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Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 2nd 07, 07:00 AM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
Jason Spaceman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 192
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

From the article:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The American won the Tour de France three times, twice with shotgun
pellets lodged in his heart after a shooting accident. But his
triumphs felt hollow as he struggled with the secret of his abuse as a
child The Big Interview: Greg LeMond
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle2010066.ece













J. Spaceman
Ads
  #2  
Old July 2nd 07, 05:50 PM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
bob sullivan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 165
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The American won the Tour de France three times, twice with shotgun
pellets lodged in his heart after a shooting accident. But his
triumphs felt hollow as he struggled with the secret of his abuse as a
child The Big Interview: Greg LeMond
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle2010066.ece


Yes, I'm sure he didn't enjoy being the first American to win the Tour.
At all. That totally explains the 'virtual victories'.

~bob s.
  #3  
Old July 2nd 07, 07:11 PM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
Kurgan Gringioni
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,796
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

On Jul 2, 9:50 am, bob sullivan wrote:
Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------*--
The American won the Tour de France three times, twice with shotgun
pellets lodged in his heart after a shooting accident. But his
triumphs felt hollow as he struggled with the secret of his abuse as a
child The Big Interview: Greg LeMond
---------------------------------------------------------------------------*-


Read it at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...de_france/arti...


Yes, I'm sure he didn't enjoy being the first American to win the Tour.
At all. That totally explains the 'virtual victories'.




Dumbass -


I wonder if he has any idea at all of how narcissitic he is.


thanks,

K. Gringioni.

  #4  
Old July 2nd 07, 07:55 PM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
Ryan Cousineau
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,383
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

In article ,
bob sullivan wrote:

Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
The American won the Tour de France three times, twice with shotgun
pellets lodged in his heart after a shooting accident. But his
triumphs felt hollow as he struggled with the secret of his abuse as a
child The Big Interview: Greg LeMond
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...ce/article2010
066.ece


Yes, I'm sure he didn't enjoy being the first American to win the Tour.
At all. That totally explains the 'virtual victories'.

~bob s.


At the risk of engaging in the shallowest sort of pop-psychoanalysis, a
lot of incredibly driven, very successful people have a hard time
enjoying their success. There's a lot of reasons for this
(psychologically, we tend to overestimate both the amount of joy we
would feel at a good outcome, and the amount of sorrow we would feel at
a bad turn), but one aspect for the sort of Type-As who win big bike
races is that even more than they love to win, they really, really hate
to lose.

I can totally believe that for LeMond, winning the Tour was not the
defining achievement we all assume it would be. It's a bit like
lottery-winners: a year later, they're basically about as happy as they
were before the win, and oftentimes not really that different
financially, either.

LeMond put his whole life towards winning the Tour, but think about it:
he basically finishes his professional peak at age 30, and is "retired"
at age 32 or 33.

There's a lot of fatty masters here, so you understand what I'm about to
say: I don't even know what I want to do when I grow up, and I'm past
30. What would it be like to be defined by your achievements at age 25?
How weird would it be to be in your forties, and have everyone you know
want to hear about that summer job you had in your 20s?

And that's not even counting the sexual abuse revelations, which seem to
have been a defining experience for this poor kid. And no wonder.

But it's all in how you look at it. Greg, either by nature or by
upbringing, might not be a naturally optimistic person (it probably
improves one's racing: if you fear that something might go wrong, the
only way to work against that is to train more, train better, prepare
more, plan better; it's like an OCD fever-dream). The "virtual tour"
tale points to a guy more haunted by his misfortune and failures than
reveling in his success.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos
  #5  
Old July 3rd 07, 12:56 AM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
Michael Press
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9,202
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

In article
,
Ryan Cousineau wrote:

In article ,
bob sullivan wrote:

Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
The American won the Tour de France three times, twice with shotgun
pellets lodged in his heart after a shooting accident. But his
triumphs felt hollow as he struggled with the secret of his abuse as a
child The Big Interview: Greg LeMond
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read it at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...ce/article2010
066.ece


Yes, I'm sure he didn't enjoy being the first American to win the Tour.
At all. That totally explains the 'virtual victories'.

~bob s.


At the risk of engaging in the shallowest sort of pop-psychoanalysis, a
lot of incredibly driven, very successful people have a hard time
enjoying their success. There's a lot of reasons for this
(psychologically, we tend to overestimate both the amount of joy we
would feel at a good outcome, and the amount of sorrow we would feel at
a bad turn), but one aspect for the sort of Type-As who win big bike
races is that even more than they love to win, they really, really hate
to lose.

I can totally believe that for LeMond, winning the Tour was not the
defining achievement we all assume it would be. It's a bit like
lottery-winners: a year later, they're basically about as happy as they
were before the win, and oftentimes not really that different
financially, either.

LeMond put his whole life towards winning the Tour, but think about it:
he basically finishes his professional peak at age 30, and is "retired"
at age 32 or 33.

There's a lot of fatty masters here, so you understand what I'm about to
say: I don't even know what I want to do when I grow up, and I'm past
30. What would it be like to be defined by your achievements at age 25?
How weird would it be to be in your forties, and have everyone you know
want to hear about that summer job you had in your 20s?

And that's not even counting the sexual abuse revelations, which seem to
have been a defining experience for this poor kid. And no wonder.

But it's all in how you look at it. Greg, either by nature or by
upbringing, might not be a naturally optimistic person (it probably
improves one's racing: if you fear that something might go wrong, the
only way to work against that is to train more, train better, prepare
more, plan better; it's like an OCD fever-dream). The "virtual tour"
tale points to a guy more haunted by his misfortune and failures than
reveling in his success.


I am not here to understand him.
I am here to accuse him.
Greg, get over it.

--
Michael Press
  #6  
Old July 3rd 07, 02:52 AM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
Tom Kunich
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,456
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

"Kurgan Gringioni" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jul 2, 9:50 am, bob sullivan wrote:
Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------*--
The American won the Tour de France three times, twice with shotgun
pellets lodged in his heart after a shooting accident. But his
triumphs felt hollow as he struggled with the secret of his abuse as a
child The Big Interview: Greg LeMond


Read it at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...de_france/arti...


Yes, I'm sure he didn't enjoy being the first American to win the Tour.
At all. That totally explains the 'virtual victories'.


I wonder if he has any idea at all of how narcissitic he is.


So what does that matter? No matter what his personal strengths and
weaknesses he's still the first American to win the Tour de France. He's
still the guy that rode Bernard Hinault, maybe the most gifted bicycle racer
since Eddy Merckx, to a standstill. He still came back after a near fatal
accident and won twice more.

Greg LeMond is still a great athlete of his time and nothing he can say now
will ever change that.

I don't have to like his personality to recognize his talents.


  #7  
Old July 4th 07, 01:23 AM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
bob sullivan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 165
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

Tom Kunich wrote:
"Kurgan Gringioni" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jul 2, 9:50 am, bob sullivan wrote:
Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------*--
The American won the Tour de France three times, twice with shotgun
pellets lodged in his heart after a shooting accident. But his
triumphs felt hollow as he struggled with the secret of his abuse as a
child The Big Interview: Greg LeMond
Read it at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...de_france/arti...
Yes, I'm sure he didn't enjoy being the first American to win the Tour.
At all. That totally explains the 'virtual victories'.

I wonder if he has any idea at all of how narcissitic he is.


So what does that matter? No matter what his personal strengths and
weaknesses he's still the first American to win the Tour de France. He's
still the guy that rode Bernard Hinault, maybe the most gifted bicycle racer
since Eddy Merckx, to a standstill. He still came back after a near fatal
accident and won twice more.

Greg LeMond is still a great athlete of his time and nothing he can say now
will ever change that.

I don't have to like his personality to recognize his talents.


Of course, I respect his three wins, and I respect the trailblazing
he did to pave the way for other Americans in the European peloton.
I'm just disappointed at his post-retirement whining about how he
could have won so many more "if only..." It's like those people who
die whining about how they could have written the most important
novel of the century, if only they hadn't had to work, raise
kids, [insert excuse here]. It should be good enough that Lemond
won one, two, three Tours. It should be good enough that he was
the first American to win, and it should be good enough that he
was the first American to wear the yellow jersey. But for some reason,
those things aren't enough for him. He's bad-mouthed Armstrong, and
he's bad-mouthed Landis, and it wasn't necessary for his legacy to
do either.

~bob s.
  #8  
Old July 4th 07, 03:21 AM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
Kurgan Gringioni
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,796
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

On Jul 3, 5:23 pm, bob sullivan wrote:
Tom Kunich wrote:
"Kurgan Gringioni" wrote in message
roups.com...
On Jul 2, 9:50 am, bob sullivan wrote:
Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------**--
The American won the Tour de France three times, twice with shotgun
pellets lodged in his heart after a shooting accident. But his
triumphs felt hollow as he struggled with the secret of his abuse as a
child The Big Interview: Greg LeMond
Read it at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...de_france/arti....
Yes, I'm sure he didn't enjoy being the first American to win the Tour.
At all. That totally explains the 'virtual victories'.
I wonder if he has any idea at all of how narcissitic he is.


So what does that matter? No matter what his personal strengths and
weaknesses he's still the first American to win the Tour de France. He's
still the guy that rode Bernard Hinault, maybe the most gifted bicycle racer
since Eddy Merckx, to a standstill. He still came back after a near fatal
accident and won twice more.


Greg LeMond is still a great athlete of his time and nothing he can say now
will ever change that.


I don't have to like his personality to recognize his talents.


Of course, I respect his three wins, and I respect the trailblazing
he did to pave the way for other Americans in the European peloton.
I'm just disappointed at his post-retirement whining about how he
could have won so many more "if only..." It's like those people who
die whining about how they could have written the most important
novel of the century, if only they hadn't had to work, raise
kids, [insert excuse here]. It should be good enough that Lemond
won one, two, three Tours. It should be good enough that he was
the first American to win, and it should be good enough that he
was the first American to wear the yellow jersey. But for some reason,
those things aren't enough for him. He's bad-mouthed Armstrong, and
he's bad-mouthed Landis, and it wasn't necessary for his legacy to
do either.




Dumbass -


Nail on the head.

I was so impressed with what he did while he was racing. So
disappointing to see what he's done since.


thanks,

K. Gringioni.

  #9  
Old July 4th 07, 05:46 AM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
Fred Fredburger
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 503
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
snip
But it's all in how you look at it. Greg, either by nature or by
upbringing, might not be a naturally optimistic person (it probably
improves one's racing: if you fear that something might go wrong, the
only way to work against that is to train more, train better, prepare
more, plan better; it's like an OCD fever-dream).


This is why I believe the current concern over our children's
self-esteem to be poorly thought through. Let them grow up to be
neurotic, obsessively driven (but successful!) drones like the rest of us.
  #10  
Old July 4th 07, 02:01 PM posted to rec.bicycles.racing
RicodJour
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,142
Default Lemond interview: Cycle of abuse

On Jul 4, 12:46 am, Fred Fredburger
wrote:
Ryan Cousineau wrote:

But it's all in how you look at it. Greg, either by nature or by
upbringing, might not be a naturally optimistic person (it probably
improves one's racing: if you fear that something might go wrong, the
only way to work against that is to train more, train better, prepare
more, plan better; it's like an OCD fever-dream).


This is why I believe the current concern over our children's
self-esteem to be poorly thought through. Let them grow up to be
neurotic, obsessively driven (but successful!) drones like the rest of us.


Exactly! Or almost exactly. I've never seen anything of value
created by a well adjusted person. If you think you've seen something
of value created by a well adjusted person, they're more likely just
adept at concealing their maladjustment. And I'm not talking about
Kveck's cross-dressing, so don't get your knickers in a knot.

R

 




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