elite athletes, where they were asked if they'd take a drug that would kill them in 5-10 years, but would guarantee a win, something like 80% would take it? Truly, win at all costs.

It was I think an article in the '80s, when steroids were becoming notorious and the question was put to olympic hopefuls and was along the lines of would you take a pill that would ensure a medal but cost 10 years of your life and by a huge majority the response was affirmative

[54ny77]

Totally jacked up on 'roids. You can just tell. I mean, look at those PANTS!

http://www.google.com/url?source=imglanding&ct=img&q=http://media.nj.com/realtimesports_impact/photo/10739914-large.jpg&sa=X&ei=UN31UM3wJZGs0AHz7oGwBw&ved=0CAkQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNFJ-XIgOjYiAc6ig9H0Yur-1sSx0g

Isn't it hard to believe any pro athletes these days? Are there any that are "clean" or are they just getting around testing or untested? I know, I'm totally cynical but I was gullible and a believer before.

GG

[wc1934]

Didn't read the whole thing but hell women still are not treated as equals in the day to day world much less sport.

+1
Still a glass ceiling in the workplace - In sports just take look at women's soccer - US wins the World Cup but last year they did not even have a league.

[norcalbiker]

Mentioned in another thread but I had a hard time believing that Nicole was clean her entire career. We shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking that women's cycling was somehow immune to doping or that there were fewer on the juice in their peloton.


I was thinking the same thing.

[norcalbiker]

Winning is a very powerful incentive.

In my experience, women like to win (sports or business) just as much as men.

Yuuup!!! :bike:

[oldpotatoe]

Pretty sure that Nicole never doped, shame that shes going now but she has been around for donkeys. My rider Gunn Rita Dahle rode with her at Safri for a bit and said she was a good rider but often lost her temper if she lost or things never went her way.

Agree..if she was suspected, her best course would to stay quiet and retire..not be vocal, ala Lemond. I know a guy who knew her in the standard sense and the biblical sense..and a doper, she is not.

Maybe a pissed female but not a doper.

I know Dede(haven't seen her for a while) but I don't think she is either.

[Flintoff12]

Remember "I can't help thinking that cheats win on the way up and the way down" ? If the retirement statement was brilliant, if anything the book is even better. I just started it and didn't stop.

Just out in the UK. Some reviews. [I opened up an account here because I knew you had a good thread at around the time of her retirement. I love the quotes on the book Forbes magazine - the anti-Lance Armstrong and for us in the UK cult hero Graeme Obree has done the foreword. ]

http://www.onthedrops.cc/huw-williams-reviews-the-breakaway-nicole-cookes-autobiography/

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/aug/01/nicole-cooke-book-the-breakaway-cycling

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19796189-the-breakaway

Two huge articles on the book at podium cafe - which is totally unprecedented in any book review.
http://www.podiumcafe.com/book-corner/2014/9/2/6096243/the-breakaway-by-nicole-cooke
http://www.podiumcafe.com/book-corner/2014/9/2/6096271/the-breakaway-by-nicole-cooke-part-2

Kindle version available here.
http://www.amazon.com/Breakaway-Nicole-Cooke-ebook/dp/B00DJWA0OW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409672835&sr=8-1&keywords=nicole+cooke+breakaway