Who's Passing Out the Kool-Aid? I Didn't Get Any.

What the Hell is this victory salute?
It's coming close to El Pistelero status.

DISCLAIMER: Some of you FreeBird Velo faithful may get angry at this post and I'm sorry, but opinions are like a-holes, everybody's got one and everybody thinks everyone elses stink. That being said don't forget the FreeBird Velo shop is serving up some new designs and a few marked down pieces too.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Chris H. at one point in time.
How could you hate a straight guy who would give a lift like this.

Ah, the Vuelta, I have no idea what's going on with it. My cable provider doesn't provide us with Universal Sports, and I have too short a temper to put up with watching a twitchy computer feed. Wait a second, let me rephrase something, I don't want to know what's going on with the Vuelta. As an avid watcher of cycling and a woman with a pretty cut and dried opinion of people I have an issue with a couple of riders lately. Since we're talking about the Vuelta let's start with Chris Horner. Now, unfortunately thanks to the LA years we can't believe a rider is 100% clean, there will always be a little glimmer of doubt in our eye, but everybody knows this so let me move on.

Nail in the coffin moment. Tommy D. leads Horner to victory
after not taking a single pull the entire climb.
This is the point where my pissyness towards Horner
 really bubbled over.
Pussy move Horner, pussy move.

I have a hard time listening to random social media folks kissing Chris Horner's ass just because he's old (almost 42) and finally doing well in a Grand Tour. People are simple creatures and tend to gravitate towards others with things in common, no matter what negativity those people have created in the past. It's the easier route to be blind. We all know Chris was riding during the drug years and we'd have to be complete morons to believe he's been clean his entire career. What I'm trying to say is I'm pissed because riders have been coming clean about their drug use, they're paying their dues, or they're getting out of the game because they're old farts anyway and they want to focus on their clothing company. It may be a few years since the last time they shot up with speedy juice but at least they're paying their dues. Chris is still riding like a clean man for some reason. I guess people don't believe he needs to be reprimanded because he's a media darling. I don't care if he does have an energetic personality in front of the camera, come clean and go work for NBC Sports, just get out of the peloton. I wonder how Levi, Zabriskie, Hincapie and Van De Velde think of riders who don't pay the consequences? How about Tom Danielson who led him to a stage win in the Tour of Utah? And yes I know it's not just Horner, there are other riders who need to come out, it's the only way to move on. If Horner wins the Vuelta this year it's a hollow victory. Like the hollow Easter bunny you get from your cheap aunt. You're excited at first but disappointed when you really find out the truth.



Enough of that, I believe the youngsters coming up are clean, Sagan has a tiny asterisk in my book but for the most part the future looks promising. As soon as the old guard gets the hell out of the peloton maybe we can watch a race and not have that negative pit in our bellies.

Next up on the chopping block, this guy. I won't go into a rant over this guy because I'm tired and this crap is just depressing, and basically I want to like Jens but it feels fake. His story is the same as Chris's. Everyone loves Jensie. He's a media darling. He's old and feisty and he likes to go out in breakaways. Side-note, I got uber-pissed when he publicly put down Tejay's breakaway tactics during a stage at this years TdF, but then goes on to do the same thing Tejay did a day or two later. I know its part of the game but I gotta say, A-Hole. Jens came up through cycling during the drug fueled years and it would be completely shocking if he didn't use during that time. Why is he immune too? Come clean, retire, play with your fishies and start a Von Trap style Eastern Bloc style cycling team. 

I'm going to regret this post in the morning, and I know I'm in the minority when it comes to these guys but that's the problem.