A letter from Brad McGee

[r2160]

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cycling/how ... 28aif.html

I thought it was interesting

cheers
Glenn

[herzog]

That's an extremely well written piece. Probably the best I've read in relation to the whole saga.

[gabrielle260]

Plus 1. Well worth reading!

[Mulger bill]

Thanks for sharing that Glenn, more power to Mr McGee for that effort.

Shaun

[Oxford]

excellent read.

[jacob_T]

Great article. Really good to hear that side of the argument.

[zues]

"For too long I have not bothered to share my experiences. It seems only ex-dopers are invited to the table, because they can help improve control measures, whereas I can't. I can only assist with preventative measures."


This would have to be the most positive and informative article I have read on the subject. Brad McGee is a true aussie role model proving success in cycling can be achieved without drugs. We need to hear from more cyclists like Brad McGee not Armstrong sympathizers or apologists.

[toolonglegs]

That whole era is just sucking more and more... to compete clean in the 90's up to the 00's must have been insanely hard.
Top block and great ex team mate .

[foo on patrol]

Yep, very well written and so true.

Foo

[DaveOZ]

Brad is a genuine nice guy. He owns our local bike shop with his brothers. Good to see him standing up for what he believes.

[KillerHeadWind]

Excellent and refreshing article.

[wombatK]

Excellent and refreshing article.

+1, especially his regrets about how he reacted to suspicions with
David Millar. Might give my McGee jersey a bit more sunlight this
weekend.

Cheers

[scirocco]

Yes, well written and explained. So many clean riders must be highly p*issed at the dopers who stole races from them.

Makes Cadel's dismissive "that was all in the past" statements even more puzzling, since he's been on the receiving end of the cheats himself.

[Ozkaban]

Very good read. You do feel that clean riders missed out on a lot.

[Ozkaban]

Makes Cadel's dismissive "that was all in the past" statements even more puzzling, since he's been on the receiving end of the cheats himself.

I'm not a fan of the 'its all in the past' attitude. Crucifying the cheating bastards makes others realise that they won't get away with it long term. Painful now but we've got to deal with the mess before it is truly in the past...

It also makes the cheats who worked and trained their buts off (as well as doping) realise all that hard work will be for nought.

[macca33]

It is a well written and well-timed article. Interestingly, he does take a swipe at people who did cheat and have now written about it, but I believe that their stories are also important; they enable the putting forward of best efforts towards making the sport as honest as it can possibly be.

Imagine how much coin / fame they have missed out upon, due to never being on a level playing field with the cheats - the only separation of skill / commitment and result that relegated them was the use of banned substances / methodologies by most of the successful teams / individuals. I am empathetic towards McGee and his clean cohort in those circumstances.

cheers

[g-boaf]

More power to him - that was a well written article.

Makes me more disappointed with Cadel's frankly lame response to it all. There was fire in that article of McGee.

[DaveOZ]

Had a chat with Brad this morning. My son had his first ever MTB race. His team came in 2nd.

Brad is the one on the left and my boy Angus is on the right.

[norbs]

Whoohoo. Go Angus!

[Oxford]

And I bet Brad was paid nothing for his appearance which is brilliant, a former pro going back to grass roots and encouraging the young ones.

[DaveOZ]

No appearance money but he is a local (when in OZ) and he loves helping the kids. His bike shop even donated bidons, sunnies and helmets as prizes. Thanks Brad, Craig and Rod McGee.

[Oxford]

Needs to be more of it. Well done to Brad and bros.

[AUbicycles]

I met Brad briefly a while back as he finishing off in pro-cycling and this letter really puts his cycling career in perspective. I think it was a good letter and one of the very few public articles that address the lost chances of riders with integrity who didn't play the game.

[herzog]

And this is why it's wrong to say "it was years ago, let's move on".

There needs to be some justice for these honest guys who had their careers and livelihoods stolen from them by these cheats.

A "truth commission" is needed to get to the bottom of things.

As it stands the sport hasn't moved on and doesn't appear to be ready to. You have known dopers winning Olympic gold and running teams in 2012

[RonK]

A well-written article - let's just hope it's not also a self-serving one. Time will tell...