APRIL 7 - Sorta Cutting Edge News

On Marco Pantani's Death...
With regard to Pantani, I agree you can draw a direct line between his drug convictions and his death, but I think in the end he knowingly participated in actions that led to his demise. While this does not mean his death was any less tragic, it leads to obvious questions: What allowed him to conclude that drugs were the way to achieve success, and what incentive or pressures exist within the structure of some cycling teams?

There is a larger issue that you address: the current state of doping controls (or lack thereof?). This and team management accountability, in my opinion, played a large part in contributing to his feelings of persecution and abandonment. If there is blame to be assigned past the individual rider, it should be squarely leveled at the team management. The athletes are generally young men and women entering a professional realm that becomes their whole life. At the age when many of them start racing and enter the system, they are still developing physically and mentally. Most people that age are still working on their decision-making skills and their mental compass.

From everything we hear about drug use in the professional ranks, there seems to be a tacit approval of substance abuse and sophisticated methods to beat the system. Add to this an intense pressure to perform, huge contracts and a kind of star treatment reserved for movie stars. I imagine that most young athletes brought into this type of system, with its huge rewards of fame and compensation, will work hard to impress their employers/mentors.

If their mentors have achieved success in this line of work by utilizing drugs and offering (and maybe in some cases requiring) this method of training, then the athletes have a huge decision to make. For many, this decision comes at a time when maybe their life experience is little outside of the system to which they devoted the better part of their lives. In short, they could learn to view this as an acceptable and necessary piece of their training routine. When everything you have worked to achieve is on the line, and you're presented with something that allows you to achieve your dream, things get skewed for anyone I think the teams need to be severely disciplined (by the local authorities, not just UCI) and the sponsors disallowed from providing sponsorship when this type of team culture is discovered. This would force sponsors to deal only with clean teams or risk a loss of return on investment. Some would argue that sponsors would just back out altogether. I don't think this would be the case at all. Professional cycling would still draw the same fans, and potential customers. UCI needs to step up doping controls, but they are, after all, human and have their faults. They can change and strengthen rules and regulations. They cannot guarantee adherence to the rules, nor can they necessarily change a pervasive culture that stresses winning at all cost (a cost borne by the individual rider, in most cases). So in the end, I guess what my rambling message is trying to say is this: While Pantani made a decision to use drugs, risking public humiliation and a ruined career, he undoubtedly had some help making the wrong choice.
Brendan Dee

Uuhh...Drugs are Bayad, M'kay?
I see no difference between Marco Pantani doing coke, and riders toking on the trail. The distilled issue is this: Substance abuse is based in feelings avoidance, something the mountain biking world seems rife with. Try this simple exercise on your next ride. Ask any three riders how "things are going." Chances are the answer will go only as deep as recently purchased parts, or at best, some surface info about work.

Don't get me wrong, it's important and valuable to take time away from the deeper issues in our lives. That's the beauty of trail riding. It forces us to focus on mastering technique and endurance, providing relief from bigger worries and giving the subconscious time to work through major life issues. It's a kind of meditation. The primary benefit of any meditative practice is insight, or a more clear and calm perception of the world around us.

Unfortunately, drug use produces a kind of pseudo-insight: A slight change in perception that can feel like a relief from life's stresses. But instead of realizing the power of the subconscious (as in meditation), the user is simply experiencing the tangible effects of disconnecting synapses and dying brain cells (general shrinking or atrophy of the brain organ) combined with disruptions in oxygen and imbalances in blood sugar. Anyone who feels the need to use chemical poisons like cocaine, crystal meth, marijuana, alcohol in large quantities, etc., is experiencing the power of addiction on some level.

Substance abuse is but one symptom of addiction. The cause is a lack of understanding, and fear of facing, the way we feel. Cyclists who feel the need to medicate on the trail (or anywhere) are missing out on the greatest gifts of the sport: enhanced mental clarity, insight, and spiritual growth resulting from dedication to athletic practice. The tokers and heavy drinkers among us only realize a thin, self-destructive, paranoid, physically debilitating mask of euphoria.

If Marco Pantani could have found the help and strength to get beyond his addictions, he would have offered much more than his last few months on Earth (Vague bandanna'd mystique and tabloid fodder). When asked, "How are things going?" he might have answered, "Great! I'm getting more out of life and this awesome sport than I ever imagined possible. I never thought I'd feel so comfortable with myself, other people, and the world around me!" Though, he'd probably say it in Italian.
Norman Petersen
Renton, Washington