If you are a bike racer, the last few days have been weird. Today I just wanted to be held. Twitter has been real helpful.
Adam Myerson decided to tell a story tonight. I compiled it here so it’s easier to read. In “regular reading direction” below, not “Twitter reading direction”.
Ok Twitter, are you ready? I have to unload some stuff that was bothering me on my ride. I'm going to need some help from @Jwil0808, though.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Stay with me for this. @Jwil0808, you around? @Jwil0808 was a kid I coached when he was a junior. Huge, huge talent, from NC.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
We had @Jwil0808 come up to Mass. and spend part of the summer with us. Got him into some bigger races, and eventually on to HotTubes.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
He was fast enough as a junior to win p/1/2 races. Went to Europe with HotTubes, had a bad crash and calf injury there. Never fully healed.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
He came back and would re-injure this damaged calf when he'd try and train, so he left the sport. Got into weight training, went to college.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
We lost touch in this period, but through his new found interest in weight training, he got huge. And I mean really, really huge.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
He learned some things while he was weight training, ya know? About the gym. And about bike racing. How things were done.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
@ryantkelly Except I have @Jwil0808 right here.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
So, @Jwil0808, you remember all this? Am I telling it right so far?
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
@potbelge @adammyerson ha we raced crits in 2000-2001 we should have wrote a book
— Jason Williams (@Jwil0808) September 7, 2012
In college, @Jwil0808 got sick of weight training, assumed he was over his injury, and realized he missed bike racing. So he called me.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
We hadn't talked in a while, but he said he felt like he was finally ready to give 100% to be a pro. He knew he had the talent (and he did).
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
@AdamMyerson I raced some NRC such as clareden cup America's cup etc at the time I was 17
— Jason Williams (@Jwil0808) September 7, 2012
And so on this conversation, he said to me, "I'm ready to do whatever it takes. I understand what that means." And it took me a second.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
At first, I didn't get what @Jwil0808 was telling me. And then it hit me. He means EVERYTHING. You remember this, @Jwil0808?
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Do you remember, @Jwil0808, what I told you when we had that conversation? Do you remember my response? How we were going to do things?
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
While we wait for @Jwil0808 to chime in, the cause for this story is thinking about coaches' roles in doping. Who was working with TD?
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
@AdamMyerson yea clean no drugs what do ever or couldn't be on nerac or work with you
— Jason Williams (@Jwil0808) September 7, 2012
Exactly. This was his choice from me. RT @Jwil0808: @AdamMyerson yea clean no drugs what do ever or couldn't be on nerac or work with you
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
And so from that day on, I took @Jwil0808 back under my wing. Not just to make him a better bike racer, but also a better person.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Someone had lied to him. Someone had convinced him that doping was something you had to do in order to race bikes. And I intervened.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
@AdamMyerson used a power meter to train so spikes in power would have been noticed
— Jason Williams (@Jwil0808) September 7, 2012
Unfortunately @Jwil0808, talented as he was, still had problems with recurring injuries, and after a year as a pro, decided to race for fun.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
But he learned SO MUCH in that time we took him from comeback kid, to pro status, and then retirement. He remains a close friend.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
More importantly, he's also a good person. He's successful now in other areas of his life. He texts me when he has questions about anything.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
So when Tommy D gets to college and is "rediscovered," we know he had confidence issues. But he sure as fuck didn't find doping on his own.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
So please, don't give me all this bullshit about there not being choices. Every single one of you motherfuckers could have gotten jobs.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
The pro cycling career you wanted DID NOT EXIST. You had the choice to attempt it on your terms. To change the game. Or do something else.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
@AdamMyerson yea for a few years worked family business around 70 hrs a week did local races
— Jason Williams (@Jwil0808) September 7, 2012
Imagine if @Jwil0808 had gone to school in CO and found a different coach than me? He was young, still figuring himself out. Influenced.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
I hope @rickcrawfish reads all this. You are a big part of "how the game got played." You could have steered people in different directions.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Sometimes riders are young. Their kids. They'd be doing recreational drugs in college, so why wouldn't they dope to race bikes?
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
@Jwil0808 As you like, sir.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
That's what Alan McCormack and Steve Speaks told me. They did party drugs. Why wouldn't they do shit that made them fast, too?
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
So sometimes I can understand the bad choices that young people make. Spinelli. He was 100% a victim, in my opinion.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
And it would have been really easy for @Jwil0808 to have ended up a victim, too.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Even if I hold everyone responsible for themselves, it's the choices of people in power to perpetuate the system, when they can change it.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
So thanks to @Jwil0808 for trusting me. For realizing that it was "just bike racing," and if he couldn't do it clean, it wasn't worth doing.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
He can walk around with his head up now. He got his year as a pro. He's someone he can demand respect from his peers.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Seriously, the whole lot of you can go fuck yourselves. The riders. The coaches, the managers. I know who mattered in my generation.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Stop apologizing for doping. There are so many examples of people who made different, better, moral choices. It WAS simple.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
I think I'm done. @Jwil0808 is sharing some history of his experiences now. Follow him for more.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Super huge thanks to @Jwil0808 for playing. He didn't know what I was up to. And he was still willing to put it all out there. RESPECT.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
I'm going to got meet @luvlostluvfound for Fashion Night Out now and forget about bike racing for the rest of the night. Enjoy.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Thanks for tuning in and bearing with me.
— Adam Myerson (@AdamMyerson) September 7, 2012
Was Justin doping back in the 90’s when he roared through the amateur ranks in NE and ended up at Saeco? When did it start? Any idea who taught him the game?
While some are demoralized with the news of the last few weeks, I’m greatly enthused and want more to come out. The kids of today that will have the same temptation and need to know the code of silence doesn’t exist anymore. No testing system will influence the comeback of clean cycling more.
Justin what’s the story?
don
Sorry super bad of me, I just went into the Justin was guilty camp based on your statement he was a victim. I’m going to continue to assume he was spit out of the pro system because he didn’t play and until I hear otherwise. He was killing us during that time and I rather believe he did it clean. Although after being an ostrich on my other heroes for so long, perhaps that is just another “story”.
don
I think Adam’s comment makes it pretty clear that Justin made some bad choices at some point.
My teenage son is a bike racer. I am grateful for these stories coming out. There are parallels in business and medicine, and the moral and ethical lessons are broader than just cycling. So my thanks to good coaches.
Spinelli on dope: http://forums.roadbikereview.com/doping-forum/justin-spinelli-doping-13627.html
That Spinelli piece is something else.
I hope you noticed the published date.
I did. I read it ages ago, as well. His comments on Armstrong are interesting.
LOVE how you made normal, regular reading direction and not Twitter reading direction and that the RT and Favorite, etc, links still work. App for that? Thanks to Adam, JW, and you, Exit 17.
WordPress has a built in function that displays tweets as seen above when you paste in the URL of the tweet. So, thanks WordPress!
Dude you cannot subjectively describe *some* as “victims” and others “not”. You lose any foundation of proper meaning aka ‘it’s all relative’ or ‘I liked dude X so he was victim, but dude Y, I don’t like so he is a POS loser.” In the eyes of the Police…if you pound beers and DWI, your last name should not matter (except those damned mofo Kennedys) nor the color of your car; wrong is wrong is wrong is cheating is cheating is cheating. A little. A lot. Or some. Everyone is a wannabe Kardashian nowadays…tryin’ to become famous for being a ho, or doper or cause they got some video.
Every E! Channel documentary shows a *star’s* beginning…buck teeth, braces, flat chest…then ‘hot’ with fake chest…money…fame….a record hit or a race won. Then at the 45 minute mark of the show….they always go to rehab. At the 50 minute mark they are crying. At the 55 minute mark they blame others, always it’s from a “bad childhood”. Then at the 59 minute mark they are hawkin’ a tell-all book or Abdominal Crunch Video.
Cheaters come in all sports and shapes. Hell, personal lives, we will get burnt by liars more deeply than a politician or athlete. *Perspective*.