Tyler’s Secrets and Lies

The Philippine elections are for me, an exercise in frustration but to move forward, we have to start somewhere. It's not a mere hole that we have to scale but an almost bottomless abyss. But then we can't just allow ourselves to sink deeper into the dark because we are frustrated. That's how great the obstacles are and the politicians, most of them anyway, are not throwing us a line but using the line to bring themselves above ground over us.

Our country is the best place for us to live in, no matter what other people say. If this was our home, make it a livable, happy and safe place to live.

Today, you know what to do.

I got to read Tyler Hamilton's book, "The Secret Race", courtesy of my favorite brother, JC, who came over for a 2-week visit after 6 years. If you recall, Tyler was Lance Armstrong's teammate from 1998-2001 at US POSTAL and was part of Lance's first 3 Tour de France wins.

"The Secret Race" delves into the details how a cyclist, under immense pressure not just to win, but to stay with the lead pack, can eventually succumbed to doping. The sad thing is that Tyler, and probably most cyclists mentioned in his book, believed that doping was the only way to level the racing field. They didn't dope because they want to win, they doped just to be able to be able to hang on to their dreams of racing in the top level of the sport. Doping also means job security since who would hire a ride who'd easily got spat out at the back when the roads tilts up?

As I wrapped up my reading, I couldn't help but compare (I now it's corny) doping to vote buying. How? Well, in professional cycling, everybody, from the race officials to the cyclists, cyclists wives and the masseurs, knew who was doping, who was using the latest drug, the doctors they were seeing, etc. If a rider won convincingly, most will presume that the rider was on a new drug or a new technique of delivering the drug. Almost all of us know who are buying votes but like doping, we treat it like the huge elephant in the room. It's like the, "Who, me?" thing.

While the book was about Tyler, lies and doping, he couldn't help but include his relationship with Lance, a relationship that started out as friends, soured when Tyler started winning and finally ended as bitter enemies. Lance is pictured by Tyler as paranoid and a control freak who didn't care about friendships (He easily got his two close friends at USPS, Kevin Livingston and Frankie Andreu, fired for not living up to his expectations) as much as getting what he wanted. Like winning the Tour de France.

It also detailed how difficult it was for Tyler to lie at first and then became increasingly confident and smooth after learning from the best. It was classic Goebbel-esque. He learned from Lance not to sound defensive but to attack the credibility of the source.

This book is a very compelling read and if you still are in doubt that Armstrong rode with pan y agua or bread and water alone, this will most likely change your mind.