Is Armstrong good for triathlon?

So Lance Armstrong's Ironman career is over almost before it even started following the latest drug charges brought against him by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Why should that really matter to me, a weekend warrior?

There are two sides to this, one that Armstrong's return to a sport the sport he first competed in professionally as a 16 year old was only going to increase the profile of the sport. The other that with the ever-present cloud of allegations hanging over him, would triathlon look like a sport that was trying to cash in on a tarnished star.

Following the latest charges laid at his door, the seven times Tour de France winner has, as ever, come out fighting and again sought the advice of a large team lawyers to rebuff the USADA charges.

So why does this matter to me?

When the American came back into the Tour De France and began establishing him as one of the world's top cyclists, as an avid sports fan and supporter and as a lover of the 'against all odds' sports story, I was delighted to see Armstrong atop the podium.

His charity foundation, and the yellow bracelets connected with it were a must have. But as searching questions were asked of him, his team, his coaches and his doctors about his possible drug use, his continued defence against mounting evidence became more and more difficult to believe. 

The former Radio Shack cyclist’s ultra aggressive defense strategy - sue the journalists, threaten team mates and counter-accuse others - was not pretty to watch and quickly he became a picture of bitterness.  And as almost every other top cyclist he beat to his record number of titles were found guilty of a range of doping charges, Armstrong's claims of innocence ran more and more hollow.

My support for him waned.

I watched with interest as he announced his Ironman plans late last year and he began the year steadily with a  couple of podium finishes before making his mark at his home 70.3 event (half-Ironman), winning in Texas.  His impending full Ironman debut due in France this weekend would also be watched eagerly by a wide audience.

But the approach and attitude Armstrong brought to Ironman is not one that befits the sport. Nike and several other manufacturers have produced uniquely specced gear for him, unlikely to ever be available to any other competitors, let alone the ordinary triathlete. He has an extensive support team both for training and on race day.  For many of Armstrong’s opponents involved in Ironman their support team consists of me, myself and I.  The training squads are made up of other like-minded athletes who are training in the same town, or share the same coach..  And while their sponsors will help with a lot if expenses, quite simply Armstrong's support team is on a different level.

His subsequent disrespect for other athletes also grates. No acknowledgement when beaten (on the line), Twitter spats over drafting and doping checks (sic) shows a lack of interest in improving the sport of triathlon and simply another sporting box to tick.

So while it might be interesting to see how Armstrong would get on in Ironman and in Kona, it should not be to the detriment of the sport which he may eventually being into disrepute.

So as a weekend warrior I only want triathlon in the news for all the right reasons, not the Armstrong reasons.

A busy summer's viewing ahead

EURO 2012. Ireland Vs New Zealand. The Olympics. Wimbledon. The British Open. This is quite a summer for sports fans.

What am I most looking forward to? It has to be The Olympics.  The idea of all of the above events though, is that Irish athletes and sports people will compete valiantly and nobly but more than likely in defeat. And many will be told they have failed.

Other though are truly world-class. They can and do compete with the best, and some of the above were Olympic sports, Ireland would be very much competing for medals.  Brian O'Driscoll, Paul O'Connell and Rory McIlroy all fight well above their weight in their sports.

In the run up to previous Olympics the weight of a nation rested on Sonia O'Sullivan's shoulders. And now this weight has been transferred to the small shoulders of Katie Taylor, which until lately she may have thought she would have to take care of on her own. But the emergence of triathlete Aileen Morrison has shown that Taylor will not be our only female medal hope in London.

Morrison has recently brought the profile of triathlon nearer the surface of mainstream sport coverage, and the reporting of her recent 2^nd place in Spain by all media can only be looked at as very positive. But how likely is it that the sport can remain there is another question. Two things will largely stand against it happening. Female sports, to a great extent, don't get mainstream coverage, and then at the moment triathlon is still a minority sport.

Much was made of the outstanding Chrissie Wellington not making the BBC sports personality of the year short list last December. Indeed, the case for her inclusion far outweighed her exclusion, and her achievements in a very short time are mind-boggling. However, Ironman is not a live TV friendly format, so mainstream coverage for the sport is always going to be difficult.  While the recent appearance of Lance Armstrong in Ironman events has raised the level of the coverage to a certain extent, the long form distance of the sport may always fight an ongoing battle.

With Morrison riding high in the ITU World Series, and an increased interest in the shorter triathlon races, it must be a hope that The Olympics could change that.

Roll on London 2012.

My first bike. When do the stabilisers come off?

During last year’s Ironman 70.3 in Galway I beat a colleague in the swim leg by two minutes. I also beat him by another two minutes on the run. But on the cycle leg, I had my ass handed to me on a plate when he was faster than me by more than 23 minutes. 23 minutes!

That hurt. It was the difference of more than 250 places! And it hurt. On the bike leg alone, he was more than 700 places faster than me, out of a total of 1500 competitors. I thought I could hold my own on the bike. Clearly not. My bike leg was crap! I was crap.

So was it the bike, the course or the weather? I could blame any of these elements, and to an extent I did, but one of the things that seemed to separate us most was that he had a time-trial carbon bike, I didn’t. Will at least, that’s what I put it down to.

So my carbon bike research began less than a week after the race. Quite what I was looking into I didn’t know. Search after search was carried out. New bike. Second-hand bike. Road bike. Time-trial bike. Clinchers. Tubular. But there was only thing that any search brought very quickly to the fore. Carbon bikes are not cheap. Now of course, the word cheap is relative. When talking carbon bikes, nothing exists under four figures.

So the debate, dilemma, issue, or more pertinently internal rationalisation has moved to whether to the next level: to spend or not to spend. The bike has been identified. I have even seen in the flesh. I just need to rationalise spending a lot more than €1,000 on it.

23 minutes isn’t a very long time. And how much is the much is the bike going to be help? I guess there is only one way to find out. Isn’t there?

2012. A year of new and renewed challenges.

So January is almost over. And I have finally managed to get off my arse and do two things (well maybe three actually) I said I would do at the start of the month.

I firstly said that I would stand on the weighing scales. The thought of doing this was as depressing as the result. More than a stone (or 6 kgs) overweight. Not good. Not good at all. But this isn’t really much of a surprise as I haven’t swam, cycled or run since completing the Ironman 70.3 triathlon in Galway last September. Added to a Christmas of eating and drinking, it was time to reverse this upward trend.

I recently agreed with Dave to do the Galway race again (who I beat by 88 seconds), so I knew this would present a few issues. Firstly, he is going to be even more motivated to beat me this year. And secondly, I could face the dreaded ‘‘second-season syndrome’.

So to help lose the weight and improve my triathlon skills, I finally joined a triathlon club. I have put my trust in the coaching team of Piranha Triathlon Club, and hope that it will help to carry me nicely along throughout the nice cold evenings of the Irish spring and summer.

Lastly, I said I would start back writing. So, hey presto! My first blog entry of the year. Not everything on this will be triathlon (some) or weight-loss (very little). In fact, rugby, EURO 2012 and the Olympics may well feature along the way as well.

So here’s to tomorrow’s 7am swim. More fool me!