Roddy Hammersmythe podcasts at Twisted Spoke

Roddy Hammersmythe is a versatile rider, a rouler, hard man and captain on the road for Team Sky’s debut at the prestigious Giro D’Italia. The last man signed by manager Scott Sunderland, Roddy brings a wealth of experience and a dominating personality whenever and wherever there’s a bike race to be won. Right now that race is in Italy, and friend-of-Pappillon Twisted Spoke will be talking with Roddy via phone after each stage to get his unique and entertaining view of the Giro d’Italia.

There is no mistaking the excitment and passion Roddy brings to Team Sky. “My role is to bring the hammer,” he says. That’s the attitude, right? I set the tone on the squad and it’s all about the hammer.”

Working with a British team and so many British riders is a dream come true from Hammersmythe. “We got got something special here, it’s like when Deep Purple would hit the stage or Led Zeppelin. The lads believe in each other and we’re putting on a show,” says Roddy. We’re here to rock ‘n’ roll, top the podium and score UCI points.”

With major stars like Bradley Wiggins, Evald Boassen Hagen and Juan Antonio Flecha, it would be easy to overlook the major impact that Roddy has on the squad. “He’s the spark plus, the emotional leader of Sky, he brings the hammer,” says manager Scott Sunderland. “He makes my job easy, because Roddy knows exactly what to do at any given moment in a race. There’s nothing he hasn’t seen or done.”

Stay tuned to Twisted Spoke because we’re sure you’ll be hearing plenty from Roddy as team Sky tackles the Giro for the first time.

Twisted Spoke’s 2010 New Years wishes for the peloton

Twisted Spoke, an excellent blog only recently painted by the Pappillon Radar, has agreed to an information sharing system between our sites. For this we're thankful, even if the first wish (obviously belonging to someone on Team Shack) in Twisted Spoke’s 2010 New Years wishes for the peloton will result in the phrase Vino4-EVER coming to refer only to the length of homeboy's ban. Shiiiiit. Our own Joe Papp fairs quite well, and for that we here at Pappillon are thankful and hope that TS's wish for JP is realized. With no further delays, here is the list.

Alexander Vinokourov. That Vino is caught once again and forever banished.

Bradley Wiggins. That the talented rider learns massive infusions of SKY cash will land him outside the top 10 in the TDF. Sometimes loyalty matters.

George Hincapie. The one of the nicest, stand-up and loyal guys in the peloton gets a win in his beloved Paris Roubaix or the Tour of Flanders.

Typer Farrar. That the battling buddhist teaches Mark Cavendish the meaning of humility by kicking his arse a few times.

Alberto Contador. We wish him a productive 2010 season but also the growing wisdom that there is no I in team. And good luck with the Kazaks — they don’t speak a word of Spanish.

Lance Armstrong. Lance always has our utmost respect. His 3rd in the tour last year was as impressive as any of his wins. Our wish for Lance: a mountain stage win in the tour, beating the young Contador and earning a few days in yellow. P.S. ease up on the tweets.

Jens Voigt. A true soldier and eternally optimist, here’s to Jens winning whatever race he picks out. And get a full face helmet.

Versus & Universal Sports channels. For godsakes, what must we do to get TV coverage of the Giro & Vuelta at a bare minimum? We kneel in prayer that this may change.

Christian Vande Velde. We hold out hope that VV will avoid crashes and tantalize us again in the TDF with a possible podium.

Levi Leipheimer. The first man to welcome Lance back from retirement, we hope he’s ready and in top form when Lance can push himself no harder in the Tour. Levi can win this thing with luck.

Mark Cavendish. That he learns you never have a ghost written autobiography when you’re only 24.

Danilo di Luca. We hope we never hear or see you again. A doper with an inflated and unrepentant ego.

Floyd Landis. May you rediscover the joy to ride at the top level again. The ProTour needs a talented and unique personality like Floyd. France, forgive him.

Joe Parkin. American author of A Dog In A Hat, his hilarious and revealing personal account of racing in Belgian in the 80’s. May your new cycling book be a best-seller.

Alejandro Valverde. Please, go away — for at least two years. You’re as guilty as Di Luca.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport. Find a backbone and no more case postponements.

Nicholai Proskurin of the Kazak Cycling Federation. Shut up.

Cadel Evans. A bold move going to BMC or yet another team with insufficient horsepower to help you back on the podium in the TDF? We’re hoping the first. Enjoy your rainbow.

Andy Schleck. Learn to time trial and make this a real battle with Contador.

Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen. Keep it up guys, don’t go retiring on us just yet.

WADA & UCI. Shake hands, play nice, act like adults.

Inego Cuesta, at age 40, the wise man of the peloton. Enjoy riding your 16th Vuelta. Chapeau.

Jan Ullrich. Just say it, you’ll feel better. Just ask Bjarne Riis.

Robbie McEwen. Rockin’ Robbie is a pain in the arse, the pre-Cav. But he’s irrepressible and an amazing bike handler. Here’s to a solid comeback and at least one grand tour sprint win against the Manxman.

The people behind the CyclePassion calendar. Will you please, please, please invite me to the 2011 photo shoots?

Chris Horner. NO CRASHES. NOT A SINGLE ONE. AND A TDF RIDE.

Angelo Zomegnan, Giro promoter. We thought you were a preposterous, egotistical blowhard — but you grew on us. Nobody else understands the importance of spectacle in a grand tour. May you always be surrounded by luscious podium girls.

Tom Danielson. You proved you were back last year. Here’s hoping for 3 uninterrupted weeks of good health in a grand tour and a top five finish.

Joe Papp. A multi-talented and articulate rider whose career imploded with doping. A fresh start, a new dream, somewhere in the cycling world because deep love for a sport deserves another chance.

Jonathan Vaughters, Garmin’s argyle genius. Love the argyle but this year let’s push the fashion envelope. I’m feeling seersucker.

Frank Vandenbroucke. We hope you truly are resting in peace.

Bob Roll. Bobke is the ONLY cycling commentator on air with a sense of humor. Don’t change a thing, Master B.

Carlos Sastre. Another quiet, hard working rider who gets his pick ax and goes down into the mine everyday. We wish you one last hurrah in a grand tour.

Twisted Spoke. Yes, a shameless wish for yours truly. More blog traffic. A paid writing assignment for a major cycling publication. Press credentials for the 2010 Tour de France.

Happy new year. Ride your bike.

I Will (Metaphorically) Immolate Myself for Clean Sport

"Regardless of what you think of [Joe] Papp as a person, or how you rate him as a cyclist, whatever scorn he still faces should be countered by respect - or at least begrudging appreciation - for the man's willingness to immolate himself at the alter of clean-sport." - Me [Editor's Note: J. Danek = cousin to Joe Papp]

[In a recent email blast from Jim Ferstle, there was a reprint of post in which] Twisted Spoke presents an interesting take on the interview given by Pappillon's own Joe Papp to Bike Pure's Myles McCorry. Perhaps I say interesting because for once it's commentary devoid of hate or vitriol, though it is chock-full of disappointment. And rightly so, for Papp let down his legions of fans when it was revealed that he'd been doping for five years at the UCI level.

The entire post is reprinted below, but our favorite paragraph is the following (emphasis mine):

"One of the ironies about Papp is that reading his diary entries, he seemed like such a straightforward, honest guy. The opposite of Alejandro Valverde or Alexandre Vinokourov, the Spaniard loaded down with doping allegations, the Kazak defiant and unrepentant after his two year suspension. But when you hear Papp describe the rocket boost in performance, you understand the intensity of the temptation."

It just goes to show you that doping isn't confined to former Soviet republics or the clinics of modern Spain - or even to that most elite level of Grand Tour cycling - rarefied air once inhabited by the likes of Hamilton, Ullrich, Basso and Diluca.

Joe Papp was - and IS - a nice guy who loved racing his bike and writing about his adventures more than anything else in the world. I exchanged text messages with him before I went ahead with this post and he told me that one of the things he regrets most from doping (besides cheating his competitors, dishonoring his sport, humiliating his family, etc) was depriving you all, his readers (both of Pappillon and his cyclingnews.com diaries) the pleasure and momentary escape that came from reading about bike racing at the UCI level in far-off exotic locales... Vino' and others might dope for money; riders like Andreu might have doped just to be able to do their jobs; and then there are riders like Papp who - while earning an income from cycling, certainly - doped primarily to be able to continue in the sport they loved, when it was being overrun by athletes who were "on" full medical "programs." It doesn't excuse Joe's doping, but hopefully the Bike Pure interview, and Twisted Spoke's follow-up analysis, helps to contextualize it.

As Joe himself told me, "I miss competing in cycling more than anything - the training, the camaraderie, the travel, the chance to experience new cultures and exotic lands; representing my country (especially in the Pan Ams) and competing in the most beautiful sport in the world, still wide-eyed and with a shit-eating-grin plastered across my face. I'd give my left (ice)ball to be able to have a chance to set things right, but I fear that the only thing left for my with respect to cycling is to forever represent the 'This Could Happen to You' horror story that will be what coaches and uncorrupted directors and genuine, honest riders cite when encouraging young athletes to strongly reject doping as a means to success." 

Let's hope that there is more to Papp's future than that...

Twisted Spoke's: Joe Papp fell off his bike, a casualty of the doping culture in cycling.

"His interview with Myles McCorry for Pezcycling is probably the best story I’ve read about how and why a rider crosses the line. You get all the angles, the rationales, naiveté, remorse and the painful aftermath wisdom that comes from first hand suffering.

We first discovered Joe Papp a few years ago when he wrote an engaging racing diary for cyclingnews. He wasn’t a famous rider competing in the big monuments of the sport but he was passionate about bike racing. He wrote well and had a skill for taking us inside the races, the personalities, the life of a pro racing gypsy, turning up in Cuba or Turkey or a smaller stage race in Italy or Spain.

So it was a mild shock to read he’s been doping for five years before he was caught and came clean. By the time of his failed drug test, he was doing his best to support the entire pharmacological industry — EPO, human growth hormone, testosterone, insulin, steroid and amphetamines. No doubt he popped a few aspirin, too.

The drug deal reached over 100 products, a program carefully managed by his Italian team — which would later deny any role or knowledge of Papp’s athletic enhancement. It feels like a very old story that never changes — from the Festina Affair to Operacion Puerto.

One of the ironies about Papp is that reading his diary entries, he seemed like such a straightforward, honest guy. The opposite of Alejandro Valverde or Alexandre Vinokourov, the Spaniard loaded down with doping allegations, the Kazak defiant and unrepentant after his two year suspension. But when you hear Papp describe the rocket boost in performance, you understand the intensity of the temptation.

“At first it brought me back up to my previous level of competitiveness, but the more I took that’s when I moved up a level- it felt amazing. 12 or 13% — enough of a difference to block out any ethical or health issues. Enough to win.” When a rider as thoughtful and articulate as Papp decides to dope, you realize how easily a younger athlete is lead to the needle.

It also nearly killed him. While awaiting his B sample test results, Papp crashed hard in the Tour of Turkey. At the hospital they removed “a mass of EPO-damaged sludge” from his left buttock. Doctors back in the states told Papp the blender mix of blood thinners and EPO could have easily killed him. That was certainly the terminal effect on his cycling career.

Once caught, Papp hoped lawyers would somehow locate the Hail Mary loophole but the endgame was not different than Floyd Landis or Tyler Hamilton: destroyed reputation, broken marriage, financial hardship and depression. A UCI ban was the least of his problems. It’s like the old Neil Young song — “I’ve seen the needle and the damage done. A little part of it in everyone. But every junkie’s like a setting sun.”

UCI anti-doping queen Annie Gripper says they’re winning the war on doping. Articulate and visionary team directors like Garmin’s Jonathan Vaughters think the biological passport is a huge step toward clean cycling. It’s a long hard climb, maybe tougher than Alpe d’Huez. “You can change behavior quickly but the deep culture will take a few more years yet,” said Gripper.

In an article about Lance Armstrong in this week’s New York Times, there was a reminder of that pervasive culture. “Five of the eight riders who shared the Tour podium with Armstrong in his winning years served doping bans at some point in their careers. Another two were allegedly tied to doping rings.” Those are not percentages you build a cleaner sport on.

We wish Joe Papp well. Like the NFL players who sell their ligaments, bones and risk life long damage from multiple concussions to make a living, Papp found himself caught in the grinder. He seems like a good guy that loved cycling too much. He wanted to be at the front of the climb and decided there was only one way to do that."  - Twisted Spoke

For Bike Pure, Myles McCorry wrote of his interview with Joe:

"I witnessed a rider recovering from years stuck in a system where cheating and lying are not only the norm but pampered and encouraged. To recover one self-belief and ones honour is an individual battle. We can only judge on the harm Joe has done to the sport and his efforts for reparation."

Likewise, [as his cousin] I've heard Joe's lectures to university students at such schools as Chatham and Slippery Rock, and know that the presentation he gave at the headquarters of USADA this summer was considered by several staff members there to be the most-engaging, authentic, and motivating interaction they'd ever had with a reformed-doper who was accepting responsibility for the terrible things he did, and was actively working to prevent other young athletes from following the same dark road on which he lost himself. Regardless of what you think of Papp as a person, or how you rate him as a cyclist, whatever scorn he still faces should be countered by respect - or at least begrudging appreciation - for the man's willingness to immolate himself at the alter of clean-sport.